MTA Police Want To See Your Ticket On SBS Bus

The MTA police write a $100.00 fine to an unfortunate rider who could not produce a ticket after disembarking from an M15 Select Bus Service on the corner of Catherine Street and Madison Street on the Lower East Side early Wednesday morning. You must purchase a ticket before boarding the new SBS lines and produce it if asked. 

Carl Skelton Pays Tribute To History On The Manhattan Bridge

In a surprising and compelling convergence of rich architectural history and modern art, a temporary installation developed by Carl Skelton, NYU-Poly’s Brooklyn Experimental Media Center director and assistant professor of digital media, is projecting—onto the Manhattan Bridge—the name, date of birth and birthplace of some of the everyday people who helped shape New York City. The installation, Ultratope 1: Real City, will continue from dawn to dusk until March 31 and pays particular attention the community members who left their mark on the Lower East Side and Downtown Manhattan. The photo above captures a tribute to Rabbi Avrohom Aharon Yudelovitch, rabbi at Eldridge Street Synagogue from 1918 until his death in 1930. The public is encouraged to submit names of living or deceased (provide the person's full name, place and year of birth) for inclusion in the project by emailing Skelton at cskelton@poly.edu or calling 718-260-4018.

Perception Vs Reality At Gouverneur Hospital: A Look Inside At The Grimy Conditions

Gouverneur Hospital on the left, across the street from Fiorello LaGuardia Houses 

Gouverneur Hospital is a New York City public hospital surrounded by tenement housing and imposing public housing projects near the East River on the Lower East Side, in a community filled predominantly with poor Asians and Hispanics. The hospital is currently undergoing a modernization project which began in 2008. The Lo-Down reports the project "will transform the existing building and add a gleaming 108,000 sq./ft. tower." The intent, according to Executuve Director Mendel Hagler explained, "is to create a hospital that doesn’t feel like a hospital." What Hagler neglected to mention is the hospital doesn't currently feel like a hospital anyways, more than a ramshackle structure haphazardly constructed to provide last resort care to poor people.

Love Life - Seen On Oliver Street

Not sure who this lively graffiti belongs to, but it appeared on Oliver Street near Henry Street a few days ago.

Previously:

• Jay Shells Installs Unauthorized Mural In West Village
  
• Graffiti-Free NYC Under The Cover Of Darkness
  
• Lovestruck Graffiti Sprouts All Over Chinatown
  
• The Hidden Graffiti Of Chinatown

» Follow NYC The Blog on Facebook and Twitter. Photo credit: Paolo Mastrangelo/NYC The Blog

Chatham Square's Contribution To Gentrification Row Nears Completion

After some delay, the facade at 17 Chatham Square has finally been completely windowed. It stands now as another completed piece of modern architecture on Gentrification Row, formerly known as the Bowery and today running from Houston to Beekman Street, anchored at the north end by Avalon Place and Gehry's Beekman Tower to the south. Here's a photo of the cute building that used to occupy this lot.

The Village Voice Gangs Up On City Hall

Near Pier 11 in Downtown Manhattan, someone has gathered all the Village Voice newspaper boxes from the area and corralled them together street side. Not entirely sure what is going on here, but that sole City Hall box does not look the least bit intimidated. Anyone have a suggested explanation for this?

Related:
Wall Street Journal Steps Off The New York Times
Newspapers Are So Hot Right Now

» Follow NYC The Blog on Facebook and Twitter. Photo credit: Paolo Mastrangelo/NYC The Blog

Girl Farts On Boy At Yonah Schimmel Knishery

A customer at Yonah Schimmel Knishery on Houston Street helpfully illustrated how his girlfriend farted on him while in the knishery. (Click through for larger version).

Serving delicious varieties of knish since 1910, each table at Yonah Schimmel holds a note pad like the one above. They are for use by customers to draw in, leave notes or otherwise create something for posterity, to be enjoyed by others who visit the establishment.

