Gas Station Turned Cafe

This corner is a former Gulf gas station which was converted to an indoor cafe (back portion of the building) with a walled-in open air seating patio at the front, where the gas pumps had been. B Bar and Grill Cafe - East Village at Cooper Square, Manhattan. [NEX6-2407 acr(R)PScc]

RED, YELLOW, and BLUE

RED, YELLOW and BLUE by Orly Genger - sculptures of layered rope. Madison Square Park, Flatiron District, Manhattan

Buckyball

Buckyball, an electronic, illuminated sculpture by Leo Villareal, currently on display at Madison Square Park in the Flatiron District of Manhattan. The sculpture features ever-changing colors and intensity. Looking north towards the Empire State Building in the background

Central Park West - San Remo

From October - a view from Central Park looking towards the towers of the San Remo apartments on Central Park West with a sliver of lake in the lower right foreground

One57

This photo was taken about a week before Hurricane Sandy hit on Oct 29. One57, the building under construction, achieved notoriety when the crane at the top of the building snapped during the storm and was left hanging to the side. Surrounding streets and buildings were evacuated until the crane could be secured a week later. Taken from nearby Central Park, Manhattan.

The High Line Park, New York City

A doctor's appointment-gone-wrong left me with about a hour to kill yesterday between appointments. I decided to take a walk on the High Line, a relatively new park that is a creative transformation of an abandoned elevated rail line into a beautiful open space.

Short history - the High Line was originally built in the 1930s as part of Robert Moses' West Side Improvement Plan, which eliminated dangerous at-grade railroad crossings along Manhattan's west side (which was mostly industrial) by raising the rail tracks into the air, like elevated subway lines. By the 1980s the line was abandoned and eventually became an eyesore overgrown with weeds.

These photos show just some scenes of the park itself - the creative use of the space to create seating areas, lawns, plants, trees and pedestrian paths. You'll note that there are some rails embedded into the pedestrian paths. I'm assuming these are original to the structure. For more information, including historical photos, visit The official website of the High Line and Friends of the High Line. For more information about Robert Moses, I recommend The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, by Robert Caro. It's over 1,300 pages, but it's a fascinating read

Irene!

Although Hurricane Irene lost some of her punch just before hitting NYC, she still managed to cause significant damage which included at least 650 uprooted trees in NYC. About 7 of those were at Grand Street & FDR Drive, where one tree swallowed up and destroyed a bus stop shelter.

Echo

Echo, by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, towers above the sunbathers at Madison Square Park.

City Harvest

City Harvest at work "rescuing food for New York's hungry"- pedaling past Union Square Park. Taken thru the window of a bus.

Stuyvesant Town

Some Photoshop fun - trying to make a dull photo look not so dull. The first image is straight from the camera. The 2nd is after processing with Adobe Camera Raw + Photoshop + Topaz. This is the south side of Stuyvesant Town on E 14th Street between 1st Ave and Ave A.

Trees

Walking in Greenwhich Village, I came across this tangle of tree trunks and branches - bare just a few weeks ago, now filling out with color

Seward Park

Both the park and the apartments beyond share the Seward Park name

East Village Balloon Tree

One of the different strains of Urban Balloon Tree that are native to NYC. This one is in the East Village.

Stuyvesant Town Ups & Downs

Every building at Stuy Town has two entrances, at opposite sides of the builidng. One is at street level while the other is one floor higher, with the grounds on that side of the building built up higher. This makes for some interesting landscaping with stairs and ramps throughout the property to get you to the different levels.

Winter Squirrel

I guess he doesn't mind sitting on snow. He seems to be enjoying his morning meal (whatever he's eating).