Dispatch From New York

Franklin Roosevelt and the Holocaust

2011-09-20T06:50:00.000-07:00

In "The Conquerors" by Michael Beschloss, the author struggles to find explanations for some of Roosevelt's behaviors. For example, Roosevelt's silence about the holocaust during the war. " Franklin Roosevelt began receiving information as early as 1942 that Adolf Hitler, under a veil of secrecy, was carrying out his threats to" annihilate the Jewish race." One might expect the President to have gone on the radio and told Americans in stirring language exactly what his government was learning about the Nazi death camps, adding that this unimaginable crime was exactly what the Allies were fighting to banish from the world.

But Roosevelt made no such speech. Nor did he command the American propaganda organs to publicize everything the government knew about the extermination of the Jews. Instead, through at least the early months of 1944, the President's references to the subject were vague and seldom."

" In July 1942, the president of the American Jewish Congress, Rabbi Stephen Wise, asked the President for a statement that could be read to a Madison Square Garden rally against Hitler's oppression of Jews. -- But the president did not mention extermination or Jewish victims. Instead his statement said that Americans "sympathize with all victims of Nazi crime' and would hold the perpetrators "to strict accountability in a day of reckoning which will surely come."

In December 1942, Wise asked Roosevelt to tell the world about Hitler's war against the Jews and to try to stop it. The President replied that while his government knew many of the facts, it was hard to know what to do. Pressed for a statement, he advised Wise and the Jewish leaders to reissue the Madison Square Garden statement that he had issued in July. He insisted that that statement be quoted precisely.

In July 1943, at the White House, Lieutenant Jan Karski of the Polish underground army told Roosevelt about the mass murder of Jews that he had seen take place in a Polish concentration camp:"Our underground authorities are absolutely sure that the Germans are out to exterminate the entire Jewish population of Europe." The President listened intently but when Karski implored Roosevelt to intervene, the President replied, "Tell your nation that we shall win the war."

"As the historian Richard Breitman has written, Roosevelt's government "did not match Adolf Hitler's single-minded frenzy to wipe out the Jewish race with corresponding determination to save those Jews who could be saved."

"As Hitler's war against European Jewry raged on, Franklin Roosevelt maintained his silence. Before 1944, he avoided discussing the matter."

" By early June 1944, the Nazis had deported over 1/3 of Hungary's Jews in only three weeks, Jacob Rosenhein and other Jewish leaders wrote to American and British officials, imploring them to bomb the railway lines from Hungary to the death camp at Auschwitz in Poland." This was not done. Initially, Undersecretary McCloy's view was that diverting bombers and crews from bombing German industry and other strategic targets might have postponed VE day." Thanks to new information, however, we may conclude that the man who ultimately refused to bomb Auschwitz may not have been John McCloy but Franklin Roosevelt." Liddel Hart in his book "Strategy" stated that the war would probably have ended much sooner had the bombing targets not been shifted from millitary and industrial ones to civillian ones.

The Chief Culprit by Viktor Suvorov

2010-12-29T14:31:00.000-08:00

Chief Culprit: Stalin's Grand Design to start World War II by Viktor Suvorov. Suvorov's book is based on extensive research into the Soviet archives.

Both Lenin and Stalin believed that another world war was necessary in order to achieve the triumph of communism. A war even bloodier than the previous one. Germany was to play the key role. He needed to build Germany up and involve it in a bloody war with England and France and he needed a common border with Germany so that his forces could easily roll in when Germany was distracted. His agent of choice was Hitler's NSDAP party because the other parties were opposed to war. The NSDAP though was slipping in popularity. In the emergency Reichstag election of November 6, 1932, the NSDAP received only 11,705,000 votes, 2 million less than in the previous election. The Social Democrats received 7,231,000 votes and the Communist Party, 5,971,000 votes. If the Communists had joined the Social Democrats, the Nazis would now be a quaint but unpleasant memory. Instead, Stalin ordered the German Communist Party to oppose the Social Democrats. This allowed Hitler to forge alliances with splinter parties and obtain a majority. Stalin built Germany up through delivery of essential supplies such as oil, cotton, grain, magnesium, chrome, copper,tin,nickel, vanadium, wolfram and molybdenum. Suvorov states that without these supplies, Hitler would have been unable to conquer Europe.

Germany and the USSR were to attack Poland simultaneously but Stalin delayed his attack for two weeks so that the onus of starting the war would fall on Germany. While Hitler was mopping up France, Stalin took over the Baltic republics and took Bessarabia from Rumania. This placed him within 100 kilometers of the Ploesti oilfield. Huge armies were placed in Bessarabia, ready to seize the oilfields. Hitlers intelligence revealed that huge Soviet armies were assembling at the border. Hitler decided to forego the planned assault on Britain because the Soviets were by far the greater threat. He quietly began marshalling forces on his eastern border. Soviet intelligence did not see any evidence of a planned German assault because supplies necessary to fight a Winter war were not being amassed by Germany. Things like sheepskin coats and low temperature lubricants.

Operation Barbarossa took place two weeks before the planned Soviet assault on Germany. The Soviets had massed 174 divisions right at the border. Trouble was that they were equipped with offensive weapons only, not defensive ones. For example, all the planes were bombers, no fighter planes to protect the bombers. The plan was for the bombers to destroy the Luftwaffe on the ground and there would then be no need for fighter planes. The reverse happened. The Luftwaffe destroyed the Soviet planes and then destroyed thousands of Soviet tanks. These 174 divisions were obliterated but they formed only the First Echelon of Soviet armies. Further on in, German forces encountered the Second Echelon of armies, an even larger force. Fortunately, many of the Second Echelon's heavy weapons were still in transit. German intelligence was not even aware of the existence of the Second Echelon forces. Many of these were also destroyed but German hopes of reaching Moscow before the Winter were beginning to fade. The Soviets had limitless manpower and weapons. They had 10 times the number of tanks, planes and heavy artillery than the German forces. Suvorov points out though that even if German forces had reached Moscow, this would still not have ended the war because of the vast industries in the Urals, hundreds of miles further east. For manpower, the Soviets began sending out millions of Gulag prisoners to fight. There were not enough Red Army uniforms, so they fought in their black Gulag uniforms. Behind them were NKVD troops, ready to shoot anyone who refused to fight or contemplated surrender. The Gulag soldiers were treated as expendable cannon fodder. When the British offered the Soviets mine detectors, the offer was declined. The Soviet general explained that they used human beings for that purpose. They would make thousands of Gulag soldiers run across the mine fields, detonating the mines with their bodies.

The Origins of the New Germany

2010-10-02T05:19:00.000-07:00

At the time that I was born, we lived in Espelkamp, a remote farming village (at the time) in Westphalia, Germany. Shortly after my birth, we moved to the even more remote farming village of Wehe, In both places, the daily language was not German but rather Plattdeutsch (Low Saxon). Plattdeutsch was thus my native language. Starting around 1952 though, many of the farmers sold their lands and vast housing projects were built to house thousands of expellees from the east, mostly from Silesia. These highly skilled and educated people revolutionized the area and it became increasingly industrial. These people spoke only German and showed no interest in learning the local language, Plattdeutsch. Some of the locals regarded them as being Polish, rather than Germans. There is probably some truth in that since the Silesians were a mixed border population. Whatever the truth may be, the Silesians were thrown out of their homes for the simple sin of being Germans. They were the victims of Ethnic Cleansing. This was a policy of the victorious Allies, who had won the war. Roads were paved and industries built and the local ways of life that had endured with little change over the past 1000 years were altered completely. I have wondered for a long time what it was that precipitated these major changes. What was the cause of WW1 and WW2? I think the causes can be traced back to the mid 19th century.

During and after the American civil war, vast agricultural lands were opened to settlement, largely due to improved steel plows that allowed farmers to plow lands covered by tough prairie grasses. America then become a huge exporter of cheap grains. The same thing happened in Russia. Rapidly industrializing Germany became a major customer for these grains. Everyone would seem to have benefited from this process except for the German Junker class, whose wealth was based on their vast agricultural estates in eastern Germany. They could not compete economically with these cheap imports. Since they could not compete with cheap grain imports, and since they controlled the German government, they arranged for agricultural subsidies. They were not happy with the results though, especially when they became aware of the vast fortunes being made by their close cousins (literally) in England from the oil industry in the Persian Gulf. They wanted to get a share of this new wealth but were shut out by the English, Americans, French, Dutch and Italians who had gotten there first ( you will notice that these nations formed most of the Entente who opposed Germany in WW1).

Under the control of the Junkers, the German government then developed a close relationship with the Ottoman Turkish government. The persian gulf lands that were the object of everyone's attention were technically a part of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire (then referred to as the Sick Man of Europe) was ignored, as the powerful oil companies moved in. The English got there first, having secured a concession to drill for oil in lands bordering the Persian Gulf. The Americans were next, having secured a concession to drill for oil in the interior. To the horror of the English, most of the oil proved to be in the interior. According to the Aramco Handbook, the Seven Sisters (as the major oil companies of the time were referred to) threatened to drag their host countries into war. There was no oil company present that was rooted in Germany. War was averted, according to the Aramco Handbook, by an Armenian with Turkish citizenship who offered to broker a settlement that would be to everyone's satisfaction in return for a 5% stake. This was accepted by the Seven Sisters and he became known as Mr. 5%. This took place around 1905. This threatened war was not against Germany but rather among the "Democracies", even though we are assured that democracies are always just and un-warlike.

Having been excluded from a share of the Persian Gulf pie, the Junkers took the tack of trying to build up the Ottoman Empire. At considerable cost to German taxpayers ( who were not planned to be beneficiaries), the German government announced plans to build the Berlin to Baghdad railway. This caused considerable concern to the "Democracies" but this concern became frantic when the German government subsequently announced it's intention to extend the railway all the way to the Persian Gulf. Suddenly Kuwait declared it's independence from the Ottoman Empire, blocking access to the Gulf and a British fleet steamed into the Gulf, threatening war against anyone who did not recognize Kuwait's independence. This fleet was paid for by British taxpayers, who were likewise not intended to be the beneficiaries of the money to be made from Middle Eastern oil.

Let me make an aside here. It is my contention that wars are not initiated by humane grey haired sages who hold that war is a terrible thing but that it will confer the greatest good to the greatest many. Wars are initiated by powerful cabals who have seized control of their countries and utilize the lives and taxes of fellow citizens to further their ends (money and power). The ordinary citizen is not expected to benefit from these enterprises. They are just expected to pay for them and to die for them. The cabal that has controlled the United states for over a century consists of the families that control the oil industry. As rationales for going to war, the citizens are fed simple slogans, soundbites as it were, that have nothing to do with the actual reasons for going to war. Incidents are manufactured like the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, the Zimmerman Telegraph, Weapons of Mass Destruction, the sinking of the battleship Maine. In his book. "Strategy", Liddell Hart describes how Roosevelt manipulated Japan into attacking Pearl Harbor. To Roosevelt, Japan was a minor irritant. The real reason was to provide a pretext for entering the war against Germany. Once war was declared, 9/10 of American resources were devoted to making war against Germany. We have seen a similar tactic recently. We were attacked by Afganistan but 9/10 of our millitary resources were spent on a war against Iraq. Sometimes a tempting target is offered. The rationale for the first Iraq war was the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. However, Saddam Hussein made no move against Kuwait until he was reassured by ambassador Glasspie that Kuwait did not represent a strategic interest to the United States.

Otto von Bismarck once remarked that nation states do not possess morals and ethics, just interests. I think that he was right. None of the leaders of the participants in WW1 and WW2 engaged in war as a moral crusade. Yes, the Nazis would make a dog want to vomit. But the Soviets were no better. All of the participants engaged in mass murder of civilian populations, both during and after the war.

WW1 started with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sofie Chotek by a Serb semi-governmental institution. If national governments possessed morals and ethics then they would all have ganged up on Serbia and kicked the crap out of them. Instead, when Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia, Russia, Britain and France declared war against Austria-Hungary. Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary, then declared war against the Entente. A question has arisen in my mind. How did a little banana republic like Serbia think that it could get away with this assassination. It is my suspicion that they were put up to do it by the Entente, that they were promised Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia with a successful conclusion of the war. And I don't think that the dismemberment of Austria-Hungary was the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal was to draw Germany into war. German power, with the expansion of it's industry, had been growing by leaps and bounds, as had it's involvement with the Ottoman Empire, training Ottoman soldiers, supplying weapons, etc. It was time to cut Germany down to size.

With the successful conclusion of WW1, Austria-Hungary was dismembered and it's territory was parcelled out to pathologically nationalist successor states. Millions of Germans and Hungarians suddenly found themselves as unwanted and despised minorities in these new states. The Suedetenland (the German portion of Bohemia and Moravia) was one of the most industrialized regions of the world. Formerly they produced consumer goods for a market of 53 million people (the population of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Now their market was restricted to the 13 million people in the new Czechslovak state. The Suedeten Germans pleaded with Eduard Benes to negotiate trade treaties with Austria, Hungary and the other successor states so that their goods would not be excluded from these markets. Benes was not interested. Germans were not permitted to bid on state contracts. 1,700,000 Hektars of land in the German and Hungarian areas were seized for redistribution with very little compensation. Most of these lands were turned over to Czech colonists who were established in colonies in what had been 100% German and Hungarian territories. In response to criticism, Benes announced plans to divide the state into cantons, like Switzerland, but nothing ever came of this. Germans were very much treated as second class citizens. In desperation, the actions of Benes drove Konrad Henlein, the leader of the Suedeten Germans, into the arms of Hitler.

Ethnic cleansing was very much in the mind of the Polish leadership. Of 3 million Germans who found themselves on the wrong side of the border when the Polish Corridor was created, one million were thrown out of their homes in the period between the wars. According to Carl Tighe in his book, Danzig, the Polish secret service provided financial support to the Irgun. It is not that they liked Jews. They hated them. It was their hope that the Irgun would throw the British out of Palestine. If that happened, the Polish leadership planned to throw all 3.5 million Jews out of the country.

The rationale advanced for the ethnic cleansing of Eastern Europe's German population was that Germans minorities formed an indigestible population and were a source of problems for the host states. There may be some truth in that but you can hardly expect a different outcome when you treat a minority population so poorly.

Next, I will describe in some detail how the Ethnic cleansing was achieved. A good source of information is Alfred Maurice de Zayas' A Terrible Revenge

Prof. Wombat: second opinion: The Krauts Are All Right

2010-08-30T16:41:00.000-07:00

Prof. Wombat: second opinion: The Krauts Are All Right

The Plumbers Menorah and Other Tales of NY

2009-10-20T18:07:00.000-07:00

After cracking about two dozen Black Walnuts, the very substantial nutcracker that I had bought in Woodstock, broke under the strain. The steel pin linking both halves simply bent under the strain. I went to my local hardware store in Innwood. The proprietor offered me a flimsy nutcracker. When I told him that Black Walnuts would laugh at such a flimsy nutcracker, he began muttering to himself in Yiddish. When I asked for a visegrip, he looked at me like I had lost my mind. He offered me a tiny visegrip that was too small to accomplish anything.

Today, I decided to stop off at a hardware store near Zabars on Broadway. They had been there forever but had just gone out of business. Another victim of Depression II. I soothed my hurts with a candied chestnut Gelato and the owner told me about another hardware store on Amsterdam Ave, a few blocks away. This was Beacon Paint & Hardware at 371 Amsterdam Ave, www.beaconpaint,com. The first thing you notice upon entering is a huge Menorah made of plumbing parts. They will happily sell you this Menorah for $109.99 and they will ship it anywhere (although probably at a very substantial cost). Anyway, I got a monster visegrip that makes mincemeat of the Black Walnuts. I am now looking for tougher nuts to crack.