» Follow NYC The Blog on Facebook and Twitter. Photo credit: Paolo Mastrangelo/NYC The Blog

Remnants Of Mid-Century Political And Commercial Advertising Remain On Lower East Side Building

The building at 90 Orchard Street near Broome Street (housing the Kut and Sew boutique) still holds vintage advertising on its exterior walls. Seen on the buildings west face, on the east side of Orchard, are advertisements for old political campaigns, Hersh's Malaga Wine (note the poster top left) and other advertisements that are difficult to make out. At least one of the posters was printed by Empire City Print Job Inc, where references online point to a past address on Pearl Street as well as Long Island City.

Fire At 285 Grand St Claims First Victim; Body Found Inside

Firefighters entered the badly burned and heavily damaged 285 Grand St late last night and found the body of elderly man laying on a bed in the sixth floor. The individual was not immediately identified. 87-year-old Sing Ho lived on the sixth floor and was missing after the blaze.

Photo Credit: Murray for Daily News

Previously: Fire at 285 Grand Street Leaves Behind Massive Destruction And Loss

UPDATED: Fire at 285 Grand Street Leaves Behind Massive Destruction And Loss

Over 60 units and 250 firefighters respond to the scene last night / Photo credit: New Jersey Metro Fire Photographer Bill Tompkins (via).

A fire at 285 Grand St less than 24 hours ago captivated and shocked a neighborhood with its menacing size, one of the worst blazes in Chinatown in years. The fire, visible from Brooklyn Heights, hung a massive plume of thick black smoke over Lower Manhattan and has left an 87 year old resident of the building unaccounted for.

Update:  Firefighters found the body of elderly man laying on a bed in the sixth floor.

Trapped inside the building while the fire raged and unable to see anything, Sing Ho called his relatives on the phone. "Nobody's coming to get me," he told his goddaughter.  Firefighters were pulling residents out of the building until approximately 11.30pm; shortly after they were ordered to evacuated. They are still unable to get into the building due to the structurally compromised condition.

See dramatic up close photos from the scene taken by New Jersey Metro Fire Photographer Bill Tompkins.

Fire officials said twenty-nine firefighters, three civilians, and one EMT worker were injured. One of the civilians was in serious condition.

Guidebook Says Screw It, Lets Incorporate The LES, Nolita, And Chelsea Into Brooklyn; Advancing A New Reality For Manhattan As Brooklyn's Hanger On

UnScene "is a free guide for the less mainstream, more innovative businesses in our metropolitan areas." The guides are a vehicle for paid advertising which focus on unique and small shops that populate any number fo neighborhoods in NYC. They currently have guides for a number of U.S. cities, and in the NY area, a guide that covers that Borough of Brooklyn. Or rather, the neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Bushwick.

Interesting though, was the cover design of the booklet I saw. On the bottom right corner you can see text for Brooklyn prominently displayed, with the neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Bushwick falling underneath, ostensibly alerting any wayward tourist, newcomer, or even long time resident exactly what neighborhoods they could expect to find covered in their new guide book to all there is to see and do in Brooklyn.
But wait a minute? What's that listed underneath Williamsbushbick?

Hold on one minute! Aww shucks, have they listed the neighrborhoods of the LES, Nolita, and Chelsea under Brooklyn? They sure have. Unscene does not have neighborhood guides for Manhattan at this time, so fuk it, just stick LES, Nolita, and Chelsea under Brooklyn. And honestly, this seems representative of the new reality. Brooklyn is the new Manhattan, so this only seems right to list the LES, Nolita, and Chelsea in faded text underneath a new and improved large font Brooklyn.

Not like a tourist from France would know any better. And if you reverse the roles, say if I was in the 6th Arrondissement in Paris and some guide listed Versailles along with the neighborhoods, that'd seem alright with me. I mean, Fuk even our own longtime natives get the geography of these nyc neighborhoods mixed up.

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