December 2005    ::    Christmas Eve on the Bowery

Bob's very fun "O.C." kids and me on Christmas Eve in front of the noted photographer Jay Masaille's massive house/studio, which is an entire buidling and was previously a bank.

July 2005    ::    Brooklyn

DUMBO, a place of reflection under the Brooklyn Bridge

September/October, 2004    ::    Black Power    ::    Circus Amok
A surprisingly new train- and bridge- friendly building in DUMBO.	Smart graphic. ...I was even contemplating a purchase.	This was hilarious. A spoof on a circus, that had men dressed as girls, giving political commentary. Look for Circus Amok near you.

Summer, 2004    ::    Jacob Gitzis    ::    Jordan Schwartz    ::    Turkey
You never know what you'll see out your window in NYC....	My favorite building in SOHO: the Candy Factory...it must be a satirical name. It looks like it's from a Mad Max sequel, and I love the "grass roots" art cover it.	That, as you know, is called a "hoopa" in Hebrew.	Lady Jordan Schwart, posing at a bus stop poster case, sans the poster. Nice lighting.	What a great birthday party thrown by Laura Kenyon for Tom Hooper! A beatnik party! Snap! Snap!	Spinning rims on taxi. The Spreewell Effect.	Jacob at the helm of the Mercedes new SL500....On our way to the Hamptons.	FHS Reunion at Ted and Amber's Wedding (Josh, Erin, Ben, Paige, Caroline, and Jason)	24 hours with no sleep...going to try and sleep on the beach. Conclusion: Impossible.	Cool model in Turkey.	Another cool model.
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May, 2004    ::     High Line    ::    Jim Power    ::    Marc Jacobs

Helping clean up the High Line

High Line poster in bar front window

Neat D.C. history community board

Randy James & Co.

Jim Power, homeless mosaic man, at work

With canine company

Making a difference

Jewelry in an aquarium

The Naked Cowboy

The Fabulous Pontani Sisters

Marc Jacobs storefront with political display and crowd

Marc Jacobs storefront with political display and crowd

Hillary T-shirts

Romantic consumption

X-Ray art photo

Clever working on a Starbucks board

Nice perspective

Bar Code graphics mix the spiritual with technology

Tony and Tina's Wedding marketing

Nice tie. Reminds me of the G-town one i make.

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April, 2004    ::     Neptune, NJ    ::    Olympic Village Design Competition

Colors i love

Art piece: the body

Choices art piece

Turkish poster

Tillie

Once someone thought this would be important...

One of 7 remaining Hojo's

Battery from WWI defending NYC

Battery gun

Prpposed Olympic Village design

Prpposed Olympic Village design

Prpposed Olympic Village design

Prpposed Olympic Village design

Prpposed Olympic Village design by Danish firm

NYC 2012 setup in Grand Central

A store painted completely FUCHSIA!

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March 7 , 2004    ::     Beacon    ::    Story Corp    ::    Williamsburg
Jacob and I headed up to Beacon along the Hudson--the arts meca for those much more cultured than us, yo. Beautiful. Thoughtful. And full of really nice people, like Jen our host.	Compared to the artists installation which had lines of real cocain,this seemed a little narcotically tame, but just as moving visually. Jen showed us around the galleries, introduced us to the Beacon socialites, and was very cool.	I found my bizarre collection fetish: fat floral painted piggy banks.	StoryCorp. I wish I had thought of this: record an interview of you and someone you know or don't know. It gets catalogued and for archives. This studio was within Grand Central. It's perfect for understanding our parents and older folks, more, which God knows we never enough chances to do.	I know you can't read this. it's a bad visual for what i wanted to mention: the Jets really really really want to put the stadium in Manhattan. This is a slide from a presentation by the Jets, showing how little impact the stadium will have on traffic in the city.	This is a proposal at the Center for Architecture for a boat launch. The twist: the boats are taken from within storage in the water at right, and hoisted up a cable about 60 feet (center), and lowered into the boat launch area. Very clever.	Speaking of boat launches, her are the remains of the factories and piers along the Brooklyn waterfront. It's amazing how the waterfront is so beat up and ready to recover into one more amazing attraction in NYC. The NYC 2012 Olympic village is supposed to go here, if NYC wins the bid..	We used to walk out onto the boat launches...sadly, they are quickly falling into the water. Asli Pelit and I had dinner out on one about 2 summers ago. Sad to see we can't recreate that night with friends again.	Gease are about the only New Yorkers along the Brooklyn waterfront.	This is a cool bar in Williamsburg--I love the copper plate on the front.
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February 2, 2004    ::     Transamerica Building    ::    Palace of Fine Arts    ::    Beach by the Golden Gate

