This block in Greenwich Village has a handful of shops on it, one of which is called Popbar.
I first saw the name from a distance and wondered what they sold: maybe Popbar specializes in different types of soda pop, even though no one in New York uses that term for soda. Or maybe it's a popsicle store and is also owned by Spurs basketball coach Gregg Popovich, whose nickname is "Pop." The possibilities were intriguing. Then I got closer and saw that it's a gelato shop. Oh. Okay. That's still cool, I guess. Actually I think they sell gelato popsicles, which is an interesting twist.
Next to Popbar is Joe's Pizza.
I can't believe it took me 7 posts before I got to a block with a pizza place on it. I feel ashamed.
Joe's has great pizza and I recommend it if you're in the area. Also try a delicious Sicilian slice to mix things up! The day before this I had eaten twice at Joe's, once here and once at their 14th Street location, so I didn't feel like getting another slice just so I could take a photo of it. Besides, I think we all generally know what a slice of pizza looks like. Let's be adults about this.
Unfortunately Joe's can sometimes get very crowded, and there are also some walking tours that make it a regular stop of theirs. This means a large group of people added to the mix, plus a tour guide talking very loudly to the tourists as if they're the only ones there, making it feel a bit like being observed in an exhibit: "New Yorkers love their pizza, folks! Here we see some in their native habitat. Don't get too close or they might get agitated. In fact, since they're New Yorkers they're probably already agitated over something or other."
On the plus side of eating at Joe's, they play the oldies radio station, although oldies used to mean music from the '50s and '60s and now it means music from the '60s, 70s, and 80s. Which is fine, but what about Dion and the Belmonts? Anyway, I seem to be getting sidetracked. Back to pizza...
A relative visiting from out of town recently asked me if New Yorkers fold their pizza when eating it, and if that was considered the right way to do it here. To me, it doesn't matter. You can do it either way. However, when ordering regular pizza without toppings, don't ask for a "cheese slice" or a "plain slice," just call it "a slice." Otherwise you're basically announcing, "Hey everyone! I'm not from here. I'm visiting from out of town. Just wanted to say that. Okay, carry on!"
Here are some of the stores closer to Bleecker Street:
Dos Toros is a taqueria, and its name means "two bulls." In other words, don't order the mystery meat on the menu. Just kidding.
On the corner is another gelato place called Grom. Is this where Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom is from? Was he born in this shop?
Two gelato places on one block seems like a lot, and I wish I could be mad about gelato being so trendy, but I admit I find it delicious so I'm okay with the whole thing.
On the other side of this block is Father Demo Square:
Father Antonio Demo was the pastor of Our Lady of Pompeii Church from 1900 to 1935. The church, and its Catholic elementary school, are on the opposite corner of Bleecker Street:
On a personal note, this Square has special significance because it was a favorite spot of my Grandpa Richie.
As nice as this block is, I think it's even more beautiful during the warm months when the trees have bloomed.
Maybe I'll come back then and take some more photos of this block. But it's still nice in the winter months too.
Plenty of bicycles available here, by the way.
I guess that's all for now. If you're in the area, grab a slice at Joe's and relax for a while in Father Demo Square. You deserve it.
This block is very far downtown, even by downtown standards. The street intersection next to Pier 16 is South Street and John Street. Between South Street and the pier is the overpass for the FDR Drive, which is the highway on the east side of Manhattan.
In my previous post I talked about not complaining anymore about scaffolding or construction, or even mentioning them, but for the South Street Seaport it does need to be briefly mentioned that it is under a big construction project that is planning to remake much of the area. I'm not complaining, that's just the reality of visiting the seaport these days.
Okay, maybe I'll complain a little about the cranes interfering with the view from Pier 16 of the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge, but that's the only complaint. And messing up a view is not the biggest deal, after all.
At least parts of the bridges can still be seen well.
The Brooklyn Bridge is certainly majestic, but I always felt that the Manhattan Bridge was very underrated. It's also a nice bridge to walk across, less of a tourist experience than the Brooklyn Bridge.
