New Klieg Lights

Last Thursday, as I rode my Citibike around the East Village, I saw this semi truck loaded up with klieg lights, parked outside the Jacob Riis Houses on Avenue D:

Klieg lights.

Here is a close-up:

Close-up.

They don't look like the standard NYPD klieg lights.

Something's afoot!

#eastvillage #avenued #jacobriishouses #kleiglights #semitrucks

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

Jacob Riis Houses

As part of my series of "Day Trips Outside (formerly Near) the East Village", I ventured way up North, to Fifth Avenue and 103rd Street, to the Museum of the City of New York!

Why, you ask? Why would I travel so far outside of the East Village? To see the exhibition on Jacob Riis!

East Villagers know the name Jacob Riis from the housing project by the same name, between Avenue D and FDR Drive, and East 8th and 13th Streets:

Location of Jacob Riis Houses.

Here is a picture:

Jacob Riis Houses, at East 10th Street.

In case you can't read the sign, here's a closeup:

Close-up.

According to the New York City Housing Authority web page, the Jacob Riis Houses are named after:

Jacob August Riis (1849-1914) – Danish-born American journalist and reformer whose reports on living conditions in city slums led to improvements in housing and education. His stories in newspapers about slum dwellings and abuses in lower class urban life were collected in "How the Other Half Lives (1890)." Riis dwelled on the city's slum tenements and how the people there lived. His vivid descriptions, often depicted on slides, caused audiences at his lectures to moan, shudder and even faint.

Today, East Villagers revel in the conditions that were once decried — but those who do have a lot more money!

21st-century slumming… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #10thstreet #avenued #daytrips #jacobriis #jacobriishouses #slumming