Throughout the 1950′s, Greenpoint-born bank-industry dude Frank Oscar Larson was handy with the Rolleiflex, capturing “the life of the streets” and “candid portraits of working stiffs” on his weekends. Culled from a recently uncovered hoard of thousands of unseen negatives, the Queens Museum of Art’s exhibition features shots from Chinatown to the Hell’s Kitchen to Times Square to Central Park, with ladies with gams and street urchins without teeth and Brando still in theaters. Don’t even try to feign nostalgia on this one. You’re not that old. “Frank Oscar Larson: 1950s New York Street Stories,” Feb 5 – May 20, Queens Museum of Art, Queens
Here’s a new project worth Kickstarting: The Hundred Story House is a miniature Brooklyn brownstone or, essentially, a book shelf/mobile library/interactive public artwork that is being proposed for Cobble Hill Park this spring. Read more »
So, you complained that “Shit New Yorkers Say” is about transplants, right? Well, here’s a custom tailored response starring an older crowd: “Shit Native New Yorkers Say.” It’s mostly ejaculatory grumblings about things that once were like subway tokens, graffiti and hookers. Read more »
The “Shit __ Say” meme rolls on and so, naturally, here’s a clip with some dramatized snippets of shit New Yorkers say, sometimes, some. Yes, they’re always shooting Law and Order and no, we don’t care and where’s the train? Read more »
There aren’t a lot of alleys in New York as every inch of space is absorbed into some real estate’s lucrative square footage. That sucks for Hollywood, because Hollywood loves grimy “New York alleys.” This one in Tribeca — lovingly preserved to look gritty so it can star in dozens of films — is now “indefinitely” out of action as a condo will soon wedge right up to it. Read more »
Fuse TV’s got a brand newish, street-based reality competition show “with some New York attitude,” you guys — hassling random strangers on NYC sidewalks for pop culture trivia. If this “Billy on the Street” gent didn’t have so much damn personality, I’d bah-humbug this thing so hard. Read more »
All Hail the Manhattan Grid and Crazy Visions of New New York
Manhattan’s city grid and its amazingly functional, mystically aesthetic, and borderline occult qualities are currently being worshiped at the Museum of the City of New York with historic artifacts, hand-drawn maps and more neat stuff. Hop on over to the sister exhibit of futuristic schemes to accommodate a million more predicted New Yorkers. See some far-out fantasies like the Tabula Fluxus — a second city grid growing 700-feet above ours, Inception style — or the Projective Exceptions — the proposed cramming of various rounded structures into every street corner orifices or crevice possible. Ouch. Read more »
Despite the new Chelsea Hotel owners’ promises of “keeping the uniqueness of this hotel” and not evicting any of its 100 permanent tenants, the new Chelsea Hotel owners have gutted its historic wings, mysteriously misplaced its art collection and have now started evicting its permanent tenants. Duhpressing. Eviction motions against the first ten victims of this latest wave of cultural pogroms have been filed by the new owner’s ironically named Chelsea Dynasty LLC. Read more »
Here’s a fresh trailer for New York Is Now which appears to be an art world doc featuring Richard Phillips, Spencer Tunick, other fancy people, gallery run-tours, enthusiastic hand gestures and disembodied catchphrases like “They don’t see art anymore, they see money.” Read more »
NYC’s infamous nightlife photographer Merlin Bronques – and the brains behind Last Night’s Party – has just released a video, and though there’s partying and naked girls a-plenty, it’s much more than his usual broads-in-the-bathroom subject matter. Read more »
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