Potentially Distressing

I was walking across East 13th Street a couple of weeks ago, when I saw something potentially distressing!

It wasn't this:

Locked-up garbage, not distressing.

Nor was it this:

Chained-up garbage, not distressing.

It was this:

Potentially distressing!

You might think it's the possibility of bedbugs in the mattresses, but no — it's the abandoned baby carrier!

There could have been a baby in there!

#eastvillage #13thstreet #babycarrier #chains #distressing #garbagestoragearea

Second Avenue Street Fair

If you think East Villagers love gyros, you're right!

We love them so much that at a recent Second Avenue Street Fair, that's almost all there was to eat!

Gyros on 14th Street.

Gyros on 13th Street.

Gyros on 12th Street.

Look at the fifth movie in the list: Guess Who's Coming To Dinner To Eat Gyros!

There was even a bodega-looking gyro stand:

Bodega gyros on 11th Street.

And finally:

Gyros on 10th Street.

But… what if the gyro doesn't fill you?

That's why they have sweet roasted corn!

Sweet roasted corn on 13th Street.

Sweet roasted corn on 11th Street.

$3 at both locations? I wonder if there's a sweet roasted corn cartel?

Not everyone comes to the Second Avenue Street Fair for the food though. Many come for locally-produced goods:

Locally-woven baskets.

More locally-woven baskets.

Some basket stands even had locally-produced masks and talismans:

Locally-produced masks and talismans.

The mask and talisman vendor said "No pictures" to the guy in the blue shirt.

"Oh, OK" he said.

Clearly, he's not a photographer!

Not a photographer.

There was even a stand where you could buy locally-woven rugs!

Locally-woven rugs.

As always, there were novelty items:

Novelty items.

Who doesn't hate thick wallets? All that money…

For some reason, many gyro vendors couldn't make it this year, as can be seen by all the empty spaces:

Empty space on 12th Street.

Empty space between 11th and 12th Street. 

Empty space in front of St. Mark's Church on The Bowery.

Empty space near 10th Street.

For that matter, many East Villagers didn't make it either:

Few and far between.

It was such a nice day, they probably went to the beach!

#eastvillage #10thstreet #11thstreet #12thstreet #13thstreet #14thstreet #photographers #secondavenue #stmarkschurch #streetfairs

Lady Lightbulb

Having become accustomed to East Village businesses discarding their fluorescent lightbulbs in outdoor trashcans, I was not as surprised as I might otherwise have been when I saw this mural, on Avenue A and East 13th Street:

Mural.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my fluorescent lightbulb beside the golden door!

#eastvillage #13thstreet #avenuea #fluorescentlights #murals

Legibility

East Villagers have long been frustrated by the fact that, oftentimes, they cannot make out what is being written by graffitiers when they do their graffiti.

For example, who can read any of this?

Scribbly mess.

So East Villagers were pleasantly surprised to finally find a graffitier whose name they can read, on East 13th Street:

Steve.

No hieroglyphics, no dribbly paint, just a simple message of hope: Steve.

There's something indecipherable scrawled above it, but… baby steps, baby steps!

#eastvillage #13thstreet #graffiti #steve

Knobs

Back in July, I wrote about the doorknob at the beloved Verameat.

Just as every Yin has its Yang, every appeal to turn a knob has its corresponding appeal to not turn a knob, as I discovered recently on East 13th Street:

The door in question.

Here is the sign:

The sign in question.

To every knob, turn, turn, turn… or not!

#eastvillage #13thstreet #doorknobs #signs #doors

10 Thousand Steps Bookstore

I was walking across East 13th Street recently, having just left the part of the East Village no other East Village blogger dares to go, when I happened upon the beloved 10 Thousand Steps Bookstore:

10 Thousand Steps Bookstore.

It looks more like P Thousand Steps Bookstore!

P Thousand Steps Bookstore?

Or, if you prefer it in Hungarian:

10 Ezer Lépés.

Here is what it looks like inside:

Inside 10 Ezer Lépés.

It certainly is void of books!

#eastvillage #10thousandstepsbookstore #13thstreet

Reserved Parking

Most East Villagers don't own a car. Why would they? Who wants to drive around looking for a parking spot on the street the night before Alternate-Side Parking?

However, some of the residents of the Jacob Riis Houses on Avenue D have their own personal parking spaces, as part of the contract amenities for the community brought by the Avenue D Pump Station!

This is the view of the parking lot, looking towards East 13th Street:

View of the parking lot.

Here are the barricades that reserve the parking spot for its designated tenant:

Parking barricades.

