She gave a reading and book signing last week at Barnes & Noble on the Upper West Side and even though I missed the reading, I arrived just in time to be the very last person to get their book signed. There's nothing better than a signed first edition hardcover of an author's first book.
Passing by the restaurant at the Whitney on Saturday night, I saw that it is decorated with these oversize and festive polka dot balls.
Here'e the idea. Pick the business guys up in the Hustler truck down on Wall Street after trading closes at set times (4:15PM, 4:30PM, 4:45PM etc.) and offer free shuttle service home to the Upper East Side, Greenwich, Westchester. Not so sure their housewives will appreciate seeing their husbands getting dropped off at home in this sort of truck, but they're probably going to go there anyway and it sure beats taking Metro West or the subway.
Are mobile strip clubs even legal?
File this one in the Liz Smith "Only in New York" category because here's something you don't see every day. In New York City, even the homeless people soliciting for money on 5th Avenue have cell phone plans. Who gives money to a homeless guy talking on a cell phone?
I didn't notice until later when I took a look at my photos from today that he gave me the finger for taking his picture. He didn't get off his call though. That made me laugh.
The Artist was sold out last week at The Paris before it won five Academy Awards on Sunday night. Yes, I finally ended up seeing it. It costs $13 to see a movie in Manhattan.
After receiving some really encouraging and super nice emails from around the world, it looks like there are some people that actually do enjoy my blog and photos. So consider my arm twisted and I'm starting it up again. 
There is seriously NO BREAD in New York City. All the panic-stricken New Yorkers scooped it up in a frenzy last night.
I should have bought these sneakers in Paris. I figured I'd go back to the store (somewhere on Rue St.-Honore), but then I didn't and now I'm wishing I did. That's something I am trying to do more of, just do it when you think of it rather than waiting until later. What are you waiting for? To find a better pair of sneakers somewhere else? Now it's too late, but it's never too late. Good thing to keep in mind for the future.
Oh Kristin Elliott, what were you thinking when you plastered your headshots all over Williamsburg? Did you imagine that the casting gods would shine a light on you and give you a role in the next Woody Allen movie? While that may still happen, at least some bearded, fixed-gear riding, skinny jean wearing, Whole Foods shopping hipster got an excellent opportunity to make a funny drawing on a random lamp post.
These are mostly magical after you eat about six of them in a row. Magic Cupcakes at the Duane Park Patisserie.
I never noticed this before, but the other day I saw that the infamous National Debt Clock is located right above the Internal Revenue Service office on 44th Street near 6th Avenue. How ironic, right? Better get your taxes done, you only have 9 more days!
One of the local deli's in the neighborhood. I like how worn out the counter top is.
New York City has something for everyone and can truly be an oasis of unexplored treasures if you ever get around to looking for them. I have been needing to find a store filled with nothing but buttons for months! I need a few replacement buttons for two shirts that I love wearing and yesterday I finally decided to venture out to cross this one off of my ever expanding list of things to do. A button store of this sort has to exist somewhere in Manhattan, right? 
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.
She asked me directions to a bar in the neighborhood. I pointed her in the right direction. Isn't gambling illegal?
The Roosevelt Island tram sails high above the East River and brings people back and forth to the city all day long. This would not be a fun place to get stuck on a cold winter day, but the view is nice. I've never taken it before, but it looks like a fun ride. It was closed for most of last year for repairs and remodeling, but it's recently back in service.
The truly awesome thing about living in New York City is you never know what you are going to get hit over the head with from one day to the next. 
It snowed on Tuesday night. Unfortunately it didn't really last very long, but it was good while it lasted. I pretty much want it to snow all the time in the winter.
A view down on the Crystal Snowflake on 57th Street from the windows of Bergdorf Goodman. This is a nice view of the Bulgari and Tiffany stores that you don't see very often from this perspective. It's actually the UNICEF Snowflake and was designed by Ingo Maurer and features over 16,000 Baccarat crystals. UNICEF's marketing department does a totally crap job of promoting the snowflake because everyone knows about it cause it hangs in the middle of the city for six to eight weeks every year at the corner of one of the busiest intersections in the world, but no one has any clue that it's put up by UNICEF. Where's Audrey Hepburn when you need her?
Pee-wee Herman outside the Steven Sondheim Theater on Sunday after a rainy evening performance. His show plays on Broadway until early next month. My six word review: "It was very entertaining and funny."
I was out in midtown Manhattan earlier this evening and I saw an interesting guy crossing 2nd Avenue at 53rd street. Normally you don't see anything out of the ordinary in this neighborhood, but when you see someone dressed in 8" silver boots and a full length fur coat and feathers it makes you stop and stare. Of course, this being NYC, no one really stops to give this much of a second thought. It's as if nothing was all that unusual about this sort of look. I stopped and waited for him to come out of Walgreen's. I was actually wondering what he purchased,
I spotted this enormous racquet on 6th Avenue and 40th Street. He gives private lessons too and if you need to improve your game you probably won't miss many shots with this one.
Cool girls from the Bronx know that the only acceptable late night candy is Skittles. They really don't get any cooler than this. No fake ID required.
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.
I went downtown to a small party/cocktail sort of thing last night. There was wine and cheese and it featured the work of the artist Spencer Tunick. Moby was there for a while and here he is talking to Spencer. The works on the table in front of them are 8" x 10" color photos of various installations around the world.
The New York City Marathon brings people to the city from all over the world. Here's a group from Japan crossing 57th Street on Saturday morning.
It was another wild night in New York City for Halloween. The streets in the Village were jammed with thousands and thousands of people out in creative costumes celebrating the holiday and there was a massive parade as well. I'm not really sure exactly what everyone is celebrating. What is the point of Halloween anyway? Are people celebrating the arrival of the Great Pumpkin? Time to check Wikipedia. I thought it was a worldwide phenomenon, but it looks like the don't have Halloween in Russia, China, Italy, New Zealand or basically just about anywhere aside from Ireland, Scotland, US and Canada. How is this possible? Don't they eat candy in the rest of the world?
The good thing about cupcakes is that they can manage to make them fit for any holiday. These kinds of sweet Halloween treats are available just about everywhere.
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.
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. 
I spotted this amazing truck in very crowded rush hour traffic on Lexington Avenue in the 60s. Bruce Willis appeared to be making his way incognito down towards Bloomingdales. As hard as they try to go unnoticed, you can always spot the famous celebrities driving around town in graffiti trucks.
Morning in Manhattan. 
Spotted in Central Park. Four things to note:
Last Friday night on the streets of the West Village. This plaid-suited pair sauntered along as a large group of friends and acquaintances ate dinner outside. 
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. 
I was trying to take a picture and then this bus went by right in front of me. No wonder everyone in America is so fat. These things look (and taste) delicious.
More seriousness on the East Side. A grim look is common in NYC especially when you are on the way to the tanning salon.
This picture gives you a brief sense of how busy it sometimes gets on the streets of my neighborhood during the middle of the day. 
