Click!

Did you ever look at something displayed in a gallery or museum and wondered why on earth the experts had chosen to show that? Ever think you could do a better job of selecting works worth displaying?

Well, now you can. Yes, you, too, can judge an art show in a major museum.

Here’s the deal: the Brooklyn Museum, the second largest art museum in New York (and one of the largest in the country) is holding a new photography show that allows the public to participate in the exhibition process.

The exhibit, entitled Click! A Crowd-Curated Exhibition, was inspired by a book, The Wisdom of Crowds, which says that a diverse crowd often makes wiser decisions than those made by the so-called experts.

For Click!, anyone who is interested can go to the museum’s Web site and, until May 23, rate how well the photographs reflect the theme: The Changing Faces of Brooklyn. The crowd’s ratings will determine which photos will be exhibited at the museum and how they will be displayed.

Um, yes, in case you are wondering, I did submit a photo and no, I cannot link to it on the museum’s site.

From the museum’s Web site:

What do you mean by “the changing faces of Brooklyn”?
Brooklyn, like most of New York City, is in a constant state of change. Population growth and environmental causes have altered the borough’s terrain, transforming commercial and residential areas and impacting the borough’s residents and activity. Considering Brooklyn’s transformation over the years, its past and its present, please submit a photograph that captures the “changing face(s) of Brooklyn.” We welcome a wide variety of visual interpretations of this topic.

Who is on the jury?
Anyone and everyone! We are asking as many people as possible to evaluate submissions. In crowd theory, it’s important that the crowd be diverse, so we encourage people from all backgrounds and geographic locations to participate.

Why can’t I send a link to a friend and tell them to vote for my work?
We don’t allow linking directly to works to avoid having the results skewed by promotional methods. Your work will be displayed without attribution [my name doesn't appear], and all evaluation data will be withheld until the exhibition in June. Although you can’t send a direct link to your work, we want you to encourage friends, family, and colleagues to participate in the evaluation process. Please help us spread the word.

Want to give it a try? Start here: Click! A Crowd-Curated Exhibition and register on the museum’s Web site. The rating period ends May 23, 2008.

PS: If you do come across my photo (below) I’d appreciate a good rating. Have fun!

Legalizacion Para Todos Los Inmigrantes

Brooklyn Museum: Click! A Crowd-Curated Exhibition
Brooklyn Museum: Click! exhibit blog
TechCrunch: The Brooklyn Museum Lets the Crowd Curate a Show
Museum 2.0: Brooklyn Clicks with the Crowd: What Makes a Smart Mob?

Tribeca Movies 2008

The 2008 Tribeca Film Festival ran from April 23 - May 4. Compared to last year, the event featured fewer movies, lower ticket prices and a return to theaters located exclusively in downtown Manhattan.

Once again, I neglected laundry and cleaning for two weeks while I took advantage of the opportunity to attend the festival’s screenings. Here’s what I saw in the order in which I saw them. The descriptions below are taken from the Festival’s Web site. My favorites appear in red.

1. Thriller (short)
2. The Making of Thriller
   Join filmmaker and “Thriller” video director John Landis for a special 25th anniversary screening of Michael Jackson’s epic 1984 music video, plus the classic Making of Thriller.
3. Squeezebox!
   Like the weekly pansexual party it pays tribute to, SqueezeBox! immortalizes the no-holds-barred, anything-goes attitude that its denizens embodied. The legendary club where the Toilet Boys and Hedwig were born gets the ultimate rock-and-roll tribute where all are welcome.
4. Gotta Dance
   The inspirational story of the New Jersey NETSationals, the NBA’s first senior citizen hiphop dance team. Against all odds, these energetic and dedicated seniors prove that even in their golden years, they’ve just Gotta Dance!
5. Live Long Love
   When Oscar®-nominated Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas) was invited to film the Gumball Rally, the famous high-speed race in Istanbul, he decided instead to craft a raw and intimate film that exposes the effects of an unexpected sexual encounter and the high stakes of the race on two strangers. For seven days, Figgis shot in his signature run-and-gun style—the result is a courageous new work that blurs fact and fiction and probes the unsettling consequences of infidelity, loneliness, and life in the fast lane.
6. A President to Remember: In the Company of John F. Kennedy
   Culled from direct cinema pioneer Robert Drew’s unparalleled behind the-scenes footage of JFK at work in the Oval Office, and the events that brought him there, this remarkable film proves a timely update of the Kennedy mythos and an eerily intimate portrait of the man himself.
7. Green Porno: Bee (short)
   
8. Green Porno: Praying Mantis (short)
   A short short-conceived, written, directed by, and featuring Isabella Rossellini (who co-directed with Jody Shapiro)-providing a comical but insightful glimpse at how bugs and insects “make love.”
9. The Caller
   Frank Langella gives a tour-de-force performance as an energy executive who tries to expose his corporation’s corrupt practices in this quiet yet chilling neo-noir thriller. He hires a private investigator (Elliott Gould) to forward his efforts, but who is investigating whom? Winner of the “Made in NY” Narrative Award.
10. Conessionsofa Ex-Doofus-Itchy Footed Mutha
    Melvin Van Peebles, still our most playfully inventive filmmaker after nearly 50 years, returns with a boisterous adventure that ranges from Harlem to the high seas, following the exploits of a man (MVP, natch) who’s always on the move–but always returns to New York.
11. So Beautiful (short)
    Sonia, an elderly lady, treats herself to a day at the beach. Soon she is approached by a young woman who asks her to keep an eye on her bag. Time passes and Sonia wants to go home, but there’s no sign of the girl. By opening the girl’s bag to have a look before she leaves, she starts longing for her younger days. She goes away, leaving behind a surprising gift for the girl.
12. 57,000 Kilometers Between Us
    A provocative yet charming take on digital communication, this debut follows a teen caught between her stepdad (who records the family’s supposedly perfect life online), her real father (now a transsexual), and the refuge of her online life as she searches for meaningful connections.
13. Gunnin’ for That #1 Spot
    Rucker Park. The mecca for all street basketball players. In Beastie Boy Yauch’s super-energized documentary, eight of the country’s top 24 high school players participate in the first “Elite 24″ tournament on the same court that helped turn Dr. J, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Wilt Chamberlain into legends.
14. Green Porno: House Fly (short)
    
