I took a walk through Midtown Manhattan late Thanksgiving night, and other than a lone sanitation worker and the occasional cab driver trying to hustle a fare, I was alone. The normally reassuring urban elements of blinding light pollution and towering buildings were a bit jarring in the absence of crowds, traffic, and above all, noise.

It reminded my that the anonymity inherent in being a part of a large, constantly moving population has always been one of my favorite features of large cities. Instead of taking a vacation to “get away from it all”, I can simply hop on the subway; wherever I emerge, even if it’s less than a mile away, no one knows me, no one is involved in my problems, and no one will remember me.

That  anonymity, combined with its well-defined neighborhoods, is why London is on of my favorite cities. But as is so often the case in New York City, what is an attractive element of urban living elsewhere quickly becomes too much of a good thing here.

Last week, a boy with Asperger’s syndrome got into trouble at school, and, afraid of facing his parents, rode the subway for 11 days.  He was found unharmed, but the police have faced criticism for taking as long as they did to find him.

Consider that 7.7. million people travel the subway system’s 26 routes on a typical weekday. The 6 train alone has more daily riders than any other U.S. rapid transit system save the Washington D.C. Metro. Chicago’s entire L Train system has 46,00 fewer riders than this single New York City line.

Put another way, more than one and a half times as many people ride the 6 train each day as live in Jackson, the largest metropolitan area in of Mississippi. And that’s only one of 26 lines.

Maybe I’ve already become a jaded New Yorker, but I’m amazed that the police found the child at all. Regardless, it’s all too easy to become swallowed up by this city. That’s exactly what happened to a friend of mine shortly after he moved here.

While on his way to work, he was arrested for riding his bike on the sidewalk. Yes, you read that correctly. Apparently that’s a ticketable offense, and warrants arrest if the perpetrator isn’t carrying identification, which my friend wasn’t.

Expect a blog about the “quality of life” campaign soon.

Anyway, the police offered him one local phone call, but his wife still had an out-of-town number and he didn’t know any local numbers off the top of his head, so he sat in jail for 28 hours.

When he didn’t come home that night, his wife began making calls and discovered that he never made it to work or band practice. While she called the police and (attempted) to file a missing person report, family drove down from Massachusetts and began searching the area.

Finally, someone at the police department realized that the subject of the missing person report had been arrested…by the same precinct that she had filed the report with.

So much for the joys of urban anonymity.

If you want a good view at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, get there early. We got to 59th Street around 9 a.m., about the same time the parade was getting started on the Upper West Side. As you can tell, we didn’t have a great view. But here’s what we did see.

Beware of santas bearing bad news.

If you aren’t one of the 3% of shoppers who are actually done with the Christmas shopaganza, welcome to the club. My friend, you need a strategy. Timing is everything, and what you’re in the market for should determine where you go. Here are some things to consider when drawing up the Black Friday shopping game plan.

Roberto Guzman Rosado Jr. – better known as the rapper Tru Life – was arrested three days ago for the June 15 stabbings that left a second victim in critical condition.

The 33-year-old is jailed on Rikers Island on charges of murder, assault and weapons possession, police said. Rosado’s brother, Marcus, also surrendered Wednesday night at his lawyer’s office, sources said Thursday. Marcus Rosado is to be arraigned on murder charges.
The stabbings occurred around 9:30 a.m. as part of an ongoing dispute that began earlier at Club Pasha on W. 46th St., police sources said. Rosado and his brother are accused of chasing Jason Gray, 30, and Christopher Guerrero, 20, into the lobby of a building on E. 26th St. Cops said the duo pulled knives and stabbed Guerrero in the stomach and Gray in the chest. Guerrero died of his wounds; Gray was critically injured. The original disagreement involved Black and Marcus Rosado brother, the sources said.
Tru Life was signed to a six-figure deal in 2005 by Jay-Z, who was won over by Rosado’s braggadocio in a face-to-face meeting. Rosado told the hip-hop mogul that he was pronounced legally dead at Bellevue Hospital following a shooting, but survived.
((source: New York Post)

A few days ago, I unexpectedly went to two amazing and completely different restaurants in one day. This is quite a feat, considering I hardly ever go out to eat (although this is increasingly becoming a thing of the past).

