Meet block residents Monty and River.

So Monty and River are joint dogs of the day today, but the facts that (i) they’re both puppies, and (ii) I’m a bad photographer mean that you don’t really get a clean shot of what they look like. Monty is the one staring into the camera wondering what on earth he got himself into; River is the one with Bosco energy, and regular readers will know that I’m a big fan of Bosco energy. Regular block walkers will see these two out all the time.

Billions is filming on our block next Wednesday.

Billions is filming on our block next Wednesday. Based on some limited texting with friends and my review of the trailer for Season Five, which is the season currently shooting, this one follows a hedge fund manager named Bobby Axelrod as he wears a hoodie and growls at people in suits while the people in suits occasionally growl back: Billions Season 5 Part 2 (2021) Official Trailer | SHOWTIME - YouTube. Very cool. Very cool block.

Whose bike is this?

So this bike has been parked for essentially the entire summer on the northwest corner of 28th Street & 10th Avenue, and I like it. This seems like the type of bike Timothee Chalamet would ride in Call Me By Your Name and I feel like I’m coming-of-age just a little bit every time I pass by it. Pairs quite well with our last sweet city ride. As always, we do it in style.

I believe a TV miniseries about WeWork is filming on our block this Thursday.

For whatever reason I have always had an odd obsession with the WeWork saga, from its wild rise to a real estate behemoth with a $47 billion valuation in early 2019 to its spectacular fall by the end of 2019 after a failed IPO. I’ve read all of the books and articles; watched all of the documentaries and interviews; looked at all of the images; Googled all of the searches; thought all of the thoughts, and so forth; and yet still my thirst won’t be quenched. Each new tidbit of information is for me like another sip of saltwater on a hot summer day.

And so you can imagine my delight when I snapped the above picture of a film shoot sign on our block, Googled the project name “Caviar,” and found out that it is code for the upcoming TV miniseries “WeCrashed.” There isn’t a whole lot of information about WeCrashed available yet, but of course it tells the story of the rise and fall of WeWork. It stars Anne Hathaway as Rebekah Neumann and Jared Leto as Adam Neumann. It looks like it will be released sometime in 2022. I’ll be watching.

New York is finished.

So this is the new wallscape ad on the corner of 28th Street & 10th Avenue and I love it.

The eulogy of New York, my friends, has been written many times before, and it’s always been wrong.

Lobsters* come to the block.

An interesting thing I’ve noticed about living in New York is that you don’t really go to the restaurant that is literally right next to you. For two years I lived above what appeared to be a very nice Italian restaurant and I never once set foot inside of it. Why? Familiarity destroys the intrigue? Too many other options in the city? It seemed lazy to take a date to a restaurant that I could get to without even going outside?

Whatever the reason, I think it’s probably time for all of us to make an exception to the rule for a new restaurant that is opening on 28th Street between 10th & 11th Avenues: Angry Lobster Rolls. Based on some limited Googling, this is a small business that was started somewhat recently in Staten Island and will soon have five locations around the New York area. The menu is short and to the point and you will spend $20 for a lobster roll. A little pricey but this is New York and you can’t put a price on something tasting right. Great to see this on our block.

Sweet city ride: Old-school Mercedes parked on 28th Street between 10th & 11th.

An old-school Mercedes was parked on our block this week. This seems like the type of car James Bond would drive in the Sean Connery era.

Evidently it is a Mercedes 280SL, which was introduced in the late 1960s and continued in production through the early 1970s. Its nickname is the “Pagoda,” which based on Wikipedia is inspired by its “slightly concave hardtop.” Now I don’t know a whole lot about cars, but I gather that a “hardtop” is the actual roof of the car, and why a convertible is nicknamed after its roof I have no idea. But here we are and I’m just the messenger. This indeed is a sweet city ride.

A tree grows in Chelsea.

Spotted on 10th Avenue between 28th & 29th Streets.

We’ve written before about trying to spruce up some of the sad and sparse tree pits on our block. Well, based on the green tag I just spotted on the west side of 10th Avenue between 28th & 29th Streets, it looks like the NYC Parks Department is answering our call and is about to plant a tree on our block. I’m not sure what the lesson is here—if you wait around long enough and don’t get around to doing what you said you were going to do, eventually the government will come in and solve your problems? I’m really trying to be nonpartisan here and make that joke equally aggravating to Democrats and Republicans.

Also, I visited the Parks Department website, and apparently there is a way to both request that the Parks Department plant a tree in your neighborhood and apply for a permit to plant your own tree (https://www.nycgovparks.org/trees/street-tree-planting). Email or text me if you want to do either.

Optometrist on our block.

I recently had to go for my annual eye exam, and in scrolling through the optometrists that are accepted by my insurer, I stumbled across Dr. Jennifer Tsai. Dr. Tsai’s optometry studio is called Line of Sight and is on the south side of 29th Street between 10th & 11th Avenues (pictures courtesy of https://www.drjennifertsai.com/ and https://www.lineofsightvision.com/). You’ve walked by it a thousand times if you live on this block.

