Week 20
May 24, 2016
Chinatown
Lower East Village
Train In/Out: Milford, CT
Miles walked: 7.5
Subway: 1,6 (maybe it wasn't a 1...)
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M1, m.Zuiko 17mm f1.8
Another daytime-only trip to the city. A friend told me about a "Post-It Note war" going on down on Canal Street which is pretty far down in Manhattan. Post-It note art was being done in windows, each building trying to out do the other. Thought I would go down to check out the Post-It Note creativity. Put me pretty close to Chinatown so I checked off a few places I wanted to see in that area.
I have to say, this will likely be my last trip into Chinatown, at least as a general exploring of the area. Not my thing at all. I feel for the people who live there. In my opinion, it's very dirty and loud. It reminds me of midtown in the 80's. Kind of skanky. I felt safe enough overall, and you can see there are pockets of nice areas, but overall it's pretty beat.
Onward with the day...
I'm sorry it's so difficult to be 5' 11", 110lbs, blonde and gorgeous. ;)
So why am I at Chambers Street and not Canal Street where the Post-It note buildings are? Honestly, I have no idea. I took a 1 subway which I THOUGHT would stop at Canal. It did not. I Googled it when I got home and it says it stops there. I thought the train said 1 on it, I even looked again as I got out at the wrong place. But alas, I really wasn't too far from where I wanted to be...and you know I like to walk! I also believe in divine intervention so I made the best of being in the wrong spot thinking that maybe it would lead to something fun to photograph that I wasn't expecting.
Had I gotten off at the correct stop, I would have missed this. It was as adorable as it looks.
Let's play "which one doesn't belong..."
You couldn't tell so much from this side, but that tall building was under construction. All glass, fancy balconies. I'm sure the apartments will be amazing. #goals
I quickly figure out I'm in Tribeca. Never been here before. The architecture (at least for the lower floored buildings) was super pretty. Everything was clean and fixed up nicely. (cha-ching!)
I remember hearing that Robert Dinero put a lot of money into Tribeca.
Doggie Day Care! There's a pug in the back corner. :)
Nobu - very high end restaurant co-founded by Robert Dinero! He did not come out to say hello.
Destination #1 for the day. Made my way up to Canal Street and there were the Post-It notes in the windows!
This building...
...has the war with this building right across the street. If you search on social media for #canalnotes (Facebook, etc) you'll see more coverage. Something big happened today (Tuesday) as I write. And I heard that 3M Corporation heard about this war and sent all the companies tons of Post-Its!
The Pink Panther!
The open window ruined the art! (I wonder how many people have ever typed that sentence.)
Tribute to Prince.
Not gonna win any awards wtih these awkwardly shot window photos, but I did what I could from the ground shooting up so you could see the type of art going on up there. Glad I checked it out.
Onward to Chinatown...
Very true for Chinatown IMHO.
Classy. This kinda sums up the area for me. You've been warned. :)
This is how a lot of New York looked in the 80's around Broadway. Of course the nice ladies shopping on the far right would have been hookers in a photo back in the 80's.
One of a zillion women who quietly said to me "Louis Vuitton, Coach purse?"
Really? Dolphins really do that?
The irony of sleeping under lingerie photos.
Entrance to Nomo Soho, a super high end hotel. Google it!
Magic Jewelry was on my list to check out after doing some Chinatown research. I heard they did aura photos, readings and had a crystal chair. I tried the door but it was locked. Started to step away and I was buzzed in (first time for everything). There was a woman behind the glass counter and a man dusting. It was the size of a closet. They were so unfriendly. I looked around, expecting her to say "would you like an aura photo"? She never did. I don't give my money to people who seem to resent my being in their store. Plus I did have an aura photo done when I was in Sedona last October. It was AMAZING!
I briefly stepped into Most Precious Blood Church.
Around the backside of the church was a handpainted war memorial and a small garden.
She saw I had a camera and immediately tipped her umbrella down.
Which is why I don't follow the news much.
Lots of open markets in this area.
Popped into an asian market for a few minutes. I love how the candy to the right is labled "Sugar". No beating around the bush on that one. Or maybe it is a tin full of sugar for cooking? It was in a candy section so I think it was candy, and the sign says Swiss candy.
In case you can't figure it out, it says "Yes, I did wake up like this."
Another destination on my list. Joe's Shanghai - supposed to have fabulous dumplings.
As I was trying to walk into Joe's, I had to be careful not to get run over by this truck which was indeed driving along the sidewalk.
Ruh roh. So let's talk about these inspection grades. Basically I see A all over the city. To the point where I've thought to myself, the inspection people must be really lenient if everyone around here is getting an A.
Joe's had a B. I didn't even go in.
People can produce some amazing sound from this instrument.
