Pussy Willow

Since New York City had its warmest winter last year, some plants are beginning to bloom earlier than expected.

This photo of a pussy willow tree was taken earlier this week when I was waiting for the bus to go home. Pussy willow (salix discolor) got its name from the soft furry buds that form on the naked branch during late winter. The silky texture and grey colors of the buds resemble cats' paws. In early spring, the buds bloom to produce medium size white and pink flowers.

Click to enlarge the photo and you can almost feel the furry buds. Meow!!

An American in Paris

Recently, I saw the movie, An American in Paris, starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron. It was a musical, set in the 1950s, about an American soldier who stayed back in Paris to study art after the Second World War. Along the way, he met and fell in love with a beautiful French cabaret singer. However, the relationship had some major obstacles. Did they live happily ever after? You will have to watch the movie to find out. If you are a fan of old Hollywood musicals, this is one of the best of the genre.

The building in this photo is the women's department of Bergdorf Goodman, on 5th Avenue and 58th Street. It reminds me of the architecture commonly seen in Paris, especially around the 1st - 4th and 8th - 9th arrondissements on the Right Bank. The statue in the foreground is Pomona, the Roman Goddess of Fruits and Nuts. She is standing on top of the Pulitzer Fountain, in front of The Plaza Residences (formerly, The Plaza Hotel).

Here is another photo of the Bergdorf Goodman Building that I posted on NYCDP last year. It was taken from the southern side, on 5th Avenue and 57th Street.

For more photo of the Pulitzer Fountatin, click here.

What Annoys You Most About Your City?

February 1st is Daily Photo Theme Day. The theme this month is: what annoys you most about your city.

Mine is car alarms going off at 3:00 AM outside my bedroom window but that is hard to translate into photography. So I'm going for the crowded subway train.

I didn't sign up on time to be included in the Daily Photo Theme List but you can check the list out from the guy who started this daily photo blog in the first place - Eric of Paris Daily Photo.

Tree Chair @ ABC Carpet

ABC Carpet is a home furnishing store that specializes in imported furniture, antiques, one-of-a-kind pieces, as well as other home goods like carpets and rugs, electronic appliances, luxurious fabrics, and chinaware. The flagship store, located in two buildings on Broadway between 19th and 20th Street (Flatiron District), also has a couple of restaurants on its premises.

ABC Carpet was started by then newly arrived Austrian immigrant, Sam Weinrib, in 1879 on a pushcart selling used carpets and unusual fabrics at the Lower East Side of Manhattan. A century later, the family owned company has grown into one of the biggest and most diverse home furnishing retail outlets in New York City. Currently, there are numerous ABC Carpet outlets in New York, New Jersey and Florida, as well as in Harrods' in London.

The chair in the photo was carved out of a piece of tree truck and is an example of one-of-a-kind pieces available at ABC Carpet. The two doors to the left and right of the chair are the elevators. And no, the store was not undergoing renovation; this is how it was decorated. Notice the unadorned light fixture above the chair. Despite the organic look and simplicity, these pieces come with hefty price tags.

Pottery Class @ Chelsea Ceramic Guild

The Chelsea Ceramic Guild , on 19th Street between 7th and 8th Avenue, is a pottery studio and school for amateur ceramists and potters. Opened in 1989, the non-profit organization offers beginners, intermediate and advanced classes on pottery, glazing and firing, as well as a retail space for supplies and students' art work.

In the photo, the girl in red pants just finished her pottery (a vase) and covered it with a plastic bag (at bottom left corner). She left to wash her hands and later moved the case onto one of the shelves on the right for air drying. I did not stay around long enough to see what happened after that.

Le Pain Quotidien

Le Pain Quotidien is a chain of french style bakery that originated from Brussels, Belgium, where the first store opened in 1990. Today Le Pain Quotidien is found all over Europe, the Middle East and United States (New York City and Los Angeles).

The name, Le Pain Quotidien means The Daily Bread in French. The philosophy of the bakery is to provide good, wholesome and healthy bread (and other baked goods) to the customers.

This photo, taken outside the Chelsea branch on 7th Avenue between 17th and 18th Street, showcased the desserts section of the bakery. Clockwise from top left are the raspberry tart, mini mousse dome, mix berry tart, lemon tart, french cream donut, large lemon tart, apple pie, chocolate mousse cake and large mixed berry tart.

You can see the delicious french baguettes on the top left corner. The bakery also sells those beautiful round sourdough breads that are commonly found in Parisian bakeries. Click here to see the display of sourdough breads at the store.

Secret Admirers

A small crowd of people were peeking into this store window on 5th Avenue and 56th Street in Manhattan. I quickly took out the camera and photographed them. After they left, I peeked into the window and saw this piece of rock sitting on a porcelain rose. The store in the photo is Harry Winston and the piece of rock was a gigantic diamond.

