#7 train subway booth, Sunnyside, Queens
Photo of the day: SEEN AT MY SUBWAY BOOTH ~ A LESSON IN MANNERS: “Excuse me please, can you, can I have, thank you have a nice day.”
November 30, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 7 train, a lesson in manners, Hans Von Rittern, Long Island City Queens, Manhattan, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, photography, Queens, Statue of Liberty, subway, Sunnyside, Sunnyside Gardens | Leave a comment
5 Pointz Graffiti Museum, Long Island City, Queens
Photo of the day: “NEVER FORGET” 5 POINTZ, COME JOIN US TODAY – We will still be there today! Saturday, November 23, 2013. Our tents will be there with Meres and Marie (curators and lead fighters) as well as the artists selling their works. We will not be white-washed away, we will always be here. The fight is NOT over. Come view the cruel hatefulness of the vandalism. The pettiness of the whitewashing.
5 Pointz will live on in one form or another, whether it is here or at another building. But it will especially live because of all of you, through your thousands of photos, stories and passions. If you have photographed the building in all it’s glory, photograph it now and tell the story of one of the greatest crimes against the art world. Let your friends and the world see what greedy, hateful, vindictive, fearful and cruel men the Wolkoff owners are. Spread the word.
I will see you there today with my dear friends from approx. noon till 4 or 5 pm.
45-46 Davis Street/Jackson Avenue, Long Island City.
#7 train – No trains between Queensboro Plaza and Times Sq-42 St.
Take N or Q train to Queensboro Plaza.
Take the free shuttle bus from Queensboro Place. Get off Court Street stop. Walk following the rail line towards 5 Pointz.
November 23, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 45-46 Davis Street/Jackson Avenue, 5 Pointz, 5 Pointz destroyed, 5 Pointz Graffiti Museum, 5 Pointz support rally 11-23-13, 5 Pointz white washed, 7 train, arts, Court Street stop, David Wolkoff, Gerry Wolkoff, graffiti, Hans Von Rittern, Jonathan Meres Cohen, Long Island City, Manhattan, Marie Flageul, New York City, New York photo, November 23, Photo of the day, photography, Pointz Graffiti Museum, Queens, Queensboro Plaza, Saturday, subway, Sunnyside | Leave a comment
Karin Glietz-Rothsprack
Touching translation of an email from a German guest:
Dear Hans von Rittern,
On the occasion of a cruise with the AIDA BELLA/Harlem Spirituals, we visited New York, on Nov.2.2013 and we were lucky enough to take a city tour “Complete Brooklyn” with you as a city guide. My view of New York became changed by your affectionate and competent guidance. You led us to the graffiti museum at the end of the excursion. What a sight, a factory, in a dreary trade settlement, with miraculous pictures, in all different conceivable style kinds and colors. Enthusiastically I have taken photos so many pictures as possible and even have bought one more T-shirt. I have carried these photos home and have shared them, also the T-shirt has brought a lot of joys. Now I have found out on-line from “Der Spiegel” (Germany’s ‘Time’ magazine) that the pictures were destroyed by painting over them. This has made me very sad, and the many other people who love this art. We are outraged and feel with you and the many involved and the artists. We will preserve our photos as a treasure and provide for the fact that these pieces of art are shown over and over again, so live on. I embrace you and wish you a lot of strength and courage. With many dear greetings,
Karin Glietz-Rothsprack
From: karin.glietz@gmail.com To: hansvonrittern@aol.com Sent: 11/20/2013 6:23:53 A.M. Eastern Standard Time Subj: 5pointz
Lieber Hans von Rittern,
anlässlich einer Kreuzfahrt mit der AIDA BELLA, besuchten wir New York, am 12.11.2013 hatten wir das Glück eine Stadtrundfahrt
“Brooklyn komplett” mit Ihnen als Stadtführer zu unternehmen.
Meine Sicht auf New York wurde durch Ihre liebevolle und kompetente Führung eine andere.
Zum Ende der Exkursion führten Sie uns zum Graffiti Museum. Welch ein Anblick, eine Fabrik, in einer tristen Gewerbesiedlung, mit wunderbaren Bildern, in allen nur erdenklichen Stilarten und Farben.
Begeistert habe ich soviel Bilder-wie möglich- fotografiert und zum Abschluss noch ein T-Shirt gekauft.
Ich habe diese Fotos nach Hause getragen und weiter gegeben, ebenso das T-Shirt, welches sehr viel Freude bereitet hat.
Nun habe ich durch Spiegel Online erfahren, dass die Bilder durch das Übermalen zerstört wurden.
Das hat mich sehr traurig gemacht, mit mir viele andere Menschen, die diese Kunst lieben.
Wir sind empört und fühlen mit Ihnen und den vielen Engagierten und Künstlern.
Wir werden die Bilder- wie einen Schatz bewahren- und dafür sorgen, dass diese Kunstwerke immer wieder gezeigt werden, so weiterleben.
Ich umarme Sie und wünsche Ihnen viel Kraft und Mut.
Mit vielen lieben Grüßen
Karin Glietz-Rothsprack
November 21, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 5 Pointz, 5 Pointz destroyed, 5 Pointz Graffiti Museum, 7 train, AIDA BELLA, architecture, arts, Der Spiegel, German tourism in New York, Germany reacts to 5 Pointz, graffiti, Hans Von Rittern, Harlem Spirituals Tours Brooklyn Tour, Karin Glietz-Rothsprack, Manhattan, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, photography, subway, Sunnyside, tourists react to 5 Pointz | Leave a comment
Photos of the day: MODERN DAY HITLER VANDALIZES ‘DEGENERATE ART’ AT 5 POINTZ:
5 POINTZ AFTER NOV. 2013
5 POINTZ BEFORE NOV. 2013
Tuesday November 19, 2013 is a day I will not long forget. It was a twist of events and cruel fate that brought many powers of good and evil together.
MARIE FLAGEUL
My dear friend and fellow tour guide Tom Orzo and I picked up 6 German tourist guests at the Queen Mary 2 at the Brooklyn piers for a 3 hour city tour. Normally Tom and I end our tour with a surprise visit to 5Pointz. Since we were coming from Brooklyn, Tom (doing the driving) insisted we make 5Pointz our first fateful stop. At 10:45 we were heading down Jackson Avenue when Tom kept calling out “Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!”. I thought it was his over-reaction to a smaller building in front of the Graffiti Museum that was being torn down. My back was to the museum, I’m facing my German guests telling them how extraordinary a site they are about to see. Now I realize their faces seemed odd and puzzled, so I turn around to the shock of seeing men on high cranes slopping white paint all over the building, obliterating 12 years of spectacular intricate art. I quickly got out to see if I recognized anyone.
MERES’ VOW TO FIGHT
I ran back to the van and we sped to the main loading dock/entrance to the building. And there it was, a vandalized, obliterated work of art – 12+ years destroyed. I ripped open the door to the van and ran into the arms of curator Marie Flaguel and held her as tightly as I could. I cried deep from the gut. I couldn’t stop, I could not speak, I kept gasping for air. I was afraid to let go for fear of seeing Marie’s face. Finally I had to. “It’s all gone…” she said as tears streamed down her face. The owner Jerry Wolkoff, the same man who had asked the artists to paint the murals on his building, had hired non union thugs to destroy over 1,500 pieces of art outside and even throughout the entire inside of the building. Murals that would take your breath away now had erratic white brush strokes all over them. Oddly enough, the greater more powerful murals – had extra coats of white paint over them, it was deliberate, fearful, vindictive and hateful. How do you find words in a moment when you realize it was one of the greatest mass desecrations of art in the 21st Century. An art genocide.
