I was a little bit obsessed with this lady’s coat as I walked behind her through The Loop. It’s hard to see, but it’s very bedazzled. Not as bedazzled as Don King’s jacket, though. (Remember when I met him?)
Entries Tagged as 'New York'
Occupy Chicago
November 18th, 2011 · 1 Comment
Last night at a little after 4 p.m. Occupy Chicago took over the LaSalle Street bridge outside my office and blocked up all traffic. I found out about it from reading my coworker’s Facebook status and went over to see what the commotion was. When I got there it was near the end of the protest, which lasted about a half hour. We saw police arresting people who would not leave. Of the thousands of people protesting, 46 were given tickets. The whole thing broke up just before 5 p.m. when the group walked south on LaSalle, taking up the width of the street, down to Jackson (where the Chicago Board of Trade is). When I left work at about 5:20 p.m. there were no more protesters around, except a few talking to the media. There were still some policemen lingering and I could hear helicopters overhead. Read more at the Chicago Tribune. Also check out Chicagoist’s coverage. Lots of great photos there.
Our office in New York is in a building in Lower Manhattan and the Occupy protesters there caused the building to be on lockdown. I heard there was a lot of Occupy ruckus in LA yesterday too.
P.S. I saw this photo on Twitter and thought it was an interesting reverse view, from the protest. The building is 300 N. LaSalle, just south of the building I work in. You can see 300 N. LaSalle in my photos.
Tags:300 north lasalle·Chicago·lasalle·lower manhattan·New York·occupy·occupy chicago·protest·river north·roundarch
Bucktown Bloomingdale Trail Access Point
October 7th, 2011 · No Comments
I read this article yesterday about how Mayor Rahm is handing over a chunk of land in Bucktown to the park district and how it will be developed into a public access point to the Bloomingdale Trail. The Bloomingdale Trail is an abandoned railroad that is going to be developed into a park, kind of like how the High Line was done in New York. (Highline before, Highline after.)
Last night I walked past this parcel of land and took the photo above. It’s very lush and green. There were people throwing balls and letting their dogs run. Nice improvement. As I recall, the land before this improvement was just a busted up vacant area. Here’s a screen grab from Google Maps that shows how this area used to look.
Quite an improvement, huh? This is the second park that has been created to serve the Bloomingdale Trail. The first is Albany-Whipple Park in Humboldt Park (some say Logan Square, but I consider this Humboldt – south of Armitage and west of Humboldt?). A few years ago this was just an empty lot:
In 2009, I took this photo of the park as it was being developed:
The Bucktown park looks a lot like Albany Whipple Park did in 2009. Grass. A fence. I need to get back over to this Albany Whipple Park because they’ve since added a playground and have developed the park more.
Anyway, I’m excited for the Bloomingdale Trail to be developed. I can’t wait til they start work on the trail itself! Read more on the Bloomingdale Trail.
Tags:albany whipple park·bloomingdale trail·bucktown·Chicago·high line·humboldt park·New York·rahm emanuel
A bit of Brooklyn in Wicker Park
September 15th, 2011 · No Comments
Tags:brooklyn·brooklyn bridge·brooklyn industries·Chicago·mural·New York·wicker park
Ten Years
September 11th, 2011 · No Comments
Photo I took of a West Village firehouse about 3 weeks after the World Trade Center attacks. Larger
Ten years ago today I was living by the beach in San Diego and planning my move to New York City. I woke up on West Coast time and the first thing I did was check my email. I had a message from my mom begging me not to move to New York. Odd. She had been really supportive of the move up until then. I mindlessly turned on the TV and saw that the first of the twin towers was down. I was so confused. What was going on? An accident? Then the second went down. Oh no.
It was a scary time. My work’s headquarters were in Manhattan only about a mile from World Trade Center. I remember spending the day, make that dayS, with friends. I remember getting a call from the New York office explaining how they understood, I don’t want to move now. Well, the truth is I still did want to move. And I did. My first day in Manhattan was 18 days after the attacks.
I was living down in the Village, a mile and a half from the Trade Center and whole areas of the city down there were still blocked off. Imagine a new city – New York City, walking around, getting confused, getting lost, photocopied pictures of missing people posted on light posts, firehouse memorials, walking into barricades. I remember sitting at work and all you could smell was burning. There was devastation everywhere, in the place and in the people, but there was hope. I have never once regretted moving to New York. I’m so thankful I did.
Never forget. We’re all in this together. My thoughts are with the victims and their families on this day and always.