Dog Days Of Summer

Heat wave enters its fourth day today in the New York City area as temperatures soared to almost 100°F. According to forecasters, today is the hottest day of the city's week-long heat wave. Photos were taken at Washington Square Park, Columbus Circle and Lincoln Center. The video is by Colby Moore. 

The Statue of Columbus Up Close and Personal in a Modern New York Living Room Suspended in the Air by Scaffolding

View of the public art installation from Eighth Avenue

The new art installation "Discovering Columbus" by Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi is an 800-square-foot replica of a contemporary living room that is suspended 70 feet in the air supported by scaffolding. The living room surrounds the 13-foot marble statue of Christopher Columbus, which has stood on a granite podium high above the middle of a traffic circle (Columbus Circle) for the past 120 years. The statue, which was created by Gaetano Russo in 1892, appears to stand on a coffee table and is surrounded by several chairs, sofas, a bookcase and flat screen television, just like a living room. Visitors are allowed to lounge on the furniture for a good look at the statue. The wallpaper covering the walls was designed by the artist and features iconic American pop culture figures, such as Mickey Mouse, Michael Jackson and Marilyn Monroe. Nishi is known for taking a usually inaccessible object and creating a living space around it so visitors can observe the object up close. The exhibit continues through November 18. Visitors can obtain free passes by signing up at the Public Art Fund's website. 

Peter Woytuk's Life-Size Elephant Sculptures at Columbus Circle

These bronze elephant sculptures by American artist Peter Woytuk are part of a public art exhibit hosted by the Broadway Mall Association, the non-profit that beautifies and maintains the landscaped medians in the middle of Broadway, one of the city's busiest thoroughfares. The elephant sculptures are installed at Columbus Circle. The exhibit stretches across more than five miles, through the Upper West Side, Morningside Heights, West Harlem and Washington Heights.

HOLIDAY LIGHTS at the TIME WARNER CENTER

These are the pretty holiday lights at the TIME WARNER CENTER with a view of Columbus Circle as backdrop.

COLUMBUS CIRCLE

When I visited the new Time Warner Center, I captured this image of COLUMBUS CIRCLE from inside the building looking east down Central Park South. Central Park is on the left. I was unable to position myself in the center because of a makeshift structure on the third floor where I took the picture, which explains why the grid on the glass wall is slanted.

From Wikipedia:
COLUMBUS CIRCLE, named for Christopher Columbus, is a major landmark and point of attraction in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Completed in 1905 and renovated a century later, it is the site of the first traffic circle in the United States. It is located at the intersection of Broadway, Central Park West, Central Park South (59th Street), and Eighth Avenue, at the southwest corner of Central Park, with coordinates 40°46′05″N, 73°58′55″WCoordinates: 40°46′05″N, 73°58′55″W. The traffic circle was designed by William P. Eno, a businessman who pioneered many early innovations in road safety and traffic control, as part of Frederick Law Olmsted's vision for the park, which included a circle at Explorers Gate, its most important Eighth Avenue entrance. Now, as then, Columbus Circle is a major transportation hub. The M5, M7, M10, M20, and M104 buses all stop at Columbus Circle. The circle is a major hub for the subway, connecting the A, C, B, D, and 1 New York City Subway lines at 59th Street-Columbus Circle. The monument at the center, created by Italian sculptor Gaetano Russo, is the point at which distances to and from New York City are officially measured. It was erected as part of New York's 1892 commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Columbus' first voyage to the Americas. Constructed with funds raised by Il Progresso, an Italian-language newspaper, the monument consists of a marble statue of Columbus atop a 70-foot granite column decorated with bronze reliefs representing Columbus' ships: the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María. Its pedestal features an angel holding a globe.

TIME WARNER CENTER

This is a section of the groundfloor of the TIME WARNER CENTER, a mixed-use skyscraper consisting of two 229 m (750 ft) towers bridged by a multi-story atrium. Located at Columbus Circle in the heart of Manhattan, this exciting architectural masterpiece creates a new cultural center delivering an experience where people can dine, shop, live, work and be entertained in a unique and alluring environment. The Time Warner Center consists of The Shops at Columbus Circle, The Restaurant and Bar Collection, The Five Star Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Jazz at Lincoln Center, One Central Park Luxury Condominiums, 60 Columbus Circle offices and Time Warner World Headquarters. I took this photo from the upper floor of the atrium to highlight the floor design and the escalator to the lower level where the supermarket and dining area are located.