15. Green Porno: Firefly (short)
    
16. Green Porno; Worm (short)
    A short short-conceived, written, directed by, and featuring Isabella Rossellini (who co-directed with Jody Shapiro)-providing a comical but insightful glimpse at how bugs and insects “make love.”
17. Toby Dammit
    A gorgeous new restoration-supervised by its cinematographer, Giuseppe Rotunno-of Fellini’s adaptation of a Poe short story has Terence Stamp as a British celeb struggling through a haze of booze and drugs to make sense of the paparazzi and produttore who welcome him to Rome. Presented by Taormina Film Fest. Co-hosted with Italian Cultural Institute of New York.
18. Kassim the Dream
    Kassim “The Dream” Ouma went from Ugandan child soldier to world champion boxer. In this gripping tale of survival and determination, Kassim proves that even against all odds, a man can achieve his dreams and turn tragedy into inspiration.
19. Lioness
    U.S. policy bars female soldiers from engaging in direct ground combat, so why were the women of Lioness sent out routinely with the marines into the some of the bloodiest counterinsurgency battles of the war? Co-hosted with Human Rights Watch International Film Festival.
20. The Dalai Lama: Peace and Prosperity
    An amazing experience for those unable to attend the ‘07 live event, this film is a visual record of the Dalai Lama’s visit and presentation to a sold-out Radio City Music Hall. With photographic montages by Richard Gere and music by Tom Waits and Philip Glass.
21. Going on 13
    Ariana, Isha, Rosie, and Esme are young girls who are followed for four years as they navigate the precarious path to womanhood and, in Valadez’ and Guevara-Flanagan’s expert hands, breathe new life into the coming-of-age story. Co-hosted with New York Women in Film & Television.
22. Eau Boy (short)
    A young man who has suffered from excessive sweating since birth is blown away by a strange encounter. Directed by Eric Gravel.
23. When I Become Silent (Watashi ga chinmoku suru toki) (short)
    Aspiring writer Kyoko has a problem. She wants to begin writing a novel, but her mind is not into it. Is it because Rie, her girlfriend that she has been with for more than a year, has proposed they move in together? As the moving day approaches, Kyoko’s uneasiness grows.
24. I Think I Thought (short)
    Joe’s life threatens to come apart when he begins thinking too much: at home, at work, on the train, in the bookstore. Luckily, he discovers Thinkers Anonymous, where he learns that thinking is best left to professionals like politicians, religious leaders, and the news media. After all, they’re the ones who know what’s best for us, right? Directed by Matthew Modine.
25. Shift (short)
    Fifty-year-old George Komann and his colleagues face the possibility of being laid off by their company without even receiving decent compensation. Knowing that no one will rehire people their age, Komann risks everything by asking his boss for 15 minutes to discuss a delicate matter, the outcome of which will be either the making or the undoing of each man.
26. Irish Twins (short)
    Despite being born within a year of each other, Michael and Seamus Sullivan have become very different men. On the night after their father’s funeral, Seamus drags Michael to the local pub in their small hometown in Northern California and attempts to convince his brother that they must take their father’s ashes to Ireland in tribute. Of course, it isn’t long before Seamus’ true intentions surface, and Michael must confront how much he is willing to sacrifice for his Irish Twin.
27. Tournament (Il Torneo) (short)
    In the suburbs of Rome in 2007, an outcast group of teenagers dreams of participating in a soccer tournament but does not have enough money to buy the team uniforms.
28. Sikumi (short)
    Apuna, an Inuit hunter, is driving his dog team on the frozen Arctic Ocean in search of seals when he becomes witness to a violent murder. With no anonymity in the microscopic communities of Arctic Alaska, Apuna realizes that he knows both the victim and the murderer. The latter claims self-defense and is desperate to avoid punishment, so Apuna finds himself forced to navigate the uneasy morality between honoring the body and memory of one friend while destroying the reputation and life of another. Shot on anamorphic 35mm at temperatures of 20 degrees below zero, Sikumi is the first film ever made entirely in the Iñupiaq language.
29. A Donkey in Lahore
    An unusual love story that follows the quixotic courtship of Brian, an ex-goth puppeteer from Australia, and Amber, the traditional Muslim girl he met and fell in love with in Pakistan. Can this unlikely couple survive the challenges they are about to face?
30. 7 Cities (short)
    Striking painted visuals evoke the encounter between the great 13th-century Sufi poet Mevlana Rumi and the wandering dervish Shamsuddin of Tabriz, who would become his mentor.
31. My Marlon and Brando (Gitmek)
    They fell in love on a film set-but she’s a Turk living in Istanbul, and he’s a Kurd living in Iraq, which US forces have just invaded. The lovers play themselves in this captivating film, based on their true story.
32. Yonkers Joe
    A small-time con man’s search for the perfect scam is disrupted by unexpected family challenges. This heartwarming drama features memorable performances by Chazz Palminteri and Christine Lahti.
33. Two Mothers (Meine Mutter)
    At age 58, award-winning filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim found out he was adopted. The search for his biological mother leads him-and the audience-on a dark and engrossing journey into a world of Nazi occupation, prison hospitals, and the SS.
34. Sita Sings the Blues
    Using a variety of colorful animation techniques, writer-director Nina Paley wittily interweaves the story of Sita, the leading lady of the ancient Sanskrit epic Ramayana, with the story of a modern American woman struggling to keep her marriage afloat.
35. Worlds Apart (To Verdener)
    The world of a dutiful daughter and Jehovah’s Witness unravels when she falls for a nonbeliever. She is torn between her conscience, faith, and passion-and forced to make a choice between a love and a family that are worlds apart. Based on a true story.
36. Lake City
    When her family is threatened by violent criminals, a mother and son must reconcile the past in order to save their home. Powerful performances by Sissy Spacek and Troy Garity highlight this potent drama, also featuring Dave Matthews and Rebecca Romijn.
37. A Story of the Red Hills
    The story of a disheartened dancer and a disabled boy–both of whose lives are transformed by the magic and power of Chhou, a traditional Bengali dance of great spectacle and color-is recounted movingly, if improbably, by a renowned Bollywood choreographer.
38. Under Our Skin
    Arguably the most overlooked and misdiagnosed ailment currently verging on epidemic throughout the United States, Lyme disease and the shocking controversies surrounding its identification and treatment are the focus of this provocative and often terrifying documentary.
39. Baghdad High
    Four classmates (Kurd, Christian, Shiite, and Sunni/Shiite) in Baghdad are given cameras to document their last year in high school, resulting in a rare firsthand view of what it’s like growing up where sectarian violence rages right outside the classroom window.
40. Secrecy
    In the years following September 11, the black redaction stripe has become a familiar sight to most Americans. Secrecy probes the roots of the United States’ culture of classification-and its consequences.
41. Zen of Bobby V
    Former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine took his baseball expertise to Japan in 2004. This film follows a season in the life of an American who has become an admired icon-and a primary reason that baseball remains Japan’s most popular sport.

