BACK AGAIN

 

Returning once again to my home town, this time with Mrs. C and granddaughter Ellie. This is one of the many entrances to the Times Square subway station. Ellie liked the subway but not being out on these streets. She said it felt crowded, loud, confusing and a little scary. Welcome to New  York, kid.          

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - CLAIM TO FAME AFTER DISCOVERING CRACK PREFERS HEAT

Word salad in Times Square. It's been three whole days since I've been on an airplane and I need to do something about it. Next stop, the tropics. Well, after a flight connection.           

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - EVANGELISM

Another scene in Times Square. Check out the expression on his face. I have my own reaction and I will leave you to yours.            

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - ALL THIS IS MINE

As if any one person could contain the enormity of New York. The north end of Times Square contains a set of steps to nowhere that are effectively bleachers to view the passing action. I spoke to the wife of the man with the outstretched arms who happened to be standing next to me. They were visiting from Philadelphia and wanted a visual souvenir of the event. There are events beyond counting in this town.

There hasn't been much about St. Louis lately for a blog that bills itself as being about St. Louis. I don't think there will be any soon. By Sunday Mrs. C and I will be in a different country, one that we are very familiar with.     

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - MAKE UP YOUR MIND

Ah, the little island where I was born. Times Square, of course. As my sibs slowly drifted in to my sister's house in New Jersey, I went to Manhattan for a bit of a walkabout.         

GEE BUT IT'S GREAT TO BE BACK HOME

Or so sang Paul Simon, a Queens boy like me, many years ago. I left for college in St. Louis 52 years ago but this is still the place where, metaphorically, I kiss the soil. There is some, you know, under the asphalt and concrete.

Top, the Empire State Building from 6th Avenue and about 43rd Street. Below, the police station in Times Square. There is a lot going on in that picture if you look carefully.

Times Square 2

The hordes. I don't think I've ever been there when it wasn't busy. And if you are a New Yorker, the sign in the first picture will resonate. 

Note Olivier in the right of the third picture.         

Times Square 1

Everyone has seen pictures of Times Square and many of us have walked through it. It used to be rather tawdry but the city cleaned it up, after a fashion. Now it's all megawatt advertising glitz and family friendly if your eyes aren't too sensitive. During my recent visit, many of the blinding signs were advertising movies. Incongruously, the display on Walgreens pharmacy was rotating beautiful black and white photos of African people. It was packed during a damp, chilly autumn evening.

Tomorrow, some of the people in the swirling scene.       

Ring Out The Old

Pictures from in and around Times Square, New York, where the big glowing ball will drop tonight to mark another click on the meter. Mrs. C and I are usually sound asleep by then. Tomorrow we can wonder about what the new year may bring us. Forecasts are just a matter of probabilities but I can't say I'm optimistic about the future of our species and planet.

I'll do picture or pictures of the year on Thursday, depending on how much self-restraint I can muster. The first choice has already been decided. It's the lead photo in a post from 2014. Free STL DPB print to anyone who can guess.                                 

Above Ground, Below Ground

New York operates on many levels, and that means all kinds of things. From top to bottom:

Times Square.

42nd Street looking east from 6th Avenue toward the Chrysler Building.

Two views of the subway at Penn Station. The young woman in the third picture looks lost and afraid in the huge city. Much of the system looks post-apocalyptic but it gets you where you want to go. Unless you needed the E Train, which was out of service in Manhattan.        

The Gray Lady

The Gray Lady is the old nickname for The New York Times, so-called because it used to have huge amounts of print and little graphics. Not at all so now. You won't find better photojournalism and I'm a big fan of its Lens blog. The reputation for seriousness remains, however. Its motto is "All The News That's Fit To Print." When I lived in New York, people said it really should be "All The News That Fits We Print."

It is far and away America's best newspaper, IMHO. Carolyn and I read it daily, mostly online anymore. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is a piece of tissue by comparison.

Times Square was named for the paper - the headquarters building used to be right there. Since 2007 it has been in the modern tower shown above on 8th Avenue, opposite the enormous bus terminal. Times Square has lost its sleaze through the efforts of successive city administrations but the glow only gets brighter. It will be a madhouse tomorrow night with close to a million people in and around it to celebrate the new year.   

A Town So Nice They Had To Name It Twice

.

New York, New York, my home town. I love it. Not that I'm sorry I live in St. Louis these days but there's no place like it on earth. (Right, Olivier?)

Carolyn and I drove in with our nephew, Michael, yesterday afternoon. We went to someplace I've wanted to see for years, a temple of sorts, the International Center for Photography at 43rd Street and 6th Avenue. Ironically, you can't take photographs inside. Then up 5th Avenue to Rockefeller Center, back west to 7th Avenue and through Times Square. The top picture was taken on 42nd Street just west of 7th Avenue. We all agreed the phrase "sea of humanity" was coined to describe midtown during the week after Christmas.

STL DPB On The Road: Live From New York, It's Friday Night

.
Here we are in the Big Apple. As mentioned earlier, we met my paralegal of 26 years, Cindy (on the right - doesn't look like it's possible, does it?) and her daughter, Alaina. Cindy brought Alana here for an 8th grade graduation present and the young lady was set on seeing Times Square at night. A few minutes later we walked by a Best Buy store on 5th Avenue and saw Green Day inside doing a promotion. Alana got right on the phone and told her friends.