coffee shop Xmas day

At the Plaza: an unfortunate floral arrangement

what is he doing?

pizzeria Xmas

coffee in the rain

what is this?

broken embraces

a job

on the bus

Thanksgiving pumpkins

December 2009: still summering outdoors

Central Park: getting ready for winter

mother and son

suits in helmets

The Dakota

Whenever I pass the Dakota, I look for someone who seems to live there, but there are only tourists or cars driving in--until this young woman greeted and was greeted by the guard and then walked right in. (The dog is real, by the way.)

New York in the 1950's and 60's

This is an example of what I remember it looking like....

Notice anything odd?

Cleaning the sidewalk: fall

Banana Republic: a better window than usual

Another unfortunate planting

Can you guess what's going on?

The divine Cafe Sebarsky

The intense conversations of women....

warming up

After school

One opening it's hard to get excited about

Windows

At least the one on top doesn't deaden the street.

Outside the Metropolitan Museum

My neighborhood Cuban-Chinese tries to get into the Halloween spirit

I'D prefer to have an unobstructed view out the window

I believe these flags appeared on bus windows after 9/11. I wonder who decides these things. The flags remind me of signs I used to see on the public buses in Athens at Easter-time that said something like, "Christ is Risen."

It wasn't even Halloween yet....

Garment District

No better

This stationery store burned down a few years ago. When it reopened several months later, it looked just as messy and tired as it had before. (Not shown: the long line of people buying lottery tickets.)

mid-October night, UWS

Still life, UWS

473 West End Avenue

When I lived here (with my family) in the 1950's and 1960's, this was a rental building. There was no doorman or concierge and no rack in the lobby for dry cleaning. There was an elevator operator (now the elevator is automatic).

Plantings

In 1950's and 60's Manhattan, I don't remember there being all of these unattractive plantings --too many varieties crammed together--even (especially) in front of fancy buildings. I wonder if they have sprouted up, as it were, because so many residents now have country houses; perhaps they have a desire--and the money-- to see ALL of their environments landscaped. But city landscapers haven't yet figured out how to do it; or they'll do anything to please their clients.