York Avenue Weirdness

The blocks between York Avenue and the FDR on the Upper East Side in the 70's have all sorts of quirky bizarre weirdness going on. Each street either dead-ends at the FDR or leads to an onramp for the highway. The quiet streets have an unusual (for the UES) mix of residential, garages & auto shops, schools, industrial, and a huge Dept. of Sanitation complex. There are virtually no commercial businesses except for one seemingly misplaced upscale furniture store.

Here on 72nd Street, which has a really nice little park/sitting area at it's eastern end, is a man in a glass booth (which is also the name of an excellent movie). The booth is at the entrance to a driveway of a highrise luxury building and also a parking garage. I have no idea what he was doing as several cars and pedestrians went right by him without pause. He looks like a museum exhibit-"On our left is a doorman in vintage 2006 uniform in the one eye open standing sleep position. Please don't tap on the glass and disturb his natural state."

I don't think there is another building like this in Manhattan- a building that juts out over the sidewalk almost flush with the street. Isn't there some sort of code against this?

Apparently in East Yorkville (EYo? EYoVi? YoVilE? YoE?) there are no parking laws either; check out this DSNY vehicle completely blocking the sidewalk. Somebody write this car a ticket!

It's not just the cars that park all over the sidewalk; how about some abandoned strollers looking like the eerie aftermath of some Wes Craven film:

Look at this Police phone sign that time seems to have forgotten (there didn't seem to be a phone on or near the pole). I can't recall having seen a sign like this elsewhere (forgotten-ny?). I think they need maybe one or two more signs on this pole.category: nyc_