The graveyard of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral (not to be confused with St. Patrick's Not-Quite-So-Old Cathedral)

I was walking through the darkening streets of the East Village when I came upon an older gentleman taking his dog for a stroll. I noticed the colorful tiles artfully glued to his walking cane, and put two and two together: Jim Power! He's been struggling with some health problems lately — you can support him by checking out his website, where you can watch a wonderful short film that tells his story and shows off many of his new works.

Hey, at least it's a better name than this one.

You don't forget eyes like that.

Sitting in the middle of the La Guardia Houses, this bathhouse was abandoned long ago, but there are calls to put the building back in service as a recreation center.

and a swirling mosaic map of the neighborhood

Teams from around the US and Canada have come to Seward Park (the first permanent, municipally built playground in the country) to play in this annual Chinese-American volleyball tournament.

This ten-story structure was once the headquarters of The Forward, a Jewish Socialist newspaper (one of the busts just above the sidewalk shed is Karl Marx). The building served an intermediate stint as a Chinese church before becoming what it was really meant to be all along: luxury condos!

Chinatown Dragon Fighters

Here's a closer look.

I bought some cherries from a nearby stand. They were not very good.

The two skyscrapers under construction are (left to right) Four World Trade Center and One World Trade Center.