I love our man Bags’ pictures from around town.

While you’re at it, check out this Super 8 footage of NYC in the 70s:

Welcome Back to Where & When.  This will be a special edition to highlight the recent loss of a cultural icon.  For several generations and cultures who inhabit the city, this was their Penn Station. I present this without further comment, but feel free to post thoughts.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013:

 Here is a Google Gallery of what was 5 Pointz. 

Here is a little history.

Stakes is High. Dig Greg Hanlon’s entertaining New York Observer story on the big money world of Bridge:

Compare bridge to poker, its coarse cousin. While bridge is infinitely analytical, poker is more psychological: In high-level matches, every player at the table can compute the odds instantaneously, and what separates the best players from the pack is the ability to pick up “tells,” such as the furrowing of the brow as an indication of bluffing.
Mr. Bayone said, “The best bridge players are, as a group, finance people, actuaries, lawyers. The best poker players are 19- to 22-year-old kids who have never done anything else.”

Another difference is that money is central to poker, while bridge is played for no stakes other than “masterpoints,” a running tally of points that ranks players similarly to chess ratings. Thus, bridge satisfies the universal truth that those who have vast sums of money are loath to talk about it.

Mostly, though, the nature of bridge presents an enduring intellectual challenge for people whose success in life leaves them seeking further challenges. It has a “comforting leveling aspect,” as psychiatrist Melvyn Schoenfeld, a regular at the Manhattan Bridge Club, put it.

Take fashion mogul Isaac Mizrahi, who learned the game at the behest of his bridge-playing mother, who told him that, if he didn’t learn to play by age 30, he wouldn’t have any friends by 40. Mr. Mizrahi described a bridge tournament to me as “the most fantastic use of three hours of your life.” In bridge, he finds intellectual and psychological nourishment.

“I think it’s really important to keep that state of vulnerability,” he said. “You have to give it up every once in a while. You have to walk into a room and be an idiot and not know what you’re doing. That’s the only way you can get anywhere in the world. And that’s the great lesson of bridge.”

This is cool.

The dismantling of a New York landmark begins.

Dig Dan Nguyen’s photo gallery.

Good grief, welcome back to another round of Where & When,  where conversation and controversy flourish continually.  Or at least since the last game, where we had a little controversy about the actual location and date.  Nevertheless, it served a purpose and we all remain friends, ready to jump all over each other on the next challenge… I mean, jump all over the next challenge…

This is yet another picture I like a lot; something about the imposing aesthetic and the antiquity it represents.  This photo was undated by my source, but I’m sure a few of our clever participants will be able to round up, if not find the exact year or date this picture was taken.  Lots of clues to go by in that regard, so take your best shot. Some of you probably see this on a regular basis, but have not seen it in this manner for a long time, if ever.

A stein of Brigham’s Brew for the lucky number one who gets the name of the building in the background (when the picture was taken, important distinction) and the name of the street in the foreground along with an approximate date, and a cold bottle of Faygo for the rest who have similar responses. Bonus if you know what the building is called now and who owns it. I wonder if you know I’m keeping score somehow… anyway, enjoy; leave your responses in the comments and don’t peek at the photo credit.  Happy Hunting!

[Photo Credit: Wired New York]

A day in the life of Pete Hamill:

If it’s a beautiful day, I love taking walks. The walks are always aimless. From where I live, I like walking to the Battery, where so many people, including my own parents, came through that harbor and passed into Ellis Island and became Americans. You can just sit on a bench and look at the harbor, or look at the people. Like being a flâneur. You can just wander around and let the city dictate the script.

And here is Hamill’s review of The Boy Detective by Roger Rosenblatt:

To enter the world of this wonderful memoir is to leave the dull certainties of home and go wandering. The author’s destination is always the great wide world Out There, and through his sharp, compact prose, Roger Rosenblatt takes the reader with him. He is, after all, what some 19th-century Parisians called a flâneur, a stroller sauntering through anonymous crowds in the noisy, greedy, unscripted panoramas of the city.

In that role, Rosenblatt has no exact destination. In unstated homage to such wandering scribes as Walter Benjamin and Charles Baudelaire, he doesn’t consult Google Earth or a guidebook. He doesn’t need a tour bus or a taxicab. He walks the streets like a poetic stray, embracing chance and accident, inhaling the gritty air of his true Old Country, a Manhattan village called Gramercy Park. He is not, however, parochial. Sometimes he slips over the border to make the strange feel familiar. Along the way, he bumps against human beings he almost surely will never see again.

