post-irene: lucky and pretty

hope folks can now have a relaxing sunday...

@ anita aguilar

post-irene: safe on the hill side

grey skies and showers-- and an occasional wind gust-- at around the 9am hour.

but the hill was lucky.

it was a nice, quiet walk, hardly any cars on the avenues or even the fdr drive.

park ave...

second ave

first ave

first ave

38th/fdr drive south

a little flooding, on the northbound fdr drive

the UN

***

and: lights are on... we have bagels!

pre-irene: checking the 'hood

no double lattes...

@ lucid cafe...

no fresh bagels with delicious, salty nova...

should i be taping my windows, too?

but we do have BOOZE...

my favorite wine store in mh...i am storm-proofed...

and all is well, at the rare bar and grill...

rare bar and grill @ the shelburne hotel...

a fair look

if you've been to one new york street fair, you've basically been to them all. the vendors and the vibe don't vary much from neighborhood to neighborhood, or even year to year-- you can count on finding cheap sunglasses and costume jewelry, socks and refrigerator magnets, grills with corn on the cob and sausage coils and piles of peppers and onions hissing and spitting stinky smoke. and needing a good long shower and shampoo immediately afterwards. i'm sort of fascinated that these fairs seem to be just as solidly attended now as twenty years ago. who keeps going to these things?

well...earlier in the week, i saw signs promoting today's "murray hill fair." i was interested--murray hill is such a funny little neighborhood, with embassies, hotels, small museums and galleries scattered along park and madison avenues; lots of irish bars and cheap grub closer to second and third avenues. but for some reason, i thought a murray hill fair would tend toward the refined, that it would be like a garden party with vendors in straw hats, lining the up and downtown sides of park avenue, selling fragrant pink peonies and fresh pink lemonade...and art.

i was mostly wrong.

i left the apartment at around noon today, with a dull ache in my head and a mood to match, and had really forgotten about the festivities until the moment i made it to my lobby. that heavy, stinky street fair smoke had invaded the space. i was forced to wade through it and the scene--kebob and fruit stands right on my corner-- to get to the store (needed milk for the coffee).but already it was much too much for me to bear. that was gonna be it for me.

an hour or so later, i started to feel, i don't know, guilty that i wasn't giving my neighborhood's fair a fair shot. so i decided to walk--all the way through. those of you who know the neighborhood won't be surprised that this was overall a pretty staid affair. not too crowded or mirthful, skewing a bit senior, but there were a few highlights and things i was glad to have seen for myself.

there were no sausages, but there were other street fair standbys like funnel cake and crepes and kettle corn. a few local restaurants, like librettos pizza, smorgaschef and the new italian culinary center (alta cucina) had small footprints, though i was underwhelmed by their efforts (light on food, heavy on promotional junk). there were indeed pink flowers--but oddly, they were made of wood. there was pink lemonade, and there was agua fresca. there was a bit of art, too--pencil drawings, original photography, and "actual" new yorker covers (framed). the best surprise of all, though, was the used books table--a fund-raising effort. they saw the most action. i enjoyed poking through a few of the piles but it was a real battle for elbow room and that was more than i wanted to bear today.

i left the fair empty-handed save for these:

aww. i could almost pretend i was in paris, watching the french open.

i don't recall crepes being this huge and heavy in france?

even after he folded into quarters, it was as big as my face. and i don't exactly have a small face.

this was my favorite food vendor, for obvious reasons.

he was really hard-selling the gigantic turkey leg. he scared me off.

another vendor had something different--beautiful spices and teas...i was impressed.

i really wanted to get this for my sister...

this interested me, too.

this is plain gorgeous.

and this is "special."

but i was so frustrated with the vendor (i won't name him because i don't want to promote him)--who just kept blathering on and on with everyone about how he's from cannes; "try the smoky paprika, you've never had anything like this"; "i just made this new lemon pepper, smell it, it is THE best, rub it on chicken, it is ah-maay-zing"; follow me on twitter, blah blah blah. i couldn't get him to clam up long enough to take my order. i got tired of waiting. probably saved me about $30 for 3 small square tins--each about half the size of an altoid box--so in the end, it was probably for the best.

this spice guy is more my speed. a bottle 3x the size, for half the price.

from how to draw the head to el greco

hipsters in murray hill.

i think i had a pair of baggy pants with an awfully similar black and white print in high school. whoops.

all photos © anita aguilar

pretty city: oh, happy night

this photo is probably not going to be as exciting to you, as it is to me (it's sort of a mundane subject, especially if you live in nyc) but...here is my first decently rendered shot of a night sky (with the g10)! hooray! it was so clear tonight, and the lights around the chrysler building gave the sky a beautiful, slate-y cast.


the shot is still not perfect, but the settings (ISO 200, .4 sec at F4.0) seem good place to start playing from...
here it is with a curves adjustment...everything's a touch sharper, especially the skyscraper, and the sky a bit darker. it's nicer, and still pretty close to the true color...

anyway...hope you have a happy night, too.

pretty city: what the kids are wearing these days

heart hats.

walking south on madison ave, near 30th.

walking north, half a block away...madison ave.

photos © anita aguilar

pretty city: this time it's for real

photos © anita aguilar

pretty city: the "it's new york, baby" edition

we don't have it too bad here, but this seems unwise.

"it's new york, baby..." said david, to three guys who yowled after stepping in a puddle that was better than ankle-deep.
(outside 185 madison avenue).

photos © anita aguilar

iiiiii love new yoooooork

do you remember this i love new york jingle? (i can't get it out of my head tonight after reading about the mannahatta project.) it was written by steve karmen, as part of the 1977 marketing campaign developed by the wells rich greene agency. the agency also hired milton glaser to produce the iconic i "heart" new york logo.

***
if you are interested in the history and future of cities, have a look at this TED video. the mannahatta project is the result of a decade-long ecological study of new york city undertaken by dr. eric sanderson of the wildlife conservation society. using spatial analysis techniques and mapping software, he was able to re-imagine--recreate--what new york city looked like in 1609...and offer an idea (ideal) for what it could look like about 50 years from now (oh, would that we could afford so many green roofs).

while this is nyc-centric, it's a fascinating model for others.



if you go to the mannahatta project site, there's neat "explore" tool that allows you to punch in an address to see what a particular block looked like, what wildlife likely thrived there. this is what my murray hill block looked like:

lush life.

ok. lots of mice and squirrels--not surprising or exotic. but a bobcat. now we're talking.

cherry and summer grapes...

murray hill/rolling hills.

***

abbott miller of pentagram designed the book (and last year's exhibit at the museum of the city of new york). there's a book-signing and lecture with dr. sanderson at dwr in soho next wednesday, jan 27, from 7pm-9pm.

i'll be there.
if you plan to attend, say hello.

point and shoot: park ave, post-pacquiao...

rainy park ave. nov 14, 2009.

branches, off the avenue. november 14, 2009.