Archive for the ‘Washington Heights’ Category
In which The Gay Recluse rejoices over the end of gentrification in Washington Heights. Rejoice, kind and courageous foes of gentrification! For those many of you who have added your voice to the cause — i.e., our allies in lower Manhattan, Brooklyn and other gentrified neighborhoods around the city who have never ceased to warn us […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Communism, Drivel, Gentrification, Infrastructure, Longing, Memory, Nostalgia, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | 6 Comments
Tags: Coffee, Deaths, Patries, The OC Bakery and Cafe
In which The Gay Recluse remembers life in Washington Heights. We’re in Berlin, which means we’re nostalgic for the George Washington Bridge. Let’s take a walk down memory lane, shall we? This was last Sunday morning, as in May 11. We don’t remember it, either. This was at the end of the day Monday, which […]
Filed under: Architecture, GWB Project, Infrastructure, Landscape, Longing, Nostalgia, Obsession, The Gay Recluse, Travel, Washington Heights, Weather | Leave a Comment
Tags: Berlin, Friday, Monday, Sunday, The George Washington Bridge, Tuesday, Wednesday
In which The Gay Recluse has shaky hands and doesn’t regret it. There’s a saying among serious gardeners. Annuals are gay! “Friends don’t let friends buy annuals.” We can appreciate that. The colors are sometimes kind of gay garish! But then again, we hate to be austere about anything. And perennials can be very temperamental! […]
Filed under: Gay, GWB Project, Longing, Photography, The Gay Recluse, The Spring Garden, Washington Heights | 1 Comment
Tags: Annuals, Botany, Drugs, Eight, LSD, orange, Pink, Yellow
In which The Gay Recluse rather quickly dies of lung cancer as he becomes increasingly obsessed with birds. The oily black smoke of 100-year-old boilers disperses daily across the rooftops in Washington Heights, heedless of those (including birds) who suffer from pneumonia, asthma and tuberculosis. Officials and politicians? Not even footnotes in this story, which […]
Filed under: Animals, GWB Project, Infrastructure, Photography, Politicians, Sickness, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Asthma, Birds, Bridges, Cancer, George Washington Bridge, Rooftops
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with trees. We were waiting a long time for the copper beech (Fagus sylvatica “Dawyck Purple”) to open this spring. We had only planted it last year so didn’t know what to expect. We were worried when everything else was in bloom and the beech showed no […]
Filed under: Decay, Dissonance, GWB Project, Landscape, The Gay Recluse, The Spring Garden, Washington Heights, Weather | Leave a Comment
Tags: Beech, Copper Beech, Dawyck Purple, Fagus sylvatica, Lies, Problems, Shells
On Washington Heights Monopoly: Condominium for 573-575 West 161st, 577-579 a Mystery Excavation
In which The Gay Recluse provides an update on a beehive of activity at 573-579 West 161st Street. So it’s official, if “official” means by way of an unnamed receptionist at the architects’s office: 573-575 West 161st Street is going to be a 6-story condominium. We’re trying to scrounge up a rendering, but in the […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Gentrification, Government, Knockbusters, Monopoly, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Church, Condominiums, construction, Doctors, Excavation, Permits
In which The Gay Recluse rather quickly gets lung cancer. Time of Photographs: May 10, around 8:30. 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 […]
Filed under: Government, GWB Project, Health, Sickness, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Asthma, Breathing, Rooftops, Smoke
In which The Gay Recluse contemplates an uncommissioned masterpiece from the walls of an uptown subway station. Consider the old panels on the subway platform wall, and observe the finely wrought precision with which each strip of peeling paint has by the hands of time been distressed in the subtlest shades of gold and silver, […]
Filed under: Infrastructure, Obsession, Photography, Ruins, Subway, Technology, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: 163rd Street, Abstract Expressionism, MTA
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. Time/Date: May 4, around 8pm-ish. I, too, have an obsession with the George Washington Bridge. However, mine involves a nagging compulsion to complete a football pass from the deck of the bridge to a buddy on the ground below. –Ryan Pissed and […]
Filed under: Architecture, GWB Project, Infrastructure, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Football, May, Sunset, The George Washington Bridge
