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Five Boro Bike Tour: Sunday, May 1st, 2011
01/10/2012

New York’s Five Boro Bike Tour is the largest recreational cycling event in the United States. Every year on the first Sunday of May, over 30,000 riders participate in the 42 mile ride around New York City. The route, closed to automobile traffic, takes riders through all five boroughs of New York City, across five major bridges, and finally across New York Harbor on the Staten Island Ferry.

NYC Century Bike Tour: September 12th 2010
01/10/2012

The NYC Century offers five route options (ranging from 15 to 100 miles) to provide all cyclists a great way to see New York City and explore some of the City’s best greenways and parks. This year the NYC Century Bike Tour will take place rain or shine on Sunday, September 12th, 2010 and for [...]

Escape New York: Saturday, September 25th 2010
01/10/2012

Escape the crowds and ride out of Manhattan across the George Washington Bridge and into West Hudson Highlands of Bergen, NJ and Rockland, NY with the NYCC’s Escape New York bicycle ride on September 25th. Routes: Three clearly marked Escape New York options: 1. 7:00 am: Century Challenge, 100 miles. A rolling full century through [...]

2010 Summer Streets
01/10/2012

For the next three Saturdays in August, New York City will have a 6.9 mile car-free path leading from the Brooklyn Bridge in Lower Manhattan to the East 72nd Street entrance of Central Park.    The street closures will occur from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. on three consecutive Saturdays in August, the 7th, 14th [...]

Five Boro Bike Tour: Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
01/10/2012

New York’s Five Boro Bike Tour is the largest recreational cycling event in the United States. Every year on the first Sunday of May, over 30,000 riders participate in the 42 mile ride around New York City. The route, closed to automobile traffic, takes riders through all five boroughs of New York City, across five major bridges, and finally across New York Harbor on the Staten Island Ferry.

Book: “Bicycle: The History” By David V. Herlihy
01/10/2012

Google Books has a sizable portion of David V. Herlihy's book "Bicycle: The History". A very interesting read for anyone interested in history and bicycles.

Video: Ride on the Grand Street Bike Lane
01/10/2012

Video of a bike ride along the Grand Street bike lane from Thompson St to Chrystie St on my way to the Manhattan Bridge. This bike lane has been rather controversial

Video: Bike Ride Down Broadway
01/10/2012

Bicycle ride down Broadway in New York City from Columbus Circle at 59th Street to Herald Square at 33rd Street. Video playback is twice the normal speed, so it will seem much faster than normal. view more videos from NYC Bike Maps View Broadway on NYC Bike Map StreetsBlog: Car-Free Space Is an Instant Hit [...]

Grand Rounds Vol 8:No 15 – The Twitter Edition
01/05/2012

ONCE UPON  TIME… Before Facebook and Twitter and Google+, and long before the word “social media” became religion, something called the Medical Blogging made its appearance on the world-wide web. In those days, there was a small, close-knit community of medical bloggers, who read and commented on one another’s blogs, held long discussions in the...

TBTAM 2011 – The Year in Health Blogging (Plus Two Songs)
01/05/2012

Asking a blogger to pick her top posts of the year is like asking a mom which of her children she loves best. Because I love them all. Finding out which posts you love most is not possible – my stat counter only reports details on the last few days. So I picked the posts I...

Art vs. Medicine
01/05/2012

                        I came across this compelling little dyad in a pop-up gallery on 57th St on New Year’s Eve.  Artist Kristian Glynn compares his own financial status –  ”Empty”  to that of his surgeon girlfriend – “Loaded”. I’d love to have bought them both,...

I’ll be Tweeting Grand Rounds on January 3 – Call for Submissions
01/05/2012

A New Year calls for a new Grand Rounds.  Let’s see if we can move this blogger-era dinosaur into the new era of social media by integrating it more fully into Twitter. Submit your post to tbtam@rcn.com by 11:59 pm on Jan 1. Include your twitter @profile name and a shortened url for your post...