The Plumbers Menorah and other Tales of New York

FISTFA Oct 17 2009

2009-10-18T05:26:00.000-07:00

Made beef, barley and mushroom stew again. I was going to bake two Black Walnut pies from the nuts I had packed in the Catskills a few days before. However, the nuts were so tough that they broke my nutcracker. Imagine trying to crack open large pebbles. Made more Sumac-ade from the Sumac pods I picked in the Catskills. The Moslows brought over a huge amount of food, as did the Phillipses. No one starves here. Rather the opposite. Bob Rodriguez enjoyed watching (if that is the term for a blind man) one of my old serials, G-men versus the Phantom Legion. Mike Moslow and I exchanged electronic files. I gave him two old Long John Nebel shows. One featured Ray Palmer as guest and they discussed the Shaver Mystery and the other featured a Mr. van Tassel talking about his trips in flying saucers. Mike let me copy some CD's with hundreds of Jean Shepherd shows. The next FISTFA will take place on Nov 14th as there would have been a conflict with Philcon the following weekend. Today's FISTFA was the 5th anniversary of the current revival of FISTFA.

FISTFA )ct 17 2009

Chennai Garden and Kalustyan

2009-10-17T05:16:00.000-07:00

Chennai Garden, 129 E 27th Street (bet. Park and Lex), 212-689-1000, www.chennaigarden.com, sets out a buffet brunch for $6.95 of wonderful South Indian vegetarian (and Kosher) dishes. Of course being vegetarian makes it easy for them to achieve Kosher certification but the fact is that they have taken the trouble to obtain such certification. I fasted that morning and I piled three plates high and wound up so stuffed that I could not eat any more. I don't think that my meal cost me more than it would have cost me in some fast food feedlot. Out of towners may dote on their cheeseburgers and deep fried Oreo cookies but they can keep that crap to themselves.

After lunch we explored the neighboring Kalustyan's, 123 Lexington Ave, NY,NY 10016, tel 212-685-3451, www.kalustyans.com. Never have I seen such a profusion of herbs and spices as well as specialty Middle Eastern foods. I bought a bag of Gum Arabic for $1.99. Among the peppercorns I found bags of peppers that looked like miniature pine cones. Never even heard of such things. They even sell Sumac berries, so that I don't have to go into the wilderness to pick them any more

Chennai Gardens and Kalustyans

From Chennai Gardens and Kalustyans

Shopping Lower East Side Oct 13 2009

2009-10-15T13:34:00.000-07:00

There are many fine retail food merchants in New York, such as Zabars and Fairway. There you can get first quality foods from the world over. However, on the Lower East Side, there are many food producers who are a step away from the retail merchants. For example, Kossars Bialys, Guss' Pickles, Streits, Yonah Schimmels Knishes. Their products are fresher and they offer a greater variety. Zabars sells Kossars Bialys but they are bagged and are days old by the time you get them. In my experience, the bialys are covered with a fungal beard within 2 days of purchase. Others are not producers but are specialists such as Russ and Daughters whose selection of smoked and pickled fish stagger the imagination. Economy Candy sells candies that you thought had been out of production for decades, such as Sen Sen, Mary Janes, Beemans Pepsin Gun, Teaberry Gum. In addition, they will cut you a chunk of Halvah off a block. Do you want Halvah with or without chocolate, pistachios? Dried blueberries, cherries, strawberries, mangos, cantalupe, candied orange peel. All significantly cheaper than you can get them elsewhere.

A lot of these products are just unavailable outside of NYC. Yes you can get pickled Vita Herrings in a jar outside of NY but how about Matjes Herring, Bismark herring, lox cut paper thin in front of your eyes? And do you want your lox to come from Swedish salmon, Norwegian, Scottish, Irish, Nova Scotia, Alaska? All of these and many more are available at Russ and Daughters. Where else can you get ready made herring and beet salad?

Yonah Schimmels will sell you a jar of yogurt that comes from a Bulgarian yogurt culture that they have maintained since about 1890. The jar is a glass jar with a screw top that they have recycled from elsewhere.

Shopping Lower East Side Oct 13 2009

To Woodstock, Phoenicia and Woodland Valley, Catskills

2009-10-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

In the mid 1950's, when my father got his first car, a used 1951 Nash, we drove up to Woodland Valley in the Catskills to go camping. We had no tent of other camping equipment but the Nash had this nice feature where you could move the front seat forward and fold the seatrest down to create a continuous sleeping platform in the whole car. In subsequent visits, we would reserve the lean-to to sleep in. Then we would hike the mountain trails, like the one to Slide Mountain. I had not been to the area since the early 1960's but since I am on vacation this week, I decided to rent a car and drive up there and take some pictures. Woodstock I had never been to but it has been so much in the news as a result of the concert that did not take place there in 1969, that I decided to see the place and to take pictures there as well. Unfortunately, the Woodland Valley campsite was closed for the season and they would not permit me to wander around and take pictures.

To Woodstock, Phoenicia and Woodland Valley, Catskills

Muddy Cup Cafe & Environs Staten Island

2009-10-12T18:02:00.000-07:00

And so I bid farewell to Manhattan to embark upon a sea voyage to that remote and misty isle of Staten Island in an effort to determine if there is any civilized life there. As a matter of fact, the Cup Cafe (formerly the Muddy Cup Cafe) is well worth the trip. On the same block is an antique shop, an art gallery, an auction house and an interesting restaurant, Vida. Around the corner is Hoppin John's Southern Cuisine & Catering and, if you must, a few blocks away on Bay Street is a White Castle. The cafe can be reached via the S78 bus from the St George ferry terminal. Get off the bus at the intersection of Beach and Van Duzer St, about a mile from the terminal. The auction house is Ira's Curiosity Place, tel 718-815-0376. Vida's phone no is 718-720-1501. The Exchange Gallery's phone no is 718-717-2253. Hoppin John's phone no is 718-727-2244. The Cup Cafe's number is 718-818-8100

Muddy Cup and Environs Staten Island June 2007

Greenpoint Revisited June 2007

2009-10-12T17:57:00.000-07:00

There are bakeries and butcher shops galore. I did not see a single supermarket, which is just as well.

The poppy strudel that I bought at Rzeszowska Bakery (948 Manhattan Ave) was sensational. Next time though, I will try the cheese babka.

There seemed to be a butcher on every block. Sometimes 2 or 3. I bought my meat at Quality Meat Market, 172 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211 Czeslava Dusza, owner. Tel 718-388-3437. All the butchers though seem to be closed on Sundays.

Casa Mon Amour looked interesting. I had never heard of a fusion Dominican/French cuisine before but I also came across a Colombian/French restaurant. Casa is located at 162 Franklin St, tel 718-349-1529. Beatrice Claray Wetcher is the owner. Open Monday to Saturday. Lunch special, all from steam (presumably this means a steam table) small:$5.00, large: $6.00

An interesting pub with 15 ales on tap was Pencil Factory. It was quiet with very broad floorboards. Ladies, the mens room was impeccably clean. I assume that the ladies room is even cleaner.

The place I definitely want to eat in is S&B Restaurant and Deli, Delicious Polish-American food, 194 Bedford Ave, 718-963-1536. Lunch special for $7.50, featuring soup of the day, 2 vegetables and a choice of blintzes, pierogis, potato dumplings, stuffed cabbage, bigos, etc.

The junk shop is The Vortex, 1084 Manhattan Ave, open 11 A.M to 7 P.M., 7 days a week. The owners wife has a similar shop 2 blocks down. Plus, there is a Salvation Army Thrift Store a block down.

There is a sushi restaurant, Katsu, with the menu in Polish. Japonska Kuchnia Domowa i Sushi. 1013 Manhattan Ave. Tel 718-389-2300.

Wild Ginger pan-asian vegan cafe, 212 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211. Tel 718-218-8828

Yet another Indian restaurant, Mamtaj Mahal, 135B North 5th St, Brooklyn, NY 11211. It seems reasonably priced. No Barfi on the desert menu though. Rats. Tel 718-599-1100.

Greenpoint revisited June 2007

Openhouse New York Oct 2009

2009-10-11T20:51:00.000-07:00

My thanks to my ex Barb in London for alerting me to this event. Without her notices, I would not know about half of the interesting things that go on in the city. This is the 7th year of Openhouse. On this occasion, many public and private facilities open their doors and even provide tours. The weekend did not start auspiciously. All the subway lines except for the M train were experiencing delays due to scheduled repairs. And it rained yesterday. On top of that, no one showed up to conduct a tour of The Little Red Lighthouse. Both my camera and my cellphone glistened with water. I decided to head back home and let my equipment dry out. I resumed my visits today but some of the places I really wanted to see were only open Saturday. Maybe I will have better luck next year

Openhouse New York Weekend 2009

NY, NY June 2007

2009-10-07T17:04:00.000-07:00

What is it that turns me off Hindu art? It strikes me as loud, garish, overstated. Like a woman putting on a vividly colored lipstick but doing it carelessly, smearing it beyond her lips. Or dousing herself with cheap dime store perfume so that she reeks and you can scarcely breather in her presence. The singing is even worse. The lyrics consist of Hare Krishna, sung over and over sung in a bellyaching, moaning style. The lyricist and singers should all be fired. Make that shot, Then pictures of the only Hungarian butcher left in NYC. It was formerly called Magyar Hentes but is now called Yorkville Meat Emporium and they are at the corner of 81 St and 2nd Ave. I was thinking of doing a series "butchers to know and Love" This one would definitely be included.

New York, New York June 2007

Gertels Bakery RIP June 2007

2009-10-07T16:54:00.000-07:00

Gertels Bakery,a long standing tradition on the Lower East Side closed it's doors forever last Friday.It is due to be bulldozed to make way for, you guessed it, high rise luxury condominiums. One by one all the places that made New York special are being sucked out like marrow out of marrow bones. I used to shop there when I went next door to Kaddouri&Sons to buy the biggest and tastiest dried figs and dates in the known universe. The Kaddouri location is also scheduled to be flattened for the same reason as Gertels. Will this process only end when New York becomes as bland as the rest of the USA?

Gertels Bakery RIP June 2007

Mermaid Parade June 2007

2009-10-06T18:19:00.000-07:00

Will this be the last mermaid parade after Thor Equities has flattened half of Coney Island to build luxury high rises? Or will they sponsor future parades consisting of BMW's and SUV's. Is New York fated to become indistinguishable from Duluth or Oshkosh? They are going to kill the goose that laid the golden egg because who would bother comming here if the city was no different from any other?

Mermaid Parade 2007

Bob Whalen Wake June 2007

2009-10-06T18:10:00.000-07:00

Getting there was half the fun. The bus from NYC stops miles away and there is no taxi

Bob Whalen Wake July 2007

City Island Bronx July 2007

2009-10-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

I explored City Island to see if it might be a suitable location for Cafe FISTFA.. There is certainly a large variety of places to eat from a cheap Mexican joint, Island cafe, 205 City Island Ave, Bronx, NY 19464, tel 718-885-0716 to the huge and expensive Sammy's Fish Box Restaurant (www.sammysfishbox.com). I ate lunch at City Island Chinese Restaurant, 84-86 City Island Ave, 718-885-3775 ( shrimp with lobster sauce $5.25). A lot of businesses were however closed. One of the merchants told me that much of the island population departs during 4th of July week. Presumably these businesses will all be open on weekends. Starving Artist Cafe looked interesting. They have live musical performances and also sell art works and books, but they were closed (www.starvingartistonline.com). There were plenty of antique and art shops. I was told that the Black Whale Cafe has a backyard patio but they were closed. I would have to revisit on a weekend to see the places that were closed. You can reach the island by taking the Bx29 bus from the last stop on the #6 train. This bus runs down to the end of the island. The island is 1 1/2 miles long. The island is also easily reachanble by car and Mark Glasser note) there is no bridge toll.

City Island NYC July 2007

Astoria Queens July 2007

2009-10-04T07:46:00.000-07:00

A brief reconnaissance in force to explore a small area in Astoria for suitability for Cafe FISTFA.. Within about 6 blocks of the Broadway stop of the N train there was an astonishing variety of reasonable cafes and restaurants and one sizable bookshop. The bookshop was formerly Stowel & Sons but is now Seaburn books, 33-18 Broadway, Astoria, NY 11106, tel 718-267-7929 (www.seaburn.com). The Mexican place had some items I had never seen before such as scrambled eggs with cactus and exotic tropical shakes. A lot of places were closed for the 4th of July, like Mundo Cafe at 31-18 E Broadway with one owner who is Turkish and the other Argentine and the cuisine apparently reflects both. The Polish butcher was likewise closed. The Colombian restaurant presents a cuisine that looks sharply different from the Puerto Rican and Dominican that I have a passing aquaintance with This is to the good because I am convinced that only barbarians relish deep fried foods.

Astoria Queens July 2007

Court St Brooklyn and Vicinity July 2007

2009-10-04T07:29:00.000-07:00

This time it is Brooklyn's turn. I searched the Internet for bookstores, reasoning that there are often interesting cafes and shops in the vicinity. The stores listed for Willoughby and Livingston streets are no more. This is just as well since the area is crappy, with windblown garbage, etc. I descended down to Atlantic Ave and headed West. There were literally dozens of antique shops, with some unusual pieces of furniture. I took pictures of a few. However,unless you are an antiques buff and reasonably physically fit, Cafe FISTFA should confine itself to Court St. That said, there was an interesting shop at 323 Atlantic Ave, specializing in handcrafted toys, named Acorn.Tel 718-522-3760, www.acorntoyshop.com. Also Zoe Papers at 315 Atlantic Ave, 718-625-5797, www,zoepapers.com specializes in all kinds of things made from paper, including hand made paper

Just off Atlantic Ave on Court St is Yemen Cuisine, tel 718-624-9325. The items on the menu are unusual and cheap. From the breakfast menu (served anytime0 we have, for example Foul (fava beans)topped with tomato, onion, olive oil, sesame paste, eggs $5.00, Kbda (small pieces of lamb liver sauteed), tomato, onion, spices, bread $6.00. Next door is India House.at 139 Court St, 718-852-3486, also cheap. I have been going here for years. Beware the green salsa. It will burn your mouth out. at 187 Court St is California Taqueria. I had a Chile Colorado Taco ($2.99). It was delicious. There is not even a faint resemblance to what is served at Taco Bell.

163 Court St is Book Court, a fairly sizable book shop .At 221A Court St is Brooklyn Artisan's Gallery, 718-330-0343, www.brooklynartisans.com, specializing in things made by hand. Across the street is Community Book Store of Cobble Hill. They were closed. One of the merchants told me that they don't open up until 4 P.M.

I went from here to Park Slope. The internet had identified 4 book shops but two were out of business. I don't think that the neighborhood has much to offer. It didn't have quaint shops and cheap ethnic food like Court St did. Then again, I confined myself to 7th Ave.

Court St & Vicinity July 2007

Bay Ridge Brooklyn July 2007

2009-10-04T07:26:00.000-07:00

One book shop in Bay Ridge. Jean Danet at 7526 5th Ave, tel 718-836-7566 is a great French bakery. They probably make the finest croisants in the city. They glisten with butter. There are many places that I did not look into. I avoided places that seemed to have invested heavily in appearance. To pay for this appearance they would have to increase their prices. I would rather go to a cheap place with a dingy exterior and dried bird shit hanging from the outside security gate (like the Yemeni place on Court St ). The Norwegian diner that was a fixture of the neighborhood for years is gone. No more Fiske Boller (this is not a great hardship). No more frozen lingonberries and no more fish and chips served wrapped in newspaper.

Bay Ridge Brooklyn July 2007

E 86 St and Central Park August 2007

2009-10-04T07:08:00.000-07:00

I was alerted to the activation of the Central Park Reservoir Fountain by Maureen Peck, and I decided to take a look, as well as seeing E86th St. Papaya King has been a feature of the landscape since 1932 but I wonder for how much longer? Good hot dogs but they try to misslead you into believing that you are drinking papaya juice. It is actually about 5 gallons of papaya pulp, 25 pounds of parlac (dried milk powder with 33% butterfatt and water, mixed up in a 50 gallon mixer. Tasty though. Inside are posters touting the virtues of hot dogs and papaya juice. You hear that Marlene Dietrich's favorite food was a combination of hot dogs and champagne. Yuck. A long time employee told me that a certain Billy Dubendorfer worked here from 1976 to around 1981. I wonder if this was the same Billy Dubendorfer that I went to school with?

