Archive for the ‘Washington Heights’ Category
It is not only that the C delivers us to Washington Heights, while the B veers east at 145th Street to the Bronx; there are, most notably, the seats; on the B they are oddly flat without the slight trough that allows us to lean back, to settle in and resume our contemplations. And is […]
Filed under: Infrastructure, Pleasure, Resignation, Subway, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: B-train, C-train, Ergonomic Design, MTA, New York Yankees, Washington Heights
Thank you so very much for your keen insight and generosity, your willingness to come all the way up here to protect us! Your words have been so reassuring; we feel so much better knowing that you will do everything in your power — including next week’s important meeting with the mayor — to prevent […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Decay, Drivel, Gentrification, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Gentrification, New York City, Washington Heights
Of all the outer boroughs, Brooklyn seems to offer the least potential for the gay recluse in search of refuge and contemplation. Having once lived in Park Slope — there, we admit it — we remain mystified by the unceasing torrent of adulation heaped upon the borough — and in particular, we address these comments […]
Filed under: Decay, Resignation, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, Cobble Hill, Heath Ledger, Park Slope, The New York Times, Washington Heights, Williamsburg
In response to the criticism by us and many others of her article on Thelma and Louise, Judith Warner in her latest column in The Times has come back to the table, prepared to admit how “shocked” she was by the reaction, but nevertheless maintaining that “[since] the 1970s and 1980s… I [can] attest to […]
Filed under: Drivel, Pessimism, The Times, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Judith Warner, New York Times, Schopenhauer, Thelma and Louise, Washington Heights
The oily black smoke of 100-year-old boilers disperses daily across the rooftops in Washington Heights, heedless of those who suffer from pneumonia, asthma and tuberculosis. Officials and politicians? Not even footnotes in this story, which is about the aggregation of capital and the relentless rise of the metropolis.
Filed under: Capitalism, Politicians, Sickness, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Betsy Gotbaum, Charles B. Rangel, Charles Schumer, Eric T. Schneiderman, George W. Bush, Harlem, Herman “Denny” Farrell, Hillary Clinton, Michael Bloomberg, Miguel Martinez, Robert Jackson, Scott Stringer, Washington Heights
To those who complain about our subway station, we will not dispute your claims regarding the legions of rats who live on the upper platform, the large underground cavern now filled with trash that has long been closed off to riders; nor will we deny that the smell of piss is pervasive, and that at […]
Filed under: Decay, Infrastructure, Pleasure, Resignation, Washington Heights | 2 Comments
Tags: Andy Warhol, ESPN, Michael C. Hall, MTA, New York City, Sarah Silverman, Washington Heights
There are many games of dominoes in Washington Heights, but we prefer to avoid those on Broadway — populated by noisy, drunken louts — in favor of the more intense and serious version found on the side streets leading up to Amsterdam. Here the diamond-studded drug lord steps out of an armored SUV to take […]
Filed under: Drag Queens, Pleasure, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Beatrice, Broadway, Candy Darling, Dominoes, New York City, Walter Benjamin, Washington Heights
Opening the gate that leads from our front yard to the street, we were met by a short, scrawny man with veiny arms that seemed to swell grotesquely at the elbow. He wore jeans and a dingy t-shirt on which the faded outlines of a corporate logo could be seen. His eyes were gaunt, but […]
Filed under: Addiction, Pessimism, The Autumn Garden, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: 1991, Beatrice, Crack Cocaine, The Rose Brick Company, The Velvet Underground
On Crashes in the Night
We were woken up by the crash of something large and fragile, not in the bedroom but somewhere close, definitely inside the apartment. The first inclination was to blame Dante or Zephyr, but they seemed equally perplexed as we examined the crystal decanters in the dining room and the earthenware collection in the living room […]
Filed under: Orchids, The Russian Blue, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Cats, Dante, Huysman, Le Corbusier, Spleen, The George Washington Bridge, Zephyr
On Washington Heights
Of all the Manhattan venues available to the gay recluse, Washington Heights is undoubtedly the preferred. Here we live among extremes of material decadence and breathtaking neglect, apparent in the crumbling cornices of Ft. Washington Avenue and eroding limestone facades of St. Nicholas, not to mention the tiled mosaics in the entrance foyers of the […]
Filed under: Resignation, Washington Heights | 2 Comments
Tags: Marlene Dietrich, St. Nicholas Avenue, The Alhumbra, The Cloisters, The Morris-Jumel Mansion, Washington Heights
The Gay Recluse 