Frontier
01/04/2012

It pays to be informed, otherwise you might, like I did in the 1960s, believe you "discovered" a little known, non-touristy area like Times Square (see story here) or that more recently, think you discovered a lesser known structure in Coney Island.

On a recent excursion to Coney Island, my exploration took me a little off the beaten path. Many good things can happen when one Goes West. As I did so, past all the well known attractions and landmarks - the New York Aquarium, the Wonder Wheel, Luna Park, Nathan's, the Cyclone, the area started to feel much like the frontier with abandoned lots and structures. It was at 21st Street and the Boardwalk that I happened upon a building which became more intriguing the more closely I examined it, thinking that I had made another secret "discovery." Only today did I happen upon the photos I had taken and decided to investigate the structure, and I was soon to learn that 2102 Boardwalk was about as obscure as the Times Square of my youth.

My search at the New York Times website brought up a Christopher Gray article. I knew now that the building was very significant, to be featured for Gray's Streetscapes. I also was comforted that I was in good hands and would get accurate historical information from Gray. The building is described by the Times as "festooned with elaborate, colorful terra cotta nautical motifs, including Neptune rising from the sea draped in seaweed, European ships and intricate crustaceans and other sea creatures." Here are some excerpts from the article:


BUILT in 1924, the Childs Restaurant building at West 21st Street and the Boardwalk was one of the last gasps of elegance for Coney Island...In 1924 Childs, the quick-lunch chain known for its simple meals, built an imposing steel-framed restaurant building. Childs was founded in 1889 on Cortlandt Street in Manhattan by the brothers Samuel and William Childs, who sought to serve the rushing ferry crowds in downtown New York. By the mid-1920's they were grossing $25 million a year from more than 100 branches, half of them in the New York area.


William oversaw the operational end and Samuel handled the real estate side. Presumably it was Samuel who oversaw the restaurant chain's trademark design in the 1910's -- storefront establishments that were white-tiled, efficient and clean, responsive to what The New York Times called the American 'lust for sanitation.'


For their Coney Island building, however, the brothers brought in an elite architectural firm, Ethan Allen Dennison and Fredric C. Hirons, who had both studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. The architects embraced the Coney Island aesthetic with creative gusto. Against a soft gray stucco field they set a wild profusion of terra cotta ornament in varied colors, with a rooftop pergola apparently meant as a dining area.


The Childs brothers' earlier buildings had been objects of derision by architectural writers, and the sudden burst of ambitious design was unusual. Just after the new Coney Island Childs, the restaurant hired William Van Alen to design an Art Deco jewel-box restaurant, much altered but still recognizable at 604 Fifth Avenue, near 48th Street. It is now a T.G.I. Friday's.


The Childs chain sold the Coney Island branch in 1947, and Enrico Ricci, Robert V. Ricci's father, bought the structure in the 1950's. Since then the Ricci family has oper ated the Tell Chocolate Company from the building. It has kept up the stucco walls, removed graffiti, kept the building watertight and cared for the terra cotta. But with its windows sealed for factory use, the building has a forlorn air. Noticeable chunks of ornament have been removed, but large sections remain. 

The building was landmarked in 2003 and has been leased for various uses. From 2008-2010, the space was incarnated as Lola Staar's Dreamland Roller Rink. For an in-depth article regarding this extraordinary structure, see here. In New York City, one can still Go West and find a little Frontier...

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On December 3, 2008, I wrote Greasy Spoon. However, I did not reveal that the subject of my poor diner experience was the Waverly Restaurant. I avoided mentioning the name of the diner for a number of reasons. One is that I avoid writing stories which essentially serve as negative reviews. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with helping the restaurant patron avoid the poorer dining establishments, but personally, I have decided to leave this type of reporting to the review sites, of which there are many good ones, such as Yelp.com.

