Underpass to the Future

I regularly travel through the PATH train station that lands beneath the downtown World Trade Center site.  Since the event in 2001, there has been constant rerouting and construction within the underground pathways of the facility.  Ultimately, a new station will emerge designed by Santiago Calatrava which will feature rows of curved arches.

Two weeks ago, one of the wooden construction walls deep below was opened.  For years, I was unaware there was anything work going on at that spot.   Suddenly, a new tunnel was revealed with a design that matches what the roof will become.  

I took a walk through, and got this look at the new futuristic design.  

Underpass to the Future

The Auto Bridges

Walking along the East River, there are three bridges right in a row that lead to Brooklyn.  When I was in high school, growing up on Long Island, we took a day trip into the city and rode on the Circle Line boat around Manhattan Island.  The tour guide said that you could remember the names of the bridges and their sequence because they started with the first initials of a type of car.  The bridges are the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge and the Williamsburgh Bridge.  I didn't get it, maybe because I never heard of a BMW car in those days.  

On this particularly gloomy day, I found the lack of sun added to the atmosphere.  This one looks to the first bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge.  

His Bridge to Brooklyn

This one looks in the other direction towards the Manhattan Bridge, you can just see a bit of the Williamsburgh beyond.  I was asked if I was on a boat when I took this picture, but no, the walkway curved at this point.  

Peeking Between Pillars

Again the Manhattan Bridge, with the a view from above the bench.  

Elevated Perspective

The Bridge Behind

The Brooklyn Bridge sneaks up behind the deserted Fulton Fish Market.  This area is going to be redeveloped in the next few years along with South Street Seaport.  

The Bridge Behind

Foley Square

I liked the lines and the angles from this view of the court at Foley Square.  As I later worked my way around the public space here, I saw that they were setting up a scene to be shot for a television series.  The woman in black atop the steps was actually a production assistant and all the others were extras.  

Foley Square

Fifth Avenue Fjord

When looking south, the buildings on either side of Fifth Avenue create a cavern that opens up near the Empire State Building.  This particular area has older rounded buildings on the left (which is the east side) and symmetrical newer buildings to the right (that's west).  To me, the high walls and narrow opening reminds me a bit of a fjord.  

Fifth Avenue Fjord

Metropolis

Another view from my office building looking over the World Financial Center and the Hudson River.  The ferry approaches from Jersey City.  

Metropolis

Cloud Ceiling

As I have mentioned before, my office view directly overlooks the developing World Trade Center site.  Here are some prior posts with views.  

Now that One World Trade Center has reached it's full height of 1776 feet, it is truly in the clouds.  This view from my office window was pointed out to me by a co-worker (lucky me having a camera nearby).  It's interesting to me that the lower buildings are both slanted inwardly as I did not expect that kind of bending with my wide angle lense, but I like the perspective.  

Cloud Ceiling

More Steel

Here's another from the "Out of My Offices windows" series.  Obviously we overlook a pretty damn interesting view.  

More Steel

The Tower Tree

I've previously mentioned the brilliant view my office has overlooking the World Trade Center site.  We've witnessed visits from the President and the Queen, and watched as the site develops into its future look.  

The growing One World Trade Center, now the largest building in New York City, even before it has been completed, now has a seasonal look.  Mixed lights now capture the holiday spirit.  It resembles something like a Christmas Tree.  

I hooked up my Gorillapod tripod to handle the low light, blocked out much of the window reflection, and took these shots.

The reflecting pool memorials, in the footprint of the former twin towers, create a third presence reflected in the glass of the new building being built at Four World Trade Center.  

Later I went down to the street and took this shot.  It's a time exposure, so some of the moving figures on the street create a ghosting effect.  

Off the High Line

I finally got a chance to walk along the High Line, the abandoned train tracks that were converted into a Park.  While the atmosphere and style of the park weaves and has unique spots for resting and people watching, I was most intrigued by views off the tracks.  Since you are floating above the streets, and meandering between the buildings, there are angles that are interesting.  

Here's a collection of shots from above:

Fourteenth Street

Empire Peak

Hung

Hardly the Same

Escape

West 24th Street

Deliveries

Bricked Over

Artus Interruptus

Astor Place

I was free one day at lunch time and took the subway up to Astor Place in Greenwich Village.  The core of the area is a square with a giant black cube called "Alamo".  I took several shots from different angles and generally focused on a single man standing near the giant work of art.  Here are three of those shots with different treatments.

Astor Place

Here is the same angle but with some dramatic tension from the emergence of the curly haired woman.

