Astoria Life: New York Minutes

Musings from the Queen of Queens, or My 6 years of living in Queens and greater NYC, where I moved to work for the water department and ended up, among other things, traveling the world and appearing on a billboard on Times Square.

Sunday, October 31, 2004

The largest public Halloween celebration in the USA

The Village Halloween parade has grown into the largest public Halloween celebration in the USA since it started in the 1970s. Upon the advice of people who had gone in previous years, I watched it from the end of the parade route on 22nd Street, as it is mobbed in the actual Greenwish Village. This had a distinct advantage as, when I wanted to go to the subway, I just jumped the police line and marched with all the costumed ones for 2 blocks and got to the subway that way.

Favorite costumes here were:

Frida Kahlo
Two men dressed as Lucy and Ethel
The bride and groom skeletons with "Just Married" signs pinned to their backs
The roller-skating Statue of Liberty carrying the American flag
George W. Bush holding a sign that said "Job Wanted. Can start after Tuesday."

You'll look sweet upon the seat ....

.... of a bicycle built for two!

Because it was an unseasonably warm Halloween (71 degrees!), JAO and I went to Central Park where we rented a tandem bicycle to ride through the park.

Bicycles of different types can be rented at the Loeb Boathouse between East 74th and East 75th Streets. A tandem bicycle is $20 for an hour, but individual bikes range from $9 to $15 an hour (depends on what type of bike you rent.)

Anyhow --- Central Park is twice the size of the country of Monaco. We rode among the rollerbladers, joggers and general pedestrians around the entire perimeter of the park. Sights to see as we passed them included: the Guggenheim Museum, the Jackie O. reservoir, and tons of gorgeous foliage in shades of green, orange and yellow to make any leaf-peeper happy. Around Central Park South, we had to merge traffic with the horse-drawn carriages and an EMS vehicle. This was a little tight, but we managed.

What was also fun was the fact that so many people were in Halloween costume, including little kids. My favorite was the giant turtle.

After we returned the bike, we went to Strawberry Fields, a memorial garden in honor of John Lennon. People had laid the cutomary roses on the "Imagine" mosaic (photo here http://www.centralparknyc.org/virtualpark/southend/strawberryfields). Today someone had laid a pumpkin on it as well. JAO and I looked at it with a giant Winnie the Pooh and Piglet, too.

Saturday, October 30, 2004

A divine evening

JAO came to New York for Halloween weekend and we went to a Halloween show at the Church of St. John the Divine as part of the Social Circles outing. St. John’s is located on W. 112th Street off Broadway and is a magnificent cathedral. Tonight, it was dressed up for Halloween with green and red lighting, and smoke from dry ice. A person dressed as a skeleton was playing the cello when we entered the building. Many of the audience members were also dressed in various costumes, so I donned my butterfly wings and antennae (I hadn’t been sure if we were supposed to dress up in costume at the church, so I had them in my bag just in case.)

We had come to see the 1919 silent film “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”, which was accompanied with live music by an organist. The plot of this hour-long film is when a man named Francis tells of his best friend Alan and his fiancée Jane – at a fair, Dr. Caligari exhibits Cesare, a somnambulist (basically a narcoleptic, who sleeps ad nauseum) who, the few minutes he is awake can predict the future. Cesare tells Alan he will die by dawn. Alan is murdered and Cesare is the main suspect. Then Jane is abducted by Cesare.

Right after the film was the Grand Procession of Ghouls, which is staged by Ralph Lee, the same man who created the Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village (to which I went the next day). This involved some imaginative costumes, including a skeleton as a bride and someone dressed as a huge spider creeping down the wall. My favorites were the gigantic owl and skeleton dressed as a bishop.

Friday, October 29, 2004

Let the old trains roll!

Today, from 10am to 3 pm (aka while I am at work), they are running a vintage 1904 subway car on the W line between Ditmars Boulevard in Queens and Canal Street in Manhattan. (The W is my line at 30th Avenue Station.) This is in celebration of the subway centennial.

Here is some advice that I once read about subways:

If you see a train car with few people on it, don't think you got lucky --- there is probably something on it you don't want to smell.

If you see a completely empty car, then there is something you don't want to see on it.

This advice serves me well every day.

Thursday, October 28, 2004

A mosaic speaks!

This particular mosaic decorates the wall of the 59th Street - Lexington Avenue station. It says "In dreams begin responsibilities".

Now, what do you suppose THAT means?

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

A new twist on an old favorite

I tried a new flavor of chicken kebab yesterday --- lemon juice WITH barbecue sauce. That was so good!!!!