Director Mike Figgis

Director Adam Yauch

Director Melvin Van Peebles

Director Dori Berinstein

Director Robert Drew

Tribeca Film Festival
57,000 Kilometers Between Us
7 Cities
Baghdad High
The Caller
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
The Dalai Lama: Peace and Prosperity
A Donkey in Lahore
Eau Boy
Going on 13
Gotta Dance
Green Porno
Green Porno: Official site
Gunnin’ for That #1 Spot
I Think I Thought
Irish Twins
Kassim the Dream
Lake City
Lioness
Love Live Long
My Marlon and Brando
A President to Remember: In the Company of John F. Kennedy
Secrecy
Shift
Sikumi
Sita Sings the Blues
So Beautiful
SqueezeBox!
A Story of the Red Hills
Thriller Night
Toby Dammit
Toby Dammit’s Inspiration: Edgar Allen Poe’s Never Bet the Devil Your Head
Tournament
Two Mothers (Meine Mutter)
Under Our Skin
When I Become Silent
Worlds Apart
Yonkers Joe
The Zen of Bobby V

SqueezeBox!

In the mid-1990s, a New York City nightclub owner Don Hill decided to hold a weekly “gay night.” He hired a party planner who vowed to create an event that included everything he liked and nothing he didn’t, and they called the result SqueezeBox! (yes, the exclamation point is part of the name).

The Friday night SqueezeBox! parties offered uncensored, uninhibited entertainment and attracted a regular audience of drag queens, rock & rollers and celebrities. After several years, the parties had run their course.

The last SqueezeBox! event, a gala farewell party, was held on May 18, 2001, and filmmakers almost immediately began working on a documentary. Last night, the movie that was seven years in the making was shown as part of the Tribeca Film Festival.

Some of the SqueezeBox! regulars showed up in full party regalia and, for a few moments, the lobby and street outside the theater were transformed into the site of an impromptu drag performance, fashion show and family reunion.

The filmmakers onstage

Screening attendees

Attendee in the lobby

Jayne Country at the screening

In front of a Tribeca Film Festival banner

Jim Wallerstein and Bebe Buell

On the street in front of the theater

Film attendee in the street

Tribeca Film Festival: SqueezeBox!
Don Hill’s SqueezeBox Party
MySpace: SqueezeBox The Movie
MySpace: Squeeze Box

The Greatest Show on Earth

It isn’t just another traveling show — for 138 years, this company has been America’s biggest, best and most popular circus. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey describe themselves as “the Greatest Show On Earth” and hundreds of thousands of devoted fans agree. This show took place in New York’s Madison Square Garden.

The arena is packed

The show begins

The trumpets blare

Man on horseback

An explosion of motion and color

The cage is in the center of the ring

Motorcycles riding inside the cage

Centrifugal force prevents falling

The tigers and the trainer

The trainer and the tigers

He turns his back on the beasts

The acrobats

Elephants sitting up in a row

Elephant parade

Trapeze artist

The man on the flying trapeze

The finale!

