Liftoff!

All of Roosevelt Island has this ethereal theme park feel, or gives you the impression you’re in Europe or at a remote resort, or ultimately, some place that isn’t New York. Things are cookie-cuttered. Competition for apartment rentals could be overwhelmingly cutthroat, so the property management is monopolized; all buildings seem to be owned by the same realty groups. There is a single avenue on the two mile by one-block-wide island. Why anyone would have a car here, though, is a mystery to me. I’d assume the exit for Roosevelt Island off the Queensboro bridge is an afterthought for most motorists driving between Manhattan and Queens. Like most of New York City, Roosevelt Island is pedestrian-dominated. Once there, you could get an overpriced drink at the only restaurant on the island, conveniently located right across from the Tram terminal, or you could opt to by a 99-cent AriZona Iced Tea from the Duane Reade.

Of note, there are a few soccer fields here where adult rec. league games are held. The fields are curiously oriented in a lateral fashion. So one team has the high-rises and hospitals of Manhattan as a backdrop, and the other, and industrial Queens backdrop. This leaves not only the possibility, but the likelihood of an errant ball landing in the East River. I’d imagine the joining fees of an adult rec. league whose games are hosted on Roosevelt Island are obscenely high, and that the prospect of losing balls is a consideration. Extra balls, are accordingly included in the budget and brought to the games in a large mesh sack. I’d imagine the members of such leagues are Dartmouth- or Columbia-educated people who joined in the midst of a quarter-life crisis and pride themselves on their late-game goal, impressive throw-ins, or at the very least, sleep easily knowing they got 60 minutes of exercise in over the weekend.

At the Northernmost end of the Island is an elderly residence converted from an old mental hospital. Considering the remoteness and inaccessibility of the island, the concept of such an institution is jarring, and for some reason, eerily redolent of Shutter Island.

Aside from walking around and making observations, there’s not a ton to do on the Island. Great place to respect and spend an afternoon, and for $4.50 round trip, it’s worth it just for the ride alone. Roosevelt is also accessible by the F-Train for the vertically fearsome. But, really, if you don’t get there by Tram, why bother going?

What's Up First?

* The Tram takes off from an elevated platform, one story above 2^nd Avenue. By the time you cross four lanes of traffic, you’ve risen hundreds of feet above the ground. The Tram comes up steadily but not alarmingly and then plateaus for most of the experience, much like a chairlift or an edible, but before you realize you’re descending, you’re already on the ground.

** A mother with small children who didn’t obey her order to stop licking the railing (Nicholas! Stop it! Germs. GERMS!); Groups of teenagers with overstuffed rope-closure backpacks, using digital cameras and iPhones to snap pictures; An old couple carefully pointing and peering at everything throughout the ride.

Location: 60th and 2nd. Might as well stop and get a drink at Blue Room while you’re there, kitty-corner.

O'Neill's; Northern Wall

But no fear – Maspeth has a ton of great food. Fame Diner, Connolly’s Corner, Maspeth Ale House, Hush, and Good Eats, all located on Grand Avenue offer excellent food, and , at the risk of sounding cliché – at great prices. Believe me – I’ve been there.

http://queenscrap.blogspot.com/2011/05/oneills-restaurant-destroyed-by-fire.html

Location: in our hearts, and (not-so-) fond memories.

An important thing to remember about Little Egypt is that, just like in Egypt itself, alcohol is prohibited. From the vantage point of a sidewalk patio, not a single liquor store can be seen. The adherence to culture and tradition combined with the entrepreneurship and coercion of storeowners is impressive and serves as a reminder that while you’re having your leisure time, others are working hard. While they offer sodas, teas, coffee and specialty beverages, plan ahead and make a hookah lounge your last stop of the night. That, or sneak in a fifth of spiced rum.

Arabian Nihiiights

As for the beer gardens, they open while it’s still light out for a reason; day-drinking.

BierGarten

Location: Make your way to 30^th and Steinway and wander from there.

Within walking distance from the ballfields in Central Park. Great Pizza nearby, but that’s entirely not necessary considering the exorbitance of food.

Where: 1840 2nd Avenue, between 95^th and 96^th. Upper East Side

Proud Supporter of Local Brew

http://www.merrionsquarenyc.com

behold! looks familiar...

Tom’s Restaurant is a diner of Greek-descent style. That being said, the menu is a book. Its greasy, laminated pages have food categorized arbitrarily. Words are misspelled throughout the menu as if it were printed hastily. The owners opted to exercise every acceptable spelling of omelet (omelette, omlet). I wonder, why not choose one spelling and stick with it? Menu items are listed multiple times between page one and page eight, and I’d wager my tip that it was never proofread.