George the kebab vendor asked me, as he worked till 5 am, if I happened to be up in the middle of the night, would I please bring him out a pot of coffee. I think he was joking as hi sstand is directly outside a 24-hour Dunkin' Donuts. (Of course, he might not like their coffee.)

Happy Birthday, Metropolitan Transit Authority!

The New York City subway opened 100 years ago today. Happy Birthday!!!

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Free art on Wall Street

Wall Street Rising (www.wallstreetrising.org) is a non-profit that started after Sept 11, 2001 to rebuild the arts and livelihood around lower Manhattan.

There are several upcoming events for the organization, as listed on their website, but of particular interest is:

Art Downtown: Connecting Collections
October 22 - December 10, 2004
The Grand Banking Hall at 48 Wall Street

Guest curators of the collection are:
Mikhail Baryshnikov, Diane von Furstenberg, Danny Simmons & Russell Simmons, and Robert Wilson.

Monday, October 25, 2004

New forays into an age-old practice

Since moving to New York, I get my eyebrows threaded instead of waxed. I know – fascinating!!! As I, as well as many women of the Asian subcontinent a.k.a. “desi”, will tell you, threading is a fast, cheap and effective way to get your brows groomed.

Threading is a hair removal technique that uses a cotton thread. The 100% cotton thread is twisted and rolled along the surface of the skin entwining the hairs in the thread, which are then lifted out from the follicle.

New York is the first city I have lived in where threading is widely available (the list includes Trenton, Washington, London and Boston – in that order). My favorite place is Eyebrows Express right outside Penn Station at W. 33rd Street. If you get threaded 6 times, the 7th is free. Gotta love it!

Sunday, October 24, 2004

A dog like few others

Today around East Midtown, I saw a woman walking a three-legged white dog. I have seen bothof them before. If I had a dog like that, I would name it Tripod.

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I went to the Macy's in Queens Center Mall just now (Elmhurst). I really liked their light-blue-and-lavendar theme Christmas tree.

Bombay Dreams

No, not the Broadway show (although I heard that American Idol: Season 1 finalist Tamyra Gray will be playing the lead in that.)

I went into the Bombay Company at 86th Street last night. I used to work for one in DC years ago. Although it is October and way too early for Christmas decorations, I still have to admire the floor designs of nutcrackers and Christmas trees the store displays. I think the white-and-gold Christmas tree is especially beautiful.

So how does being nostalgic about a chain store count as a New York minute? Because of a sale item they had: a print of the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building (view them online www.bombaycompany.com)

Description of Empire State Building Print, from Bombay Company website:

"Spanish artist Didier Lourenco combines a wonderful sense of color, line and texture in his depictions of everyday life. Done with a surrealistic edge, this painting of the Empire State Building in New York captures both the bustle and the beauty of the city. Matted and mounted in a simple, elegant frame, it's best placed with its companion print Chrysler Building. "

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Important information re: cupcakes!!!!

Apparently, one of the original partners of the Magnolia Bakery, Jennifer Appel, left and started a new bakery that also is held in very high esteem.

Buttercup Bake Shop
973 Second Avenue (51st and 52nd Street)
New York, NY. 10022 212 350 4144
Cash and credit cards.

Please note that the two bakeries are not affiliated with each other, although they each serve delicious cupcakes.

Into the wee hours, he sells those kebabs

I was talking to George, the kebab vendor in my neighborhood, last night around 11pm, and he told me he works till about 5 a.m. Now that is dedication.

The kebab vendors start around noon on that particular corner (by a 24-hour Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin Robbins franchise) and keep going till 5 a.m. (because they are not there in the morning when I start walking to work.) There are several who work the same cart -- for instance, Dino, who tells me to call him "Dino the Greek". Anyway, they are all nice guys and grill chicken far better than I ever can.

Sunday, October 17, 2004

Subway Statues

Tom Otterness -- the man responsible for all the bronze statues on display up Boradway above Columbus Circle --- also has a highly amusing display of the little bronze fat people in the 14th Street Staton (A, C lines). My favorites are the man who is caught by a cop as he tries to get into the subway station under the gate, and the alligator that comes out of the sewer and grabs a man whose head is a sack of money.

This station is also an excellent one to use when going to Greenwich Village to get in line for the Magnolia Bakery.

