Here we are, but instead of a Papaya Dog sign, there's burger signs everywhere. At least it's still here, in what appears to be an unchanged form. Let's take a closer look.
Inside it looks the same. Let's slowly move in closer.
Here's a familiar face, when asked if this was still a Papaya Dog, despite all the nasty burger signage, he just threw his hands up in the air. At least the familiar beer taps are still here.
There's the familiar Papaya dogs sizzling away.
Fuck it, there's a Papaya Dog on his shirt, I say it's still a Papaya Dog and my original Fortress of Solitude lives on!
Aaahh, home sweet home.
Gumby's all settled in, but there's a shitload of noise coming from the back.
It's filled with drunken idiots whom I assume are here for New Years Eve at Times Square. They're louder thand fuck and really obnoxious.
Fuck, this is a Fortress of Solitude people! I'm out of here! I can't wait till January 2nd!
At least on my way out I saw that the original Papaya sign is still hanging on, just like the Vanilla Fudge. I shall return.
Yesterday, Gene from the BBC, left this comment: “I miss the Fortress of Solitude that the Papaya is...” It made me realize I hadn’t been there in quite some time. It’s a good night to go, it’s Friday, it’s unseasonably cold outside (it’s supposed to snow on Saturday, to quote Gene again: UFB!) and it’s a perfect night to chill out at the Fortress of Solitude. This one’s for you Gene, so don’t blame me, Al! (I put a Neil Young song up as a consolation prize for Al!)
And we're off, just a short walk to Penn Station. It's not as cold as last night and no rain, which is a relief. However tomorrow it's supposed to go down to freezing temperatures and mixed rain and snow. I may have to bust out my winter coat for Cheeseburger Saturday Night!
Since we were just here last night, I thought I'd use a different entrance, so we have a little variety in the pictures.
Nice to see this fellow standing stationary on the escalator. Maybe people are finally learning, but I doubt it.
Hudson News, I think I'll stop and get a magazine to read at the Fortress of Solitude.
It's a crowded night here with people coming and going and standing around.
Wow, the Powerball is over 200 million!
If there's no post tomorrow, you'll know these numbers came up and I threw my computer out the window.
The Papaya sign is covered up with a banner, that kind of sucks.
I was a little afraid they took the Papaya Dog sign down, but here it is, behind the banner.
And here's our friend behind the counter, getting ready to serve up the ususal...
Giganzo beer and a hotdog with mustard (apologies to Britta and Kari, but I gotta go with mustard on the dog!)
Gumby's all settled in.
Here's the view from where I sit. I've already wolfed the dog down, so let's enjoy the magazine and the beer.
I got a copy of Life & Style. The cover story was about Demi Moore starving herself. Her arms aren't quite as scary as Madonna's, but they're getting there. The headline reads: "Starving To Keep Her Man." Personally I would've gone with: "Moore Is Less," but what do I know?
I'm amazed, I got all the way to page six before running into a photo of one of the Kardashians. The weekly magazines are obsessed with them. In fact I'm going to flip through and see how many photos there are of each Kardashian in this issue. Give me a couple minutes here. (Time goes by.) Okay, I'm back and here's the official Kardashian Kountdown: There's five pictures each of Kim and Khloe and Kourtney has four. So, there!
Here's a subscription ad with a cover from a week ago. Within the cover line a confused Kim Kardashian asks: "What Have I Done?" Well, Kim, from what I can see you've turned your massive tits and ass into a multimillion dollar corporation, but outside of that, you really haven't done a whole hell of a lot. Anyway, you go girl! And keep on going...a little farther, okay, don't let the door smack that giant-million dollar ass of yours on the way out. Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.
Further reading: MAD, Time Out New York and 365 Bars (I forgot I went there on the bar crawl, it came up on a Google search!)
After seeing the pop up photo of William Shatner in yesterday's post, The Duncester found a photo of Kurt Russell as Jack Burton in the 1986 movie, "Big Trouble in Little China." Beautiful "Separated At Birth" moment, Duncester, thanks for sending it in!
What a fucking week this has been. At least I didn’t have to stay as late as I thought I would, but it was just ten hours of pure stress. And it was that way pretty much all week. Crazy deadlines, crazy work, crazy peole, crazy glue...Crazy Eddie where are you? Yes, I’m losing it. So I thought tonight I’d just wander around and have a few drinks on the way home and take pictures. Ready? Set! Wander...
