Roosevelt Island

So today I went to Roosevelt Island, which sits in the East River and apparently is part of Manhattan.

There are some great views there, as you can see tugboats going by and you are right under the Queensboro Bridge. There is also a fantastic view of the Manhattan skyline --- so fantastic that a lot of movie crews use the island for many scenes.

Check it out:

http://www.rioc.com/

A mermaid once again!

so --- one month from today, I will be in the 2006 Coney Island Mermaid Parade! and this time I will not drop out -- so that kid Dennis will just have to ride the Wonder Wheel with his dad. (see "Tale of a Mermaid Dropout", June 25, 2005).

My theme is Vivacious Violet's Blue Streak (it was originally "Violent Violet's Blue Streak" but I decided there is enough violence in the world.) I will have on blue and purple mermaid-like attire, blue and purple body paint, hair dye and make-up, and I will wear Old Skool roller skates under my fins.

and here's home plate!

At New York Presbyterian Hospital on West 168th Street, there is a little courtyard garden. In it, there is a marker commemorating where home plate was when the New York Highlanders (now the Yankees) played on the ball field that was there from 1903 to 1912.

And today, Columbia University is having a graduation in the garden --- on top of home plate. Batter up!

Actor sighting

I was working in a certain chi-chi gym on Central Park West, and Scott Wolf of "Party of Five" fame came in to work out.

And you thought YOUR uniform looked bad!

I went to Jamba Juice, a juice bar that has several outposts throughout Manhattan. I went to the one inside Port Authority bus station.

People who work there have to dress in banana costumes, with holes for their faces and arms. It's the only Jamba Juice where I have ever seen this.

I saw this from the N train today

The fire in this New York Times article today was so big that I could see it from Astoria, Queens. I then rode the N train into Manhattan -- the track is elevated into Manhattan -- and the cloud of smoke just got bigger and blacker. What amazes me-- or more accurately, no longer amazes me --- was that most people on the train were just oblivious to this monstrous cloud of smoke that they were looking at

May 2, 2006
Firefighters Battle Brooklyn Warehouse Blaze
By MICHAEL WILSON
More than 400 New York City firefighters battled a sprawling nine-alarm fire this morning in a complex of seven abandoned warehouses in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

No deaths or serious injuries were reported in the fire, which began about 5:30 a.m. and quickly escalated. Twelve firefighters were reported to have suffered minor injuries and five were taken to Bellevue Hospital. The remaining seven were treated at the scene.

The fire department used five fireboats and ladder towers as more than 70 firefighting units battled the blaze at the warehouse complex on West Street between Quay and Noble Streets.

Shortly after 9 a.m. large walls of the buildings began collapsing into the streets, sending bricks flying up to 100 feet.

Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said that the fire had been deemed suspicious in nature and was under investigation but that the cause remained unknown.

Excluding the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, "this is unquestionably the largest fire we've had in more than 10 years," Mr. Scoppetta said, adding, "This is a huge fire."

In 1995, the St. George Hotel in Brooklyn Heights was gutted in a 10-alarm fire, which more than 500 firefighters battled.

Where's George?

I got change for a $10 at a Dunkin' Donuts in Astoria, Queens this morning. One of the $1 bills I got had the words "Track this bill at www.wheresgeorge.com".

So I entered this particular bill on the site and it was in Leonia, NJ 13 days ago. When I spend this $1, I am going to tell the person to track it too.

Strawberry fields forever indeed!

Yesterday, my sister, brother-in-law and niece came to NYC to visit me. We hung out in various places in Central Park, including the famed Strawberry Fields.

For those of you not in the know, this is a brief history about Strawberry Fields:

When they lived in the nearby Dakota on 72nd Street and Central Park West, John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, adopted this landscape as their favorite oasis in the Park.

Designed by landscape architect Bruce Kelly (1948-1993), one of the principal members of the Central Park Conservancy's management and restoration planning team, Strawberry Fields was named in 1981 by a New York City Council law introduced by Councilmember Henry J. Stern and signed by Mayor Edward I. Koch. It is named after the song Strawberry Fields Forever in honor of John Lennon (1940-1980), the musician and member of the internationally famous Beatles. His widow, the artist and performer Yoko Ono, later donated $1 million to the Central Park Conservancy to relandscape and to maintain the 2.5-acre tear-drop-shaped landscape.

Shaded by a grove of stately American elms, the black-and-white mosaic set in the pathway near its west entrance is a reproduction of a mosaic from Pompeii; it was fashioned by Italian craftsmen and was a gift from Naples, Italy. Its single word IMAGINE, the title of a popular Lennon song, is the only specific tribute to the musician within the beautifully maintained yet naturalistic, free-flowing park landscape.

Hardly a day goes by without some remembrance of John Lennon being placed upon the mosaic – a rose, a poem, a candle, a bouquet of flowers

Take a stroll down the hill past a bronze plaque that lists the 121 countries endorsing Strawberry Fields as a Garden of Peace.

The path is a loop that brings you back to the mosaic past one of the most beautiful landscapes in the Park. At the bottom of the West Drive. After completing the loop, walk to the upper meadow, an undulating lawn popular with picnickers. At the northernmost point of the meadow are three bald cypresses.

The slope behind the memorial is called Rose Hill for the rambling roses in the clefts of the bedrock. The eastern slope is a woodland popular with bird watchers. In its center is the woodland wildflower meadow filled with ostrich and Christmas ferns and Virginia bluebells.

Strawberry Fields was dedicated by Mayor Edward I. Koch, October 9, 1985, John Lennon's birthday.


Back to Astoria:

While we were there yesterday, two guys celebrated John Lennon's message by sharing their drugs. One held the paper up to the other's nose while he snorted. Imagine all the people, living in harmony!!!!

"The Sopranos" also shot in Queens

I read this in an article today, re: the hit TV show "The Sporanos", about a New Jersey Italian-American family and all its woes:

"So it seemed ironic that to do a set visit for "The Sopranos," one has to leave Essex County, where most of the action unfolds, and head to a studio in Queens.

Silvercup Studios, a nondescript series of massive buildings located in the shadow of the Queensborough Bridge, is a world away from the thickly wooded, overpriced McMansions and upscale malls of Essex County. Yet, the magic that creates movies and shows happens here. The magicians are guys in worn jeans, who talk with the accents of the boroughs. They have union cards in their wallets and hammers in their hands."

Yeah, I thought so. Bada-BING!