Alice Austen House, Staten Island

Today was a beautiful Sunday in New York, so I went to the Alice Austen House, on Staten Island. Clear Comfort is the childhood home of Alice Austen, one of America’s earliest and most accomplished female photographers. It was built in 1690 as a seaside cottage on the shores of New York harbor by her grandfather. During her lifetime, Alice took over 8,000 photographs that have been recognized as one of the major works capturing turn-of-the century life in America.

Brig Van Osten and Orlando Pita, hair artists

I was walking home from Whole Foods and when I passed Eros Cafe, I saw two very familiar faces! It was Brig Van Osten, the Season 3 winner of "Shear Genius," and Orlando Pita, the Season's mentor.

I didn't have my camera... so although Brig offered to take some photos and E-mail them to me, I wanted to run the two short blocks to my home and get my own camera for the photo-op so I could post the photos on the same day. I should have let Brig use her camera. My camera is so done. Done, with a capital D! The photos did not develop color correctly (they read all weirdly blue) and they are sort of blurry. But, I was happy to have had the opportunity!

I did manage to sit down with them for a few minutes and talk to them about retro "hair height." They were exceedingly pleasant and answered all my questions with great patience and they gave me excellent advice. It was a true pleasure to meet such sincere and talented artists.



P.S. That camera is history, I bought a new one...

The Great White Way

New York, New York!!

I was all over the Broadway area today. I walked to the theater box offices and I bought several tickets for well-reviewed plays. And I took my own photo in the reflection of an office building facade.












In a double-take, I even caught "The Naked Cowboy!"


Bye-bye, Broadway! See you soon... when I arrive to see "Lend Me a Tenor!"


Turn up the volume, baby! Empire State of Mind!!

A Street Fair in Chelsea

I was walking to Whole Foods and bumped into a West 23rd Street street fair. This was an excellent photo op on a beautiful spring day. You can see the Chelsea Hotel, and to the right is the Congregation Emunath Israel and to the left is the Gotham Comedy Club. You can click on the photos to enlarge them. Welcome to my neighborhood!

A Tour of Gracie Mansion

Today, I took a wonderful group tour of Gracie Mansion. Since Mayor Bloomberg does not live there, we were able to view the second floor.






No photos were permitted inside the mansion. So after the tour, I enjoyed Carl Schurz Park.

Macy's Flower Show

Today, I went to Macy's Flower Show.

"The Beats in Greenwich Village," a walking tour

It was a dreary, cold, and rainy Sunday afternoon. I met the group from St. Francis College Departments of English and Communication Arts at 2:30, and we began the tour across the street from 130-132 MacDougal Street, where Louisa May Alcott wrote "Little Women."


This is a view of MacDougal Street, looking in the other direction. In this photo, you can see the original location of Kettle of Fish, at 114 MacDougal Street. It is to the right of the blue Frequency awning and behind the yellow taxi on the left.


This is Minetta Tavern restaurant.


This is Minetta Street. You can see the walking tour group on the right.



This is the site of the old Pony Stable Inn, where Gregory Corso met Allen Ginsberg.


This is 48 Morton Street, where David Kammerer lived.


This is 69 Bedford Street, where William Burroughs lived.


This is a view of the White Horse Tavern at West 11th Street.


And this is where the tour ended. I was happy I wore comfortable shoes.


Here are some extra shots I took along the way:



In this photo, you can see the current location of Kettle of Fish at 59 Christopher Street. It is behind the white tents in the distance on the left.


And Bob Dylan lived in this building above the Tic Tac Toe lingerie shop.


Please listen now to: this.

Backstage at the New York City Opera

Well, my plans took a detour today. I joined my TTN for a fantastic backstage tour of the New York City Opera at the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center. Then we went for a late lunch at Josephina. I had the chicken campagnole and it was incredible. Then, I went to see "The Runaways." It was nasty in NYC, with a slow steady light rain falling all day. But, glorious NYC always has activity.








I love this photo most of all. As we were standing on the stage looking out at the vast theater, I took a photo of the backstage area. The reflection of the women of my TTN group was captured in the set piece on the left.