One of the most haunting incredible unseen inside murals by Carlos “See TF” Game
As Marie was filling me in on what happened, one of my German guests, Andrea Pröscholdt-Krulich, ran over in tears. “Why?! Warum?!” she kept asking. She was quite shaken. You see – her son was a graffiti artist who had recently committed suicide. She had planned on this trip to New York to visit 5Pointz to pay homage to her son. She never thought that a ‘routine Manhattan city tour’ would have included our surprise visit here. Andrea and my guests were stunned at the amount of press around us and the unexplainable goings on. They looked on in wonderment – here they were in ‘free’ America’, in ‘progressive’ New York and they were watching Hitler-like tactics unfold before their stunned eyes. Some of my older guests were survivors of World War II. I had to get back on the coach and explain what was happening. Then I realized something. I was with a group of Germans, some of whom had been through a time in Germany when Hitler from 1936 to 1937 rounded up all “modern” art – “Entartete Kunst“ and declared it ‘degenerate’ and had it all destroyed. Over 5,000 works were seized, including 1,052 by Emil Nolde, 759 by Heckel, 639 by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and 508 by Max Beckman, as well as smaller numbers of works by such artists as Alexander Archipenko, Chagall, James Ensor, Matisse, Picasso and even Van Gogh. What Jerry Wolkoff did was no different!
5 POINTZ CANDLE VIGIL 11-18-13
LAST STAND AT 5 POINTZ 11-18-13
But we were not there to mourn the destruction of the museum, their clock was ticking and I was there paid to give a tour. We continued with our tour, but every time we came to a red light or got stuck in traffic, the conversation always went back to the disbelief of 5Pointz. We dropped off our guests and I headed to a candle light vigil that was held at 5pm.
GERMANY MOURNS WITH YOU ❤
The vigil’s atmosphere was like a tomb, what had been vibrant was dead. At night the ‘white” was even more ‘deadly’ and eerie. People kept coming, looking up in silent tearful disbelief and anger. Poster boards were taped onto the building for us to leave our messages. The purpose of the posters is – we will never ever again grace his walls with a single piece of art, line, scribble name or even a dot. Wolkoff had the audacity to claim he too cried. He claimed he had done this so the artist wouldn’t have had the pain of seeing their art work torn down over a period of months. This scumbag reasoning is because he was afraid of the momentum we were gaining. On last Sunday’s rally, when 5Pointz was packed, Marie and Meres (co-curators) had gathered over 1,000 signed petitions in ONE day, to have the building land marked and saved. The owner Wolkoff cleverly erased the value of the building. Let us also not forget, the approval of the two twin glass towers that he plans to build on the same spot were approved by the weasel of a lying two-faced councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, the lowest form of politician there is: big smiling child like innocent face, with his hand holding a knife behind his back, ready to strike for his financial gain. Wolkoff and Bramer – greed is the intoxicant but karma is the bitch.
FUCK YOU
So joining the ranks now of Picasso, Matisse and Van Gogh are artists Onur Dinc, Esteban Del Valle, Meres One, Spidertag, Kidlew, Kkade, Rubin, Aka Shiro, Veronique Barrilot, Contort, Jekl and Dyzer5, Bisco, Bishop203, Just One, Leias, Zeso, and Zimad, Lord Roc, Bisc1, one of my favorites Carlos “See TF” Game and so, so many, many more. Who is anyone to say they aren’t the next Keith Harring, Basquiat, or Matisse? It is a knife in the soul of a fading New York.
GHOSTS OF 5 POINTZ
Rest In Paint 5POINTZ
MARIE FLAGEUL – CANDEL LIGHT VIGIL
MERES’ ‘STAND HERE’
November 20, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 2013, 5 Pointz, 5 Pointz destroyed, 5 Pointz Graffiti Museum, 5 Pointz white washed, 7 train, Aka Shiro, Alexander Archipenko, and Zimad, Andrea Pröscholdt-Krulich, architecture, art genocide, arts, Basquiat, Bisc1, Bisco, Bishop203, candel light vigil 5 Pointz, Carlos "See TF" Game, celebrities, Chagall, Contort, Councilman Jimmy Van Brammer, Emil Nolde, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Esteban Del Valle, Experiencing the destruction of 5 Pointz, graffiti, Hans Von Rittern, Heckel, Hitler degenerate art, inside 5 Pointz, Jackson Avenue, James Ensor, Jekl and Dyzer5, Jerry Wolkoff, Jonathan Meres Cohen, Just One, Keith Harring, Kidlew, Kkade, Leias, Long Island City Queens, Lord Roc, Manhattan, Marie Flageul, MARILYN Carlos "See TF" Game, Marilyn Monroe, Matisse, Max Beckman, Meres One, Meres Stand Here, Nazi Germany, New York City, New York photo, Onur Dinc, Photo of the day, photography, Picasso, politics, Queens, Rubin, See TF Marilyn, Spidertag, Sterling City Tours, street art, subway, Sunnyside, Tom Orzo, Tuesday November 19, Van Gogh, Veronique Barrilot, World War II Germany, Zeso | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: BOGEY AND ME at THE UNITED PALACE “CASABLANCA” RE-PREMIERE – ‘Mondays on Memory Lane’ takes us to a grande gala evening of tuxedos and gowns as the revitalized United Movie Palace once known at the Loew’s 175th Street Movie Palace, re-premiered the all time film classic “Casablanca” starring Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart. Having once spent a magical evening alone with Ingrid Bergman in 1972, the film also has an extra special place in my heart.
Dooley Wilson
The Palace originally opened in 1930 as the Loew’s 175th Street Theater, presenting vaudeville and “talking pictures.” With its spectacular Thomas Lamb design, it was the last of the five Wonder Theatres to be built. In 1969, when many of the city’s grand movie theatres had been demolished or turned into multiplexes, the Palace was purchased, and preserved in magnificent style, by Reverend Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter (Rev. Ike) for his church. Rev. Ike paid big money to have European craftsman restore the hand carved gold detail work throughout the theater declaring: “We are all created in God’s image, therefore each of us is god-like. Therefore you should be made to feel like a god when you enter this palace.” (You do, thank you Rev. Ike!)
United Palace Loew’s lobby
Since Reverend Ike’s death in 2009, the United Palace has been led by his son, Xavier, a life-long musician and minister currently working with the Rhythm Arts Alliance in Southern California, whose dream has been to create a cultural center uptown. Toward this end, he has organized UPCA as a secular non-profit that has a long-term licensing agreement to use the theater and rehearsal and classroom space.
Loew’s Palace balcony
The theater is Manhattan’s third-largest; portable partitions enable its use for audiences ranging from a few hundred to its full capacity. It has hosted symphony concerts, been used in films, videos and TV shows like “Smash”.
United Palace Loew’s theater
What was expected to be an event that would just draw a couple of hundred people through their web site and friends on twitter and Facebook, wound up drawing an audience of 1,100 people! (I was made aware of it by my friend Carolyn Blackbourn). Admission was $15 but those appearing in formal gowns and tuxedos were given free admission but could still make donations to the theater in form of raffles (I won a poster!). The audience was polled by a show of hands, how many were visiting this theater for the first time – 75% of the hands went up! How many had never seen “Casablanca” in a movie theater before – 50% of the hands went up! The audience gasped with the excitement knowing we were all sharing this wonderful experience of “a first” together, that is the magic of film- the shared experience in the dark.