My visit was great—Dr. Tsai seems very thorough and careful in her approach; her and her staff are approachable and easy to talk to; the equipment seems brand new; the office is pristine; and they have a nice selection of eyeglasses along with some staff members who will helpfully tell you whether you look good or ridiculous in certain frames. Would highly recommend.

(Guard) Dog in De Vera, the art gallery on 28th Street between 10th & 11th Avenues.

De Vera is an antique art gallery on the south side of 28th Street between 10th & 11th Avenues. I’ve been meaning to do a post about it but haven’t yet gotten around to it (this doesn’t count).

The dog above resides at least from time to time in the window. Seemed important enough to warrant its own post—will update to the extent further information becomes available.

There is a thrift store on 26th Street & 10th Avenue called City Opera.

Somehow I’ve walked by a thrift store called City Opera on 26th Street & 10th Avenue a thousand times and never noticed it. Well I noticed it last weekend, and can now confirm that it is a thrift store with furniture, paintings, home accessories, vintage clothes, jewelry, etc. You can see the website here: City Opera Thrift Shop (note the “Shop Online” page if you want to see what they have) and the Yelp page here: CITY OPERA THRIFT SHOP.

I don’t pretend to be a thrifter, but this strikes me as a very nice, high-end thrift shop with items that look essentially brand new. And as a bonus, profits are used to support the New York City Opera. You should probably check it out.

Side note: The New York City Opera is currently putting on some “Picnic Performances” in Bryant Park: Home - New York City Opera (nycopera.com). Very cool.

A predator drone is now overlooking us on 30th Street & 10th Avenue.

We’ve written before about the spot on the High Line that overlooks 30th Street & 10th Avenue—it was previously occupied by a sculpture called “Brick House” by artist Simone Leigh.

Well you may have noticed that as of May 2021, Brick House was replaced by what a layman (me) might recognize as a skinny white airplane with very long wings. It is not in fact a skinny white airplane with very long wings, and that is in fact the point: It is a predator drone entitled “(Untitled) drone” by artist Sam Durant, and the point is to put right in our public view something that is a pervasive, omnipresent aspect of life for those affected by drone warfare. You can read more about the piece and watch a video of Sam Durant talking about it on the High Line’s website: Untitled (drone) | The High Line.

The drone is mounted on top of a steel pole that allows it to point in the direction of the wind. And the title seems to reference the fundamental disconnect on drones—untitled for me, some random guy sitting comfortably in a Chelsea apartment; very much titled for someone else, whose daily life very well may revolve around whether a skinny white airplane is overlooking her block.

This block association project is temporarily on hold.

We will be back at some point.

Let’s try to plant some flowers in some of these sad and sparse tree pits on our block.

Some of you may recall a post on here a while back about a weekly newsletter put out by Chelsea resident Eric Marcus which reports on goings-on around the Chelsea neighborhood. One of Eric’s consistent features is the status of tree pits around Chelsea—some tree pits are very sad and sparse, which he doesn’t like so much; others are very happy and lush, which he likes quite a bit.

Well, ever since I started subscribing to Eric’s newsletter, I’ve taken a greater interest in tree pits around our block, and guys, it’s not always looking so good out there. The first three pictures above are sad tree pits on 10th Avenue between 28th & 29th Streets. The fourth picture is courtesy of one of Eric’s recent newsletters and of course is a happy tree pit somewhere in Chelsea. I think I’m going to adopt some of the sad tree pits on our block in the coming weeks and spruce them up a bit. It’s a little late in the planting season, so obviously I’ll have to research a plant or flower that will actually bloom this year if we plant in late June/early July.

Let me know if you want to join.

You should probably read this article on how the super wealthy are taxed in our country.

First hit on Google images when I searched for “money.”

I really don’t care what your politics are, and I could end this post right now with no buts whatsoever and it would be a fair and accurate portrayal of how I feel.

For present purposes, however, I really don’t care what your politics are, BUT you should probably read this article about how the super wealthy are taxed in the US.

Cliff’s notes: in the US you are taxed on “income,” not wealth. What that basically means is that you are only taxed on money flowing into (or “coming in”!) your bank account; you are not taxed on any stock or houses or art or whatever property you own until you sell it and the money from the sale flows in to your bank account. So you can own a share of stock or a house or a piece of art that skyrockets in value, and until you sell it, you don’t pay any tax on it. Fine so far.

But here’s the trick of the super wealthy like Jeff Bezos: he doesn’t really sell his Amazon stock as it skyrockets in value (thus basically avoiding any income tax as his wealth skyrockets), and then he takes out loans to pay for his living expenses using the Amazon stock as collateral. He gets a very good interest rate on the loan because Amazon stock is very good collateral. And thus unlike me, he doesn’t pay any taxes whatsoever on the money he uses to pay for iced coffee or sparkling water or other totally unnecessary extravagances that the rich and famous are blowing their money on, I assume.

Super cliff’s notes: They aren’t.

And so maybe the answer is implementing a wealth tax that taxes Jeff Bezos on his Amazon stock and rocket ships regardless of whether he sells them, and thus regardless of whether any money actually flows into his massive bank account. The problem there of course is how and who is going to estimate the value of Jeff Bezos’s rocket ship? I don’t have the answer. Feel free to enlighten this block association if you do.