I just started working in downtown
Juniors is a
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Juniors, Brooklyn Sept 28 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
To Bent and Dent and Back Sept 25 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Harlem Buildings March 2008
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.
Middletown PA March 2008
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.
Carroll Gardens March 2008
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.
Satanic March 2008
Jesus Hucksters March 2008
More LES March 2008
Western Rockaways March 2008
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..
Cypress Hills Brooklyn March 26 2008
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
Back to Africana April 2008
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
Saturday, September 19, 2009
145 St Harlem April 2008
Williamsburg Revisited April 2008
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.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Popewurst April 2008
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.
Breezy Point April 2008
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
Conservatory Garden May 2008
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.
Innwood Shad Festival May 2008
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.
Newark May 2008
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.
St Marks Place and Vicinity May 2008
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 Nicholas Ave July 2008
Myrtle Ave EL July 2008
Broadway in Harlem July 2008
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?
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Maiden Voyage, July 2008
35th Annual NYUSFC SI Ferry Meeting July 2008
Waterfalls, July 2008
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
Arthur Ave, The Bronx, July 2008
Williamsburg Brooklyn Giglio July 2008
Monday, September 14, 2009
White Plains Rd Bronx July 2008
29th End of Paleozoic Era Party July 2008
Jerome Ave Bronx Aug 2008
Pulp Mag Editorial Offices I Aug 2008
Pulp Mag Editorial Offices II Aug 2008
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.
Comfort Diner Agust 2008
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