Mike Fitelson and Lou Lumenick
We were treated to live music performances by the SONGS chamber Orchestra and serenaded with “As Time Goes By” by Tim McAfee Lewis. Executive director of ‘the Palace’ handsome Mike Fitelson welcomed us with a wonderful speech of his goals for this architectural treasure. This was followed by the world premier of hip hop artist GPK’s music video “Bouger” which happens to have a ‘Casablanca’ theme. “Casablanca” was introduced by New York Post film critic Lou Lumenick, declaring it his favorite film of all time. Then came that magic moment when the lights are dimmed, the dark screen illuminated with the Warner Brothers logo and the magic began. The film is perfection. Bogey and Bergman are perfection, Peter Lore and Paul Henreid are perfection, the script and editing are perfection. It’s truly is the golden age of 1942 Hollywood.
Loew’s Palace mural
The joy of classic lines like: “Play it! ” (no Bogey does not say ‘again Sam’, Woody Allen did).
Captain Renault: I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here! [a croupier hands Renault a pile of money] Croupier: Your winnings, sir. Captain Renault: Oh, thank you very much.
Rick: We’ll always have Paris. We didn’t have, we, we lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night. Ilsa: When I said I would never leave you. Rick: And you never will. But I’ve got a job to do, too. Where I’m going, you can’t follow. What I’ve got to do, you can’t be any part of. Ilsa, I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that.
Rick: Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
And I hope that this is also the beginning of a beautiful friendship with the many of you who will check out The United Palace web site (below) and visit this spectacular theater for future events.
“Here’s looking at you kid.” Bogey & Bergman
November 18, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: "As Time Goes By", "Casablanca" film, 'Mondays on Memory Lane', 1942 Warner Brothers, 7 train, architecture, arts, Broadway, Bronx, Carolyn Blackbourn, Casablanca, Casablanca quotes, celebrities, Dooley Wilson, entertainment, GPK "Bouger", Hans Von Rittern, Humphrey Bogart, ingrid bergman, Loew's 175th Street Palace, Manhattan, Mike Fitelson, New York City, New York photo, New York Post film critic Lou Lumenick, Paul Henreid, Peter Lore, Photo of the day, photography, Reverend Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter, Reverend Ike, Rhythm Arts Alliance of Southern California, The United Palace, Thomas Lamb, Tim McAfee Lewis, United Movie Palace, UPCA | Leave a comment
FERSSEN UND GEFRESSEN WERDEN – Eat and be eaten
Photo and cause of the day! FRESSEN UND GEFRESSEN WERDEN/EAT AND BE EATEN –
HELP SAVE 5 POINTZ AT 3pm RALLY TODAY!
We are reaching out to any and all supporters of 5 Pointz to come out and support Meres. If you love 5 Pointz, show us on Saturday. COME AND SEE MERES BY HIS OFFICE IN THE LOADING DOCK . COME AND SIGN THE LANDMARK FORM Please come out to show your support and hear more about REAL STRATEGIES TO SAVE OUR MONUMENT. The future of 5 Pointz is within OUR CONTROL! Peaceful gathering and art from 3-4. Speakers from 4-5. YOUR SUPPORT IS NEEDED! COME ONE COME ALL THIS SATURDAY!!!!
November 16, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 3 dimensional graffiti murals, 5 Pointz, 5 Pointz Graffiti Museum, 5 Pointz tour, 7 train, art, Court Street Station, eat and be eaten, fressen und gefressen werden, Graffiti Museum, graffiti styles, Hans Von Rittern, Help Save 5 Pointz, history of 5 Pointz, inside 5 Pointz, international graffiti, Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, Manhattan, Meres, Meres light bulb, Meres One, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, Queens, Sunnyside | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: SMILE . . . it’s SUNDAY !
November 10, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 5 Pointz, 5 Pointz Graffiti Museum, 7 train, architecture, Batman the Joker, Ceasar Romero as Batman TV series, Cesar Romero as Batman TV series, Hans Von Rittern, Jackson Avenue, Long Island City Queens, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, Queens, street art, street sticker art, Sunnyside | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: NO, BANKSY WUZ NOT HERE – But you are, thank you! Today at the iconic 5 Pointz Graffiti Art Museum, they decided to make a statement about the current Banksy craze – so, Meres, curator of the museum made his statement and created this graffitied artful canvas.
‘Banksy’ is a highly secretive British graffiti artist who is currently making headlines in New York City. For the month of October, every night Banksy paints one of his stencil art pieces in a location somewhere in one of the 5 boroughs. The thing is, creative as Banksy may be, it still is art that is not asked for by the buildings he paints them on. That is where 5 Pointz is different. It is a factory building spanning an entire city block in Long Island City, Queens. 200,000 square feet of spectacular art that has been requested an approved. Considered to be the premier graffiti art museum in the world, now in danger of being torn down (see my previous October 3rd post) thanks to the unending greed of the Bloomberg era. While enjoying a big spike in visitors since the potentially horrible news has broken, 5 Pointz’s curators were though, getting a little tired of being asked, “has Banksy been here yet?!” Well – there is your answer “No. . Banksy wuz not here, but you are, thank you!” They and Meres welcome you to take their tour via SideTour.com, I highly recommend it!
5 POINTZ: 45-46 Davis Street, corner of Jackson Avenue, under the 7 train line, Court Street stop. Long Island City, NY
http://5ptz.com/about/
October 20, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 5 Pointz, 5 Pointz Graffiti Museum, 7 train, 7 train Court Street Station, Banksy, Banksy craze, graffiti art, graffiti artist, Hans Von Rittern, Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, Long Island City Queens, Meres One, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, Queens, Side Tour, SideTour.com, street graffiti | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: MY SPEECH TO SAVE 5 POINTZ DIRECTED AT COUNCILMEMBER JIMMY VAN BRAMMER AND DEVELOPERS – On Wednesday October 2, 2013 both sides in favor and against tearing down Graffiti & Mural museum 5 Pointz, gathered inside City Hall for a hearing by the NYCHA – The New York City Housing Authority. It’s basically a side show/dog and pony show with the real estate developers always claiming tearing something down is “for the good of the community.” The owner, Jerry Wolcoff wants to build twin mirror glass apartment towers for which he will receive $7 million. Now you know me – I do not go quietly! Here is my passionate speech directed in part at my Queens councilmember, who is Christine Quinn’s lap dog and Mayor Bloomberg’s pet – Jimmy Van Brammer – who has stated he does not believe the magnificent powerful graffiti and mural works at 5 Pointz is “art” – and therefore in favor of tearing the building down. (When embarrassingly trapped by the truth of his statement at the hearing he said: “Well….I said I don’t quite understand it.” After also admitting he has rarely ever visited the site in his district.
rendering-5 POINTZ WOLCOFF TOWERS
SPEECH:
My name is Hans Von Rittern, born raised in Queens, licensed tour guide of 8 years. I have been hired by Harlem Spirituals Tour company to take European tourists on a 5 hour tour of Brooklyn. They marvel at the view from Fulton Ferry and thank me, they love Park Slope bagels and Coney island puts a smile on their faces. The endpoint of the tour is supposed to be hipster Williamsburg. I chose not to do that and end my tour at 5 Pointz as a surprise. When I get back onto the bus, each and EVERY single time they burst out into spontaneous cheers and applause saying “THIS is highlight of the New York tour”! “THIS is New York!”
