Old New York

Did you see the pictures that were recently published from New York from about 100 years ago?

I found them in the website of Corriere della Sera. There are some that are truly beautiful...

Update: My friend Rodrigo just posted this link from The Atlantic in which they have many more pics of the same collection. I particularly those that show when they were constructing the bridges that link Manhattan to Brooklyn and Queens. It still amazes me! I could see them over and over... :)

Humans of New York

Brandon Staton studied History at the University of Georgia. After losing his trading job, he moved to New York City and started taking pictures of strangers. He has taken pictures of over 3,000 people and written 50 stories. He put all this together on his website Humans of New York.

Here is a very small sample. The website is worth a periodic visit!

Would you dare to take pictures of strangers in the street? I would love to, but I am too shy...

 

NY 101

:)

(via Words for Young Men)

Paris vs New York - the book!

I am not sure whether I've ever posted any of the illustrations from the website Paris vs New York. Graphic designer Vahram Muratyan has very cool illustrations that contrast different things, people, and activities from these two great cities. After first releasing some prints of the illustrations that you can buy from the website, he is finally releasing a book! (#wishlisted)

If you happen to be in New York City this week, the book signing and exhibition is tomorrow. I will have to try to go!

Scroll down for some samples. I would still recommend to go to the website. It's just rad.



 
 

NYC in the 80s

Here's a great photo gallery of what NYC looked like in the 80's. Here are some of my faves:

I am impressed by how the twin towers dominated the skyline. 

I see/feel it very differently now that I have lived here for a while than just seeing it on TV.

Graffiti seemed to be much more of a common (under) street art than what it is now!

This looks like a movie set... Instead it was the actual lobby of a building downtown!

There are things that don't change much: like Converse sneakers : P.

Here is the link to the gallery again. I recommend browsing it, especially if you like NYC for any reason. It has very cool shots.

(via kottke)

Animated GIF of NYC Subway history

Lines of subway are drawn in the order in which they were built.

I would've never expected to see that the first subway lines were built in Brooklyn/Queens! The glorious part of the red line that I used the most was the first to be built in Manhattan :-)

Have a great weekend!

(via very-appealing)

Christmas Holidays in NYC

Hello! I know I haven't been active for a while. I got caught up in the holidays' activities and I haven't sit down much at the computer except for checking e-mail and news (ok, ok... and facebook as well).

What have I been up to? Instead of my usual winter migration, this year F and I decided to stay in NYC for the Christmas holidays. While we have taken the chance to sleep like grisly bears (especially me) and eat like we were about to hibernate, we have gone around the city a bit trying to do the typical Christmas stuff. First observation to make: it's exhausting. The weather hasn't been too cold (it has been well above 0°C, except for today - the wind factor has made it feel like -3°C or so), but it is the crowds. It's no secret that tourism has been increasing significantly in the big apple for the past few years. NYMag recently published an article about it and just few days ago Bloomberg said that about 50.2 million tourists will have visited NYC in 2011.

You can imagine what it is to walk around midtown. I wanted a picture with the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. I balked. Twice. I think we would have to go there at 3am to have a decent shot. I took this picture from across 5th Ave. Can you see the heads of all the people passing by? There are policemen on the corners controlling the flow of pedestrians to prevent them from blocking the streets. Traffic is terrible.



And walking along 5th Ave is still worth it. From what I had read from other blogs and doing a bit of browsing, I made a list of the "not-to-miss" spots and we went one by one. Some were cooler than others, but in general it was a nice experience. You bounce onto tourists that suddenly decide to stop in the middle of the street for no reason, the local smiles at you when you want to take a picture of something that is too much of daily life for them, you get pushed, you learn how to push, and then you miss the crowd when it gets colder.

I made a map that illustrates our main stops. Sorry for not mapping the places to some sort of enumeration system, but I hope it suffices to say that we went from North to South and places are listed in the order we stopped by.

1. Barney's - home to Lady Gaga's workshop. It is fun to see, but the windows are the best (and the craziest). Do not miss all-hair-made Gaga's boudoir (!!!).

2. Bergdorf Goodman - windows full of animals + mannequins with fancy dresses. Our favourite: the moose in the "all white" window.

