Could This Happen Here?

The First Avenue Glacier is growing, this much is known.

This morning, when I passed by it on my way to the subway, I thought about the possibility of it continuing to grow. I've already shown that it's moving northward. What if it keeps growing, and connects to the polar ice cap? This could be in our future:

Polar bears roam the East Village.

Polar bears… in the East Village Today (maybe)!

(It's a slow photo day.)

#eastvillage #firstavenue #glaciers #polarbears #2ndstreet

Why Bing is Better Than Google

If you do a Google search for "East Village Today" this blog is not listed.

The top link is to a blog that was once part of the New York Times, called The Local, that stopped posting in May of 2013. The second link is to Time Out. Then Wikipedia, The Local's Facebook page, my Twitter page, DNAInfo, Curbed, Yelp, AirBnb, and FlavorWire. The next page starts with the Village Voice, then Psychology Today! It goes on and on without ever listing this blog. And Google owns Blogger!

Boo.

Bing, on the other hand, has this blog first — as it should be!

Yay.

So, use Bing, if you want to know what's happening… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #bing #google

First Avenue Glacier Melting

East Villagers don't know much about melting glaciers. Why would they? — until recently there were no glaciers here to be concerned with!

To bring you up to speed, here is a picture of rivers of water flowing on top of a glacier in Greenland (where the Beatles made their left turn on their first trip to America!):

Rivers of water flowing on top of a glacier, in Greenland.

Now, the same thing is happening here! This is a picture of the First Avenue Glacier, taken two days ago:

River of water flowing on top of First Avenue Glacier. 

Meanwhile,  the glacier has begun to spread to the north side of East 2nd Street!

Glacier spreading to north side of East 2nd Street.

No one knows why this is happening. I think it's time to bring out the big guns, so to speak, and drive this glacier back to whence it came!

#eastvillage #firstavenue #glaciers 2ndstreet

Six-Month Anniversary

Today is the six-month anniversary of East Village Today!

Whoopee!

Six months of bringing the pictures that matter most, that show the world exactly how COOOOOOOOOOOL the East Village is!

Like this:

East Village Books, in the snow.

#eastvillage #eastvillagebooks #snow #stmarksplace

There's No Traffic Like Snow Traffic

I was walking around the East Village this past Saturday night, when I noticed a great many automobiles on Second Avenue:

A preponderance of automobiles.

It was as if everyone was either entering or leaving the East Village!

Here's another shot from the intersection at St. Mark's Place:

Traffic on Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place.

As you can imagine, they were moving quite slowly!

There's always something to see… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #secondavenue #stmarksplace #snow #trafficjam

Poised to Make History

It occurred to me last night, while I was walking down St. Mark's Place in the cold: I think I know why the cool old pickup truck is still parked here.

Cool old pickup truck still parked on St. Mark's Place.

Recent newspaper articles have told of the upcoming 40th anniversary of the release of the album Physical Graffiti, by a band called Led Zeppelin. The album cover was a photograph of the building beside Big Steve's Fun City. I wrote about it here.

I think the owner of the cool old pickup truck is looking to get his truck into the photos that will be taken in the near future! Maybe he'll even get to meet Jimmy Page!

That's what I would do if I had a cool old pickup truck… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #cool #pickuptrucks #stmarksplace #ledzeppelin #physicalgraffiti

Babe Bartendep

As I mentioned earlier, I was out walking last night, in the cold.

While out walking, I saw this sign, outside St. Dymphna's, a popular bar on St. Mark's Place:

St. Dymphnas, in the snow.

In case you can't read it, here's a close-up:

Babe bartendep.

My first thought was of the movie "Babe", the award-winning story of a shy little pig who doesn't quite know his place, but with the help of an assortment of barnyard friends, discovers that he can be anything he wants to be! (East Villagers love "Babe"!)

I knew that's not what was meant though.

I suspect this was done by a customer, and not the owner. It's not Coyote Ugly, after all!

#eastvillage #stdymphnas #stmarksplace #snow #babe

The Chairs

I'm not sure what to make of this line of chairs I saw the other day, when walking down East 3rd Street:

A line of chairs.