Most of the places that gave the area its unique ethnic flavor are gone to make way for the bland upper east side. My parents bought their first furniture in the USA in the shade of the Third Ave El. Cafe Hindenburg, Cafe Geiger and the Kleine Konditorei are gone as well as Kerekes ( a Hungarian newsdealer who could speak every east European language like a native, many butchers and bakers, shops lile Lekvar by the Barrel, Paprika Weiss, Chechoslovak Praha, The Yaegerhaus, Barney Google's cavernous beer hall. We lived on E 83rd and York when Barney Google's closed down. It was the favorite destination of participants in the St Patrick's Day Parade. You never saw so many REALLY pissed off REALLY big Irish guys in kilts as they discovered that their favorite watering hole was gone.

The pace of destruction is quickening. I had not been here for a year and half a block has been flattened to make way for another luxury high rise condominium. Why is it that they never replace the unique businesses that give the area its charm? Is New York going to turn into a high rise version of Duluth?

E 86 and Central Park Aug 2007

Innwood Hill Park August 2007

2009-10-04T06:51:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel I have to get away from the press of humanity and I am not happy until I feel moss under my feet. Innwood Hill Park offers such possibilities if you avoid the paved pathways and stick to the woodland trails. It is hard to believe that so much natural beauty can be found in Manhattan.

Innwood Hill Park August 2007

Highbridge Park I August 2007

2009-10-04T04:34:00.000-07:00

Hightbridge Park is split by the Harlem River Drive. I discovered there is no opportunity to cross over until you get down to 155th St. I intended to walk back on the opposite side but I had to take a wicked crap (Maybe the Dominican food I ate) and there was no bathroom to be found. I hopped on the C train at 155th and then on to the A and barely made it back in time. Stand by for my continued explorations of this park. I had wanted to continue on at least to Our Lady of Nocturnal Emissions Church but nature prevailed.

Highbridge Park August 2007

Highbridge Park II August 2007

2009-10-04T04:21:00.000-07:00

Highbridge Park is rather long and narrow. There are two sets of trails. One hugs the shoreline and the other climbs up and down the ridge line. Today I decided to explore the ridge line trail. It was hot and incredibly humid. I felt that I should have stayed home. Then too, the trail peters out about half way down without any warning. This portion of the park needs a lot of restoration work and I am not likely to return here anytime soon. Areas off the trail look like poison ivy monoculture. There are few breaks in the vegetation leading to a view.I cannot give high marks to the Dominican cuisine sold at the lunch wagon but I was grateful to drink the oversweetened lemonade, having just lost several quarts of sweat. Next time I will bring a canteen.

Highbridge Park II August 2007

Fairway Supermarket Sept 2007

2009-10-03T18:59:00.000-07:00

What's that? Why am I taking pictures of a supermarket? And I live in Manhattan? Well this is not just any supermarket. This is Fairway by 77St, a Manhattan institution. I have not given it the attention that it deserves because I am usually lured away by Zabars, the Mecca of gourmet foods that is just a few blocks away. I was lured here by a quest for rye flour. This is a substance that is simply unavailable in the tip of Manhattan where I live where the population is mostly Dominican. They like things made from weird tropical tubers and no doubt feel satisfied with it. I occasionally need rye bread like that made in the remote Saxon village where I was born. Bread that has no air bubbles at all. Bread that is so dense that it will break your toes should you be so unfortunate to drop it. Bread that is the ideal accompanyment to slices of raw bacon or spread with goosefat. Bread that would be wellcome and delicious to the gods (well, the Northern gods anyway, like Loki and Thor). Try feeding some Dominican tuber bread to Thor and you will find your head caved in by Mjolnir.

Fairway came to my attention by a newspaper article about it's rabid following among shoppers. They do not sell styrofoam like bread in plastic bags but artisanal loaves that are a beauty to behold. Purple Peruvian Potatoes with purple flesh. Aged sardines. Endless varieties of cheeses, olive oils, balsamic vinegars, caviars, etc. You pick your own olives out of tubs. If you think these olives are the same species as the bland things packed in pasteurized jars found in other supermarkets, you are sadly mistaken. How about Yak cheese from Tibet? And it does not come pre-sliced. None of their cheeses do. There is even a charming cafe on the second floor. The entire second floor is devoted to organic foods.

Before I could finish taking pictures, I was stopped by management. Taking pictures is against their policy,

Out of towners, eat your hearts out.

Fairway Supermarkey Sept 2007

NYC Lower East Side Oct 2007

2009-10-03T18:50:00.000-07:00

So just recently Ira Donewitz advised me via e-mail about this wonderful and cheap chinese restaurant he had found on E Broadway in the Lower East Side. It is all he said it was. You can watch them making your own personal noodle on a table in the corner. I don't know how long it is but one noodle fills your whole bowl. The only utensils provided are chopsticks and plastic spoons. Ira chopped his noodle up with the plastic spoon but I felt like a barbarian and just lifted a section with my chopsticks and bit into it. I was so stuffed that I did not go on to Yonah Schimmels Knishes, as planned. However, I did pick up bialys from Kossars Bialys and pickled okrah form The Pickle Guys, 49 Essex St Between Grand St and Hester St, 1-888-4-pickle, www.nycpickleguys.com, under the Rabbinical Supervision of Rabbi Shmuel Fishelis.

Look closely because in the blink of an eye this will all be transformed into luxury high rise condominiums whose inhabitants will buy their bialys in plastic bags at the supermarket from Lenders and whose idea of pickles will be some bland concoction pasteurized in glass jars without any taste. They will visit Europe and wonder why we can't produce great foods like that in the USA. Mayor Bloomberg, are you paying attention?

NYC Lower East Side Oct 2007

Brunch Great Jones Street Jan 2008

2009-10-03T02:37:00.000-07:00

wanted to eat at Great Jones Eats but they were full and I didn't want to wait. I was determined to eat on Great Jones Street. The Five Points Cafe (named after the infamous Lower East Side gang, the Five Pointers was also filled to overflowing. We tried the ACME. I had a delicious jambalaya with great mashed potatoes and gravy on the side. The portions were so huge that I was only able to eat half of it. Took the balance home in a doggy bag. As a souvenir, I bought a bottle of hot sauce called "The Hottest Fucking Sauce". The label gives the following warning:

We warned you. This is a serious fucking hot sauce. That's right we said it--because we had to. There is no other way to describe just how hot this sauce is. I suppose we could have said "It's like the fiery depths of hell" or "That it's ass burning" and even "keep away from pets and small children and avoid contact with sensitive areas, but that just seems so wordy.The sauce is hot as fuck! Succinct, to the point, no beating around the bush! Honesty is always the best policy, isn't it? If this sauce burns intensely, don't be afraid to let it out. Scream fuck at the top of your lungs. There is no better verbal therapy.

ACME's website: acmebarandgrill.com

I will take the warning seriously. I note that the sauce contains no vinegar. That way they can cram in more habanero and scotch bonnet peppers.

Brunch Great Jones St Jan 2008

Borough Park, Jan 2008

2009-10-03T02:32:00.000-07:00

This time it is Borough Parks turn for a brief visitation. I have been so tied to Manhattan that I have neglected Brooklyn since I moved back to the city. I couldn't find Shlomo Weiss' bakery (the best humantashen) but I did find Crown Deli. Unfortunately they were out of kasha knishes. Theirs are made of a thin circlet of dough open on both ends and the filling is more onion than kasha. Wonderful. The corn bread at Korn's bakery was fluffier, drier and less sour than I remembered it. Maybe I caught them on an off day.

I was hiking down 65 St heading for 22nd Ave and Motel's bakery for some cheap and good sheet cake but I got pooped and headed home. Borough Park is clearly expanding because I never saw black clad Orthodox on 18th Ave and 65th St before. I saw a fair number of Chinese too. The Chinese will be missing a bet if they don't open kosher Chinese restaurants there.

Borough Park Jan 2008

Manhattan Xmas 2007

2009-10-03T01:59:00.000-07:00

Why does every place I have been to seem dull and bland compared to Manhattan?

Manhattan Xmas 2007

Lower East Side Houses, Nov 2007

2009-10-03T01:50:00.000-07:00

Most of the pictures were taken on Rivington St, some on Broome and Orchard. Not too long ago, most of Manhattan looked like this. The skyscrapers were limited to Downtown and Midtown. The old buildings were for the most part sturdy and handsome, many with architectural details. They are being destroyed at an ever increasing rate to make way for bland luxury high rise condominiums. These are skyscrapers without any architectural details.

I would not argue that a skyscraper is necessarily ugly. Look at the Woolworth building, for example, but what is being put up today has all the beauty of a chicken coop. This uglyness is fueled by a sellers market. Everyone in the world wants to live in Manhattan. I wonder though why they want to live here? Is it just the IDEA of living in Manhattan or do they enjoy the quaint shops and restaurants? These are also being rapidly obliterated and being replaced by chain stores. I would rather have an espresso coffee in Little Italy any day over one at Starbucks or a slice of pizza at one of many great pizzerias over the bland fare produced by the chain pizzerias.

Maybe I should start a campaign to keep people from moving here. No, no, don't move here! The taste of the food is too strong and there is no shopping because we don't have a Wallmart..

Lower East Side Houses Nov 2007

Former NY Saloons III Oct 2007

2009-10-03T01:31:00.000-07:00

Vices of a Big City (1890) points out that Henry Meagher's All Night House is located directly opposite the offices of the Excise Board. The point is that the Excise Board required saloons to close at 1 PM and to remain closed Sundays

207 Bowery, Bertrand Meyer's Concert Saloon, it is pointed out, is filled with women nightly, who smoke cigarettes and drink gin. The author does not call them "disorderly women" (prostitutes) but simply seems to be repulsed at the idea of women smoking and drinking gin.

255 Bowery, Louis Stajer's Concert Hall. The author states that it was a resort for low women and their male companions who use it as a meeting place.

For the remaining pictures, I have largely limited myself to pictures of buildings identified as "disorderly houses. There were probably hundreds on the Lower East Side.

Following in this series, I have finally found the address of Bismarck Hall, 284 Pearl street. Bismark Hall was the hangout of a reputed vampire, Ludwig the Bloodsucker. Hopefully the building is still there. He was reportedly bald but had hair sprouting from every bodily orifice as well as a large tuft from the tip of his nose. He would drink glasses of human blood in the saloon.

Former NY Saloons III Nov 2007

Former NY Saloons II Oct 2007

2009-10-03T01:29:00.000-07:00

A most interesting source of information on the saloons, whorehouses and gambling dens in New York is Vices Of A Big City, An Expose of Existing Menaces to Church and Home in New York City, published in 1890.

Golden Swan Park is the site of the former Golden Swan Saloon, more popularly referred to as The Bucket of Blood or The Hell Hole. It was a headquarters of the Hudson Dusters gang and the favorite saloon of playwright Eugene O'Neil who took the setting of The Iceman cometh from the Bucket of Blood.

Kenny's Castaways at 157 Bleeker was formerly the home of The Slide saloon. The 1890 description says that"The place is filled nightly with from 100 to 300 people, most of whom are males, but are not worthy of the name of man. They are degraded and addicted to vices which are inhuman and unnatural." In other words, it was a gay bar.

57 Great Jones Street was the location of the New Brighton Dance Hall and headquarters of Paul Kelly and the Five Pointers gang. I am going to try out Great Jones Eats. It looks like a sleazy joint on the outside but is quite attractive on the inside (54 Great Jones St, 212-674-9304)Example, on the lunch menu Mission Beef Chili 8.95With The Works 9.95

Cooper Union had some weird art project whose significance escapes me, of stacking ice blocks in a rectangular enclosure and letting them melt.

The former Paresis Hall saloon is now the headquarters of The Village Voice. This was a short lived gay bar owned by Paul Kelly of the Five Pointers.

Bill McGlory's The Armory at 158 Hester was long torn down to make way for a massive non descriptive building housing The Chinese Mission Society. Personally I would rather have a saloon there than a church. No trace can be seen of Dry Dollar Sullivan's saloon at 116 Centre St. This was headquarters of the Wyo's gang. The site has been swallowed up by an expansion of the Tombs. A gangster named Piker Ryan was arrested while carrying a menu of the Whyo's services:

Punching $2
Both eyes blacked $4
Nose and jaw broke $10
Jacked out $15
Ear chawed off $15
Leg or arm broke $19
Shot in leg $25
Stab $25
Doing the big job $100 and up

I was intrigued to try the Cha Cha cafe, which has a backyard pation, but I was too stuffed from just having eaten brunch at the Pipers Kilt with my son Adam and his girlfriend Geraldine.

Former NY Saloons II Oct 2007

Former NY Saloons I Oct 2007

2009-10-03T01:19:00.000-07:00

Nigger Mike's is where a singing waiter named Izzy Balin (Later known as Irving Berlin) started his march to fame. He also sang in The Chatham Club on Doyers Street. According to "Low Life" by Luc Sante, the kind of song that went over best with the thieves, murderers, extortionists and assorted muscle was the sentimental ballad. The tune that supposedly launched Izzy Baline's carreer at Nigger Mike Saulters was Arthur Lamb and Harry von Tilzer's "The Mansion of Aching Hearts":

She lives in a mansion of aching hearts,
She's one of the restless throng;
The diamonds that glitter around her throat,
They speak both of sorrow and song;
The smile on her face is only a mask
And many is the tear that starts,
For sadder it seems, when of mother she dreams,
In the mansion of aching hearts.

Callahan's hired two singing waiters, the Yoelson brothers, who changed their name to Jolson. The younger was named Al. And the rest is history.

During the tong wars, the bend at Doyers had more murders than any spot in NY. Incidentally, next door to 12 Pell St is the headquarters of the Hip Sing Tong, one of the participants in the tong wars. It's opponent, the On Leong Association, is still around also.

Lombardi's has expanded to become a saloon. It was the first pizzeria in North America and in my opinion is still the best. I haven't been there in several years though. They have swallowed up the neighboring businesses and expanded to open a bar. Even though it was raining, there was a line waiting to get in. They are at 32 Spring St, NYC, NY 212-941-7994. http://www.FirstPizza.com

McGurk went on to greater fame to open his Suicide Hall, where people came to kill themselves and others came hoping to witness a suicide. That building was recently flattened to make way for a luxury high rise condominium.

Brodie, of course, is the gentleman who supposedly jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge and survived to tell the tale.

Former NY Saloons I Oct 2007

Dietrich's Meats Sept 2007

2009-10-03T01:10:00.000-07:00

This is Dietrich's Meats of Krumsville (crookedville in English), deep in Pennsylvania Dutch country ( or Deutsch in German or Daitsch in the Swabian language). The Pennsylvania Dutch originated in the south of Germany. They were Protestants who found themselves on the loosing side of the 30 years war. It was either leave or become Catholics. They would rather have died than to become Catholics. They sold everything they had and headed for ships in Hamburg to take them to the Promised Land (Pennsylvania- yukh). Unfortunately, Germany was not one country but several hundred countries. Every time they crossed a border they had to pay a tax. By the time they arrived in Hamburg, many had no money left at all. Many were taken on board ships on the condition that they sell themselves and their children as indentured servants for 7 years. Arriving in Philadelphia, many found their children sold to other owners and never saw them again. Still, most were highly skilled farmers, blacksmiths, etc. and they slowly rebuilt their lives. Eating weird animal parts, scrapple, pudding, etc., are a legacy of these beginnings in poverty.

Dietrich's sells Moxie soda. This is the only purveyor of Moxie for hundreds of miles from NYC.

Dietrich's Meats Sept 2007

Juniors, Brooklyn Sept 28 2009

2009-09-29T17:28:00.000-07:00

I just started working in downtown Brooklyn on Fulton St and was casting about for some place to eat at lunch, when I noticed that Juniors was only about three blocks away. That settled it. I ate a humongous pastrami sandwich and more pickled things than was good for me.