The doors to this neon sign shop were wide open and no one was in there. So I stepped in a few feet just to shoot the wall of neon, it was so pretty. shhh
The arched monument ahead is the start of the Manhattan Bridge.
I Googled what this was about when I got home. It's an exhibit by an iPhone photographer, Matt Oliver. I found an article about his work and it looks amazing! Maybe I will email him. :)
Article here: http://artreport.com/yes-i-have-a-real-camera-my-iphone/
Popeyes was hopping which, to me, is kinda sad. The asian diet of rice, veggies and fruit seems so healthy. :(
I'm along Chrystie Street in Chinatown, close to the Manhattan Bridge. The color in this photo is drab because that's exactly how it looked in person. To the right is a high school so my guess is at one time this was a beautiful track and field for the school. Now it was open to the public, park benches all around. At the far end of the field you can just make out a large crowd of people...
It was mainly women playing card games. I think for money. The woman in the vest immediately waved me off when she saw me take a picture. This was NOT a tourist area, at all. I did feel out of place. Safe, but out of place.
More women playing cards.
Park along Chrystie Street. Again, I would say it is not a tourist area.
There was a great line in Seinfeld, "wow, that's a lot of potatoes". Substitute avocados and you've got this place!
This entire area seemed to bring a lot of food into the city. Sometimes you really don't want to know where your food is coming from. At least that's how I feel. I like to think it was all meticulously taken care of before it landed on my plate. Not sitting, for example, on a dirty sidewalk catching exhaust fumes.
Headed east out of Chinatown (because that was enough for one day). I'm in the lower east village, around 3rd street. Loved the green trim at the top of this building. Very pretty architecture but it was spray painted, etc on the lower part.
The building I just mentioned.
Great shadows here.
This place had very festive marketing...
Walked around here just briefly. Again, not a big fan of Little Italy either. I was hoping to find a slice of pizza but I'm particular about where I eat. Nothing felt right.
Look very carefully at her outfit.
Gorgeous!
Isn't he cute!
They really are obsessed with big eyes.
MMM...Human Bacon. (?)
Cinderella lost her shoe.
Another place that's been on my list. Katz's Deli.
The place was PACKED with people.
Places like this overwhelm me. It felt very confusing to place an order (which I did not want to do). Maybe I'll go back with a friend and try the food sometime. Vegetarian options might be slim pickins, however.
:)
I don't think so.
Finally. Lunch! It was about 1:45pm, I was starving after probably 6 miles of walking.
Countertop.
This is the slice of pizza I had - it was great! Not at all your typical NYC pizza but excellent.
Two Boots has locations all over the country. Very colorful inside. I would go back.
There's so much art in this area of New York.
A whole 8 bits! (showing my nerdiness here, I used to be a software developer)
Never thought about the Hell's Angels having an office.
There is something about this I really like. I think the girl in the middle. All I want is everything, too. (not stuff, just happiness)
I will not let this sign make me take up smoking if I am walking on 2nd avenue...even if it did ask nicely.
Speaking of smoke. First time seeing fireman active in the city. Something was going on across the street but there were no flames or anything dangerous like that.
Interesting where they were standing.
Thank God for Jokes. I love it!
So I'm back up in the Grand Central area. Needed a skinny moment since my reflection in most windows was not thrilling me today.
I had a little time to kill before the train so I thought I would wander over to the library or Bryant Park to do some people watching. They were planting flowers outside the library on 5th Avenue. The big lion statues are in the distance. If you follow my journey, you may remember my "scary incident" from Week 4 by that lion. What a difference a few months makes with the weather.
I was going to go into the library to photograph the original Pooh Bear (for another day) when I noticed something going on across the street. A guy was painting with some bright colors...
A well known artist in New York, Trip was working away on his latest project. He had his GoPro setup on the left. I watched him paint for a while.
Decided to pull out a 52 Magic Monday business card and see if he wanted to chat. He did! Very friendly, he liked the photo on my business card. I asked him how long his project would take, he thought it would be done by the end of the week. He was working with brushes and spray paint. I'll go back next week and take a picture.
I took a few portrait shots. He did not disappoint, put on quite the show! I could have shot his picture for an hour. Really fun. Thank you, Tripp!!
What a fun and talented person. Highlight of my day.
I feel very lucky and appreciative that I get to come to Grand Central every week, God willing, this year. xo
It's been a while!!
So that was a lot of photos. If you made it this far, thank you! Actually a lot of shots didn't make the cut. I only post what I feel documents the day.
Until the next Magic Monday!
xo,
Megan
PS A 52 Magic Monday image from Week 4 won First Place at a local art festival this week! I was also asked to do an art exhibit in a neighboring town. Yay! Showing my work in person is new for me, I hope to do it more.
First Place! (It's a woman leaning against the garbage can, most people assume it's a man; very sad.)
