Christmas is...

I can think of a lot of things Christmas is, but worshipping doesn't immediately come to mind on my top 10 list. It's probably situated someone around number 327 or so. This monstrous and creepy billboard is located above the Majestic Delicatessen Cafe located in the middle of the Times Square area on 50th Street and 7th Avenue. Whoever put this up was probably hoping to take advantage of Mitt Romney's religious affiliation even though that didn't help get him into the White House.

Eat Meatballs

Meatball Obsession (Home of the Original Meatball in a Cup) is one of those places that I noticed a few months ago and was curious enough to try it out. It's located on 6th Avenue, just south of 14th Street. This is definitely a no-frills kind of experience because the shop is located on the street next to a subway entrance and you order standing right on the busy sidewalk.

Totally capitalizing (or exploiting) the latest culinary trend to sweep the city, they offer one thing and one thing only. You guessed it, meatballs. I stopped by to try their food a few months ago and I can tell you that if you like meatballs then this place is for you. They offer steaming hot cups of turkey, beef or pork sausage meatballs that are supremely delicious and not too expensive either. You can also get your balls served in a pocket sandwich, but their specialty is obviously served best in a cup. To top things off, they offer a choice of cheeses and a good selection of soft drinks including my favorites Cherry and Vanilla Cream. There is a small table with a lamp pushed up against the side of the building where you can stand up and casually eat your food on the street if you choose or you can always take it and run.

Also nice to see that they've totally festooned their shop for Christmas.

Gingerbread Crane

Every year at Christmastime, Le Parker Meridien hotel sections off a portion of their lobby for a wonderful display of gingerbread houses created by various local bakeries and restaurants. This year the theme is "Landmarks Around The World" and they have some truly great creations. My favorite was the "Hurri-crane."

Of course, you'll recall the construction crane that nearly toppled right onto 57th Street from the skyscraper site during the middle of Hurricane Sandy. The 90 story building depicted in gingerbread above is One 57 and its located almost directly across the street from Carnegie Hall and the hotel. The police and fire department forced the hotel to shut down for almost an entire week after the storm because all of the streets around the hotel were closed and residents were evacuated.

If you drop in to check out all of the gingerbread creations, make sure to stop by the front desk and buy a raffle ticket for $1 to vote for your favorite. The winner will get a 5 night stay at the luxurious Parker Palm Springs and all the money raised is going to the food rescue charity, City Harvest.

Origami Christmas

The holiday season is in full swing and since it's now the first week of December all of the hotels and stores in the city are decorated for the upcoming holidays. Le Parker Meridien is a nice hotel on 56th Street and they have an enormous 15' tree in their lobby decorated with what appear to be hundreds of multi-colored origami swans.

If you have extra time in your busy schedule, I recommend taking a minute or two to saunter into a few of the many hotel lobbies throughout the city to see some of the more creative Christmas displays. It's a fun thing to do and you'll find way better trees than the vastly overrated Rockefeller Center tree.

Christmas in Midtown

There are an enormous number of hotels in Midtown, but if someone else is paying or you are splurging on a nice place then The Peninsula Hotel is as nice as any. It's located steps away from 5th Avenue and has a great luxury breakfast place on the 2nd floor that's expensive, but perfect for a business meeting. There's also a great bar on the rooftop. They did an excellent job on the Christmas decorations this year.

Cartier Christmas

The high-end jewelry store Cartier has an fairly incredible location at 52nd Street and 5th Avenue right in the heart of Midtown Manhattan. Every year at Christmas they cover the building with some type of enormous ribbon or beautiful lighting, but this year alongside the usual lights they added their signature panther high up on the upper floors.

I find it sort of confusing though because Cartier has the trademark on "Panther" and they have a Panthère jewelry brand, but some people say it's not really a panther at all, but is actually a leopard. You'll see what I mean when you look at this commercial. Isn't that a leopard? I have no clue and I suppose it doesn't matter either way. Their classic men's timepiece is the Tank watch so I assume it looks a lot nicer to put a ferocious wild animal in lights on the building than a ferocious military vehicle.

