Monthly Archives: July 2003

Empire State

Sunday, July 27th, 2003

I had my camera ready all the way from one hundredth street on the West Side to my Lower East Side neighborhood. The streets are empty of all but tourists, especially above Fourteenth Street. Many times in my neighborhood, I’ve just gone to the grocery store and back and filled up m’blog with pix. But today otherwise, slim pickings. Here I’ve traveled more than 60 blocks, just above the Empire State Building, before I got a photo I liked.

I thought I had a good shot of a cop patrolling the runner’s/biker’s path in Central Park on a Segway, but it didn’t come out. (Maybe Kamen includes reverse engineered alien technology that keeps it from being photographed).

Filed in Midtown, People Tags: | Permalink | Comments (0)

Critical Mass

Friday, July 25th, 2003
Click to see full report, with larger size photos.
NYC had a great Critical Mass bike ride last night. I heard an estimate of one thousand riders. That sounds about right to me. It rivaled in size a CM I rode in San Francisco in 2000. The above photo is in Manhattan’s Union Square Park (the gathering place) around 7:30 PM. Critical Mass happens around the world on the last Friday of the Month. Click here to see full report.
Click to see full report, with larger size photos.
This guy looks like he’s heading off to a joust. Those are two PVC pipes padded at the ends. That must be something to see. Hope he has a better helmet than shown.
Click to see full report, with larger size photos.

This was a very mellow, jovial crowd of bikers. Most of the pedestrian/spectators, who indicated anything, seemed to enjoy the spectacle. Even most of the cars appeared either supportive or at least tolerant. I did talk to one older woman who told me that you "can’t go back five hundred years." But mostly they smiled and cheered.

I did witness a couple of incidents where SUV owners tried to break through the bicycles. In one instance I saw contact made between a Jeep bumper and a starting to squish bike tire. But a quick surround by a large numbers of bikers pointedly cajoled them into relaxing their foot from their pedals, while we fairly quickly passed, and no damage was done. I think the idea is to have the streets to ourselves for once, but to not linger obnoxiously.
Click to see full report, with larger size photos.
Looking West on 59th Street.
Click to see full report, with larger size photos.
Bike salute somewhere in midtown. Our route twisted around the area so much that it’s not easy to retrace. After this we snaked over to the entrance to the upper level of the Queensboro Bridge, and had the whole outbound side to ourselves. It was too dark by then to take any photos, but the view from the top was great.
Click to see full report, with larger size photos.
The Hungry March Band at the After Party at the Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens. I was able to hear them a good block before we got to the garden. They were tight, and spirited.
Click to see full report, with larger size photos.
It was too dark to see any of the sculptures. But it was fairly easy to avoid walking into these pedestal mounted lawn ornaments (gnomes etc.). I came back to the Lower East Side via the Pulaski Bridge and then the Willamsburg Bridge.

Filed in Union Square Park Tags: | Permalink | Comments (0)

Isn’t There a Law?

Friday, July 25th, 2003
Bush autographs flag. It never ends! via MeFi

Filed in Fearless Leaders | Permalink | Comments (0)

Look Up

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2003
Commercial shoot in the Theater District.

Filed in Advertising, City Life, Midtown Tags: | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cart

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2003
Pushing a cart on this hot, humid day.

Filed in People, Photos, Upper West Side, Weather | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hello

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2003
This is kind of funny. It’s a wall with a representaion of those "Hello my name is" convention stickers stencilled on it. Apparently many of the local "writers" were invited to tag it. I like Zebra who drew the bunny. Avenue B and Third Street.

[AvenueB]

Filed in East Village, Marker, Murals, Street Art | Permalink | Comments (0)

Top