Back To Bushwick...

 I went back to Bushwick to take a look at some more of the graffiti around there. I walked from Bedstuy to where my old flat was to see if the area had changed much, which it hadn't really.

It was funny to be back in that part of Brooklyn, I haven't been back to my old flat since I moved out but it still looked pretty much the same, maybe a little more ragged around the edges. The old Kid Acne mural was still up there too...

 Then I walked back towards Morgan Avenue where the 'Bushwich 5 Pointz' area is, and found all these pieces...

Sunset Over The River...

The view from Greenpoint, out across the river was beautiful yesterday evening...

Grungy Greenpoint...

Out & About...

Lobster Joint...

Yesterday afternoon we went over to Greenpoint to find the Lobster Joint for some... well – lobster.

Abi had read up about the Lobster Joint last week and when we realised there was one so close to us, we thought we'd better try it out. Ever since out first lobster rolls in Boston we (especially Miss Turner) have been fans, and I have to say the Lobster Joint did not disappoint...

Sanwiches between a single slice of lightly toasted bread was a pile of delicious meaty lobster. I had the club lobster roll which had avacado and bacon in it, and Abi went for the more traditional version.

The place itself was really nice, it's not very big and had a really friendly 'locals' feel, everyone seem to know each other.  It was pretty quiet when we went in, but nearly every table was taken by the time we left (they'd obviously all heard that we were there!).

If we find ourselves craving lobster rolls again and can't make it to Boston, we know where to go!

Sunny Friday...

Out & About...

Spiderman's Ride...

I think Spiderman was in our neighbourhood tonight...

We spotted this... interesting looking car outside our subway stop.

Aaron Draplin...

This evening Abi and I went to hear Aaron Draplin (of Draplin Design Company) give a talk titled 'Tall Tales From A Large Man'...

He's not as grumpy as he looks here - in fact he was amazingly inspiring and gave an absolutely fantastic talk as part of the Type Directors Club Judge's talks.

The Draplin Design Company (which is pretty much just him) does beautifully simple and bold logos for all sorts of people, from hotdog companies, snowboard makers to The President! The talk was all about how he set up the company, the work he's been doing recently and some other ventures - like his Field Notes books...

I'd watched a couple of his other talks online and already admired him as a designer, but also admired him for setting up his own company and making a great success out of it. So it was really great to get to hear him talk in person - and even better to get to shake his hand and have a little chat.

After his talk I went to have a quick chat with him (I don't think I've really ever done that after these talks, but I felt compelled to after his talk) - we had a quick chat about Leeds, Led Zeppelin and starting up on your own after working in a bigger agency... his advice was to save my pennies and do what I loved to do.

I've been watching a few talks online about people who have left bigger agencies and set up on their own, it sounds both scary and inspiring in equal measures, but people like Draplin show that it's possible, and you can make a load of money producing something as beautifully simple and useful as a notebook.

We've been incredibly lucky to get to go to so many inspiring talks over the passed couple of years, with New York talks and things like Offset, we've been able to hear designers we really admire talk about work that's inspired us... it sounds silly but going to talks like tonight's fuels the soul.

I'm tempted to phone work and tell them I won't be in tomorrow as I'm starting my own company, but I think for now I'd better keep saving my pennies and carry on day dreaming... One day.

The Kindness of Strangers...

The other day, during a cold and wet lunchtime walk, Abi and I saw these sitting on top of a postbox...

Someone had prepared two little portions of chili, wrapped them up, attached a fork and a little note saying 'chili' and left them for someone (presumably homeless or hungry).

At least, I hope that's what they were and not some trick or some food laced with laxatives or something... I'll stick with my original, more positive assumption that it was a stranger doing a great kindness to another stranger.

Jake Bugg...

Last night, due to a spot of luck Abi and I got tickets to go and see Jake Bugg play at the Bowery Ballroom. Ben had some spare tickets for the sold out gig, so we bought them off him and went along - I'd wanted to go anyway but the tickets sold out quite quickly, and I've always wanted to go to a gig at the Bowery Ballroom, so it was hard to say no really...