Harry Winston (1896-1978) was an American jeweler whose namesake stores sell ultra luxurious jeweleries to the rich and famous. He was also known as the philantropist who donated the Hope Diamond to the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC.

Ferrara @ Little Italy

Ferrara is one of the oldest and most well known family owned cafes in New York City. It is located in Little Italy on Grand Street between Mott and Mulberry Street. The cafe, initially called Caffe A. Ferrara, was opened by Italian immigrants, Antonio Ferrara and Enrico Scoppa in 1892. Antonio Ferrara's nephew married Enrico Scoppa's daughter in 1929 thus uniting the business under one family.

Today, Ferrara has expanded to include a number of cafes, bakeries, and a very successful mail-order business. It is well known for its delicious Italian pastries and cakes, and every Italian-American bride orders her wedding cake from the store. The business is still owned and run by the 5th generation of the original owners.

This photo was taken from the entrance of the flagship store in Little Italy. The cafe is always packed with patrons and getting a table at the cafe is almost impossible, especially during after-dinner hours.

Click here for another photo of the cafe.

Subway Mural

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which operates the public transportation system, regularly supports artists and musicians in the city. One of its most visible projects sponsored by the organization is the Arts for Transit Program. Started in 1986, the program was established to incorporate public art into the renovation and preservation of the 100-year old plus subway system.

The mosaic mural in this photo, located under 5th Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan, is a permanent installation by Los Angeles-born, Brooklyn-based artist, Samm Kunce. The mural entitled, Under Bryant Park" won the 2002 Best Public Art Project by the New York Municipal Art Society.

CUNY Graduate Center

City University of New York (CUNY) is the largest urban university in the United States consisting of 21 colleges. It has an enrollment of 450,000 students spread out over 5 boroughs in New York City. The university was founded by Townsend Harris in 1847 as the Free Academy. The Free Academy became The City College and later merged with other city schools to form the CUNY system in 1961.

The building in the photo is the CUNY Graduate Center, which is the only college that offers PhD degreesin the CUNY system. It is located in the former B. Altman and Company on 5th Avenue between 33rd and 34th Street. The building was designed by architects, Trowbridge and Livingston and completed in 1906. CUNY took over the building and made it the new home of the CUNY Graduate Center.

Click here for more photos of the CUNY Graduate Center.

Herald Square

Herald Square is the twin park of Greeley Square at the intersecting avenues of Broadway and Sixth, and 34th Street in Manhattan. The two triangular squares point towards each other at the long end, forming a bowtie shaped configuration of public space.

Olivier of Evry Daily Photo mentioned the clock on Herald Square in his comment to the photo of Greeley Square last week. I promised him I would go back and take a photo of the clock for him. So please thank Olivier for this photo.

Daryl Roth Theater @ Union Square

This is a photo of the Daryl Roth Theater, formerly known as the Union Square Savings Bank, located on the corner of 15th Street and Park Avenue South. The building, completed in 1907, was landmarked for preservation in 1996 after it was converted into theater. Currently, the 24,000 square feet (2,230 square meters) space boasts two theaters and a cabaret lounge.

The architect who designed this building, Henry Bacon (1866-1924) also designed the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. He did not live long to enjoy the fame because he died a year after the Lincoln Memorial was completed.

The palm tree decorations and colored lights in front of the Daryl Roth Theater were temporary installations for a tourism event promoting the Greater Fort Lauderdale in Florida. Florida (especially Miami) is a popular winter vacation spot for New Yorkers who want to escape the cold weather.

Where is your favorite vacation spot? Are you a beach-and-sun person or a city-and-museum person?

Graffiti Art @ Korean Restaurant

Graffiti art may sound oxymoron but somtimes it does add character to an otherwise uninspiring place. Take this 24-hour Korean restaurant on 32nd Street between Broadway and 5th Avenue, otherwise known as Koreatown, for example; dinner guests are invited to draw or scribble on the walls. It gives diners an interesting topic to talk about and may even attract people to the restaurant. This place definitely stands out on a street filled with other restaurants serving similar Korean food. For more photos and what I had for dinner, click here.

What would you write if you could scribble on the wall??

N.B.: Han of Seoul Daily Photo posted a somewhat similar photo last week. Check it out!

Brooklyn Museum of Art

Here is another photo of the Brooklyn Museum of Art and its collection of Rodin sculptures. The original museum structure and the second floor promenade can be seen through the glass ceiling of the new pavilion.

