As Above So Below

Here I present three photographs from my late Saturday afternoon/early evening journey in midtown.

1. A look below from above at Bergdorf Goodman into the cufflink department.
2. Browsing through the photography books upstairs, I looked down towards the ground floor of Rizzoli Books on 57th Street and caught a great moment.
3. Finally, a window into 8 1/2, a swanky restaurant with great food on 57th Street.

You know there is a depression when there are more salespeople than shoppers at Bergdorf. A very slow sales Saturday. I saw a ton of books I wanted at Rizzoli, as usual, but I didn't buy anything. I love books.

It looks like the saleswoman behind the counter is reading a book about Heath Ledger and Jim Carroll's The Basketball Diaries. It's a good thing they don't sell US Magazine at Rizzoli.

Dinner with a Goddess

Chinese food for dinner at Grand Szechuan with Shalini Vadhera, the beautiful CEO of Global Goddess Beauty.

Dare To Bare

There are always things happening in the Big Apple so it's no surprise to see something as unusual as a news crew interviewing someone through the window of the Bath & Body Works store on Lexington Avenue and 72nd Street.

I'm really not sure who this mystery celebrity is that they are interviewing or what's particularly newsworthy at a store like this, but she's wearing a nice pair of red heels.

This picture was taken moments before some nasty PR woman with a clipboard came over and shooed me away from the window. Now that I think about it, that's kind of stupid because here I am posting the picture and a link to their lame event which is way more press than they deserve for celebrated Allure columnist and top dermatologist Dr. Patricia Wexler's Dare to Bare Your Skin event. But of course now I know all of you are going to run out to Bath & Body Works and buy some Valentine's Day gifts for me or some skincare products or a candle or something. I could use some new shampoo.

UPDATE: Is this Paula Abdul? Can anyone confirm that? How about someone buy me some new shampoo? I started getting traffic from all over the world (again!) so for all you Paula Abdul and American Idol fans let me know if this is her. I was only able to take two pictures so here's the other one which is nearly identical.

Paula Abdul or no Paula Abdul, the clipboard toting gal from the PR company was still nasty to swat me away from the window outside the store. This gives their event tons of web traffic. Funny thing is, I didn't even know who it was and was just taking what I thought was a semi-cool shot. I didn't even have a chance to get a good photo. Next time these black-clad clipboard vixens ought to be a bit more friendly and the PR company for the event should hire a blogger to leak the photo to the web. It is an effective way to reach a ton of people worldwide and sell some of Dr. Wexler's stuff. No telling how many freaking people clicked on the B&BW links I provided today. Well, I could tell you, but you'd have to pay for that information. Geez.

Shhhh, Mr. Orange is Sleeping

After a very long day, Mr. OJ just needs a nap on his new blanket.

Strangled in Lights

I sometimes wonder about the lights wrapped around the tress. Even though the trees look really nice all covered in bright lights, someone's gotta be paying for the lighting bill, right?

10 Items or Less

Neon makes us buy things. Do you have a Duane Reade card?

Call Me, Trust Me, Lie To Me

A selection of phone booth advertising appearing around the city today. Sort of sums up my life recently.

Tourists Welcome

Carnegie Deli is a totally overrated tourist trap in Midtown Manhattan. I think it's even appeared in a number of movies like the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." All the tourists who come to New York seem to know about it and are dying to go there along with the exceptionally lame Jekyll and Hyde. Carnegie Deli certainly offers a bit more than your typical Manhattan deli, but not by much.

I've only eaten there once, but I've done take out a number of times. To their credit, I will say that the extra large matzo ball soup is good and the pastrami and corned beef is not half bad either. Nevertheless, it's still overpriced and I'd suggest a trip down to Katz's Deli on the Lower East Side if you really want a good pastrami sandwich. But if you're from out of town and you're looking for something in the neighborhood, might as well stop in since it's conveniently located near all the midtown hotels. You'll pay tourist prices, but welcome to the Big Apple.

Taxi Drivers Wanted

New York CIty has some of the very best taxi cab drivers in the world. They come here from almost every country and continent (except Antarctica) to drive our citizens and tourists to and fro. But clearly more drivers are needed. Apply today.

Waiting for the F Train

The long wait for the subway to arrive.

Louis Vuitton Store

Changing the stickers on the front of the Louis Vuitton store on Friday night. Corner of 57th Street and 5th Avenue.

Here's some behind the scenes footage of the new campaign that Marc Jacobs put together with Madonna for Spring 2009. It was shot by the photographer Steven Meisel.

Personally, I prefer this Madonna a lot better.

