Archive for the ‘Architecture’ Category

In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the Empire State Building. Sometimes we spend our entire day at work looking at the computer screen. And then something will remind us to turn around and look out the window. And we’ll spend a few minutes staring at the Empire State Building. And we’ll think […]


In which The Gay Recluse goes to Broadway. Ohai, so did anyone else see these crazy new storefronts in Washington Heights, on Broadway between 160 and 161? (We didn’t think so.) They went in a few weeks ago — during the middle of the night — and there’s still no signage or anything else to […]


In which The Gay Recluse returns to Dupont Circle. For the past few days we’ve been staying at a hotel not far from Dupont Circle, which is the same neighborhood where we lived after college and before law school. Mostly it makes us wonder: why did we ever move? It’s so nice around here! It’s […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. Today we had to get up early — we’re flying to Washington, DC. We’re attending a joint session of U.S. Congress on the issue of reducing gay stereotypes in Hollywood films and teevee shows. (Ha ha — we wish — we’re actually […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with birds. Recently one of our oldest friends from high school got in touch. He moved to the city and found our address in the alumni directory. We haven’t seen him since our ten-year reunion, which was — ouch — twelve years ago. It’s strange how someone […]


In which The Gay Recluse is always late. This morning we reluctantly got out of bed at 7:15 am — instead of our usual 7:30 — so that we would have enough time to do everything we needed to do and catch the 8:20 train instead of the 8:30, because we had an important 9:00 […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. Sometimes we think about what Manhattan looked like 500 years ago. When it was covered with trees and rivers and lakes. In some ways it was probably a lot more beautiful, or at least unspoiled. It was hard to get a taxi […]


In which The Gay Recluse wonders when the fog will burn off. Lately it seems that every morning we wake up in a fog. And we feel sort of hopeless, because even though logic dictates otherwise, we wonder if this will be the day that the fog is permanent. And we’ll never see the sky […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with birds. One thing about birds. No matter how disgusting and dirty they look walking around on the ground — especially pigeons — they are always beautiful in the air. Sometimes at the gym — which is on the third floor — we blow off our workout […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. An amber light descended on the rooftops of Washington Heights. Dark clouds loomed ominously overhead. Inside we read the news reports and — like everyone else we know — wondered what it means. Are we fucked? Or are we not fucked? Odd […]


In which The Gay Recluse walks through the mist of a Sunday morning. Saturday nights can be particularly trying in Washington Heights. Especially now that it’s getting cool out, and you want to keep the windows open. But somehow a cool breeze at one in the morning just isn’t the same when it brings with […]


In which The Gay Recluse is officially one year old. So guess what! We made it through an entire year. For us, that meant 696 posts, 549 comments, 95 categories, 2,617 tags and 96,339 total views. It’s true that we were a traffic whore at times. Which we don’t regret, but lately we haven’t had […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. Wake us up when it’s over.


In which The Gay Recluse is still morose. Today we felt so completely trapped. By our neighborhood, our job, our possessions. Oh and our stupid country. Our life felt completely artless. But then we came home and watched The Hills. And played with the cats. Soon we’ll go to bed. We wonder what it would […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. The drainpipe was rattling on the house today and we had to tie it down. One thing hurricanes make us think about is that Neil Young song, “Like a Hurricane.” (Hmm, wonder why? Lol.) When we were in high school, we were […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. Summer was a waste. “I, too am obsessed with the George Washington Bridge, and have been ever since as stoned youths me and my friends cavorted in the park on the New Jersey side that is directly below the place where the […]


In which The Gay Recluse reports on monthly traffic whoring metrix to the Board of Directors. I. Summary OMG we were such whores, barely writing a word about anything and relying on an old post about women’s beach volleyball for almost all of our traffic! August was a stable month. II. Traffic Whoring Metrix WordPress […]


In which The Gay Recluse is tired. Bedtime. Sometimes even the bridge seems small and far away under the tumult of the sky; once crushed with regret and longing, we are inspired by its patience. –The Gay Recluse


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. Change we can believe in. “The George Washington Bridge over the Hudson is the most beautiful bridge in the world. Made of cables and steel beams, it gleams in the sky like a reversed arch. It is blessed. It is the only […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the GWB. July is the new August, and August is the new September. Sometimes even the bridge seems small and far away under the tumult of the sky; once crushed with regret and longing, we are inspired by its patience. –The Gay Recluse