Flying into Kaui. It's like flying over the US to SF from NYC, only Idaho and all the other blue states are under water.

Brian being a good contemporary. I just had to wake up and he took care of everything else. So cool.

At the top of Sleeping Giant Mountain.

Eating sugar from the source.

I didn't know this but it appears orchids have a little in common with the creatures from Aliens. They often grow on the sides of trees, in a sort of symbiotic relationship.

Us over the cove near Hanalai.

At the grocery store in Kaui, you could also "shop" at Nordstrom and 100 other stores with these gift cards.

A huge spider with markings more mysterious and threatening than Christoper Walken's haircut.

Local eatery. Everyone else there spoke Hawaiin. I've felt more like a local at a Pakistan Hasish Bar. It was cool to see the native culture and delicacies.

View down Brian's road.

Brian's pad (on the ground floor). Sue, the owner, lives upstairs.

Views from Brian's door.

Maybe we would all smile more if there more Hawaiin prints in it.

View over the North Coast.

Our last night at Brian's restaurant where he bartends and serves.

You can take an upstate boy out of upstate, but you can't take away his Molson Golden.

The bar.

The restaurant overlooking a few tennis courts.

On the beach, before take off back to NYC.

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February 2, 2004    ::     Transamerica Building    ::    Palace of Fine Arts    ::    Beach by the Golden Gate
Jason meets the new and the old.	The Columbus Tower Buidling, with a beautiful copper decoration.	A new definition for "road rage."	The Palace of the Fine Arts (where Sean Connery meets his daughter in "The Rock").	Cool menu at the Warmth Hut colored with a grass around the menu items.	Huge military bunkers along the ridge of the Golden Gate Bridge.	Searching for a path down to the ocean.	Made it. What a spirit swells in man when at the foot of the Sea.	My feet were soaked from the ocean! ...so I wandered into the Presidio Bowling Alley. I couldn't believe my luck. The vending machine sold dry socks!	George Lucas is building a huge digital movie making complex at the Presidio. This is one of the non-digital cranes making it happen.	And, here is the company building it. I love the logo.	Another cool thing about SF is that the subway train (BART) let's you know how long till the next train arrives. This is a good idea for NYC's subway.
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February 1st , 2004    ::     Bikes for the Golden Gate Bridge    ::    Where the Wild Things Are: Part II

Thanks Dave for the boat. Greg and I had the chance to catch some sun on the boat and enjoy the view.

Greg and I rented bikes to ride over the Golden Gate. I opted for the usual mountain bike. Greg bought a trick bike, and with one gear (!) managed to ride over the hills of SF and over the Golden Gate bridge. So funny. Notice the gold pegs!

Under the One. An amazing site. This is from the Presidio, the now retired military base at the base of the bridge which looks like a Spanish country farm, but sits in the heart of one of America's most contemporary cities.

The Bridge is somewhere in the background...really....

Greg on the Bridge.

An old military fort sits under the bridge, adding an added dimension of surrealness. A Bridge. A Fort. A Journey into the Imagination.

I've seen people in NYC sing for money. This was a first: balance huge boulders from the beach!

Nick (Greg's roommate) was generous enough to invite me to furniture design party. The showroom was a huge warehouse with plants and flat screen TVs.

