NYC Tourist

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Here are a few street photos taken on the bus ride down Broadway from the Bronx, and over to Central Park North. Sorry about the dirty bus window.

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[nycgirl]

As much as I complain about NYC's public transportation, I have to admit it is by far the most efficient in any city I've been to. (My husband says Tokyo's the best, but I've never been.) There are even times when I enjoy it, like when I have a good window seat on the bus.

Those road cones pictures serve as a good reminder to watch out for those metal basement doors. A guy fell through them to his death recently.

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Nycgirl, sorry to hear about the guy falling in one of those doors, but I can certainly understand how it could happen. Only about half the open doorways I've seen around me have had cones in place. They're pretty dangerous and I often wonder especially how people with limited eyesight cope with the situation.

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Aug 10, 2015 11:17:22 GMT kerouac2 said:

One of the things that always amazes me about that part of Manhattan is that it never changes.... I would expect to walk into an apartment there and find myself transported simultaneously to the world of Ralph Kramden and Travis Bickle.

I had to look up the name "Travis Bickle." I've never seen the film Taxi Driver.

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Garbage day makes me really thankful I'm not visiting during one of the notorious NYC garbage strikes. The lack of garbage bins on the street makes a regular day even worse until the sanitation workers make everything nice again.

[bixaorellana]

Oh, I love out-the-bus-window pics and think that the grubbiness of the window adds to them. So often bus window series give a good flavor of how a city feels and round out the prettier and more specific shots.

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I went looking for excitement today and found plenty of it. Since it's a weekend, and they're working on some of the subway, the limited trains on my line were packed to the gills and running way behind schedule. I had to get off earlier than I'd wanted due to station closings, so first ended up at Union Square.

After running the gauntlet of some ten different people who wanted me to repent my sins, I headed towards Washington Square Park.







I could tell I was getting close when I started seeing New York University banners.










These NYU buildings face the park. Not a shabby place for someone to live during the college years.

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A street fair was set up on one side of the park, featuring different types of retail/craft vendors and food trucks.

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The park was a people watcher's paradise. There was the pigeon person.







The sun bronzer with his own comfortable lounge chair.




Not a person, but I found another sewer lid made in India and took a better picture this time.




I headed towards the fountain at the center of the park where I discovered the swimmer.







And the Asian filmmakers.







The snoozer.




The fountain watchers.




And the barefoot, bare midriffed piano player.

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Washington Square always just creeps me out -- it seems to attract only weirdos.

Is it true that NYC does not use garbage bins? If so, that requires much more work from the employees!

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Maybe one of our NYC experts will weigh in, but from what I can tell they do not use bins because they take up too much room on the sidewalks. All trash seems to be placed in plastic bags, and I'm wondering if the color of the bag might mean something. Black for household garbage? Clear for recycling? Of course, plastic bags rip and tear, and then the sanitation workers have to clean up the mess. I think garbage pick up in S's area must only be once a week, too. Incidentally, I have seen a lot of non-garbage people collecting volumes of soda cans out of the street-side trash, and have assumed they sell these for the aluminum.

There were so many different types of people in Washington Square, it was really amazing. I'll post more pictures, but there were lots of folks I just didn't photograph. Within the shade of the trees were a lot of men sitting on the benches and they looked like the kind of men who would hang around the park at all hours on a regular basis, I overheard a couple talking about cocaine, and they looked like they might use whatever drug was available. There were lots of students sitting and lying about on the grass, and then there were the tourists, the performers and the weird people scattered around the fountain. Not a bad place to be on a sunny Saturday afternoon, but probably a bit spooky at night.

[bixaorellana]

That 2nd photo of the Asian filmmakers looks like a still from a Jim Jarmusch movie. Super shot of the pigeon person. Yeah, many of these people aren't those with whom I'd like to share a park bench. Great set of pictures!

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Washington Square Park has a very rich and interesting history. A condensed version may be found here.

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Let's look at more of the people and terrain of Washington Square.

There's the arch, built where 5th Avenue ends at the entrance to the square.




And the piano player again.










The very serious musicians.




And certainly more tourists.







This looks to be a tourist group in the process of learning all about Greenwich Village.







At the fountain, there were people intent on making babies.