I'd only heard of Jake Bugg recently thanks to Tom - but it seems a lot of people in New York know who he is, the venue was absolutely packed full, with quite a few British accents too.

Here's one of his more popular songs, Two Fingers (annoyingly a lot of people left after he played this one, although it was quite near the end of the gig)...

... and this one's for Tommy Toot...

He sounded absolutely brilliant live, his voice was fantastic and the acoustic and the levels at Bowery Ballroom were perfect. It was a really great gig -  I can't wait to go see some more bands play there soon.

Lovely Chevy...

I saw this amazing Chevy on our walk yesterday...

  The paint colour was amazing, it was sort of a pearlescent sea-foamy kind of colour, that was almost matte and the windows had a weird semi-mirror effect on them... I bet it looks good driving around in the summer!

Doughnuttery...

Yesterday Abi and I had a lunchtime stroll over to Chelsea Market and had ourselves a tasty little treat at the Doughnuttery...

Abi had found out about it recently and so we went to check it out.

It's a great little stall with loads of different flavours to choose from - there's the more normal options, like cinnamon and sugar and then some more fancy ones like banana and coffee.

The difference between Doughnuttery and other fancy donut shops like Dough, is that Doughnuttery gets all it's flavour from the sugars. You chose your flavour, then the lady takes the little donuts, puts them in a bag and then pours some of the different flavoured sugars in and shakes it all up.

Then you have a delicious little bite-size donut covered in fancy sugar... the flavours were completely different, and changed a lot as you ate them, but they were delicious!

January's healthy eating's going well so far!

Wheels On Fire...

Ben Eine in the Bronx...

Yesterday morning, before any of the shops opened I set on a mission to go and find some Ben Eine street art in the Bronx.

I knew about Eine's work before I knew who he was, and on our recent day trip to London I saw a load of his pieces around Shoreditch... I think I'd actually seen one of his pieces in Bushwick a while ago, a shop shutter with a big E painted on it.

Anyway, he does a lot of typographic pieces all over the world and I had read that he'd decorated some shop shutters in the Bronx with his trademark big letters. So I set off hoping to get to the Bronx before opening time, so the shutters would still be down.

I had to ride the A train all the way to the end of the line, up to 207th St in an area of the Bronx called Inwood. Inwood feels like 'real' New York, what I imagine Brooklyn would have felt like 10 years ago. It had a strong community feel to it, but a community that were struggling. Lots of shops had closed, there streets were dirtier than other areas of New York and there were lots of people selling clothes on the street or sorting through charity donations.

It's amazing how much New York varies in such a small space - up on 101st Street you've got millionaire livings in Penthouse apartments over looking the park, but travel 10 blocks up into Harlem and you've got people struggling to pay their rent and buy food. It seems things get harder the higher you travel, Inwood felt a million miles away from all the shops of 5th Avenue!

Despite looking like it was on slightly hard times, all the people seemed to know each other, they were all chatting and laughing and it was much more of a community spirit than you get in a lot of other places in New York - I imagine everyone knows their neighbour and looks out for each other...

Despite seeing someone getting patted down and (I think) arrested, it was a pretty safe and interesting area to be in... I think I probably stuck out like a sore thumb, but no-one minded me being there.

Anyway - I eventually found the shutters. Although I walked down Sherman Ave (where I thought they were) and couldn't see them, I was almost at the end of the street and had assumed I was too late and the shutters were up, or they'd gone. So I decided to go and get a coffee (and a donut, shhh!) at Dunkin Donuts to make my trip a little more worth while... then just as I was walking up to Dunkin Donuts, I saw them...

 Some of the shutters were up, so I didn't get the whole effect of the entire row of shops spelling something, but it was good to see them, and it was funny to think that just a couple of weeks ago we were in London seeing work by the same artists.

It wasn't the most successful street-art adventure, or the most impressive street-art - but it was interesting to get to see a part of New York that I probably would never have thought of going to otherwise.