Fries for Three

There's nothing quite like a delicious bag of fries from McDonalds, but these three have an extremely valuable lesson to learn. Sure, it's nice to share, but it's no fun to share your french fries from McDonalds. You need your own bag. Also, no wonder the youth of America have so many back problems because it looks as if these kids are wearing 60 pound backpacks filled with 30 days of rations and ammunition that are more fitting for soldiers stationed in Afghanistan. Of course, if they filled them up with french fries that would be cool too.

Also the woman in the background (their mom?) has a pretty serious early summer tan.

The Last of the Newspaper Men

In just a few short years, there will no longer be street vendors selling newspapers on the streets of New York City. They used to be all over the place hawking the papers and shouting the headlines out loud, but this is one of the only remaining ones I see selling papers on the street. I sure would have enjoyed hearing him bellow out, "SEX GAVE ME CANCER" this morning, but mostly this vendor sits quietly and waits for someone to intermittently buy a paper.

This should be no surprise to anyone as it's been a long time coming since there are only really three viable newspapers in Manhattan right now: The New York Times, and the two tabloids, The New York Post and the New York Daily News. I guess you could also include The Wall Street Journal, but to me that is more of a nationally-focused newspaper though they do have an excellent local section. The tabloids always have the best headlines and today's editions focus on the 25 shootings that happened in the city over the weekend and Michael Douglas' surprising revelation that he caught cancer from having oral sex (presumably with his wife). That seems so unlikely to me and my best guess is that Douglas is an investor in some dental dam company and this is a great way to boost their stock. Who knows!

This street vendor is located on the NE corner of Madison Avenue at 47th Street and does a reasonable decent business to various commuters and businessmen (and women) who are mostly on their way to or from Grand Central Station. There is an entrance to Grand Central Station and the the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad on this corner as well. Of course, there are still plenty of what you might call "newsstands" in the city, but they mostly sell magazines, candy/gum, lottery tickets and cigarettes, but they are disappearing rapidly too.

Valentine's Day Shuffle

Today was a clear winter day that was just perfect for a brisk walk up Madison Avenue looking in store windows at Valentine's Day presents.

Streetcorner Staredown

I ❤ NY umbrellas and waiting for the light to change on Madison Avenue in a light rain on Friday afternoon.

42nd Street Sprinkle

It rained on Friday and everyone in the city had their umbrellas out. Crossing 42nd Street at Madison Avenue is especially treacherous even when it isn't raining.

Super Summer Stylish

Random skater girl looking super summer stylish in Midtown.

All Books Must Go

There's a huge sale this week at the 57th Street and Park Avenue location of Borders which is totally going out of business. They filed for bankruptcy last week. Other better performing branches of Borders are staying open, but the company is struggling with the massive changes rocking the book industry and hasn't been able to meet its debts or pay publishers and landlords.

A Trip Down 57th Street

Rush hour on November 10, 2010.

Gnip Gnop

I don't often go to charity events like this, but a friend was involved so I was somehow convinced to venture down to 23rd Street to this huge cavernous basement space called Spin New York. It's filled with over 30 ping pong tables and a bar and lots of young New Yorkers and some not so young ones too. The place has been around for over a year and seems to draw a crowd. This just shows you how many places there are and how much stuff goes on in New York that you can't possibly be on top of everything no matter how much you read Urban Daddy and Very Short List and every other semi-informative email newsletter.

For a Monday night charity table tennis tournament (models vs. whoever else), the place was reasonably full, if only because there were globs of models and semi-famous actors there for the breast cancer charity event. I don't know how it fares on other nights of the week. Unfortunately, you can't really see any models in my picture, but just imagine a bunch of tall thin girls with long hair wearing tight black pants and tank tops and you'll get the idea. I didn't see Susan Sarandon (she's an investor in the place), but I wasn't really looking for her either. I saw lots of models or wanna-be models. I mostly liked the green floor. I admired that. I said hello to a few people that I just happen to know and then it was off to other events and happenings in the big city.

For the record, I'm not so bad at table tennis. Anyone want to play?

I must say that I also like Gnip Gnop. It's just as fun and you can play at home. We had this toy growing up. Add it to the Christmas list.

