10/29/03 Rafik Stairs; Optometrist Glasses; Richard's Night Rider; Late Night East Side Bike Adventure:

Today I set out to find some 8mm film supplies in the city for my new projector. The projector allows me to transfer 8mm film to video. But I need some stuff, like a splicer and splicing tape to be able to edit the film if I need to. Like, for example, if I need to add leader film to the front or end of an existing reel that a client gives me. I need to be able to splice it together. But, because 8mm film is a format of the past, nobody is making this stuff new anymore. It's all old and you need to find places that accumulate this stuff second hand, for the most part.

Rafik is the name of one such place in NYC. They're a very east-village style establishment on Broadway just south of Union Square. They can be found on the second floor of an old building on Broadway that apparently has its original staircase... so crooked that it makes me nervous every time I go up it. And it's got a weird layout that some old NYC buildings have... the stairs continue straight from the first to the second, and then from the second to the third floors. They don't double back, so you can see way up the extra-long staircase. This one goes all the way up to the 5th floor without changing direction!!! Weird!

I didn't find what I was looking for at Rafik, so I went to my second stop... an Optomologist that I found that takes my healthcare plan. And the plan includes an eye checkup once every other year! Yay!

I liked the elevator buttons in this building. When you push the button, it lights up in the shape of the floor number. Cute.

They dilated my pupils to do the checkup. I took the above photo after my checkup. I can't see very well. This office was funny because even though it was a doctor's office, it had a glasses storefront mixed into the waiting room, and when I was done with my appointment, when they smelled that I was in the market for a new pair of glasses, they made a very strong case for me to look at their offerings. They even told me that they could match any pair on the market, and undercut the price of wherever I was looking. It was a bit pushy, and I thought, strangely out of place. I looked anyway, just in case, and found this pair, which, in this not-so-useful photo, seems to disappear into my face. I was not as impressed as I was yesterday, and politely declined, telling them I'd come back if I wanted them in the end. I took this picture because I couldn't really see very well and I figured that when my vision returned, I'd take a look at this pair via this photo. What a scam: Blur a persons vision for the sake of an eye exam and then try to pedal glasses on them before they can see if they look good or not. Jeez.

This is apparently my prescription. The top row is one eye, the bottom row is the other. The three numbers are all a glasses shop needs to perfectly shape the lenses for your eyes. Essentially, I'm -0.50 in both eyes. Nearsighted is negative numbers. The other numbers are a bit more complicated, but the ones on the right are for my astigmatism, which is slightly worse in one eye. I went right back to Robert Marc, showed them my prescription, and ordered my glasses! Yay! I even go the transition lenses so that I'll be automatically wearing sunglasses in the sunlight (activated by UV rays). I had my summer job on a boat in mind. It added a bit of expense. So did grinding the edges of the frames to be clear instead of white. The total cost came to $613. I told this to my friends, and I've not heard the end of it since. It was alot, I know. But it was my summer splurge. But from this day forth, when ever something is expensive, I get an earful of "well what about those $613 glasses!?" Oh brother.

Speaking of the silly things that we sometimes do, check this out:

This is Richard (the concierge's) car. It's parked right out front of the building because when you do the 11pm to 7am shift, you can park anywhere. Notice the red light built in to the grill?

They actually go back and forth just like "Knight Rider," that silly 1970's show about the car with a brain on the beat.

A small controller inside his glove compartment controls the speed of the oscillating red lights. He bought this as a kit for about $50 on Ebay and installed it himself. He's a "car guy."

He was showing me all this on my way out of the apartment. It was a bit chilly because it was past 11pm, but I was in the mood for a bike ride. I knew that my chances to ride are growing fewer as the weather is getting colder, and I was restless in the apartment this evening. I woke up late and didn't do much physical activity, and I didn't have to be up early tomorrow, so I figured, "I'll ride for a while."

Instead of doing my usual West Side routine, I went to the East Side, starting at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, and working my way up the bike path on the East Side, on the East Riverfront.

The Fulton Fish Market begins to come alive here next to the South Street Seaport. Ironically, this is here because things used to get brought in my ship. Thus the "seaport." But now all the fish arrives on Trucks. They line up on South Street under the FDR drive overhead.

I figured I would ride until I was tired. I found that there were a whole bunch of brand new signs everywhere along the path, leading me along the new bike route that goes around the circumference of Manhattan Island. It's not all continuous bike path, and there are a bunch of notable detours around locations that don't have pathways, often via avenues that are quite difficult to navigate on a bike during the day. But... it was late night, and none of those avenues would be that difficult now. So I found myself following the signs, going up the East Side of Manhattan beyond 23rd street, which is pretty much where the easy-to-use bike paths end.

I was able to get all the way to 37th street along the waterfront, but ended up on 1st avenue until I got to 60-somethingth street.

A pedestrian bridge brought be back to the waterfront north of the 59th street bridge. Here'a view. It was awesome.

This is the fairly new pedestrian overpass. It's a cable-stay suspension bridge on a small scale in the shadow of the Queensboro Bridge nearby.

I ended up in Sutton Place for a while, on Sutton Place. It was all absolutely gorgeous apartment buildings with opulent lobby's and doormen doing their late-night shifts in each one. The street was empty save for the occasional couple on a romantic walk, and the occasional dog and walker on the not-so-romantic bathroom run. There were two other very long stretches of waterfront pathway that I had never been to before and really enjoyed. It was cold enough that I was wearing a jacket and gloves and hat and scarf... but as I rode, my body created heat, and I was perfectly comfortable, if not occasionally hot.

