Pine Bank Arch

Magnet #1091 - Pine Bank Arch, John Hall

John Hall shot this image of Pine Bank Arch in Central Park, back in 1996, the year after I moved to New York. It's gorgeous, no?

It was built in 1861, just at the beginning of the Civil War. If you want to get technical, it's really a bridge, and is about 80 feet long, and about 11 feet up (to allow for the bridle path below). It's also one of the few remaining original cast-iron bridges left in the park.

Snow-covered Central Park is pretty much how I left New York a few weeks ago before I came down here to North Carolina to take care of a family emergency. Who knows what it'll look like when I get back up there. When I do, though, I definitely have to take this Forgotten NY tour - would love to be able to see all of the stunning bridges and arches the park has to offer. You kind of just take them for granted when you're there, but flipping through those bridges makes me want to spend the day in the park.

For now, though, I'll definitely enjoy the spring temps of NC - it's supposed to be 73 tomorrow and in the high 60s this weekend.

Yep. I just did a magnetblog about the weather. Too bad I didn't think about the weather before I packed all my sweaters a couple of weeks ago!

Here and there

Magnet #1057 - Camera Work

One of the things I love about this town, is when there are multiple exhibits around the same subject at different museums. Whether it's planned or not, it still gives you a better grasp on a subject when you see it from multiple vantage points/exhibits.

The last couple of weeks or so, that's what the Seaport Museum and the Met (where I picked up this magnet) have done for me.

The Seaport just finished the amazing Alfred Stieglitz New York exhibit. I'm not a big photography fan, indeed, the amount that I know about it, could fill a teacup.

Yet, I've found myself captivated by his particular work, because he was born during the Civil War, and died at 82 in 1946, after World War II. So, his photography spans from horse-drawn carriages on the streets of New York, to the monumental skyscrapers being built all around him.

Plus, dudes. The man was doing more with his magic lantern camera in the 1890s than I can do with my point and shoot Panasonic in 2011. His photography is amazing. He makes me want to run out there and shoot anything and everything.

If you missed the Seaport exhibit, you can always hop on over to the Met, for the Stieglitz, Steichen and Strand exhibit. Though you can see much of what was at the Seaport, the Met's collection includes the Georgia O'Keefe portraits, plus additional halls focusing on Steichen and Strand's work as well.

While you're there, definitely drop by the Met's Masterpieces of French Art Deco exhibit. Very cool, made more interesting for me today, because it included more than a few pieces from the S.S. Normandie, which I magnetblogged about yesterday.

I know. I keep finding myself at the Met, over and over again. At some point, I really just need to get a job there.

eta:
Oh! I forgot. Each Friday, I've decided to post a new Floaty Pen video. Yes. Exactly what it sounds like. Yes. Just as silly as you would expect.

What? I can't figure out a better way to make use out of my Floaty Pen collection than showing you guys one a week!

Yes, Dahling?

Magnet #777 - Queen Mary passing 42nd Street

Here I go again with the vintage photography of New York - again, from my collection from the Met.

I can't help it - I love seeing very old images of the city. The black and white romanticizes a lot of it and I know things weren't all that terrific back then. But when it's one-dimensional black and white, you can interpret the image however you like.

Andreas Feininger made this 1946 image of the Queen Mary cruising past 42nd Street.

I have to tell ya'll, I would never go on a cruise these days to save my life. But back in the day? On a Trans-Atlantic ocean liner bound for England? Hells yes, I'd be there.

With my supercute daysuits and matching overcoats (one for every outfit, natch), long evening gowns and matching stoles (one for every outfit, natch), uppercrust (probably English or Swedish or German) accent, and my feathered evening hats and long cigarette holder, and Glenn Miller or Count Basie playing in the background. Of course, I'd need to have Cary Grant or Gregory Peck or heck, even William Powell by my side.

And I'd have to have some sort of coded note or priceless artifact in either my hatboxes or my steamer trunks, because of course, I'd totally be an Allied spy.

What?

Sitting on top of...the Chrysler Building

Magnet #774 - Margaret Bourke-White

Ya'll know how much I love the Chrysler Building, and the fun story behind the building of it, and how it shines like Mrs. Hannigan mentions in Annie, and how it's just the coolest architecture ever.

That's this building that photographer Margaret Bourke-White is hanging off of here.

I don't know much about Margaret Bourke-White, just that she was one of the most famous photojournalists of the 20th century. She was the first female photographer for FORTUNE, and it was one of her images on the first cover of LIFE. And that she was the first female war correspondent, allowed into war zones, taking pictures of bomber crews and concentration camps.

If that weren't enough, I do think she kicks all kinds of ass for having gone out on this eagle on the 61st floor of the Chrysler Building to take a picture.

Mind you, it does beg the questions of what the picture she took looked like, and of who took this picture of her. Can't wait for the next Margaret Bourke-White photography exhibit to hit the city. Maybe I'll find out then.

September morn

Magnet #567 - Samuel H. Gottscho, New York

This magnet's from a set that I bought from the Met, but I gotta be honest - I can't figure out if it's really an Alfred Stieglitz. It's called Financial District by Samuel H. Gottscho, a native New York photographer who was known for his city skylines done "in straight-line perspective and sharp focus," according to the Museum of the City of New York.

I was confuzzled beween Gottscho and Stieglitz. Hmph. Yep, that's not annoying at all. Looks like I totally need to pay another visit to the museum, huh.

Anyway.

Eight years ago today, my biggest concern walking into the office that morning was wondering whether or not it was too late in the year to be wearing the periwinkle-and-white striped button-down, matching periwinkle shell, light gray skirt, and black sandals I had on.

An hour later, the world changed.

"Stingy piece of pie"

Magnet #541 - Rudy Burckhardt's Flatiron in Summer

That's what one critic called the Flatiron Building when it was finished.

I bought this magnet as part of an historical NYC photographs set from the Met. One of the things I love about New York City, is that it's forever captured in a million ways, in a million places, and in a million eras.

This photograph was taken in 1947, by Mr. Burckhardt, a photographer who was, according to this NYTs article, "famous for being underrated." That makes me a little sad, as does this shot of the Flatiron Building. The NYTs article claims this image was kept from greatness because of the "silly phallic shadow of the Flatiron hanging below it, turning the whole mass, building and shadow, into a weird blob floating down the street."

I love the Flatiron - and according to lackluster guide on the one and only Gray Line tour I've ever taken in town (don't judge), it's one of the most photographed buildings in town (that, I believe), and supposedly the tallest building in the world at some point (which is totally not true, silly Gray Line). The locals had always called that triangle plot of land flatiron, for the triangle irons of those days. So, when the Fuller Building went up, the name didn't stick (hear that, Sears Tower?), and Flatiron, it is.

I work down the street from this Daniel Burnham beaux arts building - one of the few he did in NYC, and each time I pass it, I can't help but examine it for more cool details. I had a couple of friends who worked in the building, complaining of small and odd-shaped offices. And, Ephemeral NY did a close-up on the faces recently, so who do you think ended up looking like a tourist staring up at the tall building.

For me, this building's always had a special place in my heart - since 1985, anyway, when Duran Duran's John Taylor starred in a little-known Sci-Fi series called Timeslip. The opening credits included a triangle building, and I remember squeeing when I figured out the Flatiron was, OMG, same building! What? I was young.

And, for almost a quarter of a century I've labored under that sweetly fangurlish belief, that this is where my John hung out as The Hacker. Until today, when I got curious about Timeslip, and did a search.

Stupid YouTube video, disabusing me of that silly notion.

Clearly, this building is not the Flatiron.

Hmph. Talk about a timeslip.