The other reason I avoided slamming the Waverly is that I, too, am a sucker for nostalgizing, the very type of person whom I characterized in paragraph one. The Waverly, good or bad, was a Village icon and landmark. To see it was a great comfort, a balm in a city of harsh extremes. To know that the Waverly was open 24 hours likened it to the Chinatown restaurant of Woody Allen - a constant, something steadfast and reliable.

So recently, when I went by the Waverly and saw it boarded up, I was shocked and ALARMED. My first GUT REACTION WAS DISMAY. I bemoaned the loss. Regardless of how good or bad it was, who wants a homogenized New York City, populated only by chain stores?  It's places like the Waverly that give New York its unique character.

Then I saw and learned that it was closed for renovation. I was SO RELIEVED. Because, as you can see, I LOVE THAT OLD CRAP, and WHEN IT REOPENS, I'LL BE THE FIRST IN LINE. Really, in all of my writings and diatribes about the old and new, I have been lying to you. Yes, that's correct, and I am willing to put it in writing. I am a LIAR.

Photo Notes: The bottom photo is an artist's rendering of the new Waverly Diner from the architectural firm of Jorge Fontan. The restaurant is being expanded into an adjoining commercial space and is undergoing its first renovation in the 30 years it has been open. The interiors will be fully renovated, keeping the original atmosphere while modernizing and enlarging the space.

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I gave the man a dollar and introduced myself, telling him of my blog. We only had a few seconds. I learned his name, Tommy, that he was from New Jersey, that he was not a drug user, but, like many in his plight, was mentally disabled. He told me that he was schizophrenic and bipolar and that he typically goes on and off medications. He explained that the side effects from his various medications become intolerable, resulting in his discontinuing their use.

Thus, his life becomes a roller coaster. This type of scenario can often be evidenced by the dramatically changing wardrobe and hygiene of many homeless, given that one is privy to seeing them on an ongoing basis. They are in and out of drug rehab or in and out of psychiatric treatment. I have seen the aforementioned Hakan looking extraordinarily nice in a sport jacket, well-groomed and sprightly, yet at other times barely able to function, pushing his belongings in a shopping cart, looking no better than Stephanie or Morgan on a bad day. Or, perhaps, they are all bad days, and the good days are just an illusion to the outsider. I forgot to Ask Tommy...

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Marlborough Gallery is pleased to announce that the monumental sculpture Gran Elefandret, 2008, by renowned artist Miquel Barceló will be on view at the Union Square Triangle beginning September 13, 2011 through the end of May 2012. It is with great pleasure
that the Gallery brings this monumental bronze sculpture to Union Square, a place that epitomizes New York’s unrivaled energy and serves as both a transportation and cultural bridge between uptown and downtown Manhattan. Barcelo’s immense Gran Elefandret, balances upright on its trunk, its four massive legs outspread searching for equilibrium. At twenty-six feet tall the sculpture brilliantly portrays an extraordinary, if not impossible physical and cultural feat; this contemporary monument believably captures with humor, scale and Spanish courage the essence of what a public monument can be today.

To further communicate the gravity-defying feat beyond the surprisingly slim trunk and large body, Barceló imparts the mass and weight of the creature through the downward sag of the heavily wrinkled skin, the off-kilter positioning of the huge legs, and the complete overturning of the floppy ears. The highly textured surface of the elephant recalls the artist’s tactile paintings, in which he creates rich topographic, sculpted surfaces on canvas.

I never had children, but I do love them. Not having them, many things are a novelty to me, like the spongelike absorption often found when children are exposed to new things. One of my most memorable examples of this behavior was subsequent to a class trip made to my business - see Little Burnt Out.

I once made an acquaintance of a very learned and educated couple whose children had a frightening knowledge of things that I, as a child, barely had a cursory knowledge of. I recall going through a book of dinosaurs with one of their children, who was able to identify every one by name. At the time, I had read an article on the three-toed sloth and was fascinated by many of the facts surrounding this remarkable animal, such as its odorless nature and the extraordinary length of time it actually requires to make a journey down a tree, truly befitting its name being used as a metaphor for the slow.