I take tourists on “art tours” of galleries and or museums. When they reach MOMA’s PS1 they are bored and unmoved by the art. I say “come with me” and lead them to 5 Pointz and I always have trouble getting them back into our vehicle. This is an untapped rich resource that needs imagination of design and investment, NOT a quick buck, another mirror glass box and then get the hell out of there as fast a possible.
There are 2 ways to make money: The quick bang fix and run – or, the wise investment – for perpetual monetary return on your investment of restoring the building and let the artists go hog wild on the interior. Hipsters will kill for a graffiti-ed loft, stores would love the unmatched ambience and above all, CHARGE FOR THE ADMISSION INTO THE BUILDING AS A FULLY FLEDGED MUSEUM.
Muralist VERONIQUE BARRILOT makes her (final?) statement
‘Not a museum because it’s not “art”’, as some politicians like my councilmember Jimmy Van Brammer will say?
May I remind you:
Toulouse L’autrec – was considered street art and torn off the walls, today his street posters are considered the finest examples of classic art.
Matisse – was dismissed as “scribble,”
Picasso – was considered a crackpot for putting a woman’s nose where her ear ought to be
Warhol– not taken seriously at all, soup cans as art?! Own one today and it’s worth millions.
Keith Haring – used to graffiti at my subway station, I watched him get arrested. Today he hangs in MOMA and the cathedral of St. John The Divine.
Basquiat – was looked down upon as wanna be street artist. His work is now in the major museums around the world.
Yes, I fully realize this is not what the building was intended to become, but it has, it has become bigger than what you realize.
So who are YOU – to say this is not “art” and therefore not worth saving and investing in?
I should think greed alone would take over and try to save it.
Don’t have your names forever associated with the destruction of this building so all of you can make a “fast buck” rather than a wise “invested buck.”
Look back, which one of you doesn’t wish they owned a Warhol soup can now?
Well – you have dozens of them, right here in front of you.
Just because it is relatively new art does not make it less relevant art.
Remember all the fools that said the same of Lautrec, Warhol, Haring and Basquiat.
Will you be the same short sighted fools?
Fellow tour guide Andy Sydor testifying in favor of 5 Pointz
Reporter Greg Mocker of WPIX11 Covered the hearing, I can be seen testifying saying : “Yes, I fully realize this is not what the building was intended to become, but it has, it has become bigger than what you realize.” Here is the video link http://pix11.com/2013/10/02/nyc-council-hears-plans-for-iconic-queens-grafitti-building/#axzz2gfgASpxA
5 POINTZ WEB SITE: http://5ptz.com/
October 3, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 5 Pointz, 7 train, architecture, arts, Basquiat, Brooklyn tour, City Hall 10-2-13 hearing, CLUE-LESS POLITICIANS, Coney Island, CORRUPT POLITICIANS, Councilman Jimmy Van Brammer, Councilwoman Christine Quinn, European tourists explore Brooklyn, fighting city hall, freedom to paint, Fulton Ferry Landing, German tourists explore New York, graffiti, Great artisits once dismissed as garbage, greed vs. art, Greg Mocker, Hans Von Rittern, Hans' Brooklyn tour, Harlem Spirituals Tours Brooklyn Tour, Jackson Avenue, Jerry Wolcoff, Jimmy Van Brammer, Keith Haring, Long Island City Queens, Manhattan, Matisse, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, mural art, New York City, New York City Housing Authority, New York photo, NYCHA, Photo of the day, photography, Picasso, Queens, Sterling City Tours, street art, Sunnyside, The New York City Housing Authority, Toulouse L’autrec, VERONIQUE BARRILLOT, Warhol, WHAT IS ART?, WPIX11 news | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: DESPITE THE GOVERNMENT SHUT DOWN, THE FIGHT FOR LIBERTY CONTINUES BY MURALIST VERONIQUE BARRILLOT – Today the despicable Republicans have shut down the government. Tourists here in New York that have traveled half way around the world to go to Liberty Island are literally left out in the cold. The most upset are those who have crown visit tickets, those tickets have been ordered two to three months in advance and you arrive in New York = closed.
One of the places you can see Miss Liberty still fighting for her freedom is at the Graffiti Museum 5 Pointz on Jackson Avenue in Long Island City, Queens, right next to the 7 train Court Street Station. World famous 5 Pointz, as so many other treasures in New York, thanks to the greedy cancer that is the Bloomberg administration, is in great danger of being torn down in favor of twin mirror glass apartments.
5 Pointz, Jackson Avenue at Crane Street and Davis Street, the whole block, Long Island City, NY 11101, #7 train Court Street stop.
To make her (perhaps final) statement, French muralist Veronique Barrillot has been given permission to paint a giant mural directly on the Jackson Avenue side for all to see. It is the Statue of Liberty, grimacing as she holds a paint pallet and paint brushes. Veronique is finishing the mural today, so I will not reveal the full image of it yet. Veronique states: “The homage I would like to pay to 5 Pointz is that of our common heritage and of our faith in the future and in liberty.” As of this moment’s government shut down, that immediate ‘future’ looks grim. The longest government shut down was also the most recent, from Dec. 16, 1995, through Jan. 5, 1996. That’s 21 days. No Grand Canyon, no Yellowstone, no national zoos, no landmarks like the Lincoln Memorial or the Washington Monument – no Statue of Liberty.
Paint on Veronique, paint on ! Vive l’art!
October 1, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 5 Pointz, 7 train, 7 train Court Street Station, artist fights to save building, arts, Court Street Queens subway station, Court Street Station, Crane and Davis streets, Government shutdown, graffiti, grafitti art, Hans Von Rittern, Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, Manhattan, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, mural art, New York, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, political art, Queens, Statue of Liberty, Statue of Liberty arm, Statue of Liberty head, Statue of Liberty mural, street art, street artist, subway, VERONIQUE BARRILLOT | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: AND FOR MY NEXT TRICK . . .: New York City has the most free entertainment you can imagine, above ground and below. In addition to the thousands of street performers on our sidewalks and parks, there are hundreds more in the subways. The MTA (Mass Transit Authority) holds auditions for musicians so they can sing at designated regular spots and hopefully gain some recognition like my friend Alice Tan Ridley who went from performing in Times Square’s main station to appearing on America’s Got Talent TV show and she now has a successful concert schedule and CD!
Now you know you are a “real” New Yawka when you come to know the schedules of the subway performers on your subway line. That’s a real New Yawka! “Oh it 4:30, it’s time for the lady mariachi band!”. We have such performers as The Saw Lady who plays musical saw, pianists, opera singers, tap dancers, belly dancers, jazz musicians, contortionists, flutists, accordion players and my personal favorite ‘Lady Charisma’ – a Brazilian melodica player who only seems to know a few chords from one song, Antônio Carlos Jobim’s “The Girl From Ipanema”. Lady Charisma’s schedule is about 10:30/11:00 pm on my Flushing bound #7 train line and I always have $1 ready for her.
