3/15 shots and tangents

The Far West Side

The East Village

Cooper Union is building a new building to replace what could have been a landmark. Across the street the Village Voice has a banner that reads, "Where have all the crack heads  gone?" Oh don't worry, they're coming back in Tompkins Square Park (5th picture). 

The Bowery though, has gone from slum to chic, with the hippin' and the hoppin' clubs, and towers like the one below already finished, with tall european women in height accentuating heels standing taller at the curb reaching for the sky as streams of yellow Crown Victorias vie for attention. 

I noticed CBGB's had finally been replaced by The Morrison Hotel, a place with a shop already west of the famous punk location in SoHo, rather than here in ???NoHo?? I'm getting sick of these stupid names. Anyway The Morrison Hotel is a Gallery that sells photographs of famous musicians mostly Rock based. CBGB's, if you don't already know was the famous venue for punk bands, the birth place of New York punk arguably, or not so arguably, a plethora of bands were discovered here, The Talking Heads, Blondie, Possibly the Ramones to name but few. I've never been there, I never liked punk, a category which Talking Heads and Blondie no longer fit into. But none the less, this place will be sorely missed. When I think of all the horrible places that could've replaced the landmark of rock history, The Morrison Hotel seems like the best solution. I have no idea who Jon Varvatos is though, he is opening his designer store jointly with the photo gallery. Designer wear? and punk music? makes me want to drink an Old E(Old English) forty ounce with the beggars and puke it on the floor of  such a place. Neither More Nor Less covers the sidewalk melee at the opening.

East Village 

Anywhere in Manhattan

I've told you before, I'll tell you again, don't leave your bikes unattended. This is a common site anywhere in the five boroughs, not to mention even Boston where I naively locked my bike outside for too long and never saw it again.

The East Village

A wall of weak plywood and a chain-link fence walls off what was once a community garden, a mainstay for years, teaming with carefully tended to species of plant-life. In this corner, like so many other community gardens, only two or three steps needed to be taken inside before the visitor was transported.