And off we go. It's getting chilly out here, time to get the jacket out of the closet.
I wonder if that pizza place sells beer. I've walked by it probably thousands of times and have never gone in. Let's go check it out.
Biff alert! They have Miller Lite in here, let's go get the first beer of the evening.
Here's the pizza, now where's the beer?
Here we go, they've got a nice selection of bottled beers here.
I chose a bottle of Peroni and this friendly fellow not only sold it to me, but posed for a picture. Cheers!
I'm sitting at a table and relaxing while watching people buy pizza slices.
Hey here's the Green Tomato, one of my less frequented Fortress of Solitude stops.
Tonight they're speaking my language, let's go on in.
And here we are at my usual streetside table. Gumby's hiding as he's still a little paranoid after that "prank" he pulled.
It's really nice sitting here, drinking beer and watching the world go by. A great people watching spot for sure.
Obligatory window reflection shot!
Here's a guy practicing his ATM moves.
And yet another getting cash for ATM. Are these people porn stars or what?
Okay, I"m really tired, time to get one for the road here.
And here it is, bagged and strawed and ready to go.
Ha, I like this graffiti on the phone booth of a stickman flipping the bird.
And check out the Snapple bottle, that doesn't look like Kiwi Strawberry to me!
And I've got a feeling this isn't lemonade in the Subway cup. Yeeesh!
And here we are, the last stop of the evening, my corner deli, The Blue Valley.
Sip Ahoy! ("Sip Ahoy is a patented Uncle Waltie catch phrase, please get permission before you use it.) Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.
Jeremiah Moss put up a great post and challenge over at his blog, Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York. I’ve written about St. Mark’s Bookshop a few times here on this blog and have encouraged people to buy a book there and help keep this East Village independent landmark bookshop in business. All the information is over at Jeremiah’s blog, just click here: Buy A Book Weekend! And then go buy a book, as Jeremiah notes, you can buy one online, so even if you don’t live in New York, you can help out and get a great book by doing so. There’s no downside, so do it now!
First off, apologies to Al for this, but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. Okay I worked kicked my ass all day and all of the night to quote Ray Davies. Everything was a rush, and not a good kind of a rush like after you’ve huffed a whole can of spray paint either. I could go on, but I just don’t want to. There’s only one place I want to go...
And it's off we go. Today and tonight was an eleven hour packed day of pure stress and it's hard to put one foot in front of the other.
And here we are at the Mothership that houses my Fortress of Solitude...whatever that means.
At least people are standing still on the escalator. On a night like this you savor any moment that somehow goes your way.
Huh, the Duane Reade. Let's see if they've gotten any better cards in here, the last one's I saw were pretty nasty!
These cards in here are harsh! Someone should write a letter to the manager! Sheesh!
Aaahhh! The Fortress of Solitude! I see a familiar face...
And he's got a dog and a giganzo Budweiser waiting for me! I love it in here!
My table awaits...
Gumby's settled in...
Time to relax. Maybe I'll draw a few cartoons while I'm here. Let me get some napkins.
You can't see it, but there were folds in the napkins and they were really flimsy, not a good canvas at all! What a horrible night!
Here we are, but instead of a Papaya Dog sign, there's burger signs everywhere. At least it's still here, in what appears to be an unchanged form. Let's take a closer look.
Inside it looks the same. Let's slowly move in closer.
Here's a familiar face, when asked if this was still a Papaya Dog, despite all the nasty burger signage, he just threw his hands up in the air. At least the familiar beer taps are still here.
There's the familiar Papaya dogs sizzling away.
Fuck it, there's a Papaya Dog on his shirt, I say it's still a Papaya Dog and my original Fortress of Solitude lives on!
Aaahh, home sweet home.
Gumby's all settled in, but there's a shitload of noise coming from the back.
It's filled with drunken idiots whom I assume are here for New Years Eve at Times Square. They're louder thand fuck and really obnoxious.
Fuck, this is a Fortress of Solitude people! I'm out of here! I can't wait till January 2nd!
At least on my way out I saw that the original Papaya sign is still hanging on, just like the Vanilla Fudge. I shall return.
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