• Mood: cheerful
• Music: The Vapors - Turning Japanese

New York, New York!

Dave and I made the trek to New York City last weekend. Not a lot was originally planned for the weekend, it just happened to be a weekend that was freed up from my busy schedule. One week before we left, I was informed that it was the weekend of Folsom Street East (a leather pride street faire held in New York City), named after the infamous San Francisco Folsom Street Fair. Note: There is also Folsom Street North in Toronto, Ontario... when will we see a Folsom Street South in Fort Lauderdale or New Orleans? Soon I guess!

We left the city Friday at 15:00 on the Chinatown Fung Wah Bus, $15 one-way to/from New York -- and they drive like maniacs to get there! :-) We were going to go to MoMA, but time was against us... We arrived at the Sheraton Towers, checked in, showered, changed and proceeded to Greenwich Village. Stop #1 was dinner. We went to Jeckle & Hyde's "haunted restaurant and bar" on 7th Ave. We had a wonderful dinner, and some interactive fun with the folks and creatures at Jeckle & Hyde's! I got a "shot" from a nurse in a PVC outfit (photo left), and Dave got a "charge" out of the electric chair (photo right.) Following dinner, we walked down Christopher Street all the way to the end, where The Dugout is located, for tonight was the MetroBears Leather Pride Weekend night! As you can see in the photo on the left, it was the usual shenanigans going on there! We hung out there for about an hour before heading back up Christopher to Ty's (too crowded to go inside), and then up to Boots & Saddle (which has had yet another make-over, making it even less butch than ever) -- then across 7th Ave to Stonewall, there the gay rights movement started on a Friday evening, June 27, 1969. One ponders if the newer generation appreciates the sacrifices many of us have made over the past 36 years to protect their way of life.

To top the evening off, I took Dave to the piano bar at Duplex, where only the best of the best dare get on stage and sing (karaoke-style) to the grand piano -- then it was a walk up to The Eagle, showing off the former "meat-packing district" and pointing out all the places that once were sex clubs and leather bars, which are now trendy restaurants and bars for rich straight people. We walked back to the hotel, and stopped for a nightcap and a snack at Benash Delicatessen on 7th Ave, about a block from where we were staying. Ask Dave about how strong their White Russians are!

Saturday morning came far too soon. Our day was already planned out, so we headed out! A quick subway trip to Houston Street (pronounced HOUSE-ton) and a walk towards the East Village found us for Brunch at Katz's Deli, a famous Jewish deli, which has been around since 1888. They just about had to roll us out the door! They have generous portions, although the prices have gone up substantially since the last time I was there. We walked around Alphabet City and the East Village for a while. (The East Village is east of Broadway, north of E. Houston, and south of 14th St., and was carved out of the Bowery and the Lower East Side in the early 1960s, as artists and writers moved here to escape high rents in the West Village. St. Mark's Place is the center of the East Village scene. Alphabet City lies to the east of First Ave., south of 14th St., and north of Houston St. Here, the avenues give up on numbers and adopt letters. The area is generally safe during the day, but use caution east of Ave. B after dark. The nightlife in the East Village is among the city's best.) We walked down 3rd Ave in the East Village, where a Street Faire was going on -- lots to take in, but it did not distract me from my first destination: The East Village Cheese Shop, located at 40 3rd Ave between 9th and 10th Streets. This is almost always one of my stops while in the city. As both Dave and I are huge cheese aficionados, how could you pass up fancy imported cheeses starting from $2.49/lb ($2.49/0.45kg)?? The going price back in boston is $5.00/lb and up! We opted to come back to the store after our next stop: McSorley's Old Ale House, located at 15 E 7th St (off of 3rd Ave) -- Notable comment: check out the VERY OLD URINALS at McSorley's! The photo on the left is me and Dave at McSorley's. As always, I had to call Bruce M. and let him know where we were! Once we had our ale and soda, we went back to the cheese store, made our purchases and it was off to our adventure of the day --- firing rifles in New York City!

Our appointment at West Side Rifle & Pistol Range was for 15:00. This was part of our "Beef & Guns" weekend package from Site59! We fired off 150 rounds of .22 caliber ammo at various targets! Both of us felt that firing weapons was a "creepy" thing to do at first, but we both had a great time! Note to self: Don't piss off Dave when he has a rifle -- see what he did to the target in the photo on the right!! Eeps! We both enjoyed shooting one of the targets constantly in the groin, I explained to the perplexed supervisor of the range that we were practicing our "non lethal" shots" ;-) He he he....

We zoomed back to the hotel to change for dinner. My buddies David R. (Bucks, M.C.), Mike P. (Pocono Warriors, M.C.) and his lover Dan joined us for dinner at Frank's Restaurant & Bar at 410 W 16th St -- the Site59 package included a full meal (not including drinks) and was a bargain! I started off with seafood crepes, an appetizer that could have been a meal in itself -- then on to a Fillet Minion entree which was just awesome! Although desert was included, we were both stuffed! We discovered a trendy gay bar on 16th St at 9th Ave, stopped in just to check it out -- very modern, very fancy (Johnny would have loved it), we then parted ways, as the Pocono Warriors were holding a barnight. I really wanted to bring Dave to DeLaGuarda that evening, but alas, their New York shows are no more... Such a shame too, he would have loved it. We returned to the hotel for a "disco nap", that ended up lasting until Sunday morning. I hated to "waste" a Saturday night in New York, but we had done a lot, walked a lot and were both worn out.