For lunch that day, a coworker recommended that we all go to Ma Peche, a newly formed Vietnamese restaurant inside the Chambers Hotel in Midtown. The restaurant is currently situated in what appears to be a converted waiting area (I was told that they plan to move to a larger area on the first floor of the hotel very soon). We sat next to the elevators, and ate on a spruced up coffee table. It was really quite charming.

They currently have a limited menu, but offer nice $10 lunch options. I chose the Bun Du Riz, a well-portioned blend of fantastically seasoned pork ragout, rice noodles and saw leaf herb. It left me satisfied without stuffed — perfect for a lunch meal.

Later on that evening, I met up with some friends for dinner at Amy Ruth’s, a Harlem soul food restaurant. I couldn’t have been more excited, as I love soul food. I haven’t encountered many restaurants that offer it in New York, so it was a wonderful variation from the usual food palette.

The food was delicious but very heavy. I wasn’t able to finish my plate of smothered porkchops, macaroni and cheese, with collard greens (doesn’t that sound amazing?!).

Still, the food was great and inexpensive (my dish cost around $12). They offer a breakfast menu as well as dessert options to drool over, like rum cake and peach cobbler. This means that it is very important that I go back!

Both restaurants, actually, will require another visit

New York City buildings are decorated with images of horses, goats, elephants, birds, even squirrels. But only on the Graybar Building, an office tower next to Grand Central Terminal, will you find rats.

Yep, three cast-metal rats are depicted climbing above the building’s entrance at 420 Lexington Avenue.

So why rats? It’s not clear, but the architects who built the tower in the 1920s seem to be depicting the cone-shaped objects attached to mooring lines of ships that deterred rats from getting on board.

Or maybe it’s some kind of commentary on the rat race of professionals who ply their trades in office buildings like the Graybar every day.

I’m sure most of you have heard about the recently renovated McDonald’s in midtown Manhattan. It is said to be designed in a “European-style” and has free wifi access along with seating and outlets for laptop users.They’ve got a number of large flat-screens throughout playing BBC America (trying to be worldly).

It’s a two story, 186-seat McDonald’s that looks what you might expect if Google decided to have one on their campus. It’s actually a pretty impressive space and almost worth a trip to see it for yourself. It is extremely clean and oddly enough I didn’t find it too garish. I’m not sure if I’d find myself doing any work on my netbook there but I could imagine more than a few WOW players plugging in. Here are some pictures I took this weekend of it:

McDonald's Exterior

Ordering Counter

McDonald's Lobby

Staircase

Upstairs Seating

Chairs & Table

Laptop Stations

There are a few McDonald’s in midtown so if you’re looking for it, it’s located on 6th Avenue between 14th & 15th Streets. This particular location is owned by Paul Hendel. I believe he has a few more nearby. Unfortunately for McDonald’s you can renovate your locations all you want but the fact is the menu remains the same…I do however fully endorse and recommend Egg McMuffins and McGriddles!

Tonight, I experienced a little winter magic in Midtown. It was unexpected and beautiful. And even though the ice is artificial and the icicles shining in the trees are on strands plugged into a power cord, it gave a little taste of wintertime perfection. Fathers balanced on thin blades as they held tightly onto their babies and promised not to let them fall. Teenagers on first dates held hands a little tighter than normal. A everyone dressed in furry jackets and knitted hats smiled, even as they hit the ground.

After a very, very full day thrift store shopping in Sacramento, Maggie and I found ourselves venturing back to one of our favorite places: Newsbeat, a magazine shop somewhere around 20th and J streets, where we also stopped to watch people glide around the rink. Maggie, who is from Missouri and has actually lived through real winters with snow, noted that tonight was the first night she’d every seen someone ice skating in a T-shirt. That’s California, and you gotta love it.