The Saw Lady – Natalia Paruz
So it was with great pleasure, while boarding the #5 train at 149th Street & The Grand Concourse in the Bronx, that I came encountered this magician with this wonderfully korny ‘magician’s carriage’ adorned with gold tattered fringe. His pulled a white dove out of his hat. Did the usual handkerchief trick and made this bunny rabbit appear and disappear to the applause of the riders on the train. God I ♥ NY !
Bullwinkle: Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat.
Rocky: Again?
Bullwinkle: Presto!
August 11, 2013 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: 'Lady Charisma', 5 train, 7 train, Alice Tan Ridley, America's Got Talent, Antônio Carlos Jobim's "The Girl From Ipanema", free entertainment, Grand Concourse, Hans Von Rittern, magician on subway, Manhattan, mariachi band, Mass Transit Authority, MTA, New Yawka, New York City, Photo of the day, Rocky and Bullwinkle, street musicians, street performers, subway, subway musicians, subway performers, Sunnyside, the Bronx, The Saw Lady - Natalia Paruz, Times Square, transportation, you know you are a real New Yorker when... | 1 Comment
Photo of the day: SUNNYSIDE AUGUST SUNSET – photographed on my way home approx. 7:45pm. Empire State Building on the horizon.
August 7, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 7 train, Empire State Building, Hans Von Rittern, Manhattan, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, Queens, queens blvd, Sunnyside Gardens, sunset | Leave a comment
1961, my 6th Birthday party
Mondays on Memory Lane: THE STORY OF THE MIRACULOUS TRAVELING CHAIRS
How we found our missing chairs after 20 years!
New Years Eve 1992 with grandmother aka “Oma”
In the summer of 1960 my family, consisting of my mother Ursula, her mother Amalie and me, had moved across the street from a furnished walk up apartment to a brand new sprawling modern apartment building on Woodhaven Blvd named The Imperial. The lobby of the building looked like George Jetson’s living room, furnished in very high 1960’s modern style, it was wonderful, but there was more furniture in the lobby than there was in our apartment! Having come from a furnished apartment, we didn’t have much to move in with. Mom was a single parent secretary with impeccable skills who supported her family all by herself. Coming from a proper German family she had been taught you only buy what you can afford. Now that mom had arrived in America, her co-workers convinced Ursula that buying things “on time” was the all American way!
Bloomingdales 1959 American Design Foundation furniture ad
With that in mind, since we needed a dining room set first, mom would look in the stores after work. Ursula’s finer taste led her to Bloomingdale’s, which in those days had an elaborate furniture department. There on the upper floor were the latest of modern designs, and this being 1960, the style was of course Danish Modern. Mom tells me it was “love at first sight” when she was instantly drawn to a display island in the middle of the floor, roped off by velvet ropes, showing a complete dining set designed in 1959 by Kipp Stewart and Stewart MacDougal for the American Design Foundation for the Winchendon Furniture Company.
Six chairs, dinning table with extender leaves, end table and china cabinet. Solid cherry wood with black leather upholstery. “It was exactly my taste!” mom tells me. Although she does not recall the price, she does recall it was “terribly expensive” but fate had intervened – it was on sale! Even with this good fortune, it was still out of her budget range. “Why not buy it on time?” familiarly chimed the sales clerk. Sold! It was delivered soon afterwards.
For 53 years our family history has revolved around that set. It has been photographed for every special occasion, every birthday, every holiday, it has truly been the center of our lives. But, lives change. Situations change. So, in 1993 we left New York for Tucson, Arizona believing in the theory that ’the grass is always greener on the other side.’ We hired Mayflower movers who specializes in cross-country moves. We were one of about four families on board the huge, huge truck having their things moved out west. Ursula supervised the movers with an eagle eye, especially her beloved dining room chairs. Since the chairs are so light, it was decided they would be placed at the very, very top of our piled section so as not to dent or crush them. Once we got to Arizona we stayed in a furnished motel first, till we could find the house of our dreams. When the Mayflower movers finally arrived a week after our arrival, our furniture was placed in storage. We first settled on a rental house with option to buy (which we didn’t) and had our furniture packed up again and delivered to our new ‘temporary’ home. As the truck arrived, we watched as the doors opened. There perched at the top were their treasured chairs. One, two, three, four came off the truck. “Where are the other two?” mom asked with great concern. “Don’t worry lady, they’re there,” the movers assured her. They were not.
Tucson Thanksgiving 1994
We filed claims with Mayflower movers, they gave us the run around with excuses as to where they could be. The stop before us in the mid west, the stop after us in California, somewhere. Surely we thought, surely someone would be decent enough to say, ‘hey, we have two chairs that don’t belong to us.’ No one ever did. We believe that since the partition dividing each families furniture was not completely from floor to ceiling on the truck, the chairs must have toppled over into another families things and were never reported, too much of an inconvenience to some one else.
In time, Ursula finally found the house of her dreams on East Hawk Place at the foot of Mount Lemon. Once again the movers were called. By the year 1999 I realized I was the quintessential New Yorker, miserable in Tucson, and in January 2000 moved back to NYC. One year later my mother to move ‘closer’ to me decided to move to Ft. Meyers Beach, Florida. So the movers (not Mayflower!) were called yet again. Mom’s first house kept getting flooded by the hurricanes so she moved yet again to one final house in Ft. Meyers Beach, until three hurricanes descended onto the Florida Gulf within three months. The one thing mom was determined to save each time was her beloved dining room set and she perched it up onto other furniture, thereby saving it from all the floods. Three hurricanes being too much, mom finally moved back to NYC! For each and every one of the seven moves Ursula’s beloved dining room set has survived – except for the two chairs. Now in 2013 she is firmly ensconced around the corner from me in Sunnyside, Queens. But in all the years since 1993, whenever we have a special occasion at the dinner table, it is only a matter of time till mom will say, “you know, we had six of these chairs!”
On July 18 this year, in the midst of New York’s scorching 100F degree heat wave, I volunteered to go to mom’s holistic pet shop, located on 9th Street in the east village section of Manhattan. Now fate begins to intervene. I have gone to this shop many times before. The subway stop is 8th Street. Oddly enough, I automatically got off at 14th Street. So by foot I headed south. Instead of turning onto East 9th Street, for some unknown reason I turned onto East 12th Street. As I headed down the street, I was drawn into the wonderful The Cure Thrift Shop where proceeds go to the diabetes foundation. The lure of cool air and wonderful things pulled me in. I kept walking as if pulled to the back of the store. Then, when just about 6 feet from the back, my eyes saw – our dining room chairs, exactly two of them! ! It was an absolute surreal moment. Was I seeing right? This couldn’t be. In my days, I have been to every last thrift shop, antique store, garage sale, estate sale, street fair and flea market in New York, upstate, New England, Arizona and Florida – I have never ever seen any part of our dining room set – and here they were…the two of them, as if hey were waiting for me. I was almost afraid to touch them to only then discover the mirage wasn’t real – they were real, priced at $500 for the pair. “Do you know anything about these chairs” I carefully asked?