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey History

How to Ensure a Happy New Year

Some people believe that the things they do on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day will influence or set a pattern for the rest of the year. Me, I’m not superstitious. But just in case you want to hedge your bets, here are some common (and uncommon) beliefs.

Before midnight

• Make sure your home contains plenty of food and money. Empty pockets or cupboards on New Year’s Eve may usher in a year of poverty.
• If the new year begins with debt, you will continue to owe for the rest of the year. Write and mail out checks for household bills and settle personal debts prior to midnight.

At the stroke of midnight

• Open all the doors so the old year can escape and the new year may enter.
• Make loud noises to scare away evil spirits.
• Kiss those dearest to you to ensure their affection will continue another 12 months.
• Jumping up and down at midnight will cause you to grow taller.
• Eating 12 grapes (one for each month) will ensure a good year.
• If you live alone, you can ensure a lucky year by putting a coin in a basket that has a string tied to it, then placing the basket just outside your front door. After midnight, pull the string to bring the basket inside (don’t just reach out to retrieve it; that would cancel the luck).

After midnight

• Good fortune will be yours if the first person to cross your threshold in the new year is a tall, dark haired, good looking man (if the first to enter is blond, redheaded or female, bad luck will follow). A man with a high instep, or one riding a horse, is considered particularly lucky. He should be carrying gifts including a silver coin, a sprig of evergreen, a lump of coal, a chunk of bread and a bit of salt.
• The first person to enter must not be cross-eyed, flat footed or have eyebrows that meet in the middle.
• Drink the last dregs of a bottle used to celebrate the new year and good fortune will be yours.
• Wind up all the clocks and you will endow the house with good fortune.

On New Year’s Day

• Absolutely nothing, not even garbage, can be taken out of your home on the first day of the year. Don’t sweep as much as a speck of dust or you might sweep good luck from the house.
• Washing dishes and doing laundry on this day will lead to a death in the family during the year.
• Eating black-eyed peas will bring both good luck and money.
• Dancing in the open air (especially around a tree) will ensure luck in love, prosperity and health throughout the year.
• Wear something new to increase the likelihood of more new garments during the year. If you wear something red, you’ll have happiness all the year round.
• Do not pay back loans or lend money or other precious items on New Year’s Day. To do so is to guarantee you’ll be paying out all year.
• A token amount of work on first day of the year means advancement in your career but starting a serious work project is very unlucky.
• Handle things with care; if you break anything on the first day, you’ll face a year of wreckage.
• Be of good cheer. Crying on the first day ensures a year filled with sadness.

Wishing you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2008. Happy New Year!

Photo from Oriental Trading Company

Snopes: New Year’s Superstitions
IndoBase: New Year’s Superstitions
Old Superstitions: New Year’s Customs
Oriental Trading Company: New Year’s 2008 Rubber Duckies

Grand Central Kaleidoscope Light Show

Today, Grand Central Terminal will be packed with those travelling home for the holidays. Although the train station will be crowded, the travellers’ waiting time will be made less painful by a spectacular, free holiday sound and light show called Kaleidoscope.

Every half hour, from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., tourists and commuters watch as the marble walls and painted ceiling of the main concourse are washed with choreographed audiovisual effects. If you want to see the show in person, you’ll have to hurry; it ends on New Year’s day.

Here are a few images from the show, along with happy holiday wishes from Blather in Brooklyn.

The main entrance to the station

Suddenly, the music starts and the walls begin to change color

A traveller stops in his tracks to watch the show

Patterns cover the pale marble walls

The music swells and images of fireworks appear

The lights cover every surface

Twinkling stars are projected onto the ceiling

Grand Central Terminal

Chaos & Prizes at West 14th Street

I received an e-mail from Apple announcing the grand opening of the largest Apple Store in the city. Since I recently became a first-time Apple computer owner, I thought the event would give me a great opportunity to meet lots of people who could provide tricks, tips and advice. The notice also mentioned that those attending would have a chance to win an iPod or laptop. Why not go?

The opening of the place officially known as Apple Store West 14th Street was scheduled for 6:00 pm. I arrived around 3:30 and found a couple hundred people were already waiting. Talking to the people closest to me, I realized that most of them had never used — or even seen — an Apple computer and didn’t really understand what would happen when the doors opened.

The high school girls who linked arms and cheerfully elbowed their way in front of me explained that a DJ on their favorite radio station (WQHT Hot 97 “Where Hip Hop Lives”) had announced the grand opening and promised that the first people through the doors would all receive free iPods. The kids didn’t agree on the number of free iPods the DJ had mentioned (200? 400? 600?) but they had all, they swore, heard him say that the first people on line would definitely be receiving them. Of course, Apple had never promised any such thing.

Soon, the sky got dark, snow began to fall and the mood changed. As the crowd grew, more rumors started to circulate. Apparently, another popular DJ (WWPR Power 105.1 “Hip Hop and back in the Day Joints”) had spread a rumor that the store was giving out free laptops to the first 10 people who entered. Eager to get their hands on the costly electronics, many people showed up with groups of friends and relatives; scores of shivering children wailed in the cold.

The hours passed, the store brought out some portable heaters, a guy in the crowd had a pizza delivered, and the snow stopped. Since most of those outside the store were determined to be among the first to enter, it was inevitable that pushing and shoving would ensue. What was surprising, though, was the tiny group of security guards who seemed reluctant to approach the crowd, and the complete lack of Apple Store employees out on the street with us (if they’d been there, they surely would have heard — and been able to quell — the rumors that were flying).

