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Clown Ride in Greenwich Village

March 19, 2008

This is a little ridiculous, but I’ll post on it anyway.

In my March 12 post, I mentioned finding out about the Bike Lane Liberation Clown Ride scheduled for Saturday, March 15. Well, decided to go there and then I messed up my view of the event.

It was scheduled for 2:30pm and I got to the site long before it happened. I did wander around Greenwich Village and have a number of posts from that wandering that I’ll post on over the coming days/week.

Here’s the site of the gathering. (A clown gathering, what a concept!)

It’s a bike rental/sales store located on Morton Street. The picture is taken from Greenwich Street. At about 2pm, I walked past and found only a handful of people there, and only one in clown makeup. I didn’t stop in, not wanting to be accosted as a clown stalker. Or maybe I was terrified of being drawn into the clown side.

I walked by a bit later and found a few others gathering there, but still only two or three in costume. So, I decided to stake out what I suspected to be part of their route.

I was all prepared. I also managed to catch the owner of “The Love Bike” in her quest to reach the clown gathering!

Yes, there’s a dog with her. Not necessarily a clown dog, but definitely a clown’s dog.

So, I walked by again and saw that the crowd had grown. I proceeded around the block to catch them at their rideoff…and they apparently went out before I reached my viewing point. Or maybe they took a different route.

I’m a lousy clown hunter. Ditched by them without so much as a honk of a nose horn.

-H

Categories: Events, Greenwich Village, Wanderings

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Movie Shoot in Greenwich Village

March 18, 2008

If you’re in NYC for any length of time, you start to see these sorts of signs all over the place. And the prettier/grittier the place, the more often you see them.

It’s a notice that, if you had parked on this street (Greenwich Street) on Sunday, March 16th, you’d have been towed away. They’re making a movie called “New York, I Love You”.

Hey, I sympathize with the sentiment. I checked IMDB and they have this. At this time, the entry is pretty bare, but it says that 12 filmmakers are making an anthology based on the title’s premise. The directors and actors seem like a pretty first-rate crew, too. But, then, I don’t go to movies that often so I only recognized about a third of the names.

But, like I said, I like the sentiment of the title.

I still have a problem with the sentiment of the notice, though. NYC really lets the movie/TV industry have their way on everything. I don’t know if I really like giving these guys the right to block off entire streets for hours/days. But, it does let people see NYC in its best light.

I don’t know where they’re filming, as these signs go up not only next to the location of the shots, but to areas they are going to be parking all of the vehicles used in carrying cameras and food and actors and all. But, I did see some photogenic looking buildings here.

Yeah, that’s the same sign.

-H

Categories: Celebrity Points, Events, Greenwich Village, Manhattan, Wanderings

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La Plaza Cultural in Alphabet City

March 10, 2008

I was recently back in Alphabet City in the Lower East Side (AKA, the East Village), and ran into another of the small parks that have sprung up in the area. These are associated with NYC’s Green Thumb program. But just being a park ain’t enough to make me take a picture of it; instead, I need something a hair different in some way.

And I think having strange and bizarre stuff on the top of the fence does qualify.

It’s La Plaza Cultural, located on East 9th Street and Avenue C. Their website doesn’t seem to say a word about the fence, so maybe they don’t think it’s worthy of comment.

I think it is.

I mean, just look at what’s there.

The interior of La Plaza is bigger than most, but mostly unremarkable.

Well, it is winter, but that’s still awfully sparse.

-H

Categories: Greenwich Village, LES, Manhattan, Wanderings

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McSorley’s Old Ale House

March 8, 2008

My recent jaunt in the Village was with the mind to find a legendary place. Okay, it wasn’t all that legendary to me. Some co-workers had mentioned it as the place to go for the St. Patricks Day Paraders and I hadn’t heard of it (at least to my recollection).

It’s McSorley’s Old Ale House, a bar located on East 7th Street near 3rd Avenue. It has the slogan “We were here before you were born”. True enough, it was founded in 1854.

It strives to maintain its history, including sawdust covered floors and bragging rights that its patrons range from Abe Lincoln to John Lennon.

As it is strictly a bar and I am not a lover of beer, I didn’t bother going in. It looks interesting for others, though.

-H

Categories: Greenwich Village, LES, Manhattan, Wanderings

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Ankling to Cooper Union

March 5, 2008

You know, I always thought it was “Coopers Union” and not “Cooper Union”. But three plaques say it is “Cooper Union”. Not a huge wording difference, but I guess it could mean the difference between a guild of barrel makers and a place founded by somebody by the name of “Cooper”.

And what is Cooper Union? Well, here it is below, located at the corner of 4th Avenue, Cooper Square, and Astor Place. Yeah, three adjoining streets; including the mysterious “4th Avenue” which disappears north of 14th Street.

But that’s just a building. Cooper Union is actually the second of my above possibilities: “Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art“, a very selective and august university. It was founded in 1859 by Peter Cooper and is known for giving full scholarships to its students. Cooper was an industrialist and inventor. He designed the first American steam locomotive, the Tom Thumb; and, according to Wikipedia, has a certain claim on the invention of Jell-O. Now, that’s a diverse set of achievements.

But the building itself is also an achievement.

According to the plaque above, the Union building is the oldest building in the United States supported by rolled structural beams, a forerunner of today’s skyscrapers.

The next plaque is for both the school and the building. It states “Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art – Peter Cooper, inventor, civic leader, philanthropist, founded this institution offering free education to all. In its great hall, birthplace of many important social and political movements, American’s leading citizens have spoken. Among them Abraham Lincoln, whose 1860 address here contributed to his presidential nomination. Designed by Frederick A. Peterson, this building was opened in 1859.”