Last Friday, Kendell and I had plans to meet friends for dinner after work. Owing to some bad communication on all sides, I ended up getting the address of the restaurant wrong, which I realized when I arrived there and the hostess said she couldn't find our reservation ( Read more... )

( Eigengeist )

Earlier this week, I happened to find myself in Midtown proper for the first time in a while. I was on the north side of 44th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, to be precise, and I happened to walk by an awning that said "The Algonquin ( Read more... )

The other day I was in a taxi and the cabbie had a classic Noo Yawk accent. The photo ID in the partition separating the front seat from the back looked unusual -- I guessed that he was one of the rare cabbies who owned his own cab and asked if that were true. "Yeah," he said, then, "Well, I used to," and finally finished with a bemused, slightly ( Read more... )

When I was a kid, growing up far inland, I only ever saw seagulls when I went to the beach. But now that I've lived in the Northeast, I no longer associate these birds as much with sand and summer. The strip shopping mall down the street from where we live in Jersey City always has seagulls circling and keening overhead, and I still remember a ( Read more... )

You know those wrap-around earmuffs? I love 'em. They're exactly what I need in the winter: a way to keep my ears warm that doesn't give me "hat hair ( Read more... )

Remember the Fifth Avenue Pier 1 Imports I told you about last year that had both "Spooktacular Savings" AND nutcrackers in its storefront window? Yeah, well, this year, they didn't even bother with Halloween. Around October 1st, the Christmas stuff went right up ( Read more... )

With the possible exception of Salem, Massachusetts, where the celebrations begin on October 1st sharp, I don't think any city celebrates Halloween as hugely as New York.

( Costumes and trick-or-treating in Manhattan )

A month or two ago, we visited some friends in suburban NJ. They took us to a nearby "Famous Dave's BBQ" for dinner ( Read more... )

Spotted today at 2 PM, corner of Fifth Avenue and 16th Street, where Mr. Softee parks all season long ( Read more... )