Archive for the ‘Washington Heights’ Category
On the Pleasure of Ruins
We read about the MTA’s proposal to raise subway fares with mixed feelings; on one hand, we would happily pay the extra five or six dollars a month for more frequent trains, but at the same time, as we consider the ruined state of our subway station — regularly cited as one of the dirtiest […]
Filed under: Architecture, Decay, Gay, Infrastructure, Literature, New York City, Subway, Washington Heights, Writers-Hungarian | Leave a Comment
Tags: Art Deco, Book of Memories, Fare Hike, MTA, Peter Nadas, Subway
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
To the brave soul who trapped a mouse in a gluetrap and left it in the hallway, bravo! We would like to commend you for digging so deep and summoning the courage to carry such a ferocious beast — did you use your bare hands? — to the elevator, where we and countless others were […]
Filed under: Government, History, Philosophers, Resignation, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Compassion, Courage, George W. Bush, GOP, Karma, Mice, Mouse, Schopenhauer
On the Blue Atlas Cedar in Snow
The first snow of the season in our Washington Heights garden, and naturally we are drawn to that most unnatural of colors: the electric slate blue of the atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica). Suddenly — are you with us? — we are on a train in northern Italy, watching the countryside drift past; here, it seems […]
Filed under: Communism, Landscape, The Gay Recluse, The Russian Blue, The Winter Garden, Travel, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Blue Atlas Cedar, Cedrus atlantica, Columnar, Fastigiata, Saturnine, Snow, Turin, Venice
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
On a Piano Behind Closed Doors
Please wait while we stop for a second to listen to this piano and watch the reflection of the city street in the glass. In fact, since you asked, nothing could be more important: it’s more than just memories we hear through this door, but scenes from a past unlike any we have every known.
Filed under: Film, Good Rock, History, Memory, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Door, Mozart, Piano, Street
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
It already seems years away, those hours spent sweeping up the golden leaves of the European white birch, which has always been the focal point of our garden in Washington Heights. Each leaf, of course, represents a day in our past, and for this reason might seem more valuable if there weren’t so many. And […]
Filed under: Decay, Memory, Politicians, The Autumn Garden, The Gay Recluse, Travel, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Betula Pendula, European White Birch, Gardens, Italy, Travel, Venice, Wisteria
As we turn the corner from the Upper Riverside Drive onto 160th Street in Washington Heights, the intricate but repetitive brickwork of the apartment palace lulls us into a dream in which we hear the droning, distorted guitars of Spacemen 3. This was the “Heroin” of our youth, the soundtrack of delirious, pretentious ambivalence for […]
Filed under: Addiction, Architecture, Capitalism, Good Rock, Memory, Obsession, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: 1960s, Baby Boomers, J. Spaceman, Riverside Drive, Sonic Boom, Spacemen 3, The Beatles, Velvet Underground
The deserted, haunted quality of the oldest mansion in Manhattan is — like so much of Washington Heights — almost exhilarating when you consider the extremes of neglect it has endured to join us here today. The sign tells us that George Washington made his headquarters here during the fall of 1776, following a British […]
Filed under: Decay, Drag Queens, History, Landscape, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Alexander Hamilton, Candy Darling, George Washington, History, John Quincy Adams, New York City, Revolutionary War, The Morris-Jumel Mansion, Thomas Jefferson, Washington Heights
Ferocious and (like all plants) unapologetic, the wisteria growing in the vacant lot next door is poised to take over the entire crumbling shell of the adjacent building (and possibly our life along with it!). Nor — like some — are we deceived by the delicate and emphemeral blooms of the morning glory, which (equally […]
Filed under: Decay, History, Landscape, Memory, The Autumn Garden, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Coba, Maya, Mexico, Morning Glory, Vines, Wisteria, Yucatan
On Breakfast with the Damned
Each morning Zephyr wakes up and positions himself in front of the western window, where he sits perfectly still as the new day permeates the gray dawn. “For one so young, you seem remarkably serene,” we noted as we passed by to announce that breakfast would be imminently served. “It is true that I have […]
Filed under: Dream, Landscape, The Russian Blue, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Apartment Towers, Breakfast, Cats, New Jersey, Palisades, Sunrise, Zephyr
Like Ann Coulter, the ailanthus tree is noxious, unsightly and invasive, and can be found almost everywhere in the United States, not only in vacant lots and highway meridians, but in once pristine forests, where it wreaks havoc on local ecosystems. It does not favor diversity or nuance, but — and with just the most […]
Filed under: Drag Queens, Landscape, Resignation, Sickness, The Autumn Garden, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Ailanthus, Ann Coulter, Bronx Tree, Death, Fire, Invasive Species, Vermilion
On Autumn Dreams
In winter we had no dreams; it was too cold to consider anything but the brittle landscape outside and the frozen tributaries of our past within. In spring we were nervous and agitated, our thoughts scattered like cherry-blossom petals in the wind. Summer came and we were boldly confident, perhaps even arrogant; who could not […]
Filed under: Dream, Landscape, Resignation, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Autumn, Books, Dreams, Fog, George Washington Bridge
On The OC Bakery and Cafe
Have you not seen the latest symptom of this noxious scourge of gentrification, this affront to our community? Have you not been outraged as you approach the corner of Edgecombe Avenue and 159th Street by the sight of a rainbow-colored umbrella and outdoor tables, where you can drink a cup of coffee and enjoy a […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Drivel, Gay, Gentrification, Pleasure, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Community, Croissants, Gay, Gentrification, Patisserie, Sugar Hill, The OC Bakery and Cafe, Washington Heights
Those arriving in Washington Heights for the first time are often surprised to hear splintering, cracking sounds in the distance, sounds which like breaking bones or the felling of ancient trees barely need to be identified to be recognized. “Oh yes,” we nod impassively, but then feel compelled to elaborate. “The shoreline is rocky and […]
Filed under: Infrastructure, Resignation, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Gay, George Washington Bridge, Hudson River, Washington Heights
Since we last saw the hills around Saratoga a few days ago, they have become drab and mundane, the color of an unwatered suburban lawn, while further south the Catskills have grown equally tired and pedestrian. Did we really talk with any enthusiasm about wanting to visit either of these spots? Even the Hudson River […]
Filed under: Good Rock, Memory, Obsession, Opera, The Autumn Garden, Travel, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Adirondacks, Catskills, George Washington Bridge, Hudson River Valley, Palisades Parkway, Saratoga Springs, Washington Heights
The thuds you hear on the roof? No, it is not rain or sleet or thunder, or at least not in the meteorological sense of these terms; rather, it is a rain of debris brought down upon us by the merciless gods who throw garbage from the windows.
Filed under: Decay, Infrastructure, Politicians, Sickness, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: 311, Garbage, Gentrification, New York City, Rats, Washington Heights
There is a tawdry quality to the buildings lining the main street into town that even we find it difficult to romanticize, as it does not recall an excess of abandoned grandeur (in this regard we have been literally ruined by Washington Heights) but a desperate, opportunistic desire to skim off the hordes (us among […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Longing, Travel, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Goth-Punk, Lake Placid, New York City, Saranac Lake, Washington Heights
The Gay Recluse 