Archive for the ‘New York City’ Category
Have we ever told you just how grateful we are to the Audubon Station Post Office in Washington Heights? They have taught us so much, and not just about patience and resolve when it comes to standing in the six-hour lines that perpetually meander through their sallow, fluorescent interiors, but about the need to resign […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Gentrification, Infrastructure, New York City, Pessimism, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights, Writers-American | Leave a Comment
Tags: Audubun Station, Mail, Thomas Pynchon, Thurn und Taxis, Trystero, United States Postal Service, USPS, Washington Heights
On Memories of Paris
Perhaps it was the broken signal of the closing subway door — so that the usual New York City tones were reversed, with the low one first — that dislodged us from our usual evening commute and sent us reeling toward the city of light; or maybe it was the pair of women speaking French; […]
Filed under: Drag Queens, Gay, Memory, New York City, Subway, The Gay Recluse, Travel | Leave a Comment
Tags: Chatelet, Dubuffet, Les Halles, Metro, MTA, Paris, Place St. Michel
On Putting the Garden To Sleep
We sweep the walk one last time, gathering up the birch leaves — a deep yellow — and the beech leaves — a magnificent, burned orange — before tossing all of them over the wall into the vacant lot next door. The wrought-iron table and chairs we place under a tarp; we bring the candles […]
Filed under: New York City, Subway, The Autumn Garden, The Gay Recluse | Leave a Comment
Tags: Candles, Copper Beech, Garden, Garden Furniture, Leaves, Terra Cotta, White Birch, Winter Tarps, Wrought Iron
The bright and cool December air brings us back to the years we spent in Brooklyn, when each weekend we walked up Third Street to the park, and there on one of the inner fields — away from the strollers and the “ultimate” Frisbee players — met for a game of soccer. As ex-athletes and […]
Filed under: Brooklyn, Dream, Memory, New York City | Leave a Comment
Tags: Brooklyn, Nethermead, Pickup Soccer, Prospect Park, Saturnine
On the End of November
You will be relieved to learn that the scaffolding we told you about is finally coming down; but to reveal what, exactly? A new apartment palace, a refurbished monument to gilded living? Well, perhaps for some, but as we watch the men arrive in their trucks to disassemble the steel beams and wooden planks, we are not as pleased as you might have expected. We […]
Filed under: Architecture, Decay, Memory, New York City, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Aging, construction, hope, remorse, renovation, Weather
Do you remember what it was like to be sick as a child, when you would stay home from school and relocate to your parents’ bed to watch television? Some days we were faking and would do anything to avoid the tedium of school (if only that were an option now!) but when we were […]
Filed under: Dream, Gay, Memory, New York City, Sickness | Leave a Comment
Tags: Childhood, Delirium, Fever, Queens, Television, Wallpaper
On Tears for the Gay Recluse
Recent artwork in the local museum of the ephemeral:
Filed under: Infrastructure, New York City, Subway, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: 163rd Street, C-train, Chelsea Boys, Gay, MTA, New York City, SubTalk, United States Marines
To our dear friends, the realtors and developers of Washington Heights: thank you so much for inviting us to your delightful open house! As happy as we were to learn that you had bought the vacant “shell” on St. Nicholas and 157th Street for $1 (and don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone about the $500k […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Gentrification, New York City, Politicians, Washington Heights | 1 Comment
Tags: Developers, Flipping Out, Graft, HPD, Jeff Lewis, Price Gauging, Real Estate, Realtors
On the Empire State Building
In our dreams, the Empire State Building hovers and glows with a radiance that is seriously awesome to behold; it is a beacon to all who seek refuge in the city, and furthermore is not — as Fay Wray tells us — unstinting or cold in this respect, even if like the rest of us […]
Filed under: Architecture, Dream, Film, Gay, History, New York City, Sickness | Leave a Comment
Tags: Architecture, Empire State Building, Fae Wrae, New York City, Walter Benjamin
The Gay Recluse 