New York street scenes. Some photos of graffiti, skylines, neon shopfronts and fallout shelter signs from our travels around Brooklyn and Manhattan last winter

 

 

 

More photos here: New York street photos

Labels: brooklyn, new york, photos

Last winter we paid another visit to Red Hook, Brookyln ? a down-at-heel, former industrial port which was once dubbed the 'crack capital of America.'

Here's some photos I've finally got around to posting up!:

 

 

More photos here: Red Hook photos part one
Red Hook photos part two

Labels: brooklyn, new york, photos

One of the largest and oldest institutions in the US dedicated to contemporary art, we checked out the non-profit P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center during our winter stay in New York.

Situated in Long Island City in the borough of Queens, New York City, it's a really fantastic gallery, and some of the work was exceptional.



Created by the Buenos Aires artist, Leandro Erlich, the Swimming Pool is a devilishly clever installation that gives the appearance of fully clothed people moving under water.



This fantastic piece by Norwegian artist BØrre Sæthre was fantastic, with a beautiful white unicorn displayed in a glass box. As you moved closer to the box, that glass would turn opaque at certain angles.



Danish-Iceland artist Olafur Eliasson had installed a piece involving a large, slowly spinning circular mirror suspended from the ceiling (similar to his excellent Weather Project in the Tate Modern in London in 2003.)



This was my favourite piece. You enter into what looks like an ordinary room, and at first it seems that everyone is looking up an opaque panel.

It was only after a few moments that I realised that I was actually looking straight up at the open sky, so that the artist had effectively turned the sky into a piece of moving art.

More photos here: P.S.1 MoMA Contemporary Art Center

Labels: art, gallery, new york, queens

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Americans go berserk for their national flag - wherever you look in new York, you'll see a giant size Stars and Stripes or two flapping away in the wind.

Here's a few from central Manhattan.










New York photo gallery

Labels: flags, new york, photos

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Union Square, New York, 28th Nov 2008

On the day that a Walmart worker in Valley Stream was crushed to death by a stampeding mob of frenzied shoppers, the Rev Billy and his motley group of elves held an anti-consumerist gathering in Union Square.

The Reverend, looking dapper in an all-white suit, delivered his sermon a the circle of listeners, all holding hands.

The Revd told the crowd that he'd been to Macy's at Herald Square and noted that the Black Friday shoppers were twenty five per cent down from last year - news that sent the crowd a-whooping.

"Something very exciting is happening," he bellowed. "This economic system... is stunned, in retreat."

A brief prayer was held for the killed store clerk, before the Rude Mechanical Orchestra started up, "turning Union Square into a dancing zone and not a shopping zone" as the band lead a conga line around the perimeter.













More photos here: Reverend Billy Buy-Nothing event, Union Sq

Labels: new york, protest

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This is well cool: every Sunday in December, New York City Transit run a 1930s subway train along a regular route, so startled passengers might find this old beauty rumbling into their station.

It's a lovely old train too and it was a privilege to take a ride in such a fine vintage carriage.

Labels: new york, railways

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A few photos:














Loads more New York photos coming soon!

Labels: new york, offline

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Allow me to introduce a youthful photo of me near Rockaway Beach, Long Island, New York City, circa 1986 - a trip taken in homage of the mighty Ramones. It had to be said there wasn't a lot to see at Far Rockaway, but that didn't matter. I was treading where The Ramones had been!

It took vast amounts of Extra Super Hold AquaNet to maintain that plumage, although in the humid September heat of NY, there were several quiff-collapsing disasters, with the spiky black barnet being replaced by (oh the shame!) curls!


Have you ever gone miles to photograph yourself at a musical landmark?

Labels: music, new york

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I'm slowly getting through the huge backlog of photos from our December 2007 trip to New York. Here's some updates - hope you like 'em!





New York street photos part 1





New York street photos part 2





New York street photos part 3

Labels: new york, photos

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Visitors keen to find a piece of untamed New York should check out Canal Street, in lower Manhattan.

It's stuffed full of counterfeit handbags, suspect jewellery, fake Rolex watches, knocked off goods and other iffy merchandise, with 'nuff dodgy, suitcase-toting blokes lurking about.