And babies already made and asserting their independence.

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Just a few more pictures of the park before we move on.







Looking up 5th Avenue through the arch we can see the Empire State Building.




Fit and tanned?




There weren't a lot of flowers, but I thought I could at least add these.

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I walked towards Broadway, admiring the architecture and looking at the sights.




























It wasn't until I arrived here that I remembered a special event being held today: a city-sponsored event called "Summer Streets."

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One thing I've noticed in you photos that I don't think I ever paid attention to in the past is the number of arched windows in the older buildings.

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Every summer, on three different Saturday's, the city of New York sponsors the event "City Streets." Roadways are closed from 7:00 AM to 1:00 AM, and people take to the streets. Some walk with their dogs, run, or ride bikes. Events and relief stations are set up along the way and volunteers are there to help guide the hordes of participants.

I don't know if the route varies from year to year, but yesterday's event started on Park Avenue near Central Park and went south for seven miles.




The kennel area was one of the free stations. Dogs could be turned loose inside the fences and many were playing with doggie toys and seemed to be having fun.

























It was a very hot day, so I'm sure these pooches enjoyed cooling off in tubs of water.

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And here's some of the action on the street.
















Volunteers were there to stop traffic at the cross streets, and were calling out the time since the event was nearing the end for the day.

























And then it was time for me to hop back on the subway and head uptown.

[tod2]

Great photos Htmb! I only know New York city briefly. It's certainly an energetic place where I got the vibe it's Go, Go Go 24hrs a day. I could definitely not cope well with the heat at this time of the year.

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In Florida, it's much more humid than New York City, so the Florida heat outdoors feels much more oppressive. For me, it's not so bad in NYC as long as I'm outside. Being in the shade is even better. But inside my daughter's apartment, where there are only a few windows, it starts to feel pretty stuffy. Hopefully, she won't have too much longer to deal with this. Even last week it was ten degrees cooler and that made a world of difference.

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Though there is still much to be seen, my time in New York City is rapidly coming to an end. Yesterday I walked the dog down to the East River for one more look, and today we'll take a quick spin around Central Park. It's been a nice trip and I feel I know the city just a little bit better.

[mossie]

You've certainly used your time well while visiting your daughter

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I agree wholeheartedly Mossie!

I just spoke with two of my neighbors who are currently in NYC staying in Midtown East side.
Today they are making the trek up to the Cloisters.
They said it was hot but agree as you said HTMB that the humidity is nothing compared to NOLA or in your case Florida this time of year.

I enjoyed your Washington Square, East Village shots.
If some folks think that the present day Washington Square Park is creepy, you have no idea how "cleaned up" it is compared to how it was in the 1970's and 80's for that matter.
The whole of East Village was crawling with junkies and sleazy, dangerous, desperate people.
The transformation, gentrification in some peoples opinion, is a total 180 degrees.
Same goes for the West Village, Soho, area, although the West Village was never quite so sleazy.
There were very cool shops, and independently owned cafes and galleries, now replaced with Anne Klein, Gap, and Starbucks....
There are a few remnants of the old days, The White Horse Tavern and some small bakeries and bistros.

Your report has been so comprehensive and interesting, incredibly well documented and researched.
It will surely serve as one of the absolute "must be seen" threads on here for anyone venturing up there to visit.
Well done!

[bixaorellana]

I am looking at this thread on a big nice monitor and the photos are dazzling -- super color, so much human interest. Thanks for letting us share in your visit to New York.

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Thanks, Bixa! I think my new camera is a "keeper."

Casimira, thank you for giving us some history of how things used to be. I'm glad there were a lot more "normal" people on Washington Square for my visit. It's a very interesting place.

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After I visited Chinatown, I watched several scenes from the film Chinese Puzzle to see what places I could recognize. I also found this interesting interview with the writer/director Cedric Klapisch who actually lived in Chinatown for a year while writing the screenplay.

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Cécile de France was interviewed on television yesterday because she has a new movie coming out tomorrow, and she said she is ready for a 4th movie whenever Klapisch is.

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That would be wonderful! I've enjoyed all three movies very much, but Chinese Puzzle is probably my favorite. Did she have any suggestions for a new location?