Halloween 2013

Some of the most elaborate Halloween decorations can be found in Manhattan's Upper East Side neighborhood. The stoop and facade of this East 72nd Street townhouse are guarded by an array of ghostly creatures. The Empire State Building also presented a fantastic Halloween Light Show.

Swoon’s Hurricane Sandy Mural at the Bowery Graffiti Wall

Swoon’s mural at the Bowery-Houston graffiti wall is rather timely, channeling themes of Hurricane Sandy on this day the city and state are marking one year since Hurricane Sandy made landfall. The piece features an illustration of the A train (“rise above the challenge”), an allusion to the suspended subway service to the Rockaways, and a community message of “people helping people.”

Elizabeth Street Sculpture Garden

This is the sculpture garden adjacent to the Elizabeth Street Gallery located in Nolita (North of Little Italy)-SoHo area on Elizabeth Street, between Prince and Spring Streets. It is a unique garden space in the area with some really nice reproductions of antique statues, benches, and other fine objects. It is available for events for the most casual to the most intimate and elegant occasions. The Garden covers 20,000 square feet and offers park like settings of grass and magnificent trees, accented with antique statuary and garden decoration. The garden is adjacent to a gallery in a renovated 1850s New York City firehouse.

21

Known for the secret wine cellar and ornamental jockey figurines, '21' is one of the most celebrated establishments in New York City, and is considered an American icon.  In addition to the restaurants, the Bar Room and 'Upstairs', this four-story townhouse features ten private party rooms including the legendary Prohibition-era Wine Cellar. It opened in 1930, and was designed with its own disappearing bar and a secret wine cellar to hide the illegal liquor from prying eyes, it’s a place where celebrities and captains of industry have wined and dined for more than 80 years. Standing guard on the balcony above the entrance to '21' is a group of ornamental jockeys, all donated by some of the best-known stables in American thoroughbred racing. Sportsman, entrepreneur and long-time patron, Jay van Urk, presented '21' with its first jockey in the early 1930s and his quirky ‘present’ soon caught on with similar donations from the prominent families like the Vanderbilt, Mellon and Ogden Mills Phipps families. The wrought-iron gate outside '21' is as much a part of the fabric of this New York establishment as the secret wine cellar and the celebrity clientele.

The gate itself actually dates back to 1926 when Jack Kriendler and Charlie Berns moved their Club Fronton from 88 Washington Place to 42 West 49th Street. The new bar was called The Puncheon (and a host of other names to confuse federal tax men!). But no sooner had the doors opened than they received notice that the Rockefeller Center was going to be built on the site, so Jack and Charlie received $11,000 from the landowner to vacate. On January 1, 1930, with the help of a few patrons, they unhinged the gate from the doorway of No. 42 and installed it three blocks north at 21 West 52nd Street. '21' was officially opened. (Information from 21 website).

Pumpkin Patch in Central Park

Pumpkin Festival, an annual celebration of the fall harvest season took place today in Central Park. The event featured a pumpkin patch, where kids can take home their own sugar pumpkin, live Quidditch matches, a SYFY Channel pumpkin decorating zone, marionette performances, walkabout characters, arts and crafts and haunted house at Bethesda Fountain.

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Banksy's Day 24 Artwork on the Gate of Larry Flynt's Hustler Club in Hell's Kitchen

Banksy, on his 24th day of "Better Out Than In" street art residency in New York City streets yesterday created this artwork on the gate of Larry Flynt's Hustler Club at 51st Street in Hell's Kitchen. His caption of the work reads, "Waiting in vain...at the door of the club." Banksy is a pseudonymous United Kingdom-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stencilling technique. For street art lovers, Banksy's month-long street art show is a fun idea, part scavenger hunt, part mystery, part gallery show. His works around the city have consistently drawn crowds, photographers and confused passersby. Not far from the artwork is an enterprising fan who was banking on Banksy by selling magnets that feature an image of the Hustler Club gate art.

World Trade Center West Concourse Reopens For the First Time Since 9/11

A Santiago Calatrava-designed commuter concourse underneath the World Trade Center site that has been closed since the September 11 attacks reopened to commuters today. The opening of the passageway marks a major milestone in the area’s redevelopment and it offers convenience for commuters. The underground passageway connects the PATH station entrance on West Broadway and Vesey Street with Brookfield Place, which will eventually include retail and dining. The 8,000 square foot facility is complete with two lattice supports beams on either side and six escalators, giving the public access to the tunnel. The approximately 600-foot-long underground concourse, which features 40,000 square feet of Italian marble, will house stores and restaurants on two levels, by 2015.

The United Palace Theatre in Washington Heights

The United Palace Theatre was the last of the Loew's "Wonder Theaters" to be built in New York, one of the most elaborate work of architect Thomas Lamb. Its facade is decorated in a blocky, stylized version of the Mayan style. The walls of the auditorium are embellished with Indo-Chinese decoration and the foyer features a palatial staircase leading to a grandiose, aurora borealis headed by a goddess decoration. The theatre hosts many multi-cultural concerts, art exhibits, worship services, classes, and festivals. It is located at 4140 Broadway in Washington Heights in northern Manhattan.

Banksy Continues to Captivate Street Art Fans with "Hammer Boy" on Manhattan's Upper West Side

Banksy, the mysterious British street artist painted the silhouette of a young boy swinging a sledge hammer yesterday, on day 20 of his month-long residency in New York City. The silhouette is strategically placed next to a red standpipe, creating an illusion that the boy is going to smash it. Banksy's work continues to captivate a loyal segment of the young, fun, art-loving New Yorkers who are eager to find where his next work will pop up. "Hammer boy" art is located on the wall of a DSW store at 79th Street between Amsterdam and Broadway. Many fans posed for photos next to the artwork.

Fall Blooms and Foliage

New York City may not be the best place to see spectacular autumn leaves, but there are some spots around the city where fall colors are alive in mid-October. The photos of the trees  were taken in Central Park near the Bethesda Terrace while images of the colorful flower beds (mums) were made on Park Avenue.