Regardless of menu idiosyncrasies, my approach upon getting into Tom’s springy leather booths was to close my eyes and imagine exactly what it was that I wanted in front of me. The kitchen is an arsenal. If I want something, they can make it. Sesame bagel, toasted with cream cheese. A side of bacon. Coffee. Simple yet delicious. Next time I go I hope to order something definitely not on the menu, but feasible considering the variety of foodstuffs in the kitchen. Something along the lines of a breakfast sandwich served on a glazed donut. Imagine it: you’ve seen a breakfast sandwich – eggs, cheese and bacon – served on toast, on a bagel, an English muffin, hell, even a croissant. Why can’t the serve one on a glazed donut. Even if it’s not on the menu, just make it – charge me an extra buck. I’d like to try this creation from Tom’s before Dunkin’ or DQ starts mass-producing it.

From what I recall, Tom’s didn’t have a Big Salad on the menu. The Greek entrepreneurs missed their chance to capitalize on the pop-culture reference, but in sum, they don’t capitalize on their famed location in the first place. If you inquired with any of the waitresses about the show, expect an underwhelmed response. They seem like the type of folk who judge people who just stop in because they recognize the façade from Seinfeld, like they’d instruct the cooks to spit on a sandwich if they caught wind you’re a tourist.

Location: 2880 Broadway at 112^th St.

Perk: Nobody rides the “3” Train after 3:00am. You’ll have free reign of your car.

orangutangin' and documentin'

watching the world

What’s notable about Inwood Park is how the litter reflects the patrons of the area. Juice barrels overflow from green-painted and ruster TRASH receptacles. Small bags of cheap chips stir in the breeze. A log atop a hill overlooking the Harlem River is host to several blunt wrappers and multiple small emptied Ziploc baggies, suggesting what goes on up here, something that can’t go on in public in 99% of the city. Some of the least-urban waterfront area is in and around Inwood Park, and in my personal experience is one of the most peaceful places to walk and humor your thoughts on a free afternoon.

"L" remnants

RunningAmokNYC takes on Ithaca’s Skunk Cabbage Classic from Matt Duelka on Vimeo.

Matt Duelka put together this video to chronicle his time spent in Ithaca for the Skunk Cabbage Half Marathon. He took with him a support team and friend/coworker/teammate(?) Luke who’d be competing with him. The story unfolds with the embarkation from the City through the boring highways leading to the Finger Lakes. The lull in activity in the car reflects the tedium of the drive. Even for a Friday afternoon. But then they arrive, and have a beer. Matt has two.

This video aims to document the days before, of, and after the half marathon, the first time either of them have ever run it. Wait, no- It documents more than that. If it wasn’t already established, Luke had never been to Ithaca, and even with the chore of racing 13.1 miles, Matt gives Luke a hell of an annotated recreation of college. Minus the classes.

Wegmans, Rogan’s Corner, Bars in the Commons, Gimme Coffee, Farmer’s Market, Ithaca Brewery. With the exception of “Bullet Proof,” at the end, this video is worth re-watching.  Hearing “La Roux” does take me back to regrettable nights at Moonies during Senior week last year, and for that Matt, I was able to take a mental trip back to I-town.

Duelka and Luke are hard at work on RunningAmok. Running, Beer and Internet Videos. Yes please. Visit RunningAmokNYC.wordpress.com for a unique perspective into the running world.

dear brooklyn-

Thanks, Mary, for this one.

Speaking of NYC, there has been lots of musical events going on. Including the sold out LCD Soundsystem mess – that looked like a giant rave. I caught the last hour of it last night on Pitchfork’s live broadcast. I caught Home, All I Want, and of course they closed with New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down with a sea of white balloons dropped onto the crowd. It was advertised on Pitchfork as being a one time watching event and I’m glad I remembered to tune into it. Over at Stereogum, you can watch a bit of it and check out the set list. You can also “Take The Indie Cred Test”. Which is fun.

The night before, The Strokes played a sold out show at Madison Square Garden too. From video of Elvis Costello joining them on stage (he opened!!) it looked like a cool rock show, despite the fact that none of those band members have ANY stage presence, they can play. And they did.

