Don't Drink and Park

I was walking across East 4th Street recently, when I saw this terrible parking job:

Terrible parking job.

Not only is he on the sidewalk, not only is he in front of a fire hydrant, but he hit the fire hydrant:

Hit the fire hydrant.

East Villagers can't park.

Ring Toss

Of all the games on the county fair midway, the Ring Toss is arguably the most challenging.

That's why East Villagers practice!

Behold, on East 5th Street:

A winner!

Either that, or it's a motorcycle parking spot!

#eastvillage #ringtoss #tires #firehydrants #5thstreet

Abandoned Tire

It's not every day you see an abandoned car tire, like this one on East 6th Street:

On East 6th Street.

I thought it might have been discarded because it was flat, but then I remembered: East Villagers don't know how to change a tire!

By now, this tire has been snatched up and put into some kind of multimedia sculpture.

#eastvillage #6thstreet #abandonedtires #firehydrants

The Balancing Cup

It's hard to say what's more amazing: that someone was able to balance a cup on top of a fire hydrant (on East 6th Street near First Avenue), or that no one came along afterward and knocked it off.

Amazing.

It's not amazing at all that someone balanced these two cups in the planter on the corner:

Not amazing.

With all this litter, it looks like they need one of those fancy new trash cans on East 7th Street!

#eastvillage #7thstreet #firehydrants #firstavenue #litter

Non-Employee ID

Sometimes, when you're a non-employee, you lose your identification card — it just happens!

East Villagers, however, are helpful people. When they see a lost identification card on the sidewalk, they pick it up and put it somewhere where the person who lost it can find it.

Here is an example I saw on St. Mark's Place, on August 10:

Lost identification card.

Here is a close-up:

Add caption

East Villagers have very strong opinions about things, including the best place to put a lost identification card!

Walking down St. Mark's Place five days later, I saw it had been moved to a bicycle handle:

A bicycle handle.

You might be wondering why I or some other do-gooder didn't just return the identification card to the work site it belongs to — it's because that information wasn't on the card!

#eastvillage #bicyclehandles #firehydrants #identificationcard #stmarksplace

Scofflaws

East Villagers are notorious scofflaws!

Here is an example of scofflawing, across the street from the beloved Vazac's, on East 7th Street at Avenue B:

Scofflaw.

As if that were not evidence enough, here is more:

Unpicked-up dog poop.

What if there were a fire at Vazac's? The fire department would arrive and have to go around the illegally-parked SUV to get to the fire hydrant, not see the dog poop, and slip on it!

It sounds funny, but it's not.

#eastvillage #7thstreet #avenueb #dogpoop #firedepartment #firehydrants #scofflaws #suv #vazacs

Cymbal Bag

Many young people move to the East Village with dreams of becoming famous rock musicians like Lou Reed or Patti Smith — neither of whom lived here!

That said, I just don't know what to say about this abandoned cymbal bag I saw on Avenue A, back when there was still snow on the ground:

Abandoned cymbal bag.

OK, here's something: It certainly is well-placed between that trash can and fire hydrant!

It's not perfect, but what is?!

#eastvillage #avenuea #cymbalbag #trashcans #firehydrants

The Blizzard That Wasn't

East Villagers woke up this morning to the sad news that the National Weather Service had cancelled the Blizzard Warning, replacing it with a Winter Weather Advisory.

What, it's Winter? Thanks for the advisory! There are East Villagers who had to use a vacation day for this!

Well, waste not, want not. Here are some "before" pictures.

The beloved The Shape Of Lies, on East 7th Street, put down plenty of salt on the sidewalk:

Plenty of salt.

East 5th Street, snowless:

Snowless East 5th Street.

Even the fire hydrants were preparing, as witnessed on Avenue A at St. Mark's Place!

Behatted fire hydrant.

This is the second fire hydrant I've seen lately wearing human attire — I see a trend developing!

Snow is snow, so I'll have plenty of snow pictures soon. After all, East Villagers are on vacation today!

#eastvillage #5thstreet, #7thstreet, #avenuea, #blizzard, #firehydrants, #salt, #sidewalks, #stmarksplace, #theshapeoflies

Belted Hydrant

You never know what you're going to see when you go out a walking in the East Village!

Take this, for example: seen on Avenue D this past Friday:

Belt on a fire hydrant.

What can you even say about such a thing?

#eastvillage #belts #firehydrants #avenued

The Hose

Who knows where the hose goes?

The results may surprise you!


#eastvillage 6thstreet #6bcbotanicalgarden #firehydrants

Runaway Fire Hydrant

No one knows how it happened, but a fire hydrant on East 4th Street between Avenue C and D malfunctioned last night, spewing water across the street and resulting in the street being blocked to traffic.


The Fire Department was called, but they were not able to stop the water. According to the 311 operator, the Department of Environmental Protection is charged with the responsibility of shutting off fire hydrants, and they would respond to the notice within 24 hours!

It went on late into the night, and by morning… it was fixed!

It would have been more exciting if this had been part of a movie or TV show — super hero by day, Department of Environmental Protection fire hydrant responder by night!

#eastvillage #311 4thstreet #departmentofenvironmentalprotection #firedepartment #firehydrants