Whole block on Bowery nearly demolished
The view of Bowery and Kenmore Streets today.
Bowery and Kenmare Streets
It’s been a long time coming as this whole block on Bowery between Kenmare and Broome Streets has slowly been abandoned over the last few years. Historically occupied by many Bowery lighting stores, the picture above is what this block looks like today. Completely razed except for the end buildings at Broome St and Kenmare St.
I’ve documented the closing and abandonment of these buildings over the years and the sudden disappearance of the 7 buildings is still shocking.
Give Back Thursdays: More Than A Meal x Potluck Club x Phoenix Palace
Another successful community meal with Potluck Club and More Than A Meal.
My good friends at Potluck Club host a community meal event once a month with More Than A Meal to protect and honor those less fortunate in the Chinatown community. I’ve been doing this event with them and I always leave so full of not just food, but joy as I see the older folks in the Chinatown community leave with smiles and happy stomachs.
Seniors members of the community enjoying a sit-in meal at Phoenix Palace
Yesterday, the community meal was hosted at Potluck Club’s sister restaurant Phoenix Palace, located at 85 Bowery. It was a bit of a special event with Assemblywoman Grace Lee making an appearance along with an early lion dance celebration for the upcoming Lunar New Year.
Big thank you to all the volunteers from Vita Coco and beyond for making it out again this week!
Stay tuned for the next volunteer event!
One week of Congestion Relief Zone in NYC
My anecdotal take on Congestion Relief Pricing in NYC after 1 week.
It has officially been over a week of Congestion Relief Zone pricing in NYC and so far is it has already begun to change the city for good. I cannot believe how quiet the city is now that there are fewer cars clogging the roadways. It’s quite remarkable. There doesn’t seem to be any less people out and about either and yes, the Subways are a bit more crowded, but nothing so out of the ordinary that I think I’d take notice otherwise.
There’s still a lot of hot takes on Congestion Relief pricing from major news media (especially local news channels who love to interview motorists about how mad they are), and no doubt my take could be considered a hot take as well, but I really do think this will be an overall net positive for all New Yorkers.
Times Square on January 13, 2025
At the height of Monday afternoon on January 13th, Times Square wasn’t even backed up with vehicle traffic as it normally would be in the afternoon. I’d be surprised if they don’t close Times Square completely to car traffic in the future given the drastic change a $9 toll has done to this area.
Seventh Avenue heading south around this same time in the afternoon was also congestion-free. One thing I’ve noticed is that most of the cars traveling are TLC-plates or taxis which does makes sense in a city like NYC. Private cars are unnecessary and should be treated as luxuries one can afford in 99% of cases.
7th Ave looking south, January 13, 2025
Even 8th Avenue near Penn Station/Moynihan Station had smooth-flowing traffic. It really is so jarring after years of bumper-to-bumper traffic here.
I’ll report back on week two next week!
Treb Heining and the balloon industry
Treb Heining is the man who releases confetti in Times Square at the New Years celebration.
Check out this short film by Joshua Charow featuring a man named Treb Heining preparing for and talking about the confetti drop during the Times Square New Years Day celebration in 2021.
As Treb himself explains in the video, the confetti you see on live broadcasts of Times Square New Years are almost all entirely done by hand (a surprise to me!) and have been for over 30 years!
People like Treb really interest me because they’ve basically created a market for a product that so many people today associate with celebrations — BALLOONS. His career started with Disney as a “balloon boy” where he quickly learned to tie 17-20 balloons a minute.
Here’s a video of Treb tying a lot of balloons.
After a stint at Disney, Treb went on to literally invent the balloon garland, a flowing collection of balloons all tied together to help usher in a celebratory mood for a space. It all eventually led up to him forming his own balloon launching business known as BallonArt By Treb, which put him on the map as the balloon guy in an industry of virtually just himself. One thing led to another and he still ushers in the largest party in the world in Times Square each year with hand-thrown confetti!
The NYPD used to have Ford Fox Body Mustangs
The NYPD used to have Ford Fox Body Mustangs in their vehicle fleet.