Recent articles about the newly established around-Manhattan bike route have spoken about this particularly annoying obstacle along the way. A STAIRCASE. A friggin staircase! It's one of only 2 on the whole circumference of the Island, and this one is quite steep. They do provide a metal trough for you to put your bike tires in, so that you literally push the bike up the steep smooth ramp as you walk clumsily up the stairs. You can see this metal ramp to the far right of the stairs, just to the left of the railing. It's dark. My nightrider-like rear light is on.

At the top of the stairs, I have to admit, I was a bit winded. It's one thing to walk up 3 flights. It's another thing to do so while you push a bike against gravity's will.

Looking north at the FDR drive, which has the northbound lanes at water level, and the southbound lanes elevated to the right. The white lights are car headlights blurring due to the long exposure. Above the southbound lanes is a large deck for pedestrians, which is what I had to climb the stairs to access. From here up to 125th street it's smooth sailing on bike paths again.

That I was able to get this far just by using the signs was so exhilarating, that I was totally not ready to turn back. Here I look to the East and see the Triborough bridge lit in the crisp evening air. There were a few other bikers and a jogger or two. I only saw one or two people that might have been homeless, based on the assumptions I was making about them when encountering them on the path. I know my mom doesn't like this, but it's nice, occasionally, to get out, late at night, in the City, and just have a totally alone experience. An adventure. And I wouldn't go where I didn't feel safe, so it's not an adventure in that sense. When it gets creepy I'm not afraid to turn back because I know it's the right thing to do. [And I did just beyond 125th street. It got too dark and too isolated to continue]. The kind of adventure I'm talking about here has to do with the journey... even if you're walking. To see an neighborhood or location for the first time, or at least at a new time of day. To be awake when most are asleep. To capture the beauty of calm where there is normally frenetic energy, with a camera or with memory. To lay on the belly of a sleeping city... still enough, quiet enough to feel the up and down motion of its breath in the silence. To feel like a Lilliputian on a great quest in a land of giants... giant bridges, giant buildings, and giant pathways stretching out before you for the taking. That's the adventure that had warm blood pumping through me on this cold night.

One other thing. Without what seems like any effort on my part, just an enjoyment and a willingness to go on... I am now looking at the Triborough Bridge. I live and started this ride south of the Brooklyn Bridge. These bridges are so far apart that most Long Islanders would not ever use them to get to the same place. To drive to downtown Manhattan from Long Island, you would NEVER take the Triborough. Even if the traffic report said that the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, and Queensborough bridges were backed up and didn't mention the Triborough, I know not a soul who would detour to downtown via this bridge. It's just "going the totally wrong direction." And so they would sit in traffic. I got here on a bike for fun. It took 2 hours, but it felt like far less, and I was going leisurely, anyway. So it tickles me, on a night that only gave way to a bikeride on a whim, that I am staring at this bridge which is "so far" away. It's exciting to know that I got here only by the will of my legs, and not by the combustion of a machine.

Nope, too creepy. The East River gives way to the Harlem River here, and the path dead-ends at a salt-storage site (for snowstorms). I backtracked a little to 126th street, and decided that I had gone far enough. The full Island tour, which stretches another 100 blocks in front of me, would have to wait for a sunny Sunday.

Crossing town on 126th street I passed the bus shed for the M15 route. It was HUGE and there were so many more buses than I would have ever thought existed for just one route. I was so dumbfounded, I forgot to take a photo. I must have seen over 30 M15 buses, at least 5 of which were coming or going. Wow.

In the above photo I find myself at Park Avenue, where, above me on an elevated structure, one would find the 125th street station for Metro North Trains. This is the first stop out of Grand Central Station, and the only commuter rail station in Manhattan other than Penn Station and Grand Central itself. Many people forget about this one.

Gas station? Up here, on the northern half of Manhattan Island, there's a little more room and a few more gas stations. This one is in a triangle on 124th street and was quite lit up.

Just to prove that I'm not making up how far I biked. While heading cross-town to the West Side and the Hudson River, Alyssa called me. It was like past 2am. She needed directions on how to find some place by train tomorrow morning and called me because she knows I know transit very well. I get these calls occasionally. I was able to help her from memory, and she was amazed and surprised (sort of) that I was on 126th street and Frederick Douglas Boulevard (which she had not heard of before) at the time.

Before I got to the far west side, I decided that a ride down the middle of the island would be a bit more of an adventure, and enjoyed the extremely long path that makes up the west side of Central Park from 110th street to 59th street.

Many trucks and things were lined up, preparing for the NYC Marathon in a few days!

I continued past Columbus Circle down Broadway through Times Square, which is not usually recommendable, but being 3am, there is little traffic, so I could actually use the bike path that goes through Times Square on Broadway without too much trouble.

I made it back to the apartment some time before 4am. I was totally exhilarated, rejuvenated, and exhausted. I had had a great time, and chatted for a bit with Richard at the front desk upon my return. I told him about my new glasses, showed him photos, and he then showed me that his new glasses are VERY similar to the pair I chose at Robert Marc.

His are much wider than mine will be because of the size of our faces. Mine are "custom" thankyou very much. He got these off a shelf somewhere and spent a buttload less money than I did. Oh well... life is an adventure.