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Tumblr reblog fromthecityofnewyork:
NYC subway 1986
I post this hideous photo of what the subway looked like back then, only to emphasize how sleek, clean, and awesome the subway is now. (Even the slightly decrepit ACE line is better than this.) There are things it could do better, but the subway system is one of the best things about living in New York.
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The Subway gnomes!
These little bronze dudes are scattered all over several stations, I think; especially Union Square. Love ‘em. I’m always noticing a new one, tucked away in a place you wouldn’t see at first.
Update: Found the background on these! The series is called “Life Underground”, by Tom Otterness. You can learn more about it here and here, and see some more great photos at Flickr and at nycsubway.org.
New York City. Best streetside garbage in the world.
(Tumblr reblog, courtesy of: presidents.)
The IKEA ferry.
If you’re going to IKEA, why shouldn’t there be a ferry involved? Visit the Red Hook, Brooklyn IKEA from Manhattan, and there is one! Free cruise of the Hudson included with your new bookshelves! (Swedish meatballs are extra.)
reblog from: fujimura3
Gorgeous photo remembering 9.11
**Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola**
An amazing venue, where for 25 bucks or so, plus the cost of a (surprisingly good) drink, you can see some of America’s finest music, and enjoy the view above, right behind the band. Trust me when I say that the photo doesn’t actually do the view justice…
We went to see Elana James and the Hot Club of Cowtown, an outstanding three-piece band that specializes in what they all “hot swing”, although that doesn’t tell you much, and they don’t really fit into a category. They’re sort-of an Upbeat-Country-Jazz-Fiddle band with awesome vocal harmonies that plays Cole Porter as much as bluegrass. Catch them at Iota in Arlington, VA on Thursday, or elsewhere on their tour.
America’s marketplace.
Behold, our new coffee table, which someone once foolishly used for the mere purpose of shoving merchandise around a factory. Stuff like this is drawn to New York like moths to a flame, where you can have it for 35% the price they’d sell it for in a mall. Sweetness.
The Original New York Milkshake Company!
Was meeting my beloved at Grand Central, wanted a bite to eat. Consulted Yelp, and so took a flyer and walked way over to this place, hidden by the UN.
An awesome little roadside diner, with outdoor seating and a charcoal grill, in Midtown Manhattan. Juicy burger sliders and world-class grilled cheese, on the edge of a nice park, at a place nearly deserted. It’s like hiking in the forest and happening upon a circus camp…
(Very much like the Shake Shack, but more low-key, and without the mobs…)
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$2.29 steak tacos at the crazy taqueria across the street.
So, I walk out of the house hungry today. I want something tasty and quick, but haven’t noticed anything promising in the neighborhood yet. I tell myself to expand my horizons a little, and look a little closer. Damn if there isn’t a really sketchy taco place 50 yards away.
The menu is a pastiche of 50-year-old plastic menuboard, and crayon on paper. The owners and staff are all Chinese. There’s not a real Mexican (or even a Texan) in sight. But the tacos are huge, come on these huge tasty crispy shells, (Yes, I know real tacos are soft. But did I mention the Chinese proprietors?) and the steak one is filled with about 6 oz. of tasty skirt-steak. For $2.29. Oh, yeah.
(Because “Manifesto” is so much catchier than “Mission Statement”.)
Look… about New York…
People outside New York don’t seem to get New York. People seem to think New York is solely the gigantic, soulless towers of Midtown, or is the murder capital of the world, or is a charmless place filled with obnoxious people, or all of those. I’ve been here all of three weeks, and it’s just not remotely true.
New York, truly, is one magic moment after another: moments of felicity. The glorious anonymous taqueria you happen to walk past, the crazy spontaneous performance or rehearsal happening on the sidewalk, the gigantic beautiful parks, and the ludicrous or sublime posters on buses, churches, sandwich boards.
And New Yorkers have gotten a totally backwards reputation. To a man, I’ve found them more friendly, outgoing, generous and magnanimous than in any other city I’ve ever been in. Granted, you don’t necessarily want to be competing with them to get out of a subway station in a hurry, but that’s just a question of logistics…
Yeah, New York can be big, noisy, impersonal, and ridiculously expensive. All true… but all totally compensated for (says the new guy) by the rest of it. So, this tumblr blog is going to be my attempt to share with friends and family and other happy readers all the felicity, the magic, and even the everyday stuff that everybody knows about but which you just can’t find anywhere else. Because for me, New York is… Felicity City.