Here's a couple of snaps:





Canal Street shops and street traders

Labels: new york, photos

Some more photos from last month's New York trip...









And here's how it looked when I first visited New York in 1986. Scary or what? I was terrified!



New York subway scenes

Labels: new york, photos

Here's some pics taken when we walked through the tourist-tastic neon eyestorm of Times Square.



It's bonkers but fun - like Piccadilly Circus on steroids - but it's not a place to tarry unless you're a fan of the Big Brand Corporate American Shopping Experience (TM) - with added Disney-power.





More photos here: Times Square at night - neon signs, taxi cabs and billboards

Labels: new york, photos

I've posted up a few more photos from trip to New York last month - but I've still got loads more to work though.



Sat on top of a residential block facing on the Lower East Side is a 19-foot statue of Lenin, posing with his right arm raised victoriously towards downtown Manhattan.


Snow face and passing cyclist, E. Houston St., New York.



Snow and magazine boxes.

More photos: Winter walk in NYC

Labels: new york, photos

When we were in New York last month, we took the free ferry out of Manhattan to Staten Island and braved an icy walk to visit the Sailors' Snug Harbor - an old institute for 'aged, decrepit and worn-out sailors.'



The site - which was nearly flattened in the 60s - now serves as a Culture Centre, and is a fun place to visit. We had a fantastic meal in the cafe below.
Sailors' Snug Harbor Cultural Center



We also took a walk around Staten Island, which has its pretty and its not-so-pretty parts.





More photos:
Richmond Terrace, Staten Island
Staten Island walk

Labels: new york, photos, staten island

Amazingly, this island - with its New England architecture, wooden houses and fishing boats- is in the Bronx, New York!









Loads more photos: City Island, Bronx, New York

Labels: bronx, new york, photos

There's been no less than four Offline Club nights since I last updated this blog. Here's a couple of snaps from the nights:





Nov 29th: JAMM, Brixton. Thirty samba drummers, Freddie Stevenson and more!
More club photos





Dec 8th: Boulevard Tavern, New York
More photos





Dec 14th: Alma, Crystal Palace, south London
More photos





Dec 15th: Punk Rock Special, Albert, Brixton, London
More photos

Next Offline is this Friday, 21st December at the Albert. It's our Christmas party and we've got a great punk/ska band and a nine piece ukulele orchestra!

Offline club website

Labels: brixton, club, new york, offline, photos

We've been away in New York for the past couple of weeks, and as soon as we got back to London, I had to run two Offline nights, so things have been very, very busy.

New York was fantastic fun, but it's going to take me a while to sort out all the photos, but here's a few from a lovely morning spent crunching through the Central Park snow.









More photos here: Central Park in the snow

Labels: new york, photos

I'm slowly getting through my pics from December's trip!



Here's some more from Midtown Manhattan

Labels: new york, photos

I'm slowly working my way through the photos taken during our trip to New York in December last year:



New York photos



I've also added a short feature on my favourite Brooklyn cafe, the Read Cafe on Bedford Avenue.

Labels: brooklyn, new york, photos

Sorry it's taken so long, but here's my blog from our trip to New York, 1st-14th December last year.

As ever, I'll be posting up lots of photos from the trip to supplement the huge New York Photo Gallery already online.

Anyway, I'll start off with my blog - and it's a big 'un!

Sat 2nd Dec:

Walk down to 14th/Union Square and caught the L train to Williamsburg for lunch at the Read Cafe.

Great to be back in Williamsburg, even if the terrifying rate of gentrification means that it's going to well and truly fucked soon.

Already neighbourhood shops are being replaced by Realtors (that's "estate agents" to us Brits), with other local business likely to get the elbow when their rents comes up for renewal.

Checked out the excellent City Reliquary which has moved to 370 Metropolitan Ave, Williamsburg and added a 'museum-type space,' staffed by friendly folks.

Grabbed a coffee at the Atlas Cafe (great bagels and free wi-fi) before heading back uptown.

