Archive for the ‘Washington Heights’ Category
In which The Gay Recluse rather quickly gets lung cancer. Date of Photographs: April 18, 2008 We’ve noticed that almost every chimney in Washington Heights is spewing thick, black smoke these days. It’s definitely a lot worse than it’s ever been, which leads us to ask: Does it have anything to do with the rising […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Disease, Government, GWB Project, Health, New York City, Politicians, Sickness, Technology, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights, Weather | 2 Comments
Tags: Boilers, Community Board 12, Dirty Oil, Lung Cancer, New York City DEP
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with The George Washington Bridge. Time and date of photographs: April 17, 2008, 7:00 – 8:00 pm (ish). Originally the George Washington Bridge was meant to be clad in stone but fortunately they ran out of money. This is not a pattern we ever get tired of […]
Filed under: Architecture, GWB Project, Landscape, Obsession, Photography, Pleasure, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Blur, Sunset, The George Washington Bridge, Zoom Lens
In which The Gay Recluse explores the perils of uptown living. Date of photograph: April 13, 2008 Location: The little park between Ft. Tryon and Inwood Hill between Dyckman and Riverside. (Approximately.) Now that it’s warm enough to go outside and there’s plenty of wind, especially down by the river, we’ve been gearing up for […]
Filed under: The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Fort Tryon Park, Hunger, Inwood, Kite Eating Trees, Kites, Munching, Snacks, Uptown, Warm Weather, Wind
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with The George Washington Bridge. Time and Date of photographs: April 12, 2008, 8am, 9am and 8pm. When we woke up, you could barely see the bridge. (But it looked great in the fog!) The sun finally broke through and everything glistened. It looked surreal. Tonight it […]
Filed under: Infrastructure, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Fog, George Washington Bridge, Le Corbusier, Sun, Sunsets
In which The Gay Recluse documents the ruins of Washington Heights and self-referentially quotes an earlier post. Date of photo: April 6, 2008 Location: 161st Street between Broadway and Amsterdam This lion is understandably upset by his bad hair and tacky gold paint! (Still, he’s over 100 years old so it could definitely be worse.) […]
Filed under: Capitalism, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: 161st Street, apartment palaces, architectural details, bad hair, gold paint
In which The Gay Recluse welcomes the spring garden. The hellebore is perhaps not the most spectacular flower, but we like it anyway: it’s a dependable friend. We feel reassured. After months of planning, the first guests have finally arrived and they seem to be having a good time! The hellebore is thousands of years […]
Filed under: Landscape, Photography, The Gay Recluse, The Spring Garden, Washington Heights | 1 Comment
Tags: Curiosity, Friends, Hellebores, Parties, Spring
In which The Gay Recluse documents the ruins of Washington Heights and self-referentially quotes an earlier post. Date: April 6, 2008 Location: 161st Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Hello, friendly lion! 100 years ago, you were not such a big deal, but now you would cost $50,000 at Olde Good Things. We’re glad you’re attached […]
Filed under: Architecture, Decay, Ruins, Search, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | 2 Comments
Tags: Amsterdam, Broadway, Lions, Olde Good Things, Self-Referential, The Alhumbra, Uptown
In which The Gay Recluse photographs shipwrecks lining the Hudson north of the George Washington Bridge. Time and date of photographs: March 30, 2008 (afternoon) As usual, there were those who did not survive the winter. We tend to look at the wreckage with some disdain: “That could never happen to us!” Yet! There is […]
Filed under: Conspiracy, Decay, Pessimism, Photography, Search, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | 1 Comment
Tags: Dyckman Marina, George Washington Bridge, Hudson River, Shipwrecks
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: Architecture, Capitalism, Communism, Decay, Graffiti, Subway, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: 163rd Street, Abstract Expression, Art, C-train, Glue, Masterpieces, Paper, Posters
In which The Gay Recluse is momentarily disturbed. Of all the natural vistas we have encountered — desert landscapes, arctic tundra, the badlands — the rooftops of Washington Heights remain one of the most tranquil and undisturbed. Originally carved from the bedrock some 10,000 years ago by the retreating glaciers, the surreal beauty of these […]
Filed under: Architecture, Conspiracy, Dissonance, Dream, Landscape, New York City, Resignation, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Artic Tundra, Badlands, Birds, Desert, Glaciers, Ice Age, Palisades, Rooftops
On Notes from a True Gay Recluse
