SECRET BURGER
I may be a little biased because “Burger Joint” is where I met my band before we were a band, but this little faux-dive has a deserved cult following. We call it “Secret Burger” because it’s hidden inside the lobby of the impossibly posh Le Parker Meridien hotel, tucked behind thick floor to ceiling curtains with only … Read more
URBAN ESCAPES: Get Out of the Bubble!
“Man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald A visit to the Mannahatta/Manhattan exhibit at the Museum of the City … Read more
VINEGAR HILL, Brooklyn
Nestled between symbols of urban industrialization and modern residential development (aka a Con Edison plant and glass condos), Vinegar Hill is a five-block square cobble-stoned neighborhood next to the Manhattan Bridge that seems to have been preserved in time circa the nineteenth century. This break in the time-space continuum is perpetuated by a sudden loss … Read more
IN PICTURES: Manhattanhenge
Manhattanhenge did not disappoint, as the edges of buildings grew bright, anticipating the sun to wax into view. But more so of note, was the gathering of humanity: the people crowded onto Tudor City bridge with barely a sightline, the adventurous (like us) in the middle of 42nd street, the Tudor City residents claiming the … Read more
ST. MARK’S PLACE: Beyond the Beatniks
An architectural tour about what is not there? Eric Ferrara of the East Village History Project/East Village Visitors Center (and a criminal historian!), in conjunction with the Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation (GVSHP), unveils layers of history beginning at the exact location in Astor Place where three indian tribes converged for a thousand years, … Read more
PEDESTRIAN X-ING: No Cars Allowed!
Photo by Michelle Young In a dramatic reappropriation of urban space for public use, Times Square was closed off to cars earlier this summer. Less well known is that Summer Streets are already in place all over the five-boroughs this summer, thanks to the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) and that a section of 34th … Read more
MANHATTAN-HENGE: Why It Happens
View from Tudor City Bridge (Source: Steve Kelley, New York Times) Twice a year, the sun falls into exact alignment with the Manhattan street grid, offering incredible sunsets that fully illuminate the cross-streets. The most dramatic photographs could arguably be taken amidst the notable architecture on 34th and 42nd street, as seen here: This phenomenon … Read more
