J.P. Chan
Stumbled across this really interesting construction site in the East Village. Looks like the corner site was a low-rise tenement-style building but I’m curious as to what happened with the church.
My guess (hope) is that they’re keeping the church’s facade to incorporate into whatever is coming next, probably some luxury housing.
The new Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station opened to the public yesterday. It’s a project that was decades in the making.
I’ve been following the saga of the Farley Building redevelopment ever since I was an urban planning grad student in the late 90s and it’s a real thrill to finally see it in person. Frankly, I wasn’t sure it was going to happen in my lifetime.
Replacing Penn Station with Farley was a dream that had a perfectly poetic arc: Penn Station died so that Grand Central Terminal could be saved, then was reincarnated decades later in Farley, the adjacent McKim, Mead, and White palace that was spared Penn’s fate. All credit to Senator Moynihan, the project’s longtime sponsor and advocate.
No, the Moynihan Train Hall isn’t quite the full-on transformation of Penn Station that many urbanists had hoped for, But it’s a very good first step towards the goal of truly modernizing the infrastructure and operations at Penn.
The location west of Eighth Avenue feels a bit lopsided today, but it points to the future of the Midtown CBD: westward expansion to Hudson Yards. In a decade or two, it’ll feel more central as the inevitable development happens around it.
I visited the site in 2017 before construction started but haven’t been back since. I only had 30 minutes today to check it out and was very pleasantly surprised at what I saw.
I’m looking to coming back and exploring more soon.
The detached garages of Woodside.
(Skillman Av, Woodside, Queens)
I’ve liked 731 Lexington Avenue since it went up almost ten years ago. But until this week, all I’ve ever seen of the interior is the subterranean Home Depot on the Third Avenue side of the complex.
So this week I felt especially lucky to visit the building twice, getting to see both the space-age Bloomberg LP offices and Le Cirque Cafe. Unsurprisingly, the building is even nicer on the inside.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/11616373165/
If you gotta wait for your bags, the JetBlue Terminal at JFK is not a terrible place to do it. Sleek and efficient.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/8886164450/
Somewhere on Westheimer, a mostly empty but way cinematic strip mall. I’d love to shoot something here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/8832394526/
Just across the street from Stewart’s, the mighty Arlington Diner has dominated its corner for as long as I can remember.
I haven’t been here since I was a kid so I can’t vouch for the food these days. But the exterior is delicious.
Growing up, I always wanted a really nice globe but the only one we could afford was a cheap metal version that had a big raised seam at the equator. The seam was so big it looked like the Earth had a Saturn-like ring.
I was a little embarrassed that our globe was not as nice as the ones some of my friends owned, and certainly not as nice as the ones in school.
I wish I’d seen the Daily News Globe when I was a kid.
I would have realized that the best globe in the world is free for everyone to enjoy — and it can’t be bought by anyone.
It’s hard to describe how much better Columbus Circle is today compared to just about any time in living memory. It’s actually a place you’d want to visit and even linger instead of just pass through as quickly as possible.
Prior to the Time Warner Center and the 2005 renovation of the circle, the best thing I could say about the place was that I saw Nirvana play an earth-shattering set at the New York Coliseum in 1993.
I think Brutalist architecture is growing on me partly because I’m getting sick of all the mostly-pleasing but energy-guzzling steel-and-glass clichés that have defined early twenty-first century architecture.
So here’s a shout-out to I.M. Pei’s Kips Bay Towers. I suspect your fan base will only grow as the years go on.
Grand Central Terminal is beautiful from every angle, even the ones you didn’t know existed. You can catch this view for free from the Apple Store.
I feel really lucky that I get to walk through GCT on my way to work each day. The beauty and bustle of the place lifts me up on even the toughest of days. The endless supply of good things to eat there doesn’t hurt either.
It’s very sobering to pass by St. Vincent’s during its demolition. You can’t help but think about all the human experiences that must have taken place there. They’re ghosts now, and the building is following them.
I don’t know nearly enough about the situation to say whether it’s good or bad that St. Vincent’s Hospital is being replaced with (very pricey) housing. But I can say I have a definite emotional reaction every time I pass by this site.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/4209650661/
(NYCHA Martin Luther King Houses, 115 St, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/4207829464/
(LaGuardia Airport, Terminal B Parking, Queens)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/4178810143/
(Bed Bath & Beyond, Broadway & 65 St, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/4107204478/
Blue Velvet fans know that the best way to get past the doorman in this building is by wearing an exterminator’s uniform.
(Carolina Apartments, Market St, Wilmington, NC)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/4096494979/
If you’ve heard how excited we Apple fanboys can get over unboxings, you can only imagine our excitement at the unwrapping of a whole frickin’ store.
(Apple Store Upper West Side, Broadway & 67 St, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/4048664326/
(Rainbow Drive In, Honolulu, HI)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/4025612566/
From the 30th floor Hospitality Suite at HIFF.
