Emerging

I was walking through Tompkins Square Park today, when I saw a bicycle left unattended outside the men's room.

As I was taking a picture of it, a man began to emerge:

A man emerging.

It turns out he was not the owner of the bicycle.

What does the men's room in Tompkins Square Park look like, you ask?

Prepare yourself.

Inside the Tompkins Square Park men's room.

It's not for the faint of heart!

Warning Sign Unheeded

The Lower East Side People's Mutual Housing Association, Inc. building on Avenue C has a warning sign so small no one can see it!

Warning sign.

I don't think this is true. The part about the tree railings, trees, and sidewalks being private property, that is.

It doesn't look like I'm the only one who disbelieves them!

Disbelievers.

In fact, so many people park their bicycles here, space is at a premium:

Space at a premium.

Warning sign, warning sign
I see it but I pay it no mind…

#eastvillage #avenuec #bicycles #lespmha #sidewalks #signs #treeguards #trees

The Bicycle Family Is No More

Speaking of bicycle parking, the bicycle family that once lived on East 4th Street is gone, now just a distant memory.

A distant memory.

#eastvillage #bicycles #4thstreet

Chucked Corral

I was walking along East 6th Street a couple of weeks ago, when I saw this bicycle, still chained to this bicycle corral, in the dirt past this fence:

Still chained.

Here is a close-up:

Close-up.

What can be known is that those locks held up admirably! When the thief could not remove the bicycle from the corral, he just tore the corral out of the sidewalk. Walking away from the scene of the crime, discovering how difficult it is to carry a bicycle corral with a bicycle still chained to it, he chucked it over the fence.

Whoever owns this bicycle needs to replace the right pedal — it's might rusty!

#eastvillage #bicycles #bikecorrals #6thstreet #fences #dirt

Bicycle For Sale

I was walking across East 4th Street somewhat recently, when I saw what looked like a freestanding bicycle against this small piece of wall:

Freestanding bicycle?

I quickly learned that this bicycle was for sale:

For sale.

$50?! That's ridiculous! I have a similar bicycle that I want to sell, but I was going to charge $150. Of course, mine already has air…

Walking that way again the next morning, I saw the bicycle had been moved and chained to this fence:

Chained to this fence.

You know what they say about bicycles: location, location, location!

#eastvillage #forsale #signs #bicycles #4thstreet

Half Red / Half White

East Villagers don't just like riding their bicycles, they like decorating them too!

Behold, at the East 6th Street Citibike location:

Half red.

…half white.

The only thing that would make this bicycle better is a Tony the Tiger growler!

And some baseball cards in the spokes…

#eastvillage #6thstreet #bicycles #citibike

The Slow Demise of the Bicycle Family

At the corner of East 4th Street and Avenue B lives the bicycle family.

There's the daddy bicycle, the big sister bicycle, and the little sister bicycle:

Bicycle family.

(This is sort of like a Disney movie, where there's no mommy bicycle.)

One day, the daddy bicycle disappeared, leaving the sisters to fend for themselves!

Fending for themselves.

Sadly, with no one to protect them, the little sister got turned around, and the big sister lost her front wheel:

Woe betide them.

Woe betide them!

#eastvillage #4thstreet #avenueb #bicycles

Picke Bicycle

I was walking down Second Avenue two weeks ago, when I saw this pink bicycle with two pickup trucks behind it:

Pink bicycle.

The bicycle is an advertisement for the new dating app Picke. I know it's new, because the first review on the App Store is dated August 11!

Here is a picture of the back tire:

Back tire.

I'm not sure how well this app will do here — East Villagers are not picky!

#eastvillage #appstore #bicycles #picke #pickuptrucks #secondavenue

WFMU Bicycle Basket Returns

It was touch-and-go for a while there, when the bicycle hosting the WFMU bicycle basket was trapped inside the beloved East Village Bikes — I thought we may never see it again!

And yet, there it was, in the very spot I first saw it, back in November of 2014, beside the Citibike station on East 6th Street at Avenue B:

The very spot.

It's like it never moved!

#eastvillage #6thstreet #bicyclebaskets #bicycles #citibike #wfmu

East Village Bikes Closed

This has to be one for the record books!

The beloved East Village Bikes, on Avenue C, opened in early May. Here it is late June, and they're closed!

