This street is in the West Village and is small and very pleasant, though I probably would have enjoyed my visit more if the weather was nicer. Unfortunately it was cold as a bastard, and if you watch Game of Thrones then you know how cold that can be.
On the corner of Gay and Christopher is Dominique Bistro, which seemed like a nice place though I didn’t go in. Slightly too upscale for me. I’m a man of the people, after all. In other words, I couldn’t afford to eat there unless someone else was buying.
You can see the A rating for cleanliness and also there’s a piano room downstairs, which sounds pretty cool. However, if you meet the piano player and he tells you that the password is “Fidelio,” then run away, as fast as you can.
On the other corner of Gay and Christopher is Leffot, a rather swanky-looking shop that sells super nice dress shoes and some clothing too. In the photo below you can see a close-up of the store’s crest. As a bonus, try to spot my freezing cold fingers and knuckles in the window reflection!
As shown, the crest has two rabbits dressed as fancy butlers holding up a big script “L” for some reason. Wait, Leffot starts with an L! I just got that.
At the bottom of the crest it says Numquam Jactate, which is Latin for “You’re not good enough to shop here.” When I looked it up on Google Translate to see what it actually meant, I was told it translated as “never joked.” Come on, lighten up, Leffot, I thought. However, I believe that, for the first time ever, Google Translate made a mistake, because when I Googled the Latin phrase I found multiple articles that cited the motto as meaning “never boast.” That’s a nice message, other than it being in Latin and alongside rabbit servants.
As you can see above, Gay Street is a dogleg right. Let’s call it a par 4.
Here’s another shot looking down toward the intersection with Waverly Place. It’s a peaceful, quiet block that probably costs about 50 million dollars to live on. That’s the price of quiet in Manhattan. I’m saving up but I’m not quite there yet. Almost. I’m hoping this blog puts me over the top.
After a while my fingers started to hurt from how freezing cold they were, since I had to take off my gloves to use my phone. I either need some of those special gloves that work on phones or I should start bringing a regular camera and a pad and pen for notes. I don’t know, both of those options seem like a lot of work. For now I guess I’ll keep letting my fingers freeze and sting badly.
It pained me to look at all these long bare branches and imagine them covered with beautiful flowers and leaves in the spring and summer. I just wanted to share that sadness with you.
Isn’t this a beautiful house with nice colors? I liked it a lot.
On the corner of Gay Street and Waverly Place is Joe, a small, cozy cafe that was standing room only, or “SRO” for you crossword solvers out there.
I was going to take a picture of the cafe’s exterior but my phone died from the cold! I went inside to warm the phone and try a pastry. Oh, and also to try to regain feeling in my hands.
Joe had a nice warm atmosphere and a nice warm temperature too, which I appreciated. To be honest I did feel a bit insufficiently hip to be in there, but maybe that was in my head. Or maybe it was the art on the walls, which seemed to me very modern and chic and minimalist, but what do I know.
I ordered an almond croissant and since there were no seats available I stood at an open spot near the door and checked on my phone. It went back on briefly but I guess it was still too cold because it died again, so I couldn’t take any more photos or notes and it was time to go home. There’s a lesson in this cold phone mishap: live in California.
I hurried home and warmed up and then took this photo of the almond croissant before eating it:
I’d say it was just average, but even an average almond croissant is delicious to me, so I was happy.
By the way, the entrances to all 3 of the stores mentioned are around corners and not actually on Gay Street, so I’ve already broken my rule established in the first post about the entrance needing to be on the actual block. Hmm. Oh well.
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