Manhole Covers Etc.
"I've been looking down so long, I don't know which way looks up."

 

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Comments to:

fgardino@rcn.com

 

New York City

"The City"

 

NYC Skyline

 

NYC Skyline

Still, heaven for millions.

 

WTC Message

 

World Trade Center Memorial

This was a common message painted on the sidewalks of NYC.

 

World Trade Center Detail

 

World Trade Center Detail

This was the grating around a tree on the outside grounds of the WTC.

 

Water Valve in the Grass

 

Water Valve in the Grass

This was not far from Battery Park.

 

New York City Blue

 

New York City Blue

This was a great day.  I found this around 50th Street and had to quickly shoot it to avoid being run over.

 

Large Cover with Sand

 

Large Cover with Sand

This cover has a lot more flavor than most of the same type in the Big Apple.

 

Covered Sewer Cover

 

Covered Sewer Cover

Looks like transparent glue.  Why?  I don't know.

 

Wet One

 

Wet One

 

 

New York City Vasarely

 

New York City Vasarely

This one was not designed by Victor Vasarely, but I would like to paint it with some of his colors.

 

Uptown Dripper

 

Uptown Dripper

The lines around this cover may have been painted by a relative of Jackson Pollack. 

 

NYM

 

NYM

I think you better ask Diane Stuart what that means.  Actually I just bought her great book "Designs Underfoot" and it looks like it means New York Municipal (Railway Corporation).

 

New York City

 

 

NYC Cover from China

This cover was made in China.

 

New York City, Radio City Star

 

Radio City Star

This bronze star was meant to inspire female pedestrians to become Radio City Rockettes.

 

 

Movie Theatre Star

This star was on the floor in a lobby in a regular movie theatre just north of the Lincoln Center.  It shows very clearly NYC's obsession with stardom.

 

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

 

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

Presumably, this access is used to light the Christmas Tree at Christmas time?  I used this photo for last year's Christmas card.

 

Rockefeller Center Swirl

 

Rockefeller Center Swirl

I don't know where they got these stone tiles for the plaza, but they are naturally beautiful.

 

CBS Plaque Scribe #1

 

CBS Plaque Scribe #1

The next 3 photos were photographed in front of the CBS building in anticipation of the installation of a new plaque honoring a great musician.  I've used them in a tryptic and it always amazes me, that images like this can amaze me.  Why?

 

CBS Plaque Scribe #2

 

CBS Plaque Scribe #2

The lines and angles were more interesting than the subject matter that they were intended to hold.

 

CBS Plaque Scribe #3

 

CBS Plaque Scribe #3

Someday I would like to go back with some colored chalk and try out a few color schemes on the sidewalk itself.  Josef Albers and Andreas Feininger come to mind.

 

Tribeca Square Cover

 

Tribeca Square Cover

This is almost the antithesis of the Rockefeller Center shots.  Some of the dirt and scum in this area is so entrenched that it has a beauty all it's own.

 

Tribeca Cover

 

Tribeca Round Cover #1

The smooth textures and colors of the granite and iron seem to blend together...

 

Tribeca Cover

 

Tribeca Round Cover #2

..and the grid designs on the cover take on the patterns of the stones...

 

Tribeca Round Cover #3

 

Tribeca Round Cover #3

Then again, sometimes it's about the boldness of industry.

 

BPM Penalty

 

BPM Penalty

Don't touch this cover or you'll face a severe penalty. 

 

New York City Gunk

 

New York City Gunk

This water valve cover has been graciously and meticulously repaired to repel the elements. :)

 

NYC Sewer Pipes

 

NYC Sewer Pipes

These pipes were being installed in the Chelsea area.

 

NYC Skid

 

 

Worn NYC Cover

This cover and street lines have been well worn by thousands of fast driven taxis.

 

Tribeca Wear

 

Tribeca Wear

This cover had been recently paved around prior to the 9/11 WTC attack, but I haven't been back since then to see it's condition. 

 

Chelsea Drain

 

Chelsea Drain

This day I brought my bike to the city and rode around to find the lonely, "off the beaten trail" spots and was lucky enough to find this area.  There was also a lot of interesting debris that you will never see in the National Geographic magazine.

 

New York City Bureau

 

Manhattan Bureau of Sewer

This cover is also in the Chelsea area and is one of the few that has has Manhattan on it. 

 

Manhattan DC

 

Manhattan DC

DC stands for Dirty Cover.

 

Square Corner Drain

 

Square Corner Drain

This one says Dept of Public Works Boro of Manhattan, and it was not very pleasant to get too close.

 

Gum Ridden Coal Hole

 

Gum Ridden Coal Shoot Hole

 

 

NYC Coal Hole

 

NYC Coal Hole

Uptown hole, living in an uptown world.

 

872 DPW Sewer

 

872 DPW Sewer

Even Port Jefferson, home of the great Manhole Cover artist Bobbi Mastrangelo, needs a generic sewer cover.

 

High Relief Port Jefferson Drain

 

High Relief Port Jefferson Drain

This cover was also in Port Jefferson, which was the place in Long Island that the ferry landed on my trip from Bridgeport CT.  It has a nautical flavor, since it looks like a ship's steering wheel.

 

Dry Port Jefferson Drain

 

Dry Port Jefferson Drain Cover