(Sheraton Waikiki, Honolulu, HI)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/3957098652/
(Alice Tully Hall, Broadway & 65 St, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/3733284565/
My parting shot from the unfinished phase 2, looking north from near 23 Street. Looking forward to taking the “after” version of this photo when this section of the line opens next year.
(High Line, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/3730171805/
Looking south down what I think is Phase 2 of the project, opening next year. Too bad the surface isn’t smooth enough for a killer bike/skate park before the green stuff and benches come in.
(High Line, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/3727319023/
This is from the south side of the rail yards, looking east.That pointy building in the distance looks kind of familiar. The building on the right is one of those filing cabinets for widows and young professionals that Manhattan is especially good at manufacturing lately.
(High Line, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/3725788452/
The first phase of the High Line is open and it’s a smash. If you haven’t visited yet, you need to.
Today I was lucky to go on a tour of the parts not yet open to the public.
This photo is of the section that loops around the West Side Yards, just south of the Javits Center. We’re looking to the southeast here.
(High Line, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/3712024502/
Bloomberg Tower has a really cool mid-block space, but it’s too bad there’s not more to entice the public to come in. Hard to believe that beneath this uber-urban block development lies a (rather nice) Home Depot.
(Bloomberg Tower, 58 St & Lexington Av, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/3696408978/
(Empire Diner, 22 St & 10 Av, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/3617746373/
(New York Public Library, 5 Av & 41 St, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/3556115417/
First heroin, then gentrification, now Skynet. The East Village is a magnet for bad things.
(The Cooper Union, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/3549507623/
(Lever House, 52 St & Park Av, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/2988472108/
The world’s best performing arts school just got even swankier with a dramatic new stair and waiting area on 65 Street. Check it out with your own butt and feel the artistry.
(Juilliard School, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/2480167911/
This is not an improvement over the previous facade.
This looks like a cheap PC case.
This looks like a refrigeration unit.
This looks like a Bose Acoustic Wave.
This is a facade that won’t grow on anyone, gay or straight.
This is an improvement that won’t be missed by anyone when it gets its own improvement twenty years from now.
(Museum of Arts and Design, Columbus Circle, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/2429117826/
(John St, Brooklyn)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/2394681954/
Although it looks like my iPhone’s resolution just dipped south of a PXL’s, the truth is I shot this scene of Ground Zero through a fence.
(WTC PATH Station, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/2385744869/
(Long Island City, Queens)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/2375463109/
Look carefully: those are doors, dude.
(42 St & 6 Av, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/2365559010/
(Convent Av & 144 St, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/2364710131/
(Atlantic Av & Van Sinderen St, Brooklyn)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/2362275603/
Now that NYC has been the safest large city in the U.S. for several years running, it’s getting harder and harder to find truly scary places within the five boroughs.
The East New York Station on the LIRR Atlantic Branch is one of those places. The station itself lies underneath the Atlantic Avenue viaduct and even in broad daylight looks like mole person territory.
But the forlorn platforms are nothing compared to the crypt-like pedestrian underpass that connects them. On a recent ride around Brooklyn, I used the underpass to get across Atlantic Avenue. It was deserted and and full of blind corners, and frankly, I was scared shitless and wondering what I was doing in that maze with a Bike Friday, an iPhone, and no weapons of any kind (except my razor wit, of course).
As it turns out, the Chinese geek with the funny bike was the scariest — and only — thing in that tunnel while I was down there. Other than my imagination. I memorialized the moment with my iPhone and got the heck out of there.
(LIRR East New York Station, Brooklyn)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/2342277320/
A theatre created by folks that love movies and food? Alamo Drafthouse, where have you been all my life? You make me want to cheat big time on my beloved Gotham.
(Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, South Lamar, Austin, TX)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/2294567005/
(Grand Central Terminal, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/2292914298/
Just passing by the Humanities and Social Sciences Library makes me feel learned, even if the first thing I think of is Ghostbusters.
(New York Public Library, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/2289619828/
(Yankee Stadium, The Bronx)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/2272586724/
Anyone who’s ever received a toy Hess truck for Christmas will undountedly have a soft spot for this giant oil company. Talk about nefarious marketing!
(44 St & 10 Av, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/2182263742/
Little is known about the civilization that built this stone beast at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge.
(Canal St & Bowery, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/2139936950/
Who put the X in Boxing Day? Is it the same person that put the X in OS X (even though that’s really a ten, and these Xs at the new Apple Store?
(Apple Store, 14 St & 9 Av, Manhattan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpchan/2064434964/
I’m a Times addict. I look at the site at least a dozen times on an average day, a figure that’s only gotten larger now that I’ve gone iPhone. Their new headquarters looks awesome, and I hope someday to go inside and check it out.
(40 St & 8 Av, Manhattan)