Behold:

Even the name is covered.

Even the name is covered!

You can tell this is the real thing, because the bikes, that were on the sidewalk since the day they opened, are now gone:

Gone.

This leave us asking a lot of questions, like:

What will become of the WFMU-bicycle-basket bicycle?!

#eastvillage #avenuec #bicycles #eastvillagebikes #sidewalks

WFMU Bicycle Basket Update

How often does it happen that a bicycle basket makes an appearance in a blog more than once?

Not very often, I'd wager, unless it's the WFMU bicycle basket of yore!

Take a look at this, seen outside the beloved East Village Bikes, on Avenue C:

WFMU bicycle basket.

There was a repair ticket on the seat — I wonder what's wrong with the bike?

Too much static?!

#eastvillage #wfmu #bicyclebaskets #eastvillagebikes #avenuec #bicycles

Too-Big Bicycle

Have you ever had a bicycle that was so big, you couldn't park it on the sidewalk completely?

This bike, on East 9th Street, has that problem!

Too big.

I hope that livery cab doesn't back up too far, or "too big" won't be the only problem this bicycle has!

#eastvillage #9thstreet #bicycles

Common Areas

If you came home from work one day and saw this sign hanging in your building, and you stored your bicycle (or carriage) in a common area, it might give you pause:

Pause-giving sign.

Think of how much worse it would be then, if this sign was not hanging up in your building, but taped to a bicycle in front of your building!

Behold, as seen on East 4th Street:

Bicycle on East 4th Street.

You have to wonder who put that sign there, and why, and what they think a common area is!

#eastvillage #4thstreet #bicycles #signs #commonareas

Bicycle Mess

As cool as the East Village is, it is still a dangerous place to lock up your bicycle.

Here are some examples I say recently:

Back tire missing, on East 2nd Street.

Almost everything missing, on East 2nd Street.

Everything missing and ticketed, on Avenue C.

Thank goodness for Citibikes!

Nothing missing, on East 2nd Street.

The East Village runs on Citibikes!

#eastvillage #2ndstreet #avenuec #bicycles #citibike

Tireless Update

East Village Today is happy to report that the tireless bicycle seen this past Friday on East 4th Street is now tireful again:

Tireful again.

Once they get some pedals in place (and a bell), this bicycle will be certifiably road-ready!

#eastvillage #4thstreet #bicycles #tires

Tireless

East Village bicyclists are tireless — both in their bicycling activities as well as their advocacy of the bicycling lifestyle!

Sometimes, it's the bicycles themselves that are tireless, like this one that I saw on East 4th Street this morning:

Tireless bike.

It's hard to know how the tires were removed with that chain wrapped through the wheels!

#eastvillage #4thstreet #chains #bicycles #tires

Upside-Down Bike Parking

East Villagers are always looking for innovative and funky ways to do things — it's part of what makes them so cool!

Here is how one East Villager parked his bike, on East 6th Street:

Upside-down.

I'm sure this is not easy to do — all the more reason to do it!

#eastvillage #6thstreet #bicycles #parking #upsidedown

Home Sweet Home

As many people know, the East Village is always in a state of disrepair.

Here is an example that I saw on East 9th Street:

Disrepair.

A dismembered bicycle, a rickety, falling-down gate, strewn trash…

Home Sweet Home!

#eastvillage #9thstreet #bicycles #disrepair #trash

Big-Ass Pumpkin

While walking down Avenue B this past week, I couldn't help but notice this big-ass pumpkin sitting outside the beloved SOS Chefs:

Big-ass pumpkin.

There's no telling why SOS Chefs has such a big-ass pumpkin, outside of the fact that there's only eight more days until Halloween!

They even have a matching bicycle! (Hint: it's orange!)

#eastvillage #soschefs #avenueb #pumpkins #bicycles

Ripple Effect

When Citibikes first arrived on the scene, East Villagers knew it wouldn't be long before the ripple effect was felt!

Walking past the beloved The Bowery Hotel, on The Bowery, I saw one of these ripples!

Bowery Bikes.

Guests of The Bowery Hotel have use of their own bikes!

East Villagers hope this doesn't hurt our local Citibike!

#eastvillage #bicycles #boweryhotel #rippleeffect #thebowery