Saturday, April 26, 2014

the best and the wurst of East 86th Street



The shopping strip between Lex and Second along east 86th Street has changed a lot since I lived in that neighborhood.

jj

This photo from the 1970's looks just west of Second Avenue, along the south side of east 86th Street.

archive

jj

These blocks were the center of Yorkville’s German community, but have become sleek hi-rise with Barnes and Noble, Sephora and Fairway.


jj

Back then East 86th was called “German Broadway.” 

I loved eating in those German cafés.

yelp

jj

yelp
The Bavarian Inn at 232 East 86th was demolished for the building that now houses Fairway.


smar

A SteubenDay Parade was also a yearly fixture. 

Kleine’s Kondi was for coffee and pastry.

yelp


Looking west, you can see the distinctive circular terraces of 185 East 85th, the “Jefferson’s Building” built in 1967.

yelp


Alas, German food is heavy and has lost favor and Germantown is long gone. 

But one great German butcher remains, 
Schaller and Weber since 1937.


Schaller and Weber entered 20 of their products in a European competition and medaled in every category, 

14 gold and 6 silver medals.


Tastes like the 70’s, to me.


Friday, April 25, 2014

100% bachata



Our FCC, the Federal Communications Commission created in 1934, administers to radio bandwidth. 

It doles out spectrum for the betterment of the American public.


But what happens when a public sector feels it is not being properly served?



Our Dominican neighbors in the South Bronx have taken matters into their own hands and launched a highly popular and totally illegal radio station, RikaFM.



(turn your sound down if you are at work) 
Rika broadcasts at 94.9 on the FM band, and they are not the least bit shy about it.


They have a high profile presence on Facebook


They look like this on a digital display.


Their Twitter page says, “3ra Radio en la cuidad de New York Rika fm una estacion con talentos joven cubriendo toda la ciudad de NY musica variada 24hrs.”


Rika probably broadcasts from an automobile as most terrestrial pirate radio, to cut down easy GPS triangulation that can lead to a raid and a bust.


From a legal standpoint, juxtaposing our First Amendment with publicly held airwaves, it might seem that a low level transmission not actually causing interference with licensed stations should be free to broadcast.


I doubt the FCC sees it that way. 
But screw ‘em. Go Listen!

It's a happy and Spanish, Caribbean party, 
boisterous and totally addicting.

facebook

And 100% illegal.

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, April 24, 2014

high four

spring in 402




Thanks, Elena.

base jump from the Burj


I wanna be the third guy with the Go-Pro camera!

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

change is just around the corner





at least I haven’t forgotten



There’s a stunning set of arial photos this week over on HuffPo, of a group of hippos encountering more than 140 crocodiles in Gambia.


It didn’t go so well for one of the hippos. 
If you haven’t seen them all, they’re not gory, go take a look.



Then it occurred to me.

I’ve seen this whole thing before at least 40 years ago.


I might have been in an altered state.


And they were friendlier.


Definitely.


Tuesday, April 22, 2014

are you connected?



The AFL-CIO is America’s largest organization of unions, representing more than 11 million unionized workers.


Work rules, overtime wages and the length of a work day are all negotiated.

But a CEO is not unionized 
and work days are not defined by the clock.

suntimes.com

And so the financial result of being CEO is pretty stunning. 

Consider New York State.


The average New York CEO earns over $6.7 million dollars every year.

The guy with the highest pay in our state is a man named
 Mario Gabelli.

forbes

Investment firm GAMCO paid Gabelli ten times that, almost $69 million dollars.



But nationwide he was trumped by two others, and Donald is not one of them.


Elon Musk, the Tesla electric car guy, earned almost $10million more than Gabelli.

gnc.com



And the highest paid CEO nationwide? 

Oracle’s Larry Ellison.




The President earns $400,000. 

The USA median income is about $51,000.


The South Bronx averages $17,688.00. 

Live large.



artnews.com

and Happy Monday.