This is our friend Patty. Patty is not a good sister. Her sister Denise asked Patty to take pictures of the brownstone stoops in Brooklyn. Patty hasn't taken any stoop pictures.
So I had Patty sit on the stoop of the place we are staying at...The Inn on Second.
Now Patty has some stoop pictures to show to her sister. Now on to our day in NYC.
It is St. Patrick's Day and this Brooklyn Irish boy is representing his south side of Chicago baseball team at the St. Paddy's Day Parade up 5th Ave in Manhattan today.
We are heading downtown and walking up Broadway to the Farmer's Market in Union Square Park.
Along the way, we saw a three rhino statue down 8th Street on Lafayette Ave. Since we were running late, I told Patty & Christy that I would run down there and take a few pictures and meet them in Union Square Park. I said just take that slight left up ahead to stay on Broadway and the park is at 14th St. Christy and I have walked this area at least 50 times over the past 34 years.
There really isn't any good news for rhinos nowadays. Due to complete stupidity and false beliefs, they have been slaughtered to near extinction for their horns. Horns that have absolutely no medicinal or magical powers despite what ignorant people want to believe.
This message and the massive statue are here to provide information about the rhinoceros' plight.
A very impressive statue with a serious message.
I'm surprised to see the old water towers still on the roof and looking like they might still be in use.
I stopped at Grace Church to take a few pictures when I received a phone call from Christy. They were at 2nd Ave and 10th St. I am at Broadway and 10th St. So for the second day in a row, I left these two on their own and they managed to get lost again....
....so I had plenty of time to take pictures of this impressive church.
Finally back together and heading up Broadway to...
...Union Square Park where there is a long history of protests and sharing information about all kinds of issues. Today it is about war torn Yemen and the Saudi blockade preventing food and medical supplies to a country that has also suffered through an extended drought. You can learn so much while walking the streets of NYC.
The ridiculousness of posting pictures of a farmer's market overflowing with food after the previous photo is not lost on me. So like me, just be happy you live in America. But also realize that even in our country, there are people who go hungry every day. If you are one of the lucky ones, please support a food bank in your area. I've supported the Greater Chicago Food Depository since the mid 1980's.
This sign was at the Legs Diamond Whiskey booth. Chrissy and Patty had a shot and bought a small bottle..."for the parade...wink...wink".
I needed to eat something before drinking.
So much good stuff to choose from at this market. I had a hot cider and apple donuts.
Of course I bought a jar of fresh horseradish mustard too.
I love markets like this one. The Green City Market in Chicago is pretty good but this one has so much more.
Another photo of old water towers on buildings. I also love these old tenement buildings but they are disappearing quickly in Manhattan.
Back underground on our way to Rockefeller Center and the St. Patrick Day Parade.
We had to switch trains at 34th Street and I found these old signs in the tunnels switching from the R to the F at 34th St.
Here's Chrissy practicing her "I'm not a tourist. I'm a bored New Yorker waiting for a train look".
We somehow squirmed our way from 6th Avenue to 5th Avenue just south of St. Patrick's Cathedral.
No one seems to know for sure, but I think my Irish family might have come from County Roscommon.
Not surprisingly, there were lots of Pipes and Drums marching in the parade.
The Emerald Society Pipes & Drums of the NYC Fire Department.
Shockingly, the FDNY seems to have many Irishmen on the job.
I'm not exaggerating when I say the firemen marched by for well over 40 minutes. Now I did see some firemen from other cities around the country but most were FDNY.
I needed to move so I walked a bit closer to St. Patrick's Cathedral...
...and the band played on!
After we left the parade, we headed down to the Lower East Side where my Irish side and Italian side lived in the first half of the 1900's.
Our first stop was the Pickle Guys. This is their entire store. A bunch of barrels filled with salt brine while they cured a wide variety of things. I'm here for a 3/4 and a full sour pickle. There's nothing like a fresh pickle...damn these are good. Hard to eat a jar pickle after having the real thing.
One of the last gentrification holdouts is the LES. But it is losing the battle as developers put up sky-scraping condos.
I love walking the neighborhood streets down here because it is like walking back in time and through history...
...I took pictures as we searched for a place to eat. We settled on Farmhouse at Broome and Ludlow. And yes I am a hypocrite because I am usually against gentrification in areas I love as they are but I also love the new restaurants.
We had dessert here where they pour cream on a very cold metal table and mix in whatever fruit, candy or cookies you want and roll it into ice cream tubes and put it in a cup with any topping you want. An interesting and tasty dessert.
We decided to walk down to the Brooklyn Bridge. Actually I was looking for a subway to take down there but I had so much fun walking through Chinatown and Little Italy that we ended up walking the whole way to the bridge.
This city can show you so many different cultural things just by walking the streets.
Grand old buildings are common down here.
I could walk these downtown streets with a camera everyday and never capture the same photograph. Everything changes every day.
Little Italy is getting littler every time I visit here. But a few classic places still exist...
...like this old cheese shop from 1892.
We just kept walking and I just kept taking pictures of my favorite city in America. In case you are wondering, New Orleans is my second favorite for the same reason. I love walking through the neighborhoods taking pictures.
Eventually we make it to all the downtown government buildings like the New York County Supreme Court Building...
...the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circiut...
...and this old church hidden behind one of them. It is St Andrew's Roman Catholic Church.
The outside courtyard of the City Hall building.
I liked this shot in B&W.
I finally caught up to Patty & Christy who apparently are not as thrilled with old buildings as I am.
So we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge.
Of course I fall behind because I am still taking pictures of downtown Manhattan now behind me.
The old South Street Seaport and Fish Market neighborhood which contains some of the oldest buildings left in Manhattan and developers just can't wait to tear them all down and build shitty looking 80 story high condos.
Nice shot of downtown NYC from the Brooklyn Bridge.
Patty on the bridge.
This photo goes with the next one. That building on the left just past the Manhattan Bridge is still under construction. It is a soulless glass and steel disaster of a building...
...and someone who cares enough about this city to write this message is a friend of mine.
I liked the contrast of the old street light with the new buildings.
Over the years there has been thousands of padlocks with a message of true love or hello from another city/country/planet written on it and locked onto the railings of the bridge. The city is trying to put a stop to this and some criminal has defaced the city's sign with his own message...another friend of mine with a great sense of humor.
Gentrification on both sides of the Brooklyn Bridge.
We spent the rest of the night eating and drinking our way through the Brooklyn neighborhood of Carroll Garden. First stop Giardini's Pizzeria.
Next up, Black Mountain Wine House
Then seafood at the Kittery
This place also had an old fashion pull chain high tank toilet. Just like the one from the Godfather when Michael shoots the corrupt police captain in the restaurant. They planted the gun on the tank and Sonny says it better be there because "I don't want my brother to come out of that toilet with just his dick in his hand."
Last stop was Black Forest Brooklyn for a late night pretzel...
...and a German beer to finish off our St. Patrick's Day celebration in a perfect New York City way...by enjoying several of the many different cultures that have settled here in the melting pot of America.
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