It was the perfect opportunity to practice photographing movement in the dark, something I’ve been trying to figure out — and can’t. Tonight, I guess a lot of my attempts were failures, but I kinda like the ones that are blurry and out of focus best. Let me know what you think.

Thursday evening, I was looking for a nearby restaurant to have a small dinner before a basketball game. After convincing myself not to go back to La Pietra Cucina for the 4th time in 3 weeks, and not being able to obtain a Tamarind Seed reservation, I secured an easy Opentable reservation at TAP.
Located at the corner of Peachtree and 14th, TAP is in the center of the Atlanta midtown scene. The al fresco patrons can watch the rooftop deck at Shout, the comings and goings at the 14th Street Playhouse, and the illegal parkers outside of Starbucks and Chick Fil-a. A self-proclaimed “american gastropub,” TAP aims to supply a “convivial place to have a pint or glass of wine”. Sounds aight to me, but what about the food? To answer that question TAP promises “seasonally driven innovative comfort food”. Let’s get to it -

To start we shared the black bean hummus and pita bread:

As you can see, the pita was charred and had just come out of the oven(or off the stove). It was hot and a wonderful device to scoop up the thick and creamy spread. The black bean hummus was topped with feta cheese and sliced jalepenos – the cheese wasn’t plentiful enough and therefore didn’t add much of anything, but the peppers provided a bite and a spice level to help the unexciting dip.

We dipped, scooped, spread, and wiped until there was no more:

I'm empty inside

We also shared an entree:

Seared trout with rapini and white bean ragout in a parsely, butter sauce. The fish was cooked well and tasted mild. While the barely flavored fish needed a strong sauce as an accompaniment, I felt the parsely/butter sauce was not the right fit. The sauce was green, and led me to believe it would be full of herb-y goodness, but the butter flavor overwhelmed the whole shebang. I absolutely love the combination of rapini (a bitter green) and white beans, but again, the sauce was a distraction (but not a fun one – sort of like cotton candy flavored fluoride the dentist fools you with in order to clean your teeth).

My portion:

The portion was quite large and conducive to sharing. As long as I wiped off a good amount of the sauce, I enjoyed the food.

[

I am

not beer

Plus, I can pretend I’m cool and say I go to a place that makes its own beer and has a ton of barrel wine selections (is that a cool thing to say?).

A glimpse of how it’s done below:

TAP
(404) 347-2220
1180 Peachtree St NE
Atlanta, GA 30309
www.tapat1180.com

During a busy workweek, it’s imperative to get out of the office for an hour or so to grab a bite to eat. This week, I lunched with my favorite work friend, Evie. We ran down the block to El Azteca, a mexican restaurant in midtown Atlanta. Although mexican food gets a bad wrap in Atlanta, the gnarly grub at El Azteca is consistently cheesy, fatty, and filling. It’s by no means great food (and many will argue it’s not even good food), but you do always get free chips and salsa.

I'm free!

the drinks are huge and refilled constantly

Evie got the lunch special: a chicken chimichanga with a guacamole salad (ensalada) and a side of [mexican] rice. (what makes it mexican rice, I have yet to find out.)

I'm the special one today!

The deep fried burrito was satisfying to Evie. Here is her review – “The pico de gallo was fresh, however the sour cream became warm and melty from the hot plate. Oh, and you can see the surplus of sour cream they give out in my empty plate picture below.” (Thanks Evie!)

job well done

In preparation for Thanksgiving weekend, I tried to stay healthy (which is quite a feat at El Azteca):

exceeded expectations

salsa was my dressing (you can see the extra drippings)

As far as El Azteca goes, it’s all about expectations. I had the lowest of the low expectations, and thus, I was pleasantly surprised.

