JR on Essex
Saturday, July 9th, 2011
Or at least I assume it is a JR.
High Teen Boogie – Tompkins Sq Park
Saturday, July 9th, 2011
High Teen Boogie on MySpace
The punk concerts in Tompkins Square Park in recent years are often boring, with no one dancing or really caring about what is going on on the stage. But this group was a lot of fun.
Tompkins Square Park – Tree Identification Project
Saturday, July 9th, 2011
www.nycgovparks.org/parks/tompkinssquarepark/highlights/1…
The Hare Krishna Tree, an American Elm (Ulmus americana) as identified by the Parks Department.
Update: The work of identifying the major trees of Tompkins Square Park has already been tackled. Flickrite Lucky-Dog sent me a link to this map from The East Village Parks Concervancy. But I still intend to continue taking photos of the trees and create a web interface.
Inspired by the project described in the Youtube video below, where basically one guy made a species map of every tree in Central Park. I’m starting a slightly less insane web-based project for the much smaller Tompkins Square Park. I’ll take the photos, and you interested botanists out there can help with the identifications. I’ll continue doing this as long as I’m having fun and there seems to be interest for it in the communities, local and web.
A good map of the park’s pathways would be very helpful to me. I’ve found none online. I need to design how to best display all this information on the blog. But I have thoughts of a clickable map and guided walks through the paths, who knows maybe an app. For the moment I’ll be tagging the photos with TSPTIP and inputting approximate coordinates to the location map on Flickr. Various tree enthusiasts in Flickr and Reddit are helping me with the identifications. It is probably best that I leave the photos tagged TSPTIP on my Flickr stream until the tree is identified to avoid confusion here. I’ve been photo-documenting this neighborhood for years but I am a novice in tree identificatiion. Any help with terminology etc. is more than welcome.
I was intrigued by the unusual mixture of large and small leaf bundles. I guessed elm from the shape of the leaves but I knew the bark was smoother than photos I’ve seen of elms. Consensus now seems to be Hornbeam (Carpinus sp.) This tree is halfway between 7th and 8th streets on the east side of the park.
Shiny leaves and berries on a tree or bush just north of the Avenue A and 9th street entrance. One vote for Ilex sp.
Common name Holly.
No one has had any ideas on this one so far.
Gnarly Squirrel Tree
Thursday, July 7th, 2011
Tompkins Square Park Seventh Street between A and B.
Con Edison Street Art
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
An edgy arrangement of shapes, colors and textures on display for the past couple of days on Avenue A.
Green Iridescent Fly
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
A photo for the What is this Bug on Reddit A lovely little shiny green fly posing on flowers in the Sixth and B Garden. He wasn’t spooked at all by getting my lens right on top of him. Approximately 1/4 inch long.
Update: It has been identified as a Condylostylus.
Almost Famous
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
They’ve started on the foundation for whatever is going to be built on this lot on Suffolk and East Houston Streets. The building next-door contains a day-care center. A while back, after they started digging around the foundation, it was briefly declared unsafe. But then they build a massive steel buttress that apparently keeps the building from collapsing.
I’ve been seeing these top-hatted graffiti figures around. It is tagged ‘Almost Famous.’
I saw the biker swooping around from my right, I snapped to get him in the foreground, and add scale and action to an otherwise boring shot.
Umbrella House
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
“Squatters moved in in 1980 and found a very leaky roof. They therefore needed umbrellas inside, giving birth to the building’s title. Before long, though, they had renovated the entire 1899 Old Law Tenement. During July 4th weekend of 1995, a city-ordered siege occurred during which police in riot gear came into Loisaida and evicted and arrested squatters. The Umbrella House was among the buildings raided. Those evicted countered in court claiming that they were lawfully living in these abandoned buildings under adverse possession, a law that says if someone has been living openly in a building for more than ten years he or she owns it. The judge agreed and the squatters were allowed to remain.” gvshp.org/blog/2011/06/14/umbrella-umbrella/