The sidewalk is cleared, and they are all on the snow. Two are facing away from the sculpture garden, and one faces in. Two are together, and one is separated. They are designed for sitting on, and no one is sitting.

Life imitates art… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #3rdstreet #artproject #snow

Cold East Village Saturday

Yesterday was so cold! All day long, I looked out the window and pondered going outside and taking pictures of the East Village in the cold, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Instead, I took a nap!

Finally, once it stopped snowing, and I realized I was out of coffee, I got dressed and took a Citibike over to Porto Rico Importing Company, on St. Mark's Place, to buy some coffee for the morning, and subsequent mornings.

The pictures that follow (even though you'll see them in reverse chronological order) are from last night's outing.

Enjoy!

#eastvillage #cold #snow #portorico #stmarksplace

Parking in the Snow

East Villagers are known for many things: tolerance, intolerance, artsiness, drug addiction, coolness of course. One thing they're not known for is parking:

The result of bad parking.

So be careful when you're out there in the snow — these people are probably no better at driving!

#eastvillage #3rdstreet #snow #parking #7thstreet #avenueb

Luna New Year

I've been seeing a lot of notices around the East Village about the
"Luna New Year" this year. I thought it was called "Chinese New Year",
but it seems this year they changed the name!

Anyway, this new name reminds me of a band with the same name: Luna. And they had a song called Chinatown! So to celebrate the Luna New Year, here is a video of Chinatown:



#eastvillage #luna #lunarnewyear #chinesenewyear #chinatown

Tuna Shortage

East Villagers love tuna, and they love to save money! So when Key Food on Avenue A had a sale on solid white tuna, it was inevitable:

5/$5 means no tuna.

I would have bought six cans at that price! Unfortunately, it was all gone by the time I got there.

Let this be a lesson: keep your eye out for those weekly circulars, because these sales are advertised… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #keyfood #avenuea #tuna

Construction Train at 2nd Avenue

It's been a long time since I've seen one of these:

Construction train.

There are different versions of these types of trains: money trains, that pick up money from token booths; garbage trains, that pick up garbage from station trash cans; and construction trains, that move construction equipment and supplies around, and are used when working on the tracks.

You usually only see these trains at night. I used to see a lot more of them, back when I took the subway at night. These days, if I have to go somewhere at night, I call a car service!

If you're wondering what this has to do with the East Village, I took this picture in the Second Avenue F train station the other morning, on my way to work. Just to give you an idea of how long I've been in the East Village, I can remember when this track was used for the V train! The V train doesn't even exist any more!

#eastvillage #ftrain #secondavenue #vtrain

Glacier Control

I mentioned that I had more to say about the First Avenue Glacier, and here it is:

I was walking home from work the other night, when I passed the glacier at First Avenue and East 2nd Street. It was quite an opportune moment to be passing by, because I saw this:

DSNY salt truck backing up over glacier.

The Sanitation Department salt truck slowly backed up over the glacier, its beep-beep-beep in full effect. Then, just as I suspected was about to happen, it started dispensing salt!

DSNY salt truck dispensing salt on glacier.

The sanitation workers go to great lengths to keep East Villagers safe. The next time you see one of them, say "Thank you! Thank you Mr. Sanitation Department worker, for keeping us all safe! In the East Village Today!"

#eastvillage #firstavenue #glaciers #2ndstreet #dsny

Recycling Food

A couple of days ago, I passed by this table on East 1st Street just in from First Avenue:

Food recycling table, in the cold.

East Villagers love to recycle! They'll recycle anything: pineapples, apple cores, pears, bagels, banana peels, used tea bags, carrot tops, egg shells, half-eaten pretzels, croissants, orange peels… you name it!

You're probably wondering what these food scraps must look like, so I took a picture:

Recycled food, in plastic bags.

It might not seem conducive to recycling, putting recyclable food into plastic bags, but how else are you going to get it to the recycling table?

Now that I know this is here, I'm going to do my part and start recycling my food scraps. I have a couple of pork chop bones I'm going to take over today!

See you there… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #1ststreet #compost #firstavenue #recycling #dsny

Clean Working Pay Phone

A lot of people think that East Villagers are all up on the latest gadgetry, that we all have iPhones, for instance, and no longer have need for coin-operated pay phones.

