To some, it's a paradise; to others, it's a bastion of "malcontents that can't fit anywhere else in society." Check out this aerial view to get a better sense of the place.
(The claim about the Ferris wheel in the second link is untrue.)
Standing here at the corner of Watson and Castle Hill Avenues in the Bronx, I was surprised to look up and see two totally different street names inscribed on the sides of PS 36, as if the school had been uprooted from Alphabet City in a tornado and dropped back to earth on this spot, ten miles away. It turns out, however, that back in the latter half of the 19th century, before the Bronx existed as a borough, this intersection did indeed bear the names of 9th Street and Avenue C, when it stood amidst the street grid of the old village of Unionport.
Either that, or it's some kind of alien spacecraft landing beacon. Or maybe a prestigious athletic trophy won at the YMCA across the street?
as seen from the picnic tables of the wonderfully named Howard & Minerva Munch YMCA. If you look closely, you can see that there are, in addition to the main suspension cables, four stay cables running at an angle from the top of each tower to the deck (i.e., the roadway surface) of the bridge (here is a clearer view of the cables). The stay cables were installed, as were some since-removed stiffening trusses, after the similarly designed Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed spectacularly into Puget Sound amid a steady 40-mile-per-hour wind in 1940, the year after the Whitestone opened.
P.S. Left, right, left, right. Now you don't need an experienced instructor!
The Sanitation Department is evicting this collection bin (belonging to the controversial Planet Aid organization) from the public sidewalk on which it has illegitimately taken up residence. If it doesn't make itself scarce within 30 days, it will be condemned and hauled away under DSNY's Derelict Vehicle Removal Program.
It's more fun if you say it louder.
(You can see Astoria's version of the Flatiron Building reflected in the window.)
Grahak will be the first to cross the finish line in this year's race, as his former prime minister has duly noted. On the right is Grahak's brother Ian, who made a surprise appearance a few days ago.
and leaving your car there for a few decades
Located a few blocks from the racecourse, this is presumably the home of one of Sri Chinmoy's disciples, judging by the color scheme.
Say hello to Raga. Arpan told me to keep an eye out for him as I passed by his house; I didn't see him at first, but then he started talking. And talking and talking.
The greatest barbershop name ever conceived.
Among other Chinmoy-inspired businesses in this little baby blue strip are Smile of the Beyond (a luncheonette) and Divine Robe Supreme (a sari shop).
They may not fit the classic American stereotype, but we have our fair share of rednecks-at-heart here in NYC.
Adhesive discs: one of the climbing strategies employed by vines