Here's the East River and Brooklyn on the other side:
Here's a seagull I saw:
If I had a pet seagull I would name him Jim. Or Phyllis if it was a lady seagull. Seagulls probably don't make good pets, though.
That's a big ol' mound of gray snow that was nearby.
One of the ships docked at the pier is the Peking:
It was made in Hamburg in 1911 and used for bringing trade materials to and from South America.
The pier was pretty empty when I visited. Despite that, there was a food vendor and a couple of tourist stands near the intersection with South Street:
It gets more crowded during the warmer months, and I bet it'll get super crowded when all the renovations are complete. Maybe the new look for the area will be nice, though. I don't know how many years away that is, but I look forward to checking it out.
That's all for this post. Here's one more photo:
This block is in the West Village and apparently, along with being called Leroy Street between 7th Avenue and Hudson, is also known as St. Luke's Place. I never knew that. Here's the signs on either end of the block:
See? You didn't believe me, did you?
I really like that white house with all the plants above the entrance, and I especially love how the door is right at the corner of the block. That's pretty cool and I don't think I've seen it anywhere else.
This is a very nice block for several reasons, but for me the absolute highlight is the big Keith Haring mural that he painted next to the outdoor swimming pool:
I imagine that Keith Haring artworks can sell for millions of dollars, if they aren't safely kept in major museums around the world, but it's pretty awesome that you can see this from the sidewalk or while swimming in the recreation center's pool during the summer. If you don't mind me using a phrase like "hidden gem," I must say it's really a hidden gem of lower Manhattan.
The mural is between St. Luke's Place and Clarkson Street. I decided to take these photos from Clarkson Street because between the mural and sidewalk on St. Luke's is a playground and there were lots of kids playing in there at the time, so even though I was trying to get photos of the mural beyond the playground, I didn't want it to seem to people like I was a creepy guy taking photos of kids. That would be a very unfortunate misunderstanding. Anyway I think Clarkson Street also gives a better view of the mural from the street.
The two buildings opposite the mural are the recreation center in the foreground and a public library behind that.
I had the idea of maybe getting some photos of the mural from inside the library, so I went and did that. I thought it was a rather crafty idea, if you don't mind me saying.
Before we go inside the library here's the entrance on St. Luke's:
As you can see it's the Hudson Park branch. It's in a nice building and the plaque and old streetlamp outside are pleasant touches.
Unfortunately the photos of the mural from inside the library had to be shot through grating on the windows. This one below isn't a great shot because of that, and also because my camera-phone decided to auto-focus on the bars instead of the mural. Don't get me wrong, the bars are nice, but still...
Anyway I think you can still get an idea of the mural from a different angle:
Keith Haring signed his work on the far right of the piece:
The block also features some scaffolding:
I've already complained plenty in previous posts about how much scaffolding there is all over Manhattan, so maybe I should stop taking scaffolding photos every time I see it. From now on just assume that most blocks have scaffolding and perhaps other types of construction too. It'll be easier that way, though I'm a bit sad: complaining about scaffolding is just so much fun.
Maybe you can tell in the scaffolding photo that the block bends to the right at a certain point. After this bend there are some really nice apartments on one side of the street:
At the corner of this same side of the street is a restaurant called The Clam:
I haven't eaten there but it seems nice. One of these days I might actually eat in one of the restaurants I mention in my blog. But until then, here's the menu for The Clam:
Mmm, clams. I'm getting hungry.
On the other side of the block, across from the nice apartments, is James J. Walker Park.
That's the actor Jimmie Walker, whom the park was not named after (though that would be pretty cool). The James Walker that the park was named after was mayor of New York from 1926-1932.
The park is known locally as "J.J. Walker." By the way, has anyone noticed that there seem to be a lot of J.J.'s these days? There's director J.J. Abrams; football star J.J. Watt; and basketball players J.J. Barea and J.J. Redick. Wait, isn't the writer of Game of Thrones a J.J.? No, that's George R.R. Martin. Jimmie's Walker's character on Good Times was named J.J. Hold on, are we sure the park isn't named after him?... Yeah, we're sure. Too bad. Anyway, it's truly a golden age for J.J.'s.