Check them out here:

http://www.tomostudio.com/exhibitions_subway.html

Saturday, October 16, 2004

At the Chocolate Bar

The line for the Magnolia Bakery was out the door (as it is wont to do on weekend mornings) so I went around the corner to the Chocolate Bar. It is delicious in there! I had a skim latte and a chocolate buttercrunch truffle.

A pug dog was so busy licking crumbs off the floor that it butted its head against my shins and kept shoving so I would get out of the way of more and more crumbs.

They also sell T-shirts (mostly brown ones) and have just published their own recipe book.

Chocolate Bar Llc
48 8th AveNew York, NY 10014-5104
Phone: (212) 366-1541

Friday, October 15, 2004

found this posting on NYC craigslist (shudder)

This is posted on the Boston Pets CL and I had to share with my fellow NYers:

my friend owns a house and several pets, including 2 dogs and 4 cats. she has decided to prepare her pets' food herself. she came up with the idea of raising rabbits and other small animals to feed her pets with ( a practice very common in other countries and some states here). problem is neither her or me can come up with a humane way of killing the animals before cooking. she doesn't want to get the injection vets give, fearing it may be passed on to her pets. has anyone, especially snake owners and others in this situation, found a pain free way to do this? she doesn't own a gun by the way, or a computer, so she can't research this herself. please help if you have any CONSTRUCTIVE and USEFUL advice ( please don't bombard me with posts saying we're inhuman and cruel. we're both animal lovers who simply want to feed our pets homemade, home-grown food) THANKS

The colors! The colors!

The Empire State Building shines different colors at night, depending on what event is taking place. For example, during Rosh Hashanah, it shone blue and white for the colors of Israel’s flag. Tonight it will shine purple for Alzheimer’s “Walk to Remember”.

On nights when there is no discernible event, it shines white light or “ESB lighting” as it is called.

The colors and event are noted in “Metro”, the local free paper that circulates every weekday. You can also see a monthly schedule at the ESB website here:

http://www.esbnyc.com/tourism/tourism_lightingschedule.cfm?CFID=7614961&CFTOKEN=63932005

Hey! They will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the NYC subway on October 27th by shining Red/Gold/Red! And Red/White/Blue on Election Day (Nov 2)!

* Colors are listed from bottom to top as they appear from the street.

Thursday, October 14, 2004

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory

I saw the building for the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory located in Washington Square. Its name is the Asch Building and it stands at the corner of Washington and Greene Streets. I will admit that I ran into the building by accident as I was walking towards the Magnolia Bakery.

Last year, I read "Triangle: The Fire that Changed America" by David von Drehle. Below is my review.

One hundred forty-six people --- predominantly young women --- died in the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory on March 25, 1911. For 90 years, until September 11, 2001, it was the worst workplace disaster on record for New York City. Even worse, the society and labor laws at the time did not allow for enough safety precautions that would have saved these women's lives.

The author gives a very good account of the burgeoning feminism in new York at the time, writing of the unfailing Clara Lemlich who picketed and protested for women's rights, even as men were sent after her to beat her up. He also tells of Tammany Hall, the political machine that drove New York in the early 1900s. he also writes of the situations and pursuits of the many young women, primarily young immigrant women, who worked in the factory in bad conditions and for very little pay. And then he writes a full account of how the people died in the fire --- burning, asphyxiation, jumping 10 stories to their death, the fire escape collapsing.

Reading the chapter on the actual fire, I had to take many breaks. Using accounts by survivors and newspapers from the time, the author recreates precisely how frightening and gruesome the 12-minute inferno was. It is horrifying when he writes of the "shower of 33 burning bodies" that fell through the window to the stone sidewalk.

What is disgusting is the trial that follows afterwards, where we learn that the owners had locked the doors during work hours so the girls would not steal the blouses (shirtwaists) they made -- indeed they once found 2 blouses in a woman's upswept hairdo (pretty clever, actually.) When asked the value of the goods (about 3 dozen shirtwaists) they had recovered that led them to lock the door, the answer is $25 (!). Survivors' testimonies are picked apart to lay claim they are fraudulent. It is horrible.

They also find that a fire safety company had written to the owners, stating that they would instruct the workers in fire drills that would have given them the three minutes they would have needed to escape with their lives. Three minutes would have saved 146 people who died to save their owners $25.

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Turkish afternoon delight

I had lunch in a new restaurant at 95-36 Queens Boulevard today -- Turkuaz Bar & Lounge. The original restauramt is stil at 2637 Broadway in Manhattan).

I ate in the back garden, which is an outdoor wooden patio decorated with colored Turkish lanterns, big cushions and rugs, and wood painted turquoise. It was very nice! The food was good too.