As the child attempted to elaborate on her knowledge of dinosaurs, I endeavored to communicate my newfound enthusiasm for the sloth. She appeared uninterested; I was not making an impression. Or so I thought.

Some weeks later, a friend was on the phone with the mother of the child. At one point, she told me that someone had something to tell me. When I took the phone, the young girl whom I had met was on the other end. I don't recall the conversation exactly, except that she was quite intent on telling me of her new found interest in the Three-Toed Smoth :)

*Miquel Barceló was born in Mallorca in 1957. After studying briefly at the Arts and Crafts School of Palma and the Fine Arts School of Barcelona, he became involved with the conceptualist group Taller Llunátic, which opposed the stagnation of both the socio-political climate of Spain during the late 1970’s and the “official” art scene. Originally focusing on painting, Barceló worked at first in a non- representational style, influenced by Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Cy Twombly. As his career progressed, he began to integrate figurative elements in his paintings, and started creating sculptures in both ceramics and bronze. The artist collaborates with the Fundación Vicente Ferrer and the Eyes of the World Foundation and participates in projects for Sahrawi refugee camps. He divides his time between Paris, Mallorca, and Mali.

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With no prior plan to do so, I suddenly just decided to pull out a camera and video record a leg of my journey with stream of consciousness narration as I drove. See the NYC skyline from the BQE. Cross the Manhattan Bridge with me and then cruise the streets of Lower Manhattan, NoHo and the Village. The footage is raw, jumpy and a little out of focus at times. It's not reality TV - it's the REAL DEAL while on a Wild Ride >>>



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01/04/2012

After touring Dyker Heights at Christmas time, it is reasonable to feel that one has seen it all regarding holiday light displays, ornamentation, and animation. On Sunday, however, a friend and native New Yorker asked if I was familiar with "the house" in the Bronx. I was not, and she assured me that it was a must see. If this house was how she represented it, I imagined that an online search with only a vague description would return my query, and it did. That research led to an article describing the various top holiday house decorations in the five boroughs in New York City.

My first stop was the Garabedian house, at 1605 Pelham Parkway North in the Baychester neighborhood of the Bronx. I was not prepared for what could easily be called outrageous. If you view my video, you will hear a stunned man repeating words/phrases such as outrage and over the top. See my complete photo gallery here. 
There were characters that made no sense as far as Christmas is concerned - celebrities, Disney, etc. The whole thing was an unexpected assault on the senses. In 2008, the New York Times did a story on the home. Here are some excerpts:

For those who worship instead at the altar of celebrity, the site displays glittering lifelike versions of their saints as well: Rita Hayworth, Brigitte Bardot, Nicole Kidman, Audrey Hepburn, Vivian Leigh, Joan Collins and Elizabeth Taylor, all exquisitely dressed in gowns fit for the runway, designer handbags on their arms.

The Garabedian house, on Pelham Parkway North in the Baychester neighborhood of the Bronx, is sort of a cross between Madame Tussaud’s and the Vatican, a chockablock vision of the figments of fantasies, many of them moving, all of them sparkling, either with lights or cubic zirconia or other stones — even the harness on a camel on the roof deck is strung with twinkling Swarovsky crystals.

The display, which goes up on Thanksgiving and stays until Jan. 6, inspires an overwhelming sense of wonder. One wonders, for example, why? The extent of the effort is apparent, the imagined Con Ed bill staggering. What would compel a family to devote so much time, money and energy to this particular form of Christmas camp?

The reporter for the Times was able to glean that there was a secret reason for the year-round effort, which has been part of the Garabedian family since 1974:

“Something special happened to the family on Christmas Eve in 1973,” explained Mr. Garabedian, a 44-year-old man with, it must be said, a cherubic air… The Garabedians started decorating the house the following year, and every year grew more ambitious. … This is our way of showing thanks to the Lord for what he did for us,” said Mr. Garabedian, who was 9 when he, his sisters and their parents witnessed this miracle.