No Loitering

Sometimes the homeless guys in the subway look really cool to me. As if he doesn't have enough problems already. For all I know they could be talking about the Knicks season. I didn't stop to ask.

A Man in the Park

On a cold and dark evening, a man was walking..... oh, I don't know....you finish it.

We'll Put The Words In Your Mouth Later

Dessert. Irving Mill.

Everything's Gonna Be All Right

Ten noisy firetrucks full of firemen arrived en masse in Midtown early this morning. They were responding to an emergency of some sort.

One of the cool things about being a fireman that nobody talks about is that you get to put wooden door stoppers in your helmet and you can always be prepared just in case you want to ever hold the door open for someone. You also get to rip down doors and walls with axes and crazy looking six foot long poles with gnarly metal things at the ends.

Totally unrelated: Do you think Felicia Barton stands a chance of winning Season 8 of American Idol? Here she is performing "No One" by Alicia Keys. It's way too early to tell, but you never know. You read it here first just in case she happens to do really well. I kind of like the girl in the bikini, Katrina Darrell.

We Have Your Children

Fire, fire, pour on water. It's the Pride of Hell's Kitchen.

Food All The Time

One of the great things about living in the city is that there are lots of restaurants to go out to eat that are open all night. You can just decide at 3AM that you are hungry, grab a cab and 10 minutes later you are feasting on a Late Night Menu.

There are tons and tons of all night diners and deli's and lots of places that serve until 2AM or even 4AM, but here are a few good NYC all night 24 hour food places that I like.

El Presidente
French Roast
H&H Bagels
Veselka
L'Express

US Airways Flight 1549 - Finding the Missing Engine

It's taken a couple days since the crash last Thursday afternoon, but it appears that investigators have finally located the missing engine to hero pilot Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger's US Airways Flight 1549 airplane in the Hudson River. The unusual "double bird strike", presumably a flock of geese, caused both of the jet's engines to shut down and force the successful water landing.

The picture above taken just minutes ago shows the search boats converging on the spot where the emergency landing occurred.

Camera, Crutches and Carriages

Taking pictures at the corner of 59th Street and 5th Avenue. This is where you can get a horse carriage ride through Central Park.

A Walk in the Snow

It's really nice to go for an evening walk in Central Park right after it snows.

Quick, Before Anyone Sees Anything

You don't get very many opportunities to tag a police car.

Snowy Loops

A view of the snow in Central Park. Even though it was freezing cold out, I thought I saw Andy Samberg from Saturday Night Live out for a morning jog around the bottom loop. Did anyone see Hot Rod? I didn't think so.

Little Miss Trump

Ivanka Trump puts in an appearance on Madison Avenue. She's probably a lot smarter than people realize. She carries herself very well which is probably because she's not hanging out with Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan every night at 1 Oak or Bungalow.

In case you didn't know, she has a eponymous store where she sells an expensive jewelry line. Her website could use a little work. She should be twittering and making sure the social diary (it's actually semi-interesting) on her website is updated regularly.

Spongebob Greenbeans

I happened upon Spongebob Squarepants making a special guest appearance at the grocery store tonight. It looks like the clever marketers at Green Giant are working overtime coming up with new ways to get kids to eat their vegetables. It doesn't make them taste any better.

Absolutely No Parking

The Artkraft Strauss Sign Corp. building is completely covered in very colorful graffiti. It's located at the corner of 57th Street and 12th Avenue.

I took a bunch of pictures even though it was soooo cold out today. Winter in the big city.

Frozen Pier

A view of the Hudson River right off the pier where the US Airways airplane crashed. It was so cold out today and there were no geese in sight. I did see a couple of police boats cruising around probably looking for jet engines. Temperatures hovered around 12 degrees. You know it was freezing cold because even I even wore a hat.

Fashion Trash

Yesterday's fashion. Here today, tossed out on the street tomorrow. 57th Street detritus outside Dior and Chanel.

We're back to normal after a very atypical (at least for me) 24 hour news cycle in New York City. Welcome to Quite All Right. Comments appreciated.

10 for $1

You can't buy many things in New York City for $1, except for a handful of postcards. The stamp costs more than the postcard.

The Day After

Here's a nice look at the pictures. AP has syndicated them around the world.

Plane Crash Aftermath 2

The New York Times just posted the picture here. The photo was taken as the plane crossed 65th Street in Manhattan as it flew at a relatively slow speed (115-140 mph) over the Hudson River with its nose in the air.

The plane crashed (US Airways calls it an "Emergency Landing") into the Hudson River about 1/2 mile down from where this photo was taken at about 53rd Street.