Stewart-MacDougal Chair in CURE Thrift Shop
CURE Thrift Shop 111 East 12th Street
Chair in the #4 subway
Hans’ private seating
I was told by a very delightful girl named Ali that they were donated by a woman who had had them for “many years.” My hand started going for my cell phone as I tried to walk calmly out of the store. I rushed across the street and speed dialed mom, “You’re not going to believe this, but I found your chairs!” Mom insisted I was clouded with romantic notions and that it just could not be. Maybe the back is different, different legs, different wood or seat, it just couldn’t be, not after 20 years! “No mom…it’s them!“ We agreed that fate had intervened and that despite the fact this was certainly not planned for in our budget, if these were truly, truly the chairs, I had to buy them! I recognized the nicks and dents we had accidentally put in them over the years – these were undeniably OUR chairs! Unbelievable! I offered Ali $400 which she warmly accepted. I told Ali the entire story as we both got the Twilight Zone chills and teared up and hugged. I rushed home to show mom the photos I had taken of ‘her’ chairs. “It’s them” she exclaimed, as she just kept staring at the photo in the camera.
The very next day I planned to take the chairs to mom’s apartment, one by one on the subway. Liz the manager greeted me only to reveal that she herself had been the past owner of the infamous chairs for just a few years, before that they had been found in a second hand furniture store. Liz herself reupholstered the seats in white vinyl and insisted the original seats are still underneath, which they are. I thanked her profusely and gingerly carried the first chair to go home to mom.
Ursula and her chairs – 20 years later!
Now in New York City, you see all characters carry all sorts of odd things on the subway. The subway doors opened, I placed my chair in the corner and sat down. I got all the required bemused looks. “You Won’t believe the story behind this chair!” I exclaimed, I just couldn’t hold my excitement back as I told a young surprised design student the story. My stop arrived, I rushed to her apartment building and got into the elevator as quickly as possible. Ursula was waiting at the door, “Oh my god, it really IS the chair”, mom just looked at me and then the chair and then me, then the chair…We went into the living room and I placed the first of the missing two chairs, next to it’s mates. After twenty long years they were together again! But wait – I had to go back to the city and do the whole trip over again with chair number two! I headed out the door, heady with excitement and rushed to get missing chair #2. After several hours on July 19, twenty years later, I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but our historic beloved chairs were together again, the dining room set was just as it was on that day in Bloomingdales when that sales person said to Ursula: “Why don’t you just buy them on time?” !
AMERICAN FURNITURE FOUNDATION MEDALLION
AMERICAN DESIGN FOUNDATION 1959 STEWART-MacDOUGAL DINING SET TODAY
WINCHENDON FURNITURE COMPANY CHINA CABINET
STEWART-MacDOUGAL WINCHENDON DINING CHAIRS
THE CURE THRIFT SHOP benefiting The Diabetes Foundation
111 East 12th Street, open daily 11:00 – 8:00
212-505-SHOP
PS: Bizarrely enough, a few days later, TCM (Ted Turner Movie) channel showed the 1970 Mel Brooks comedy film “The Twelve Chairs” for the very first time on their channel.
Sunday July 28th, I actually found the original Bloomingdale’s ad for the chairs on the internet. Life is surreal.
July 29, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 111East 12th Street, 1960, 1960's, 1993, 61-61 Woodhaven Blvd., 7 train, Ali and Liz, American Design Foundation, Bloomingdales, Bloomingdales 1959 furniture ad, Christmas, Danish Modern Furniture, East Village, family celebrations and holidays, family events, fate, finding lost furniture, Ft. Meyers beach Florida, Hans Von Rittern, heat wave, hurricanes, interior decorating, interior design, Kipp Stewart, Kipp Stewart and Stewart MacDougal, lost furniture, Manhattan, Mayflower Movers, New York City, New York photo, Paul McCobb, Photo of the day, Queens, Stewart MacDougal, subway, Sunnyside, Sunnyside Gardens, The CURE Thrift Shop, The Imperial, thrift shop find, Tucson Arizona, Ursula Von Rittern, vintage furniture, Winchendon American Design Fondation medallion, winchendon furniture, Winchendon Furniture Comapny, Woodhaven Blvd. | Leave a comment
The photos were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that Hans’ friends soon would be there!
Come celebrate my one man show!!
15 photos beautifully displayed at The Brogue Bar in my hood of Sunnyside/LIC Queens.
Located at 4910 Skillman Avenue (between 49/50th Streets).
Easy to get to: take N/R/Q train to Queensboro Plaza, transfer to “7” GREEN/LOCAL train, get off either 46th or 52nd Street and walk 2 avenues north.
Let’s make this a birthday/Christmas/4th of July/ Labor Day celebration!
Wine and cheese will be served, cash bar.
Please come – I will be so happy to see you all!
June 11, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 7 train, arts, Brogue Restaurant and Bar on 4910 Skillman Avenue, Hans Von Rittern, Meet and greet Hans Von Rittern, meet the artist, New York City, New York photo, open art exhibit, photo exhibit and sale, Photo of the day, Sunnyside, Sunnyside Gardens, The Brogue Bar and Restaurant, Ursula Von Rittern | 1 Comment
Photos of the day: STOP BY AND SEE AND BUY SOME OF MY PHOTOS: You have two chances in the next two weeks. This Sunday, June 9th, is the “Invincible Summer” Art Fair at Queen of Angels Parish Hall, 44-04 Skillman Ave, corner 44th Street, 2 blocks from subway, phone 718-392-0011. I’ll be selling some of my photos from 1pm – 5pm.
Photos starting as low as $20 and $25 !
MORE GREAT NEWS! I will have my own exhibit of 12-14 of my works at The Brogue Restaurant and Bar on 4910 Skillman Avenue (between 49/50th Streets) here in my hood Sunnyside. The reception party is tentatively scheduled for Friday June 14th. Please come all! This is the first time I am having an exhibit of my own!
So come to both occasions but definitely come to the reception tentatively scheduled June 14th.!
Hopefully see you this Sunday too 🙂
June 9, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: "Invincible Summer" Art Fair, 2 blocks from subway, 44-04 Skillman Ave, 46th Street, 7 train, corner 44th Street, Hans Von Rittern, Invincible Summer, Meet and greet Hans Von Rittern, meet the artist, New York City, New York photo, Photos starting as low as $20 and $25, queen of angels, Queen of Angels Parish Hall, Sunnyside, Sunnyside Gardens, Sunnysideartists.org | Leave a comment
Model Shaniqua Myoshi Smith
Photo of the day: TAXI, TAXI – The monsoon rain has finally stopped in New York! It is impossible to find a cab in NYC when it rains, but now that it’ sunny ~ do you know how to hail a cab in NYC? No, you just don’t whistle and wave – you have to know the light system on top of the cab.
– When the letter and number combo is lit (6X47B) that means he is free (no passengers).
– When the letter and number combo is NOT lit (6X47B) that means he is occupied (has passengers).
– If the words are lit on either side of the letter/number combo, it reads “OFF DUTY” that means he is going home. He may stop for you if where you’d like to go is on his way home, but he’ll quote you a flat predetermined price. (The meter is turned off…I’d wait for a working metered cab.)
– You are allowed to tell him to turn off his personal loud radio.
CONGRATULATIONS! You have just graduated Taxi Cab 101 !
REMINDER: SUNDAY JUNE 9 is the
“Invincible Summer Art Fair”!
1-5PM
Featuring Hans Von Rittern’s work
at Queen of Angels Parish Hall, 44-04 Skillman Ave, corner 44th Street, 2 blocks from subway
N/Q/R train to Quensboro Place, 7 train to 36th Street, walk 4 blocks
I’LL SEE YOU THERE !
