West 11th Street between 5th and 6th Avenue

This Greenwich Village block has some historic sites and is also very long, as you can see here:

Near its intersection with 6th Avenue, or "Avenue of the Americas," as no one calls it, is a very small and very old cemetery, which is quite unassuming from the street:

Shearith Israel is a Jewish congregation dating back to 1654, making it the oldest one in America. 

It is a Jewish custom to leave small stones at a grave site, and perhaps some were left on top of the wall in the above photo by people who couldn't get access inside the cemetery.

 
I like that there are small cemeteries scattered throughout various Manhattan streets, instead of them being in a separate, distant place that we only go to and think about on certain occasions. Old cemeteries especially can be a link with the city's past and a reminder to try to appreciate our lives and those who came before us.  

I noticed that the building next to the cemetery had a plaque near its entrance:

Here's a wider shot of the building:

To be honest, I had never heard of Charles Ives before. But hey, now I have. Good job, plaque. 

On one of the 6th Avenue corners is French Roast, a cafe and restaurant:

The other 6th avenue corner is an empty space, but there's some colorful art in the window, paintings or water colors perhaps. So that's something:

Just up the block from this is a place that suggests Chinese cuisine, though it doesn't look very inviting. The awning does say that the entrance is on 6th Avenue, though.

In the window reflections above you can see several parked cars and some jerk taking a photo. Oh wait, that's me. 

Next door is Gene's Restaurant, which has an A health rating.

It seemed like a nice place, though unfortunately a bit too pricey for me.

Near Gene's is a New School building. The New School is a university in the neighborhood. 

The majority of this block is very nice residential houses. I believe it would cost quite a bit to live here. Here's a closeup of some old-fashioned building artwork, and an air conditioner:

Several buildings on this block feature columns. 

If you live in lower Manhattan and your building entrance has columns, then you're doing pretty well.  

I noticed this building from across the street:

The design is certainly interesting. I didn't say I liked it, I said it was interesting. I guess I like it fine. It is a bit disconcerting, though, to see one building twisted at an angle like that. Maybe in the architectural world it's considered a work of genius. 

At the northern 5th Avenue intersection is First Presbyterian Church. Here's a side view from 11th Street:

Here's some shots from 5th Avenue:

As the plaque notes, this congregation goes back to 1716. There is a flag at the front of the church marking the 300th anniversary.

Here's the other 5th Avenue corner:

It's a rather majestic building, though oddly foreboding as well. 

I think that's all for now. Thanks for reading.

East 10th Street between 2nd Avenue and 3rd Avenue

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.