Tag: photos

Bad business

After a discussion that followed my post about the three-unit town home being built in my neighborhood, I decided to check out the condos on Westheimer (one of Montrose’s main streets a few blocks from me) that were mentioned in the comments. Tim and I drove by there last night and saw lights in only three of the units. I noted how creepy it would be to live in a nearly-empty building.

Today, I went by and took photos of it. Then I came home and Googled “Tremont Tower.” Damn! It’s the stuff of soap operas, with corruption and scandal including shoddy building practices, dead and injured construction workers, grieving parents, fake business names to avoid penalties, financially devastated consumers, and insufficient, inefficient, and inadequate investigations of the alleged guilty parties. Only about ten of the seventy-something units have been sold, and apparently some of them are uninhabitable because of mold (which the builder says is not there). Added to all that is some people’s contention that the building is haunted. No wonder I shudder every time I drive by it: bad energy. Well, that and the ugly red/orange faux stucco.

see early stage urban blight here

The post about Central Park

Many years ago, our friend Marla talked to Tom and me about going to see Tony Kushner’s ANGELS IN AMERICA when it was presented at the Alley Theatre in Houston. It’s actually two plays, and both were being produced here, so we could see one or the other depending on the day and time. However, we chose a day when the first part, Millennium Approaches, and the second part, Perestroika, were being performed. Marla, Amy, Tom, and I saw both plays, divided by a meal at some lovely restaurant in the theater district.

If you’ve never had the opportunity to see ANGELS IN AMERICA, all I can say is that it’s phenomenal as it tackles big subjects like religion, sexuality, relationships, politics, AIDS, and internalized and institutionalized homophobia. It does this with pain and humor and truth. It was several hours of the best theater experience I’ve ever had. I do love the HBO miniseries–the actors are all superb–but nothing will ever compare to the experience of seeing both plays performed live, especially in a small theater in which we were very, very close to the stage.

A location central to ANGELS IN AMERICA is Bethesda Terrace in Central Park, where the characters gather at the Angel of the Waters Fountain (commonly called Bethesda Fountain). That was my first awareness of this incredible feature of the park. (Check out all those links if you want to learn more about it.)

Years later, Bethesda Terrace became a pivotal place in each of the Timothy James Beck books. Even in SOMEONE LIKE YOU, which is not set in New York, the fountain makes an appearance by telephone. It’s a place where old enemies, new lovers, and good friends find each other. One thing readers can count on from WHEN YOU DON’T SEE ME is that they’ll get to visit Bethesda Terrace and the fountain again.

I’m sure the fountain originally found a place in our books because it’s special to Tim and he put it there. Now it’s important to each of the TJB writers, and I wouldn’t dream of going to New York without visiting it. I’m only including a couple of shots of it here, because Tim’s photos came out much better.

Manhattan offers a million wonderful things to me, but I could give them all up except two: sharing the city with my friends and going to Central Park.

click here for photos

The post about eating and sleeping in Manhattan


Hot guy in Chelsea Savoy Hotel room.

When IT HAD TO BE YOU came out in 2001, Jim, Tom, and I rented a NYC apartment for the few days we were there. It was off Sutton Place, and I’ll confess that it was the best place I’ve ever stayed in NYC. It was perfect for having friends with us (James! Kenneth! Steve!), meant we had an actual kitchen at our disposal, and our writing partners Tim and Timmy got to hang out with us there as if we were real residents of Manhattan. It also had antiques, thick white towels in the bathroom, family portraits and art set off by good lighting, and a grand piano.

Mostly, I’m accustomed to Manhattan hotels with cramped rooms, miniature elevators (if available), and tiny bathrooms.

Though some reviewers have said the Chelsea Savoy is a no-frills hotel, I wonder if they’re people who’ve either had someone else (like an employer) pay for more upscale Manhattan hotels for them in the past, or else they haven’t been in many affordable hotel rooms in the city. Because I was dumbfounded, first by the size of the elevator–it was NORMAL!–then by the size of the room (not huge, but by no means cramped), and a real bathroom that could actually be moved around in! I have no complaints with the hotel at all. It was clean and new and quiet, and I’m not a high-maintenance guest in any case, either with housekeeping or the desk staff. So I was satisfied. And according to Tim, I didn’t snore, so I guess he was satisfied, too.

A couple of doors down from the hotel was a deli that I loved because the guys working there were nice and made me smile every time I went in. They also doctored my really hot coffee just the way I like it. Yay, deli men. (Until I started visiting NYC, I didn’t know that there, a “deli” isn’t a restaurant, but what we in the South call a “convenience store,” albeit on a much smaller scale.)

The thing is… as endearing as Chelsea can be, I have to confess that my heart lies north of there, and by that, I mean Hell’s Kitchen. I’ve spent more time there. There are always people on the sidewalks, so I never feel unsafe walking alone, even at midnight. I like everything it’s close to. I like the restaurants and the little bars. Maybe it’s familiarity, maybe it’s that Tim’s love for his old neighborhood influenced me, but Midtown is more comfortable to me.

Still, I took a little morning walk around Chelsea because I knew its quieter residential streets would offer up some prettiness.
click here for prettiness

A little something for Mark

Mark, you should have TOLD me to get a shot of 51st Street, and I would have. However, I did take a particular couple of photos just for you.

I was having a frustrating time with the Internet in the hotel room, so I took the subway (all by myself! I’m always proud when I do this, which I know sounds stupid to people who’ve lived in NYC–it’s not like it’s a complicated or unusual thing to do) to Columbus Circle with my laptop. My plan was to find a Starbucks or any wireless spot, do a little work, then spend a couple of hours just relaxing in Central Park.

Things didn’t go as planned–I am cursed when it comes to Internet connections, I think–but I did find a Starbucks, place my order, and walk to the back to pick it up. First I saw this sign hanging above a basket:
photos behind cut

The post about hot air

A few weeks ago, New Orleans was almost late-summer sultry when Tim and I were there. According to Greg, after Saints & Sinners, the temperature suddenly became more bearable. The past few days in NYC, people kept assuring me that usually the heat and humidity aren’t quite that intense until later in the summer. Is it that every place just gets hotter when Tim appears? Or do I talk too freaking much? Hmmmm…

However, that being said? Just for the sheer pleasure of being in one of my favorite places on the planet, I’ll deal with whatever weather NYC offers. I may whine about the walking and the heat, but there is NO PLACE anywhere like Manhattan. It’s a city that would eat me alive if I tried to live in it, but I sure love visiting there.

So, y’all ready for some photos?

then click here

Even kitties know…

…that Reading is HOT! Here’s Johnnie (I’ve been dying to say that) with Biscuits and Cleo, reading the new Robert Rodi novel, When You Were Me.

It’s been five years since Robert Rodi’s last novel, Bitch Goddess. His other novels are Fag Hag, Closet Case, What They Did to Princess Paragon, Drag Queen, and Kept Boy.

Thank you, Johnnie, for permission to use the photo. Keep ’em coming, folks!