St. Luke's Place (Leroy Street between 7th Avenue South and Hudson Street)

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: