Nick Dilallo’s New York Numbers. Found over at Subtraction.

AERIAL NYC – RANDY SCOTT SLAVIN – DJI PHANTOM from director. randy scott slavin on Vimeo.

Up in the sky.

[Featured Image via: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg]

Heads or Tails by Chris Ware.

Over at the ever-fuggin’-fabulous Retronaut, dig this beautiful, gritty gallery of Frank Horvat’s photography.

Or rather, second…Do I got the light?

Picture by Bags.

[More from James and Karla Murray via This Isn’t Happiness through The Paris Review.]

Welcome back to another round of Where & When.  I guess the power plant worked a little, huh? Maybe a fleet of Score Trucks can really get us back on track, but meanwhile I present you with more old school intrigue:

This is where I’m supposed to say, “And boom goes the dynamite”, but I cannon be a lot worse. I’d like to think this is what the offense has in store for the rest of the season when it starts to get really warm out, but I’m not really good with sports predictions, only with complaining about the results. So lets just say that if the team doesn’t really pick it up and go on a tear, we’re prepared to respond.

And you, are you prepared to explain where this is, when it was founded and when or if it was closed?  Give us the lowdown and you’ll get a really nice red velvet cupcake, which I like just as much if not more than chocolate cake these days.  Be the first one to guess correctly and you get a slice of blue velvet cake (because you’re special and all), and for the bonus if you guess the significance of today’s date, you get a PBR to go with it.  I don’t drink, so consider it a special gift.

So have at it, good people, and I’ll be around later for a slice.  No peeking at the photo credit and have fun!

[Photo Credit: NPS]

Hello again to the latest round of Where & When. It’s been a pretty busy (and somewhat lame) week so far with the big club, so let’s try to spin things around a bit and see what we come up with when we look at this:

Yes, it’s contemporary. I just like the picture a lot because of the clue. And here’s another: after the first two games this season, we can agree that if this place were still in prime condition, the Yanks could use a lot of what it would have. A whole lot.

So there you have it; it’s in the area, but it may take you some time to figure out where unless you happen to see it on a regular basis. By the way, this is not the best picture of the location, even from the website I referenced; inside is an explorer’s fun park or a developer’s almost literal pipe dream.  After I confirm the answer, I invite you to take a peek at the site from the photo credit’s link to see and learn more about it.  I geek out at a place like this for quite a few reasons.

On that note, the first person who determines the location will win a barrel of Barq’s root beer; Barq’s being my favorite and again, I like this place for what it could become if someone had the gumption to do it.  The rest of us will get Virgil’s cream soda and a cool place to look at from the comfort of our seats; mind you that you don’t let images of the current Yankee Stadium mix in with this though; it’s way too early to be that cynical… >;)

No peeking at the photo credit until after I say okay!

[Photo Credit: AbandonedNYC]

Nice story by Melena Ryzik on Jim Jarmusch in the Times today.

I like this:

“What I loved when I came here from Ohio is that I realized, you could be the weirdest person in the world and then walk around, and in three blocks, you’re going to see someone way weirder than you,” he said.

Though he misses the wildness of those days (in the SoHo of the late ’70s, “I looked out my window at about 3:30 a.m., and I saw a man walking a llama down Prince Street”), “I’m not nostalgic,” he said. “Because New York’s only about change and conning everybody out of whatever they have. That’s just what New York is.”

[Photo Via: NY Film Festival]

Welcome back to yet another round of Where & When. I’m hoping going to bounce around the city a little bit this week, so hang on to your hats and let’s go.  Here’s a photo that certainly requires a little more effort t5o dig that last round, but what fun would this game be if every one of them were out of T-Ball?

In truth, this should be fairly easy as well, but again it requires a certain amount of digging.  So dig it, tell your friends and come back with answers.  We need the place and the date; specifically the corner featured and the exact date (if you ever saw or read V For Vendetta, then perhaps you’ll know what date I refer to.) Two slices and a can for you if you get them both first, and a cream soda as usual for the rest of us.  For a bonus, tell us at least five interesting facts about this region and you’ll get a kebob of choice (lamb, chicken, beef, veggie you name it).   They could be historical, they could be topographal, they could be personal… as long as they are somewhat verifiable.

So there you have it. I’ll try to get back to you if you have any questions, but otherwise enjoy and we’ll talk again soon. No peeking at the photo credit!