However, when asked about specifics of the miracle, Gary Garabedian was vague and unwilling to divulge the family secret:

Could Mr. Garabedian perhaps be more specific about just what this miracle was? He shook his head: No. “The family wants to keep it special for ourselves,” he said.

Perhaps, then, he could be persuaded to illuminate the category of miracle? Was it a financial miracle? Did someone win the lottery or otherwise come into a windfall at a desperate time? “No,” said Mr. Garabedian.
A health miracle? Did someone throw down his crutches and start waltzing around the tree? Mr. Garabedian shook his head.
Perhaps, then, it was less like a magic trick and more like ... a vision? A visitation?

At this last question, a long pause. By then Mr. Garabedian’s sister Linda, a petite woman with flowing red hair, had joined him. “A vision?” she asked, then looked off into space for a moment. “You could say that.”
Mr. Garabedian, apparently the hard-line guardian of the secret, shook his head again. “You could be right, you could be wrong,” he said. All he would allow was that it was a religious miracle. “We’re a very religious family,” he said.

Here is what the Garabedians have to say about the display and its role in their lives in what appears to be the quintessential symbiotic relationship:

For the past 29 years, the Garabedian family—parents Nellie and Eugene and children Linda, Elise and Gary—has provided a family-friendly holiday activity right in their own front yard. Nearly 200 animated figurines dance to upbeat holiday music in a festive celebration of the holidays. 
Almost every inch of the Garabedian's house is decorated with Disney characters and chicly-dressed dolls, many in floor-length gowns and most bejeweled and coiffed like Hollywood models.

It was Nellie who originally came up with the idea of giving back to the community by hosting the incredible display, their gift to neighbors for a blessing which none of the Garabedian clan will reveal. Since then, what began rather modestly has gradually expanded, taking on a life of its own.

The Christmas display is truly a family affair. Only one brother, Michael, has married. The remainder of the family lives at home, working for the family fashion design business when they’re not helping Gary with the dolls used in the Christmas spectacular. For decades now, it has been Gary’s job to dress, repair and store each doll each year. Unbeknownst to many, the display is labor-intensive, as the main stage of the ornate production has to be dismantled each night and re-mounted each evening, weather permitting.
"Look, they’re like our children. We’re married to the dolls," Gary joked. "We feel this makes the Bronx have something special to feel good about."

It's Christmas time in New York City. Not to be outdone, it is time for New Yorkers to pull out the big guns. Whether it's Fifth Avenue, Dyker Heights, Bayside, South Slope, or the Bronx, we got the spirit, Don't We? :)



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All that remained was something to barbecue or toast. Our meager funds ruled out any food, including marshmallows. The few cents we could pull together only allowed us to purchase one pack of chewing gum. Very sad, but true. And that is how, on that summer day, you would have found me and my entourage toasting chewing gum (skewered on sticks) rather than marshmallows. Our feast of burnt and melted gum was inedible - one could easily say that the outing was a failure. Marshmallows would have to wait for another time, when I had money.

I do recall one occasion in Fire Island where I was first introduced to S'mores. Indulging in such things seemed very appropriate for summer at the beach.
Marshmallow, however, is everything that New York City is not - soft, fluffy, sweet, and benign. So, even as an adult, with money to buy a room full of marshmallows, it was never forefront in my mind. I don't recall ever being offered a marshmallow in New York City.

So when a friend told me that the Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake at Stand 4 was a must have, I was on my way and at the bar within minutes, placing an order for this milkshake which is taken quite seriously. It comes highly recommended and reviewed. It was featured on the Food Network's "Best Thing I Ever Ate." Like many of the artisanal food places in NYC, Stand 4 goes the extra mile. According to Gourmet Magazine, the ingredients list consists of 3 scoops of vanilla ice cream (they use Laboratorio del Gelato), 1 tablespoon of whole milk, 1 large dollop of Woodstock Water Buffalo Milk yogurt, 5 Kraft Jumbo Jet-Puffed marshmallows, and whipped cream.

