Copping an attitude...
Jan. 16th, 2002 01:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jayI like to watch... watch for patterns, that is. Faint echoes, coincidences, repeating patterns. Then to try to toy with the data until I can extract something from it.
Like watching pedestrians here, especially on mostly-deserted streets after midnight. Body language... different styles, but lots of variations of the "I-know-where-I'm-going-and-I'm-too-busy-to-stop" stance. An attitude. Leaning forward, brisk stride, slightly pained expression as if one were ten minutes late to a business meeting (or had a headache). Faint peripheral scans and sideways glances. Unobtrusive threat assessment, particularly of whomever's following.
Following advice, I took a cab to Greenwich Village, got pizza at the original Ray's, then meandered through the Village, Little Italy (Cafe Dante, "since 1915" with an Italian-speaking guy quietly pointing to an old photo of Venice and talking about his relatives there), SoHo and Chinatown. Maybe a couple of miles...this is a great walking city. No wonder it used to be New Amsterdam :-)
Speaking of which, I was only approached on the street by one guy offering various substances and later by one faux-fur prostitute (with *way* too much eyeliner, she looked like someone had drawn circles around her eyes with a black Sharpie marker). And the odd half-dozen panhandlers (shrug).
And the fire station on Lafayette with seven photos in their window.
And the Chinese guy outside a bitty club, breakdancing on his back alone on a deserted sidewalk.
And Ray's serving their soft drinks in in SF Boudin Bakery "Since 1849" paper cups. No kidding. NY pizza, SF soda (??)
And the tight black leather pants on the 20-something Italian-speaking waitress (mmmm...).
Like watching pedestrians here, especially on mostly-deserted streets after midnight. Body language... different styles, but lots of variations of the "I-know-where-I'm-going-and-I'm-too-busy-to-stop" stance. An attitude. Leaning forward, brisk stride, slightly pained expression as if one were ten minutes late to a business meeting (or had a headache). Faint peripheral scans and sideways glances. Unobtrusive threat assessment, particularly of whomever's following.
Following advice, I took a cab to Greenwich Village, got pizza at the original Ray's, then meandered through the Village, Little Italy (Cafe Dante, "since 1915" with an Italian-speaking guy quietly pointing to an old photo of Venice and talking about his relatives there), SoHo and Chinatown. Maybe a couple of miles...this is a great walking city. No wonder it used to be New Amsterdam :-)
Speaking of which, I was only approached on the street by one guy offering various substances and later by one faux-fur prostitute (with *way* too much eyeliner, she looked like someone had drawn circles around her eyes with a black Sharpie marker). And the odd half-dozen panhandlers (shrug).
And the fire station on Lafayette with seven photos in their window.
And the Chinese guy outside a bitty club, breakdancing on his back alone on a deserted sidewalk.
And Ray's serving their soft drinks in in SF Boudin Bakery "Since 1849" paper cups. No kidding. NY pizza, SF soda (??)
And the tight black leather pants on the 20-something Italian-speaking waitress (mmmm...).
no subject
Date: 2002-01-15 10:25 pm (UTC)I miss My City. I'm glad she's treating you well.
A note, though: That's an original Ray's. It's definitely the original Greenwich Village Ray's, but AFAIK no one has any idea which Ray's was the first Ray's in New York.
But if you noticed the school across 11th Street from them, that's where I went to kindergarten. *)
no subject
Date: 2002-01-17 04:06 am (UTC)The three-story building directly across 11th Street (currently with scaffolding protecting the sidewalk) was your kindergarten? I munched pizza while staring out the window at it... didn't identify it as a school. I'm stuck in the suburban school template, I think ;-). Even if it isn't the absolute very first original Ray's, I liked the mural inside and it was worth it just for the context (actual pizza, your school).
Brian
(sitting in Newark airport Terminal B... the new rail link here from Penn station is convenient...)
no subject
Date: 2002-01-17 03:46 pm (UTC)Growing up in the Village kicks ass. I shall have to reminisce at you in detail sometime.