American Apparel Ridiculousness

Don't you wish your boyfriend looked like these losers? The latest from American Apparel's website. Ick.

Shake Shack and Madison Square Park

Below is a photo of the line at the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park, Manhattan. My Aunt was in town last weekend and we headed here for lunch. We'd heard a lot about how great the food is. It's mostly a burger and milkshake joint that's set up in the middle of the park. They also serve fries and some other diner food, as well as something I think was called a Poochini, a little meal for your dog for $3.50.

That's one long line, right? Well, I've waited in my fair share of lines in my life. Disney World comes to mind, although my family was usually pretty good at Disney World and we got through Splash Mountain's line in no time. We used all the tricks of the trade to avoid the lines.

Unfortunately at the Shake Shack there are no shortcuts. If you want a milkshake and a burger then this is the line you wait in. I imagine you can bribe and pay your way to the front, but we were in for the long haul (plus, anyone allowing people in front of them would promptly be verbally assaulted). The line you see in the photo took us 1.5 hours to get through (yes, you read that correctly).

We got in line with a bit of an appetite and by the time we reached the front we were hungry enough to think we could eat 6 burgers each. We all passed on the Poochini's and ordered cheeseburgers, bratwurst, milkshakes and fries.

They were all delicious, although the wait was a bit excessive! I think I'd wait 15 minutes in line, but I'll never do the 1.5 hour wait again if I can help it. It's hard work waiting that long. Thankfully it was a beautiful day and the park had plenty of nice things to look at.

Peasants at Work.

Broken Umbrellas

Chantal and I were in dire need of groceries on Saturday afternoon so we braved the pouring rain to go to the grocery store.

On the way back I was holding my umbrella and pulling the groceries in the granny cart while Chantal was holding her umbrella and a few bags of groceries. A huge gust of wind started pushing us forward from behind and our umbrellas were straining when suddenly both of our umbrellas lost the battle. Our umbrellas inverted and the metal stretchers snapped at the hinges. I managed to get control of mine and pull it back to its closed position, but Chantal's was a lost cause, and as she puts it, her umbrella "disintegrated."

All that was left was some water-resistant material and some dangly metal pieces. Her once useful umbrella went completely useless in a matter of seconds. Thankfully the rain had died down and we were only a couple blocks from home. Here is photographic evidence of the umbrella. It should be noted that Chantal was going to throw it away right where it happened, but I encouraged her to hold onto it so I could put a picture on the blog. These are the things I do for you, my loyal readers.

Labyrinths and Counterfeiters

I have no real direction with this post, other than bringing my loyal readers up to speed on what is new in good old Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

First of all, I was walking down one of my favorite streets in my neighborhood the other day (Broadway) and came across this scene:

I'd never seen a set in my neighborhood before. It seemed like a music video shoot. I heard some instruments being played but other than that I didn't stick around long enough to investigate.

Canal St. Station

I was in a hurry to get to a portfolio meeting in Manhattan. I had to take the M train to Canal Street and then the 6 train to Bleecker Street. The subway system at Canal street is incredible. I got off the M train, walked down a corridor along the track and went between the exits through another hallway. Then I had to go down a flight of stairs, to the left, down another flight of stairs to a track. I headed down the very skinny platform, going in and out of people waiting for their next train, turned right at a staircase and headed up two more flights of stairs before I finally got to my platform for the 6 train. It's amazing that all of this is underground.

Chinatown Counterfeiters

Recently the counterfeit watch/DVD/purse sellers in Chinatown were raided. The bolts on their shops were cut by police in the wee hours of the morning, the counterfeit goods were taken and since then the only things they've been able to sell have been I (heart) NY t-shirts and other memorabilia.

An interesting aspect of Chinatown is the amount of people trying to sell you counterfeit goods on the street. As you walk by they mutter, "DVD. DVD. Rolex" over and over. Some of them have fliers with their counterfeit goods printed on them to show what they have available otherwise they make you follow them for a few blocks until you reach their secret lair of merchandise.