Those nameless men and women are moving in the streets, retreating into shops, escaping snow or wind in the churches, the schools or the malls that have replaced the arcades once so precious to Parisian flâneurs. At times, a single person is the object of his scrutiny. Above all, his subject is people one at a time. He studies them, he says, like a detective. Clothes, hairdos, shoes, postures. And eyes, which say so much without words about what used to be called the soul. Rosenblatt tells us he has been doing this since his age was written in single digits. Detective fictions filled his head with ways to see the world, really see it, and then try to figure out what he was doing in that world. He suggests that though he studied at Harvard, and even taught there, his most important education came from popular fiction. Above all, detective fiction, starting with Sherlock Holmes.

[Photo Credit: Dave Sanders]

Happy Chopsticks. This looks like a place to check out. Nu?

I went once as a kid. I would like to go again. (And I’ve never been to Ellis Island–for shame!)

[Photo Credit: Sally Elena Milota]

Good morning, and welcome back to Where & When; tracking down locations over the eons. Well, at least in the 200 years or so… I have wanted to introduce the new feature I vaguely described, but I’ve had a rush of work come at me lately, so it has to wait for the opportune moment.  In the meantime, let’s track down the origins of the following pic:

I really like this one; the size and design seem very imposing in its girth as opposed to it’s height (which is still too high for me to swan dive into an Olympic-sized pool of chocolate milk below), but it also reflects the rugged undiscovered nature of early New York.  That was not likely the case when this photo was taken, but compared to what we have now, it was certainly both an achievement and a period marker.  I don’t have to give much in clues for this one; you’ll likely see it in other places, but it’s history is interesting enough, so feel free to discuss what you’ve found during your research.  Tell us what building this is and when it was built, and bonus points for knowing whether this building still stands or was replaced by another. Explain how you came to your conclusions and you’ll be able to honorably imbibe one of the following:  Steelhead for the first player with the right answers, and Sprecher for everyone else.  Enjoy! And no peeking at the photo credit… >;)

[Photo Credit: Museum of the City of New York/Getty Images]

Coming soon to my old neighborhood. Looks like I’ll have a reason to make a pitstop on the way home to the BX.

[Photo Credit: Dan Nguyen]

I was on Thompson Street last weekend when I saw an old woman dressed in black. She had on a long raincoat and was wearing bright red lipstick. We smiled at each other and said hello. I asked if she was from the block and she said no but that she was from the neighborhood.

“You’ve seen it change a lot,” I said.

“Yes. Some for the better, some for the worse,” she said.

What was worse I asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t pay attention.”

[Picture by Bags]

Well, well, well; welcome back to the exciting and intriguing Where & When. Did you miss us? We missed you… holidays are always the toughest days to come back from.  How about we help refocus your brain matter so the rest of your day can be a piece of cake (insert favorite flavor here _________)…

And for your pleasure, how about another piece of cake:

Nice day for a stroll, it seems.  Crazy nice, in fact.  Maybe more than crazy… maybe it was that time of the year, or maybe it was that year.  Well, don’t lose your mind trying to figure out the date; you’ll be really mad when you figure that part of it out.  But if you do… well... (yep, if you understand this one, you and I are on a wavelength that deserves much pity.)

Post your answers below in the comments and feel free to help out and discuss.  I’ll will be peeking in now and again (work work work) and offering some thoughts throughout if I can.

How about some of Dad’s stash if you are the first with the answers, and some Hansen’s Natural for the rest of us, butterfly included.  Now run along and sleuth, chop-chop! (Bonus if you know what all these awful puns are referring to… >;)

My grandparents lived across the street from the Museum of Natural History. They were older grandparents, not the kind to get down on the floor and play with my sister, brother and me. When in doubt, they took us to the Museum. We went so often that for years I never returned. It just reminded me of being bored out of my skull. But when I was in my twenties I went back and remembered just how cool the place is. I haven’t been in awhile but am down to go again.

[Picture by Bags]

This is pretty cool. 

