As is common with a twenty-year old fare payment system, I was having trouble with my Metrocard. As I tried to enter the West 4th Street subway station, I kept getting a Please Swipe Again error message. I also had quite the yoke with me: a rolling cart carrying three silk screens, a box of eighty American Apparel t-shirts, and all the ink and supplies to print those shirts.
The Metrocard system was state of the art in 1997.
At first, I tried to use the service gate so I could roll through to the other side. For the uninitiated, you are supposed to get the attention of the token booth attendant, swipe your card, turn the turnstile, and then open the service gate and proceed. But since my card would not swipe, I couldn’t demonstrate that I had paid my fare.
After a few attempts to swipe my card, the booth attendant started helping someone else. Having lost her attention, I then started to lift my heavy rolling cart over the turnstile so I could just swipe my card and enter like everyone else. But my cart got stuck in the turnstile. As I struggled trying to push the cart to the other side, a young lady appeared and pulled my cart through. Then she waited with my stuff on the other side to keep it from getting stolen. However, I couldn’t pass fare control section because my Metrocard still wouldn’t work.
Please Swipe Again
After seeing me struggling to pay my fare, she handed me her Metrocard and said, “here, use mine.” I swiped, and I saw that $2.50 came off her card, leaving her a $11.00 balance. She not only helped me with my heavy load, she also bought me a subway ride.
I thanked her, and then she went on her way.
In this week’s episode of Back to Work, a productivity podcast I enjoy, Dan Benjamin and Merlin Mann describe the following as “Newton’s Fifth Law of Politeness.” Around 0:26:20, Mann explains:
There are those rare instances where you see somebody being unnecessarily kind to a stranger without expecting anything in return. And it changes your day….
Has this ever happened to you? You go to the drive-thru, and you pull up to pay, and [the cashier says,] the person in front paid for you.
Yesterday, it did. The next time I am at a coffee shop, I’m buying the person behind me a cup.
Women and children in Central Park, undated photograph. Geographic File. New-York Historical Society # 67175
A seasonable, three-day weekend, where I could have gone for an overdue bike ride, has given way to an old fashioned winter storm. We’re supposed to get as much as a foot, although it could be significantly less, between now and daybreak tomorrow. The threat of all this snow has pushed some of my schools to begin closing for the day. And some are contemplating closing tomorrow, too.
Fordham closed at 1:00 PM today. A bit after 8:00 PM, they announced that they’re canceling Lincoln Center classes, starting before 4:30 PM. That includes my 8:30 AM class.
Although I am not teaching there this semester, I still get emergency alerts from Pratt. They will be closing today at 2:00 PM.
CUNY has decided to stay open. Thankfully, that won’t affect me. My first class doesn’t begin there until next Monday. Otherwise, I’d be facing a hellish commute.
That leaves venerable NYU, where I am currently occupying the basement in Bobst Library. For most of the day, NYU was hanging tough and determined to stay open. However, just before 3:30 PM, they announced that they were closing at 4:00 PM today. Although spring classes don’t start here until next week, they’re in the midst of J-Term. They were probably reluctant to cancel classes because it would be hard to make them up. They are, in fact, letting individual instructors make that determination.
Even if the storm isn’t that bad, it’s still hard to concentrate on anything other than the impending doom this storm is evidently causing.
New Yorkers around the Internet are bemoaning that the Greenwich Village outpost of Gray’s Papaya, a once mighty hot dog chainlet that dotted the city with cheap but hearty frankfurters and fruity juice drinks, has closed. According to Eater New York:
An employee at the Upper West Side original confirmed that the Greenwich Village location had closed, although he was unsure if it was done for good, or just shuttered for a revamp. But it looks like this goose is cooked.
Wait, did Gray’s ever serve goose hot dogs?
Probably not, but I ask because one of the biggest mistakes of my life was eating at this very Gray’s Papaya two days in a row. The now-closed Village location was a block from the West 4th Street subway station that I took from Washington Square to Washington Heights, where I first lived upon my arrival in New York. Gray’s Papaya was cheap, and I was receptive to the “Recession Special” because you got two dogs and a juice drink for about six bits and a ha’penny. I don’t remember why I ate there on consecutive days, probably because you can’t find any good food in New York City, but on the third day, that “goose” I ingested started to peck its way out of my gut. Suffice to say, I didn’t return for the hat trick. On the fourth day, I found a new route to the West 4th station that bypassed Gray’s Papaya and the smell of sizzling tube meat. That proved difficult because I later lived just one Avenue block away from this corner, off West 8th Street.
