1st Ave Between 74th St and 72nd St

Like many of the other posts this week, I went down here early in the morning - before rush hour - and was intrigued by the people I encountered. Many, if not all those that I saw had an air of accomplishment and purpose as they walked- as if they all belonged to some special 'pre-dawn' club. The nature of commuting in Manhattan in the morning creates a flow, a stream of people into the centers of commerce - in midtown and downtown. When one reaches the outer edges of the island such as around here, every person is fighting to go the same way, to catch the same bus, to hail the same cab. The occasional individual going east, or north has to fight an endless barrage of bodies as they struggle past the iPodded masses. 

There are some really great street-level examples of architecture here, and despite the large glass towers taking over, it's still quite charming and filled with the feeling of 'neighborhood'. Up here I encountered a second 'Hands On' toddler music studio...something I had previously found on 50th Street. I can't say I know anything about this company first-hand, but I think it's a fantastic idea. My journey for today's post took from south from 74th to 72nd, which of course landed me smack dab at the corner where I first encountered the new Duane Reade logo which garnered so much blogosphere attention a few weeks back. 

Off-topic a bit, I've encountered an interesting side effect of the city's layout while creating content for this site. The dichotomy between the natural patterns in which people walk and the density in which commercial and residential real estate is distributed are completely at odds with each other. With some notable examples, streets are typically more residential, while avenues are more commercial. It seems quite obvious, I know. But, since the format of "NYC Grid" is one which individual streets, the longer blocks (segments of east/west roads in between two avenues) get the most coverage while shorter north/south avenue blocks (such as today's) get relegated to far more infrequent postings; both because there's fewer of them in Manhattan and because it has been harder to write extensively about such short stretches. Unfortunately avenues tend to be the most heavily traveled and contain some very interesting commercial spaces. Since my recent trek down to the Financial District, I've begun covering blocks which run longer than one street - a format that I believe will lend it self to creating more engaging avenue posts such as this one. So I suppose from now on, it'll be up to me to balance the longer, yet less dense street posts with shorter, more dense avenue posts.

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