My advice — come here for a quick mid-week meal with an empty stomach and your lowest expectations. Or, don’t eat the Mexican food and create your own salad.

Update: I was just told by a different work friend (Lauren) that her chicken tacos tasted like Campbell’s chicken noodle soup = FAIL. Quote, “it was even liquid-y and gross”

Buckhead
(404) 249-1522
1784 Peachtree Street
Atlanta, Georgia 30309

Diverse selection Morton Williams W. 57th Street

A building on West 57th Street which was under consideration for “Historic Designation” by the Landmarks Preservation Commission and subsequently denied may soon be razed by the developer/landowner. While I believe in the value of Historic Preservation and can provide evidence such designations actually increase values over time, my concern is for the loss of the 1st floor tenant, the Associated-Morton Williams Supermarket on West 57th Street.

I am well aware Morton Williams is not C-Town or Savers, yet it is an affordable supermarket for many living and working in west Midtown. During the past few years we have lost a D’Agostino (57th just east of 9th Avenue) and a Gristedes Mega Store at 25 Central Park West (OK, more akin to a bodega in size).

Peers comment “You are so lucky; you have a Whole Foods at Time Warner”. Well, yes and no. I am the first to admit the Shops at Columbus Circle are a vast improvement over the vacant New York Coliseum (which was present when I moved to the area). And yes, I do frequent Whole Foods occasionally. 

However, my primary market is Associated Morton Williams and it is the market for many of my neighbors. The advantages are many (by NYC standards) including:

• Affordable pricing
  Diverse selection of brands
  Open 24 Hours
  Fast check-out
  Easy in/out

Whole Foods is a wonderful addition and anchor for the neighborhood. However, I am not a daily shopper there for the following reasons:

• Check-out lines are long (even with 44 lanes open)
  Crowded from 9AM to Close
  Limited selection beyond 365 line and other upscale brands i.e. limited selection of Utz
  High prices (AKA) Whole Paycheck

From the crowds at Whole Foods daily, it is evident the market is popular and serves its clientele. I am also a fan of Whole Foods hiring practices and environmental stewardship. However, the loss of a moderate-pried supermarket is a concern.

Associated-Morton Williams serves a purpose in the West Midtown neighborhood for both residents and workers. At lunch hour, I have a choice; I can spend 15 minutes in line at Whole Foods to pay for a sandwich or 2-3 minutes at Associated-Morton Williams. When I need an Utz fix at 11:00PM, I am heading to Associated Morton Williams.

Successful neighborhoods demand a diversity of services. The affordable supermarket with a diverse selection and street access is just one component of the successful urban fabric. The potential loss of the last mainstream supermarket serving West Midtown should be a concern for many.

16.
Grand Central。

手邊剛好沒有經典的中央車站照片, 只好放一張車站裡的market。中央車站很大, 裡面藏了些有的沒的東西。當然除了火車巴士地鐵和月台之外, 有個博物館(New York Transit Museum Shop and Gallery), 旁邊緊接著凱悅當然還有無數的餐廳和美食街。

自顧自的覺得中央車站其實是很經典的紐約場景, 比如説像是The Campbell Apartment。

下次應該來坐火車去Upstate小旅行的。

[FYI]
Grand Central。

I’ve never met John Clayton Brett, but something tells me he had a great time while studying at UF a few years ago.

Now a law student at Vanderbilt University, John e-mailed me this list after throwing some creative bucket list suggestions my way via Twitter. He saw my call for submissions in the Twitterverse and was one of the only people to thoughtfully respond (this is a teaching moment — participation is rewarded, dear readers!).

He decided to throw out the suggestions without going into much detail, which is understandable considering he’s been swamped with school. You might notice that a few of his ideas are pretty similar to Kevin Reilly’s favorite nightlife scenes; however, I feel like there’s something for everyone to try on his list, so it can’t hurt to give one a go (unless you don’t quite clear the fence at Swamp or get out of that traffic ticket).