Watching these guys on Super Bowl Sunday try to install their new home theater system was better than a Half Time commercial.

The Pad.

when I saw this book on display at the Where the Wild Things are store, I was struck. I hadn't seen this "friend" in about 20 years. I love the idea that you can go whereever you want with a crayon.

Black light room at Where the Wild Things Are. It's a horrible picture...but the colors are fun!

Greg playing with fellow 6 yr-olds at Where the Wild Things Are. When you pull the ropes, the monster moves and sings in response!

Dirty Harry never looked so good. This poster in a store front was a funky mix of 60's nostalgia and tie-dye color.

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January 30, 2004    ::     St. Paul's Catholic School with Mr. Greg    ::    Recreation   ::     Chalk
Greg teaches kindergarden at St. Paul's Catholic School, which is about a 5-10 minute drive from his house.	Recess starts and ends the days, in many ways thanks to the nature of the school's weather and design. The courtyard sits between the library the main schools building.	This is a picture of a picture--ok, not great journalism on my part. But, it's a funny picture. It is Greg dressed as a clown, holding one of his kids up for a halloween picture. For the Christmas play, the kids were asked to dress up as animals in the Nativity. Interestingly, some kids came in the costumes from Halloween. These included a horse, as well as a whale and a dinosaur.	Greg's class picture. Unfortunately, he's under the white reflection at the center/top of the page.	Greg reading a Bible lesson.	The other teacher in the classroom.	Greg taking a call from a friend teacher. Notably, he had to spell out some words that described the future weekend's activities.	Some of the little girls just loved to spell things. Anything. Today they were excited about spelling out "Valentine." Greg told the kids my name was "Mr. Polares."	One of the games Greg encourages them to do--which has the benefit of having them stand still for more than 1 second--is to trace themselves. It looks like a Disney crime scene afterwards.
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January 29, 2004    ::     San Francisco    ::     Alcatraz    ::     SF Public Library    ::     Academy of Arts

In 1989, San Francisco through a tragedy (an earthquake) regained its waterfront. A monsterous highway collapsed, removing a wall that blocked the public from the prized Ferry Terminal. Stores, like the one above, activley promote preservation and the prevention of additional mass transit projects. Often, according to their viewpoint, new roads don't reduce traffic. They result in more.

Approaching Alcatraz.

This is Broadway, but not the one with Macy's. This was the name given to B block, which was the main hall that ran the length of Alcatraz's cell house.

The only thing smaller than a New York apartment is an Alcatraz jail cell. It's about 5' x 10'.

A closer look at a jail cell. ...No wonder people tried to escape from the inescapable.

On Alcatraz with the SF skyline. The flora of Alactraz is like a Greek island, with lot of beautiful flowers, aloe vera plants, and various varieties of exotic animals.

From the roaring water hitting the base of the prison, to the top of the lighthouse, from each water tower to each watch tower, the island is a surreal video game. Think Myst. Only you get to feel the wind on your face, the gravel under foot, and the know that this can somehow lead to inspiration for a new Alcatraz...whatever that may be.

This man on our boat was an inmate at Alcatraz. He was there for armed robbery. On the way home, he asked me for a dollar for a soda. I didnt' want any trouble. I quickly gave him a $5 in neat unmarked bills.

On Wednesday, Dave took me around the city. From the Red Dragon to Vesuvio's to Grant & Green, we had a great time. We met up with Dan, gave away Dan's cell phone to some girl, and Dave graciously entertained us at his Yacht Club.

Dave on his boat. And, my boat--he gave me the keys for the weekend!

Dave's boat is right next to Giant's Stadium

This is at the Metreon Sony entertainment complex, and is home to the Where the Wild Things Are store. It's full of highly detailed jungle playworld for kids, and I wish it had been open!.

A boat in a pond with a dragon at the store.

This sign has a certain WWE pinache.

I support libraries off-setting costs with the addition of cafes. The San Fran library not only has a library, but a store selling historical SF merchandise, including t-shirts, posters, and mugs.