{Photo Credit: Shorpy]

Reggie! Reggie! Reggie… no, it’s Where & When, and you can chant all you want, but we’re not going away.  Today’s the day we’ve all been waiting for/dreading (depending on your proclivities of course), so why not kick off the season with something spectacularly obvious:

Need I say more? Maybe; the date isn’t obvious of course… let’s say that this is what today is, but the year is the last year that this place was when the referred-to team had a day like this before they moved temporarily to another spot down the hill a little.  So, name this place, the region it resides in and the year first and you get a hot dog with anything you like on it along with the associated beer that is standard with these occasions (and if you’re like me, you can substitute that with a root beer of choice).  Of course, if you can also name year that a different team shared the jernt, er, joint with, for how long and why, then I will upgrade that dog & beer combo to a cheeseburger, fries and shake from Shake Shack.  I’m feeling generous today, but hey: it is what it is >;)

Everyone else will get a cream soda for playing, of course, so sign in with your tales of similar days and expectations to claim your fictional drink to quaff during the later part of the day in celebration.  I’ll see you if and when I see you; no peeking at the photo credit!

[Photo Credit: Shorpy]

Dig this coolness from J Hill Design.

Welcome back for another turn through the aisle to Where & When. The posts have been less frequent, but not because I don’t care. So here we are again, trying to puzzle out another intriguing picture of New York in its architectural glory days (if not a glorious period in it’s history). Let your eyes wash over this delight:

Brilliant, eh? I won’t say too much, because it pretty much speaks for itself, but to be fair I will give you a clue on the date: ten years after this photo was taken, Hopalong Cassidy became the first Western series to premiere on television.  Some four hundred years earlier, King Henry VIII divorced his fourth wife, Anne of Cleaves.  Not to mention, on the same day this picture was taken, Pan Am began flights between the US and England.  There, I think that’s very fair.

You know the rules; if you don’t, take a peek at some earlier games and come back.  A root beer of your choice if you tell us what is depicted here and when it was taken, a scoop of ice cream if you can tell us anything else interesting about the event it depicts, and cream sodas for the rest who follow. I’ll try to get back to you on this in the afternoon; try to savor this one, okay? Have fun, and no peeking at the photo credit >;)

[Photo Credit: Shorpy’s]

I spent a lot of my teenage years slumming around used bookstores in New York, especially on the Upper West Side. But Manhattan is no longer a place for bookstores of any kind.

Julie Bosman has the depressing details in the Times:

When Sarah McNally, the owner of McNally Jackson bookstore in Lower Manhattan, set out to open a second location, she went to a neighborhood with a sterling literary reputation, the home turf of writers from Edgar Allan Poe to Nora Ephron: the Upper West Side.

She was stopped by the skyscraper-high rents.

“They were unsustainable,” Ms. McNally said. “Small spaces for $40,000 or more each month. It was so disheartening.”

Rising rents in Manhattan have forced out many retailers, from pizza joints to flower shops. But the rapidly escalating cost of doing business there is also driving out bookstores, threatening the city’s sense of self as the center of the literary universe, the home of the publishing industry and a place that lures and nurtures authors and avid readers.

“Sometimes I feel as if I’m working in a field that’s disappearing right under my feet,” said the biographer and historian Robert Caro, who is a lifelong New Yorker.

[Photo Via: Afar.com]

Henry Chalfant at the Steven Kasher Gallery.

The thaw has been gradual but it is supposed to be warmer today and warmer still tomorrow. Each night it stays light a little longer.

Ah, the light. C’mon Spring.

[Picture by Bags]

Ahh, welcome back to another round of Where & When, the challenge that just won’t go away; sort of like that phantom vibration in your pocket when it feels like your cell phone is ringing, but it’s actually on the charger, so you realize you’re just nuts.  I dunno about you, but I’m feeling rather optimal about our starting pitching and I hope Jeter has something better to offer than what he’s shown so far, but that’s not what you came here to read.  You want to know what kind of old, fancy and probably gone forever buildings I’ve managed to dig up and show you.  Well, you might be right about that, so let’s cut the chit-chat and get straight to the point:

If you’re older than me and you’ve had to get around the country or the world, you may have come through here more than once.    The place where this interior was located was given a new name a year after this picture was taken; in fact this is likely pictures of the finished product as it opened the same year.  There are quite a few interesting stories to go along with it, so you’ll get a bonus scoop of ice cream if you can tell one, but first you have to know where this is and when the photo was taken.  Do that and you’ll get your favorite root beer (since I’ll venture that we’ve gotten past the worst of winter at this point), and the runners-up will share our favorite cream soda.

So, have at it ladies and gentlemen, feel free to leave your answers below and we’ll discuss later in the afternoon or evening, depending on my suddenly busy schedule (the studying paid off).  I hope to do this again this week, but if not I’ll see you in the comments on the other posts.  And no peeking at the photo credit!

[Photo Credit: Shorpy/Juniper Gallery]

St. Patty’s Day. Stay out of trouble and be safe.

Picture by Bags.

Put the needle to the groove.

Opening this week at the New York Historical Society.