This is pretty incredible. I just found out that the NYPD used to have a small set of confiscated and re-used Ford Fox Body Mustangs as part of their highway fleet. These vehicles were taken from street racers and re-badged to be working NYPD vehicles (both on the streets and in PR news).
It sounds like all of these were done away with in the early 2000s which might explain why I’ve never seen any of these Ford Fox Body Mustangs at any area car shows. Wish they were still around!
An unofficial return of the 9 train
A rare sighting of the old 9 train in the NYC Subway.
Late one night recently, I was riding the 1 line uptown and happened upon this roll-sign showing the old 9 number used when I was growing up. From what I remember when I was younger, the 9 train did skip-stops along 7th Avenue on the IRT line after the 2/3 trains split into the East side of Manhattan and the Bronx.
With today’s population boom in Upper Manhattan along Broadway (specifically in Hamilton Heights and Washington Heights), it would be great if we could get skip-stop service back to relieve some congestion on the 1 line.
The abandoned Abercrombie Castle in Upstate NY
A walk-around of the Abercrombie Mansion near Ossining, NY.
Abercrombie Castle 2024
A few weeks back I took a trip up to Ossining, NY to visit the Ossining Weir and on the way back I stopped by the long-abandoned property known as the Abercrombie Castle (or Abercrombie Mansion).
As you might have guessed, the property takes its name from David Abercrombie, one half of the duo that would lend its name to the brand we know as Abercrombie & Fitch. Records show that the home was built and completed in 1927 and occupied by David Abercrombie and his family until his death in 1937. He had named it Elda, after the names of his children. The structure and land changed hands several times before going completely abandoned despite efforts to turn it back into a home and retreat in the mountains.
A quick walk around the property still shows the incredible stone work laid to build this structure. Most of the wood has fallen but unsurprisingly, the structure still is intact, protected by thick forest on all sides.
In 2022, a large part of the property was burned and today, it has sat decaying and open to the elements.
No trespassing signs at the Abercrombie Castle
On my visit, it was clear that the property had been locked up a bit tighter with large no trespassing signs littered throughout and solar-powered video cameras installed along the exterior of the building. Be aware that if you walk on the property today, you will set off automatic alarms (although in my observations, they don’t really do anything except give an audible warnings), but if you know where to look, you can avoid them pretty easily.
Some more photos
Congestion Relief Pricing: An anecdotal take
Some observations from the first week of Congestion Relief Pricing.
Times Square on Wednesday, January 8, 2025, around 3PM
It has been a long time coming, but after an 11th-hour reversal last year by NY Governor Kathy Hochul, Congestion Relief Pricing finally became official in NYC on midnight January 5, 2025. It has been just under a week and several business days of this program, which charges a toll for drivers entering Manhattan below 60th St, and so far I’ve already seen some improvements to city life.
So far, I’ve noticed a significant decrease in the noise level in the Midtown area. Not just less honking, but just less white noise from car engines. It’s insane how different it feels. I’ve always believed the phrase Cities aren’t noisy, cars are noisy and this seems to be proof of that.
On Tuesday this past week, I traveled in a Lyft from 30th St to 155th St with some gear and both me and my driver noticed that there was no traffic on the West Side Highway during rush hour. I’ve taken this exact same route before at roughly the same time (rush hour) and have always known that the ride would take roughly 45 minutes. Typically, the West Side Highway is jammed with traffic, especially leading up to around 45th st just after the bend in the road near the Intrepid (don’t ask me why this is, it just is). My trip on Tuesday took all of 16 minutes — that’s nearly a half hour cut from my travel time. My driver was ecstatic about it.
On Wednesday, I was biking around the city and also noticed how empty Times Square was in the middle of the day. I traveled through around 3PM and there was no bumper to bumper traffic blocking any of the streets. I continued towards Penn Station and noticed the same thing; there were mostly car service and TLC vehicles in this area of Midtown during the middle of the afternoon.
Later that same evening, 6th Avenue which is normally filled with heavy traffic at rush hour, was more or less moving along swiftly. No congestion blocking any intersections. More observations to come…