In which The Gay Recluse attempts to use a new “macro” lens. So yeah: The Globularia stygia we bought last year at Stonecrop Gardens is in bloom. These first two pix we took with the regular lens. Then we took some drugs tried out a new macro lens. We are reminded of a record cover […]
Filed under: GWB Project, Longing, Memory, Photography, The Spring Garden, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Globurlaria Stygia, Loveless, Lush, My Bloody Valentine, Pale Saints, Ride, Shoegazer Rock, Stonecrop Gardens
In which The Gay Recluse sees you on the dark side of the moon. We’d like to put forth the case that the most random graffiti can be found uptown. Exhibit A: Spotted on the southbound platform of the 163rd Street subway station: The cock is stupid, but we have to admit that the Roger […]
Filed under: Bad Rock, Infrastructure, Sickness, Subway, Washington Heights | 2 Comments
Tags: Celebrities, Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd, Roger Waters
In which The Gay Recluse lives in an alternate reality. For a long time we’ve kept an eye on the triple vacant lot at 573-577 West 161st Street, which we walk by every day on our way to the 163rd Street subway station. In January, we were pleasantly surprised to see two of the three […]
Filed under: Architecture, Gentrification, Government, Knockbusters, Longing, Monopoly, New York City, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | 5 Comments
Tags: Alternate Realities, Apartment Buildings, Bulldozers, Department of Buildings, Development, Monopoly, Recession, Uptown Real Estate
In which The Gay Recluse retires to our garden in Washington Heights. Date of photograph: April 28, 2008, around 6:30pm It’s hardly a secret that sometimes the spring garden looks better in the rain. Today was one of those days… One of our favorite plants is the creeping yellow groundcover, which we bought a few […]
Filed under: GWB Project, Language, Longing, Memory, New York City, Obsession, Pessimism, Photography, Pleasure, Resignation, Ruins, Search, Stereotypes, The Gay Recluse, The Spring Garden, Washington Heights, Weather | Leave a Comment
Tags: Alpines, Chasing Amy, Creeping Jenny, Green Markets, Groundcover, Lesbian Conversions, Lysimachia nummularia, Perennials, Rain, Rocks, Sighs, Union Square, Washington Heights
In which The Gay Recluse contemplates an uncommissioned masterpiece from the walls of an uptown subway station. Consider the old panels on the subway platform wall, and observe the finely wrought precision with which each strip of peeling paint has by the hands of time been distressed in the subtlest shades of gold and silver, […]
Filed under: Graffiti, Search, Subway, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: 163rd Street, Abstract Expressionism, Art, C-train, Subway
In which The Gay Recluse contemplates an old friend. Date of Picture: April 24, 2008 Location: Our garden in Washington Heights. Even as a child in Pittsburgh, we loved this table. All winter it would sit out on the porch as we stared longingly at it. Every May, when it was finally warm enough (this […]
Filed under: City Pattern Project, Dissonance, Landscape, Longing, Memory, Ruins, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights, Weather | Leave a Comment
Tags: 1970s, Chores, Porch Furniture, Porches, Spring Cleaning, Suburbs, Tables, Wrought Iron
In which The Gay Recluse watches plants. With a nasty apartment building looming over our garden, we felt we had no choice but to plant bamboo, and not the clumping variety either, but the running kind you read about taking over the earth. We rented a truck last summer and drove to a small town […]
Filed under: Architecture, Conspiracy, The Gay Recluse, The Spring Garden, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Bamboo, Cement Planters, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Elevated Troughs, Screening Trees
In which The Gay Recluse works in the garden. Time of Photographs: April 20, 2008, afternoon (ish) Today, a first in the garden! We heard an opera singer. She was doing scales in a nearby apartment. Her window was definitely open. She was loud! And she was struggling to hit her high notes. (She was […]
Filed under: Architecture, Memory, Opera, Resignation, Ruins, The Gay Recluse, The Spring Garden, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Frank Lloyd Wright, Garden Statues, Hinoki Cypress, Mezzo, Opera, Scottish Broom, Singing
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. Time of photographs: April 19th, 7:00-8:00 (ish). Washington Heights is a place of extremes. Even the clouds are intense. Life is nothing but abrasive. Washington Heights is completely bereft of visionaries. But resonates with the dead genius of the past. Here we […]
Filed under: Bad Rock, GWB Project, Infrastructure, Landscape, Photography, Politicians, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Beauty, Merengue, Music, The George Washington Bridge, Torture
The Gay Recluse 