The Mystery and the Beauty

“The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.” This quote from the Great Gatsby pretty much sums it up for me on my thoughts about this bridge. The Queensboro (or 59th Street) Bridge is definitely my favorite bridge in NYC. It’s beauty lies in its industrial look, this is no wimpy graceful suspension variety, it’s a hardcore steel Double-decked Cantilever bridge. It’s mystery lies in the crossing over into the metropolis that is Manhattan. Passing by windows at ten stories high, like a scene out of Bladerunner. Millions of windows, each with its own story. And of course the views of the city are amazing, take a walk across and you are sure to be impressed.

Where were you when I was stuck on a desert island?

I know people beat this kind if stuff to death, like, "where were you when?" "If you were stuck on a desert island", "what's your 5 top?" "If you could time travel", and on and on. As best as I can remember, there have been two "where were you when" moments in my life. The first being the assassination of JFK, in which I was only a couple of months old and so, I don't really remember. The second, which brings me to this photo, was when John Lennon was shot outside of The Dakota. I was driving my mother's 1977 Monte Carlo on my way to high school, thinking, if I could time travel I could go back and prevent some of these "where were you when" moments. Oh well, I guess time travel will have to be on one of my top 5 lists Incidentally, The Dakota was used as a time travel machine in the Jack Finney book

Coexisting

New York City's architecture is as diverse as the people who live and work inside of these buildings. Here are a couple of shots of the old Knickerbocker Hotel, a Beaux Arts classic amongst the newer glass skyscrapers of midtown.

What the city needs more of

Public restrooms are pretty scarce in Manhattan. This one, situated in Bryant Park is wonderfully maintained and located in a beautiful structure. You will be thankful for it next time you stop by the park for ice skating in the winter or a movie in the summer.

Crosstown Traffic

Getting from east to west in midtown Manhattan can be a nightmare, to say the least, however, this view looking west across 40th street from Madison Avenue shows the challenge to be much easier, thanks to a light traffic day due to the MLK holiday.

"Mama don't take my Kodachrome away"

With the final processing of Kodachrome coming to an end last week, I am posting this image that I took using the legendary film in NYC in 1991 of the ticker tape parade for Dessert Storm. Perhaps there should have been a parade for Kodachrome.

White Shoes, Red Steps

The 27 red steps above tkts booth at the north end of Times Square will give you an elevated view of the famed intersection. However, I chose to not climb up, but rather photograph the steps instead.

Nelson Tower

On my way up Seventh Ave., I noticed the sun was hitting the tower just right, so of course I snapped a couple of shots. This is one I decided to grunge up a bit to give it a vintage feel.

Times Square at Dusk

I had some time to kill yesterday before an appointment near Times Square, so I decided to take a stroll through with iPhone in hand. This is an area I usually avoid, but the light at dusk was quite nice. This shot is pretty straight forward, but you can see that nice warm quality of light.