3.  Tiffany & Co. - A bit lame I would say, but a classic nevertheless and pretty jewels.

4. Henri Bendel - mah. Funny mannequin dressed as lady liberty. Going in may be fun. We didn't.

5. Fendi - shiny belts! (there is also Tommy Hilfiger next to it with a huge ribbon)

6. Rockefeller Center - Christmas tree

7. Saks 5th Ave - Just across the street, has a nice set up of a girl that supposedly went into a magical part of the store where she discovers all these wonderfully designed dresses. Alexander McQueen and Ralph Lauren caught my eye. Oh, and also the doll moving around in a mono-cycle.

8. The NYPL doesn't have any particular Christmas decoration, but it had been a very long time since I didn't see it at night.

9. Lord and Taylor - They have a model of Santa with kids, a house with a cooking mom, more kids, a dog. It is prettier than what I can describe here. The moving models are surrounded by drawings of kids that were asked to paint something representative of Christmas. There are some that are very funny (like a zombie-looking gingerbread cookie by a 6 -year old :-) ).

We started our tour around 5pm and it must have taken us about 2 hours. Going when it is dark seemed to us the best time to appreciate the ornaments. A classic NYC thing to do that I am happy to check off my list :-). Here are some pictures of the whole tour. Not super pro, but it gives you an idea.

This may be my last post of the year (yikes!), so Happy 2012 everyone!! I hope it brings us good things for us all. See you next week!


----
Saciamorbos/More curious stats:

According to NYC Go, the top 10 sources of international visitors in 2010 came from the following countries:

1. United Kingdom 1,055,000
2. Canada 977,000
3. France 596,000
4. Brazil 589,000
5. Germany 528,000
6. Australia 479,000
7. Italy 469,000
8. All Middle East 406,000
9. Spain 388,0000
10. Mexico 384,000

I haven't read an updated list, but I know that UK is still in first place. 

Graffiti

Last week we had our oral presentations at my Italian class. They were only 5 minutes, but when you have to do it in a foreign language you are not used to speak, 5 min can be pretty long. Anyway, there was one presentation that I really liked. A girl from my class did voluntary work with a group (within the university, if I remember correctly) that went to a school and helped painting the girls' restroom with some kind of positive message (two thumbs up!). The whole point was to do some kind of positive graffiti in the bathroom.

As part of the project, they also visited a couple of places with graffiti in NYC. This is where I raised my ears, as we would say in Spanish. They visited a place called 5 Pointz in Long Island City (illustrated above) and they also saw a painting by Os Gemeos downtown Manhattan (illustrated below, left).

As if I my list of to-do-things in NYC was not long enough, I am excited to make this addition. 5 Pointz may be a bit too far away, but I am very attracted to the Twins' work. Did you see how small the cars look next to the building? This thing must be HUGE! And even so, I am sure it's easy to miss out if you are walking only looking ahead, to the floor or to your cellphone... As it turns out, there are graffiti tours of the city, but that's a bit over the top for me. Just do a quick google search and you will get more options than you can even consider.

Do you like graffiti? I am not particularly attracted to it, but there is something about this kind of street art that brings a city to life, don't you think? It also reminds me to the stickman robots that you can find painted in the middle of the city's crosswalks, or the tile-made packman ghosts that are here and there (that one above on the right, I saw in Williamsburg).

Any other pieces of street art in New York City that I should not miss? I might as well organize my own tour :-P

(wall "decoration" you see when you wait to get in to Colbert Nation's show)

Do you believe in Santa?

Do you know what SantaCon is? Apparently, every year there is a mass gathering of people dressed as Santa Claus in the cities of San Francisco, New York, and London. I just learned that this year it was today. It looks like fun! I have to say that New York inspires me to do these kind of "crazy public" things. I wonder what the psychological/social factors are. I am sure that if I still lived in Mexico City, I wouldn't even consider it. If I move to Frisco next  year, I will do my best to go... at least with the Santa hat! (provided I remember, of course).

Would you do it? If you have done it already, what do you like/dislike the most from these events?

Photos are from  here.

Christoph Niemann illustrates the NYC Marathon

In case you didn't see it in the news or some other blog, illustrator Christoph Niemann made a sequence of illustrations of the NYC marathon while he was running it. On top of that, he was tweeting each illustration live @abstractsunday and @abstractsunday1 (at some point twitter didn't let him upload so many pictures and he head to create a new username).

Look at the full sequence in Niemann's blog in the NYT Magazine and share a giggle.