With our favourite Lower East Side pub, the Raven, still a burnt out shell (and unlikely to ever return to business), we met friends at the Drop Off Service, Ave A 13th/14th - a bit bland and faceless - and then moved on to the bar with no name (ex Brownies) on Avenue A and E13th which was far more fun.

Got happily pissed on cans of the $3 Cerveza Tecate beer, a lovely Mexican number which was served with a bit of lemon shoved into the opening - rather a sophisticated touch I thought.

Earlier, I faced the unbelievable situation of being refused entry to several bars despite looking nowhere remotely, vaguely, not-in-your-wildest dreams-on-drugs under 21 - even in a thick fog with cloudy glasses - so I was forced to drag my passport out with me every bloody night from then on.

Even more ridiculous is the fact that some bars have been known to refuse non-US ID cards, so even a British passport isn't enough (although we never had this problem, to be honest).

It is, in effect, a way of forcing some people to carry ID out with them, whether they want to or not, and it stinks.

Good job the bars are worth the hassle!

Sunday 3rd December





Walked again from 50th down to 14th and then on the L train back to the Read Cafe in Williamsburg.
Walked through the Polish neighbourhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn to a small Craft Fair at the 'Grumpy Cafe' on Meserole Avenue at Diamond Street.

The cafe was nice enough but seemed more than a shade too slick and sleek for the neighbourhood.

Much nicer was the Eat Records cafe a short way up the road, which was suitably down to earth, stuffed full of good records and served up a marvellous soup.

In the evening, we walked the 36 blocks back down to E14th (we did a lot of walking on this trip!) to meet our old chum and drinking partner Jim (aka DJ DandySex) at the Beauty Bar.
The DJ knocked out some ace punk rock tunes, but in the back room there was a woefully ill-advised 'Asian vodka' promotion going on which failed spectacularly to garner any interest from drinkers - maybe they also found the vodka's strap line, 'an elegant taste of rebellion,' as shite as us.

Monday 4th December

Gorgeous sunny day, but very very cold. Brrrr!

Walked down 6th Ave and took a trip up the Rockefeller Tower - incredible views across Manhattan and somehow more striking than the view from the Empire State because, well, you can see the Empire State!

There's several levels to explore too although it was unbelievably cold and windy at the top.




Suitably refreshed, we walked into SoHo and grabbed a late lunch at old fave Cafe Cafe on Greene Street, Soho. It's still one of the better cafes in the area, but the prices had hiked up a bit.

As ever, checked out the excellent Pearl Paints on Canal Street.

Ambled around midtown while Em looked at a load of knitting places and I took pics on my shiny new Nikon D80.

Manhattan remains extraordinarily safe, although I did have some character come up to me on Broadway and whisper, "Psst! Wanna buy some pepper spray?," which made a change from the usual, "Skunk! Skunk! Weed! Crack!" I hear in Brixton.

Walked up to Dave's (6th Ave/between 16th and 17th) for some fantastically cheap Carhartt clobber (and with the pound worth nearly two dollars, the prices were even keener!).

In eve went for a Mexican at Blockheads 2nd Ave / 50th and 51st
Cheap and cheerful, but great food, fast service, truly enormous portions and colossal margaritas for just $3.50.

Tuesday 5th December

Walked up to York Ave in the morning to take photos of Sotheby's Institute of Art for a web job.

The brief was to find arty boho types hanging out around the building looking cool and hip, and maybe grab some photos of nearby cool cafes and hangouts.



Sadly, the adjacent hospital - and the freezing cold weather - meant that all I could see was a parade of old people in wheelchairs, people wrapped up for a South Pole expedition and a few odd folks clutching plastic bags and wandering around erratically.



And there wasn't a decent cafe/bar in sight. Oh well...


Walked up to the Met Museum to grab some more photos and then took a trip through Central Park to meet Jim on 6th Ave for lunch.
Then on to the Folk Art Museum and Design Museum, walked through the BladeRunner-esque video displays of Times Square, passed the bonkers Macy's Christmas displays and then on to some knitting shop called School Products on Broadway/E29th (I got to see a lot of craft shops on the trip thanks to Em!.
Coffee at Barnes and Noble on E23rd (annoyingly, it was yet another of those Starbucks in disguise jobbies, but we were too knackered to go looking for a proper, independent cafe this time).

