Vintage shopping at Skylight One Hanson, Brooklyn

The market -
or a very small part of it

During winter, the traditional Brooklyn outdoor market moves to Skylight One Hanson, the former and famous building of Williamsburg Savings Bank situated in Fort Greene. Vintage itself, the three floor Art Deco edifice offers a perfect setting to welcome thousands of visitors eager for discoveries and more than a hundred vendors selling second hand goods and old items that have been reinvented.

From antiques to handmade articles, clothing, jewels and other accessories, beauty products, furniture, vintage records and photography items, Skylight One Hanson has it all; the market is a great place to find a unique gift, a gorgeous new deco objet or the perfect fashion accessory.

Another Riverside park work of art

To add to the picture and information I published last week about the program Model To Monument and the numerous pieces of public art in Riverside Park, here is another beautiful artwork; it is perfectly integrated in its urban landscape.

  
The picture was taken with Instagram and the filter Nashville.

Somewhere in Soho

This is just a nice and authentic urban scene somewhere in a street of Soho.

Meatpacking Graffiti

I really enjoy street art and I think I will never get bored of taking pictures of graffiti. This one was discovered in the Meatpacking District, more specifically in an indoor parking around 16th Street.

I played a little with the picture using Pixlr-o-Matic but I can’t remember the exact filters.

Beautiful work of art in Riverside Park

In June 2011, some student sculptors were given the chance to unveil their art in front of the entire city. The program Model To Monument allowed them to create a piece of public art from start to finish and to display it in Riverside Park, a popular 266-acre park – designed among others by Frederick Law Olmsted - that stretches along five miles of the Hudson.

This piece of art is a life-size bronze of a girl and her dog looking out on the River. The picture was taken with Instagram.

Sculptures will be displayed until June 2012.

The barber shop

Just an everyday scene of Midtown’s Fashion District; I used the filter Aladin of Pixlr-o-Matic.

Three shows (among hundreds) to see in Chelsea’s art galleries

These past 15 years, Chelsea has become the world’s most important center for contemporary art by being home to hundreds of art galleries mostly situated in the West part of the neighborhood. The Municipal Art society of New York recently organized a walking tour around the various galleries, allowing us to visit seven very different places with a variety of exhibitions, the aim being to explore what is new and most exciting on the current art scene.
 
Here are my three favorite exhibitions of the tour; this represents a very small fraction of what is available and all choices are totally personal, but hopefully it will encourage you to discover or rediscover Chelsea and its vibrant art community. As many galleries are located within just a few city blocks, it is really easy to visit numerous places in one single afternoon – but this will certainly make you want to come back for more the day after! 

Cabs

This picture was taken around 10th Avenue in the neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen. I like the old version of cabs and I still can’t believe that the City is going to change them by introducing this too modern “Taxi of Tomorrow”.

  
I used Pixlr-o-Matic, most specifically the filter Sophia, to modify the picture.

A dog rack

I caught this magic moment when I was exiting my apartment building; a dog walker had left his pack on the sidewalk and these six little angels were patiently waiting there, some staring at me. Pure happiness…

Street food

With over 3,000 street vendors in the City and food stands on almost every corner of midtown,New York’s street Food is much more than hot dogs and pretzels. On the sidewalks, you can get almost any food you want from gyros to cupcakes, dumplings, falafel, couscous, waffles and burgers as well as Mexican and Korean tacos.

This picture has been taken in midtown on a cold Friday night.

Magnolia Bakery

When My English teacher Justin took us for a drink in Greenwich Village last week, I couldn’t help taking a few pictures of the charming Magnolia Bakery. The place looks particularly nice at nighttime; it makes the candy pink color even more bewitching… and pulling you in to have a cupcake!

For the Sex and the City fans, this is the place where Carrie and Miranda eat cupcakes while they talk about Carrie's new crush Aiden...

For these pictures, I used respectively Instagram’s Walden and Lomo-fi filters.

Glorious Empire State building

This is the Empire State building in its most natural beauty; with an inconspicuous soft pink morning light.

Open House at the Apollo Theater

What better way to celebrate Black History Month than a sweet escapade to Harlem, this major African-American neighborhood of Manhattan. The Apollo Theater, a notorious music hall that is also one of the oldest in the United States, recently held an open house weekend. For the occasion, residents and visitors were offered a glimpse into the Apollo’s rich history, having the chance to explore the neo-classical theater and step onto the legendary stage where many of our favorite African-American performers, among them James Brown, The Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, and Lauryn Hill, have launched their successful careers.

Winter tennis

I was surprised to notice that in New York, tennis courts are always occupied; even in winter when it’s freezing outside! These two people were brave enough to challenge a cold -5 Celsius degrees (23 Fahrenheit) to play their sport on a beautiful January Tuesday afternoon.

Graffiti marriage proposal

Did you watch this viral 2011 video about a graffiti marriage proposal in East Village? I did when I was still in Montreal and I was so happy, recently, when this famous street art appeared along my path.

