Month: October 2008

I’m at that age where I can’t remember what I did or did not say, but did I post about this place before? I took this picture at the deli where I buy my orange juice and fried egg sandwiches. One day I looked up at saw all this beer.  I’d never seen them before!  And there are more shelves above what you see.  

“How long have you been carrying every beer brand known to man??”  “Forever.”  “No, really.”  “Really.  Always.”  I am not very observant it turns out.

Feeding the cats.  I know I’ve posted about this before, but sitting with my coffee while the cats eat?  All is right with the world.  Feeding children must be even better.  Especially if they occasionally say something about it, not to you necessarily, but something to indicate they love it.  Then you know that not only are you keeping them alive you are making them happy.

Man, these floors need sanding.  Oh, how I would love nice, newly re-finished floors.  But I don’t see how it will ever happen.  It’s a rental, I don’t have the money, and there’s no place to move everything while the work is being done.  I was talking with Chris and it seemed more possible to someday put new laminate floors on top.   

I left the book I was reading uptown, and everything I picked up to take its place hasn’t been grabbing me.  I got it back yesterday, but I will finish it in a day or two.  Then what??  I’ve got a decent sized pile of “to-read” books, but there’s nothing in it I can’t wait to read, and because it’s so decent sized I made a rule that I can’t buy any new books until I pick each one up and give it a real try. I totally screwed myself and it’s my rule.  I’m allowed to give away any books I will then know I am never going to read, but I can’t start buying new books until I get to the bottom of the pile.  

These books are read (or I gave them a real try, but decided to keep them for one reason or another).  That old Brownie was the only camera I had to work with for a while after getting robbed years ago.  The burglar took all my cameras and left that one.  It wasn’t good enough for him.  Poor disdained Brownie.  I had to special order the film from a place that makes obsolete film.  It takes lovely pictures though.  The quality is similar to the plastic, toy cameras I posted about earlier. Imperfect and dream-like.

This was the most mind-blowing moment for me last night. I couldn’t believe it.  Oh, and categorizing those who view this as a matter of privacy and choice as “pro-abortion.”  This is why I hate politics.  No one is pro-abortion, for God’s sake.  Why can’t we have an adult conversation about this difficult issue ever?  Obama tried.  McCain came back with air quotes over concern about the life of the mother.

[Video removed because the link no longer works.]

I’ve posted about this building before.  It sits on West Street at Barrow and I’ve had fantasies of buying it and turning it into a retirement home for me and my friends.

But someone else bought it and started renovations, so it’s a dream that will never come true alas.  Also, it was declared a landmark apparently, so yeah, like I ever could have afforded it before but now, forget it.  The renovations stopped a while back though, I wonder what’s happening?

I googled it and got a ton of information about its history, especially here, in a report prepared by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. There are some great photographs at the end, going back as far as 1929.  I tried to capture them and put them here, but couldn’t.

It was the Knickerbocker Hotel until 1910.  Now there’s a word you don’t hear anymore, but so many New York things were named knickerbocker for so long: hotels, bars, newspaper columns, sports teams.  It’s out of fashion now.  After the Knickerbocker closed it became the New Hotel Keller, and then Keller Abington Hotel and since 1993 it’s been shortened to the Hotel Keller (although on the notices plastered on the door it’s referred to as “Keller Abington Hotel”). The bar at street level was a gay bar from 1956 – 1998.  No mention of where the name Keller came from.  The owner wasn’t named Keller. The new owner plans to keep the first floor commercial and the rest will be converted into apartments.

The next time I go to the library I’ll see if I can find anything more personal.  Anyone interesting who might have lived there, or died there, had their heart broken there, or dreamed of living someplace else there.  That corner must have been a dreary spot for many years, and for many years the only people staying at the Keller Hotel where transient sailors, who perhaps stumbled upstairs after a night of drinking in the bar on the first floor.