Art Battles at 5 Bryant Park

In an empty, undeveloped building lobby on 40th Street at Sixth Avenue, a massive mural has been painted by four artists. I was there on Friday evening, November 15, 2013 and took some pictures,

Marble Slabs on West 35th Street

Walking to work on Friday morning up 35th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues I came across a bunch of opened wooden crates outside Macy's. Nobody was around. Here's what it looked like from a distance:

Stepping closer:

And closer:

Homeless on Fifth Avenue: So Close, Yet So Far

A good night's sleep just a window pane away...

 

Chinese Antique Store

There's an antique store on Mulberry Street in Manhattan's Chinatown that's filled with beautiful statues, sculptures, vases and scroll paintings, some of which might pass for museum quality if glimpsed quickly as you walk down the store aisles.

Souvenir Store on W. 33 St.

Not too long ago, I used to pass a souvenir shop aimed at tourists on the corner of 33rd Street and Seventh Avenue. I took pictures of the windows because it had the most unusual juxtapositions of objects. There would be statues with ancient Egyptian motifs next to typical "I Love New York" merchandise.

Midway in the Bronx

On a scruffy patch of land in Bronx Park, between Bronx Park East and the Bronx River Parkway (just east of the Bronx Zoo), a traveling amusement park known as Tommy's Midway gets set up every year to provide rides to kids in the Pelham Parkway section of the Bronx. On August 19, 2013, I happened to come across this collection of rides as it sat awaiting opening hours. It was late afternoon and I don't know why it wasn't open yet, but I took the opportunity to walk around the empty rides and take pictures.

Central Park in the Snow

The first time I ever took an extended walk in Central Park at night by myself, it was on a night when it was snowing in either the late 1980s or early 1990s. The snow was falling softly and gently and laying down a perfect covering, illuminated by the street lamps in the park. As I walked, I passed a beautiful blond policewoman and I looked at her and managed to get out, "Good evening," and got a lovely smile in return. I stopped at the ice skating rink and watched as the snowfall was lit up by the lights on the rink, creating an ever-changing filtered pattern over the skaters, who seemed to be having a good time. I walked further up and went through the Mall, that long passageway leading up to the Naumberg Band Shell, with trees on either side and the Literary Walk, featuring statues of assorted authors, at its southern end. I was the only one on it and it was just one long breathtaking passage of white snow and snow-covered trees overhead and illumination from the lamps. I then went down the steps to the Bethesda Fountain and stood there for a while in the snow. It was one of the best times I ever had in the park. I had one other evening like this a few years later, but every time after that, whenever it's been snowing like this I haven't been anywhere near the park.

I didn't have a camera with me at either time when I was in the park at night when it was snowing, but I have tried to take pictures of the park in the snow when I could in the years since.