And then, pandemonium. A couple clad in puffy jackets squeezed through the metal police barriers within view of the kids who had cut in front of me. Screaming, pushing and hitting, the frantic girls attacked the line jumpers until police arrived and dragged the couple away for their own safety. With no security staff in sight, the crowd surged forward, then surged again. People were knocked to the ground, shoved up against the pane glass windows (thankfully, they held), and a wheelchair nearly overturned. At last, police reinforcements arrived and succeeded in controlling the tense, angry crowd.

The doors opened promptly at 6:00 and the staff allowed the linewaiters to enter in small groups. When we finally made it through the door, we were greeted by applauding staffers, handed white boxes containing t-shirts and black tubes holding posters. The tubes had black plastic caps, and hidden under each cap was a sticker revealing a prize (if any). The rumors about prizes going to the first few hundred were, of course, false; the store had less than 4,000 posters and t-shirts to distribute.

I, like most of those who’d entered, won a $10 iTunes card. The girl next to me received the same thing. Scowling at the card, she asked, “What am I gonna do with this?” She didn’t own an iPod or a computer, or even know anyone who did. I offered her $5 for the card and she happily accepted.

I heard that Whoopie Goldberg and Mary J. Blige had been in the store when the doors opened (they used a different, secure entrance), but they’d departed before I arrived. I did, however, see a movie star in the crowd and snap a picture. I was surprised to see how many stomped out (or stayed to argue with staff) as soon as they learned they weren’t getting a free iPod or laptop. And I was shocked to learn that the store does not contain a public rest room. None, not one, not even a handicapped stall.

When I left the store, I walked around the block to see how many people were still waiting to enter. Thousands, stretching around the block, stood in the Manhattan night. By that time, dozens of police officers were on the scene, keeping order and scratching their heads. They knew that most of those waiting would go home cold, tired and empty-handed.

Early arrivals — a typical happy Apple crowd

Later arrivals were lacking in merriment

A portable heater in action

Inside the store, Brooke Shields surveyed the crowd

First glimpse of the Genius Bar

The store crowded to capacity inside & out

Around the block, thousands still hoped to enter

Apple Store: W. 14th Street
O’Grady’s PowerPage: Apple Store Riots
Info Apple Store: W. 14th St. Opening (scroll down to read comments)
Info Apple Store: W. 14th Friday Evening
MacRumors: West 14th Street Store Opening

It’s beginning to look a lot like …

Every year before the trees are lit, the streetlamps are wrapped with garlands, or the wreaths are hung, these enormous Christmas balls magically appear on Sixth Avenue.

The pyramid of gleaming, red globes, placed in the center of a fountain across from Radio City Music Hall, is always one of the first signs that New York City is getting ready for Christmas.

Trick or Treat!

On Halloween, suburban children dress up and wander from house to house to gather candy and treats. But — for many reasons – that approach to trick or treating doesn’t always work so well for city kids.

In Brooklyn Heights, the tradition calls for costumed youngsters to walk through the historic commercial district on Montague Street and collect candy from the neighborhood shops and businesses. This year, I was lucky enough to catch some of the little monsters (and the workers who gleefully welcomed them) in the act.

A lion caught outside a pharmacy

A little bride on the street corner

A family maneuvers the scaffolding outside a drug store

An M&M candy standing before a rack of dresses

Supermarket worker greets a little rooster

The ice cream parlor handed out samples

A pussycat stands before a revolving door

A foil-wrapped candy kiss inside a shop

Cowboy in a drug store

A pirate and Snow White stand with antique furniture

The poor guy in the middle just wants to shop

A group inside a thrift shop

Thrift shop staff coated with stage blood

A chicken naps while trick or treating

A group crossing Montague Street

Pair of Spidermen invade a shop

A dragon & his dad in front of the grocery store

Open House New York: Richmond Hill

I spent this, the final day of OpenHouseNewYork, in Richmond Hill, Queens.

Located more or less in the center of the borough, in many ways Richmond Hill seems more like a suburban community than a part of the city of New York. The streets are filled with single homes, many with driveways and garages. The residents spend sunny days washing cars, mowing lawns and puttering in vegetable gardens.

There is a small business district cluttered with store-front lawyers and tax preparers, family-run candy shops and discount stores, fast food joints and Latin American restaurants. Richmond Hills also contains a handful of notable churches, a few neighborhood institutions and more than its share of boarded up buildings, including a train station abandoned by the Long Island Railroad.

The most remarkable aspect of the area, however, is the way it has been divided into two camps: the long-time residents who want to preserve its past and, far outnumbering them, the newcomers who have come here to build.

Not long ago, Richmond Hill was best known for its stock of century-old wooden Victorian  houses, many with large yards. But, unlike many areas where such buildings are protected, the residents here have never been able to rouse the city into giving the structures here protected landmark status.

As a result, the newcomers tend to treat the houses either as tear-downs (the house is demolished and a new structure built in its place) or remodels (original features are destroyed and replaced by incongruous, often gaudy elements).

Trees are ripped out and buildings extended to the very edges of their lots. Fishscale shingles are covered with vinyl siding, cedar shakes are hidden behind asbestos tiles and brick veneer. Wrought-iron gates are replaced by chrome, wooden millwork is stripped off, gilded plaster hidden behind suspended tile ceilings. Satellite dishes replace privet hedges and lawns are turned into parking lots.

