Sometimes in a sea of numbers, it takes just one stat to astound you into getting the picture: In one of the New Towns of Hong Kong, Tseung Kwan O, some 350,000 people live within four square miles. They live in towers that vary from 57 to 62 stories. Here’s another stat: 80 percent of […]
Entries Tagged as 'new york'
Vertical Cities: Hong Kong and New York
January 29th, 2009 · 8 Comments · Explore New York
Tags: architecture·Asia·cities·international·manhattan·museums·new york
Winter Colors in Central Park
December 6th, 2008 · 3 Comments · Explore New York
For the eyes that glory in autumn’s rich, awe-inspiring colors or spring’s bright exuberance, winter may feel like the ho-hum season, one big letdown. To many, it’s “dreary” winter, a time to hunker down inside and hang on until the color in the Northern climes “returns” to the trees, bushes, and flowerbeds come spring. Yet […]
Tags: Central Park·nature·new york·seasons
Still Missing McHale’s
November 30th, 2008 · 25 Comments · Explore New York
In some ways, buildings are like people. They have a birth and a prime of life. As they age, they either wear well or not. They’re either cherished and well cared for, or neglected. The lives of some buildings are cut short way too soon. Others seem to thrive year upon year upon year. Still […]
Tags: cities·historic preservation·manhattan·midtown·new york·taverns
How to Stay Merry Before Christmas
November 23rd, 2008 · 2 Comments · Explore New York
Ah, the lovely holiday season in New York City is upon us. It means bright, colorful lights, enchanting holiday windows, the Rockefeller Center tree, the smell of pine in front of your corner deli…and gridlock. We’re talking vehicle gridlock and people gridlock. That’s exactly what happens in New York as Thanksgiving rounds into the crazed, […]
Tags: Central Park·cities·holidays·midtown·museums·nature·new york
Bowery Savings: The World in a Building
November 11th, 2008 · 101 Comments · Explore New York
Tinos green marble is a vivid green-blue with wide white veins, mined from the quarries of a small mountainous Greek island in the Aegean Sea. Briar Hill sandstone is an earthy stone of warm red, rust, brown, and buff-colored tones taken from quarries in Glenmont, Ohio. Missouri is the source of Napoleon gray marble, while […]
Tags: architecture·art·landmarks·manhattan·midtown·new york·stone
Pecks and the City: My Sparrow Friends
November 2nd, 2008 · 2 Comments · Explore New York
Birders glory in having spotted a Tennessee warbler in Central Park, and I would, too, if I was fortunate and plucky enough to see one. But day-to-day, this New Yorker exults in the sparrows of Hell’s Kitchen. They chirp and call locally outside our apartment window every morning. Happily, it seems. Sparrows are to 6 […]
Tags: birds·Central Park·manhattan·nature·new york
Architects With the Right Touch
October 28th, 2008 · 3 Comments · Explore New York
H. Douglas Ives once placed swarms of bees in the midst of midtown Manhattan, but to inspire, not to sting. High above the thousands who scurry and stroll along Fifth Avenue sit two beehives surrounded by buzzing bees. But they’re not live – they’re part of the dazzling decoration atop the Fred F. French Building […]
Tags: architecture·art deco·cities·french building·landmarks·manhattan·midtown·new york·terra cotta