Downtown By The Block: Arts and Nonprofits: West Houston Street between 6th Avenue and Varick

On this block we'll start underground at the Houston Street subway station because it has some great mosaic art, seven pieces in all by Deborah Brown.

The top one is called "Family Outing," and the other is "Straphangers."

The overall project is called "Platform Diving" and is from 1994 as part of renovations that were made to the station.

This is my local stop on the 1 train but I had never noticed all of these mosaics in the station. Seriously, what is my problem? Well, at least I'm finally appreciating them now.

The overall concept is a playful parallel between underwater marine life and the underground subway world of the city. It's a good idea and I like the surreal element to the images.

Here are "Eye-opener," then "Turtles Ride for Free," and then "Night Shift":

And lastly here's "Morning Rush," followed by "Diving Platform" which I took in 2 photos because people were sitting in the seats in front of it so I tried to shoot around them.

There is a plaque showing that this station dates back all the way to 1918.

Along with the marine life, there are other cool mosaic tile works in the station that go back to its origins and the designer Squire Vickers, who was behind much of the city's subway station designs.

Try to ignore the jarring Tyler Perry Halloween poster.

Anyway the older tile work on the station names and upper borders is nothing too elaborate but provides a nice touch. It was done in the Arts and Crafts style, which was an art movement in the late 1800's and early 1900's that was generally anti-industrialist and emphasized more natural and authentic craftsmanship.

I also like the lower border of tiling though that looks much newer and was perhaps part of the 1990's renovation.

Above ground, the Film Forum is a cultural landmark of the city. It started in 1970 and has been at this location since 1989. It is an art-house theater that shows new and old films, and according to its website "is the only autonomous nonprofit cinema in New York City and one of the few in the U.S."

Its marquee is a more prominent presence on the block when the scaffolding isn't there. It's to the right in this first photo:

There was a cool poster outside the theater for upcoming family films they show on Sunday mornings:

And here's a brief peak inside the lobby:

On the wall just inside the lobby entrance is an illustration by Al Hirschfeld:

Hirschfeld would often hide his daughter's name Nina in his works, and it appears in this one just to the right of Hitchcock:

Also on the block is Gilda's Club New York City, a nonprofit which gives free cancer support and resources to patients and families, combining with partners to reach over 20,000 people every year.

It was started in 1995 and named after comedian Gilda Radner, who died in 1989 of ovarian cancer. Among the founders was Gene Wilder, who was Radner's husband when she died.

Gilda's Club Worldwide was started in 2000 and combined with The Wellness Community to become the Cancer Support Community, which is currently the biggest support network for cancer in the nation.

In 2005, which was the 10th anniversary of Gilda's Club NYC, a street sign marking Gilda Radner Way was dedicated near the 6th Avenue corner.

In the above photo is a hint of the small park just next to the sign.

Even though the park is next to a big intersection and a particularly noisy stretch of Houston Street that leads to the Holland Tunnel and West Side Highway, it is still a nice little area with benches and greenery, even in late October.

There are 2 other nonprofit organizations on the block: VillageCare Rehabilitation and Nursing Center and a location of AHRC NYC, which helps people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.