Dark Mistress of the Hula Hoop!

There's a bar down near the South Street Seaport I go to from time to time called "The Iron Horse." You run into anyone from bikers to businessmen from Wall Street in the bar. The barmaids know how to put on a great show.

You don't see this in most bars in NYC!

When angered, the barmaids have been know to spit fire!

This poor guy didn't have a chance.

Urban Archaeology

While walking around on the lower west side of NYC, I came across this unique store. It was closed so I didn't go inside. It looked expensive though...

There was an interesting statue of a mermaid crushing the life out of a fish in front of the store.

Their location is:
143 Franklin St., New York, NY 10013
http://urbanarchaeology.com/

Saturday Morning Trip to the Big Apple (NYC)

I was up and awake Saturday morning at around 3:30 a.m. and knew I wasn't going to get back to sleep so I caught the 5:12 a.m. train into New York Penn Station. At that early of a time in the morning, there isn't a whole lot of stuff going on in NYC so I was able to take a few pictures without a crowd in front of everything like usual.



I walked down to the lower west side and was hoping to catch the NYPD Mounted Horse Patrol conducting a guard mount or something like that but I only found one officer on horseback.

Here's the sun shining on an NYPD squad car. At this hour of the morning, it was very quiet on the streets around the precinct house.

Which one to choose? I had the same dilemma as this gentleman at the Chinese bakery in Chinatown. There were so many treats to choose from!

Sea Bright, New Jersey

I visited Sea Bright, NJ recently. It's a nice little town on the Northern Jersey Shore with some great bars, restaurants, and other stores. It's a bit crowded during the summer months, but in the off season, there's plenty of free parking.


This little bagel place called "Bagel Cove" has some of the best bagels I've ever had. The staff was very friendly and made me a custom bagel with the types of toppings that I specified. I'm going to make it a point to stop by here any weekend morning I'm in the area.

St. Nick's Pub

If you want great Jazz and Blues in New York City, you've got to visit St. Nick's Pub in NYC.

St. Nick's pub is located in the historical Sugar Hill section of Harlem, New York. It is the oldest continuously operating jazz club in Harlem.

St. Nick's features live jazz and blues 7 nights a week. You'll meet jazz and blues fans from all over the world when you visit.

I found out about this venue through a great New York Jazz walking tour I took from the most excellent Big Apple Jazz Tours at:

www.bigapplejazz.com/

Sarah Partridge and Trio

This last Sunday, I was able to see Sarah Partridge and Trio at the Monmouth County Library Headquarters here in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Sarah is a jazz vocalist who sings songs from the American Songbook. She put on a great 2 hour set. I highly recommend you visit her web site at www.sarahpartridge.net

New Year's Eve Window Dancer

I had a great New Year's Eve in Manhattan this last year. I didn't try to do the Times Square thing but went to some local nearby pubs and to a jazz performance at Birdland. This young woman spotted me any my big ass camera sitting at a bar near Penn Station and proceeded to give me a "window dance." One would think her chest would get cold rubbing it up against a cold window like that!



As usual, you meet some "unusual" folks on the New Jersey Transit train on the way back to Jersey. These two "gentlemen" had never met each other before. It looks like they decided to act out a scene from the prison drama "Oz" so I would take their photo.