Juniors is a Brooklyn institution and has been since it’s founding in 1950. New York Magazine judged Juniors cheese cake to be the best in New York in 1971. This means, of course, that it is the best cheesecake in the Universe. The décor is very much that of the late 1940’s, as was the piped in Jazz muzak. It is easy to visualize the clientele of 1950, the men and women all wearing hats and the men of the “better” class all wearing double breasted suits. An image comes to mind of a picture recently published in the Times, of Justice Sotomajor as a kid with her parents, all dressed up in Puerto Rico. From what I have read, there was a great deal more of formality in those days, with people shipping trunks of clothing up to the hotels in the borshtbelt and changing clothing to go to dinner.

It might be fun to have a get together at Juniors sometime, with everyone dressed as if it was 1950. The strange confections that constituted women’s hats in 1950 can still be found in thrift shops. Men’s hats are easily obtained new. We could even invite Justice Sotomajor. She must be feeling homesick for New York by now/

Juniors, Brooklyn Sept 28 2009

To Bent and Dent and Back Sept 25 2009

2009-09-26T11:57:00.000-07:00

I had to travel to Pennsylvania to co-sign my son Adam's lease. Getting to the Outback of Pennsylvania is no simple affair. You can't just jump on the subway. Round trip train costs anywhere from $80 to $120. Then you are left with round trip cab fares. The bus is cheap but is a grueling experience. It made sense to just rent a car in Manhattan. This way I could also look up some old friends and some people in the Old Order Amish and Mennonite communities that I had gotten to know so well. There are a number of people I just did not have time to look up. That will have to wait until next time.

The Old Order Mennonite Nolt's are an interesting case. Mark Nolt came from Canada but his ancestors came from North Germany and he grew up speaking Plattdeutsch. He married Maryanne in Pennsylvania and had to learn a new language, Pennsylvania Dutch. This language is actually Schwaebisch (Swabian to you). Mark and Maryanne produce the highest quality meats and dairy products. The cows are grass fed and the chickens are free range. The difference in taste is immediately noticeable. They are very enterprising farmers and no longer sell milk to the milk truck. All the milk that is not sold from their farm is used to produce cheeses on the farm. The milk, I should add, is not pasteurized or homogenized. It is always a delight to see the Nolts. When I stopped off to see them a few months back, Mark forgot himself and began to speak to me in Pennsylvania Dutch. I guess in his mind, I am not one of the English, as the Plain People refer to those who are not a part of their community.

Click on the thumbnail below to see the pictures.

To Bent and Dent and Back Sept 25 2009

Harlem Buildings March 2008

2009-09-20T09:25:00.000-07:00

In some respects, Harlem is like a fly in amber Row after row of handsome, sturdy buildings with architectural details. A few decades ago, all of Manhattan looked like this. Then"progress" came and the bulk of these buildings were bulldozed and replaced with the blandness of luxury high-rise condominiums. That process is starting here too but it will take time for these buildings to be obliterated.

A lot of Manhattan life revolved around the stoops. In the pre-air conditioning days, people would gather on the stoops to escape the opressive heat, watch the kids playing stickball and gossip with neighbors and the mailman. Visiting salesmen like the Fuller brushman, the Good Humor ice cream salesman, etc., were seized on with avidity. The airshaft in the tenement buildings was used in a similar way to socialize, as was documented in the early 1950's TV show, The Molly Goldberg Show. As I remember, the show began with Molly calling "Yoo Hoo" into the shaft, hoping to entice some neighbor into gossiping.

My son Andrew informs me that the old stoop culture is not quite dead. He told me that several months ago, he encountered a neighbor he had known for 10 years, sitting on the stoop and smoking. He asked her how her foot was (she had had surgery several months before)? As they were talking, people who were about to enter or leave the building joined in on the conversation until, 30 minutes later, a sizable knot of people had gathered in front of the building, actively talking. The stoop culture does not survive the transition to the suburbs but is one of the delights of life in New York.

Crowds of people, mostly white, were gathering in the 12 degree cold with high winds. I was wondering what was going on? A cop told me that Senator Clinton was due to speak at a church. I marveled that these people were willing to endure this bestial cold for someone like Hillary Clinton.

I passed a building that from a distance looked like the biggest White Castle hamburger joint I had ever seen. It turned out to be a church. A dissappointment. I would rather have had a White Castle hamburger at that point. At some future point, I will take pictures of the White Castle in Passaic NJ. This White Castle was a focal point of our suburban teenage years as we raced our cars to see who could get there first. Most of us did not have cars, so a whole crowd would pile into the trunk of Bob Whalen's 1947 Plymouth businessmans coupe. While speeding along the highway, we would open the trunk from inside and make obscene gestures at the traffic following. Allan Hoch loved to stick his naked ass out the window, mooning the population. Yessir, I have sentimental memories of White Castle. The food, of course, is crap.

Harlem Buildings March 2008

Middletown PA March 2008

2009-09-20T09:15:00.000-07:00

The most noteworthy thing about this town is that it is the headquarters of the Middletown&Hummelstown Railroad. This is owned and operated by railfans. They are a diverse lot, mastering tools like welders, cutting torches, sand blasters, etc. I was introduced to this place by Jim Kovacs, a consulting mining engineer and a member of the Society for Industrial Archeology. He owns his own personal boxcar that he parks on a siding that he rents, as well as a half interest in a caboose. As my sons and I returned with him from an abandoned coal mine, salvaging equipment for the Society of Industrial archeology, he pointed out a drug store with a steam locomotive parked next to it. The owner is a rabid railfan who bought the locomotive to have and to hold forever. Don't know if he ever fired up the boiler but he wouldn't have far to go since the tracks did not extend beyond the locomotive.

The last time I was in Middletown was about 10 years ago. The M&H RR looks much the same, except that there seemed to be a few more rust flakes than previously. The same doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc., in grimy coveralls, working at maintaining and repairing the equipment with their own hands. This is surely a labor of love.

Middletown PA March 2008

Carroll Gardens March 2008

2009-09-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

I thought I was in Red Hook but one business on Columbia St stated that they were in Carroll Gardens and another a few doors down that it was Cobble Hill.

Freebird books, 123 Columbia St is a large and very nice second hand bookshop. They also sell Moxie soda and T-shirts. The owner said that he has it shipped in from Maine and was very interested when I told him that I get it in Kuttstown, PA. www.freebirdbooks.com

DUB Pies, dubpies.com. These are small pies with mostly meat fillings that are designed to be eaten out of hand. Prices range from 3 to 5 bucks. The idea seems to be similar to that of a Cornish pasty. 193 Columbia St.

Mucho Gusto, 115 Columbia St, e-mail infor@muchogustoinc.com, 718-834-8786. I have not been inspired by Carribbean food in the past but they do have a daily lunch special for $6.00. I wound up eating in a Mexican place on Court St and have had gas all afternoon. If Carribbean food is less gassy, I might give it a whirl.

Pit Stop, 127 Columbia St, www.pitstopny.com. Lunch ranges from $7 to $11. A lot of the menu items feature goat cheese, a fact that does not appeal to me. I remember a pair of lesbians out in Pennsylvania who ran a goat farm. Everyone raved about their expensive goat cheese but to me it had the consistency of Craime Fraiche but less flavor than cream cheese. I have concluded that people who offer goat cheese on their menus are being pretentious. As usual, it is left up to me to point out that the emperor has no clothes. That being said I will say that I am intrigued by their Snails in the Potato item on the menu. I love snails.

Jakes Barbeque, www.jakesbbq.com. I don't know why but the idea of barbeque does not make my heart go pitter patter. No special lunch menus. Entries range from $7.95 to $24.95.

Carroll Gardens March 2008

Satanic March 2008

2009-09-20T08:54:00.000-07:00

Normally I am pretty tolerant but if someone annoys me by forcing my attention to their bizzarre beliefs, then they become legitimate targets for mockery. I mean that if someone privately subscribes to the belief that they are descended from a six tusked elephant, I couldn't care less but if they shout their belief on the subway, disturbing me or paint their belief in public places, then they become legitimate prey. And so it was that , in quick succession, a crazed evangelist woke me on the subway with his ravings and the Jesus Hucksters (whom I previously documented here), tried to block my path while they raved at me. This past weekend I decided to have some fun. I created these posters and intended to surreptitiously post them near the Jesus Hucksters and quietly wait results with my camcorder. To my great frustration, they were not there. I mean, they have manned the same location on the 42nd St platform, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the past year. I am so frustrated. Rather than waste these posters, I decided to post them here. Thanks to the Beatles for "Give Peace a Chance".

Satanic March 2008

Jesus Hucksters March 2008

2009-09-20T08:29:00.000-07:00

The early church fathers knew that some of the epistles ascribed to St Paul were bogus. They were not written by him at all. Yet they included them in the bible because they were so good and the church fathers felt that their inclusion would promote belief in Jesus. This is called a pious fraud. It is evident that these gentlemen had the ethics and morals of used car salesmen. Clearly, lying and cheating is OK as long as it promotes belief in the faith. So what can I do to help these gentlemen out? I think we need some gospels about the four footed companions of Jesus. I am thinking of writing The Gospel of Crypto the Wonderdog, the Hound of Jesus and the gospel of Hee-Haw, the Ass of Jesus. Crypto was a seven day sensation because he refused to lick his balls on Fridays and-- well you can see where I am heading

Jesus Hucksters March 2008

More LES March 2008

2009-09-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

Having eaten lunch at my favorite noodle joint on E Broadway, I decided to explore the area just to the east.. After about two blacks the pretty buildings peter out to a vast sea of housing projects built to a style that has been called Stalin Gothic. Sturdy but ugly buildings. In all fairness to the city, they decided to demolish endless blocks of tenements that were an absolute horror to live in. Buildings without air shafts or even windows. Rickety constructions, some built using a single course of bricks, sometimes with the mortar cheapened with an admixture of sawdust. Given the choice, I would rather live in the projects than in those horrible tenements.

More LES March 2008

Western Rockaways March 2008

2009-09-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

I had been curious what the Western end of the Rockaways peninsula was like. It is so tedious to get to that I suspect that few who do not live there ever bother traveling so far. One way of getting there is to take the A train to Broad Channel, a village in the middle of Jamaica Bay with a subway station. There you have to switch to the shuttle which takes you to the end of the line as far as the subway is concerned, the community of Rockaway Park. However, you are still several miles from the gated community of Breezy Point. To travel further in that direction, you take the Q25 bus. The route of the Q25 though ends at 169 St, still about 2 miles from Breezy point. If you get discouraged at that point, you can hop on the Q35 bus which will take you to Flatbush Ave and civilization. I was determined to walk, if necessary. I reached the gated community of Roxbury when it started raining. I took some pictures and walked back to the bus stop in disgust.

Roxbury is a community of the type of construction sometimes referred to as bungalows. I suspect that at one time it was a summer only colony. It looks like cheap construction. Under the clapboards you will probably find cheap beaverboard instead of sound wood. Beaverboard is sawdust glued together. It would probably not pass any modern building codes. Nowadays they would simply have plopped down mobile homes. Even the churches look like cheap bungalows.

There are no tresspassing and beware of dog signs everywhere. I was frequently stopped by people asking me if I was lost. Strangers, it would appear, are infrequent and not wanted. The streets are cement paths the width of sidewalks. The avenues are dirt tracks in the sand. There is no topsoil or grass anywhere. The whole place was built on sanddunes, like in a desert.

There is little for anyone to see so far. However, I am determined to expose Breezy Points secrets to the World. I will be back..

Western Rockaways March 2008

Cypress Hills Brooklyn March 26 2008

2009-09-20T05:31:00.000-07:00

Unquestionably, Cypress Hills is the Brooklyn equivalent of that portion of the human anatomy "where the sun don't shine".It is as devoid of charm as any place that I have ever seen. It is a mixed industrial/residential neighborhood with very little architectural beauty. So I say to the people who are wrecking Manhattan with their luxury high rises, please bulldoze this neighborhood. Your elevated chicken coops would improve this neighborhood. Even the churches are former industrial wrecks.

So what is it that drew me here in the first place? As with many things in life, it was a small, seemingly insignificant event. I was bored on the subway and picked up a newspaper that someone had discarded, African Abroad. This is a newspaper that is aimed at the African community residing here in good old New York. Naturally I flipped to the middle of the paper and came across an article "Prophet's Wife Goes to Babalawo to Save Her Marriage. The article read as follows (in slightly fractured English):

In a bid to have her husband spend enough time with her sexually and otherwise, the wife of a Prophet in Asaba, Delta State has decided to seek the help of Babalawo (marabout). Sources close to the Pstor, whose name was given as Rev. Martins Ulokan said the wife had severally accused her husband of lack of commitment to their marital vow as he no longer shows her love, while hiding under the guise of undergoing spiritual purification. The Prophet's wife whose name was given as Mrs. Rita Ulokan was said to have also accused her husband of spending more time than necessary ministering to female memebers ofhis church in the inner sanctuary and extra marital activities with other women. As a result, she did all within her powers to stop her husband from prophetic work, but unfortunately he efforts yielded no fruit. The source said that Mrs. Ulokan became frustrated after the failed bid to stop her husband from prophetic work, to enable him to give her more attention. In this confusionshe consulted a woman who is said to be a member of her husband's church for useful suggestion Both women embarked on a journey to Esan Land in Edo State to meet the Babalawo for some concoction. The Babalawo demanded for the picture of the Prophet in the preparation of the charm, but unfortunately, the charm failed in Mrs. Ulokan didn't adhere to the instruction given her by the Babalawo. It was learn that the woman was asked to drop the concoction into the husband's food seven days but Prophet Ulokan only ate the food for four days and embarked on prayer and fasting thereby neutralizing the medicine.

There was no hint in the article that the concoction failed because magic does not work. Hmm. So I turned the page and saw an ad for a restaurant, Festac Grill African Restaurant, 263 Hendrix St, Brooklyn, NY 11207, tel 347-627-5151. Our outstanding menu consists of: Eba or Amala with Egbono, Egusi, Efo Ewedu, Okra, Edikaikon, Isi-Ewu, Ugba, Nkwobi, etc. On impulse, I took the J train home from work and scouted out the neighborhood and stopped in to have a bite. The waitress warned me that the food is spicy. I found that this was true but not excessively so. I had Moi Moi, which is a fist sized baked item made of some ground up bean but was pleasantly spicy. To be on the safe side, I also ordered "Meat" and fried plantain. "Meat" turned out to be goat meat but cooked so that it turned hard. You are given a fiery sauce to dip your food into. To wash it all down with, I ordered a bottle of Emu. Emu is sparkling palm juice and tastes vaguely like beer. The staff was very friendly but would not let me take pictures until the owner arrived. The owner Abiodun Imasuen, festacgrill@aol.com, gladly gave me permission when she arrived but by that time I had eaten my food and could not take a picture of it. I asked her what Nkwobi was and she said that it was cows foot. The owner and staff are all female and the customers were all male. I will need to eat a wider sample of their foods before I can make a judgement. However, I would say that the food is pleasant but not world class

Cypress Hills Brooklyn Mar 26 2008

Back to Africana April 2008

2009-09-20T05:22:00.000-07:00

Another West African restaurant. This one is a cafeteria style operation with the food pre-cooked and kept hot on a steam table. To me, the pounded yam had the taste and consistency of wallpaper paste but the same could probably be said for the potato dumplings that I dote on. It depends on what you grew up eating. The cow skin was served with a spicy, delicious sauce but it had the consistency of a rubber boot. Come to think of it, shoes are made from cow skin. The Egusi appears to be a mixture of fish and spinach and was delicious.

Much as the cuisine was a novelty to us, we were also a novelty to the other customers and the staff. Other customers came over to chat with us as we ate. The friendly staff indulged us in explaining the sometimes unpronouncable items on the menu. I am getting to like washing down my meals with palm juice from Nigeria.