In John’s words, here are 17 experiences you can’t leave Gainesville without having:

1. Complete (or give an honest shot at) the Around the World list in Salty Dog.
2. Throw a football on the field of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
   
3. Get scolded for turning pages loudly in the the law school reading room.
4. Feed the alligators of Lake Alice.
5. Watch the sun rise while anxiously finishing a paper and chain smoking at Target Copy.
6. Listen to a full evangelical monologue in Turlington Plaza.
7. Mingle with locals west of I-75 or north of I-10.
8. Become irrationally enthusiastic about a Student Government election.
9. Get out of a parking ticket during a traffic court hearing.
10. Survive a 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. marathon on University Avenue.
11. Jump the fence at The Swamp Restaurant.
12. Watch the sun set at Paynes Prairie.
13. Place a Jai-Alai bet no one understands.
14. Mingle with locals at Tim and Terry’s.
15. Play chess outside the Hippodrome.
16. Watch a show at the Reitz Union Amphitheater.
17. Find the hidden Lake Alice view behind Hume Hall.

And there you have it.

Did he miss anything? Think there’s a place in Gainesville that merits its own post? Send me your own list and it could be published, too. This blog is meant to share and inspire.

Blast a message or tweet to @bonjourkatie on Twitter.

Last night, I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in a cooking class at the Viking Cooking School, located inside the Viking store in midtown. This event was a perk that’s associated with my daytime job and happened to tie into my nighttime job (hobby) quite perfectly.

*Updated*
Here’s the menu for the night labeled “Dinner Around the World”:
Tuscan Grilled Vegetable Platter
Thai Spring Rolls with sweet & sour sauce
Roasted Chicken (5 different varieties)
Cuban-style Rice Pilaf with black beans
Chocolate-covered strawberries stuffed with Amaretto cream cheese
And now it’s time for another story by photo segment:

we arrived to some snacks

and drinks

the clean kitchen prior to cooking

our chef gets the lesson started with a raw chicken

Chang and Kenny dove into the poultry preparation

stuffed with an onion, among other things

Brad gets excited by chicken (or knives?)

ready for roasting

Eli gets comfy in his chef whites

and with his knife

the crew preps the ingredients

while some of the guys drink and stand around

Josh gets veggies ready for the grill

and Kim mans the grill

and she grills

and grills

a post-grill rainbow

Don't forget us! Eli and I also grilled

Eli and Josh focus: they learn to make a spring roll

plop in some filling

Kenny demonstrates the roll

ready for the fryer

Kim shows the hollowed strawberries for dessert

tip of the day: use a glass to fill a piping bag

tip of the day demonstrated

berries filled with cream cheese, amaretto, confectioners sugar

chocolate to be melted

Kim and Jenna dip the berries, but the chocolate remains on their hands

taste trumps looks

Brad likes the spread of food

and shows off his personalized plate

spring rolls ready to eat!

chopped chicken

grilled veggies topped with parmigiano cheese

mmmmmmmm

extra desserts that we had nothing to do with

This event was super fun and I highly recommend it for a team-building outing, a girls’(guys’) night out, or just a change of pace activity shared among friends. We ate well, drank plenty, learned a few things, and most importantly – we didn’t clean up a thing!

Full menu will be updated shortly for those who are interested.

The Viking Store
1745 Peachtree Road, NE
Atlanta, GA 30309-2404
404.745.9064
www.thevikingstore.net

The 200 block of Central Park South (bounded by 7th Avenue and Broadway) is the only block of this fabled throughfare without a major hotel. The 200 block is book-ended by two unique buildings. 200 CPS with its corner driveway and distinctive curve is a landmark. 240 CPS, a pre-war modernist rental, noted as the first pre-war with balconies.

230 Central Park South AKA Southmoor House, a mid-size 18 story co-op sandwiched between the pre-WWI Gainsborough and the above mentioned 240 CPS has recently installed a new façade. The former façade was generic at best with years of soot accumulated and reports of leaks penetrating the brickwork.

