If you watched the episode of Dr. Who last night, you might recognize this statue in Central Park that played a small role in the events that took place. This is very close to the rock that Amy, Rory and the Dr. were perched on near the beginning as well as the bridge that he ran across at the end. I saw it all when I was there in September of last year. But I didn't see anybody famous hanging about when I visited.
Oh, look, there's the Statue of Liberty! Wait, this isn't New York Harbor.
Ahhh, that's better. And not quite so green.
OK, I guess there really isn't a Central Park East, but I was in Central Park at the wrong time of day to get a shot this nicely lit of Central Park West. This is the skyline along, I think, 5th Avenue, looking out East across the Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. (You can call her Jackie O. for short.) Is the Guggenheim in this shot? Yes, I think it is, but only the roof, which doesn't stand out like it should.
I didn't have much of an itinerary when I visited NYC recently. I had a short list of places I wanted to visit, but no map or timetable to see them. One of the items on that list was a new park that runs up the West side of middle Manhattan called the High Line. It's an old railroad thoroughfare that's 2-3 stories off the ground and had been abandoned for some time. They've recently opened sections of it up as a park, and I was able to walk the whole length of it one morning. At the time, I didn't know anything about this white building that I saw from the High Line and took exactly two pictures of, but I recognized it from a picture someone showed me later on while we were discussing a lack of Frank Gehry architecture in the city. Turns out, this is one of his buildings and I didn't even know it. I believe it's called The IAC Building, and from the looks of some other pictures I've seen around the web of it, I'm looking at the wrong side. I saw at least one other Gehry building in NYC, hopefully I'll get that one thrown up here for you someday.
I'm not a fashionable type person, so John Varvatos means nothing to me. But the address of this store in NYC, 315 Bowery, now that means a little something. This is the place that for many years was called CBGB's.
So, the classic question, who's buried in Grant's Tomb? I'm still not sure. This is Grant's Tomb, located on the West side of Manhattan, pretty close to due West of the Apollo Theater that I just showed you, along Riverside Drive, near Columbia University. Unfortunately, it was closed while I was there, so I didn't get to see if President Ulysses S. Grant is actually buried there. I'm pretty sure he is, but I have no proof. This is not the first presidential grave I've visited, now that I think about it.
The farthest North I went in Manhattan during my NY trip? 125th Street, Harlem, and the Apollo Theater. Didn't get a chance to go in it though, but there it is.
NYC is a busy place, there's no doubt about that, but I couldn't seem to catch that on film (well, on memory card, but you get the idea). This was probably the closest I came to capturing the hustle and bustle of the city that never sleeps. The only thing that might have made this a better shot would be a blurry taxi zooming past in the foreground. I actually got that in a later shot on the next corner, but I didn't like the street scene so much in that one. This is looking north up Broadway as I approached Canal Street. I wish I had been able to geotag my photos, in a couple of years, I won't have any idea where some of these shots were taken. Love the way the Chrysler Building pokes it's spire up at the end of the street.
Well, I made it back from NYC yesterday. I was so tired I went straight to bed and didn't even copy my pictures over to the computer. I must have walked thirty miles in three days and four nights, but it was all worth it. I saw some amazing things, shot a little over 4000 pictures and made it home in one piece. I've got some nasty blisters on my feet, though, but I'll heal. Stay tuned for more great pictures from all over the island of Manhattan! This is the view of lower Manhattan from the Staten Island Ferry as it approaches the terminal. Not a lot of stuff to point out here except for the new World Trade Center being built at Ground Zero, that's the building left of center with the crane on top. It's still got a long way to go but you can see it's already getting up there. The Staten Island Ferry docks at the short white building left of center at the waterline, and the green building next to that on the right is where the other, smaller ferries dock. The green trees mark Battery Park, and I think the low building at dead center is the Coast Guard Station.
