~Light~
~Wisdom~
~Sound~
~Knowledge~
Lee Lawrie (1877 – 1963)
30 Rockefeller Plaza
October 30th, 2016
Tag: manhattan
Air of an era
Quintessential New York
October 30th, 2016
Brunch en decadencia
If you can’t fly over the rainbow, bring the rainbow in the room. Along with one of the most lavish brunches in the City, accompanied by the spiciest Bloody Marys (I had to give up on mine and go for some chilled white wine instead) and soft jazz music played live.
You don’t have to go far – just 65 floors high above the Rockefeller Center.
Because why else would you go chasing rainbows, if not for that view? 
Best enjoyed on a sunny day; that’s when the crystal curtains on the windows sparkle the most and spread little rainbows all over the room.
Another martini Mr. Bond?
October 30th, 2016
Happily FAILEd
This giant mural is the work of FAILE, a Brooklyn-based artistic collaboration between Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller. It covers an entire side wall of a building that happens to be The Record Plant, a legendary recording studio on 44th St. in Hell’s Kitchen, active from the late sixties until 1987, when it closed.
Imagine bumping into Aretha Franklin, Frank Zappa, Jimmy Hendrix, John Lennon, Cyndi Lauper, among others – they all recorded here; these are but a few of the names that emerged when I looked up the address.
Today, it is a high-tech business centre and I am desperate for a time-machine.
October 27, 2016
Immigrant children
Now//
Mural by French Street Artist JR, part of his Unframed – Ellis Island exhibit.
Then//
The original photograph (National Archives Catalog) JR used for his installation.
Franklin & Church St. junction, Tribeca
October 23rd, 2016
Yes Love No Locks
Ha…! Says who?
No sooner had the locks been removed from the sides than they reappeared on mast arms of lights over the traffic lanes. This one is right underneath the sign!
Not long before, one of the bridge’s street light wires had snapped under the pressure of the locks attached to it, halting the traffic for a couple of hours.
Ah, the casualties of too much love…
October 23rd, 2016
You can hear the birds sing on Brooklyn Bridge
5:30 pm in October, almost sunset.
Coffee time in New York and the tiny gossips are lining up, fluttering and chirping about the day’s news.
You can hear their cheerful tweets above car and tourist traffic.
Instant uplift.
October 23rd, 2016
Full metal TuTu
Brooklyn Bridge
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Fin d’arabesque (1877) & The Star (1876-77) by Edgar Degas
October 23rd, 2016
Young Frankenstein
What a pleasure to have discovered Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein (1974) forty-plus years after its release (forty-three to be precise)…! Presented by the man himself, no less.
A live introduction, broadcast from the 20th century Fox studios to movie theaters, with Mel Brooks paying tribute to the film’s late star Gene Wilder who had passed away just two months before. But also letting the audience in on a few ”secrets” like how he discovered the original laboratory equipment used in the 1931 film Frankenstein stored in the garage of the man who created it, Kenneth Strickfaden. As it happened, it was in perfect working condition – they didn’t even have to remove the dust. It went without saying that Mr. Brooks would use it again in Young Frankenstein…
AMC Empire 25
October 18th, 2016
Haunted
The New York Cancer Hospital founded in 1884, was designed by architect Charles Coolidge Haight to resemble a French chateau. When I first saw it, unaware of its function or background, I thought of an academic institution or a public administration building – certainly not a hospital!
But a hospital it was and the very first one to treat cancer in the United States, at that. Although treatment is rather a euphemism since there was no cure for cancer at the time. In reality, patients came here to ease the pain, seeking comfort in morphine and champagne. Reportedly the hospital spent more on alcoholic beverages than medical supplies.
Because of the high mortality rate among patients, its reputation was gradually tarnished to the point that it became known as ”the Bastille”, a place to be feared and avoided. Along came financial troubles, followed by a change of name (under which it thrived) and a relocation to the East Side in 1995.
With the cancer hospital relocated, the ”Bastille” became a nursing home, mistreated and abused its elderly patients, got involved in fraud cases, and was finally closed down in a state of neglect and disrepair, in 1974. That’s probably when the ghosts took over; for it goes without saying that the ”Bastille” a.k.a the ”Castle” is reputedly haunted. With so much suffering and darkness, how could it not be?
Unbelievably, it survived demolition. After decades of neglect it was redeveloped in the noughties and, by 2005, turned into – take a guess – luxury condominiums. In case you’re curious, take a look inside one of the apartments here.
I wonder what the ghosts have to say about this.
455 Central Park West
Octobrrrrr 16th, 2016
The Humble Fabulist 