To this day, if I catch a whiff of Gray’s Papaya hot dog, all I remember is my visceral pain from many years ago.
I won’t be around to see it, but today, December 20, the LeFrak Center at Lakeside is opening in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. The transformation of the space is quite dramatic. I remember seeing it when it was a big parking lot with a nondescript park building next to it, as the landscape architect–cum–tour guide shows us.
OpenHouseNewYork invited its members to a sneak peek at the space earlier this month, and the site was coming along nicely. While the building looks like a bit bland but function, like most new construction around here, they incorporated the building nicely into the park
One neat feature is a pedestrian path that winds up on the roof of the building. It has a great view and feels like an extension of the park, not a rooftop.
There’s a similar rooftop park at the newest part of Lincoln Center, above the Lincoln Ristorante.
If I told you I was looking forward to skating at the new rink, I’d be lying. I can’t skate to save my life.
The owners of a popular Long Island City cafe will be opening a waterfront concession in Hunters Point South Park in JanuaryMarch. The new establishment will be called ‘LIC Landing by Coffeed’ and will be operated by the same eco-friendly team that owns Coffeed at 37-18 Northern Blvd.
It’s hard to have a favorite coffee place because I’m a home brewer, and my relationship with coffee places tends to consist of only shopping for beans or sipping the occasional espresso drink. As the owner of our local coffee king, Sweetleaf, said to me: the real coffee nuts (I’m paraphrasing) just brew at home. In other words, I don’t go to coffee shops lest I risk serious hyper caffeination.
Coffeed is one of those places I fantasize about going to, but as it is currently on Northern Boulevard, a very heavily trafficked thoroughfare in Queens, going there requires a fairly “exhilarating” bike ride. And there’s not even a bike rack. Consequently, I don’t get there too often. Coffeed not only serves coffee, but they roast it in Queens. And it’s good, certainly worth the $18 a bag they charge this coffee dork. Ask for a brewed cup, and it’s terrific. Want something less bitter? They’ll do a Hario pour-over, like just like any premium coffee shop does. But the unique thing about this place is that they have my two favorite brewing methods: the vacuum press for hot coffee, and the Japanese-style ice brewer for cold brew. I dream of having these contraptions but the thought of spending almost $100 or over $200, respectively, for something that is almost entirely glass makes me nervous.
And with good reason. I broke my Bodum stovetop vacuum pot two years ago.
Did I mention they’ll serve sandwiches, smoothies, and beers? Bring on the fancy beans and brews.
Amazon said Sunday delivery will begin on Nov. 17 in Los Angeles and New York and expand next year to Dallas, New Orleans, Houston and Phoenix, among others. Amazon will bring packages from its warehouses to Postal Service locations on Saturday evening or Sunday morning. The agency will then deliver them to doorsteps.
Sunday delivery of Amazon purchases is great news for the postal service and Amazon customers. It is probably less good for the non-existent brick-and-mortar shops in our corner of Long Island City.
The USPS may not have the global network or the perceived speed of UPS or FedEx, but it has something that’s very important for most New Yorkers: access to your apartment building. UPS, for example, can’t access your apartment building. When they attempt a delivery and you’re not home because you work a regular job, you’re greeted with one of those dreaded InfoNotice slips on your door.
The dreaded InfoNotice that says you’ll have to wait yet another day for your goodies.
After UPS makes three attempts and they can’t deliver your package, you’re trekking to the calming shores of Maspeth, Queens to get your goods. As you can see in the Lois Stavsky’s photo below, Maspeth sits at the end of the Bushwick Inlet and is, for those not in the know, about as a close to the middle-of-nowhere as you can get in New York City.
After missing countless Amazon orders that were shipped via UPS, I resorted to using the Amazon Locker at the local 7-11 store in Long Island City. It’s a reliable way to get your packages because it’s 7-11 and there’s always someone home, but it’s a good 1.3 miles away from home along a heavily trafficked stretch of Long Island City, making it pretty terrible bike ride.