Others have shopping carts covered in towels that they keep covered until they hook a potential buyer. I read somewhere that these sellers use tunnels beneath the streets to smuggle in, trade and sell their goods. I'm not surprised these tunnels exist because the size of the underground network here is crazy. There are a lot of unused tunnels and tracks and even full stations that are probably being accessed by some people for unknown activities.

Here is a clip from an article in the New York Post from 2002. "Cops acting on a tip tackled a labyrinth of secret tunnels, trapdoors and fake brick walls to uncover an immense cache of counterfeit luxury goods in a Chinatown building, officials said yesterday. "

Guns

I was walking home from the subway station this afternoon after meeting up with Chantal in Manhattan and saw this guy in front of me with an interesting pair of pants. Yes, those are guns.

Red Hook

Chantal and I took a trip to Red Hook last week. Red Hook is located in west Brooklyn and is a nice little neighborhood. It's disconnected from the rest of Brooklyn by the Gowanus Expressway.

It's a quiet little area with some industrial businesses but also a lot of residential areas, as well as a nice waterfront promenade. Here are some photos.

Snow Day

I woke up this morning, shuffled my way to my studio and turned on my computer like I always do, and looked out the window. Unlike every other day this winter it was snowing, and there was a lot of snow on the ground (compared to usual). It was a welcome sight since I had sort of missed it. Sort of, not really. Maybe a little?

Anyway, the last time it snowed here it had snowed at night and I promised myself I'd go take some photos of a snow-covered Brooklyn the next day. When I woke up that day though, all the snow was gone and replaced with a lot of rain.

So after I had some breakfast I put on my winter boots and my winter jacket, grabbed a couple cameras and headed out.

It was really nice and I felt like a superior snow-walker compared to the Brooklynites who are unaccustomed to snow. I took a few photos with my digital camera and some with my SLR (the film kind), so here are some from the digital. A Brooklyn snow day.

A snow-covered bike.

A bronze flower statue on Broadway.

Some houses/apartments on South 3rd Street.

A snowman taking in the view of Manhattan across the East River. (Williamsburg Bridge in the background).

On Broadway, Brooklyn Style

We live only a few blocks from Broadway in Brooklyn. It runs diagonally from the Williamsburg bridge eastward to Broadway Junction. There is an elevated train track running directly over this part of Broadway for the J, M and Z subway lines.

It can be a bit intimidating at first, walking along Broadway under the el. It's loud, it's dirty, and in some areas it's dark, but it's an interesting darkness, being in the shadows of green steel. There are grocers and strange doors and abandoned shops and loud people. People stand around yelling in Spanish or unloading clothes into department stores.

Pigeon poop runs along in a straight line beaneath the ledges of the tracks above, following the curves and direction of the trains. I am always careful to walk away from these areas.

Buildings line the street, some are businesses on the ground level, but above are apartments with views looking out to the side of the tracks, or looking down on them from above. I would hope for the tenants sake that the sound of the street and the trains becomes a kind of white noise.

There are fascinating old buildings with interesting architectural details, but these buildings are now 99 cent stores or nail salons. The attractive details are partially covered by neon signs for pizza or tacos or shoe stores. The green steel posts with bolts and rivets and pipes and rust are impressive and I can't help but wonder what the street was like 100 years ago when horses and buggies were traveling Broadway of the early 1900's. What kinds of shops lined the route, or what kinds of farmland? What animals grazed here? Brooklyn used to be entirely made up of farms, with many of today's streets named after the early settlers.

Lately I've taken to walking along part of this route for a few of my favorite blocks. It makes me think that this is what all of Manhattan used to be like just 20 or 30 years ago, nevermind 100 years ago. It's bustling, it's dirty and loud. You can feel the trains coming before you can hear them, and when you do hear them, they rumble along picking up speed at increasingly loud levels.

When I'm under the tracks I really feel like I'm in New York. This is part of the New York I thought about before I'd ever even visited. There are other areas in the city that are just like I would have imagined and just as interesting, but along parts of Broadway it feels like the real thing. It's a bit of rush to walk along this route, and my pulse feels like it's beating at the same pace as the J trains overhead.