A walking tour through the district is accompanied by a sad litany of vanished treasures. But the long-time residents are fighting back. They’ve organized the Richmond Hill Historical Society and are working to preserve and protect their neighborhood’s heritage.

Richmond Hill still contains architectural treasures including the remaining Victorians, the public library (an original Carnegie library), the Catholic and Episcopal churches and Jahn’s, an ice cream parlor founded in 1897 which still contains its original fountain, player piano, hanging lamps and furnishings.

While the majority of the newer residents have no interest in historic preservation, other newcomers are busily painting, plastering, re-pointing and restoring their historic homes to their former glory. Clearly, the final chapter in the battle for the character of Richmond Hill has yet to be written.

Victorian home with stained glass windows and wooden trim

Syrup dispenser in Jahn’s

Jahn’s soda fountain and amber light fixtures

Restored Victorian features several types of shingles

Sleeping balconies were used on hot summer nights

Another type of sleeping balcony

A homeowner lovingly paints his Victorian

A “Painted Lady”-style paint job

Experimenting with contrasting shades and colors

The roof lines were inspired by pagodas

Painted terra-cotta on old apartment building

Crumbling remains of a community center

Entryway to former RKO Keith’s movie theater, now a flea market

The theater’s grandeur hidden behind florescent lights

Wooden Victorian “improved” with plaster columns and circular marble staircase

When these remodelers ran out of vinyl siding, they continued in a different color

Victorian house “improved” with columns and bricked-over windows

Wooden Victorian “improved” with asbestos shingles

openhousenewyork weekend
Richmond Hill Historical Society Archive Museum
Historic Richmond Hill Walking Tour
The Richmond Hill Historical Society
Forgotten NY: Richmond Hill
richmondhillny.com
The Food Section: Jahn’s, the Best Way to Travel Back in Time
Wikipedia: Carnegie Libraries

Open House Harlem Pt 2: Hamilton Heights/Sugar Hill

The OpenHouseNewYork Weekend continued with a trip to another section of Harlem, the areas known as Hamilton Heights and Sugar Hill.

Like Manhattanville, the western boundary of Hamilton Heights is the Hudson River, the eastern end at St. Nicholas. The neighborhood’s name derives from its most notable early resident, the first Secretary of the US Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, who spent the last years of his life here at his country home.

As with Manhattanville, development here started in earnest when the railway lines were extended. A jewels of the area is the Church of the Intercession, built on one of the highest points of Manhattan. Its origins date to 1843, when sanitation problems downtown led Wall Street’s Trinity Church to stop performing burials in their yard.

To create a solution, Trinity reached beyond the city limits and purchased a large parcel of land in the tiny country hamlet of Carmansville for use as a graveyard. The land, which they dubbed Trinity Church Cemetery, became the last resting place of many notable and affluent citizens.

Within a few years, demand began for a convenient chapel, eventually leading to construction of the Gothic style cathedral that adjoins the Cemetery. Now celebrating its 160th anniversary, the Church features an altar designed by Tiffany, notable terracotta floor tiles, and an Aeolian Skinner organ.

Nearby is Audubon Terrace, which fills a block that was once part of a farm owned by naturalist John James Audubon. Created by railroad heir Archer Huntington, Audubon Terrace was intended as a modern-day acropolis, a sophisticated center of art and culture. At the dawn of the 20th century, Huntington hired the leading architects of the day, including Stanford White and Cass Gilbert. They designed the Beaux-Arts plaza and buildings that today house the Hispanic Society of America, the American Academy of Arts and Letters and Boricua College.

Sugar Hill, a residential section of Hamilton Heights, was once the country’s most fashionable address for African Americans, the place where life was sweet. In these palatial brownstones and apartment buildings lived the leading lights of the Harlem Renaissance, including Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn (who immortalized the neighborhood in his song Take the ‘A’ Train), Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison, Cab Calloway, Count Basie, Zora Neale Hurston and Paul Robeson.

The neighborhood was also home to prominent professionals and civil rights activists like W. E. B. Du Bois, Walter White, Roy Wilkins, Adam Clayton Powell and Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court justice.

When the city’s fortunes declined in the late 1960s and 1970s, this area was severely affected; as most of the well-heeled moved away, drugs and violence became widespread. Elegant brownstones were divided into cheap, poorly-maintained apartments, then vandalized. A significant number of neglected buildings were demolished or burned.

But today, Sugar Hill is on the upswing. Professionals, artists and community activists again walk these streets. Newly-created private schools and arts institutions (including the Dance Theatre of Harlem) have made this area their home.

Everywhere are signs of renewal and revitalization. Houses that were filled with squatters only a few years ago are now being restored and selling for millions of dollars. Buildings that had become rooming houses are being converted back to spacious homes and Sugar Hill is again becoming one of the most desirable neighborhoods in the city.