Africana Restaurant, 146-12 Liberty Ave, Jamaica, NY 11435. Tel 718-658-8501

Back to Africana April 2008

145 St Harlem April 2008

2009-09-19T22:50:00.000-07:00

Had brunch with Adam and Geraldine at the IHOP at 135th St and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd and decided to take pictures of 145th St. I had passed the Jesus Taco place on the bus and decided to take a closer look. 145th St is one of the main thoroughfares of Harlem and looks like a typical Manhattan street of the 1950's and earlier. Give it another decade or so though, and the onrushing wave of destruction will reach here too and the street will become wall to wall glass boxes like the former Yorkville has become.

145 St Harlem April 2008

Williamsburg Revisited April 2008

2009-09-19T22:42:00.000-07:00

The weather is warming up and it is time to start thinking of the next Cafe FISTFA. I discussed this with a number of people at the last FISTFA. The least conflicted date appeared to be Saturday, May 31st. Time: 1 PM. We can further discuss this at the next FISTFA which will be next weekend. In regard to location, following my revisit yesterday, I am inclined to the old Williamsburg location again. The place of the much lamented Read Cafe has been taken by a cafe so new that they don't even have a sign up or even a printed menu yet. They are reviving the backyard patio but the patio will not be finished for another two weeks. There is also an indoor flea market on N 6th St that we had previously missed. The advantage of the Williamsburg location is that the Bedford Ave subway stop drops you right in the middle of the action. My other favorite location, Court St in Brooklyn, would necessitate a 6 or 7 black walk just to get to the start of the street. Since most of the Cafe FISTFAns seem to be athletically challenged, Williamsburg seemed to be the more sensible location.

There is a new grocery on Beford Ave, the Spuyten Duyvil Grocery. While there I picked up a bottle of Eclipse Coffee syrup, which the label claimed is the official state drink of Rhode Island. Help me out here. Do we have an official state drink of New York? If not, I nominate the egg cream. I plan to use this syrup at the next FISTFA to create an egg cream for Rhode Island by adding some coffee syrup to the milk of an egg cream. We will see how that turns out.

Williamsburg Revisited April 2008

Popewurst April 2008

2009-09-18T21:32:00.000-07:00

What impelled me to go to Yorkville was an article that Mark Blackman sent me about this lone German bakery surviving in Yorkville, I had thought they were all gone. I went in but none of the baked goods looked familiar. I asked where was the Bienenstich, the Schillerlocken, etc? I was told that they don't sell them any more except around Xmastime. The population in the neighborhood changed and the newcomers don't like traditional German baked goods. There was nothing anywhere involving whipped cream. I suppose I will have to make my own. This is so sad. There has been no place to get Black Forest Cherry Cake made with Kirschwasser since the Kleine Konditorei closed down. There used to be many Konditoreien such as the Cafe Geiger, the Cafe Hindenburg, L&H bakery. I remember when this neighborhood was a mecca of superb central european foods. Not just German but Hungarian, Austrian, Czech, Slovak. I miss Paprikas Weiss, H Roth & Sons, that cavernous beerhall,Barney Googles, the Jaegerhaus. Many others. The Pope is going to have slim pickings when he comes here to eat.

I took the opportunity to pick up a few items of German soul food at Schaller & Weber and showed them to my son, Adam. As I predicted, he made retching sounds. The Landjaeger though dissappeared in his mouth in the blink of an eye. This is a traveling sausage made of raw meat and dried for months. This sausage goes back to ancient days. The consumption of raw meats and fish never made it to mainstream consumption in the American diet.. I am lucky that I can get steak tartare at my local butcher in Innwood without having to travel to Yorkville. Maybe I will offer it at the next FISTFA. I suspect though that I will be the only one to eat it when I explain that it is raw chopped beef.

Popewurst April 2008

Breezy Point April 2008

2009-09-18T21:25:00.000-07:00

It was my intention to go to Riis park to pick up some maps and then to head to Broad Channel with my botanical books to investigate the plant life in the middle of Jamaica Bay. However, the Q35 bus drops you off beyond the eastern edge of Riis park. Another indication of the political pull of the inhabitants of Breezy Point to channel public transportation to way beyond their location. I traversed the length of Riis park without finding an open park office. At that point I found myself on the edge of Fort Tilden and I decided to just continue walking to Breezy Point. The fence that starts at Ft Tilden continues all the way to Breezy Point, preventing you from seeing Gateway Park beyond the Breezy Point community unless you pass through Breezy Points security first. This I refused to do. Instead I simply walked down a roadway to the right that led to a yacht club, walked to the beach, and entered Breezy Point that way.

The buildings in Breezy point are more substantial than those in Roxbury. There is a small shopping center where most necessities can be purchased. The cuisine though is uninspired, judging by the coffee shop. I had intended on walking all the way through the community to the public park lands beyond. However, I was starting to develop blisters on my feet from having walked so many miles in my brand new boots, and I decided to head home

Breezy Point April 2008

Conservatory Garden May 2008

2009-09-18T16:08:00.000-07:00

I had meant to visit the Conservatory Garden in Central Park ever since I moved back to the city but somehow never got around to it. I suppose because it is on the east side of Manhattan, by 106th and Fifth Ave, and inconvenient to get to. It is across the street from the former Flower Fifth Ave hospital, where I worked at one time. However I discovered that the M4 bus, which reaches all the way up to the Cloisters drops you off right in front of the place.

I had picked a good time to visit because there was some sort of wedding reception and you could hear the violin all through the garden. The lilacs were in bloom and you could smell their perfume a long way off. I miss the lilacs at the old farmhouse that we used to own. My neighbor in the Catskills told me that the German farmwives who settled there always planted lilacs by their houses and if you find lilacs in the woods, you could usually find the foundations of a former farmhouse nearby.

I will be tempted to return in two weeks and attempt to pick some of the mayapples and hopefully not get arrested. Every part of the plant except the fruit, including the seeds, will give you the shits. The plant will also induce abortions.

I continued walking into East Harlem for a bit. I remember our offering a lift to a Catholic priest in front of the very pretty church. He nearly jumped out of his skin, thinking we meant to mug him. I asked him if people in Catholic East Harlem would really mug a priest? He said they sure would.

I included a picture of the former Flower Fifth Ave hospital simply because my daughter was born there.

Conservatory Garden May 2008

Innwood Shad Festival May 2008

2009-09-18T16:01:00.000-07:00

I remembered at the last moment that today was the Shad Festival in Innwood Park. Shad are the biggest members of the herring family (up to 13 pounds) and breed in rivers but live out most of their lives in the ocean. As we speak there are an estimated 60 million of them spawning in the Hudson from Kingston on North, thinking of nothing but sex.

I chatted with some of the Indian merchants. One of them is a Brooklynite whose grandfather was a Mohawk ironworker who helped to put up the Chrysler building. He said that whenever he passes the Chrysler building he thinks with pride of his grandfather who helped to put up such a beautiful building. I bought some copal from him. I learned from a jewelry maker in Pennsylvania that if you heat it to melting and let it cool, it looks indistinguishable from amber. The value of amber greatly increases if it has insect inclusions in it. I thought of capturing some cockroaches or flies, embedding them in homemade amber and selling them for a pretty penny.

On stage we had Indian dancers and other performers. One troupe was from Bermuda and another from the Shinnecocks of Long Island. Also on stage was Tom Porter (Sakokwenionkwas “The one who wins”). He is the Spokesperson and Chief Spiritual Leader of the Mohawk Community of Kanatsiohareke in Fonda, New York. He spoke about the spiritual quality embedded in water, for example. “And if you don’t believe it, try going for a week without water.” I don’t doubt the deleterious effect of going without water for a week but I doubt that it has any “spiritual” substance dissolved in it. Why not try an experiment? Live on distilled water for a week and see if there is any difference with water imbued with this “spiritual” substance. I left convinced that the Mohawk religion is just as idiotic as every other religion. For those who might feel strengthened by his sermon and who would enjoy some of the Indian dancing, I will post it to youtube later.

Innwood Shad Festival May 2008

Newark May 2008

2009-09-18T15:53:00.000-07:00

I have some pleasant memories of Newark from the days I used to go to ESFA (Eastern Science Fiction Association) meetings there. Sam Moskowitz used to attract many luminaries to speak such as Harlan Ellison, etc. The meetings were held at the Robert Treat Hotel and nearby was a second hand bookshop with a prodigious number of old Weird Tales pulps on sale cheap. That was in the 1960’s. The city has declined considerably since those days but I had hoped that it might have begun to pick up the pieces since then. Having found several bookshops listed in Newark on the internet gave me some hope. With bookshops, some cafes and cheap ethnic eats, it might be a good location for another Café FISTFA. It is after all on the Path which is a kind of subway and is thus easily reached. I was disappointed. Except for the Portugese neighborhood, the areas where the bookshops were to be found is one great slum. The bookshops are not worthy of a second glance.

I am led to speculate on the origin of the name Newark. Is it properly New Ark? I can speculate that behind the old Biblical ark, towed at a safe distance, was a second ark, filled with all the fleas, toadstools, murderers and thieves. I am tempted to write another book to the Bible in which God appears to the denizens of the second ark and proclaims “And I shall build you a mighty city in the land called New Jersey where you shall dwell and worship me and prove a source of affliction to the other inhabitants, just to test their faith in me. Harrump. I have spoken.”

The Portugese section of Newark is a different world altogether. There is the extraordinary Fornos of Spain restaurant. Expensive and elegant. From the appetizer menu, Anchovies in pickled sauce (Anchoas En Aceite De Oliva) $12.50. I love anchovies. Brood Baby Eels (Angulas) Market price. Most of the entrees are $25-30. Heavy emphasis on seafood. My eyes settled on Merluza A La Vigo (Whiting in green sauce, clams and shrimp). Market price. The main deserts were sorbets, Apple, lemon, watermelon, pear, blueberry, etc. $6.75 each. I am coming back here to eat. http://www.fornosrestaurant.com. 47 Ferry St, Newark, NJ 07105

Similar pricing is to be found at Iberia Peninsula, 63-69 Ferry St, Newark, NJ 07105, www.iberiarestaurants.com. This restaurant appears to be largely Portugese but it has one item that is Brazillian (I forgot the name) where the waiter brings you spit after spit of barbequed meats and sausages, without limit, until you inform him that you cannot take any more. This costs $20.00.

Newark May 2008

St Marks Place and Vicinity May 2008

2009-09-18T15:42:00.000-07:00

When I think of the East Village I sometimes think of some of the people who used to hang out there. People like my friend Joco (actually Sheko Emil Pareshkivov). He used to hang out by the St Marks free clinic and vamp on the women emerging from there. His reasoning was that they probably went to the clinic for a venereal disease and upon emerging had been cured and were thus safe. By the same reasoning they were probably experienced at having sex and were not shy about having it. It kind of makes sense. Anyway, he introduced us to the short lived Cafe Deja Vu. This was an attempted revival of a coffee house from the Beatnik era, complete with bad poetry, bongo drums and bad coffee

The decor of the St Marks and vicinity shops is still reminiscent of the hippie era. It's fun to simply go sightseeing there.

There used to be a soda fountain facing Tompkins Square Park that used to make a great Lime Rickey. I was disappointed that it was gone. It was replaced by a bar.

St Marks Place and Vicinity May 2008

Swindler Cove park May 2008

2009-09-18T15:35:00.000-07:00

Swindler Cove Park May 2008

Gargoyles of CCNY May 2008

2009-09-18T15:27:00.000-07:00

Gargoyles Of CCNY May 2008

St Nicholas Ave July 2008

2009-09-18T15:22:00.000-07:00

I had planned to take the A train downtown and walk around Central Park. It was the weekend though and as usual the A train was not running above 168th St. I took the bus down to 168th St but spotted the beginning of St Nicholas Ave and decided to walk down the Ave all the way to Central Park. St Nicholas Ave wanders down the spine of upper Manhattan like the zig zag walk of a drunken sailor. I t is a comparatively quiet back water. At any moment I expected to come across the Mystic Knights of the Sea from the old Amos and Andy show. The buildings are pretty, there is little shopping, half the people I encountered seemed to try to sell me on the virtues of Jesus Christ. Two panhandlers. One, a healthy looking guy I ignored. The other, a young woman, said that she had no food for her children. I gave her all the change I had. I am a sucker for an appeal for children. I am probably also a fool.

St Nicholas Ave July 2008

Myrtle Ave EL July 2008

2009-09-18T01:58:00.000-07:00

The last EL, the Myrtle Ave EL (or in that unnamed New York vernacular that one seldom hears any more, the Moydle Ave EL), was torn down in 1969. But not all of it, contrary to popular belief. A stub with about 8 stations remains. This operates as a shuttle on weekends and enters the J line through a semicircular loop on weekdays. I don't know why they tore most of the EL down. It offered the only direct access to downtown Brooklyn from this area. Now you would have to take a train all the way into Manhattan and thence to downtown Brooklyn (or walk). I suspect that tearing down the EL was the end product of a feeding frenzy that led to the destruction of all the EL's. I don't think that the Bronx has gained from the destruction of what was left of the Third Ave EL there in 1973. Yeah, they replaced it with a bus line but you know how slow those are. I miss the sparks and noise of the Third Ave EL, of passing within inches of tenements and looking into people's open windows as we passed by.

Myrtle Ave EL, July 2008

Broadway in Harlem July 2008

2009-09-18T01:47:00.000-07:00

Much of life here in the city plays out on the streets and sidewalks. I have not seen such intense streetlife in other American cities. Certainly not in the suburbs. Out of towners are missing a wonderful dimension of human interaction. The trains were fucked up again as they have been for every weekend and the shuttle bus that took the place of the A train deposited me at 168 St. Previously I had walked down St Nicholas Ave but this time I decided to walk down Broadway, a much busier commercial avenue. Actually this used to be Bloomingdale Road but was annexed to Broadway sometime in the 19th century. Bloomingdale is the English rendition of the Dutch name Bloemendal but they both mean the same thing, valley of flowers. There used to be a valley downtown that was just filled with beautiful flowers and the Dutch named the valley Bloemendal. The valley is now probably covered with luxury high rise chicken coops.

I steeled myself and bought some shaved ice with syrup, something I always told my children to never, never do. I have misgivings about the sanitary habits of Hispanic peasants just out of the jungle with visions of tapeworm, salmonella and worse things. I picked the weirdest looking syrup, a murky brown liquid with what looked like bread crusts floating in it. I asked the vendor what it was and he replied with something that sounded like "hogwash". Good lord. I certainly hope not.

There seems no limit to what you can buy on the sidewalks. Some of the fruit vendors carve mangos with great artistry into the resemblance of flowers and put them on a stick to eat.

I stopped off in a Mexican joint to have a taco. It was quite delicious. I think Mexican food is just fine if you avoid the refried beans. The waitress looked just like one of the Mayan glyph's. She also had an impish sense of humor. She innocently asked me if I wanted some hot sauce? She warned me that it was quite hot. She then returned with a jar of some green semi-solid substance and flopped two heaping tablespoons on my taco. After a brief thought, she added a third. My taco was now completely buried in the green sauce. I had a moment of hesitation but my thought was, I am a Saxon. Should a Saxon hesitate at consuming what Mexicans do without a quiver of hesitation? I was unwilling to lose face and bit into the taco. It was quite hot but not excessively so. Have I burned my tongue out from years of eating hot peppers?

Broadway in Harlem, July 2008

Maiden Voyage, July 2008

2009-09-15T16:19:00.000-07:00

My posted description did not take. These are pictures I took during the maiden voyage to the Catskills in my son's new car

Maiden Voyage July 2008

35th Annual NYUSFC SI Ferry Meeting July 2008

2009-09-15T16:16:00.000-07:00

This is the 35th annual NYU Science Fiction Club Staten Island Ferry meeting. I had never been to one because I was living out of town, etc. The Filksinging took place on the retrurn trip to Manhattan. I captured part of it on my camcorder. We will see how that turns out. I will post that portion on Youtube. Had to leave early because I got a call from my older son, informing me that he and his fiance were coming over. Finally got to meet and chat with Marc Glasser's son

35th Annual NYUSFC SI Ferry Meeting July 2008

Waterfalls, July 2008

2009-09-15T16:07:00.000-07:00

When asked the reason for these waterfalls, Olafur whatshisname said that we only see the surface of water but that there is a whole world underneath. Strange reasoning that makes no sense to me. I can get a much better appreciation for what is under the surface of water by looking at the sides of a beautiful tropical aquarium in the Staten Island ferry terminal. This is simply a spectacular waste of resources. There is no beauty in the industrial contraption that holds the waterfalls and they look out of place in their settings. Fortunately many people I have spoken to have concluded like I did that the emperor has not clothes. This is an act of arrogant bullshit.

