The narrowest escalator in New York
This is the narrowest escalator in NYC!
Escalator at 10 Rockefeller Plaza
Have you ever wondered where the skinniest escalator is in NYC? An escalator that literally has no room to pass on either side? An escalator that is only able to accommodate a single-file line of passengers? Wouldn’t you love to see and ride one just like this?
10 Rockefeller Plaza
Well, you’re in luck because if you pass through Rockefeller Plaza between W 48th St and W 49th St (at 10 Rockefeller Plaza), through a set of glass doors lies the narrowest escalator in all of NYC. This escalator leads up to the street level from the Rockefeller Center Plaza dining and shopping center below ground. If you aren’t in the mood to eat or shop and just want to ride this escalator, you can enter the building at 10 Rockefeller Plaza and walk down the large spiral staircase and then take the escalator back up. There is a security person here at all hours but honestly, they don’t mind since the lobby here is adorned with a beautiful wrap-around mural by Lakela Brown.
The last Blockbuster in Philadelphia
The last Blockbuster sign in Philadelphia still exists.
If you keep your eyes up while traveling through West Philadelphia, you might catch a glimpse of a remnant of entertainment past.
Located at South 24th St and West Passyunk Ave is a 78-foot high Blockbuster sign that has been there since the closure of all Blockbuster locations way back in 2014. Today, the former Blockbuster store is a CK Real Beauty, but the Blockbuster sign remains, towering over the neighborhood like a watchful eye.
For whatever reason, the sign has never been taken down and you can drive by and see it today!
Professional pogo stickers at famous NYC skate spots
Street pogo stickers in NYC!
I had no idea pogo stickers had a professional slant. My friend Greg Navarro filmed a bunch of athletes in the pogo stick sport at famous NYC skate spots and shines a spotlight on these incredible stunts.
The Hario Suiren is a packable travel V60 coffee dripper
A Hario V60 perfect for compact travel.
I stumbled upon this by accident but I had no idea until recently that Hario actually makes a packable version of the V60 coffee maker best suitable for travel.
If you already own a V60 (size 02), this portable coffee maker will be perfect for travel as it uses all of the same filters. The difference with the Suiren is that it does away with the “walls” of the traditional V60 and instead uses a series of detachable “fins” that assemble together to create the cone shape funnel we all know and love from a V60.
The Suiren is available now for $20.
How humans use a ping-pong table
The everyday uses of the same object.
TTP is a fantastic book by Hayahisa Tomiyasu photographing the various ways people make use of a humble ping-pong table outside of his dorm room window in the German city of Leipzig.
The camera, seemingly fixed on a tripod, shows the table being used as a prop, as a seat, as a meeting place, and even a tanning bed among other creative uses.
“The You You Are” book from Severance is now actually available to buy
Dr. Ricken’s “The You You Are” from Severance is now available to read for real!
The formerly fictional book from the Apple TV show Severance, “The You You Are” is now a real thing and you can buy a copy on Apple Books.
Unlike the TV show however, it looks like the book is only 39 pages, so Dr. Ricken’s wise words seems to be quite abridged in this real life version.
It’s also available as an audiobook.
Both the book and the audiobook are free.
Stimulation Clicker
This is the craziest time-wasting site I’ve ever seen.
If you need something to do to kill some time on a computer, head on over to Neal’s Stimulation Clicker. I don’t want to give anything away, but the premise of this “game” is pretty simple: Click the button and win some prizes. The page gradually gets more loaded with not only visual stimulation but audio ones as well.
I played for a long time and never quite “won”. I think I just ended up having enough, but I just couldn’t look away.
Thanks Kottke!
Radiant Site: A wall of gold tiles at 34th St Station
Art in plain sight at 34th St-Herald Square station.
The MTA has a pretty extensive art program to bring life to the otherwise dreary underworld of the NYC Subway. Sometimes, the public art is big and in your face and other times it seems to hide in plain sight, like this piece called Radiant Site by artist Michele Oka Doner.
Michele’s work, completed in 1991, consists of 11,000 hand-made gold tiles spanning the entire length of a passenger corridor at 34th St-Herald Square station in NYC (near the ramps leading down to the BDFM platforms). Each tile was made at the historic Pewabic Pottery in Detroit and feature differing levels of gold shine; the darker ones at the tops and bottom and the brightest ones filling the center.
Next time you’re traveling through this station, be sure to look forward and up at this iconic piece!
A NYC neighborhood lost to gentrification.