The park has several features, including the kids' playground, handball courts, and a ball field. I used to consider it a baseball field, but now I believe it's both a baseball and soccer field.
When I was a kid it was an all-dirt field, but now it's covered with artificial turf. And sometimes with snow and ice.
I think that's all I've got for this block. I'll leave you with another look at the Keith Haring mural, because it's so wonderful:
This block is in the East Village and I checked it out the day after a big snow storm. It snowed a lot, like over 2 feet. How many inches exactly? I don’t have that figure in front of me. I’m not your local meteorologist. That’s not the gig I signed up for, okay?
Okay I’m calm now. Sorry about that. As you can see by this poor fellow of a car, there was a lot of snow.
The great thing about all the snow in the city is you can see clearly and appreciate just how much dog pee there is all over the place. And I do appreciate it. Very much. On a related note:
The above photo was taken across the street from our block. Or is it a modern art piece that I photographed in a museum? I'll never tell.
Let’s get positive by looking at our block at its intersection with 3rd Avenue:
Hey, there’s a bank on the corner! Yes, just what Manhattan needs more of. And it has scaffolding too. Nice.
It seems like there’s a bank on just about every block these days. Or a Duane Reade. They should just get it over with and combine the two to make Manhattan one giant bank/one-stop drug store. I can’t believe I found three blocks before this one that didn’t have any banks on them. Okay I’m done ranting.
Here’s a closer look at the bank, and check out those wonderful, smiling faces on the posters:
That’s how happy I am too when I’m at the bank.
On the other corner at 3rd Avenue is Lois Dry Cleaners, and lots of snow:
Then there’s just residential buildings along the block until it intersects with the diagonal-cutting Stuyvesant Street a little more than halfway to 2nd Avenue. Here's some of those residential buildings:
At the intersection with Stuyvesant Street is Abe Lebewohl Triangle:
I learned later that Abe Lebewohl was the owner of the famous Second Avenue Deli, which used to be on East 10th Street and 2nd Avenue. Tragically, he was robbed and killed in the neighborhood in 1996.
There is a park on the intersection with 2nd Avenue that is also named for him:
There's a somber lion statue in the middle of the park:
Next to the park is St. Mark's Church-In-The-Bowery:
The church's website says that it is "the oldest site of continuous Christian worship in New York City and the
burial site of Peter Stuyvesant and other founding families of New
York." Maybe that's why the intersecting street is called Stuyvesant Street. There's also a Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, which I may or may not have attended. As for the part about "continuous Christian worship," Wikipedia says it goes back over 350 years.
On the corner is this memorial:
According to what I found online, Elizabeth Spingler Van Beuren lived from 1831 to 1908. She was part of a family that lived in the Union Square area from the late 1700's (when it was rural land considered north of the city) into the 20th century. Here's a link with interesting information about her family and the Union Square mansion they lived in for many years:
http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-lost-van-buren-mansion-no-21-w-14th.html
Incidentally, I couldn't tell what kind of structure the actual memorial is. It didn't seem to be a water fountain, unless the snow was covering it. Maybe it's a bird bath? If so, it made me think that a bird bath would be a nice thing to have dedicated to you. It seems more elegant than a statue. It's more subtle and lets birds bathe and drink water. Although statues apparently are good for making birds poop, so I guess both are nice for birds in their own way.
After looking at the church I went to check out the other corner on 2nd Avenue. What's on that corner? If you guessed another bank then you have a sick sense of humor, and you're also correct:
Did you notice in the photo that there's a cleaners a couple of doors down from the bank? So, to sum up: each side of this block has a bank and a cleaners. You can make your own assumptions about the issues that people in this area have.
Next to this cleaners, called Danny Cleaners, is a little cafe called Third Rail Coffee. I didn't go in because I didn't feel like it, but it seemed like a nice place.
I had walked on this block so many times before without noticing the names honored on it or thinking to look up some of its long history. Apparently writing a blog can be more than just a cliched punchline: it can also teach and enlighten. It's still a punchline too, though.