By contrast I am posting pictures of a waterfall by the 51st St subway station. I would have designed it to look more like a natural waterfall. Nature abhors straight lines and the straight slabs of this waterfall are too reminiscent of the detestable International Style. However the sound of rushing water creates the effect of a soothing oasis of peace. Ugly though it is, this waterfall more than justifies its existence. I cannot think of any way in which Olafur's waterfalls justify their existence.

Still, there is something to be learned from Olafur's experience. Think of something absurd, useless and ugly and label it art and idiots with more money than brains will flock to you with money. I therefore will try to enter this game with my own project. I want to tape multiple layers of baloney sausages to the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. When asked for the reason for this art project, I will respond that when something looks like baloney on the surface, when you dig deeper, you usually find even more baloney underneath

Waterfalls July 2008

Arthur Ave, The Bronx, July 2008

2009-09-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

I had heard so much about the Italian section on Arthur Ave in the Bronx that I finally decided to see it for myself. Getting there by subway would be a nightmare from Innwood in Manhattan. Grudgingly I took the bus. The B12 bus stops down the hill from where I live and takes you along Forham Rd in the Bronx. It starts to get intensely Italian a few blocks down Arthur Ave by 187 St. I am comming back here for my cake bread and pizza needs. The bakeries in my neighborhood are Dominican and they have not learned the sophisticated baking arts commonplace among Italians, Germans and the French. Big slabs of sheetcake covered with huge amounts of icing are called cake by them and pronounced delicious. Similar crappy stuff is made by the Pennsylvania Dutch. Absolute shit. I bought a loaf of bread at the bread bakery that just came out of the oven and was so hot I could not touch it. Delicious crispy crust too. The Full Moon pizzeria was an absolute wonder. The slices were so crisp that if there had been a slot in my table, I could have stood it up on its pointy end without flopping over. A lot of the businesses were closed. Whether it was vacations or because it was Sunday I don't know. However I am comming back. This neighborhood would provide a lesson to out of towners to acquaint them with what fine food should be like.

Arthur Ave, The Bronx July 2008

Williamsburg Brooklyn Giglio July 2008

2009-09-15T15:52:00.000-07:00

I had always wanted to see the Giglio in action. This is a custom transposed from southern Italy to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. 120 men dance with the Giglio on their backs with a live band on top too. The comands are given in an archaic language which I suspect is Greek because that was the language of Southern Italy until a few centuries ago. Little known to most, the custom of the Giglio long precedes Christianity and was originally a form of worship of the god Dionysius. The Giglio represented masculinity and the Boat, feminity. At some point both platforms meet and bang into each other in a sexually suggestive manner. This illustrates the neat way the Catholic Church has always had of transforming pagan gods into saints. I could not find any timetable on the web. I got to Williamsburg at 11:30 AM and was told that the show would not start until 1:00 PM. I was sweating in the broiling heat without shade and when nothing happened by 1:30 I decamped. Maybe I will come back next weekend

Williamsburg Brooklyn Giglio July 2008

White Plains Rd Bronx July 2008

2009-09-14T18:54:00.000-07:00

It was my intention to go to the Morris Park section of The Bronx. I had recently read an article in a newspaper that it was much like the much better known Belmont (Arthur Ave) section in that it had many great Italian restaurants, cafes, etc. Getting all the way over to the East Bronx by subway from Innwood in Manhattan is a chore. I would have to take the train downtown, then go crosstown and catch the #6 train. Instead I decided to take the good old trusty B12 bus from Innwood to White Plains Rd, hike down to Morris Park Ave and catch a bus to my destination and do some sightseeing on the way. Unfortunately, by the time I got to Morris Park Ave there were ominous rumblings in the sky. The weather channel had given a severe thunderstorm alert and I decided it would be wiser to head home. As you can see from the photos, you don't go to the Bronx to view it's magnificent architecture. The Bronx traditionally was the home of a working class population living in sturdy but not particularly attractive buildings. That being said though, the lowest greasy spoon in The Bronx probably serves better food than you get in most places in the country. The Italian food is extraordinary by any standard. I want to return to the pizzeria that The Village Voice called the best pizzeria in NYC in 2007. I can't believe that this place comes anywhere near the incomparable Full Moon Pizzeria on Arthur Ave but who knows?

White Plains Rd, Bronx July 2008

29th End of Paleozoic Era Party July 2008

2009-09-14T18:39:00.000-07:00

What can I say? This was my first time at one of these affairs and the company was delightful. I spoke for hours with not one but two people who spoke Nahuatl. The one lone air conditioner was overwhelmed and the heat was too much to bear and I happily joined a surge to the rooftop where there was a gentle breeze. I think the last time I was at a rooftop party in Manhattan was in the 1960's when we climbed to the roof at one of Mike McInerny's FISTFA meetings to view a partial eclipse through overcast skies. Onthe way home I stopped to have a papaya drink and hot dogs at the papaya stand at E86 St and Third Ave. This place and Schaller&Weber are among the few places that are left from the old Yorkville days and I feel sentimental about those days.

29th End of Paleozoic Era Party July 2008

Jerome Ave Bronx Aug 2008

2009-09-14T17:18:00.000-07:00

Don't bother looking at these pictures. Jerome Ave has intersected my life on several occasions when I lived not far from here. There is no great architecture to be found here, no outstanding food. There would be little of interest for anyone who did not have a personal experience with Jerome Ave. We came to the USA on 12/16/1955 and lived by Shakespeare and Nelson Ave's for two years. It was there that I learned English and simultaneously discovered the great NY Public Library system. I had come from an isolated Saxon farming village and had never even heard of the concept of a library. It was a revelation. It was beyond fantasy. I discovered a German-English dictionary and began memorizing the meaning (and spelling) of thousands of words. The logic of English spelling still defeats me. In subsequent years I again lived near Jerome Ave several times. I have memories of being packed in the #4 train without air conditioning like a sardine in a can. I don't think that I ever fainted from the heat but if I had it would have made little difference. The press of bodies would have kept me upright. Everywhere there were the remains of broken beer and soda bottles. The locals did not hesitate to foul their own nest by throwing garbage every which way. We were so fucking German. My parents would douse their cigarettes and wait to dispose of the butts until they found a garbage can. We would cross the street only at the intersection when we had the light. Why? Because it was the law. Very logical from a German viewpoint.

Jerome Ave, Bronx Aug 2008

Pulp Mag Editorial Offices I Aug 2008

2009-09-14T17:00:00.000-07:00

The Frank A Munsey company of 280 Broadway published Argosy, All-Story, Cavalier, Famous Fantastic Mysteries and Fantastic Novels magazines among others. Munsey invented the pulp magazine when he took a boys magazine, The Golden Argosy, substituted cheap pulps paper, changed to general fiction and vastly dropped the price. Circulation for Argosy alone soon topped 1 million and the magazine was published on a weekly schedule. Columbia Publications of 241 Church St published Future, Science Fiction Quarterly, Dynamic, Double Action Detective, Double Action Western and many others. The editor was the great Robert W Lowndes, a former SF fan. Lowndes at one point edited 18 magazines. Unfortunately, Columbia was a bottom feeder among the pulps, paying ½ cent a word as opposed to the general pulp rate of 1 cent a word (Argosy, Blue Book and others paid much more). The fiction published by Lowndes was generally crappy but he had absolutely great editorials, articles and letter columns. Many great articles by L Sprague De Camp and others that have never been republished. Weird Tales needs no introduction. It ended its days at Rockefeller Center but during its heyday, in the 1930’s, it was published at 303 Fourth Ave (Now called Park Ave South). The Fourth Ave location would have been the location that H P Lovecraft and his circle would have visited when they were in town. Galaxy and If were edited by the great Fred Pohl at 421 Hudson St I decided to take photos of the buildings that housed the pulp publishers and environs, if they still remained, after reading about the initial experiences of some pulp authors who visited various publishing houses in New York One amusing article, An Old Cowhand Comes To New York by Chuck Martin (Carlos Martinez) was published in Writers Digest in February 1947. Chuck was a native of Southern California and had published an average of 50 stories a year for 25 years and finally decided to personally see the editors and the city that they worked in. I quote: “ I took a cab downtown and the driver asked me if I was with the trick at Madison Square Garden. Just to be agreeable, I told him that I was with the Rodeo. I wonder how he knew? I was dressed just like I do at home in the same old Stetson and cowboy boots, frontier pants and gabardine shirt. Those New Yorkers looked funny to me. Most of them don’t even wear hats. I checked in at the hotel, washed up some, and went out to a bait of hot grub. Now in Los Angeles or San Diego, if you try to cross against the traffic lights, it costs you five bucks. But in New York no one pays any attention to the lights. So there I was stuck on a narrow curb in the middle of Times Square, waiting for the light to change. A little hand gripped me firmly by the arm. I was hustled through the roaring traffic, dodging honking cars, but at last we made it. And you can hog-tie me for a leppy if there wasn’t the sweetest old lady about seventy years of age, still gripping my arm, and boosting me to the curb! But I learn quick colleagues. From then on I was able to cross the streets alone. Chuck (and Henry Kuttner in another article) describe their first visits to many of the pulp publishers in the city. Most of the publishers are long gone but I wanted to see if the buildings were still there and take pictures. I only hit 4 of the publishers this time around but more will be coming.

Pulp Mag Editorial Offices EditorOffices I Aug 2008

Pulp Mag Editorial Offices II Aug 2008

2009-09-14T16:45:00.000-07:00

There was a general migration of publishers to midtown from downtown. One of the exceptions was Columbia Publications, which pulp writer Chuck Martin in a Writers Digest article in 1947 described as being located in "the badlands" (241 Church St). Galaxy started out published by World Editions at 105 W 40 St (the building has since been demolished). World's printer bought the magazine after a few issues and moved the editorial office downtown to 421 Hudson St. When the magazines were sold to Universal Publications in 1969, the editorial offices moved back to midtown at 235 E 45 St. Some of the publishers were actually based outside of New York, like Ziff-Davis and Popular Publications. However, New York was such a dominant force in the publishing business that they felt a need to establish editorial offices in New York.

I wish that I had taken a picture of Hans Santesson's office building before they tore it down 2 or 3 years ago. The building was so old that Con Ed only supplied it with DC power. I remember Hans chortling triumphantly during one of my visits that he had finally found a clock radio that worked on DC.

Henry Kuttner described his initial experiences after having moved to New York in an amusing article in Writers Digest in 1941. He missed his spacious apartment with a view of palm trees in Beverly Hills that cost him $35/month. Instead he rented an apartment in a brownstone in the West 70's for $55/month with a view of a whorehouse out of his back window. Elevators seemed to have been a novelty to him. He described the steel latticework elevator leading up to the Street&Smith offices at 79 Seventh Ave as being like an iron maiden. I had hoped to take a photo of the elevator but the building has long since been demolished to make way for the huger Vermeer Apt building. Street&Smith moved out of this building into the beautiful Bowery Savings Bank building at 120 E 42 St in 1945. From there, in 1952, they moved to the bland modern building at 575 Madison Ave.

Pulp Mag Editorial Offices II Aug 2008

Comfort Diner Agust 2008

2009-09-14T16:26:00.000-07:00

I chanced upon this wonderful Art Deco diner while on my search for publishing houses. I didn't eat here because I had just finished off a falafel on pita from a street vendor. I had been sweating bullets and was thirsty as hell and I ordered an egg cream. Wonderful. I also bought one of their coffee mugs. They are the immensely thick walled kind that I haven't seen since the demise of Chock Full O Nuts and the Automat. 6 Bucks for the mug. $2.95 for the egg cream. They were also in the midst of their 12th annual milkshake celebration. Today's flavor was mango madness. Breakfast ranges from two eggs, home fries and toast ($4.95) to steak and eggs, $13.95. Also, The Lumberjack, $10.95, 2 buttermilk pancakes, 2 eggs and your choice of bacon, ham or sausage and The New Yorker, $11.95, one toasted bagel with smoked salmon, cream cheese, tomato, capers and red onion. Various sandwiches including the half pound Comfort Burger, $7.95. Large plate items, Thanksgiving Every Day, " Talk about comfort food! Roasted turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes w/gravy, homemade cranberry sauce & fresh veggies. You WILL thank us." Mom's Meatloaf (on her best day), $13.95. With caramelized onion&mushroom gravy, roast garlic mashed potatoes and today's vegetable. "sorry mom, but we don't remember yours ever tasting this good." A Nice Bowl of Soup, $4.95. Grandma's Chicken Soup, $4.95. "Loaded with chicken, carrots, celery and noodles. Yum! Wild Mushroom Potato Pancakes, $5.95. With our homemade chunky applesauce and sour cream.

No "Table syrup" here. They serve grade A amber 100% maple syrup

They have a second location at 25 W 23 St, 212-741-1010

The Comfort Diner Aug 2008

Innwood Farmers Market Aug 2008

2009-09-14T16:21:00.000-07:00

Not quite the selection that you find at the Union Square Farmers Market but it is convenient. I had almost forgotten how good milk can taste until I bought a half gallon ($5.50), unhomogenized, in a glass bottle, from grass fed cows from Milk Thistle Dairy. The price of fresh basil has plummeted to $1.00 for a large bunch. I don't know what I can do with more basil. I already have several quarts of pesto that I made in the freezer. The Biodynamic vendor sells quark, which I find to be much tastier than cottage cheese. I believe that the difference is that quark is made from naturally occurring bacteria from the air whereas cottage cheese is made from yeast cultures. One of the vendors sells cheeses naturally aged in a limestone cave. These cheeses are not dipped in wax nor are they packaged in plastic. I bought a 2 pound jar of Japanese Knotweed honey. I haven't tried it yet.. The garlic sold is much more pungent that the stuff imported from China that they sell in the supermarket.. I am looking forward to the first Staymen-Winesap apples

Innwood Farmers Market Aug 2008

Shinbone Alley and Vicinity Aug 2008

2009-09-14T15:59:00.000-07:00

I was thinking of exploring Lafayette St and I chanced upon a name in my Hagstrom map book that seemed more properly to belong in the Okefenoffee Swamp than Manhattan, Shinbone Alley. I had to see it for myself. It is located in that curious backwater of Manhattan, Great Jones St and Bond St. This is an area that time seems to have passed by with many grimy industrial businesses. Shinbone Alley and Jones Alley are shut off from public access by locked gates. I have to wonder about the legality since they appear to be public thoroughfares. There is no street sign identifying Shinbone Alley but it is listed as such in the Hagstrom map book. Forgotten New York states that Shinbone Alley was the home of Archie and Mehitabel. In regard to the Cable Building, yes, Manhattan had cable cars at one time. The Cable Building housed the steam engines that pulled the cables through underground conduits.

Shinbone Alley and Vicinity Aug 2008

Twentythree Skidoo Aug 2008

2009-09-13T17:55:00.000-07:00

The Flatiron Building, the world's first Skyscraper. Basically that means the first tall building built using a steel internal skeleton. The most impressive buildings built for several decades before were the cast iron buildings. Cast iron has great compressive strength but sucks in every other criterion. Makes pretty buildings though When first built, the Flatiron Building towered over the neighborhood. Air currents seemed to become magnified as they passed the pointed end, to the great surprise of the ladies who passed by and suddenly found their skirts blown upward. Men began to congregate here, hoping to witness just such an event. You have to bear in mind that this took place during the Victorian age when men were transported into fits of lust merely viewing a woman's ankle. Anyway, according to Luc Sante's Low Life, the cops took it upon themselves to end this innocent sport of lusty men. When men gathered for their favorite sport, the cops would tell them "twentythree, skidoo" Twenty three referred to 23 St at the point of the building and skidoo meant to get the hell out of there.

