On Canal Street and Funny or Die

Photo by myself at Broadway and Canal Street, near Chinatown.

A photo from a warmer time.

Canal Street is a street busy with car and pedestrian traffic. The on ramp to the Manhattan Bridge is on the eastern end of this street, and the sidewalks are lined with vendors selling perfume, jewelry and clothing.
--By chance, my fiance Mark and I tuned in to a new show of the 'Funny or Die' series, called 'Billy on the Street'.

This guy named Billy Eichner runs around Manhattan, quizzing people on the street for small prizes.

I mean, he literally runs around on the street. And there is nothing more frightening in New York than a big guy running at you (waving a microphone, yelling random questions about celebrities), so a good part of the show involves strangers running away from Billy in sheer terror. Ha.

To see clips of Billy on the Street, click here.

Related posts: Braving the Cold, on Canal Street, En Masse, on Canal Street, and Getting the Goods on Canal Street.

The Borough of Brooklyn, on the Subways and No Reservations

Photo by myself on the Q Train, in Brooklyn.

Just another night underground on the way home.

You know the drill. The boom box comes out. The kids start clapping and calling out in loud voices to enjoy the show. And then it begins.

The twirling, the whirling, the flipping upside down and yelling. Meanwhile the rest of us are trying to sleep or read or play that game on the phone that we're addicted to.

The commute between Brooklyn and Manhattan went smoothly Monday. You wouldn't have known there'd been a hurricane at all.
--Speaking of Brooklyn, Anthony Bourdain chose our humble borough as the location for the final episode of his food show, 'No Reservations'. The show premiered last night.

Tony includes some new high end restaurants with tasting menus and some old school restaurants that have been around forever. He even takes a ride around Red Hook with Ralph Balzano, whose pad I photographed a few years ago (!).

Mark and I watched the final episode and were amazed by the list of restaurants we'd never heard of and now have to visit. It was very flattering for Bourdain to choose Brooklyn to showcase, since he's sampled food all over the world.

For more about Bourdain's final episode of No Reservations, click here.
For my impromtu photo session with Ralph and his incredible hang out pad in Red Hook, click here.

Related posts: Flipping Out, on the B Train, Daredevil Tattoo, on Ludlow Street, and Hot Diggity Dogs, All Day Long.

Evening at 72nd Street, on the Upper West Side

Photo by myself at 72nd Street and Broadway, on the Upper West Side.

A night view of the subway station at 72nd Street and Broadway, on the Upper West Side. It was cool and clammy, Tuesday night.

This is one of the major subway stations uptown, since the express and local trains stop here. The 2 and 3 trains run express, while the 1 and 9 trains run locally.

This is near the neighborhood where Seinfeld lived, in the tv show. The real Jerry Seinfeld is rumored to have lived in an unglamorous walk-up building on West 81st Street, before he became the famous gazillionare that he is.

Related posts: Outside Park 79 on the Upper West Side, Dusk, at 72nd Street Station, and Outside Big Nick's, on the Upper West Side.

The Statue of Liberty, on Madison Avenue

Photo by myself at Madison Avenue and 61st Street, on the Upper East Side.

You'd think one Statue of Liberty would be enough for this city, but no.

A mini-Statue of Liberty stands in front of an office building on the Upper East Side. This mini statue was cast from the original plaster model made before the big one. It is exactly 1/16th the size of the statue standing in the harbor.

This replica cost more than $1M US, and was installed last October. A developer named Leonard Stern brought her over from France.
--Mark and I were lucky enough to catch part of 'Treasures of New York' on PBS, the other night. The show tells the story of Costas Kondylis, an architect who has built dozens of high rises in New York City.

Kondylis' work includes many of the Trump buildings and the towers near Riverside Drive. He is known as a 'developer's architect'.

The documentary is a fascinating look at Kondylis' success in New York. There are some wonderful aerial views of the city from a helicopter, too.

You can watch the entire one-hour show online! Just click here.

Related posts: Posing with Miss Liberty, on Central Park South, Lady Liberty, in the Distance, and Way Off in the Distance, Miss Liberty.

On Monday Mornings and Time to Make the Donuts

Photo by myself, somewhere in Midtown.

Oh boy, it's Monday again. How does that happen?

Here's another photo from the stash, showing a typical scene in Midtown - a bevy of taxis, asphalt, and a couple of guys slogging away, lol.
--I rooted around this blog and was surprised I haven't posted the clip below before? It's one of my favorite ads. Some of the most well-known commercials from the '80s featured a little guy named 'Fred the Baker', for Dunkin' Donuts.

The slogan was 'Time to make the Donuts', meaning that fresh donuts were being made constantly, and poor Fred had no time to relax (!).

My fiance Mark had to work all weekend. Mark also works in advertising. There is a connection in there. Enjoy!


 Related posts: Looking Up, in Midtown, Crowd Crossing, at 34th Street, and On Crossing the Street, and Living Dangerously.