The Brooklyn Museum of Art has twelve pieces of Rodin sculptures. Auguste Rodin (Nov 12, 1840 - Nov 17, 1917) was a 19th century French artist who was best known for his bronze statues eventhough he was an accomplished painter. In fact, it was his work as a portrait artist in the 1870s that brought him financial success and recognition in the art world. Rodin's most famous works include The Thinker and The Kiss

I just learned how to use Flickr.com so here are more photos of the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

Brooklyn Museum of Art

The Brooklyn Museum of Art is the second largest museum in New York City, right after the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan. It opened in 1897 and today, it boasts one of the finest Egyptian art collections outside of Cairo, Egypt. The museum has 560,000 square feet (52,024 square meters) of floor space and over 1,500,000 piece of artifacts in its collection.

The Brookly Museum of Art received a major face lift and added an additional 15,000 square feet (1,400 square meters) of glass pavilion in 2005. The new lobby consists of an exhibition space for sculptures and a specially made aluminium and glass staircase that leads up to an open promenade on the second floor.

This photo shows the new glass pavilion and the stairs leading up to the promenade. The sculptures in the background are two of a number of pieces by Rodin in the museum collection.

Macarons @ Tisserie

Here is a close up picture of the macarons at Tisserie. The pastries and cakes on the lower shelf are (from left) chocolate cup cakes with caramel icing, almond croissants, chocolate croissant (drizzled with chocolate sauce), caramel eclairs and chocolate eclairs.

I love almond croissants or croissants aux amandes. According to Clotilde Desoulier of Chocolate & Zuchini and cookbook author, almond croissants are usually made with day-old croissants that was filled with almond paste (marzipan), then slathered with egg wash, sprinkled with sliced almonds and baked in the oven until the almonds are slightly toasted. After that, they are sprinkled with a dusting of powdered sugar and they are ready to be served.

Tissirie

Tisserie is a beautiful patisserie or pastry shop that recently opened on Broadway and 16th Street at the northwest corner of Union Square. The store specializes in classic French cakes and pastries but it also offers artisanal bread and sandwiches on the lunch menu. The owners, brothers Morris and Ronald Harrar decided to open Tisserie in New York City following the success of their first patisserie, St. Honore in their hometown of Caracas, Venezuela.

Tisserie is one of the few places in New York City that makes and sells its own french macarons, which should not to be confused with the American coconut macaroons. Macarons date back to the 18th century and are made with flavored cream fillings sandwiched between two disk-shaped meringue cakes. The meringue cakes are light and delicate, with thin crisp shells and soft cushiony centers; and the fillings are sweet or tart depending on the flavors. The best macarons in the world are reportedly from the reknown patisserie, Laduree in Paris. In Switzerland, macarons are called, luxemburgerli and they are sold by Sprungli.

Do you have a favorite pastry?

Union Square Subway Station

Union Square Park is probably the second most popular park in New York City, after Central Park. It is located on 14th Street and Broadway Avenue. A green market meets on the north end of the park every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and some of the best restaurants are located within a blocks of here. Many chefs buy their fresh produce at the market here.

Union Square Park has not always been a popular place in the city. In the 1880s, it was a site of labor rights and union worker demonstrations among the blue collar workers. Then crime and drugs took over the neighborhood in the 1970s and 80s. Gentrification began in the 1990s and today, it has become a very popular neighborhood for locals and tourists alike.

This photo of the Union Square subway station was taken at the south west corner of park. The huge concrete platform on the right is a popular place where young NYU students and street performers congregate and hang out.

East River

Manhattan is a long but narrow island bordered by the East River on the east and the Hudson River on the west. It is 13.4 miles (21.1 km) long; and 2.3 miles (3.7 km) across at its widest and 0.8 miles (1.3 km) at its narrowest.

This photo was taken from the elevated Roosevelt Island Tramway, which is a cable car system connecting Manhattan to Roosevelt Island across the East River on 60th Street. In the photo, you can see the northern view of Manhattan on the left and Roosevelt Island on the right.

The East River is a beautiful and narrow waterway that attracts a fair amount of single engine plane and helicopter tours along it. Unfortunately, the tall buildings on the Manhattan side can be hazardous to inexperienced pilots who fly this route. Recently, a small plane piloted by baseball player, Cory Lidle smashed into one of the buildings during an attempt to turn the plane around after flying up the East River.

N.B.: Macky of Tokyo Photo Daily posted a similar photo last Sunday. How appropriate since Tokyo is a sister city of New York City.

Penn Station Revisited

Last week, I posted a photo of the New York City Pennsylvania (Penn) Station on this DP. Here is another photo of the train station, which shows the ticket booths on the left and the departure terminals behind the giant pillar. If you enlarge the photo, you can see the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) terminal on the right.

The partially visible woman on the lower left corner was purchasing a ticket on the automated ticketing machine and the gentleman behind her was waiting for his turn while glancing over at the electronic train schedule.