June 8, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 7 train, Art Fair - Queen of Angels Parish, black girl body painted, Hans Von Rittern, Local art fair and sale, Manhattan, Meet and greet Hans Von Rittern, New York City, New York photo, nude painted woman, nude woman in traffic, Photo display and sale, Photo of the day, photography, Queens, subway, Sunnyside, Sunnyside Gardens, taxi cab | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: THE WHOLE BALL OF WAX – When you are a daily New York subway rider, you come to know ‘the regulars’ on your train. That man who always folds The New York Times so precisely when reading it’s almost an art, the Russian woman who loves wearing leopard patterns, the Indian man who listens to Bollywood soundtracks so loud on his iPhone ear bugs – you can hear it clearly three seats away, the girl who seems to think the subway is her bathroom and meticulously applies her makeup stroke by calculated stroke, the snoring businessman who prefers to wear gray suits. But then there are the other “irregulars”: ‘Lady Karisma’ a woman who wears emerald green sequins, plays a melodica and announces the history of Brazilian music before she sings Antonio Carlos Jobim’s ‘The Girl From Ipanema” off key, the kid selling candy “for my high school team”, the air head folk singer who singing on the minority laden 7 train is just so, so out of place, the crazy lady from 46th Street who wears totally mis-matched clothes with a preference for lace gloves and veils, eats bags of sunflower seeds and very busily talks to herself – but don’t touch her, she gets testy.
But this being New York…there is always something new to surprise me in this never ending stream of a free show. The other day I was crammed onto a #4 uptown train during rush hour and had barely any room to move my head to look around. As I glance to the left, the lady with the big oversized bee-keeper-like mauve hat did catch my attention. She was terribly engrossed in working on something with her hands. There was also a strange odor coming from her way. Not offensive – just not a recognizable smell. Ok, curiosity getting the better of me, I inched closer. The smell was of the wax she was kneading. There she was – making an old fashion shoe out of candle wax, yes you read that right. A shoe…out of wax. She had a cardboard box of dirty, presumably found candle stubs that she was breaking pieces off of in order to add and mold them very meticulously to her shoe. By the way, the matching shoe was in the box. I tried getting a look at her face but the mauve bee-keeper hat prevented that. She studied the shoe, turned it from all angles in order to apply the next piece of dirty wax just right. I watched her with fascination. As the train pulled into 42nd Street and I got off the train, I just wondered ‘what does one do with a pair of wax shoes?!’
May 17, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 7 train, Antonio Carlos Jobim, ball of wax, beekeeper hat, candle wax, crazy people of the subway train, Hans Von Rittern, homeless, Lady Karisma, Manhattan, New York City, New York photo, new york subway, old woman, Queens, subway, subway art, subway performers, subway rider, subway riders, The Girl From Ipanema, transportation, wax art, wax shoe | 2 Comments
SNOW GLOW: During my hiatus from blogging and Facebook, the blizzard of February 10, 2013 hit Sunnyside Queens, New York and I got the photograph I had been wanting to get for a long time. The street my mother lives on, 45th Street, near Queens Blvd. has a great view of the passing #7 train. When it rains or snows it always has an atmosphere of eerie yet romantic, old world yet in today’s times and a great misty light play. I grabbed my camera and stood in the snow for two hours till midnight photographing the storm and the light plays. This is one of my favorites moments.
April 19, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 45th Street Queens Blvd., 7 train, 7 train subway, BLIZZARD 2013, february 10 2013, glow of lights, Hans Von Rittern, New York City, night time snow, Queens, queens blvd, reflective lights, snow storm, subway, Sunnyside, Sunnyside Gardens, transportation, Ursula Von Rittern, winter | 3 Comments
BUMPING IN TO MARILYN: Marilyn and the New York subways will be forever linked together since her iconic subway-grate skirt blowing scene from the 1954 film “The Seven Year Itch”. Coming out of the Trans Lux movie theater (Lexington Avenue/52nd Street) having seen “The Creature From The Black Lagoon” Marilyn wanders over the grate and joyously exclaims “Oooh, do you feel the breeze from the subway?! Isn’t it delicious?”
Incredibly and sadly, there is nothing there on the spot to commemorate that sizzling moment, but the photos from that infamous scene will live on forever – you think of Marilyn – you think of that white Travilla halter dress which Debbie Reynolds recently sold at auction for $4.6 million dollars.
One the most perfect photographs was shot by photographer, her friend and film maker Sam Shaw. Thanks to the MTA’s Art for Transit Program you can now ‘bump into Marilyn’ again for all of this 2013 in our subway system. The supersized version of Sam Shaw’s well-known 1954 photo is part of an exhibit. The exhibit also features seven of Shaw’s other Monroe photos. Later, in 1957, he spent a day with Marilyn wandering around Manhattan, taking photos in Central Park – at a bench and rowing a boat, window shopping along Fifth Avenue and perched above the FDR with then husband #3 playwright Arthur Miller .
The Sam Shaw lighted photo exhibit is on view inside the 42nd Street-Bryant Park subway station on the B, D, F, M and 7 lines. Manager Lester Burg of the Arts for Transit program says matching a mass transit setting with a popular figure from mass culture seemed a good fit. I would agree, ‘isn’t it delicious?’
April 17, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 1954, 1957, 7 train, 7 train subway, Arthur Miller, B train, Bryant Park, D train, Debbie Reynolds, F train, Hans Von Rittern, Lester Burg, Lexington Avenue/52nd Street, M train, Manhattan, Marilyn Monroe, MTA's Art for Transit Program, New York City, New York heatwave, new york subways, Sam Shaw, subway, subway station, subway-grate skirt blowing scene, The Creature From The Black Lagoon, The Seven Year Itch, Times Square, transportation, Travilla | Leave a comment
Interview of the day: THE FRIENDLIEST MOTORMAN ON THE #7 LINE ~ One of the friendliest motormen on the 7 line! A long time veteran of the rails, married with 2 children. He asked to remain unnamed and just be recognized for his bright smiling …face, so let’s just call him ‘Smith’. To familiarize you with the MTA lingo, the person in the front is the ‘motorman’, the person in the center of the train operating the doors is your conductor. There isn’t actually very much communication between the two. Most of the communication is between the motorman and headquarters.
He clocks 5 trips a day (the maximum allowed by the MTA.) I asked him what was the most memorable trip, Smith replied: “Yikes! They had me ride right into a tornado in April of 2010. My reaction was like that you see in a cartoon, your eyes pop out of your head, you can’t believe what you are seeing and you react just like a Warner Brothers cartoon…and then you pull yourself together and say to yourself ‘Keep the train steady and moving, you can do this’.”…and he did! His annoyances: “The people at headquarters giving us instructions aren’t here, they don’t know what we are facing or many times are up to.” Also the signals, he pointed out if any one of them is out or wrong it can cause the train to come to a halt and even cause damage, we stopped for a moment and he pointed one of them out and said: “Do you realize how old they are?” So what are his joys? His daily joy is approaching the 103rd Street/Corona Plaza stop. Smith said: “There’s a little bodega down there I can see from my booth and there are moms out front with their little kids. The kids see the train come to a halt and see me looking down at them, so I give ’em a big smile and toot the horn to see their eyes light up, it never gets old.”