Yes, I am headed back to NYC this weekend. And for me, CSI stands for Camera Specific Itinerary. I know, it's a stretch, but still... I've got 20-30 places I want to see, spread out all over Manhattan and a couple of spots in the other boroughs. Oh, and two places in Jersey, we'll see how that goes, though. Wish me luck, and I'll try to get some pictures up next week for your enjoyment. This shot is from my last visit in '08, looking back towards uptown from the Brooklyn Bridge. At least I think that's where I was. I need a camera that geotags...
There's a commercial on TV lately for some cell phone company, and in it, some guy gets a text too late for him to know he's not supposed to be part of some dancing flash mob right at 12:00pm. Something about the commercial has been bugging me and today I figured out what it is. A shot in the commercial shows the big clock in Grand Central Station with a second hand ticking down to noon. Well, that clock doesn't have a second hand, far as I can remember. And I found this picture from my last trip to NYC that seems to bear out my memory. No second hand. There are some shadows on the face of the clock at 0:19 and 0:41, but those appear to be internal structure. Zooming way in, I can see the profile of the hands on the left and right faces, and again, no second hand. Exposure time is 1/40 of a second, so it shouldn't be blurred out of existence. It's just not there...
Did I ever show you this? I don't think I did, or if I did, I can't find it on the blog. Anyhow, this is a sculpture that sat between the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. When the towers came down on 9/11, they fell on this sculpture. It was recovered from the rubble and laid in storage for some time, but is on display (or at least it was last year when I shot it on 9/11/08) in Battery Park in lower Manhattan. It's simply called The Sphere and was created by Fritz Koenig.
You might be able to tell from these pictures that The Sphere was heavily damaged in the attacks. They reportedly pulled a seat from one of the two aircraft out of the sculpture after it's recovery. And I think I read somewhere that it weighs somewhat less now than when it was initially created due to lost pieces.
Anyhow, I was just sitting here sharing some other pictures regarding 9/11 with you, so I wanted to throw these up as well.
While I'm all worked up about the events of 9/11, here's a picture of two beams recovered from the wreckage of the World Trade Centers in New York City. These beams came from, I think, the 77th floor of the 110-story towers. They are on display at the Smithsonian's Museum of American History. This may have been the only thing I saw in DC that made me cry.
Since I just mentioned The Statue Of Liberty Enlightening The World, I wanted to link to some pictures I'd taken of it. And I couldn't find any full-on shots here at the blog, so here's a good one that I apparently never shared. This is from my trip to NYC last year around this time.
Since today is July 4th, I'm sure there are many people gathered at Nathan's Famous in Coney Island, New York, for their annual hot dog eating contest. When I was there last September, the place was fairly deserted. Timing is everything, I guess.
While I'm on the subject of sentinel lions, how about this cat in front of the New York Public Library? There are two of them there, but I think I only took pictures of one for some reason or another. I think they were identical. This is how a lion is supposed to look in front of your building. Majestic, alert, stoic. Not playful or napping like those DC lions.
When I stayed in New York, I was right around the corner from the Waverly Restaurant. Whenever I finally got to where I could see this sign, whether by foot or popping up from the hole in the ground they call the subway, I knew I was back home. New York is a big place. I know it looks like I was close to the Empire State Building, but I really wasn't. It's just really big, and you can see it from pretty much everywhere.
According to what I just read, this statue of Christopher Columbus, located in Columbus Circle, is considered to be the exact center of New York City. All distances from New York City to other points are computed from right here. If I'd known it was that important, I would have walked around to the other side and gotten a picture of his face.
Yesterday I showed you where the secret Men In Black headquarters was located in Manhattan. Today I'm showing you the spaceships that the alien bug tried to escape with. These are in a huge park in Queens, right next to Shea Stadium. It was the site of two World's Fairs, one in 1964 (where these buildings originated) and one in 1939/40. I don't think there is much left of the 1939 fair, but there is quite a bit left from 1964. When I was there, they were refurbishing these structures. I don't know what they were then, and I don't know what they're going to be now. I don't think they're really big enough to be much of anything, to tell you the truth. Ah, according to Wikipedia, these were part of the New York State exhibit in '64, and they were used as observation towers. I think they really are spaceships. I mean, why else would you have a World's Fair in Queens?