The library cafe at SF Public Library.

The Academy of the Arts is in downtown SF. It is in a converted church, and is a great example of reuse of historical architecture. Gives a new meaning to offering Design Services.

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January 28 , 2004    ::     Mosaic    ::     Snow Angel    ::     Greg    ::     Soho Locks    ::     Tree Revenge
Beautiful mosaic mural in the NYC Subway, showing an open air market at night, with glowing oranges and ripe red apples.	What a clever idea to build momentum for a restaurant's opening! Give future customers the chance to name it! The sign says "Win $2,500 www.name-our-restaurant.com"	Nothing is left to chance at Quizno's Sub shop. Getting an Italian assorted, hating your boss, and thinking of new career choice. Quizno's suggests opening a franchise for them. If they get 1 out of 100, that's one more check in their pocket. Smart.	Man in neon suit at the club Crobar. He'd roam the audience with a megaphone saying he was a computer virus.	Macy's Day Parade Super Grover. So cool.	Memorial for a neighbor who died of an overdose.	A tribute to learning and great architecture at Columbia U's gates.	If New York wanst the Olympics, why is its apparel made in by the Canadian label Roots?!	Greg at the Isabela park in San Francisco. This amphitheater--perfect in it's roundness and acoustics--was made by hand by homeless people.	Random locks with small pictures taped on them on a chain link fence in Soho. One my most favorite random finds in NYC.	Meredith gets props for this perfect snow angle in the street of NYC.	We still sometimes get screwed by nature even in the big city.
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November 27, 2003     ::     New Harvard Club Addition     ::     NYU Promotion     ::     Hudson Yards Exhibition at Center for Architecture
I attended the opening reception for the Harvard Club's new addition on November 3, 2003. I usually support building classical exterior architecture, but in this case, the building sits between two classical buildings already, so the modern design is a good choice.	This is the main hall on the 2nd floor. The windows look onto the street, and are probably 16 feet high--and it faces South--so this is a beautiful design choice. However, there is a small raised platform starting 2 feet before the window, so strangely you can't walk directly up to the window; you must stand 2 feet back. Strange.	This is the new building's lobby; it looks like any lobby, anywhere. It's cold, even with the Turkish rug, and probably a failure. A women with her graduate's degree from Harvard in Architecture (Class of '50), said the new addition was a clone of something from the 50's. She said that should not surprise anyone since Bond, one of the architects, was a student during the 1950's when the International Style (read: extremely plain, boxy design) was very popular .	This is the orginal lobby, and it's a winner. Complete with wooden stairwell--which delivers great energy--and fireplace. Also, the molding and split color paint add character. The new one lacks it	NYU's promotion for a conference. Notably, NYU promotes the Arch (built before 1900) yet continues to build no comparable monument for future generations. It steals from the past, and future.	The Hudson Yards development featured at the Center for Architecture. Notably, the picture shows a heavenly-like light shining down on it--totally distracting viewers from the planned development. Which is smart, because none of the buildings, even the new stadium, are any more notable than a grain silo in Nebraska.	Also part of Hudson Yard project, this is a silly drawing--and is featured in the window as if it were an accomplishment. It shows a bunch of people walking along a railing that looks over a highway. People don't congregate to see traffic. They avoid it.	SoHo, at Great Jones St. & Broadway, on a brisk November morning
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November, 2003     ::     Fairport New York
Cows near my home in Fairport, N.Y. These two licked my hand!	Tractor in town	Don & me in Skaneatles	Don in front of Syracuse U. (He attended in 1959, playing on the soccer team and acting as president of the pledge class)	Old 1924 Fairport High School (Now condos - Boo!)	Edifice with F.H.S. Inscription	Dudley School (grades k-3) Library	Kids' Writings on "Mr. Pumpkin's Life"	Haunted ginger bread houses in Dudley School	Unicorn Mural in Northside (grades 4-5) Cafeteria
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