Twentythree Skidoo Aug 2008

Astounding Stories of Super Science Sept 2008

2009-09-13T17:37:00.000-07:00

Until January 1931 the company was called Publishers Fiscal Corporation. Then Clayton bought out his partner and it became Clayton Magazines. In February 1932 the whole operation was moved to E 44 St. It was in the Lafayette St location though, that Clayton and editor Harry Bates conceived of the idea of Astounding Tales of Super Science and edited and published the magazine. Clayton ran into financial difficulties (reportedly heavy gambling debts) and lost his whole company in 3/1933.

Astounding Stories of Super Science Aug 2008

The Bowery Sept 2008

2009-09-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

The Bowery is deeply embedded in NYC folklore. The Dutch name de Bouwerie was easily translated into the English Bowery, meaning something like farm road. In Middle English, Bower meant something like a pleasant country house. It has been a long time since there were farms in this area. Saloons have thrived on the Bowery since Dutch colonial days. The first was Cornelius Aertzens inn at Bowery Village, established in 1665. The first recorded armed gang in NYC, The Forty Thieves, had it's headquarters in Rosetta Peer's saloon at Anthony (later Worth) St in 1825. The Bowery was New York's theater district until it was supplanted by Broadway in Midtown. The thing though that seems to have fixed people's image of the Bowery in their minds was Charles Hoyt's hit song "The Bowery"
Oh, the night that I struck New York,
I went out for a quiet walk;
Folks who are "on to" the city say,
Better by far that I took Broadway;
But I was out to see the sights,
There was the Bow'ry ablaze with lights;
I had one of the devil's own nights!
I'll never go there anymore.
Chorus: The Bow'ry, the Bow'ry! They say such things and they do strange things on the Bow'ry!
The Bow'ry! I'll never go there anymore!

The Bowery Aug 2008

Tammany Hall Sept 2008

2009-09-13T16:41:00.000-07:00

The Society of St Tammany originated as an anti-British society during the Revolutionary War. It was named after a greatly admired chief of the Leni-Lenape Indians, Tammany or Tammenend. Many Indian rituals were incorporated by the society, their clubhouse was called the Wigwam and the head was called the Sachem. The society was revived after the war by veteran William Mooney. The order met in a tavern owned by Brom Martling at Chatham and Spruce Streets that was dilapidated enough to be called the Pig pen by Federalists. A new Wigwam was built in 1811 at Chatham and Frankfort. Again, a new Wigwam was built on E 14 St in 1830 and the final Wigwam was built on E17 St and Union Square East in 1929. I have high regards for Tammany Hall. It is true that there was great deal of graft but the money was spread among many poor people whose support Tammany Hall sought. There is no less graft today but the proceeds stick to the hands of billionaires owning corporate grafters like Forrest City Ratner and the Yankees. I prefer the more humane Tammany Hall graft.

Tammany Hall Sept 2008

Broadway Junction Sept 2008

2009-09-13T16:36:00.000-07:00

Broadway Junction is an awesome jumble of steel. Here two elevated lines and the A subway line meet. In addition, the two elevated lines have spurs leading to the subway yards and interconnections allowing subways to be shunted from one line to another. Finally, there is a spur visible that may be a remnant from the old Lexington Ave (Brooklyn) EL. The time was dawn on Saturday morning. It was foggy and drizzly. I don't normally find myself here but I had to be at work for overtime and the subways were unusually messed up even for a weekend. As usual, there was construction on the A train and it's last stop was at 168 St. The shuttle bus that was to take me there simply wasn't there. So I took a taxi to 168 St. Since the end of the E line was also being reconstructed and being "serviced" via a shuttle bus, I decided not to take any chances and took the slower J train instead.

Broadway Junction Sept 2008

Pulp Mag Editorial Offices III

2009-09-13T05:24:00.000-07:00

Sometime in the late 1950's, Fantasy House, now Mercury Publications,publisher of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, moved to this bland modern building at 527 Madison Ave. It then moved again to what appears to be a largely residential building at 347 E 53 St. Finally, the magazine moved to what I assume must have been a garage in Connecticut but by that time it had ceased publishing any worthwhile, entertaining fiction and I ceased buying the magazine. By the 1980's, the authors who had learned their trade in the pulps were either dying off or publishing less frequently. Pulp authors knew that their primary purpose was to entertain. I assume that the new authors learned their craft in college creative writing courses. Like many college teachers, these probably set their standards to theoretical "higher" levels. Being entertaining, I suspect, was low on their order of priorities. There are still first class authors, like Turtledove and Flint, but they confine their output to books, bypassing the magazines entirely.

My friend Tom Drucker read this posting yesterday and told me that many of his friends stopped reading SF magazines about 25 or 30 years ago because they found the stories being printed being distinctively less entertaining than they had experienced previously. This coincides with my assessment that magazine SFdied around 1980 in the sense of consistently entertaining stories being published.

Pulp Mag Editorial Offives III Sept 2008

The Crimson FISTFAN Sept 2008

2009-09-13T05:20:00.000-07:00

Two or three years ago I was trying to teach myself Photoshop and I imposed the heads of my sons, my granddaughter and fans at FISTFA onto screenshots from one of my favorite cliffhanger serials, The Crimson Ghost

The Crimson FISTFAN Sept 2008

Ft Tryon Medieval Festival Sep 2008

2009-09-13T05:08:00.000-07:00

I had not been to one of these events in 20 years. I had been told that, at one of the earliest of these events, Barry Greene had built a working catapult and was lobbing boulders into the Hudson. He told me that he had left his anvil there and never got it back.

Everything seems to be "ye olde" I should point out that the Y was used for both th sounds. The Anglo-Saxons used the 33 character futhark alphabet until they were forced to switch to the Latin alphabet following the Norman conquest. Futhark though was much better suited to the English language because it had letters representing sounds that did not exist in Latin, such as the letters Edh and Thorn.

It was a miserable rainy day. I was surprised at the number of people that showed up. I very quickly noticed that the lens on my camera was fogging up on the inside. I completed my circuit and hurried home as fast as I could because I was worried about damaging my camera.

Ft Tryon Medieval Festival Sept 2008

Pulp Mag Editorial Offices IV Sept 2008

2009-09-13T05:04:00.000-07:00

Vanguard SF was a magazine that lasted for only one issue and that one was dated June 1958. I believe that it fell victim to distribution problems following the collapse of the biggest distributor in the nation, American News Company. Editor James Blish alluded to that collapse in his editorial and suggested taking out a subscription to avoid distribution hassles. He even offered a lifetime subscription for $25 (Care to bet that you will live longer than we will?)

The magazine must have been edited out of James Blish's apartment because Overlook Terrace is about the most unlikely location for an editorial office in Manhattan. It is in upper Manhattan, just below Ft Tryon Park

Pulp Mag Editorial Offices IV Sept 2008

Pennsyltucky Sept 2008

2009-09-13T04:13:00.000-07:00

My misgivings at eating at Perkins were fulfilled. I ordered home fries and they served me deep fried potato nuggets. The only thing I could taste was salt. In traveling, I prefer to eat in small diners or truckstops that are not part of any chain. There are fewer and fewer of these. Typical of these small places is a chatty waitress with a bouffant hairdo who is a single mom and calls every man "hon". When it is busy, she moves like greased lighning but when it slows down, she loves to talk.. The harried waitstaff at Perkins is young, rushes about, but does not converse, even when the place is dead quiet. Probably against company policy. They do however rudely interrupt you several times while you are eating to ask "how is everything?" I will take the old fashioned diner every time.

Lettuce opium is far milder than opium. More like a tranquilizer.

Old Route 22 was the main highway connecting Bethlehem and Harrisburg until it was replaced with the Interstate Route 78 in 1982. Route 78 is far faster but also far more boring to drive along. Old Route 22 gives you a glimpse of what Pennsylvania Dutch country looked like decades ago. There are still a number of hotels along the way but there is much less traffic to support them. I sometimes drop in at Haag's Hotel in Shartlesville to have their Country Breakfast. Plain food but huge amounts of it. You can ask for unlimited seconds but I simply cannot eat so much. Sometimes you can catch some of the old timers chatting in Pennsylvania Dutch at the bar. This language is actually the South German Swabian langusge. The owner told me that several years ago, a visitor from Schwaben in Germany dropped in and chatted without any difficulty with the locals. This in spite of the fact that the ancestors of the locals left Schwaben centuries ago.

There is no political entity in Germany called Schwaben. It is an old tribal name and was a tribal confederacy which included the Allemannen (roughly translated as all he-men). Their territory includes today's Wuertemberg, Baden, Elsass and parts of Switzerland

The ancestors of the Pennsylvania Dutch were south German protestants who were the losers of the 30 years war. Their choice was to become Catholic, die, or leave. They would probably have chosen to die rather than become Catholic but a third choice was offered. William Penn offered them land in Pennsylvania and this is what many of them chose. These people were highly skilled farmers, blacksmiths, tradesmen, etc. The Kentucky longrifle was actually made by Pennsylvania Germans. Connestoga wagons were invented and manufactured by the Pennsylvania Dutch. Germany's loss was the colonies gain. A former coworker belonged to the DAR. She was Pennsylvania Dutch and was the tenth generation of her family here.

Pennsyltucky Sept 2008

Innwood, Manhattan Sept 2008

2009-09-13T03:59:00.000-07:00

Jimson weed, of course, is the substance that Carlos Castaneda and his brujo tripped with. At one point Castaneda asked his brujo if they had really flown in the air? His brujo replied with something like "you tell me." This response is typical religious thinking, if such can be termed thinking at all. Religious thinking seems to hold that you can make something real if you believe in it fervently enough. Nature however refuses to change in spite of your heartfelt wishes. For example, some months ago, I was walking along when a sudden dip appeared in the paving under my feet. I nearly fell on my face. I had believed that the pavement was flat and wasn't watching my footing. Nature refused to cooperate and make the pavement smooth for me. So, based on my own experience, even though I was not there, I can assure Castaneda that he did not fly.

Hawthorn berries make a delicious jelly. Tastes kind of like honey.

Sweet Gum trees exude a hard, clear jelly when they are injured. Before the wide availability of chewing gum, people used to chew this jelly. The tree I found had no injury, so I created one in the hope of tasting the gum.

Spice bush berries were used as a substitute for allspice. The plant comes from the same family.

Most parts of pokeweed are deadly poisonous. The juice from the berries is not poisonous but the seeds are. Just about the only parts of the plant that are not poisonous are the young shoots in the Springtime. The PA Dutch eat them as a Spring tonic. Tastes kind of like asparagus. The shoots are safe enough as long as they are under a foot tall and have no redness in the stems.

Innwood Manhattan Spt 2008

Herniaville Oct 2008

2009-09-11T17:55:00.000-07:00

I was going to document the whole move but I was just too exhausted while carrying endless loads up to the third story where Adam and Geraldine's apt is. The waitress at Haag's told me that the owner had intended closing the hotel this year because the price of gas had caused the number of customers to drop off sharply. Business has picked up again, so maybe the place will be around for a while longer.

Herniaville Oct 2008

Poughkeepsie Oct 2008

2009-09-11T17:40:00.000-07:00

I just turned 62 and just discovered that I can receive senior citizen discounts on Amtrak and Metro North. The Amtrak discount is only about 20% but Metro North will give me a 50% discount. This makes traveling from the city pretty cheap. Not too many places I want to go to but I do miss the spectacular Fall foliage at my former place on a mountaintop in the Catskills. So today, I took Metro North all the way up to Poughkeepsie and wandered around, taking pictures.The Fall foliage proved to be a letdown.

Right behind the train station is the pretty Mahoney''s pub. I went inside and spoke to the owner. The building was built in 1865 and formerly housed Vassar's brewery. This was not owned by the college but rather by the family that created the college (Vassar College is in Poughkeepsie). Few beers on tap and most of those ordinary ones. The menu was likewise disappointing. I could get much better food at McSorleys, for example.Again, this is typical of an out of town eatery. All the effort is expended on the physical facility and none on providing outstanding food and drink. He said that business is bustling, People travel far to come to his place. This does not speak well of the tastes of out of towners. I had a slice of pizza at Amici's, down the other end of the building. I will only say that someone who makes crappy pizza like that is no amicus of mine.

I walked 8 or 10 blocks down Main St.. Some OK architecture but I would say that a typical block in NYC would put it all to shame. Lots of restaurants specializing in hot dogs and pizza. I must restrain the urge to throw up. I did find one nice cafe, the Muddy Cup Cafe. Those of you who have been following my postings may remember the Muddy Cup Cafe in Staten Island. The owner here said that he created the one in Staten Island. I got a cup of cappucino for $3.00. Not bad but I hate drinking coffee out of cardboard cups.

I asked myself why anyone would want to live here? Well, housing is cheaper. According to the local paper, you can get a 1 bedroom for $850/month. That might work if you are working in town and don't mind eating shitty food. On the other hand, if you have to work in the city, you would have to add $300/month for a monthly Metro North commutation ticket. You could certainly get a 1 bedroom in the city for less than $1150/mo (but not in Manhattan). Anyway, I cannot figure out why anyone would want to live here.

Poughkeepsie Oct 2008

Yonah Schimmel's Knishes Oct 2008

2009-09-11T17:36:00.000-07:00

I headed downtown to lay in some necessary supplies. The F train just would not come, so I hopped on the V train. The V only takes you as far as 2nd Ave and Houston and I would have to walk a distance to get to my target area, Essex and Delancy, but I don't mind walking through the Lower East Side. 2nd Ave and Houston left me conveniently close to Yonah Schimmels and so naturally I took a few pictures. A new item for the season was their pumpkin and raisin knish. A little too weird for me but I bought one to take home to let my son Andrew be my guinea pig. He just shuddered and wouldn't touch it, so I gave it to Geraldine to take to Pennsylvania to my son Adam. Something came over me and I bought myself a cheese and cherry knish. It was pleasant but next time I will stick with my standard kasha knish.

The good news is that Streit's is not closing. One of the family members refused to sell. Inexplicably, Guss' Pickles was closed. I didn't feel like going over to The Pickle Guys and getting second best, so I returned home sans pickles. Third best would have been to get a jar of pickles in the supermarket but that is not even open for consideration.

Yonah Schimmel's Knishes Oct 2008

126-42 147 St Oct 2008

2009-09-11T17:30:00.000-07:00

Still a crappy neighborhood but with less garbage than I remember. About 2 miles past the last subway. I rode the train to the end of the line to take some pictures of the last stop on the Fulton St EL (now the A train) at Lefferts Boulevard and hopped on the bus to see if the house still stood and to take some pictures. When my daughter was a toddler, she would sometimes wait near the door for me to come home from work and throw her arms around my legs and give me a kiss.

126-42 147 St Oct 2008

Fulton St EL II, Oct 2008

2009-09-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

Now that I have seen the remains of two of the Brooklyn EL's (this and the Myrtle Ave EL), I am disappointed. They were starkly utilitarian in construction as opposed to the great beauty of the Third Ave El, with it's magnificent metal and stained glass work. Tearing down the Third Ave El without saving any of the metal and stained glass work ranks as an act of vandalism on the scale of the destruction of Penn Station.

Fulton St El Oct 2008

Fulton St EL I Oct 2008

2009-09-10T16:49:00.000-07:00

At the time of my previous posting on Broadway Junction, I had tried to make sense of the incredible jumble of steel that is found at Broadway junction. There seemed to be far more structural work than could be justified by a mere two elevated lines converging (along with a covered passageway from the A train subway. I decided to explore the area on foot from the ground to make some sense of all this. I was aided by an old subway map from 1939 that I printed out.

The then newly constructed A train shadowed the path of the Fulton St EL. When construction was completed up to the Broadway Junction/Atlantic Ave stations, the Fulton St EL was torn down up to that point (1940). Prior to this, a shunt existed to allow some trains from the Broadway EL (now the J line), joined by the Lexington Ave EL (long since demolished), to take passengers from Manhattan over the Williamsburg bridge to Canarsie on the Canarsie line, rather than on to Jamaica. These passengers could change over to the Fulton EL or to the Canarsie line at the Atlantic Ave station.