His best story: Smith a long time ago met a young man along the line. Not very well dressed, struggling with school and finances. Smith gave him a pep talk and encouraged to keep in school and hang in there. He saw him routinely on his way to school, always in shabby clothes. A few years passed and he saw him dress a little better and ride at different times of the day. It turns out he was job hunting. A few more years passed and Smith pulls into a station one early morning and there at the very front of the platform was someone he thought he recognized. But this man was so well dressed. It was the same young man! He had gotten a decent job and was finally making a bit of money. Smith had watched this young man go through his and our daily struggle and watched him become a success. That makes Smith feel good to this day. As for me, I had a big smile, Smith had put a face and a warm smile behind the person we all take for granted daily. If you see him – give Smith a big smile – you’ll get one right back!
January 15, 2013 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: 7 train, Hans Von Rittern, Manhattan, mass transit, MOTORMAN, MTA, New York City, Queens, subway, Sunnyside, Sunnyside Gardens, train conductor, transportation | Leave a comment
STOP NORMALIZING RACISM AND VIOLENCE: This is Mazeda Uddin, the National Women’s Coordinator for the Alliance of South Asian Americans. She and I attended a vigil in Jackson Heights to address incidents of racial violence, anti-Muslim, anti-gay sentiment and other forms of hatred in our neighborhoods. In light of the recent tragic death of Sunando Sen, an India immigrant, who was pushed in front of the 7 Train in Sunnyside for being “one of them”. Attending yesterday afternoon were Council Members Danny Dromm and Jimmy Bramer, members of Desis Rising Up & Moving, Council on American Islamic Relations and other community leaders and clergy to put an end to these heinous crimes.
We are a city of immigrants. Immigration is what built New York, to turn on each other for our perceived differences is inexcusable.
See my original post of December 29, 2012 to read the sadly horrible story of Mr. Sunando Sen.
January 9, 2013 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: 7 train, american islamic relations, anti-gay sentiment, anti-Muslim, Council on American Islamic Relations, Desis Rising Up & Moving, Hans Von Rittern, heinous crimes, Jackson Heights, Mazeda Uddin, National Women's Coordinator for the Alliance of South Asian Americans, New York City, racial violence, south asian americans, subway, Sunando Sen, Sunnyside Gardens | Leave a comment
A woman accused of pushing a man to his death in front of a speeding subway train Thursday night, December 27th, in Queens has been charged with murder as a hate crime, New York Police Department spokesman spokesman Paul Browne. said Saturday.Police arrested Erica Menendez on Saturday after a passerby on a Brooklyn street noticed she resembled the woman seen in a surveillance video.Ms. Menendez told authorities she hates Hindus and Muslims, a spokeswoman for Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said.
The victim, Sunando Sen, was from India, but it isn’t clear whether he was Muslim or Hindu, it doesn’t matter.
The arrest capped a three-day search for a heavyset, 5-foot-5 Hispanic woman who was caught on camera escaping from a subway platform in Sunnyside, Queens, after she allegedly shoved a man into the path of an oncoming No. 7 train. It was the second such attack in New York City in less than a month.
The seemingly unprovoked attack, the second time this month that a man was thrown to his death on the subway tracks, stirred some of the deepest fears of New Yorkers.
“When a murder happens in New York, it can often be dismissed as being in someone else’s backyard,” said Gene Russianoff, staff lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign, a rider advocacy group. “The subway is everyone’s backyard.”
The police identified the victim as Sen of Queens, a 46-year-old immigrant who had been raised in India and who, after years of toil, had finally saved enough money to open a small copying business this year on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Ar Suman, one of four roommates who shared a small first-floor apartment with Sen in Elmhurst, said he was driving a client upstate when another roommate called and told him what had happened. Hoping the information was wrong, Suman raced back to the city, only to find that there was nothing he could do — Sen was dead.
“He was a very educated person and quite nice,” Suman said. “It is unbelievable. He never had a problem with anyone.”
Suman said Sen was proud when he had saved enough money to open the business, New Amsterdam Copy.
Since the shop opened, he had rarely taken a day off, Suman said.
“I asked him why do you work seven days a week?” Suman said. “He told me, ‘I cannot hire someone because business is not good.”‘
Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said Friday that according to witnesses’ accounts, there was no contact on the platform between the attacker and the victim immediately before the fatal shove. He said Sen was looking out over the tracks when his attacker approached him.
The attack occurred so quickly, with the train already barreling into the station, that the man had little time to react and bystanders had no time to try to help, said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman.
Sen was hit by the first car and his body was pinned under the second car before the 11-car train came to a stop.
Investigators released a grainy black-and-white video overnight showing a person they identified as the attacker fleeing the station and running along Queens Boulevard. She was described by the police as Hispanic, 5 feet 5 inches tall, in her early 20s and heavyset. She was reported to be wearing a blue, white and gray ski jacket and Nike sneakers — gray on top, red on bottom.
The subway station was closed overnight as officers from the Emergency Services Unit used specialized inflatable bags to lift the train and recover the victim’s remains. The No. 7 line had resumed normal service by the morning rush.
Sen’s roommates could not understand what might have led to the fatal encounter Thursday.
Suman said that as far as he knew, Sen did little more than work and come home. Both his parents were dead, they said, and he was not married and had no children.
Sen suffered a heart attack about nine months ago, Suman said, but did not slow down. The night stand in Sen’s bedroom had many bottles of prescription medicine. Across the room on his desk was a pile of medical bills.
His roommates said he liked watching funny clips on YouTube to unwind, enjoyed a cup of tea and would relax listening to classical Indian music.
“This guy is so quiet, so gentle, so nice,” said M.D. Khan, a taxi driver who also lives in the apartment. “It’s so broken, my heart.”
December 29, 2012 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 7 train, crime, Elmhurst, Hans Von Rittern, hate crime, hindu, India, Manhattan, muslim, New York City, New York Police, subway, subway pusher, Sunando Sen, Sunnyside, Sunnyside Gardens | Leave a comment
MEETING OF THE ‘M’ CLUB: The great painter Edouard Manet said: “There is only one true thing – instantly paint what you see. When you’ve got it, you’ve got it. When you haven’t, you begin again. All the rest is humbug.”
I as a photographer say: “Life is art = Art is life. If you have life in your eyes, you see the art.”
On one of the last warm days last week I came across this endearing scene. It is under the elevated ‘7’ train that heads towards Shea Stadium.
The meeting of ‘The M Club’. Mini Matisse, mini Mondrian, mini Manet and mini Monet.
A local day school teacher brings his little “M’s” to various spots here in Sunnyside Queens to inspire them to paint what they see and feel.
Matisse is in her blue period. Mondrian is being very colorful. Manet is feeling very precise and Monet is just going wild with his expressionism. Who knows what paths lie ahead for these four adorable children, one may be a lawyer, one our next president, one may be a psychiatrist and one may have their paintings hanging in the Museum of Modern Art!
Paint on dear children, paint on . . .
November 27, 2012 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 7 train, arts, Children painting, day school, finger painting, Hans Von Rittern, Manet, Manet quote, Matisse, Mondrian, Monet, museum of modern art, New York City, Sunnyside | Leave a comment
GUMBY!: Black leather vest in a heat wave, black work-out gloves, greased down black hair, pierced ears, gun tattoo, torpedoes tattoo, voodoo tattoo, skull tattoo, chains, black harem-like pants over black leggings and . . .
a Gumby bag – of course!
(Grand Central 7 train subway station, 11:30pm.)
August 28, 2012 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 7 train, goth, Grand Central Station, Gumby, Hans Von Rittern, leather punker, Manhattan, New York City, subway, Sunnyside | Leave a comment
NEW YORK CITY - IN THE WIT OF AN EYE 