I was originally going to do a longer piece on this, but my life has been consumed with a relatively severe e-mail problem at work, so all my mental resources are tapped out between trying to convince the IT department that I'm not making it up and stopping myself from curling up into a fetal ball under my desk. Isn't technology wonderful?
In any case, courtesy of Flaming Pablum-favorite artist/filmmaker Karen Gehres, check out this rarified glimpse above of the Union Square West of (circa) 1983. A far cry from its incarnation of today, the strip in question (obviously prior to the arrival of Blue Medal and Coffee Shop), looked a bit, shall we say, sleepier. The skyline is also endearingly devoid of that tower of avarice that is One Madison Park (formerly -- and laughably -- known as "The Saya"). Back in 2008, I colorfully referred to said building as "an artless monolith [that] has sprouted up like some gargantuan, robotic erection." That pretty much still holds true.
Anyway, I tried to replicate Karen's photo on my walk to work earlier this week, but like everywhere else in NYC, Union Square is always bustlingly busy, so a friggin' coffee truck got in my way. I was also standing too close -- I should've snapped it from the park. I suck. Such as it is, for comparison's sake....
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