Opposing the Cube

I moved across to the east corner of the plaza, and represented it with a black and white perspective.

Cubed

Then across from the south vantage point, there were some contrasting shapes, the circles of the bicycle and rack opposing the cube.

Circle and Cube

Cruising from New York

The slow smooth departure of a cruise ship from a port is always an event.  It's a time to be moving on... to anticipate new sights, and to reflect on where you've been.  It also provides a unique perspective, even to a place which you are most familiar.  You usually do not look at a place moving from 12 stories high from the water.  So, it is a time to be fascinated by something that looks just a little bit different. I've previously shown a selection of shots when departing Venice.  

While I am a New Yorker is most every way, and capture the sights from the street with much of my photography, the view from the river is something that is quite strange to me.  In this case, struggling to stay comfortable on the top deck of the ship, on a winter's day, with winds blowing at 50 miles per hour, Nonetheless, I knew that the light and view would be rewarding.  The ship departed from the Hudson River pier up near 55th Street and moved downtown into the harbor and then out under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.  

It was a cloudy day, with spotlights of sun.  First a classic view featuring the Chrysler Building.  

Juxtaposition

Looking straight up 42nd Street towards Times Square through the entire island of Manhattan and over to Queens.  

 42nd Street

You, of course, need a shot of the Empire State Building....

The Empire State

I am unfamiliar with these buildings, but the combination of the new architecture with the colors of the pier seemed to create an interesting juxtaposition.  

Triad Juxtaposition

I softened this picture of the Statue of Liberty.

The Statue

Having reached the Harbor, looking back gives a view of the downtown area, including One World Trade Center under construction.  

Downtown

Eventually the Verrazano came into view as the sun started to descend.  The wall in front is the glass barrier of the cruise ship.  

Approaching the Bridge

Having passed under the bridge, the sun now was centered within the west tower.

Beyond the Bridge

And then out to the rocky sea towards the Bahamas.

Werewolf Heads?

I was waiting for a meeting to begin in our conference room on the 32nd floor.  Being early, I blankly looked out at the view.  I have looked out that way many times (it's a good view), but this time I happened to notice the roof and details of the building directly across the street. 

I was struck by the amount of detail in the building (which I had never noticed).  In particular, I was amazed by the row of animal heads along the top rim.  What effort to create these in a location that is impossible to see from the street.  As a matter of fact, the only place you could really see them was from where I stood. 

But, when the building was created, it was decided that there should be the work and expense of adding this detail.   Not an uncommon thing in those days, I guess, especially when you see the work put into the Woolworth Building a few blocks north.  But still, this attention to detail is missing from the new construction. 

Lookin at the row of 17 heads, it wasn't really clear to me what this animal was.  It seemed like it was a lion at first, but looking closer made me unsure.   It actually kind of looks like a werewolf to me.  And I'll bet there were more werewolves on the other sides.  All, but the west wall, which is now connected to the Hilton Millennium Hotel.  The hotel was certainly built later, and maybe they needed to remove the werewolves from that side.  So that would be 51 heads or so (maybe 68 when it was built). Where are those heads from the west wall now?

So, these heads, made me curious about this building and the effort put into its creation.  I'm sure I had passed it from the street, but from this perspective, I had no idea what it was. 

So, my research began by doing a Google Map search on the street to figure out the address.  Moving into the Street View mode, I could see the front of the building.  Ah, so this is 195 Broadway.   Oh yes, I remembered this building had a large marble lobby and I taken a picture of a man sitting there that I called "Lobby Contemplation". 

Knowing the exact address now, my next stop was Wikipedia, which had a page about 195 Broadway. 

I now know this was the original home of AT&T, occupied from 1916 until 1983. And, this was from where the first trans-Atlantic telephone call was placed. 

Now missing is the original 28' foot gold plated statue called "Genius of Electricity" that originally sat on top of the building (again probably best seen from my building which did not exist in those days).  It was later taken down from the roof and moved to the new AT&T building uptown, and then to their headquarters in Basking Ridge.  When SBC bought AT&T, and then later changed their own name from SBC to AT&T, they again relocated the Genius to their home office in Dallas.  That is a lot of effort and expense to move a 16 ton statue.  

 Here are some pictures of the building taken by others.  It kind of amazes me to realize the effort that went to creating and paying for the werewolves, building the columns, and the 16-ton statue (and to move it to Dallas). But then someone wanted to build the pyramids too.  There are a lot of remarkable buildings in New York, so this one is only a member of the list.  But, it was new to me, at least from the top.

