clocktowertenants.com: 4/20/14

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.

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

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

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

I loved eating in those German cafés.

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

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A SteubenDay Parade was also a yearly fixture.

Kleine’s Kondi was for coffee and pastry.

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

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jeffersons

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.

http://www.schallerweber.com/

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.

http://www.rikafm.com/

(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.