UPDATE: I just found a picture of Niemann in action in NewYorkology! :)))

How to Hail a Cab {in New York City}

This is hilarious... I still remember when a friend from California came to visit NYC a couple (or was it three?) years ago. After his couple of first days in the city, he came to me and said very proudly: "I hailed my first cab today". I thought: "and I washed my dishes this morning.. (?)". I never really understood how people outside cities like New York, Boston, and maybe San Francisco are totally taxi-deprived. They are always driving their own cars and, if needed, they will call some taxi company on the phone to pick them up. There is no need to risk your life to try to get one on the streets...

Evidence of this amusing attitude is reinforced with this post I found. Enjoy! (via {kensington blue})

How to Hail a Cab {in New York City}: "

I'm finding that most tourists, and even some locals don't know how to properly hail a cab. Although I do gain a great deal of pleasure when I am able to magically procure a cab at my side while tourists and newbies gasp and wonder HOW I did it, I also feel bad for them. Why? Because they, like me, will have to learn from experience. You, on the other hand, have my three handy tips for hailing a cab to refer to when you visit or move to the city:

1. Stand IN the street (step off the curb so cabbies can see you. If there are cars parked on the street, step up so that you're in line with them, giving yourself a better chance to be seen.)

2. Stick your arm out, and keep it out (You don't have to wave it, just stick it out. Cabbies will find you this way. It's the universal sign for "I NEED A CAB!" Even if there are no cabs around, keep your arm out and a cab will eventually see you and come straight for you)

3. Know what to look for- The trick is to look at the sign on top of the cab (often hard to see midday when the light is harsh):

• Number lights on: cab is available for hire
• Number lights off: cab is not available for hire
• 'OFF DUTY' signs illuminated: cab is off duty.

• When a cab is off duty, the number lights can be either on or off, but look for the OFF DUTY lights to be illuminated. That being said, a cabbie may stop for you, and if you are on their way home/to the garage, they might agree to give you a ride. However, they are not obligated to do so :)

Easy, right?

My sister Stacey reminded me that my sister Erin took a picture of me exhibiting proper cab-hailing technique (after church while carrying a diaper bag and some screens my friend gave me. I'm super classy). See, I'm in the street, and I have my arm up and out, and I keeping it out until I found success...

Pop quiz: Why is the cab in the picture not stopping for me?

Other things to consider:

• If you need a cab at a specific time on a specific day for a specific purpose (airport, public speaking, important meeting), order car service. There's no guarantee you will be able to hail a cab when you need it, and car service doesn't cost much more. Honestly.
• 'Once you are in the cab, you need to be prepared with the address AND the cross street. If you say "1384 Madison Avenue, please" the cab driver can take five minutes and look up the cross street for you (while the meter runs), or you can say "1384 Park Avenue at 77th."
• They may also ask 'near or far side' (side of the block to stop on) and if it's a one-way, they will ask which side of the street it's on. If you don't know where you're going, you won't know either answer, but if you DO know where you're going you can take a cab like a seasoned New Yorker and say '1384 Madison Avenue, near side, on the left, please' and they'll take you right there. Too much information? For most of you, yes. But someday you might find it useful.

• If you are having trouble catching a cab going downtown and you are in a hurry, see if there are any available cabs going uptown. You may have to cross the street and pay $0.50 cents more while they flip around, but it will be worth it.

• If you are trying to catch a cab during rush hour or in the rain, good luck. Everyone else is trying to hail one too.

• Cabbies work 8-12 hour shifts, and many go off duty somewhere in the time-frame of 3-6pm. They are all trying to get the heck out of Manhattan while the fresh cabbies are on their way in. If all the cabs have their OFF DUTY signs illuminated, you are going to have a hard time getting a cab. Consider another method of transport or settle for a gypsy cab (if you can get one)

• Gypsy cabs (black Lincoln town cars, usually) might try to pick you up if they don't have a paying client (car service). It's not legal for them to do it, but they do it anyway. You can choose to ride in the cab, but be sure to have cash with you, and haggle with them about the price BEFORE you get in the cab. We will often take them when there are no yellow cabs and we know approximately how much we should pay for the ride we are about to take.

Any questions?

p.s. Have you ever read a more random blog than mine? That's why I'll never be a rich and famous blogger- too scatterbrained. Such is my life. Sigh.

