Currently browsing 'Washington Heights'
thanks for depressing me, PBS
Saturday night… 9pm-1am on PBS is an exciting part of my week. After some jolly British comedy (Keeping up Appearances, As Time Goes By) I await the classic film (will change the channel if it’s not black and white), a short film, and if I’m still up, an Independent film. So PBS is celebrating Hispanic Heritage month so it lines up “Stand and Deliver”, (a hilarious short animation “The Lost Tribes of New York City“), and then the independent film, “Manito” shot in Washington Heights. Celebrate Hispanic Heritage! Let’s watch two films that show just how fun it is to be poor and brown. Your schools suck, your teachers mostly suck except for that one that believes in all human potential and sticks it out in the system as long as he/she can, and even if you do get good grades you will be accused of cheating because you’re not supposed to achieve anything. (Stand and Deliver). Learn the necessity of being a hustler to get bills paid, male promiscuity, how the hood swallows you no matter your SAT scores or scholarship offers, and poverty is a viscous cycle that brings you down. (Manito). I look forward to Masterpiece Theatre tonight.
Strange friends you have, Mr. Heineken…
Washington Heights, NYC August 2009
Delivering more than beer here!
Ode to… Cecilware Fe-100
I was sipping my coffee in Reme diner in Washington Heights, and I was struck by a wave of taste bud goodness. The coffee was the perfect temperature. Hot. Even when you put cream in it. I was in heaven. I was sitting at the bar, so I looked up to see where the magic came from- again a Cecilware Fe-100. Ode to Cecilware Fe-100! It turns any cheap coffee bean into cafe heaven. Reme has a good relationship with its Cecilware Fe-100. Because when the waiter saw my cup half empty, he said, “Here, let me give you a fresh, hot cup…” and whoosh! took it away and replaced it with more black liquid goodness. They didn’t pour more into my stale coffee, probably knowing it would make it luke warm. I adored them immediately. Hail Cecilware Fe-100 in Greek diners.
I love my…
I Love My Hood, Dister, Washington Heights NYC
Check out Dister’s website. This guy has talent- he is also a dancer (and an 0n-2 dancer at that)…
Dante’s Inferno, Fourth Circle: (Most) Yellow Cabs and Non-local gypsy cabs
I am pretty sure in Dante’s Inferno, the banished were allotted room for redemption. So join Beatrice and sing for these groups:
A special place is reserved for some members of two groups that manage to always make Nova go to the verge of supernova status (big difference between the two). That would be the majority of yellow cabs and non-local cabs that troll around neighborhoods that aren’t their turf. Why such harsh words for you? Let’s start with the hornets:
- F*ck you for not wanting to go past 125th street, and forcing me to hail you on the downtown lane to trap you into going uptown.
- Once in your vehicle, screw you for either:
- kicking me out because you don’t want to go uptown.
- sucking your teeth, cursing in [insert language], being disgruntled and driving angry for the entire ride up.
- abandoning me midway pretending the car broke down.
- here’s where Nova becomes Supernova: demanding a $5-10 tip for “going this far up”.
- While you’re busy screwing yourself, study a f*cking map of NY and accept that Inwood is in Manhattan and not the Bronx so NO you can’t charge me Bronx fees from the airport. Dante’s Inferno, Fourth Circle: (Most) Yellow Cabs and Non-local gypsy cabs – continue reading …
That would be July…
Someone must have forgotten to tell someone that it’s July 4th and not June 4th when we have full fledged fireworks. Because at 9:45pm on June 4th in Inwood, a full blown mini Macy’s fireworks display was blasting in the sky. My guess is it came from Dyckman (everyone blames Dyckman. Best block!). Another theory is that the ghosts from La Marina set them off (when is our hang out going to open again?). Last theory is someone on their yacht on the Hudson set them off over champagne. Still, they were no joke. Dazzlers, teasers, rainbow sprinkles, halfies- you name it. Anyone else see it?
99-Cent Store Burns: Superfund Site declared by EPA
The local Washington Heights/Inwood newspaper reported that a 99-cents store burned down in the neighborhood. The introductory paragraph to the story reads lightly. Not quite comical, but suggestive in its tone that human life wasn’t lost. Unexplored in the story is the sinister element cloaked in the description of what the brother of the store owner was surrounded by when the flames suddenly rained down from the (probably) fluorescent light above him: “he was alone with the stationary, shower curtains and low-priced toys.”
There is nothing innocent about that burnt stationary, shower curtains and low-priced toys.
99-Cent Store Burns: Superfund Site declared by EPA – continue reading …
The Dyckman Revolution: the Free Man’s Last Stand
The weather is warming up in the Inwood Heights. Besides the midriffs and sidewalk bastions for dominoes that blossom like May flowers, one thing to look forward to are the Saturday night wild west automobile parties at the abandoned Marina on Dyckman street. C-mixto & I have unwittingly strolled into these before, during hot summer nights when we’re looking for a breeze on the pier overlooking Englewood Cliffs, the distant GW bridge, and the Hudson curving up into that vast distant territory called upstate. We know what’s up. We’re not playing the innocent. We hear the thumping base of reggaetón, the snarls of exhaust-less motorcycles. Walking into Dyckman Marina past dusk requires a comfort that you are one with your neighborhood and that you’re actually there to be a part of the party. The Dyckman Revolution: the Free Man’s Last Stand – continue reading …
Zip Codes
Who are your global zip code neighbors? Here are some of mine. Go to the “check the weather” button on yahoo, click on change location, and type in your zip code. It should give you a list to choose from around the world.
Troyes, France (home of Lacoste apparel)
Chivasso, Italy (has a natural reservoir with a spring of sulphurous water)
Olsztyn, Poland (…on the Lyna River, has lots of rivers and lakes and nature preserves)
Nyeri, Kenya (has Africa’s second highest mountain, and pockets of ranches catering to secret celebrity getaways)