In eve got cab with Davina to Otto's Shrunken Head, a fabulously quirky bar on E14th, albeit one with a strange, lingering smell.

Checked out a rock'n'roll band playing to an, err, 'intimate' crowd and enjoyed the DJ rocking out to Iron Maiden afterwards..

Wednesday 6th December

Walked uptown to 63rd St - checking out the quirky Tender Buttons store on the way - to catch the F train to 15th/Prospect Park, Brooklyn.

Walked through the pretty and surpringly empty Prospect Park - described as a '585-acre urban oasis located in the heart of Brooklyn' - to the impressive Brooklyn Museum

Saw the amazing Ron Mueck exhibition of super-realistic, massive people, as well as the work of ace photographer, Annie Liebovitz.

On to meet Matt at 54th/10th Ave to be in TV audience for the politcal satire show, The Colbert Report.

We'd never heard of the fella but he's apparently big news in the States so some people had flown in from miles away just to be part of the audience.

The audience were treated like cattle before filming (just like when I was a guest on the Jenny Jones Show), but the show was good fun to watch and Colbert came over as a likeable sort.

Naturally, we couldn't reach the required level of near-hysterical 'whoopage' before the show started, neither could we raise even the slightest titter for the dreadful warm-up guy, but we got most of the jokes in the actual show.

Afterwards, we caught a cab to the Sidewalk Cafe (94 Ave. A) for beers and dinner with Matt.

The cafe has been giving it the big one about it being the 'Home of AntiFolk,' but the first act didn't impress: a young bloke aiming to be the next Springsteen but only succeeding to sound like a wannabe rock strutter sans le band.

If it's a movement, there doesn't seem much solidarity between the fans either, with audiences emptying as soon as their friend had stopped playing.

More interesting was another solo act, the Friend Factory. We rather warmed to his outsider songs, even if the melody occasionally got lost amongst all the angst occasionally. But we like angst.

Thurs 7th December
Caught the V train from 53rd/Lex to 2nd Ave and then walked to Ludlow Ave and had lunch at the Cake Shop on Ludlow Street, Lower East Side.

It's a lovely cafe-cum-record store-cum gig. The bagels and coffee were cheap and tasty, while the dude on the decks played some great old vinyl.

Went on to the Tenement Museum on Orchard St for a fascinating tour and talk in an old tenement block.

Slightly odd - but in the end rather interesting - cookies'n'juice 'debrief' afterwards with a 'facilitator' (a what?!) who invited the visitors to talk to each other about the experience. Once we'd all ignored her 'rules of engagement' we all had a good natter together.

In eve walked to Lark Theatre to see Davina perform in the 'Bleeding Brown' and then off to trendy Vynl Diner (Hell's Kitchen) on 9th/51st

Fri 8th December
Really cold today!
Subway to 2nd Ave for lunch at the Cake Shop and some free wi-fi action.
Then walked to Battery Park and the Skyscraper museum which was - it has to be said - a tad underwhelming.
Took some snaps across the river in the icy blasts and grabbed a coffee at Borders before heading home.

In eve had a couple of beers at Davina's party before getting the V/F line to York St in DUMBO, Brooklyn.

On to DUMBA queer arts collective for Green Scare benefit with hilarious drunken hillbilly band, followed by the 20-strong Rude Mechanical Orchestra, featuring our chum Matt on tuba.
The gig was great and had a bit of a knockabout, grassroots DIY Cooltan vibe to it - an increasingly rare thing to find these days, sadly.

Back to Davina's to catch the end of the party and turf out uninvited slumberer on our bed.

Sat 9th December

Another crisp, sunny, cold morning saw us walking down 1st Ave past the United Nations building.

L train to Williamsburg for bagels and waffles at Read Cafe and on to Warsaw venue for Bust Holiday Craftacular on Driggs Ave.

The venue (The Warsaw) was an amazing place - I'd love to put on an Offline night there - but inside it was so jam-packed with craft-toting types that it was hard to see everything on offer.

