what about the plastic animals?

Police Phone

I noticed this sign for a police phone at 117th and Adam Clayton Powell this morning. It looks like it once lit up, but it wasn't shining this morning. One of the red police/fire call boxes was nearby, but there was no phone next to the sign. I wonder when signs like this were in operation?

Okay, I'm just stalling for time as I get the Philly mosaic photos ready. Maybe tomorrow...

South St. Philadelphia (Part I)

When I was in Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago there was a morning where I was expecting a package to be delivered. Rather than wait in the room, my friend Jeff and I went out for breakfast and then walked down to South Street to take pictures. We were pleasantly surprised at how much there was to see in a few short blocks!

We walked south from Rittenhouse Square, one of Philadelphia's most exclusive neighborhoods, along 18th St. turned left on South St. until we got to the Whole Foods Market, then headed back towards the hotel. Along South Street we saw what was once a vital African-American neighborhood that had been largely abandoned, a neighborhood of Caribbean immigrants, public housing, and a neighborhood that was at the heights of being Williamsburgled. We also saw a whole set of incredible mosaics by a single artist, Isaiah Zagar. His work will be the subject of a future post. For now though, here are a few sights from the western end of our walk.

This photomosaic captures the flux that South St. is in. To the left is an African-American barbershop and hair-straightening salon, to the right is a hipster lounge posing as a neighborhood bar in Milwaukee, in between there's a sales office with apartment floor plans. On the far right is the first Isaiah Zagar mosaic that we saw.

Octopi in NoLiTa

The weather was so nice early this afternoon that I went downtown and ate lunch outdoors. I grabbed a banh mi, a Vietnamese sandwich consisting of pork, pate, vegetables, and chili sauce on a french roll at my favorite banh mi place, Vietnam Banh Mi So 1, on Broome and headed to the unpleasant Lt. Petrosino Park at the intersection of Kenmare, Cleveland Place, and Lafayette. Lt. Petrosino was the first Italian-American detective in the NYPD and the only NYPD officer killed in the line of duty outside the U.S (more info). The park is a fenced-in triangle of asphalt populated by a motley bunch of pigeons. I noticed the octopi above the closed deli and took the picture above. Then I noticed the cute copycat photographer.

While eating my sandwich I couldn't help but notice Eileen's Special Cheesecake across the street. Cleveland Place is a narrow street and it was easy to make a visit.

Nerdy Street Art

22nd St. between 6th and 7th.

Light Pole, Broome St., SoHo.

One long sentence and one short sentence about stale bread

You don't know how disappointing it is to be eating your lunch and notice that, after making a trip to the grocery store because you forgot to bring pita bread from home, a trip to the grocery store that took ten minutes longer than needed because the customer ahead of you was buying pens whose UPC was not in the store's system, said pens therefore needing a price check, but your express lane having a cashier whose method of getting a price check was limited to feebly calling out "Bobby!" every couple of minutes, a cashier who did not have the wherewithal or permission to either just make up a price for the pens or ring up the customers behind the pen-buying guy, the pen-buying guy, his lunch hour nearly up, who is now imploring the cashier to do something, anything and who has started yelling "We need a price check on aisle 17!" at the top of his lungs before finally walking out of the store in disgust, which means that the cashier, who, just before the pen-buying guy left, has finally found a warm body to do the price check, can finally ring up your purchase, and the purchase of the woman in line ahead of you, and for whom you are fervently hoping does not need a price check (she doesn't, but she did have the need to put the grocery separator thingy between her two items and your two items, you having made an impulse choice of a papaya to eat after lunch), the onion flatbread you just bought, which tastes a little bit off, has a sell-by date of February 28th.

Yuck.

Harlem at Sunset Panorama

This is my view of Harlem from above Morningside Park when I get off the bus in the evening. The panoramic photo stretches about 180 degrees. North is to the left and south to the right. The shadow in the foreground is from the escarpment that separates Morningside Heights from Harlem.

Click on the photo above to see a larger (2.8 MB) version. If the new photo fits on your screen click again to get the big photo.

Nyack Rural Cemetery

Several years ago I happened upon an abandoned cemetery in Central Nyack. It is located behind Nyack Lumber on Rt. 59. The USGS topographic map labels it "Rural Cemetery". I always wanted to go back to take pictures of the site but didn't get around to it until yesterday. I was inspired by the Forgotten NY tour of Prospect Cemetery, an abandoned cemetery in Queens. Photos of Prospect Cemetery can be found on Satan's Laundromat.

There is no parking at the Central Nyack cemetery. You park at either Nyack Lumber or the mini-mall next door. There is no sign for the cemetery and I couldn't find a fence or markers to outline its size. The area outlined on the topo map is much larger than what I wandered through yesterday. Maybe a return trip is in order.

The most recent grave I could find was from 1982. Not that long ago. Most of the other graves were from the 1890s or early 1900s. Many headstones were next to grave-sized holes in the ground. I assume those bodies have been disinterred and moved elsewhere. The site, as you will see, is overgrown with trees and underbrush.

Here is the Photo Gallery.

Update: According to the Genealogical Society of Rockland County list of cemeteries, the name of the cemetery is Nyack Rural Cemetery. It was an active cemetery from 1837 to 1977 (yet I saw a grave dated 1982). There are two listings in the genealogical society's listing: one of 268 graves, the other of 67.

Cheesecake overload

The cheesecake is no more. The cake dried out a bit overnight and that made it all the better. Let's have one final look so our dearly departed will not perish from our memories.

St. Patrick's Day Dinner at Buca di Beppo

A number of us at the conference in Philadelphia went out for dinner on St. Patrick's Day. We called an Irish pub in the afternoon and we were assured that they would have room for twelve. They did not. We walked down the street to a brew pub. The wait was at least an hour. We headed down another street and saw Buca di Beppo, a family-style Italian place. They could take a walk-in party of twelve. We ate in the Pope room. We drank chianti, beer, and iced tea. We ate a lot.

if you were there, I will let you know when all the photos are on ofoto or fotolog.

Cheesecake recipe

The cheesecake turned out good. Amazingly light given the amount of fat it contains. I thought I had once made a key lime cheesecake, but I didn't own a springform pan until yesterday morning, so this may have been the first cheesecake I've ever made. By popular demand from the people who tried the cheesecake, here is the recipe from an old (pre-1983) issue of Yankee magazine.

Crust
1.5 c   graham cracker crumbs
3 TBS  sugar
0.5 tsp  cinnamon
0.25 c  sweet butter

Grease a 10” springform pan with butter. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix until well blended. Press into the bottom and sides of pan. Chill prepared pan while making filling.

Filling

24 oz  cream cheese
1 c  sugar
6  eggs, separated
1 c  creme fraiche
1 c  sour cream
1 TBS  grated lemon peel
juice  of half a lemon
1 tsp  vanilla
3 TBS  flour, scant

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cream together cream cheese and sugar. Stir in the egg yolks, creme fraiche, sour cream, lemon peel, lemon juice, and vanilla. Add flour and stir until just blended. In a separate bowl, whip egg whites until they hold a peak. Thoroughly fold egg whites into the cheese batter. Pour into crust and bake for one hour. Then shut off heat and leave cake in oven, with door closed, for another hour. Open door and let cake remain in oven for another 15 minutes. Cool thoroughly before serving.