And with more fun with LCD Soundsystem, James Murphy did a DJ session in a series of 89.3 The Current’s called Theft of the Dial. It might be my favorite smart radio pun, ever. (Left of the dial. Get it??) He includes in his set one of my most favorite Talking Heads songs (on my favorite TH record), Naive Melody (This Must Be The Place). When I saw it as one of his favorites it made sense of how the strange rock genius of David Byrne influenced Murphy’s dance punk palate of songs that rise and fall. And after watching the end of their show and how genuine he is, it made me love LCD more than I already had. Thanks James.

monument

jefferson memorial

For those of you interested in my life, the bike is going well. I bought a helmet so please stop worrying. This weekend my parents were planning on coming to visit for the Cherry Blossom Festival, but bad weather and travel plans got them down. It was nice for me though, because I had a weekend here at home without working or entertaining anyone, or traveling to see folks. It has been such a relaxing weekend. With all the free time I barely knew what to do with myself. Angeline and I got over to the Tidal Basin and the Jefferson memorial. There were so many cherry blossom trees that it looked white, like you were looking up into snow. Quite beautiful but cold and windy, crowded and full of tourists who can not control their children. It was fun for an hour. Glad to live here, we escaped after having enough and went on with our lives.

Speaking of which it’s time to continue the habit I’ve built of eating lunch later and later every day. Groove on, folks.

It’s weird that tomorrow is March. So much time has gone by, people move further, grow up so far from what we once knew, and college seems further away daily. Even if some of us still want it back. (For the record, I don’t.)

Since living here I’ve been to nyc to visit twice, and both times I like DC more. I’ve worked it out and it seems as though DC is grown up. Not to say New York City isn’t. It is a great, world city. A hub and full of everything you could ever want. New York City is beautiful and there is something great about each part of it. But when I come home to DC I feel the differences. The district feels polite where a ruckus on the Metro is frowned upon. And in New York it’s a characteristic. The thing about our Metro is that it’s more of a commuter rail. Looking at the way it was designed with seats abreast instead of lining the side of the car (like New York and Boston) it was made for a long term ride. More expensive depending on the time of day you travel and where you’re going, it always seems to be broken or being ‘fixed’. When you see loud kids traveling in packs and tourists they treat it just like other subways, which it is not. And has taken a long time for me to come to terms with that.

DC is a city like Los Angeles where not everyone who lives here is from here. People move here for a reason in their career like government, politics, law or higher education. Other famous platforms of the city do exist, like punk rock, but people rarely know it. It’s not even technically a city, hence ‘district’. Taxation without representation is alive and well. The people here are all dressed up, because their jobs call for it. Uptight in the nicest of senses, people take things very seriously. It’s hard to come by hippies, beards and open toed shoes (even in 100+ heat.) The differences between DC and other cities I’ve been to and spent a lot of time in are astounding.

The neighborhoods are aplenty and knowing them can help keep you out of trouble and in a place where you belong. High class and murder are only a few blocks apart. Full of color, life and history, the District is it’s own bubble. Since living here Angeline made the discovery that every few weeks the city is empty because people leave. Cabin fever is very catchy. You need to get out (hence my trips to NY.)

Today it started raining and the wind is supposed to get nasty. The weather here is funky. We’re on a swamp, below the Mason Dixon line, and peoples’ moods change with the forecast. The Metro will be crowded and damp after work. I can just feel it. The same way I can feel the rain coming even though I sit in a room with no windows all day. The office feels humid and no one really wants to be here. I know I don’t.

This wasn’t meant to be about New York and DC. Or the weather. And the train systems. I wanted to share that the previously mentioned chili was and still is amazing. Also, I caught a marathon of Portlandia on IFC yesterday afternoon. An entire episode revolves around Aimee Mann being their cleaning lady. How can you not fall in love with this show? Also, it’s easily the funniest show I’ve seen in a long time. I feel like I’ve had a version of this conversation many times. Also, this is fun. Even though I’m not feelin’ the art, I like reading the titles she sings in the shower.

I wish ya’ll could hear the show I run every day. Bill Mack is a trip. Playin’ the best country music there ever was: Mel Tillis, Willie Nelson, Bob Wills, Ray Price, Merle Haggard, Ernest Tubb (the list goes on…) He’s a  man with a thick southern drawl. When I was watchng Gwyneth Paltrow performing the Country Strong song during the Oscars last night I found myself commenting on it’s poor writing and crappy ”country” sound. Forgive me father for I have sinned, I know my country music and have become a country music snob.

And with that, it’s lunch time. Stay tuned for results of homemade whoopie pies. Happy Birthday Pat.