Murray Street and Church Street

Doesn’t this look like a photo from a hundred years ago? (There's a construction project going on in the middle, with workers on the roof.) But it’s Manhattan 2012—after I put my photo through the super-easy-to-use old photo generator at this Japanese site. (Which I first read about here, at the always inspirational Improvised Life blog.)

Christopher Street and Bleecker Street

Fruit-flavored crocodiles at Swedish candy store Sockerbit were more photogenic (but less tasty) than the chocolate balls with a crackly inside “smuggled from the palace.”

Greenwich Street and Morton Street

Window display at Maccarone gallery (and part of the current exhibition there, it seems). The attribution in parentheses says “after Marcel Duchamp,” who surely would have approved: “Art is not about itself but the attention we bring to it.”

Smith Street and Butler Street (Brooklyn)

A bit of the bar at the old-fashioned-feeling Clover Club. “But what makes Clover Club better than other turn-of-the-century-style joints is that all of that oldness never overshadows a Brooklyn-style casualness,” according to GQ. Here, I had a Widow’s Kiss (and here’s a recipe), an “alcohol forward” cocktail, according to the waitress. (What she meant is: strong drink.)

14th Street and University Place

I discovered, after visiting angelsnaturenyc.com, as advertised on the canvas here, that the stone “attuned” to my astrological sign is carnelian (“stone of action, focus, and purpose”), which is fine, except that I don’t love carnelian. I’d rather have aquamarine, “stone of courage and serinity”—and serenity, too, it seems.

Second Avenue and 6th Street

Thoughts of Amsterdam, through the window at Dutch/Danish restaurant Vandaag. I ignored the “grade pending” sign from the health department to have waterzooi (wonderful), charred romaine, smoked oysters, and no problems (that I know of).

Murray Street and West Broadway

Weekend morning: one quiet blue umbrella, no traffic, no signs.

Bond Street and Union Street (Brooklyn)

Where the food trucks go to park, apparently. (That looks like Rocco DiSpirito’s healthy food truck in the middle of the pack.) But probably not for long. “Artists and small businesses priced out of other neighborhoods have been taking up residence in the old warehouses. Nightclubs have popped up on streets that taxi repair shops and truck depots once dominated,” according to this Times report.

West Street and Vesey Street

A glance up at the progress at One World Trade Center (as seen from inside the World Financial Center, on the staircase). National Geographic has a nice, interactive panorama of what the view from the observation deck will look like (so you don’t actually have to go up there.)

Christopher Street and Seventh Avenue

I don’t know what this is all about (and in a church courtyard) but who can ignore the advertisement—or is it a plea—for “more poems by me.”

Dean Street and Fifth Avenue (Brooklyn)

Menus on the marble wall and a shout-out to Pellegrino Artusi, “the father of Italian cooking who almost single-handedly overcame regional divisions to create a truly national cuisine.” This reference was pointed out to us when we asked what kind of Italian cuisine this tiny new restaurant in a converted garage was serving: southern, northern, Tuscan, Venetian? In any case, what I had at Va Beh’ was simple, delicious, and inexpensive: roasted eggplant crostini, pickled grapes with pecorino, cavatelli with turkey sausage and broccoli rabe.

Great Jones Street and Bowery

“One should never have to choose between flavor and calories. Lardo Mantecato makes it possible to enjoy both with ease.” At Il Buco Alimentari. I can’t vouch for this (I was eating their pistachio cake at the time), but I imagine a thin layer on some toasted bread would be delicious. (This lardo has been whipped up and flecked with rosemary and pepper.) Something to consider for the long weekend.

Hudson Street and 11th Street

A few things to say about Frankies 570: crostini with Sicilian white anchovies, cavatelli with hot sausage and sage, red-wine-stewed prunes with mascarpone (amazing). Read more (with recipes) in the December issue of Saveur magazine.

Abingdon Square

For a real look at time-lapse Manhattan, watch this beautiful video.

Bond Street and Lafayette Street

The wall-writer must have been been reading Goethe (Faust): “Who strives always to the utmost / 
For him there is salvation.”

St. Marks Place and Avenue A

Inexplicably open on Saturday, the Holyland Market sells the most mesmerizing pita bread (thick and fluffy). Hard to believe these loaves can stay so tender and warm in their flimsy plastic bags. But then they don’t have long to last.

Fifth Avenue and 21st Street

One swatch of splotchy city sky. A thought of all “dappled things.” And watch how the colors change, every five minutes.

Columbus Circle

“Instead of making a New Year's resolution to get in shape, why not make a resolution to see more of the city?” —from “Walking Off the New Year’s Resolutions: Exploring New York City on Foot.”

West Broadway and Murray Street

In the chaos of a wild, cold afternoon, a bit of Aegean blue.

Bryant Park

Anything one does every day is important and imposing and anywhere one lives is interesting and beautiful.

            —from Paris France by Gertrude Stein

Fifth Avenue and 68th Street

Overheard on the street on New Year’s Eve: “Tomorrow is the real day for getting something started.” That is, yesterday. Or whenever. So let’s do it.