Mystery Solved

If you've spent any time walking around the East Village, you've probably wondered: What's the deal with those green mailboxes?! Are they just olive-drab graffiti magnets?

Walking down Second Avenue this past Sunday, like Scooby-Doo, I solved the mystery:

Mystery is solved.

They're used to hold the items the letter carrier needs, like a cup of coffee!

This one got knocked over.

#eastvillage #graffiti #greenmailboxes #mysteries #secondavenue

Mysterious Flashes at Groovy Earth School

I was walking across East 6th Street, oh, some time around December 6, when I saw the most mysterious flashes I've ever seen outside of the desert!

Luckily, I had my video camera with me! Here it is — tell me what you think:

Weird, no?!

Maybe it's time to call the Ghostbusters!

#eastvillage #6thstreet #earthschool #mysteries

Mysterious Apartment

I was riding my Citibike home from work yesterday evening, when I saw this mysterious light on in a top-floor apartment, on Second Avenue, just below East 11th Street:

Mysterious light.

Here's a close-up:

Close-up.

Who knows what takes place in such light?!

#eastvillage #11thstreet #secondavenue #mysteries

Securing the Mustard

I was walking across East 7th Street this past Tuesday, when I spotted this shopping cart chained to a lamppost:

Shopping cart chained to a lamppost.

Here is a close-up on the contents of the cart:

Cranberry mustard, and other.

Pictures like this raise more questions than they answer. This is a large shopping cart, almost as wide as the aisles of an East Village grocery store. Where did it come from? Did someone buy two jars of mustard and have them delivered? Why were they not brought in?

I pondered these questions in the days that followed.  I had to go back to look for clues to this mystery, but I was only further mystified yesterday morning, to discover this:

The mustard is gone.

More questions formed: Where did the two jars of mustard go? Why is the shopping cart still here? And finally, why haven't people been putting their trash into this shopping cart, the way they do with every other receptacle in the East Village?

Puzzling… in the East Village Today.

#eastvillage #7thstreet, #chains, #mysteries #lampposts

Chains and Mysteries, Mysteries and Chains

East Villagers love to chain things up. Any two objects chained together will do. For instance:

Railing chained to lamppost.

On East 6th Street, this single railing is chained to a lamppost. You might think it belongs to Purple Ginger, the restaurant it's in front of, and maybe it does, but why would they chain it to a lamppost instead of bringing it inside? And do they only have this one?

Here is their picture, from the Google camera:

Purple ginger and railing.

No, I don't think it belongs to Purple Ginger. It's just another two things chained together… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #6thstreet #purpleginger #chains #mysteries #lampposts

Mystery Solved

Last week, I took a picture of a Mazda RX-7 with a chain attached to the front of it but to nothing else. It was a mystery, to be sure!

Well, the other day, the mystery was solved! The chain attaches to a motorcycle:

Chain attached to motorcycle.

So the car is there to lock the motorcycle to — a movable… thing you lock other things to.

East Villagers love solved mysteries!

#eastvillage #cool #cars #motorcycles #chains #3rdstreet

Inside the Door to Nowhere

I haven't posted too many "open doors" lately. They still intrigue me, but when you put them into a blog, they begin to all look the same.

Anyway, next to Horus Cafe, on East 6th Street and Avenue B, I saw this open door, which seems to go nowhere:

Door to nowhere.

And in fact, it does!

A stack of doors, inside the door to nowhere.

This room can only be entered through the door shown at top — there is no other means of entry! What is the point of this?!

Just another one of the mysteries of the East Village!

#eastvillage #7thstreet #horuscafe #avenueb #mysteries #opendoors #inside