Taking the new with the old (neighborhoods, that is)

It's this guy, again, at Nostrand and Lafayette...

accompanied today by a holy lady

last night in Bushwick

the new neighborhood, downtown Brooklyn/Boerum Hill has this gigantic fruit stand - it seemed to go on for an entire block

and then in BookCourt, the bookstore on Court St, I spied Eileen's book on a table of 'suggested titles'

Atlantic Ave. races into the future, except for this place, Hank's Saloon, at Third Ave and Atlantic

The Notorious B.I.G. honored here at Lexington & Bedford

and I needed a ticket, fast, to take care of the Christmas blues

somewhere in Bed-Stuy someone has an idea about governance

This is what it looks like when you get on the train at rush hour, going in the wrong direction - lots of space, and a few sleepy people. Everyone else is on the other train, going into Manhattan.

the possibilities are endless

looking through a hole in the sky, Barclay's Center

the construction never stops here on Flatbush Avenue

But I love that this small building persists in reminding us of what the neighborhood used to be about

these good people are in search of decent affordable housing for everyone in NYC, kept behind barriers - a police tactic that everyone now accepts, creating distance between freedom of speech and the person the speech is intended for, in this case, the Mayor

while these good people are waiting to get into the press conference being held by the Mayor where he will speak to the issue of affordable housing

since I moved, my commute takes me to the heart of the financial district before heading for the Staten Island Ferry

Lafayette Ave at Nostrand. The importance of a central theme communicated through symmetry

A storefront in Ridgewood near my storage space fascinates me, draws me in. I will go in next time just to satisfies my curiosity.

this is it - the last hour of the last day as I moved from my old place in Bed-Stuy to the temple in Boerum Hill

Points of Observation

Classic and restrained solutions to the problem of having large wads of cash laying around. Mostly one dollar bills, I believe, but the display of real money in this gents' store window was provocative nonetheless. Below, additional possibilities for the elegant male.

The late summer sun through the leaves of the fig tree in the backyard; then additional lightplays -- light and shadow on the bathroom wall, with the light breaking apart into a soft prism; and late afternoon light streaming through the empty cavern of what used to be Daffy's at Atlantic Center, downtown Brooklyn.

 

The interest in this policing device on Lexington Ave., Bed-Stuy,  doesn't wane. I decided to get a closer look, below, at the mechanism and design.

One of the entrances to the Louis Armstrong Houses, where the police surveillance tower is parked. And below, a sign welcoming visitors to the housing block.

 

I love this Roti catering truck, which has been parked for months behind a fence in a lot near the Bed-Stuy YMCA.

 

The work continues on the Mark Morris Dance Group mural -- these shots taken a week after the first ones posted on September 21.

An important message about water, Third Ave., Brooklyn.

On Lafayette Street, Fort Greene . . .

and a glittering new bicycle as viewed from the rather filthy window of the No. 38 Bus.

Sumpthin's gotta give

People waiting in line for prescriptions (above), people waiting to see a doctor (below), and mostly it's people of color, or from other countries who wait all day to see an overworked MD or pharmacist. I wait, too, but not complaining, right?

An occasional glance down, wherever you are, will sometimes provide a glimpse of sunlight and shadow in a beautiful arrangement of soft hues - a brief bit of another reality over the one you were just in.
And sometimes a sunset will reveal a truly ugly building in all its glory.

And evening will reveal the magic of a noirish Edward Hopper-esque and seemingly innocuous structure as situated in the slower neighborhoods.

And of course the imposition of steel and stone that even an airplane can't crack in the busier districts.

I was behind this man on the stairs at Grand Central. He seemed poor and burdened - it couldn't have just been me projecting. I didn't want to take a picture of his face, which was a fine face, but only of his posture as I went up the stairs behind him. One can go to Grand Central to get out of the cold, to have a seat for a while, and to find a safer spot than one finds out of the street.

A sign in a New Haven shop window. On closer inspection, the rules of the house laid out fairly clearly.

NYPD cops approaching a man sitting in front of Bellevue Hospital. He's telling them to leave him alone, and a man in a wheelchair on 23rd Street nods out whilst his sign informs passersby that he would like some cash.

Blood left on a doorstep, New Haven.

The bar car on Metro-North.