The Toasted Marshmallow Shake arrived shortly, delivered by a finely feathered waitress. The shake was delicious. Now, here was the unrequited love of my youth, brought vividly to mind in a new, extraordinary concoction. It feels like the summer of 1960, only I have enough money and we are toasting marshmallows, not chewing gum :)

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Perhaps not so sad, since I later learned that playing with mercury is not the most prudent past time. Silver would be a much better candidate for elemental curiosity, and later as a young adult, I became intrigued with silver - here was a precious metal that was affordable and attainable, and although it was not as much fun as mercury, it was at least non-toxic. Unlike gold or platinum, a person of ordinary means could obtain large chunks of it. It is inexpensive enough that it can be used in pure form to fabricate items of jewelry and other commodities.

It has many unique properties and has served as a storehouse of value as currency, dating to 700 BC by the Lydians. Like gold, it has positive connotations, and applying a label of silver to anything, such as the word cream, implies great things. The reflective properties of silver also makes the word synonymous with glitter, glitz, sparkle, shine, and shimmer. So, what better word to use in the name of a skyscraper in New York City?

The day I discovered the buildings in today's photo, they were glimmering in the light of sunset with a look of metallic gleam, like the mercury of my youth and the silver of my adulthood. However, the photo was taken some time ago at quite some distance with no thought of their precise location or future use - until today, when I became enamored of their silvery sheen and wanted to identify them for use.

I often have taken photos of buildings where the subject must be identified at a later time. Fortunately, using online resources - mapping, street views, satellite views, image searches, etc., one can usually positively identify any building in New York City. However, this may require more or less time depending on how distinct its character is, the photo, other nearby structures, and a myriad of other factors.

Today's quest was easy. Here, the first impression that came to mind was silvery towers, and a search for "silver towers" in New York City. It immediately returned images of the buildings in question, conveniently and appropriately named Silver Towers.

I learned that these buildings were in planning for an extraordinarily long time. The property, developed by the appropriately named Larry Silverstein, took 25 years to bring to fruition. You can read more about them here. But what I really wonder about is if Larry ever played with mercury, or was it Only Silver :)

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I ignored it because parking does not become more restrictive after becoming less restrictive. So I was looking at the white sign showing the end of metered parking. If you can park legally from 8AM to 10PM (using the Muni-Meter), and after 10PM for free, why would you suddenly be unable to park or stand one hour later, starting at 11PM? You see the logic? This is New York City parking 101.

So, at 11:29PM, as I exited Gizzi's Cafe, I was greeted with a traffic police officer just completing my parking ticket for $115. Perfect timing - he did not need to place the ticket under the windshield wiper, just hand it to me for the added personal touch. I was LIVID.

With disgust, I grabbed the ticket and threw it in my back seat. I told the officer how I was furious and that I have lived in the neighborhood for over 40 years and never heard of such a night regulation. He responded that if I lived there so long, I should know of the regulation. Point well made.

Best I reign it in and quit talking, so I left. However, I DO know the neighborhood and its parking regulations. I just do not street park much nowadays, and apparently, the night regulation is relatively new. I learned from a neighbor that this added regulation was acquired by the Village Alliance to minimize late-night carousing by visitors, who often park on the street and make a ruckus until late hours, disturbing residents.

Coincidentally, this neighbor has also worked for me. She is a long-time graphic artist and agreed that these night regulation signs virtually become invisible, owing to their graphic design. Many leave their cars after 11PM and are ticketed, expecting that parking is permitted after meter usage is no longer required.

When I got home, I was still fuming. It took a full two hours to calm down. You can buy a very nice Blu-Ray DVD player for $115. Money well spent is one thing, but nothing infuriates many a New Yorker like a parking ticket. These extremely high fines are mostly revenue enhancers for the city of New York, which now collects nearly a billion dollars annually from parking tickets.

I plotted and schemed of how I could beat this ticket, which I read front and back. I read online. I went back to examine the group of stacked signs. I did notice that on this pole, the Night Regulation sign is the only one that does not display "Department of Transportation."