Audubon Terrace at 155th Street and Broadway

Sculpture on the Plaza at Audubon Terrace

Bas-relief of Don Quixote on horseback

Above the entrance to the former home of the Museum of the American Indian

Entrance to American Society of Arts & Letters

The Church of the Intercession

Detail of wall at the Church of the Intercession

Gatehouse at Trinity Church Cemetery

The Gould mausoleum in the Cemetery

Garret Storm’s mausoleum in Trinity Church Cemetery

Gravestones

Building with Mansard roof in Sugar Hill

On W. 152nd St., three houses designed to look like one

Restored buildings on St. Nicholas Avenue

Classic Sugar Hill brownstones on St. Nicholas

Row of houses on St. Nicholas Avenue

Doorway with stained glass panel

Wrought iron railings in Sugar Hill

Painted stonework highlights the construction date

openhousenewyork weekend
Hamilton Heights Homeowners Association
The Hispanic Society of America
Church of the Intercession
NY Times: Living in Sugar Hill
Harlem One Stop Tour: Hamilton Heights/Sugar Hill
Historic Districts Council: Hamilton Heights/Sugar Hill
Hamilton Heights-West Harlem Community Preservation Organization
Harlem One Stop Tour: A Walk Through Sugar Hill
Harlem One Stop Tour: Trinity Cemetery
Dance Theatre of Harlem

Open House Harlem Pt 1: Manhattanville/W. Harlem

NOTE: Thanks to a particularly robust strain of influenza, Blather from Brooklyn was knocked out of the blogosphere for more than a week and a half. Publication is resuming where it left off when the flu bug raised its ugly head.

OpenHouseNewYork Weekend is here, a time when New York celebrates architecture and design. Sites around the city throw open doors that are usually closed to the public while designers, historians and enthusiasts eagerly lead packs of the curious on walking tours and explorations.

This afternoon, as part of the celebration, participants were treated to a tour that included elements of West Harlem’s past and future: highlights of the now mostly-vanished industrial neighborhood known as Manhattanville and a preview of a waterfront park scheduled to open next year.

Situated between St. Nicholas Terrace and the Hudson River, Manhattanville was once a quiet waterfront village eight miles north of New York City. The 1800s brought paved streets, Robert Fulton’s ferryboat and a flock of city residents who ventured north for the green fields, fresh country air and new opportunities.

In the closing years of the 19th century, when construction of an elevated railway made it possible to travel from Wall Street to Manhattanville in less than an hour, the population tripled. The area was rapidly transformed from a community of tenant farmers and factory workers to a bustling commercial and transportation hub.

Over the years, changing fortunes plunged Manhattanville into a decline. But today, those who know where to look can glimpse the area’s past glory. Some of the luxurious buildings that rose here in the early 1900s are relatively unchanged, their facades still clad in marble and terra-cotta. In certain spots beneath the elevated tracks, the asphalt has worn away, exposing the granite Belgian blocks and bronze insignias of the long-defunct 3rd Avenue line.

As for the future, you’ll view it by crossing the West Side Highway to the spot where 125th Street ends at Marginal Street. There, along the river, is a construction project that will reclaim a long-inaccessible section of waterfront. Known as West Harlem Waterfront Park, the project is transforming a grubby, weed-filled parking lot into a lively spot for recreation.

When it opens next year, the small but carefully-designed park will contain sculptures, fountains and benches. It will feature designated spaces for fishing, kayaking, playing, performing and relaxing in the sun. Most importantly, it will fill a missing link in the greenway and bike path that will eventually stretch along the entire length of Manhattan island.

Under the elevated tracks

Plaque and unused tracks of the 3rd Avenue line

The view from Marginal Street

The fence is opened for OHNY visitors

This area will be filled with grass

Trees and grass will grow here soon

Design of the long, narrow park is based on intersecting triangles

Benches and walkway under construction

The future Water Taxi pier

The proposed fishing pier

The kayak launching area

The park will end here but the bike path will continue

openhousenewyork weekend
West Harlem Waterfront Park
Eric K. Washington
Archipelago Architecture and Landscape Architecture
Community Board 9: West Side Harlem
DMJM Harris: West Harlem Waterfront Redevelopment Program
NYLCV: Work Finally Begins on West Harlem Waterfront Park

33rd Annual Atlantic Antic

Time once again for the Atlantic Antic, New York’s greatest street fair. The event stretches for a mile and a half on bustling Atlantic Avenue, attracting tens of thousands of Brooklynites who mix, mingle and munch the day away.

In fact, the food is one of the primary attractions, as the cafes, bars and restaurants that line the street bring their signature dishes (and often, their seating and entertainment) outdoors and members of religious congregations raise funds by proffering homemade specialties.

As a result of the focus on food, this year the event’s organizers created the Atlantic Antic Food Map, enabling fairgoers to quickly zero in on their favorite dishes before they sell out. There’s nothing as frustrating as queing up and waiting for a snowy hunk of homemade coconut cake (or a dish of fragrant paella or grilled sausages or peach cobbler) only to see the last bit sold to someone else.

Of course, it isn’t just the food that draws the crowds; people flock to the Atlantic Antic to have fun, listen to music, shop for bargains and handicrafts, see how much the neighborhood has changed in the past year and meet their neighbors in one of the most diverse, lively and historic sections of the city.

Sign on a tree

Barbequed pig’s head

Craftsman selling jewelry

Sauce bottles

Clown

Shucking oysters

Crafters selling jewelry

Drawing dog’s portrait (yes, the dog)

Jazz orchestra on the street

Modelling wedding gowns

Dishing up homemade desserts

Rocking the stage

Old friends meet on Atlantic Ave.

Shopping in drapery booth

Rabbi welcomes visitors to portable sukkah

Belly dancer with Eddie the Sheik

Selling dragon puppets

Dancing garbage can encourages recycling

Atlantic Antic Food Map
Atlantic Antic 2007
Atlantic Antic 2006
Atlantic Antic 2005

Six Years On

This is the sixth anniversary of the destruction of the World Trade Center.