They sure are rusty — I would paint mine!

#eastvillage #jacobriishouses #avenuedpumpstation #13thstreet #alternatesideparking #manhattanpumpstation #13thstreetpumpstation

Avenue D Pump Station

As part of East Village Today's effort to bring you pictures of the East Village from where no other blogger dares to go, I present the Avenue D Pump Station!

Avenue D Pump Station.

This is also known as the 13th Street Pump Station or, more commonly, the Manhattan Pump Station.

The Manhattan Pump Station provides the Newtown Creek Water Pollution Control Plant with more than half of its flow, 155 million gallons per day for treatment.  Betcha didn't know that!

There are two High Water Mark signs, commemorating the flooding brought by Hurricane Sandy. The first is on East 13th Street:

East 13th Street High Water Mark sign.

The other is on Avenue D:

Avenue D High Water Mark sign.

The East Village isn't all artists and scoundrels!

#eastvillage #13thstreet #13thstreetpumpstation #avenued #avenuedpumpstation #highwatermark #manhattanpumpstation #signs #hurricanesandy

St. Emeric School + Church

East Village Today is the only blog that goes where no other blogger dares to go, to bring you the pictures of all of the East Village!

I will start with St. Emeric School, on Avenue D and East 12th Street:

St. Emeric School.

The view from East 13th Street:

From East 13th Street.

Here is the Church of Saint Emeric, on East 13th Street:

Church of Saint Emeric.

Here is a close-up of the stained glass window:

Close-up.

It's more broken than stained!

The East Village is not always pretty.

#eastvillage #12thstreet #13thstreet #avenued #church #saintemeric #stemericschool

Underneath the Sidewalk

There's a lot of sidewalk work going on on the east side of Second Avenue, just below East 13th Street. Here is what it looked like last night:

Sidewalk work.

It's kind of weird-looking in that light, at night.

Right?

#eastvillage #sidewalks #secondavenue #13thstreet

Discarded Bike Frame

Yellow leaves are everywhere in the East Village — and why not? It's November!

This dismantled bike frame was discarded against a graffitied-on mailbox on Second Avenue and East 13th Street, that itself was surrounded by yellow leaves:

Dismantled bike frame surrounded by yellow leaves.

Nothing says Autumn in the East Village like yellow leaves, and Doris Day, singing "Autumn Leaves" — it's almost as if she's singing about her lost bicycle:

#eastvillage #13thstreet #bicycles #dorisday #secondavenue #leaves

13th Street Squalor Building

I was walking across East 13th Street this evening, when I decided to shoot a video of the building I've taken so many pictures of in the past, the dilapidated graffiti building:


Yeah, that's a good one!

#eastvillage #dilapidation #squalor #13thstreet #graffiti

Too Many Signs

East Villagers love to leave signs telling people what to do. Everything from "Don't Chain Your Bike To These Flowers" to "Buzzer 3E Is Broken".

The people in this building on East 13th Street have taken it to a new level:

A new level of signage.

Here's a close-up:

Close-up.

It's hard to image someone reading all of these signs to see if any pertain to them — I know I wouldn't!

#eastvillage #13thstreet #signs

Another Victory

Back in December, I wrote that there is a building on East 13th Street that I could never get a picture of without a car parked in front of it.

Well, I finally did it:

Abandoned building, car-in-front-ofless.

There's new graffiti too, on the door. It looks like this cold Winter didn't keep everyone inside!

#eastvillage #abandonedbuildings #squalor #13thstreet

The Smile Car

Not every car in the East Village needs to be old to be cool. This car, that I saw while walking across East 13th Street this morning, is one example:

Smile.

Now, before anyone asks, I did not do this in Photoshop — this is a genuine expression of East Village sentiment, written in snow!

#eastvillage #cars #snow #13thstreet

Gated Window

Today, I clearing out my Drafts folder.

I took this picture back in December of 2014. It's dangerously close to being East Village Yesterday, but it's still less than a month ago.

I think this is of apartments on East 13th Street, taken from East 12th Street. One room in particular stands out. Can you tell which one it is?

It's the one with the saffron, vinyl Gate!

The Gates were cool, and the East Village is cool!

Cool.

#eastvillage #13thstreet #12thstreet #thegates

Apartments For Rent

The other day, I mentioned that I've been seeing a lot of "Apartment For Rent" signs up in the East Village. The following signs were all on East 9th Street this morning (except the last one, which was on East 13th Street):

East 13th Street.

This may just be the best time ever to get a new apartment in the East Village!

#eastvillage #9thstreet #13thstreet #signs