"

Free hours at NYC museums, zoos and gardens

Very valuable piece of information for all New Yorkers. (via NewYorkology)

Free hours at NYC museums, zoos and gardens: "
New York City’s museums are in a state of flux with some undertaking major renovations (such as the Cooper-Hewitt, the New-York Historical Society and the Museum of the City of New York;) price changes (such as the Met Museum’s increase to $25 from $20 and the Fraunces Tavern Museum’s decrease to $7 from $10;) and others struggling to stay open (such as the mostly closed Seaport Museum and the down-sized American Folk Art Museum.)


Many museums have slowed the pace of new exhibitions and others have cut suggested-admission or free hours. Among those making cuts is the Brooklyn Museum, which last month reduced hours and canceled a high-profile graffiti exhibition. However, the museum is keeping its free First Saturday programs and suggested-admission policy at all other times.


“We are always grateful to visitors who can contribute the full admission price,” Sally Williams, the pubic information officer for the Brooklyn Museum, said of the suggested $10 admission price. “These difficult economic times have had an impact on most non-profit institutions, like the Brooklyn Museum, as they have for our visitors,” she told NewYorkology via email.


Twice a year, NewYorkology surveys the free and suggested-admission policies at the city’s museums, zoos and gardens. The following day-by-day list is for museums that offer free or pay-as-you-like hours only on a weekly or monthly basis. It complements the lists of always-free NYC museums and the always suggested-donation ones.


Museums with free or pay-what-you-wish hours in 2011


Mondays

Museum at Eldridge Street - Free 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (normally $10)

Yeshiva University Museum - Free 5 to 8 p.m. (normally $8)


Tuesdays

McKim rooms of the Morgan Library & Museum - free 3 to 5 p.m. (full museum access is $15)

Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Free all day (normally $10)

July and August only: Wave Hill - Free all day.; free only 9 a.m. to noon in May, June, September and October. (normally $8)

China Institute Gallery - Free 6 to 8 p.m. (normally $7)

Staten Island Museum - Free noon to 2 p.m. (normally $3)


Wednesdays

Bronx Zoo - Pay-what-you-wish donation all day (normally $16)

Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust - Free 4 to 8 p.m. (normally $12)

El Museo del Barrio - Free 6 to 9 p.m. (normally a suggested $9)

Staten Island Zoo - Free 2 to 4:45 p.m. (normally $8)

Yeshiva University Museum - Free 5 to 8 p.m. (normally $8)

NY Botanical Garden - Free grounds access all day, but excludes the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, Rock and Native Plant gardens and tram tour (grounds-only access normally $6)

Van Cortlandt House Museum - Free all day, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (normally $5)

Queens Botanical Garden - Free from 3 to 6 p.m. (normally $4)


Thursdays

Museum of Arts & Design - Pay-what-you-wish 6 to 9 p.m. (normally $15)

New Museum - Free 7 to 9 p.m. (normally $12)

Museum of Chinese in America - Free all day, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. (normally $7)

China Institute Gallery - Free 6 to 8 p.m. (normally $7)


Fridays

Museum of Modern Art - Free 4 to 8:30 p.m. (normally $20)

Whitney Museum of American Art - Pay-what-you-wish 6 to 9 p.m. (normally $18)

Morgan Library & Museum - Free 7 to 9 p.m. (normally $15)

New York Aquarium - Pay-what-you-wish donation 3 to 6 p.m. (normally $14.95)

International Center of Photography - Voluntary contribution admission 5 to 8 p.m. (normally $12)

Rubin Museum of Art - Free 6 to 10 p.m. (normally $10)

Museum of the Moving Image - Free 4 to 8 p.m. (normally $10)

Yeshiva University Museum - Free 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (normally $8)

Through Aug. 26 only: Brooklyn Children’s Museum - Free 5 to 7:30 p.m. (normally $7.50)

Bronx Museum - Free 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. (normally $5 suggested)

First Fridays only Neue Galerie - Free from 6 to 8 p.m. (normally $15)

First Fridays only: The Noguchi Museum - Pay-what-you-wish 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; after September, the museum closes at 5 p.m. on First Fridays (normally $10)

First Fridays only: Children’s Museum of Manhattan - Free the first Friday of each month 5 to 8 p.m. (normally $11)

Suspended July and August:NY Hall of Science - Free 2 to 5 p.m., from September through June (normally $11)

Suspended July 1 through Labor Day: Asia Society - Free 6 to 9 p.m. (normally $10)


Saturdays

Guggenheim - Pay-what-you-wish 5:45 to 7:45 p.m. (normally $18)

Jewish Museum - Free all day, from 11 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. (normally $12)

Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Free 10 a.m. to noon (normally $10)

Wave Hill - Free 9 a.m. to noon (normally $8)

NY Botanical Garden - Free grounds access 10 a.m. to noon, but excludes the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, Rock and Native Plant gardens and tram tour (grounds-only access normally $6)

First Saturdays only: Brooklyn Museum - Free admission and programs from 5 to 11 p.m. on the first Saturday of most months (normally a suggested $10)

Third Saturdays only: El Museo del Barrio - Free 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. (normally a suggested $9)


Sundays

Frick Collection - Pay-what-you-wish 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (normally $18)

McKim rooms of the Morgan Library & Museum - free 4 to 6 p.m. (full museum access is $15)

July 17 to Sept. 4 only: Rubin Museum of Art - Free entry from 11 a.m. to noon (normally $10)

Studio Museum in Harlem - Free noon to 6 p.m. (normally $7 recommended)

Museum of Biblical Art free 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (normally $7 recommended)

Queens Botanical Garden - Free admission 4 to 6 p.m. (normally $4)

Suspended July and August: NY Hall of Science - Free 10 to 11 a.m., from September through June (normally $11)


(Editor’s note: If you wish to republish a portion of this list, please use no more than one day and link back to this post, which NewYorkology.com will update as museums modify their hours, prices and policies.)


All listed prices are the regular adult admission rates. Free hours are sometimes prohibited for big tour groups; please contact the museums for their policies.


Some museums close between exhibitions and the Society of Illustrators closes during August.


Since the prior free-museum hours list was overhauled in November 2010, the following closings and price changes have taken place:


Admission at the Morgan Library & Museum went up to $15 from $12 but it added Tuesday and Sunday free hours to the historic McKim rooms.


Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s regular adult admission climbed to $10 from $8.


The New York Aquarium raised its admission to $14.95 from $13.


The Children’s Museum of Manhattan raised admission to $11 from $10.


The Museum of American Finance ended its free hours.


El Museo del Barrio added free Wednesday night hours but now ends it free Third Saturday programs earlier in the evenings.


In debt, the Folk Art Museum sold its big 53rd Street building and moved into the smaller, but always free, location at 2 Lincoln Square.


The status of the mostly closed Seaport Museum remains uncertain.


The New-York Historical Society is closed until Nov. 11, 2011 due to renovations, except for the free “Remembering 9/11” exhibition opening early on Sept. 7, 2011.


The Japan Society galleries are closed until Sept. 16.


Related: Links to the official websites for New York City museums


Update as of July 29: Added the Museum of Biblical Art’s free Sunday hours.


Image source: Brooklyn Museum’s work of Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917). Pierre de Wiessant, Monumental Nude (Pierre de Wissant, nu monumental), 1886, cast 1983. Bronze, 78 1/4 × 44 3/4 × 36 1/2 in. (198.8 × 113.7 × 92.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the B. Gerald Cantor Collection, 86.310

"

Best Reality Show

The NYT installed a 24h camera when a couple of red-tailed hawks built their nest on top of an NYU library's 12th floor. The fuzz started when the female hawk (Violet) laid three eggs and one of them hatched!

Here is the timeline of the main events of the Hawk-Reality-Show, which ended recently with Pip's first flight. Chances are she will never return to the nest... *sigh*

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/06/21/nyregion/20110621-PIP-TIMELINE.html

Isn't this charming ! I am sorry for Violet and Bobby, who may be now suffering from the empty-nest syndrome...

On Airports -

I take the new post of Paris vs New York blog (which I love) to talk a bit about airports. With all the traveling I have had to do these past 2 years, I have developed a very relationship with these places. In some sense, it's a bit of routine by now; they are all too familiar. At the same time, I learned to appreciate little details here and there, like when they give you free WiFi. I love JFK's JetBlue terminal, and I don't really like Delta's. I don't really know Paris's airport that well, but CDG, that bus system that you have for going from terminal to terminal is hideous! 

Traveling so much has also made me try to minimize my stay at the airports as much as possible. That implies arriving so tight w.r.t to my departure time, that I have risked to miss some flights more than once. Then   I get scared of myself and try to arrive earlier... only to find that I forgot something - like when I forgot to bring my ID - and there is no time to go back home to get it.... It's all back and forth between my risk attitudes, and what I can do to kill time at the gates. How do you feel about airports? 

Flat!

Fine warm Sat in NYC

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