Sunday morning it was time to give Dave some more new experiences! We started off on 8th Ave for a couple of White Castle "Sliders" -- a true experience in itself! Want to make your own sliders at home? Here's the recipe... Do NOT read it if you ever want to eat one!! One or two is okay, a dozen after a "night on the town" is used in preparation for worshiping the porcelain goddess until 6am! From the White Castle, we took the subway as close as we could get to Greenwich Village, considering local service was suspended for maintenance to the subway -- and walked to Manatus Restaurant on Bleeker and Christopher Street for their awesome and very gay Sunday Brunch. (Review: Manatus is an upscale diner that offers terrific food at reasonable prices. Their weekend brunch is the best in the city. Their egg dishes are superb (great eggs benedict) and they make what is hands-down the most delicious bloody mary in all of New York. Other standouts include their chicken salad club sandwich and monster size chef's salad. Dinners are more hit-and-miss than their breakfast and lunch offerings. The restaurant dims its lights come nighttime, making for a very nice atmosphere but on one occasion I had an excellent salmon dish, another time my fish dinner was bony and unmemorable. Still, that's a small complaint about a true gem in the West Village.) Manatus is my normal Sunday Brunch place when in town... Following brunch, we had a slice of authentic New York Pizza and then walked to ground zero (the former WTC site) -- it's been two years since I've been there, and it's still depressing. I really wish they would just rebuild the WTC as it was, but this is what it might look like in the end... The Freedom Tower Plan (the link on the left) was released December 2003.

It was then off to Folsom Street East! This was more or less a leather block party on 28th St between 10th and 11th Aves, with the NYC Eagle on one far side. The straight clubs, such as Crobar, who moved into the neighbourhood AFTER the Eagle opened also tried to cash in on the event (the bastards!) -- will there ever be a day when there is a true "gay neighbourhood" of New York City again? This was a benefit for GMSMA, the Gay Male S&M Activists group. Although the day started off light at 14:00 when they opened, the crowd grew fast! See someone else's photos of FSE here! Want to see more? Check out angeltatts journal entry by clicking here! Besides angeltatts and gullinbursti, there were a lot of other LJ members there!! Sorry if I left you out... ... what?!?! You want to see MORE photos? Okay... here's some more, now go away!!! :-)

We headed back to the hotel to get our luggage and then to Chinatown to get the bus back to Boston... Truly a full weekend! We both has a blast!

Dave in Times Square

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Google's Father's Day Logo

Pass this on!!
from the Live Journal of Jesús F. Pérez:

I just had a neat idea. I wondered why I had never seen a special Google logo to commemorate Gay Pride, June being Gay Pride Month and all. So rather than do my work, I decided to write Google a letter suggesting one. I assume I’m not the first person to suggest this—at least, I hope not. Wouldn’t it be interesting, though, if they took my advice? Why not write them yourself, just for fun (Heteros who read my journal, I mean you, too!). I’ve included the following link that I found under the “Contact Us” link on their site. It is used for all miscellaneous emails and suggestions, as I couldn’t find an email address devoted just to Google logo suggestions. I’ve also included a copy of my brief email to them for your reference. Feel free to modify it and/or add to it. I know this is a geeky way to demonstrate gay pride, but I’m feeling Gay Prideful … and this sure beats the hell out of grading papers!

-Jesus

Suggest a GBLT pride day (June 27th) logo be displayed on Google!


Hello,

I have always enjoyed Google's special logos that celebrate any number of diverse events and holidays. I just looked through the collection of past logos and read the interview with Dennis Hwang, the fellow who designs them, on your website. It was certainly very interesting. But I noticed that there has never been a Google logo celebrating Gay Pride month, so christened because of the Stonewall Riots in New York City that began on June 27 1969 in response to unfair police harassment. Many scholars and historians cite this event as the start of the modern American gay rights movement. And even Wikipedia adds that the Stonewall Riots are “considered a turning point for the modern gay rights movement worldwide. It was one of the first times any significant body of gays resisted arrest.” Now, as you may or may not know, June is a time of celebration and reflection for the gay community. There is still time, June is not over yet. With the great diversity of events that you commemorate, it certainly would be very nice to see Google acknowledge its many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender users.

Best,
Jesús F. Pérez

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My request to them reads as such:

Google has always had a variety of logos commemorating holidays and events, well, coming up the 27th of June is the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York City, which began on June 27 1969.

It would be great for you guys at Google to modify your logo to celebrate how far we've come, and how far we have to go...

Thanks for the consideration!

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From the mystery spot...

The encrypted text, "Qpg kyl cnqpg mulq og." has been cracked! Can anyone else figure it out?

and in closing...

The Dark Side of Scientology! (thanks to stanza)