Au contraire, Pierre! Clean, working pay phones can be found all through the East Village. There's even an app you can download that will tell you where they are!

The other day, as I approached this pay phone on the corner of East 3rd Street and Avenue B, I saw the receiver and cord on the sidewalk. I thought maybe some intemperate East Villager received one too many busy signals and took out his frustration on the phone itself.

But no! The receiver either came from somewhere else, or was accidentally left behind by the telephone repairman, because as you can see, the receiver is in place!

Clean, working pay phone, in the cold.

So the next time you're in the East Village, use a pay phone to call your Mom and tell her Hi! She'll appreciate it!

#eastvillage #3rdstreet #avenueb #cold #payphones #titan360

The East Village in the Cold

People sometimes ask me, they say "Hey, East Village Today, what does the East Village look like when it's really cold out?"

So here are some pictures that I took this morning, when the temperature was 2 degrees!

This is East 3rd Street at Avenue B:

East 3rd Street when it's cold.

It's so cold, there was ice on the ground!

The local New York Sports Club on Avenue A is darker, but just as cold:

Avenue A in the shadows, when it's cold.

And the First Avenue Glacier, that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, is back:

First Avenue Glacier, in the cold.

I'll have more to say about that later!

It was so cold, people had to put on a second sweater — in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #avenuea avenueb #cold #firstavenue #glaciers

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

Outhouse on First Avenue

I was too tired to take new pictures today, so I'm just going to post some from the past few days.

I took this picture over on First Avenue. I was taken by the front of this porta-potty, which looks all the world like an outhouse!

Outhouse on First Avenue.

All that's missing is a crescent moon cut into the door!

#eastvillage #firstavenue #outhouse #constructionsites

The View from the Local NYSC

There's only 15 more days until the grand opening of the New York Sports Club on Avenue A! Fifteen days! East Villagers are beside themselves with excitement!

So you might be wondering to yourself: I'm sure the equipment will all be new, and the staff very helpful, but what sort of view is there from the top floor?

Well, East Village Today has special behind-the-scenes access to these types of things, and so I present to you… all the westerly views you could ask for:

Southwesterly view.

Westerly view.

Northwesterly view.

You might be thinking: That's very nice, but I can't look be looking at scenery when I'm pumping iron! Well, you don't have to — this is the view from the stationary-bike room!

There you have it… more great news from the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #avenuea newyorksportsclub #nysc

Three Weeks and Counting

As I wrote earlier, the cool old pickup truck isn't the only vehicle that hasn't moved since the great, average snowfall of 2015.

This car, on East 9th Street, hasn't moved either:

The car that hasn't moved.

And as I wrote even earlier, anything that stays in one place for too long accumulates garbage:

Garbage on the car that hasn't moved.

But wait… what's this?

Garbage inside the car that hasn't moved.

Even more garbage! Of course, it doesn't help that the window is broken out.

There's a lesson here: If you drive your car into the East Village, make sure you keep your windows up!

#eastvillage #9thstreet #snow #trash

It Must Be a Record

I know… I can't believe it either: the cool old pickup truck, that's been parked on St. Mark's Place for three weeks now, is still there. This must be some kind of record! Still, I feel like I'm at the point where I might as well be reporting that it's still red!

But… the snow has been cleared away, and it moved!

Cool old pickup truck moved forward.

Something you won't know, because even though I took the picture, I didn't post it, is that the mound of snow that was piled up behind the truck is now gone:

Mound of snow behind truck, Feb. 7.

Mound of snow gone, Feb. 14.

And, as I mentioned, it's been moved — only back and forth, but that's something!

Tire tracks in the snow, indicating movement.

I really thought alternate-side parking regulations would have back in effect by now, and this truck would have moved, but it's not the only vehicle that hasn't moved, as we'll soon see!

#eastvillage #cool #cars #pickup #trucks #stmarksplace #snow

I'm Looking Through You

From a construction fence on East 12th Street:

I'm looking through you,
Where did you go?

I thought I knew you,
What did I know?

