Where the Hell is Murph ?...: New York City..............Street Level.

New York City seems to be a "Love It" or "Hate It" city for a lot of people.Me,I love it.Always have,always will.Even though the changes to the city and lifestyle have been dramatic and extreme since I left there in '97 or '98,and especially since 9/11,it still gets me and draws me in everytime.

It's one of the most functionally dysfunctional places,where a newcomer might look at it as the most chaotic scene they have ever witnessed,but yet it works,it flows smoothly,it manages to absorb all of the blows it has had rained down upon it for a long time now without imploding.

Even after 19 cowards got on 4 planes and tried to kill the soul of New York,it still didn't fall.It may have faltered a bit,but the City of New York,the State and the whole country came together to help keep it up,and they did.Today,it is still a magical place,where people flock to every day of the year just to get a piece of her and the people who make it great.

The FDNY are just some of the many people who help make NYC who she is,and 343 paid with their lives on Sept 11th,2001.

I happened to run into a few of them while I was there on this trip.

Some of the guys of FDNY Hook and Ladder Co.3 and Water Tower No.2 on East 13th Street,NYC.

I stopped by the station while I was next door at Phototech getting a lens repaired.When I lived in Mahattan I knew a few of the firemen at the Great Jones St Firehouse,which houses Ladder 9 and Engine 33 trucks and crew.

Thanks to the guys of Hook & Ladder Co. 3 and Water Tower Co.2 for spending time with me.

Up on 89th Street and Riverside Drive in Manhattan is the Soldiers and Sailors monument,built in the late 1800's and dedicated on Memorial Day 1902 to commerate the Union Army soldiers and sailors who served in the American Civil War.

The Fireman's Monument on 100th street,Riverside Dr.

The origins on the FDNY go all the way back to 1648 when New York was the dutch settlement of New Amsterdam.The organization known as the "Prowlers" but nicknamed "The Rattle Watch"patrolled the streets with buckets,hooks and ladders,hence the term "Hook and Ladder Co." of the FDNY.

Only in Chelsea.

Jersey City as seen from Chelsea Piers.

Cellist Peter Lewy,Washing Square Park Arch,September 2011.

A video of Peter I shot is on my YouTube page here and here.

This could be Italy or Tokyo,but it's on the West Side Hwy.

7th Ave. looking north from 22nd St.

Soho.

Some of the motorcycles in the collection at Kiehl's on 3rd Ave.

Kiehl's,an American cosmetics brand retailer that was founded as a single pharmacy in New York City's East Village in 1851 by John Kiehl,located at 3rd Avenue and 13th street.In 1921,Irving Morse purchased the store and in the 1960,Irvings son Aaron took over the store.It is Aarons motorcycles and planes that are on display at the store,although the planes are no longer displayed there.