NYC's sidewalk philosopher

De La Vega is renowned as NYC's sidewalk philosopher. He draws little drawings and messages on sidewalks in chalk. I have seen them by the 92nd Street Y on the Upper East Side, in Central Park and today in the Village. That is because he has opened a new De La Vega Galery down there at 102 St. Mark's Place, and I saw none other than the artist himself painting a canvas on the sidewalk outside.

In the gallery are autographed cards of his work, painted canvases for sale, T-shirts and hats.

I found the gallery when I stopped to read something he had written on the sidewalk outside:

"Struggling for survival in the big city can kill your dream .... hang in there."

www.delavegaart.com

Ew. Gross.

I was walking by a deli on the Upper East Side, by 93rd Street and Lexington Avenue. There was a gumball machine out front, selling little plastic cases of --- I kid you not -- liver biscotti for people's dogs for 25 cents each.

Now that's loyalty

Today I met a member of the Y who has been going there since he was 9 years old. He is now 86. He showed me a news clipping from Dec 22, 1939 when he was in a play at age 20 that took place in the Y's theater. There was a photo of him back then. He was quite a looker!

Thank God!

It is so much cooler in the city now. The weather said that there have been 20 days of 90-plus degree weather in the last 30 days. Funny -- felt like more. Those other days must have been 89 degrees or so.

Way of flowers

I am supposed to meet my friend EGD on 59th Street as she does some shopping for a dress to wear to a wedding. Most likely, she is going to Bloomingdale's "because I can't afford Saks", she says. Ha.

I recently read that the word Bloomingdale's is derived from the Dutch term "Bloemen Vale", or "Way of Flowers", which was the original name for Broadway, where all the famous theatres are. Broadway was originally an old Indian train about 2.5 centuries ago.

Yet another thing the white man stole from the Native Americans.

A new drink

I read this in a cartoon by Roz Chast on different island drinks, but I think it makes sense:

for the Isle of Manhattan: the Crosstown Bus


Combine 2 oz Scotch with 4 oz. stale coffee in a paper cup.

Float 1 T. of antacid on top and decorate with a tiny broken black umbrella. Serve.

This reminds me of when I was working for one month for a management company based in (blech) Boston and they had just opened a gym in New York City, their first outside of the greater Boston area. The goomba of an "Area Manager" told me that the staff in the club in New York "are like you are on an island."

I paused, looking at him. "We ARE on an island." (Manhattan is an island.)

This pissed him off. "I meant you're far away from Boston!"

(No shit!)

The guy used a lot of analogies that didn't make any sense. He also couldn't spell "Manhattan". If you're going to act like you know everything, at least spell correctly the name of where you are. Considering the gym was in a hotel that had "Manhattan" as part of its name, I think that's important.

very true

I read this in a book called "Work and Other Sins: on Living and Working in New York City". (or something like that.)

"New Yok is a lot like a shit sandwich. The more bread you have, the less shit you taste, and this town would tumble to the ground without money. For those who don't have it, there is always the hope of getting it."

Ivy League art

My younger sister and I sojourned to Princeton, which is near our hometown, and visited the Princeton University Museum of Art. This art museum is located on the campus of the Ivy League University of the same name, and is open to the public, and free. There is of course a suggested donation of $3 (museums need upkeep, even the free ones).

The museum had a large collection of Asian art and artifacts on the bottom level, including two interesting large photos, one of a group of 16 schoolgirls in China in 1973, and then the same group of women assembled in 1999.

Upstairs was a large collection of all sorts of art, including two Andy Warhols. Interestingly enough, the two were of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Marilyn Monroe, and they were right next to each other.

There were also Toulouse-Lautrecs, and Van Goghs. Very nice!

Yale also has an art museum, which I visited last year, and Harvard has a natural history museum (ditto), which sit on their campuses.