You don't look different,
but you have changed

I'm looking through you,
you're not the same… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #12thstreet #constructionsites

Contrary Meets Shrewd

East Villagers are quite contrary; they're also very shrewd. And when they see a chance to turn contrariness into dollars, they jump on it!

Ciao For Now is a small restaurant on East 12th Street. It's not the kind of place you would go to on Valentine's Day, though. And since Valentine's Day falls on a Saturday this year, a lot of people who might otherwise have gone there to eat will go somewhere else, leaving them with little cash on such an important night.

Here is where the shrewdness comes in: they are hosting an Anti-Valentine's Day party!

Who do you think will go to this? A bunch of guys looking to score. They know that any woman there that night is available.

But the women are wise to this. They know that any guy who's there also doesn't have a date, and they're not going to make themselves available to some guy that no other woman would go out with!

The room will be split into two groups: the guys who haven't figured out yet that no girls are coming; and the vampires of the East Village, who feed off of unhappiness.

I'm tempted to swing by there and get a picture of the sad event, but I can't. I have a date!

#eastvillage #12thstreet #ciaofornow #valentinesday #vampires

Side Streets of the East Village

(The following is not a paid advertisement.)

East Villagers love side streets! On the Upper East Side, it's all about the avenues: Park, Madison, Fifth; down here, not so much.

Here's a picture of an East Village side street, East 7th Street:

Making movies, on location.

But the side streets can be unsettling for some. Luckily, there's a web site called Manhattan Sideways, and they have information about side street ventures all over Manhattan, including… you guess it: the East Village!

In fact, there are three categories for the East Village: Date Night; Cozy Day Out; and Craft Beer. Something for everyone! Except kids. But really, kids shouldn't be out on their own, they should be with their parents.

So, come check out the East Village side streets — maybe you'll even get to be an extra in a movie!

#eastvillage #manhattansideways #7thstreet #movies

Bedlam

The definition of "bedlam" on the dictionary on my computer is: "a scene of uproar and confusion". Exactly the kind of atmosphere you expect when you come to the East Village!

Then why does this place on Avenue C, named Bedlam, ask their customers to be respectful, and keep outside noise to a minimum? Is the bedlam inside only?

Shhh! Bedlam inside.

What kind of bedlam is that? Contained bedlam? That's no bedlam at all!

At least they have an A. In what though, bedlam control?

Bring on the bedlam… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #avenuec #bedlam

Metro Newspaper Box Now Secure

I was walking down Avenue C the other day, when I saw this:

Metro newspaper box bound in duct tape.

The Metro newspaper box was bound in duct tape! My guess is that this box was having a rough time remaining upright during the recent snowpocalypse, so the delivery man attached it to the lamppost with the roll of duct tape that he just happened to have on hand.

Smart thinking… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #avenuec #metro #ducttape #lampposts

Whatever

I was walking down St. Mark's Place the other day, when I noticed these whacked-out signs:

Whacked-out signs.

The A in the ATM sign has only three lights lit, the same for the T. Only the M has enough lights on to know what letter it is. If I were at the end of the block and wanted a tattoo and didn't have any cash, I would have to remain tattooless!

Of course, this is St. Mark's Place, home of numerous tattoo and other body-mutilation venues, not to mention drug paraphernalia parlors! I wouldn't have to walk far before I found a place to scar myself, in my drug-induced state.

Whatever… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #whatever #tattoo #stmarksplace #atms

Photographers and Models

As you know, there are many photographers in the East Village. Sometimes though, there are models too!

I spotted this photographer/model combination on St. Mark's Place yesterday afternoon:

Say "Cheese"!

As you can see, there wasn't a lot of room on the sidewalk, so I had to squeeze between the tripod and the fence. I was tempted to call 311, since tripods are required to be half the width of the sidewalk, or eight feet, from the edge of the building, whichever is greater, but I decided to cut them some slack, because… (hold on to your hats for this one): Do you know what the background is for their shot?

It's the cool old pickup truck!

Funny, I never thought of putting a person into the shot…

It just goes to show you: East Village photographers are on the cutting edge of cool!

#eastvillage #cool #cars #models #photographers #pickup #trucks #stmarksplace