Took the subway back to 1st Ave and walked down to Ludlow St for coffee and cake at the Cake Shop.

In eve met Jim on 1st Ave/L train and on to the Boulevard Tavern, in the bleak outskirts of Greenpoint for Offline in NY!


Jim and George also DJ'd and Clare, Matt and loads of chums turned up. Much drinking, much fun!
Home around 4.30am.

Sun 10th December

Eek! What a hangover!
Met Matt, Jen and l'il Oscar for brunch at the Coffee Bar, Union Square. Loooong wait but the food was good and helped revive my booze-addled spirits.

Later on caught the PATH train to the squeaky-clean suburb of Hoboken in New Jersey.

Wandered about, took some pics and Em checked out craft stuff at Patricia's Yarns.

Back into Manhatten for a coffee and then up to E32nd to meet Davina at Hangawai for lovely Korean vegetarian meal.

Monday 11th December - off to Philadelphia!

Headed down to East Broadway in the morning to catch midday New Century Travel express bus to Philadelphia.

It's a remarkably cheap and cheerful service - just ten bucks either wsay - known to one and all as the Chinese Bus, and it whisked us past through the incredibly bleak industrual wastelands of New Jersey quick enough.

Met M at the coach stop and went on mighty wander around the town before going to their super-slimline 3-storey house and cracking open a few beers with S.

Walked to Gnocchi Restaurant on E Passyunk Ave/S 5th St for Italian and then more beers at the friendly For Pete's Sake neighbourhood pub for a few pints of Yards.

Tuesday 12th December
Got up a bit grumpy after a terrible sleep interspersed with whirring heaters and a dawn powertool chorus from the hideously early-rising workforce in the street outside.

Walked to the docks and checked out some of the architecture around the town.

Enjoyed some tasty bagels and coffee at The Bean cafe on 615, South Street - it's a really nice laid back place which had a lolling labrador, an old hippy artist at work, free drawings on a pinboard, and a bloke knitting when were there. Cool!

Came across the astonishing Magic Gardens, a massive mirrored, tiled and mosaiced set of buildings, walls - and even a garden shed - around South Street.

The inspiration of Philly artist Isaiah Zagar and his wife, they've managed to successfully fight off a raft of eviction and demolition threats.

Trucked miles up South St to visit Loop Knitting (another chosen Em destination, natch) and then met S at the town centre.

Walked to the Mütter Museum (in the College of Physicians of Philadelphia) to see an interesting but fairly gruesome exhibition of Victorian diseases and the bits of poor souls before catching the 4:30pm bus back to NYC.

In eve, headed downtown to Ludlow/Rivington on the Lower East Side. Couple of $2 Blue Ribands at the lively Johnsons bar (styled like a suburban family front room) and grooved to the blast of Brit rock sounds (Who, Sabbath, Smiths etc).


Popped into an unfeasibly quiet Living Room to see a dreadful band play to an audience of one (we quickly retired to an equally empty bar.

Wed 13th December - last day
Pissing down - our first rainy day this trip! Subway down to 2nd Ave and then a long brunch at the Cake Shop on Ludlow. Checked my mail and wolfed down bagels and coffee.

Wandered around SoHo in the afternoon taking pictures. Saw Michael Stipe wandering by (I resisted the urge to invite him to play Offline).

Another coffee at the Housing Works Bookshop and then home.

In the evening, we met up with a shedload of chums for our farewell drink at the bar without a name bar on E13th and Ave A.

Many $3 Tacatas were swilled down with relish before we cabbed back late, already dreading our 5am wake up call for the airport....

Labels: new york, philadelphia, photos

New York City Guide: Offbeat destinations for adventurous visitors



With the considerable help of a NY resident on the excellent Wired New York forums, I've posted up a comprehensive insider's guide to interesting sights to see in New York.

New York Museums
New York Neighbourhoods
More neighbourhoods
New York Fun Rides
New York Parks and City Squares
Food and Drink


There's tons of things that I haven't seen out of that lot, so I'll definitely be making a few visits to some of the less obvious destinations!

New York photos and panoramas

Labels: guide, new york, photos