Apparently, the artist’s girlfriend was walking to meet him for dinner when she saw the street art. He promptly got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. How adorable…

Happy Valentine's Day!

New Yorker Gus is having a boring day

Gus is the adorable polar bear of the Central Park Zoo. I took a million pictures of him! This photo was taken on a warm – obviously too warm for him - winter day.

I used Pixlr-o-Matic, most specifically the filter Sophia, to emphasize even more the presence of the bear in the picture.

Brunch with Bluegrass

Brunch is big In New York. This iconic mash-up of breakfast and lunch is, as New Yorkers claim, a NYC invention.

Did you ever ask yourself why people drink alcohol – mostly in the form of Mimosa and Bloody Mary – at brunch? I have always believed that this behavior was reserved for special occasions, just like it is in Quebec. But I recently learned that for New Yorkers it is traditionally a hangover cure!

As you may know, I am determined to become a real New Yorker; I therefore intend to make this very pleasant practice that is brunch part of my new life in the City. I gave it a first try last weekend.

Old buildings in TriBeCa

The neighborhood of TriBeCa, especially around Downtown, shows an interesting mix of old and modern buildings. I see these apartments everyday on my way back from school and I always admire the charm they bring to the area.

Color has been modified with Instagram – sorry if I can’t remember the exact filter.

The city at dawn from Newark airport

No filter; Only the City and the stunning colors of a nice Sunday morning.

Remembering 2012's first snow...

Elevated parkings are for me a kind of signature of New York. They are not always good looking but I found that this one, that I caught from the High Line Park around 18th street, was beautiful covered with snow.

Subway vintage train

I took a ride on a MTA’s vintage subway this winter and it was an amazing experience for the public transit fan that I am. As vintage clothing is fashion here, I was lucky enough to catch an exterior picture of the train while a gentleman with a nice hat was standing in front of it – and if you look closer there is another one inside the subway. This, paired with the Instagram’s filter Amaro, gives a little 1930 feels to the scene…

"Look better naked"

This advertisement has been painted on the side of a building in Soho. I found the colors were charming. “Look better naked” is an omnipresent slogan in NYC; the fancy David Barton Gym in Chelsea has the same one.

The picture has been modified with Pixlr-o-Matic, most speficically the filter Anne.

From the High Line; looking North through an art structure

New York, I find, is even more attractive in pictures than in words. Because of that, and because of my endless love story with photography, I decided to begin publishing daily pictures that will allow you to follow my footsteps in the Big Apple. 

The first photo of this series has been taken on my beloved High Line Park; everyone who knows me knows how I like this place, which I find is the perfect example of New York creativity and eccentricity.

The elaborate architectural sculpture that you see is Still life with landscape (Model for a habitat) by the artist Sarah Sze. The artwork is situated close to the 23rd Street exit and will be in the park until June 2012. In the  background, we can see the London Terrace, a famous huge residential building.

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I used the Instagram’s filter Lome-fi.

Punchdrunk’s Sleep no more: I want more

Last week, Martin and I went to see Sleep no more, an immersive theatrical production created by the British site-specific theater company Punchdrunk. The show has been playing for almost a year now in the McKittrick Hotel – a nod to Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” –, a deserted luxury 1930’s hotel situated on West 27th Street, in Chelsea’s gallery district.

A complicated story; an even more complicated experience
Sleep No More tells the very dark and shocking story of Shakespeare’s Macbeth in a creative and unique way: welcomed in a beautifully decorated 1930’s bar, the masked audience – all “guests” are required to wear and keep on a Venetian carnival-style mask to stay anonymous – has for two hours an almost unlimited access to the amazing decor of the six stories pleasure palace, having the great freedom to explore any of the one hundred rooms and chase up the silent characters, choosing where to go and what to see.

Your options are quite simple but might be disconcerting: you can follow one character all evening as they run and dance around the different bedrooms, bathrooms and ballrooms – there is even a hospital room and an outdoor forest – or you can stay in one area, waiting for something meaningful to happen. You can read letters left on desks, take a look in bookcases and get as close as you want to Macbeth and his lady, Macduff and his wife, King Duncan and various witches and hotel employees - as long as you don’t touch them. Half actors half dancers, Sleep no more’s protagonists have certainly the power to make you feel sometimes in an intense and disturbing horror movie, sometimes in a wordless murder mystery evening.

A glimpse into New York’s Chinese New Year festivities

Chinatown becomes a very crazy area during Chinese lunar New Year; there is no better place to make a quiet and peaceful girl like me feel like I’m on another continent, not to say in a completely different world. 

On January 23rd, I participated with excitement in the Firecracker Ceremony, risking my life walking through the frenzied crowds. People go to this famous celebration to welcome local politicians and other community leaders but above all to watch the renowned cultural performances and animals - mostly dragons this year – dancing in the neighborhood’s main streets and parks. Even if it was raining that day, thousands of people were celebrating, bursting firecrackers everywhere to ward off evil spirits – believe me some people are dangerous with these firecracker - , and squabbling for a place to contemplate the numerous beautiful dragons coming out of houses in almost every corner of Chinatown.