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

A-sailing we shall go!

I discovered a place where you can rent motorized toy sailboats to float on some water. It is at the Conservatory in Central Park (around e. 72nd Street and 5th Avenue). You can rent the boat for $10 an hour. All these kids were floating theirs the other day while their parents sat in the cafe and listened to live jazz from a 4-piece Jazz Band.

Autumn in New York can be truly beautiful!!!

Monday, October 11, 2004

and on that note ....

It is very sad that Christopher Reeve, the Superman of the movies and supporter of research into treating spinal paralysis, died suddenly of an infection that led to complications with his heart.

Superman was one of the first movies I saw back in the 1970s. It was in a drive-in in New Jersey. It was part of a triple feature that included Disney's "The Jungle Book".

Holy competition, Spiderman!

At 2pm today, in Times Square, I spotted Spiderman yet again. He was posing on W. 44th Street with a kid while the kid's dad videotaped them.

Five minutes later, as I passed by the doorway of Planet Hollywood, Batman flew out at me. Even under the mask, I could tell he was kind of cute.

It reminds me of a New Yorker cartoon I recently read. Superman says to batman: "So, how come when we discover we have superpowers, we have to dress up in these stupid costumes?"

Don't worry, guys -- it will be Halloween soon enough.

Saturday, October 09, 2004

Coconut, anyone?

I walked out of my building in Astoria and found an intact coconut on the sidewalk. How very odd. It is now serving as a knickknack in my esteemed abode.

Friday, October 08, 2004

At the Greenmarket

Today I am helping with a booth at the farmer's market in Union Square (for my job, no less).

The farmer's market is known as Greenmarket, and is on for several mornings every week, including Saturdays. We are one of the few booths that mainly give out information --- the others actually sell things, mostly food items. There are tons of fruits, vegetables, flowers, potted plants, honey, smoked meats, photos and paintings, what have you.

Everyone and their dog is out at Greenmarket (literally). You should come see it!

Located in Union Square. Take the 4,5,6 or N,Q,R,W trains to 14th Street Station -- exits lead into Union Square.

Items of interest --- green park in the square's center and a statue of Gandhi (a replica of the one outside of the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC). Around the square's perimeter are two Starbucks, a huge Barnes & Noble, a PetCo and a Virgin Megastore. And, for the time being, a couple of giant painted apples (see "Big Apples hit the Big Apple", Sept 29, 2004)

Thursday, October 07, 2004

A perfect evening in Manhattan – for $2.99!

The best thing about Manhattan is that it does not have to be anywhere near as expensive as everyone says it is. My favorite thing to do is get a small toffee nut crème from Starbucks (only $2.99) and walk around looking at the buildings lit up --- like the MetLife Building, Waldorf-Astoria, Empire State Building and Chrysler Building. And of course Times Square to spot Spiderman. All free for the looking!

I think this is my favorite thing to do whether I am in the red or the black at the bank.

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

This would be a sad day in Queens .....

.... if I cared that I didn't make it to the finals of Ms. Subways 2004. But I don't, so it's all good.

Vote for one of the finalists here!

http://www.nypost.com/poll/nypa.htm

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

The best view in town

One of the best views in town can be had for $2. You ride the N or W train (it's an elevated above-ground track) between 39th Street station and Queensboro Plaza station, and you get a view of the skyline for mid-town Manhattan, including the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building and the Queensboro Bridge. At night, you see them all lit up.

Monday, October 04, 2004

Art on Broadway

On Broadway above Columbus Circle (around 59th Street and Central Park South) for several blocks -- all the way to 168th Street, artist Tom Otterness has created several bronze statues that are essentially social commentary. The statues will decorate Broadway until November 22, 2004.

http://www.tomostudio.com/

I saw several of them yesterday. My favorite is "Miser" located on 84th Street. It shows a huge fat man taking a huge penny from a tiny little girl. What a jerk!

Saturday, October 02, 2004

Messed-up pigeons

At night, Times Square has so much illumination from all the large ads (called "spectaculars, in the lingo of the advertising industry) that it seriously messes up thr pigeons, who fly around and roost as wide awake as they would anywhere else during the daytime.) It is the only place where I have seen birds so obviously messed up by what man has wrought.

George moves to New York

My chocolate Dutch rabbit George has officially moved to my place in Astoria (see "Best in Show", August 1, 2004)

Friday, October 01, 2004

It is October 1st ....

... and there is a Christmas wreath decorating the iron gate on the 3800 block of Steinway Street.