The new façade respects the art-deco era of the building’s construction (1937). The light color and details in design is a nice bridge between the turn of the century brickwork of the Gainsborough and the recently replaced façade of 240 CPS.

Regardless of the inconsistent window designs and the exposure of in-wall a/c sleeves, the new façade and planned entryway will enhance the already desirable block. The best view of the building is from Central Park and is best photographed during late winter afternoon when the sun brightens the façade and the towers of midtown turn their lights on.

14.
克萊司勒大樓。

其實沒想過原來Chrysler Building竟然會是我的三十分之一, 只是覺得它一直在那, 有關紐約的影集裡片頭好像都少不了它。

剛來的時候東西南北搞不清楚還常常把它搞成帝國大廈（根本就差很多）。直到最近經過仔細看才發現, 這棟大樓上下半部外觀差很多, 難怪之前毎天經過卻都沒發覺原來這就是克萊司勒大樓。

[FYI]
Chrysler Building

I’M BACK! I had an amazing time at the Re-Premiere weekend in Marietta, GA. I saw amazing things, met new friends, and came home with a suitcase full of memories. There was little time to ‘relax’ because each day was packed with events and activities. Now that I’m home, I will relive the weekend here on my website for you to enjoy. Hope you will enjoy reading, seeing, and listening to my experience at the 70th Anniversary of Gone with the Wind celebration.

~ Leigh Mills

Atlanta History Museum

I arrived by car in the bustling city of Atlanta on Thursday afternoon. First on the agenda was to visit the Atlanta History Museum in the Buckhead suburb. Buckhead is a gorgeous historic village flanked with tall trees, Spanish moss, and beautiful Georgian mansions. Tucked between these sprawling estates is the History Museum which features a temporary exhibit dedicated to Gone with the Wind. “Fashion and Costumes in Gone with the Wind” is on display until January 31, 2010 and spotlights 7 of Walter Plunkett’s costume sketches, a woman’s Rhett Butler coat, and one of the original green drapery gowns worn by Vivien Leigh. The exhibit is quite small (only 2 glass cases) and is located near the front desk. The ladies ushered me in for free since all I wanted to see was the GWTW exhibit. The green velveteen gown is in excellent condition and is a faded mossy color. Vivien Leigh’s waist is unbelievably small- a reported 22 inches! I definitely believe it! To read the info card displayed with the gown, click HERE!

The green Velveteen drapery gown Vivien Leigh wore to the jailhouse to visit Rhett Butler

Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara. One of the two cases at the History Museum.

This case contained sketches of costumes for Aunt Pittypat, Melanie, Rhett

For my first night in Georgia I decided to stay at the Georgian Terrance Hotel, site of the 1939 press Reception honoring the Gone with the Wind stars. The hotel, built in 1911, is a historical landmark in Midtown Atlanta. The hotel is modernized but still retains some historic elements like its main ballroom with ornate chandeliers and large windows. The stars stayed in this hotel during the 3-day 1939 Gone with the Wind world premiere (though Vivien Leigh reportedly stayed elsewhere so she and her lover Laurence Olivier wouldn’t cause a scandal). She (and he) was married to someone else at the time. We stayed in Room 508 and it was extremely modern–apparently the hotel was used as an apartment building in recent decades– with a full kitchen, large dressing room, and spacious bedroom. In case you were curious, Clark Gable had three rooms: 918, 919, and 920 when he stayed there. Ms. Olivia de Havilland had 2 rooms: 904 and 905. Laurence Olivier stayed (or did he?) in room 523. To see more photos and information about this hotel, see my previous post on the subject. The most unfortunate, if not annoying, thing is that Vivien Leigh’s name is misspelled everywhere… from the Historical Information located in the room, to the plaque on the wall, to the mirror near the coffee bar. They spelled it ViviAN Leigh instead of ViviEn Leigh. Shame on you Georgian Terrace! My stay at the hotel was memorable and I enjoyed wandering around the lobby snapping photos. Up next, Marietta! Check back tomorrow!

