Photo by myself on Davis Street in Long Island City, in Queens. A warehouse just down the street from the 5 Pointz building.
On a desolate street in Long Island City, just a couple subway stops outside Manhattan, is one of the most visited monuments to graffiti art.
5 Pointz is a sprawling building of artist studios, and is absolutely covered with graffiti. The graffiti extends down the street, covering several buildings.
The incredible thing is that the 5 Pointz building allows itself to be tagged. Visitors flock from all over the world, bearing aerosol cans to add their mark to the building.
I'd seen and heard about this building for the longest time. Wednesday night I happened to be in the area, visiting a contractor's office. It was spooky to walk down the street, which was deserted and freezing.
Set back from the street, the famed 5 Points building is covered with graffiti.
5 Pointz is located on Davis Street, just beyond Jackson Avenue. It is a short walk from the Court Square subway stops (E, M and G trains). You cannot miss it.
For the wiki entry about 5 Pointz, click here.
For the 5 Pointz website, including some incredible photos, click here.
Related posts: The Urban Art Form, Downtown, Pasted Up in the Meatpacking District and The Truth in Advertising, in the East Village
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Tagged at 5 Pointz, Long Island City
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Different Vistas
Photo by myself of the Manhattan skyline from Long Island City. I took this photo during this weekend's barbeque atop one of the new residential towers in Long Island City.
Even though it's been nearly eighty years since its opening, the Empire State Building still strikes a distinctive impression along the Manhattan skyline.
This afternoon I went over to the job site on Central Park West, for a meeting.
En route there was some mayhem outside the Trump Tower at 60th Street, along the Park. A woman with two young kids asked a doorman, 'What just happened?'
'Steven Tyler just went into the building, ma'am.'
I kept walking, worried that I'd be late for my meeting. But all I could think was, there is a whole class of people like Steve Tyler, who live in these amazing apartments looking out on the world below. This is normal for them - the beautiful view, the throngs of people, the architects and decorators that cater to them.
And then there is the rest of us.
It shouldn't be such a new idea to me. There are loads of patrons of various degrees of wealth, after all. It must have been the circumstance - walking along the same pavement, visiting neighboring apartment towers.
It's funny how you can look out at the same view but see vastly different things.
Related posts: Location, Location, Location and Sublime and the Ridiculous, or Why I See Few Celebrities in New York. Read more...
Saturday, June 21, 2008
From the East Bank
Photo by myself, looking onto Manhattan from Long Island City.
It's tough to say what's nicer, the views from Manhattan or the views of Manhattan. Many of the new condo buildings in Long Island City and Queens, just across the East River, are advertised for their cinematic views of the Manhattan skyline.
This photo is deceptive. The gorgeous modern United Nations, designed by Le Corbusier, looks to be next to the Chrysler Building, several blocks away. The Pepsi-Cola billboard actually lies along the edge of Long Island City, with the East River in between.
You can see the area better in an earlier photo of mine.
Tonight Mark and I went to a rooftop party in Long Island City, also known as LIC.
We went to one of the new apartment towers, which had a beautiful roof deck. There were landscaped areas, freestanding barbeques and wood structures enclosing picnic tables.
Five or six separate barbecues were going on at the same time, without a problem. Each sheltered area was separated from neighboring areas by tall grasses. Someone brought an ipod and a couple speakers. We had a wine bucket and food from a nearby supermarket. The grill, maintained by the building, was ready to go. All we had to do was flip the burgers and enjoy.
There was also a petanque court, a swimming pool and dozens of lounge chairs. I can understand why LIC is advertising itself as the next Battery Park City, the cluster of modern buildings at the southern tip of Manhattan. The similarities are obvious - both are at the waterfront, both are littered with modern high rises and parks, and both have all the amenities people are willing to pay big money for.
The nicest thing about the rooftop was that it's environmentally friendly. A rooftop garden cools the roof, which is normally heated by sun during the day. Rain that normally runs off the roof is used for planting, and the plants themselves are great for the inhabitants and the environment.