Since Amazon has been relying more on USPS for deliveries, Amazon packages are reliably waiting inside the apartment building. No more trips to 7-11. No more trips to Maspeth. The same is true for any other shipper that uses USPS for deliveries, such as my precious Tonx coffee.
The best part of Amazon using USPS to deliver to your home seven days a week is that it’s available for everyone, not just Prime members like myself and it starts this coming Sunday in New York.
The above link to Amazon is an affiliate link. If you signup for a Prime Video trial, I will earn a commission fee.
As far as blighting our urban landscape in Long Island City, Election Day brings a bunch of trash to our neighborhood. No, it’s not the trash left behind by Sunday’s New York City Marathon. In fact, our streets are impeccably clean once the runners vacate our streets. Our curbs are covered in garbage on Election Day because everyone forgets that there is no trash pickup on Election Day.
Our garbage is collected on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings. On Tuesdays, the Sanitation department also picks up large items, such as furniture and appliances, and all of our paper, glass, metal, and plastic recyclables. Most everyone sets out the garbage the evening before so in most everyone’s mind, garbage day is Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. When there’s a garbage collection holiday on a Tuesday, such as Election Day or the occasional Veteran’s Day, the bags of garbage and recyclables pile up with other large items. The bags of trash and large items sit there for two whole days until Thursday morning, and the clear recycling bags remain on our street until the following week.
Part of it is likely due to habit, but it’s also due to the indifference Americans have towards Election Day. It always on falls on a Tuesday, which doesn’t strike anybody was a particular festive day of the week. Election day is also two days after reverting to standard time so most people might still be disoriented. Also, the races in this election were all but decided, making voting less urgent than in a close election. In short, Election Day is boring. It is, at best, an inconvenience and a reminder of how much we hate our elected officials and that we’ll end up in jury duty soon. It is not a day for us to celebrate.
We could learn a lot from the sanitation workers and their negotiated holiday schedule. If we treated Election Day as a true holiday, something on par with even President’s Day, when we can score a good deal on a mattress, then we’d prioritize voting. And we’d even remember to keep our damn garbage off the curb.
As much ado I make about riding a bicycle, I am in awe of runners. I can’t run the 240 feet of a softball home run, which is why I swing for a line drive, so I admire my friends who run the New York City Marathon.
Living on the route in Long Island City, I get to celebrate and watch as nearly fifty thousand runners come through our neighborhood. After the marathon was cancelled last year due to Sandy, it was great to have the marathon return to our streets this year and to watch friends run today. Congratulations!
Cara
Cara posted a photo of her running clothes on Facebook so I found her in the crowd rather easily. She also looked for me and found me quickly. Thanks for the wave!
Michele
Michele was running her first marathon today. She finished with a respectable time, and I’m really proud to have seen her.
Mario
Sarah’s former roommate Mario ran today. I saw him and recognized him, thinking he looked familiar. This was one of my favorite shots I took of today’s marathon.
Steve
Steve was the only one who requested that we have something for him as we passed us. But he looked right passed us and didn’t see us. We yelled his name, but he continued towards the 3:45 pace he was running. We didn’t get to give him his orange slices. He ultimately finished at 4:46. He probably could have used those orange slices.
FMIG was once Steve’s nickname. I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you what it means.
If you’re wondering about the rest of the costume, you’re not missing it. There’s no more to my costume. I’m just wearing a dark t-shirt and black slacks. Because I’m still riding my bike to class, I’m also wearing a pair of Converse high tops, Showers Pass rain jacket (30% of chance of showers, they say), and helmet, all of which is black and keeping with the sullen artist image.
But at least I got the hair right, even if it’s wrong for my skin tone.
The above link to Amazon is an affiliate link. If you buy something that link, I will earn a commission fee.
The other day a sign posted on Queens Boulevard, outside of the Forest Hills–71st Ave. subway station caught my eye.
While it has been well established that the NYPD will not press charges against you if you kill someone with your car, this sign took that attitude to its logical conclusion. The NYPD will now apparently reward you with $2,000 for fleeing the scene of an “accident” where someone died. I doubt this is official policy, but it could be one hell of a Freudian slip.
The reason for this poster is much sadder than a poorly worded sign. On a Saturday night late last month, a driver killed a 58-year old woman as she left her job at McDonald’s and then fled the scene.
Will the NYPD actually investigate and press charges or just hand the driver a check?