I stayed at the Georgian Terrace Hotel for $139 per night.

Misspelling!!

This is the site of the 1939 Press Reception for GWTW

Rating:

Location: 1221 6th Ave. (at 49th st.)

Cost: $12.95 for steak filet tips & mash potatoes.

In NYC midtown there is always a balance of expensive dining options and the dirt cheap street food options.  You usually find these varieties on the same block except one is in a clean nice interior setting w silver utensils and the latter is food off a cart w plastic sporks.  When I read about a cheap steak option at Del Frisco Steakhouse in midtownlunch.com, me & Mike decided to go.  Supposedly, it was steak tips & mash potatoes for $10.95 off the bar menu…in actuality it cost us a bit more than that.

I have to say the interior setting was pretty classy for lunch, since they had super high ceilings & lots of glass to make for a bright airy experience.  I also have to say being surrounded by midtown exec types and being served by a pretty hot bartender made feel pretty important.  Alas, we went onto order the cheapest dish on the menu, the steak tips which was accompanied by some complimentary bread…yum.

The steak filet tips themselves were juicy pieces cooked to your preference and it was surrounding an order of buttery mashed potatoes.  The steak was good & almost like the real thing BUT these tips were WAY too peppery….why??? That’s all I can ask really.  Although the portion was quite small, any meal involving steaks & potatoes can be quite heavy & food coma-inducing.  So all in all, glad I tried it out but, we both agree we won’t be going back anytime.  I’d rather get a huge $5 philly cheese steak sandwich right outside at the food cart.

From the two types of turtle soup to the to the turkey stuffed with chestnuts to the 18 varieties of game offered, the Plaza’s Thanksgiving menu was clearly a feast for the well-to-do New Yorkers who could afford to dine there.

Note the little crow mocking the turkey in the menu cartoon—who knew the Plaza at the time had such a sarcastic edge?

 This menu comes from the New York Public Library’s incredible collection of 40,000-plus menus.

Alexander “Clubber” Williams was an NYPD inspector in post–Civil War New York City; as captain of the precinct on 35th Street, he’s credited with breaking up the fearsome Gas House Gang that lorded over the East 30s, then known as the Gas House District.

In 1876 he was transferred to a precinct on West 13th Street, where he’d have jurisdiction over a high-crime area centered around Broadway from the 20s to about 42nd Street thick with theaters, gambling dens, and prostitutes.

Remarking on his new assignment, he supposedly told a friend, referring to the protection money he was likely to receive from gambling operators and madams, “I have had chuck for a long time, and now I’m going to eat tenderloin.”

The name Tenderloin stuck for this seedy neighborhood. Formerly known by the fantastically colorful moniker Satan’s Circus, it was one of the city’s worst. Williams earned the title “Czar of the Tenderloin” for his rough and ready crime-prevention tactics.

Brought up on corruption charges several times over the years, Williams always beat the rap. And when accused of using excessive force, he replied, “There is more law at the end of a policeman’s nightstick than in a decision of the Supreme Court.”

In 1895, Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt had him retire. Williams insisted until his death in 1917 that he’d never clubbed anyone “that did not deserve it.”

On Saturday (last month) I spent a lot of time in Midtown Manhattan, seeing the big sites, and some smaller ones as well.  More photos from the trip.

Plaster Detail, Manhattan

Graffiti, Manhattan

Hot Dog Vendor

Palm Room, Some Bar

Madison Avenue and 42nd Street

Grand Central Station

Grand Central Station

Grand Central Station

Buildings in Midtown

Times Square

Times Square

Vogue Covers

Chrysler Building, Lobby

Chrysler Building

 

Historic Church, originally uploaded by W.K..

A photo of the Historic Washington Ave. Baptist Church located on the Campus of Drury University.

Click Here for Springfield Daily Photo Map