Unlike the A train, which ties into Broadway Junction, the Fulton St EL Shared station facilities with the Canarsie Line at the very close Atlantic Ave station. There are six train tracks or former tracks at Atlantic Ave. This would be considered overkill in this day and age when there is only the two track Canarsie line at this location. But two of those tracks were from the Fulton St EL and two more tracks with their own platform (now unused) belonged to the shunt from the Broadway EL.

The Fulton St EL has not disappeared entirely. The A train emerges from underground at the point where it turns off to the Rockaways. However, a branch continues straight on, ending at Lefferts Boulevard. This branch, consisting of six subway stations, runs on the tracks of the Fulton St EL.

Fulton St El I Oct 2008

Chelsea Nov 2008

2009-09-09T16:00:00.000-07:00

Memories. 14th St in the 60s and 70s. Endless employment places seeking casual laborers. Places offering to buy a pint of your blood. Luchows with its great lentil soup and the scale at the entrance where Diamond Jim Brady used to weigh himself before and after he ate.

Bob Whalen took Joco’s advice and found himself a girlfriend who emerged from the St Marks Free Clinic, Jean Mallizia (or sometimes it was Farshtey). Formerly property of the Hells Angels, she had just been cured of the clap. She had developed a pus filled infection of her fallopian tubes that had beaten any that they had seen before. Jean though would not join him when he eventually left for a job in Iran. We found out later that this was because she was vastly underage. You wouldn’t imagine, a young woman stacked as she was, to be underage.

Jean couldn’t seem to be able to hold down a job and so she moved in with us for a while. She then got a job as a yoga sensitivity instructor at the Pink Pussycat at 14th and 2nd Ave. She would wash out her uniform by hand and leave it to dry in our bathroom. Not that there was much to wash. It was the skimpiest uniform I have ever seen. Some might be ungenerous enough as to call her a prostitute. She was emphatic though that she always lit incense in front of a statue of the Buddha before she had sex. One of her customers was, she said, a very charming professor from CCNY who was in his 80s.

Jean then met Mike Parzini. He came from a family of sculptors who had been scultors in Florence Italy since the dark ages. The parents lived in Old Bethpage. His father, Archie Parzini, told me that it had taken him 20 years to learn how to properly sculpt the human hand. Mike’s sister had become a cripple as a result of a car accident and his brother was retarded. It was thus up to Mike to carry on the family tradition. Unfortunately, Mike had become a junky.

Jean moved in with Mike. They lived in a hotel at 7th Ave and 14 St where every inhabitant seemed to be a dope fiend. The walls were paper thin and you could hear everything that went on to the sides of you and in the rooms on top of you as well as below you. The husband of one of the women living there was on methadone. This has the unfortunate effect of depressing the libido. She got so horny that she offered to pay her husband $20 to fuck her. He could not come for the longest time and the metal bedframe made an incredible racket, keeping the whole hotel awake. When he finally came, there was applause from virtually the whole hotel. At last, they were going to be able to go to sleep. He then demanded his $20 from his wife. She told him to go and fuck himself.

Yes, 14th St has memories for me

Chelsea Oct 2008

Bob Whalen in Manhattan Nov 2008

2009-09-09T15:51:00.000-07:00

Shortly after graduation from HS, Bob moved to Manhattan. At first he lived on Norfolk St in the Lower East Side but that neighborhood proved to be a zoo full of junkies and other degenerates and he moved to The Village into a walkup on Sullivan St. He was several doors down from St Anthony of Padua church. This church was the home of the locally famous and formidable Father Romano. If a woman's husband neglected his family and drank up his money while carousing with other women and he beat her up for complaining, she would go to Father Romano rather than to the police. I have never met him but he was described to me as a muscular man who typically hurried past with his robes flapping. He had a direct way about him and would not hesitate to crack skulls to make his point. His approach was not to instill fear of Jesus in miscreants hearts but rather, fear of Father Romano. It worked too, I am told. We need more people like Father Romano.

I have forgotten Bob's address but I think it was the yellowish brick building in the second photo.

An interesting stream of people entered Bob's life, which is not surprising, considering where he lived. One time I met a Rock band called The Unicorn Tapestry. One of it's members had visited the Cloisters museum and he was so taken by the famous unicorn tapestries that he began spray painting Unicorn Tapestry all over the place. Garffitti was unknown then but he launched hundreds of imitators and thus started the wave of grafitti that plagued NYC for years The Unicorn Tapestry grafitti then started off a series of newspaper articles and he decided to cash in on the publicity by starting a rock band with the same name.

Across the street lived an underground chemist who made some very fine synthetic mescaline. The apt was a walkup on the seventh floor of a tenement that featured only one bathroom per floor.

At some point, he met Chester Anderson, a pornographer and SF author who went back to the Beatnik days. He would get some great hashish flown in which he would dissolve in lighter fluid. He would dip cigarettes in the fluid and let them dry. This way he would always have dope on him for which he could not be busted. He became editor of Crawdaddy magazine but planned to turn it into a Science Fiction magazine. Perhaps this is what led to the magazine's downfall in 1969.

One day, Bob and I were walking through the Village, tripping on some fine blotter acid, and we bumped into Chester. We turned him on and he suggested that we adjourn to the Crawdaddy offices, with it's fine stereo. We did and I pulled out an LP from a vast pile of albums sent for review, The Moray Eels Eat the Holy Modal Rounders. This became one of our enduring favorites. Two stereo speakers were mounted in the skylight and a very high stepladder was so situated that if you sat on the top step, you had a speaker on either side of your head. I looked for the Crawdaddy offices but I couldn't find them. I believe that they were in a building that occupied a semi empty lot in the last picture.

Finally, I took a picture of 137 Thompson St. This was the block adjacent to the one where Bob lived and was the home of Augies. This was a neighborhood coffee joint where a constant stream of neighbors used to drop in and drink Espresso, eat pastries and talk. Mostly working class people, talking in either Italian, English or both. I always stopped in when I was in the neighborhood. Augie had once gotten me a temp job while i was down and out. People would send in postcards from wherever they had traveled all over the world, which Augie would proudly paste on the walls.

One time I had not stopped in for six months and I got a furious dressing down from Augie. "Where the fuck have you been? Don't you at least have the decency to send a postcard?" I think I was forgiven though. Several weeks later I stopped in and he said that he had a family emergency in Staten Island and would I run his shop until he got back? I ran his shop for the whole afternoon. I didn't get paid for it nor would I have accepted any money because Augie was a friend, almost family. I think any of his customers would have done the same thing.

Bob Whalen in Manhattan Nove 2008

Lower East Side at Night Nov 2008

2009-09-09T15:44:00.000-07:00

How unlike mall shopping in flyover country shopping in the Lower East Side at night is. There is an intensity, an animation, a bustle here that is quite different, When Adam and Geraldine moved to Pennsylvania, I took Geraldine to a mall to pick up necessary supplies (like soap, shower curtains, etc.). The wide open isles were speckled with shoppers who looked somehow different. White bread people. Men wearing shorts and baseball caps. Everyone marching with a singular lack of animation as if they were caught up in a sort of rapture of the deep. I was struck by how much this all seemed like a scene from Dawn of the Dead. I think I really creeped Geraldine out when In whispers, I described the other shoppers as being zombies from Dawn of the Dead. In the misty depths far ahead of us was a lone customer service person at a counter who viewed us with an intense, expectant stare. I whispered to Geraldine that I thought he suspected that we were live human beings, not zombies and that when he confirmed his suspicions that we were live human beings, that he was going to direct the zombie shoppers to tear us limb from limb. I told Geraldine when that time came, I was going to throw the crock pot in his face to distract him and that she should pick that moment to bolt out of there.

If they were going to film a remake of Dawn of the Dead on the Lower East Side, they would have to film the Dead lurching at a quick step with a far greater look of determination than the Dead of the original movie. "Get out of my way, motherfucker. I saw that live dude first!" "Gnaaarrl"

While walking down the Bowery, I was stopped by a Chinese gentleman who asked directions to Canal Street in somewhat broken English. i gave him his directions but wondered why he stopped me, the single Caucasian visible, for directions?

Lower East Side at Night Nov 2008

Flatbush Ave at Night Nov 2008

2009-09-09T15:32:00.000-07:00

Well, we tried the Haitian cuisine at Kombit on Flatbush Ave. The food was not bad and the owners were certainly nice but I simply cannot get excited eating tropical tubers prepared in multifarious ways. As a matter of fact, I am starting to detest tropical tubers. I had hoped that the French culinary influence would somehow work wonders but even they would experience limitations here. Even a French chef could not be expected to work miracles when presented with garbage raw materials (tropical tubers).

They tried to evoke a feeling of home cooking with mom back in Haiti. These foods would no doubt count as comfort foods to Haitians. However, their perception by people who did not grow up with them would necessarily be different. I personally dote on certain foods from my Saxon childhood and count them as comfort foods. Foods like smoked eel, fried herring, potato dumplings with gravy, various raw fish, pickled in various ways, blood sausage, whole grain Westphalian bread. I however have more sense than to offer these foods to people who did not grow up eating them. If I have any doubts, I need only listen to my children's retching sounds as they see me eating the stuff.

You certainly do not experience the same sort of bustle on Flatbush Ave at night that you do on the Lower East Side.

Flatbush Ave at Night Nov 2008

Old St Patrick's Cathedral Nov 2008

2009-09-09T15:25:00.000-07:00

This was the main Catholic cathedral until a much more opulent St Patrick's was built further uptown on 5th Ave. It is not nearly as impressive as the newer facility but I walked in during an organ recital and was captivated by the beautiful music as I was taking pictures. Then I came upon a picture of the hag, "Mother" Theresa and the spell was broken. I remembered an interview with her in which accusations of the callousness with which she treated the sick in her hospice in India were pointed out. Her response was that she did not want to ease human suffering. That, in her view, human suffering was a positive good in the world. The thought of her made me want to puke and i left.

This brings to mind the subject of blind belief and I would like to quote the words of a very wise cockroach, Archy (of Archy and Mehitabel fame).

i once heard the survivors
of a colony of ants
that had been partially
obliterated by a cow s foot
seriously debating
the intention of the gods
towards their civilization

and further

warty bliggens the toad

i met a toad
the other day by the name
of warty bliggens
he was sitting under
a toadstool
feeling contented
he explained that when the cosmos
was created
the toadstool was especially
planned for his personal
shelter from sun and rain
thought out and prepared
for him

do not tell me
said warty bliggens
that there is not a purpose
in the universe
the thought is blasphemy

a little more
conversation revealed
that warty bliggens
considers himself to be
the center of the said
universe
the earth exists
to grow toadstools for him
to sit under
the sun to give him light
by day and the moon
and wheeling constellations
to make beautiful
the night for the sake of
warty bliggens

to what act of yours
do you impute
this interest on the part
of the creator
of the universe
i asked him
why is it that you
are so greatly favored

Ask rather
said warty bliggens
what the universe
has done to deserve me
if i were a
human being i would
not laugh
too complacently
at poor warty bliggens
for similar
absurdities
have only too often
lodged in the crinkles
of the human cerebrum

archy

Old St Patricks Cathedral Nov 2008

Cha Cha Cafe Nov 2008

2009-09-09T15:18:00.000-07:00

The tiramisu was delicious but the pizza was a disgrace. They should be ashamed to sell such crappy pizza. They probably figured that no one would notice since most of the people coming to Little Italy seem to be out of towners. Next time I will go back to Di Roberti's in the East Village, or, better yet, Arthur Ave in the Bronx. The location is great though. And I love the backyard patio where you can linger as long as you want (apparently)

Cha Cha Cafe Nov 2008

John L Sullivan Skyscraper Nov 2008

2009-09-09T15:16:00.000-07:00

The only skyscraper built by the great architect, John L Sullivan, in New York

John L Sullivan Skyscraper Nove 2008

Extra Place Nov 2008

2009-09-09T15:12:00.000-07:00

This little blind alley, Extra Place, has been in the local news lately. The developer who owns the new buildings on the right, wants to buy the street from the city and turn it into some sort of squeeky clean shopping arcade. The opposition comes from people who want to prevent the Lower East Side from being disneyfied with bland concrete and glass structures obliterating the local landscape. The back door of CBGB's used to empty on Extra Place. One of the Ramones reminisced fondly in the paper over stumbling over garbage in Extra Place while in a drugged stupor following a concert at CBGB's. I asked the opinion of a Mr Chen, who can be seen weighing down plastic tarps with bricks over the gratings. He operates a dance studio in the basement and complains that he has to sop up around 15 gallons of water from the basement floor when it rains. As far as he is concerned, the developer can keep the alley so long as he stops the flood of water into his basement I stopped here to see what the fuss was all about after hiking past from Andrew's birthday celebration in Chinatown

Extra Place Nove 2008

Max's New Hat Nov 2008

2009-09-09T15:06:00.000-07:00

Max's New Hat is a group performing Balkan traditional music. Much of it sounds like Klezmer music. Very lively. I caught this at one of Brooklyn's farmers markets at Carroll and Smith streets. From there I caught the Ikea shutle bus to the Ikea store in Red Hook where I picked up necessities like a bucket of Lingonberry jam. Then returned to Manhattan via the free Ikea catamaran ferry boat.

Max's New Hat Nove 2008

Trip to Flyover Country Nov 2008

2009-09-09T14:48:00.000-07:00

Traveled out to Adam and Geraldine's for Thanksgiving. There was a time when New Jersey did not consist of endless malls. There were endless strip malls along rout 1 and 9 in the 1950s and 1960s but with their endless billboards and garish neon advertising signs, they were generally perceived as being ugly. That great radio entertainer, Jean Shepherd, used to refer to them as " creeping New Jersey".

There was the Garden State Plaza along route 4 but we seldom went there. Sometimes, when a lot of shopping had to be done, we would go to Sears in Hackensack. Generally though, why travel so many miles and take so much time doing so just to get an item or two that was only marginally cheaper at one of the big stores? And so, my parents would go to Epsteins Department Store in Pompton Lakes for our clothing needs. On the way there in Midvale was a great German bakery and a German butcher, Farm View Pork Store in Pompton lakes. A fine old fashioned hardware store, Jacks hardware in Haskell on the way to Pompton. At the butcher and the baker, we could spend some time in amiably yacking with the owners in German. After a hard day's shopping, you could reward yourself with a stupendous ice cream cone at The Milk Barn (recently demolished to increase the size of the parking lot of a Ford dealership), a world class facility of its kind. A great and cheap Italian restaurant, La Casa Roma, was only a few miles away. So what is the attraction that these big box stores in malls hold out for everyone? The quality in these little stores was generally much higher but the prices were not outrageously more. There was a personal element in shopping in a small local store that is totally absent in the mall experience.
Here in New York we still have the personal element as part of the shopping experience. My little C-town supermarket makes excellent Hummus and babaganuj. When he is not busy, the manager is usually at the entrance, greeting everyone who comes in. When you compliment him about something regarding the store, he positively glows.

There is one cheering aspect to the raising of sea levels with global warming. Many of these ugly malls will be under water.

Trip to Flyover Country Nove 2008

New Utrecht Ave Brooklyn Dec 2008

2009-09-08T17:31:00.000-07:00

New Utrecht Ave Brooklyn Dec 2008

Mysterious Subway tunnel Dec 2008

2009-09-08T17:27:00.000-07:00

My son Adam called my attention to this tunnel leading from the 7th Ave IRT station on 14th St west toward 8th Ave. Where did it come out? I had previously looked but found no terminus at the 8th Ave station on 14 St. I tried to ask at the token booth but the transit workers decided to pay no heed to my presence. Just then I saw a transit worker opening the gate to the tunnel. I rushed to the gate before it could close and lock and walked down the tunnel, taking pictures. I think that they blocked the tunnel off because they needed the space to install the elevator to the L train.

Mysterious Subway Tunnel Dec 2008