Hopefully we'll see more urban amenities like this. I think everyone would love to have a garden and barbeque.
Lower photo by myself in Long Island City.
Related Posts: Building For a Greener Environment and Climbing the Times Read more...
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
On Six-Word Memoirs, In Print
Photo by myself from the Pulaski Bridge, which spans between Greenpoint, Brooklyn and Long Island City. You can see the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building in the distance.
From this vantage point, Manhattan looks really, really close. Notice the new towers along the Long Island City coast (several orange towers and the one in mid-construction). This area is rumored to become the next Battery Park City, situated near the water. It's only one stop along the 7 train to the Grand Central station on 42nd Street.
There was an interesting blurb in last week's New Yorker Talk of the Town section on really, really short memoirs. I mean short, as in six words.
Apparently, an online magazine called Smith held a contest for submissions - describe your life in a pithy six-word phrase. The contest was a success, harvesting more than 500 submissions daily.
There was 'Fix a Toilet, Get Paid Crap,' by a plumber. And there was 'Divorced! Thank God for Internet personals.' There was a book culled from the best submissions, entitled 'Not Quite What I Was Planning', and a book party to promote the book.
Cute idea. I guess I'd be 'New York Lover, Snap-Happy Architect'. Or 'Often in Lotus Position, Riding Shotgun', in reference to my journeys with Mark and his car Clive, a Mini Cooper. Or perhaps my life would be 'Single Female with Cats No Longer', or how about 'Addicted Blogger. Takes Photos. Posts Daily'.
I notice these days that we've become horribly impatient people. For instance, has anyone watched Wheel of Fortune lately? I hadn't seen it in forever, until the other day. The format of Wheel is changed to add more variety to the game, in case you can't tolerate the old 'spin-and-choose-letters-one-at-a-time-to-solve-the-phrase' formula. Now you first guess the phrase as the letters are randomly revealed, for a few warm up rounds before the regular games start.
I don't know why I take the Wheel of Fortune game format to mean the end of patience in our culture, but I do. We want everything quickly. We want everything now. Pronto.
And so it was a refreshing change of pace to walk across the Pulaski Bridge yesterday, hand in hand. Getting from here to there wasn't just about jumping in the car and roaring over. Instead we took one step at a time. We enjoyed the journey and took some photos along the way.
'Brooklynites Unite. Take Time. Smell Roses.'
Post your pithy memoir! Read more...
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Six Years Ago
It's hard to believe that six years ago, the craziest thing happened.
People are always curious: Were you in the city that day? What happened? What was it like?
Both Mark and I remember that it was a really beautiful morning. It was bright and cloudless, one of those rare New York fall days.
I was working on Fifth Avenue near the Flatiron building. Coworkers started running up and down the stairs, yelling out the news. I was in complete shock and, crazy enough, kept working. I was hoping that everything would just go away. Anyway, we were several blocks away from the Empire State Building and as things progressed, I started to worry that that landmark was next.
Outside, it was deathly quiet except for the radios of the parked cars, blaring the news. No one was driving, and people trudged uptown in silence. I walked 20 blocks north with a friend and then went to another friend's place in Hell's Kitchen. We sat in front of the tv for the rest of the day in a daze, watching the continuous news shows. The next day, we went to the Red Cross to give blood and it was mobbed. We lingered there for a while, not knowing what to do.
I didn't know Mark at the time. He'd been working downtown and had to walk all the way home, over a bridge, to Queens.
Everything after that is a sad blur - the 'Missing' posters at Union Square, the candles, the bits of hope and the unravelling of news.
Several weeks after the tragedy, I was still full of naivete. I asked my boss,'So you don't think things will change, will they?' ('Things', meaning 'life as we knew it').
Of course, she told me that nothing would be the same.
Photo by myself of Long Island City and the buildings along the East River, beyond, including the Chrysler Building and United Nations. Many people left New York after 9/11, but right now, there's a construction boom with no end in sight.