In which The Gay Recluse corresponds with Harry, an 80-year-old autistic gay man. Herewith, for those who asked (and for those who did not): March 24: It is none my business to know, but! My curiosity is tweaked. Who are you? Have you posted something somewhere to give a more detailed bio? or do I […]
Filed under: Gay, Letters, Memory, Pessimism, Philosophers, Resignation, Ruins, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Asperger Syndrome, Autism, Birthdays, Cherry Grove, Fort Lauderdale, Gay, Gay Seniors, George Washington Bridge, Little Red Lighthouse, Riverside Drive, Saab
In which The Gay Recluse turns forty. Today we received the following note from Harry, a reader in Washington Heights: Subj: YOU Mess: It is none my business to know, but! My curiosity is tweaked. Who are you? Have you posted something somewhere to give a more detailed bio? or do I have to continue […]
Filed under: Architecture, Decay, Dissonance, Gay, Landscape, New York City, Resignation, Ruins, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | 1 Comment
Tags: Aries, Autism, Birthdays, Fort Tryon Park, Forty, Galaxie 500, Inwood Hill Park, Lampposts, The Minutemen, Upper Manhattan
In which The Gay Recluse contemplates an uncommissioned masterpiece from the walls of an uptown subway station. Consider, if you will, one of 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 […]
Filed under: Architecture, Infrastructure, Landscape, Ruins, Search, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | 3 Comments
Tags: 163rd Street, Abstract Expressionism, C-train, Graffiti, MTA
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with The George Washington Bridge. Time and Date of photograph: March 31, 2008, 9:48am. Notes: The gray tone of the sky nearly matched that of the bridge. “The George Washington Bridge over the Hudson is the most beautiful bridge in the world. Made of cables and steel […]
Filed under: Architecture, GWB Project, Infrastructure, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | 4 Comments
Tags: Fog, George Washington Bridge, Le Corbusier, March, Morning Light
On Whether Asthma Is Caused By Dirty Air: Myth or Not Myth? (And If So, Does It Need To Be Stopped?)
In which The Gay Recluse explores mythology. In response to our post on the nasty black smoke seen snaking around the rooftops of Washington Heights, reader David writes: FYI – asthma is caused more by a bad diet than by the air we breathe. Love your site, but the “asthma is caused by dirty air” […]
Filed under: Animals, Capitalism, Conspiracy, Health, Sickness, Stereotypes, Washington Heights | 2 Comments
Tags: Asthma, Diet, Dirty Air, Mayo Clinic, Mythology
In which The Gay Recluse takes pictures and displays ignorance. First, a note from our new friend and GreenCine film critic James Van Maanen, who writes (with regard to the below shot): Is that first picture of a hawk, maybe? (I ask, because we are getting a number of here out here in Jackson Heights […]
Filed under: Animals, GWB Project, Landscape, New York City, Obsession, Ruins, Science, Stereotypes, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: American Kestrel, Birds, Dykeman, George Washington Bridge, Hudson, Manhattan, Seagulls, Sunset, White-Breasted Nuthatch
In which The Gay Recluse celebrates Easter. It was not until eleventh grade — in Mrs. S____’s English class — that we began to appreciate the obsessive and illogical side of literature, which of course is to say we were reading Wuthering Heights. Do you remember Mrs. S____? How thin and small and severe she […]
Filed under: Dissonance, Dream, Landscape, Language, Literature, Memory, Obsession, The Gay Recluse, The Spring Garden, Washington Heights, Weather, Writers-British | 1 Comment
Tags: Catherine, Easter, Emily Bronte, Fort Tryon Park, Heathcliff, Heather, Sylvia Plath, The Moors, Wuthering Heights
In which The Gay Recluse does some investigative reporting and follows up with a complaint. As we’ve documented many times, thick black smoke — a function of improperly maintained or outdated boiler systems — is pretty much a constant of life in Washington Heights. (No coincidence, asthma rates are pretty much through the roof.) Although […]
Filed under: Animals, Architecture, Conspiracy, Disease, Government, GWB Project, Health, New York City, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | 10 Comments
Tags: 311, 671 West 162nd Street, Asthma, Boilers, Exhaust, Fire Department, Investigative Journalism, Lung Cancer, Rooftops, The Smiths, Tuberculosis
In which The Gay Recluse rather quickly gets lung cancer. Time and date of morning photograph: March 21, 2008, 7:54am. Time and date of evening photograph: March 21, 2008, 7:34pm 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. […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Communism, Government, GWB Project, Health, Pessimism, Photography, Sickness, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: 311, Asthma, Boilers, Exhaust, Lung Cancer, Rooftops, Tuberculosis
The Gay Recluse 