Plane Crash Aftermath

What a day! 50,000 hits to the blog in 4 hours from all over the world.

Since nobody was badly hurt and the crew did such an amazing job, it doesn't feel weird to celebrate the great deal I made for the pictures.

You can see the last picture taken before the plane hit the water here and here and here. I had to take the pictures down after AP licensed them for worldwide usage. They are now the proud owner of the image of the plane in flight over the Hudson River moments before the successful splashdown.

Sorry, that my friend Matt didn't get the picture as he watched it splash, but he was rockin' it with a fabulous operator from 911 before it even crashed.

Since you stopped by my blog, please take a moment to look around, leave some comments and you might as well explore the advertising below.

US Airways Flight 1549 - The Geese

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Could these be from the same flock of birds that caused the crash? Those geese are flying west southwest away from the camera. Directly behind the camera is a straight line to Laguardia Airport, directly on the migration path of geese from New England down the Eastern Seaboard.

Whenever it snows, geese take to the air looking for grassier areas to forage for food. It snowed earlier today across the region. The jet liner was flying at jet liner speed and a few minutes later, here come the geese.

US Airways Flight 1549 - Approaching the Water

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UPDATE: Images are now viewable here.

Here is another picture of the plane as it glides in for a belly flop on the Hudson River. I can only imagine what the people on board were thinking at this exact moment.

I don't think I've ever seen many photographs like this just moments before a plane is about to make a crash landing in the water.

My friend Matt, who took these photos, is bummed because he didn't take a photograph of the plane crashing into the water. I told him, "You did the right thing by calling 911 instead."

US Airways Flight 1549 - Water Taxis Arrive

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The water taxis arrive to rescue everyone.

US Airways Flight 1549 Pre-Crash Photo

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The plane as it is about to hit the Hudson River.

UPDATE: Images are now viewable here.

Je n'adore pas Dior sans underwear

Times are tough even for the luxury retailers on 57th Street. Christmas sales were dismal, but the holidays are now over and new window displays need to be installed at Dior.

However, times are not so tough that underwear has become optional. It's cold out there guys!

OK, I know that $118 is a hefty price to pay for a pair of Christian Dior boxer shorts even when they are marked down 20%. Perhaps Dior designer John Galliano can pony up some spare skivvies and some up-to-date wardrobe choices for their window dressers who look like they were cast as extras in a Pearl Jam video circa 1991.

Could it be that the recession means big changes in fashion and we will soon be seeing a return to grunge? Someone call Bill Cunningham.

Happy Hour Fishing

Live Bait is a bar on 23rd Street across the street from Madison Square Park. It's been around for a while so they must be doing something right. I think I went there once or twice. We had lunch there during a Carrot Top commercial shoot for AT&T.

Rush hour commuters whizzing by at the end of a cold city day.

Today was a good day! Lots of traffic because of this. Yay!

Stalking the Fashion Prey

Bill Cunningham, The New York Times fashion photographer, always gets his shot.

Here he is on Madison Avenue for a frigid afternoon of shooting fashion victims. He was waiting outside the door of a Chase bank branch after he spotted a man wearing a flamboyant fur hat duck inside to use an ATM machine. Bill waited patiently on the street and when the slender, well-dressed man came out he quickly sprang into action. Bill fired off a dozen shots (or more) as the man flashed a broad smile, casually hopped on his flaming hipster bicycle and pedaled off down the avenue.

Bill's been focusing on the recession in his last couple of On The Street reports. As usual, I totally disagree with him and think he has absolutely no idea what he is talking about. You can usually find him hanging out outside the front door of Barney's on the weekends with his camera pointed and ready for action.

UPDATE: Welcome new readers from Cityfile!

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

Take a taxi.

Pizza All The Time

Stella's Pizza. Pretty much your standard NYC pizza joint. Located on 9th Avenue and 17th Street. Delicious and reasonably priced pizza. I usually get the plain or the pepperoni, but sometimes I go for olives or mushrooms or even anchovies. You can eat this for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

This is a good site.

Congrats to my good friend Mame! Her Found Money blog was overloaded with traffic today after being written about here and here and here.

Megan Fox's Graffiti Truck

Rumor has it that Transformers star Megan Fox was briefly seen behind the wheel of this graffiti-clad truck parked on St. Marks Place and 3rd Avenue in the heart of the East Village. This truck is surely about to transform into some crazy alien robot. Luckily, I got out of there in time. No doubt she was making a quick dash into Trash and Vaudeville to pick up some black stretch jeans and a Sham 69 t-shirt.