Alligators and the importance of how you say it.

One thing I think we all learn relatively early on is that what you say can be just as important as how you say it. The sentence “I never said she stole my money” can, indeed, have seven different meanings based on what word you decide to emphasize.

And so it goes with “Love is cheaper than war.” If you say this to me in regular conversation, I will nod along agreeably while quietly wondering if you’ve been partaking in some activities that have recently been legalized in New York City. But if you spray paint it on the side of someone else’s tractor-trailer under a cracked-out alligator, and that someone else then parks his tractor-trailer outside of a pizza place on 28th and 10th, I will take a picture of it and think to myself that you may not be that cool of a guy. “I mean, really, dude?” said both me and the driver, I assume, after walking out with our pizza. So it goes, so it goes.

Minnie the cat lives at Pet Central on 23rd Street & 7th Avenue.

One thing that has bothered me since starting this block association is the absence of cats on our front page. We have a whole set of Dogs of the Day at this point—if you’re new around here, allow me to introduce you to Macchia the Dalmation, Bosco the Mini Australian Shepherd, Jackson the Portuguese Water Dog, and Winston the Brown and White Dog. But no cats. Do you even exist on the internet if your page doesn’t have any cats?

That brings me to Pet Central on 23rd Street and 7th Avenue. On a recent late night walk around the city, I wandered across Pet Central, which is a small Manhattan chain that sells what it sounds like it sells, and I saw this cat in the window staring and then stretching back at me. I did a little bit of digging, and apparently her name is Minnie and she lives at Pet Central.

So Minnie is our inaugural Cat of the Day, and you are perfectly free to send in other Cats of the Day. Also, because our residence and species requirements are extremely lax, I’ve made the executive decision to add Minnie to our membership rolls.

What the hell is fly fishing?

Fly fishing falls squarely into the category of things that (i) I’ve heard of before, but (ii) don’t really know what they mean. Given, however, that something called “Fly Fishing” is going to be filming on our block on May 3, I did a little research into it and here is what I’ve learned:

Regular fishing basically uses a rod, a relatively weightless line, some sort of bait like a worm, and a “sinker” or weight near bait. The weight of the sinker is what allows you to cast the bait and hook out into the water.

Fly fishing does not use an actual fly as bait, dork. It uses a rod, a weighted line (sort of like a heavy rope at the gym, I gather), some sort of artificial “fly” (made out of feathers or something that imitates an insect), and no sinker or weight near the hook. Because there is no weight at the end of the line, you sort of chop the fishing pole in a tomahawk-like motion to fling the “fly” away from you and out into the water.

Importantly, because there is no sinker on the end of the line, the bait doesn’t sink, and you can catch fish like trout that swim on the top of the water.

So why on earth would anything involving this slightly altered form of fishing be filming on our block? I’m not exactly sure, but I think that the shoot is associated with the “Fly Fishing Film Tour,” which is basically a collection of 10 or so fly fishing-related short films that are produced on a yearly basis by a small film company in Boulder, Colorado. The films tell true, up-lifting stories about fly fishing from around the world. You can see the winner of the 2019 Tour here (it’s only 12 minutes long): THE MIDNIGHT MISSION - Award Winning Short Film - YouTube.

Perhaps the 2022 Fly Fishing Film Tour will feature gratuitous shots of fly fishing on the Hudson. If so, we’ll organize a fly fishing event in 2023.

Back to the rat problem.

Last week I posted about the rat problem on 28th Street between 9th & 10th Avenues (Should we just go ahead and solve NYC’s rat problem? — High Line 28 Block Association). As I said then, I raised the problem with Susan Numeroff, who is the president of the West 400 Block Association, which is a few streets below us in Chelsea. Susan in turn raised the problem with the NYC Health Department in the context of planning a virtual “Rat Academy” training for both her and our block associations. That training was put on yesterday by the Health Department and was designed to teach residents and property owners about rat prevention methods.

During the training, the Health Department put on screen the above “Block Summary Report” for Block 726, which is Chelsea Park. It basically says that the Health Department has treated the Chelsea Park block three times for the rats, with the last time being on January 15, 2021. Additionally, the presenter of the training, Martha Morales, informed us that our problem has been forwarded up the chain to the Health Department supervisor for our area. I’ll post any further updates here.

Neighbor wants to start a group that discusses investments, markets, etc.

The below is from a block resident named Lauren. I think we could get in-person discussions and a group chat going here:

Hey folks, I'm a resident of the block that's interested in investing in the stock market and wanted to reach out and see if there were others in the community who would also be interested in having a lively discussion over coffee, breakfast, brunch, lunch, snacks, dinner or second dinner, comparing notes and ideas about the general market outlook, industries and companies that folks are investing into. Maybe we could also dabble into a risky conversation about cryptocurrency as well if there's any interest in that area!

If any interest, please direct all communications to Brian! :) [Ed. note: You can text me at 585-200-2535 if you’re interested]

Should we just go ahead and solve NYC’s rat problem?

This new block association has started out with some rather ambitious projects, including trying to build a community garden out of the vacant lot on 29th Street and 10th Avenue. We need to continue raising the bar here, and so our next project will be to just go ahead and get rid of all the rats in New York City.

Not really, though perhaps we can play a small part in helping with the problem. I imagine most residents would agree that 28th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues is particularly bad with rats. I raised this issue with Susan Numeroff, the leader of the West 400 Street Block Association, and last week she sent an email to a contact at the NYC Health Department notifying them that the area, along with a few other Chelsea areas, is problematic.

Also, Susan has organized a Rat Academy Training for next Tuesday from 5-7pm that will teach us about rat prevention methods. It will be put on by the NYC Health Department. You can click the image above to register for the training, which will take place over video. I will be in attendance.

