what about the plastic animals?

Web 2.0

Six Apart HQ

Twitter HQ

In the few short hours I had to wander about in San Francisco I managed to see the headquarters of Six Apart, the makers of the fine Typepad software that is being used to put these photos and text online and the Twitter headquarters.  I suspect Twitter only fills up a small portion of the building.  Flickr used to be a short walk away but they've since moved to the main Yahoo! campus in Mountain View.

Still Under Wraps

It has been nearly a year since I visited the Frederick Douglass Circle construction on these pages.  As you can see, other than the wall with the constellations going up, almost no work has been done and the statue of Douglass is still bound by ropes and tarp.  Construction was supposed to be completed five years ago.  Part of that delay is because, I assume, the city had to scrap the original stonework as it featured a fictional quilt.  That link contains a photo of the statue before it was installed.  Still, that shouldn't cause a five year delay should it?

Around the Neighborhood, Part 3

The Best Yet Market may open later this month.

Just Wingin' It never flew.  They opened in late-2008 but bizarrely never kept regular hours.  Not sure what the status of the construction next door.

The mysteriously unopened Frizzante Bistro and Bar.  It has looked this way since July.

The Parc Standard.

As Harlem CondoLife can attest, no walk around the neighborhood would be complete without seeing what's happening along Frederick Douglass Blvd.  These are only a small selection of the activity.  Nearly every block from 112th to 125th will have a major change coming to it this year.

Around the Neighborhood, Part 2

1465 Fifth Avenue

Fifth on the Park

Windows on 123

I don't have the energy to keep up with all the real estate happenings in the neighborhood.  Here are three (five?) new buildings that have gone up within a couple blocks of each other in 2009.  Fifth on the Park gets all the attention but 1465 Fifth Avenue just to the south filled in a couple of vacant lots.  Windows on 123 sure is ugly and non-contextual on the outside but the interiors seem nice and it, too, filled in vacant lots.

Around the Neighborhood, Part 1

The Christian bookstore on 116th moved to 124th St.

Formerly a cruddy grocery store and Taekwondo studio, this long shuttered building on 5th Ave reopened as a senior care center

Louise's soul food restaurant on Lenox Ave. sadly closed.

Tonnie's Minis cupcake shop happily opened on Lenox.  Just as good and practically half the price of Make My Cake on 116th.

The long-awaited Il Caffe Latte opened and Katrina Parris Flowers moved to Lenox from Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd.

It has become a personal tradition of mine to walk around the neighborhood on New Year's Day to see what changed in the past year.  These are just a few of the smaller changes along Lenox and Fifth Avenues.