cute in NY

Holiday Party at The Comic Strip Live, 2009

Hello Bob and Gladys and Dean Obeidallah!


Who is this? Why it's Bob and Gladys and Howard Feller!


This is the very funny Michele Balan.


This is the inimitable Robin Byrd.


This is the great and talented Nore Davis.


See ya next year!

my building, a movie set

It was bleak and rainy in NYC today so when I finally left my apartment at about 4:30 PM to go downstairs to run some errands, I literally walked out of my building and onto the set of "The Other Guys," starring Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Wahlberg, and Will Ferrell. All the trailers were lined up in front of my buidling. They were filming a scene in Peter McManus Cafe which is on the corner of my block. I saw a few good exterior photo ops, but when they started to shoot the outdoor scene some set guy said I couldn't take any pictures with a flash. So, I went upstairs and listened to some Bessie Smith and had a cup of coffee with a danish. Every day is an adventure in this naked city...

Jack Kerouac was here

This is the building, on West 20th Street, where Jack Kerouac, in 1951, wrote "On The Road."


I stood in front of the door today where he must have passed on so many days so many times.


And this is the southwest corner of West 20th Street where: "Dean, ragged in a motheaten overcoat he bought specially for the freezing temperatures of the East, walked off alone..."


"and the last I saw of him he rounded the corner of Seventh Avenue, eyes on the street ahead, and bent to it again."

Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, reality TV couple

I was in the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle and decided to go up to Borders. I saw a notice saying Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt would be doing a signing for their new book, "How to be Famous." I smelled a photo op and got a few pictures before I decided to take a hike down to Godiva Chocolatier for my free monthly truffle. I chose raspberry dark chocolate. I am always health conscious!

Irish Hunger Memorial

I went on Sunday... and then stayed for a while in the beautiful park.

the school

I taught sixth grade at this school in Hell's Kitchen for 15 years... it is next to the soon to be demolished Shamrock stables.

in Madrid, 1971

Concord Hotel, circa 1963

my mother, the blonde on the left

guess who, 1964

"Mishkin's Paradise"

from the year I won "Miss Sweet 16 Sweetheart"

it was 1990, now yellowed with age

The clipping above is from the "Daily News" City Lights Guide...
This isn't a "where's Waldo!" Click to enlarge and find me!
I sit here now, and I am so happy I had the courage to pursue my hobby. Some people never experience their passion on any level. They make excuses. I did stand-up comedy not to "make-it," but to have fun! And I sure accomplished that goal.

45th-year high school reunion

These were taken in the lobby of my apartment building after the reunion. I took no photos at the reunion.



These were not taken at the reunion. They were taken that night after the reunion, in the lobby of my apartment building.

"Grey Gardens" and me

Tonight, Jessica Lange won the Emmy for Lead Actress in the movie "Grey Gardens." She thanked Al Maysles, the filmmaker of the documentary "Grey Gardens." This is a photo (taken in June 2009) of me and Albert Maysles, who created that "artistic smash."


And these are photos of Jerry (Edie Beale's "Marble Faun,") Albert Maysles, and me! How wonderful it was to see them together again, almost 35 years after that legendary documentary was made.

The Grand Concourse, a boulevard in the Bronx

Roosevelt Gardens apartments, in 1922 the world's largest apartment house


a kiosk


a boulevard most grand


unidentified, now "Citizen's Advice Bureau"


The Andrew Freedman house


1150 Grand Concourse, an Art Deco residential building


The Loew's Paradise


Concourse Plaza Hotel


1244 Grand Concourse


Although this was not "an interview," the experience of visiting this once great boulevard today was very moving. I enjoyed it so much I never even felt the heat... and trust me, today was a typical New York summer shvitz bath.
You can read more in these NY Times articles:
here and here.

At Forgotten-NY:
here.

Women of Washington Square

Several months ago, I went on this tour with The Transition Network. We saw the homes of Eleanor Roosevelt, Emma Lazarus, Edith Wharton, Ida Tarbell, Dawn Powell, and Mabel Dodge. This was a walking tour organized by The Transition Network as part of the "Explore NYC" series. And while I was not able to interview these interesting women whose homes we saw on the walking tour, I learned much about them from our guide, Jane, who said:

"Greenwich Village is renowned for the extraordinary women who’ve lived in this historic area over the decades....Eleanor Roosevelt, Emma Lazarus, Edith Wharton...to name just a few. On this hour-long walking tour we’ll see where these women, and other notable feminists, lived and worked and we’ll talk about their lives."

These are some of the photos I took along the walk.

Harlem Renaissance Tour

Yesterday, I joined The Transition Network tour which explored the Harlem of the 1920s. We visited historic sites which were presented by a member of the Schomberg Center for Black Research & Culture. I loved seeing the beautiful Strivers Row. And the Renaissance Theater and Ballroom with the old "Chow Mein" sign was a wonderfully nostalgic touch. On the ride home, we had a bit of unexpected excellent entertainment. This was a wonderful walking tour and a thoroughly enjoyable morning.