In previous years, the city held a memorial service at the site of the vanished complex. But now, due to the construction equipment and activity at the original location, the ceremony was moved across the street to tiny Zuccotti Park.

It was a day of firsts: The first time the service wasn’t held at the site of the Twin Towers. The first time the anniversary fell on a Tuesday (the day of the attacks). The first time the sky wasn’t a clear, brilliant blue. The first time grieving family members and survivors didn’t have access to the spots where the buildings had stood.

During the ceremony, while a flute and guitar softly played, first responders who had worked during the rescue and recovery efforts stood in the rain and read the nearly 3,000 victims’ names. They paused only for four moments of silence marking the times the hijacked airplanes hit the buildings and the times the towers fell.

Those in attendance were able to cross the street and descend a long ramp to the bedrock that had supported the foundations of the World Trade Center. There a single, shallow wooden pool had been erected to represent the footprints of the Twin Towers. That was where they left pictures, placed birthday gifts and anniversary cards, and wrote messages for and about those they’d lost.

Once the dignitaries departed, the marksmen left the rooftops of the surrounding buildings, the reporters and photographers went on to the next story and the chairs were folded up and taken away, the day’s on-and-off drizzle turned into a torrent of rain.

Down at the site, deep below ground level, the downpour overflowed the small wooden pool, blurred the penned notes and photos along its rim, and shattered the thousands of roses that floated on its surface. 

Note: More photos from the memorial service are posted here.

Invitation

Girl at service with photo in her arms & on her shirt

Tattoo of Uncle Mike

NYPD officer with thousand-yard stare

Therapy dogs with girls

TV in Port Authority trailer showing live broadcast

Flowers in fence surrounding site

Pool with replicas of tower footprints

Thank you for being my friend

“We lost both,” she said.

We miss u Uncle Harry

We love and miss you

Save us a space on your shimmering star

Matthew Diaz

I ♥ you!

FDNY photo in the pool

Dad, keep holding the door

Happy 29th birthday

Volunteer distributing roses

Police officer writing on reflecting pool

I love you so much daddy

God bless

Teddy bear with roses

Family coming back up the ramp

NYC Dept of Parks: Remembering Those Lost On 9/11
ABC: Video of a somber day
NY Post: Heaven’s Tears Flow
AM New York: Somber, emotional ceremony
NY Times: Bloomberg Tries to Move the City Beyond 9/11 Grief
NY Times: 90th Floor Frozen, Even as Ground Zero Changes
NY TImes: Near Ground Zero, Much Is Changed
NY Times: How Much Tribute Is Enough?

Ludfest

Ludfest?

To understand the rationale behind Ludfest (the Ludlow Street Festival), you should know that New York City is divided into 123 different Police Precincts. The tiny Seventh Precinct, second smallest in the city, is located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Long a home to poor immigrants, bargain shops and, more recently, hipsters, foodies and trust fund babies, the area is served by the Seventh Precinct Community Council. The group sponsors a variety of activities and events including today’s fundraiser/block party.

The day-long Ludfest, held on the busy block of Ludlow Street between Stanton and Rivington, featured vendors, community and political organizations, a DJ and several up-and-coming local bands. All proceeds will be used for local youth programs including Christmas and Chanukah toy give-aways.

Smoking in front of Pianos

Slices for sale outside Isabella’s

Isabella’s $1 calzone

Outside the Living Room

Crowd in front of Some Odd Rubies

The DJ

Near the stage

Local cop on the beat

A Place to Bury Strangers

Case for A Place to Bury Strangers

MySpace: Ludfest
NYC Police Precincts
New York Magazine: How Low Can You Go?
MySpace: A Place To Bury Strangers
Secret Machines
Dub Trio
Other Passengers
The Sugar Report
Emok
Isabella’s Oven
Pianos
The Living Room
Some Odd Rubies
Cake Shop

The Brazilian Day Festival

On September 7, 1822, Brazil achieved its independence from Portugal. To honor the day, for the past quarter century New York has celebrated with an enormous street fair known as the Brazilian Day Festival.

Held the the first Sunday in September, the event is billed as the world’s largest and most important Brazilian event abroad. Many expatriates come from other cities and states, some chartering special buses for the occasion.

Popular music and television stars are flown in from Brazil to perform on a temporary stage set up in the middle of 6th Avenue. The crowd is so large that few can get near the stage, so the show is simulcast on an enormous JumboTron screen.

The celebration is centered around 43rd Street and 6th Avenue, an area known as “Little Brazil.” While the city doesn’t contain a distinctly Brazilian neighborhood or shopping district — in fact, Brazilian residents refer to themselves as “an invisible community” — this block is known for its concentration of Brazilian businesses and social events and Portugese is widely spoken.
 
Exuberent revelers drape themselves in yellow, green and blue (the colors of the Brazilian flag), flock to the vendors selling all manner of Brazilian goods and services, including music, videos, and fragrant delicacies such as pasteles (meat or cheese-stuffed dough), coxinha (deep-fried chicken pastries), feijoada (meat and bean stew) and churrasco (grilled meat).

Happy, relaxed and easy-going, they fill the restaurants and cafes to overflowing, gulp down caipirinhas (Brazilian margaritas) and doing their finest capoeira, batuque and samba moves, they dance, dance, dance the day away.