Fear of Heights?

They continue to slowly dismantle the Deutsche Bank building which was damaged by fallout from the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings which were next door.  A monstrous crane sits on top and slowly lowers pieces of the building to the ground.  It's slow going with maybe only 12 stories being removed over the course of the past year. It amazes me how strong the crane must be to lift these massive steel beams. 

My office window overlooks the scene.  Click each picture for a large size version of it, it really can only be appreciated large. 

Deutsche Bank Crane

Today, I noticed there were a couple of guys way out at the tip of the crane.  And, then I saw another one walking the length of the extension like it was a bridge.  He walked quickly and didn't appear to have any kind of tethering. 

Deutsche Bank Crane 2

After he joined the group out at the tip, the crane started slowly moving horizontally with the entire arm moving as the workers stood out at the tip. This is not a job for those who might be afraid of heights. 

Deutsche Bank Crane 3

Organized Chaos

This photo is simply a view from the steps of the new TKTS booth in Times Square looking south with a longish lens.  As chaotic as this photo looks (I was thinking of inserting a game of Where's Waldo in here), there is a certain order to the way things are laid out.

Certainly on the street level, it is not nearly as crowded as this looks.  But, it was evening rush hour and a bit busy.  I do notice that it is primarily cabs heading through Times Square at this hour.  In another shot, there were a few trucks, and buses.  But, here I informally counted 17 cabs in this shot.  The yellow path of cabs kind of adds a nice separation between the groups of people. 

I spent a good amount of time watching the zipper sign move by and would try and freeze certain words that might be symbolic or important.  I got a few shots with the words "information", "heist", "trusted", "general" featured.  But, in this case, we have "News" centering (which seems rather appropriate).

There is one person who I would consider a focal point within the shot, the guy in the blue sweater in the front is probably best posed. His name is Waldo perhaps.

Yankee Tickertape Recap

Friday was my second tickertape parade. The first was the one celebrating the Super Bowl victory of the Giants in 2008. While crowded, I had good positioning to get a feel for the parade and got some decent photos. But, that crowd seemed to be nothing compared to the Yankees parade. I couldn't get anywhere near the parade itself and didn't even try.

To get an idea of how far back the crowds went, in the shot below, the parade would be passing by near the traffic light way up ahead. The girl is looking the wrong way.

Instead, I focused on the people in their Yankee outfits. They didn't always feel like cheering. Many of them had been there since 7am (parade time was 11). Add on to that time to get your face painted.

Several were fighting to use the bathrooms in office buildings nearby, even though signs said NO PUBLIC BATHROOMS. Even the face painters got tired and eventually lost their enthusiasm. These two seemed to be done (this was after the parade).

Finally, I got this amusing moment on video from my iPhone. Apparently this flag was considered a weapon, and the guy holding it was removed.

9/11 View

This is the view from my office's window on the 32nd floor looking down onto the World Trade Center site yesterday, on the 9/11 anniversary. They added the flag just for the day.

Street Block

They are preparing for the September 11th memorial services at Zuccotti Park (across from the World Trade Center site) by closing off adjoining Liberty Street. They are securing the area by installing temporary heavy duty concrete blocks. I also noticed that all the garbage cans in the surrounding blocks have been removed.

They are simultaneously beautifying the park by putting in rows and rows of flowers. (Pictures taken with an iPhone).

No Big Deal

Looking out of the window of a conference room while a meeting took place, the Manhattan Bridge looked like this. I ran for my camera, but didn't have my larger zoom lens with me. So, the close up here is cropped down from my many megapixels.

It looked like a rather major event to those of us in the room. The flames actually got twice as high as shown here. But, seemingly there was not much concern. Fire trucks showed up maybe 30 minutes later. And, then after 45 minutes, I got a text message from the New York City emergency response system that said there was a fire on a tractor trailer on the bridge.

I googled it today and didn't find much news about it. Guess it was no big deal.

The Red Cube

So, on the corner of Broadway and Liberty Place is this huge red cube. It is an art work, which is called "The Red Cube", done by the artist Isamu Noguchi.

It's kind of out of place amongst the tall black buildings. And, it is in a tourist location, near Wall Street and the World Trade Center site. People like to pose with it, pretending they are holding it up from afar (like the Leaning Tower of Pisa). It's also interesting in various types of weather. In the winter, it's kind of like a square igloo on its side.

In rainy weather, if you stand in the right place you can be kind of protected from the elements.

But the main reason I'm writing about this is because of this abstract picture I took through the center with perfect positioning to see this reflection of the building across the street.