Hey, welcome back to Where & When; where you are not alone in your struggle to find the truth when you have the proof… yeah, I know, but it’s late so…

Work is getting tougher by the day, not to mention colder, so I warn you now of inconsistencies in publishing the game, but if you are really interested in hosting an episode, drop me a line along with a challenge you would like to present and we’ll hook you up with a guest spot.  These are a lot of fun and the conversation is pretty clever among our regulars, plus there’s (fictional) root beer and cream sodas, which is a plus for any endorphins!

Welp, here is the newest challenge, and I think you’ll like the drama involved in this one:

I really wish I could present a larger picture that also contained a full snap of this building.  There’s quite a bit of significance attached to it, starting with the fact that the Yankees were involved at some point.  How’s that, you ask?  You’ll have to tell me and the rest of the readers, and while you’re at it, tell us the name of the building, the address and when it was built.  Bonus if you happen to know some other significant events or nouns involved with this building.  There’s a lot to tell, so I hope you have enough time to find out and spill.  A snifter of Zuberfizz for the first with the correct answers, and a tankard of Baumeister fr the subsequent entries.  Post your answers in the comments and I will be checking in throughout the day.  Have at it! And no peeking at the photo credit; it’s okay if you come across it during your independent research, but don’t click on the link below.  >;)

[Photo Credit: Ephemeral New York]

Hey, there’s a new mayor. If you’ve read too much about it you might feel like our man Buster here.

Jim Windolf asks: Can you ride a bike in the city without being an asshole?

The answer is “No.”

[Photo Credit: Andrew Savulich/N.Y. Daily News]

Welcome back to another challenge with Where & When, where you follow sketchy trails to get finer details when you have the time to do so.  I have to admit, the last game was pretty interesting and generated a bit of feedback, so I’m inclined to keep that same format for the time being and hope that it will attract new players and get more people talking.  We’ve got a long, long winter ahead of us, so why not at least make it interesting?  Natch.

Oh, and speaking of sketchy, here’s an interesting sketch:

As I’ve mentioned before, this could be pictures of any type; this is probably the first time that I’ve had a drawing to use for a challenge, but the good news is the structure is still standing and in fact was landmarked within the last decade.  It is within city limits, so you don’t have to scramble too far for clues.  One last clue: there’s been a sort-of battle of wits with the community and a well-known business intent on setting up shop in the area that would likely prefer not having to deal with this structure, but is obligated to restore it under their present agreement with the owner.  They’ve done some work on it already, which is not half-bad, considering.

So as with last time, I am allowing answers to be posted in the comments so that we can generate a hearty conversation about the general area.  What I’m looking for is the name of this building (original or according to the landmark commission, which are fairly the same) and the date it was built, which I’m sure you will find if you know what the name of the building is.  An Appalachian for the first person with both answers and a Goose Island for the followers. Enjoy the game, I’ll try to hit everyone up this afternoon.  Oh, and by the way…

I’m introducing a new feature to the game that’s not necessarily part of the game, but an additional topic of discussion.  I hinted at it from the last game, but I’ve realized that time constraints have forced me to table this feature until later. However, that does not mean that you can contribute or anticipate it’s coming (the nature of my field predicts that I’ll have time in the winter season to fully introduce this part), but as a teaser, I will give you a sampling of what is in store. Again in the last game, the town that was spotlighted was Sleepy Hollow, NY, a place I am intimately familiar with.  I intend to feature places up and down the Hudson Valley (on both sides of the river, of course) to relate some interesting tidbits, history and points of interest.  Sleepy Hollow, in fact, has quite a lot of each; so much so that it would be impossible to do a quick post in just one game.  But I could highlight a particular feature and come back at another time…

The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow includes references to quite a few real places and people from Washington Irving’s time; the church, the bridge, Van Tassel and so on.  The route that Ichabod Crane traveled on during his ride with the Great Pumpkin, er, the Headless Horseman, is highlighted as a walking tour through the Tarrytowns (Tarrytown and North Tarrytown as it were) along present-day Broadway, which also includes a few other historic markers and locations related to the American Revolution and Hollywood royalty.  Then there’s also the waterfront, which also features interesting stories of it’s own.  I’ll get to all of these stories over time, but if you have any particular stories relating to those points of interest, feel free to share them below.  There will be more of these types of stories in the future. Talk with you all soon!

[Photo Credit: Pardon Me For Asking]

I’ve seen these posters all over town. I’ve heard announcements while I’m riding the train. I sure do hope they find this boy, alive and in as good shape as possible.