The Truth About Shopping

Dior is renovating their store on 57th Street for the next few months. They'll have a brand new boutique opened just in time for Christmas. Instead of putting up an ugly plywood wall to cover the construction, they came up with a brilliantly designed large handbag. It's one of the best examples I've seen of how to do something super creative with what is usually a very boring construction site.

A lot of people love shopping and I think that this article is probably one of the most informative articles I've ever read on the subject.

Gagosian Shop

Following the sold out event at the New York Public Library on Wednesday night, last Thursday John Wilcock, Gretchen Berg and yours truly did a book signing at the Gagosian Shop for the new book on Andy Warhol that I just published. The book is called "The Autobiography and Sex Life of Andy Warhol" and it's available at Gagosian (featured in the window!) It's also available through Amazon or at most bookstores and museums around the world. It's gotten great reviews everywhere. I should probably post a lot more pictures about it on here, but you can find a ton more information on the Facebook page.

We had a really fun time hanging out and signing books at Gagosian. They have an amazing selection of books, limited edition posters and prints and all sorts of stuff I would want to buy. Everyone was really nice at the shop and John told a bunch of great stories about the time he spent with Marilyn Monroe back in the 1950s. After the signing we went out for a celebratory dinner at Elaine's way up on the Upper East Side.

It was a great time. Wish you were there!

An Afternoon Stroll

When you leave the house on a hot summer Sunday, you certainly don't want to forget your yellow parasol. Spotted on 72nd and Madison.

Out of Business

This seems like one of those stores that we'll look back at ten years from now and say, "Can you believe that were actually stores that you brought your junk to and they sold it for you on eBay?" Google Maps has a picture during obviously better days.

Umbrella Pole

People die; cats die, but life goes on. Spring ambles on. Today was one of those days where it was so rainy and windy that broken umbrellas were wrapped around street signs.

Traffic Cone Hair

I love colorful hair when it's done correctly and this fashionable New Yorker seems to be doing it right. It's not super ideal when your hair semi-closely matches the traffic cone like things, but what can you do? It kind of intriguing the way the barrel is cut in half so that it fits around the pole from the scaffolding. What's going on there?

I also took notice of her nice colorful flats which fit well with her hair. Maybe she needs a Paul Smith toothbrush or two (see below)?

Lobster Lunch

Less than a block away from a shoeless man boldly eating out of a trash can, I spotted a bright red lobster suit handing out flyers to a well-dressed man wearing a Burberry coat and scarf directly in front of the Thomas Pink shirt store.

Trash Can Lunch

It's hard to know what's going on in Midtown and you don't really want to ask barefoot people who are eating out of the trash exactly what they're doing. Plus it's never a good idea to disrupt someone's lunch. My guess is that this is either a really hungry homeless guy or it's another one of those avant-garde performance art pieces on Madison Avenue.

Poland in Grief

Mourners came to light candles and leave flowers late on Saturday night at the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland on Madison Avenue and 37th Street in Manhattan after the tragic plane crash that killed the President of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and dozens of other high ranking Polish military and government leaders.

The Power of Words

The Morgan Library and Museum is a wonderful and mostly overlooked institution in the New York cultural landscape. It's located just a short walk east from the Empire State Building in an area of the city that doesn't really have a name (West Murray Hill? North Madison Park?). Nevertheless, there are often great exhibits there and one of current ones got me to make it all the way over there for a late Friday night visit. In case you were wondering, admission is absolutely free on Fridays from 7pm to 9pm; other times it's $12 for adults. As far as I'm concerned, I think all museums should be open until 9pm every night of the week. And while I'm making random suggestions, I also think every book and magazine store in the city should be open until Midnight (a few are...if you know where to go!)

The exhibit that inspired my visit is a small trove of ten letters from J.D. Salinger to his friend Michael Mitchell who designed the cover to "The Catcher in the Rye." Four of the letters were on display in two glass cases when I visited. The rest are scheduled to be exhibited in the coming weeks. It was a very unique experience to wait in a short line and then crowd around the display cases in a large and dark book-lined room to read his one and two page personal typewritten letters from the 50s and 60s. My favorite line in the letters was this one: "It's a big shitty world, and it gets shittier by the minute." I am glad to see that Salinger was so optimistic after all his literary success. No wonder he never published anything after 1965.

Uptown on the Bus

Headed uptown in the rain. Madison Avenue near Hermes.