as our week in new york grows closer i add more destinations to the growing to-do list. so far it's been easy to plan, with fantastic museum shows opening just before we arrive, macbeth heading to broadway during our stay ("out, damn spot!"), and astroland open just for the week (thanks to public school vacation) before it's official (weekday) season start on june 13th. most recently, news of the lola staar dreamland roller-skating rink opening on coney island practically had me doing cartwheels and humming, "i've got a brand new pair of roller skates."aside from walking, i need some way to work off the fresh bagels and hand-made soba noodles i plan to stuff myself full of while they're available to me.
high on the list is a visit to the kinokuniya bookstore, which has recently expanded in a new location across from bryant park, complete with a mural by takehito inoue, one of japan's best known manga artists.
stocked with plenty of japanese-language novels, fashion magazines and a mother lode of manga in both japanese and english...also, the times ran an article about photo booths last week, including a downloadable audio walking tour of new york booths, and where i learned artist raul vincent enriquez
...the new store also includes expanded fashion and art sections in the hopes of capitalizing on its location overlooking fashion week headquarters.
(from the new york times, october 26, 2007)
is using the intimacy of the photo booth to make very public art. he installed a homemade digital booth at the storefront chashama gallery (112 west 44th street, between avenue of the americas and seventh avenue). through april 26, you can take a quick series of portraits in the booth, then see your giant self projected on the lumacom display screen 48 stories up atop the condé nast building (4 times square, broadway between 42nd and 43rd streets).i have 4 more weeks to refine the list...suggestions still welcome for don't-miss places to see, things to eat, etc. and of course i will be updating the blog throughout the week, and babbling about it for months afterwards, punctuated, of course, by miserable whining about how quiet and lonely it is in the country.
2 comments:
The interactive map doesn't show it, but there is (or maybe was?!) a B&W photobooth at the Lakeside Lounge on Ave B at 10th St. (The Lakeside also has a decent jukebox and often hosts good bluegrass and country bands, and it's decorated with a plethora of Steve Keene paintings.) I've frequently found myself at the bottom of drunken pile-ups in that booth, after one too many bourbons.
My favorite booth, site of most of these, sadly no longer exists. It was wedged in the back of a packed-to-the-gills "gift" shop run by a strange packrat baby boomer who peddled all manner of mid-century and otherwise weird and baffling detritus. The shelves there were dusty and the floor wooden and rickety. After it closed, a waffle place with the semi-pornographic name Bulgin' Waffles opened, and now it's home to a cheesy coffee shop called The Bean. It's the kind of store that's hard to find in New York now, and I sometimes think about it when I am back in the old neighborhood.
If you haven't yet been there, the new New Museum on Bowery is a pretty great space. Dan and I saw a sculpture show there last weekend (it just closed), then shared a cheese plate and some coffee at the Pink Pony on Ludlow. Ah, New York, I miss thee.
You are going to have a great time.
(And sorry for the longest comment ever!)
ahh, a great addition to the photo booth tour.
the new museum is definitely on the list, thanks for the reminder. and comments are always welcome, long or short.
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