Nothing like coming back to a sea of weekday rush-hour Manhattan traffic to make the case for needing a little country hide-away! Many more cabin pics coming soon...
While I couldn't find the restaurant, I did find the addresses of two of my relatives that lived in NYC in the 1870s! Henry Battjer (my Great-great-grandfather) was a carman who lived at 49 Pitt Street. A few years later in 1880, he opened a bar called Smith & Battjer that after years of research I finally tracked down to be formerly located at 422 East 14th Street - just a few blocks from where I lived on 14th street for 4 years!
On Thursday morning I biked down to Little Italy to catch up with Justine at the Cafetal Social Club on Mott Street. We were sitting outside chatting at a table when one of the older Italian guys that hangs out there all day spotted a baby rat right near our table. He walked over our way, and then without any warning he beat the rat to death with the broom he was holding and then proudly smiled at us. Hahaha.
...and someone dunked their feet in purple paint and made footsteps that go between the two community gardens. (Adam Purple pretty much single-handedly created every garden in the Lower East Side by riding his bike up to the central park horse stables, collecting manure, and carting it back downtown to mix into the soil around all the empty lots where they'd torn buildings down. Over the years and through thousands of trips with manure, he turned all the empty lots into fertile topsoil where plants could grow!
My neighbors on 8th street are fighting about whether or not to allow the city to build a new senior center over a lot where there's a community garden. People who want the center are posting signs calling the garden a RAT FARM. haha. (It's not untrue).
On Friday I met up with Meredith and her new guy, Dylan and we made our way out to Montauk! Here's a little NYC realness to stand in stark contrast to the rest of the photos you'll see.
I don't know much about the weather, but it's cool to notice the tipping point (in humidity? temperature?) where the sky will turn from almost clear blue to hazy white in just a few minutes. Anyone know what causes this? 3:20:01 pm
Spent Friday afternoon getting a really long three-hour reiki treatment. Snapped this pic of Union Square from 11 stories up before biking home. Happy November 2013!
Ended up at a random, crazy party late late Tuesday night and saw it through to sunrise. HOLY LION GOLDEN FATHER! I didn't take any photos except for this one of my Citibiking home up a totally empty Lafayatte Street at 6am.
Tuesday, June 18th was also the day investigative war-reporter Michael Hastings was killed in a very suspect single-car crash. RIP Michael Hastings. (If you don't know his story, he's definitely worth reading-up on).
On Saturday afternoon, Ellen invited me over for a hang at their new West Village apartment. Despite living in NYC for 16 years, I still get lost in the West Village all the time. I called Ellen for assistance on the way, "Where are you?" she asked, "I don't know how this is possible," I reluctantly replied, "but I swear I'm at the intersection of Wavery Place & Waverly Place!"
Ellen and I hung out for a while, shooting the shit and watching Youtube videos. Hans was acting a little funny. Later, I found out it was because he was waiting for me to leave so that HE COULD PROPOSE MARRIAGE!
She said yes! ;) Congrats, Ellen & Hans! (And sorry to all you other fellas everywhere!)