What happened to the city that never sleeps?

Marquee asking the important questions.

It’s been a while since I’ve been rhetorically challenged by a sign outside of a nightclub, but I’m generally up for a challenge no matter who or what is serving it. What really did happen to the city that never sleeps? Our investigation continues, though as far as my high-powered team of consultants and lawyers can tell so far, everyone just started staying in their apartments or leaving this place altogether about a year ago now.

The more important question is, I think, what are we going to do about it? I’m not going to say something bland and corporate like “we need to come together as a community,” but I can tell you that some of my recent days have been significantly improved by just randomly bumping into a few people I’ve met through this block association on the street. That experience can be yours as well. Stay tuned.

Season 3 of the HBO Series “Succession” is currently filming at The Shed.

Season 3 of “Succession” is currently shooting at The Shed, which is the reason for all those trucks on 28th Street. I haven’t seen the show myself, but I have definitely heard of it and it has a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. I gather that it’s about a family which owns a major media company where the family members are all vying to take over for the aging family patriarch. The trailer for the first season looks really good, and it features gratuitous shots of NYC, which I am always, always a sucker for: Succession: Season 1 | Official Teaser | HBO - YouTube.

Interestingly, the little yellow signs outside the trailer doors correspond to the names of the characters in the show, not the names of the actors in real life. So, for example, one of the signs is for “Shiv,” and “Shiv Roy” is the daughter of the family patriarch (Shiv Roy | Succession Wiki | Fandom). The actress who plays “Shiv” is named Sarah Snook. I probably would have thought that Sarah Snook’s dressing room would say “Sarah” on it, but what do I know. I suppose this is where they get into character after all.

Spring comes to the block.

When I was in college I walked past a group of trees in full pink bloom and thought to myself—I should really take a picture of that. But I didn’t.

Two days later I walked past that same group of trees and they had already transitioned into their full summer green. I thought I had more time left to take a picture, but I didn’t.

I’m going to resist the urge here to go into a full-scale discourse on the momentariness of Spring and life; the metaphor is a little too on the nose for my liking. All I’ll say is that the fact that you don’t know how many more times you’ll get to see a tree in full pink bloom—is it 5 more times? 20? 40?—doesn’t mean it’s infinite.

So delete a few of the screenshots you’re never really going to look at again, free up some space on your phone, and take a picture of the pink tree. Start a block association. Post it to your website. Ramble about it on the home page. That tree will be green before you know it.

Winston will teach you how to pose.

Either I am coming into my own as a dog photographer or Winston is coming into his own as a male model. Or maybe Winston was just born this way—I haven’t known him long enough to tell. Whatever the recipe, last night Winston turned an elevator bank in 507 West Chelsea into his own personal catwalk/dogwalk and hit me with poses that I honestly haven’t seen since Kim Kardashian last tried to shut down the internet. Have you ever caught yourself in a mirror or a picture at a bad angle and thought—good lord, I don’t actually look like that do I? My friends, Winston can’t relate. He doesn’t have a bad angle.

I forgot to ask his owner, Charlotte, what kind of dog he is. Some type of little collie maybe? Let me know in the comments. In the meantime we’ll try to keep making steady progress for Winston on the dog park or community garden.

Did you guys know there’s an hourly-rate hotel on 10th Avenue & 14th Street?

I was walking with a friend around Chelsea a few weeks ago, and she pointed out to me a squat little brick building on the west side of 10th Avenue and 14th Street that seemed extremely out of place. It is called the Liberty Inn, and I’ll let a New York Times article from 2011 take it away:

Inside the lobby, the concierge sits behind a pane of bulletproof glass. A vending machine displays boxes of condoms and bottles of lubricant beside packs of Oreos and Skittles. Every so often, luggageless couples inquire about a room.

This is the Liberty Inn, the last of the meatpacking district’s hourly-rate hotels; in 2008, New York magazine called it “unabashedly the place to go for some afternoon delight.” Robert Boyd, who has managed the establishment since 1977, prefers the term “romance hotel.”

“We take in your everyday business and travel clientele,” he said. “But we focus on couples looking for a romantic moment, if you will.”

Liberty Inn Focuses on Romantic Moments, by the Hour - The New York Times (nytimes.com). At first I was surprised that a place like this still exists around here. But at second I wasn’t the least bit surprised—when it comes right down to it, humans are gonna human. And you might as well make it convenient for them, right along the West Side Highway.

I like New York Burger Co. on the southeast side of 23rd and 10th.

Those who know me best know that when it comes to food, I am a quantity guy and not a quality guy. It’s the opposite when it comes to people, which is why this whole block association is a little out of character, but I digress.

What I mean by that is that I would rather go to a restaurant that gives a ton of pretty good food rather than one that gives a little bit of amazing food. (And so that in turns means the following: (i) I am often looking at the menu simply to try to figure out which entree will give me the most food; (ii) I do not care about how the food is presented; (iii) I may order something again after the entree comes out; (iv) I may turn you down on principle if you try to invite me to tapas or sushi).

But enough about me, and onto New York Burger Co. at 23rd Street and 10th Avenue. I am a regular at this place. That is because they nail both quality and quantity, i.e., they give you a lot of food; it is very good; and as a bonus, it comes out very fast.

Also, they cook their burgers on an actual grill rack, which makes you feel or at least taste like you’re at an outdoor cookout. I would strongly suggest the cheeseburger and grilled chicken sandwich (pictured) as well as the chili. They also have some type of happy hour from like 6-9pm where they give you two of those little Montauk beer cans for $8. It is perfect for taking yourself or someone you’re just moderately into out on a date.

Bonus: this place stayed open for us during much of the pandemic. Can’t forget that.