As I calmed down and my thinking became more mature, I began to accept that I would likely have to pay the ticket and just see it as an expensive lesson learned. Then it occurred to me that I could do a story about the incident and get something for my $115. Better yet, I thought, I will write a two-part story and amortize my expense over two parts. A bit childish, and really a rather elaborate way to justify a mistake made. But it was the best lemonade I could squeeze from the lemon handed to me on December 10, 2011 at 11:29 PM, and each cup was going to cost a hefty $57.50 :)

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momentary loading or unloading (while double parking), I never leave my car illegally parked and unattended for more than a moment.

I park within 12 inches of the curb. I never park within 15 feet of a fire hydrant or in front of a driveway. And I garage my car, so my street parking within New York City is limited. I use the vehicle primarily for excursions to the outer boroughs or out of the city entirely.

I was LIVID on Saturday night. I was FUMING. I had thoughts of RETALIATION against the New York City Department of Transportation. Of course, I was being childish, indignant, and self-righteous - LIKE ANYONE WHO GETS CAUGHT. It took me a couple hours to calm down, and only because I started to formulate a plan and a way to make use of the experience for this website. I am a Lemonade Maker, and in Part 2, I will tell you why the cost of today's lemonade will most likely be $57.50…

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Recently, on the way out of Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge on the day of SantaCon (December 10), I found that the streets were teeming with Santas. In the parks, on the sidewalks - everywhere you looked, it seemed there was a group of Santas to be found. I took a number of photos from my car.

Unfortunately, this event does start to feel like the same old thing, and although the event is officially a convention, effectively it does end up becoming a bar crawl for many, which generates late-night drunken revelry on the streets of New York City. The evidence of this is plain to see in neighborhoods like the Village, where inebriated Santas spill out of bars, wander the streets, and indulge in various acts of debauchery.

There is not much new to report in New York City, but I have learned that in San Francisco, where public nudity is legal, there was an effort this year to set the world record for the largest gathering of naked Santas, to be documented by Guinness (see video below). Even Santa is not immune to worrying about being seen as the same ol' same ol'. Whether he indulges in drunken revelry, a little lewdity, or nudity, he knows that you gotta Keep It Fresh :)



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slumming. And to some extent, it is.

However, I was curious about Canarsie. For no reason, except that in all the years I have lived in New York City, I had never been there. I had one friend who had lived there for some time, and he painted a much less than glamorous picture. Slumming is not admirable either for the curious or photojournalist, but I went anyway to see what I could see. I thought I would combine the outing with a meal and found Armando's Pizzeria to be highly recommended. Some said it was the best in Brooklyn.

I was chasing the sun as one does this time of year, and by the time I got to Canarsie, it was already dark. Bad for photography and bad to really get a feel for a new place. And bad neighborhoods just look worse at night. Before heading north into the center of the neighborhood, I saw a turnoff for Canarsie Pier. I was right there, so no big investment of time to explore this little waterside park. I was blessed with one of the most spectacular moons I have ever seen. So much so that I was going to call this story Moonrise Over Canarsie (see Ansel Adams Moonrise Over Hernandez). I ran out of my car. The night was frigid, and my hurried snapshot does not do the moon justice.

From there, I headed north on one of Canarsie's main thoroughfares, Rockaway Parkway, where Armando's Pizza was located. Initially, the bungalows and smaller homes just spoke of a neighborhood that appeared to be modest but tidy. When I arrived to the main shopping area, the gritty reality of Canarsie made itself abundantly clear. Dollar stores and discount shops dotted the main avenue. I drove to Armando's, at 1413 Rockaway Avenue. This was not at all how I had envisioned the place. It was essentially a slices-to-go type of operation with a few seats. I was clearly the interloper.

In a flagging economy with 10% unemployment, visiting neighborhoods like Canarsie is not going to lift one's spirits. Slapped over their menu specials, as if it were more important, a sign in the greasy windows said it all: ATM $10 Bills…

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