Christmas and a Coffee Con

For the past week or two I've been going over to 55th Street (adjacent to the Robert Indiana "Love" sculpture partially visible in the background) in the morning to get my coffee. There's a little breakfast cart there and a large coffee is only $1.25 which is the cheapest in the neighborhood and, quite frankly, I think it tastes a lot better than Starbucks, Zibetto, Fika or any of the other fancy places in the area. There are, no joke, at least 30 different places to buy coffee in a two block radius of my house. I've tried them all. Maybe not all, but most of them. Not including the four Starbucks locations which are all the same...awful. So I've been going to this new cart to get my no-frills coffee which is great aside from the fact that the guy calls everyone "Boss" which is only slightly grating, but not enough so that I don't still go there in the morning.

Today, as I was walking back and passing in front of the unbelievably and wildly overpriced supermarket pictured above, a reasonably articulate and casually dressed black man approached me. In New York City, when a stranger approaches you it's always startling for a second. Your guard immediately goes up, more so than it already is, but that's just the way it is. After you realize that the person is semi-normal or just a tourist or not otherwise frothing at the mouth it's really not such a big deal to tell them where Carnegie Hall is located or how to get to the F train. This morning, however, was slightly different.

I'm walking back with my morning coffee (I resisted the urge to get a couple of high calorie doughnuts) and this guy approaches me on the sidewalk. I must have jumped a bit or something because he immediately apologized and said sorry to bother me, but he didn't want anything. Whew. Everyone wants something.

Ok, so I am thinking to myself, what do you want then? He begins his lengthy explanation. Somehow he dropped his car keys in the sewer on the corner and it's wet and watery down there and he couldn't get them out with a coat hanger. Dubious enough, but I'm sort of intrigued where this story might be going. He says that everything is OK, he's not going to get towed, the traffic cop has already assured him of that. At this point, I should have just walked away because traffic cops in New York don't care if you are the man in the moon because you are so getting towed whether you dropped your keys or have a crying baby locked up in the back seat. Since I was in no particular rush and I sort of enjoy these versions of street theater I decided to continue to hear him out if for no other reason than my own personal amusement. He continued. He reassured me that he didn't want anything and that because his keys were dropped down somewhere irretrievably in the sewer that he needed to go home to the Bronx or some other distant borough to get his spare set. The man told me that he would give me his license to hold and....blah blah blah. Now he lost me. I just tuned him out completely. I don't want some stranger's license. I don't want to be bothered on the way home from getting my morning coffee. I don't want anything other than to drink my hot coffee. I am more than happy to tell you where to get a great bagel or which diner serves the best breakfast, the best exhibition at MoMA or even how to get to Carnegie Hall (practice!) or really any other basic thing, but holding your license while you take the imaginary bus back to the Bronx is way too much for 9:30am in the morning. Of course he wanted money. So I just lied and told him that I had no money on me and he actually thanked me and moved on, eager I am sure to find his next more gullible morning coffee con.

What would you have done? Most people in New York City, busy and rushed on their way to work on a Friday morning, probably wouldn't have even stopped for 5 seconds. At least I gave him an opportunity to work on his pitch.

Oh and the picture above is right outside where he stopped me. The city is crazed right now with every business installing Christmas lights and decorations. I sure wish they'd wait another week to give us a break between the holidays.

Two Months Until Christmas

I should really update more regularly, but I seemed to have lost my inspiration for being consistent. At any rate, I kind of think that my observations would be better received if they were a lot more timely.

Case in point is the above picture which I shot on October 8th. I know that Barnes & Noble at Lincoln Center is closing after the 2010 Holiday season, but who came up with the brilliant idea to yank out the Christmas wrapping paper in early October and display it all over the main floor? Do the sales execs at B&N actually think that anyone who is not completely sane would buy gift wrap in October? I know times are tough, but that doesn't mean we want to be whacked over the head with anything even remotely dealing with Christmas before Halloween. What's next, Easter baskets in January?

And what's up with the kid with the glasses? I think he was as shocked as I was. This is a really good way to ruin Columbus Day, Halloween and Thanksgiving for everyone, Barnes & Noble.

Christmas Entrance

The entrance to Van Cleef & Arpels on 5th Avenue decked out for the holidays.

Christmas Time is Calling

Christmas trees in front of 9 West 57th Street. Down the street, you can see the UNICEF Snowflake.

"The UNICEF Snowflake is a dazzling, illuminated crystal ornament that graces the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street in New York City each holiday season as a beacon of hope, peace and compassion for vulnerable children around the world."

This year Rihanna was there for the lighting of the snowflake.