Area Study: Fashion District

I've finally got round to exploring more areas, it's a slow process but really gets me out of the house. It helps to get to know the city and one thing I've learnt about Manhattan is that it is really quite small. It's just really densely populated and only gets confusing at the bottom of the city where the grid network does not apply. So far I've brought you Red Hook and Long Island City. Today it's the Fashion District.

This area is just on our doorstep and isn't exactly what it says on the tin. Also known as the Garment District it's not a high street shopping area, it's an area for fashion manufacturing and design. It's full of fabric stores and haberdasheries and a good chunk of the sample sales take place in hidden floors of nondescript buildings. It also houses many wholesale jewelry and clothing stores and my personal favourite are the stores that are selling "ball gowns" (you have to see the photos to understand). This area would be fun for any of my crafty friends to spend a day in. I'm thinking Graz x.

Filming in Astoria

New york has been the subject of many a famous movie and TV program. There are entire blogs dedicated to the spotting of film crews and stars in the process. It's not often that the film crew comes to you. Although my museum is set in the historical Astoria area (with the building next door still a fully functioning film studio), I was really excited to turn up to work and see an entire film crew outside.

It then dawned on me that not only were they outside, but they were actually using our museum. The show (and I really can't remember what it was as it's a program that I've never heard of before), took the decision to turn our museum into a fake gallery. Even bringing in art work to place inside. My museum has taken inspiration from the film '2001 a space odyssey' with white walls everywhere, this meant they could turn it into anything they wanted. So we became the mythical Gershon Museum, complete with bronze coloured Greek statues.

Exploring Long Island

Last weekend we continued on our exploring and ventured into yet another borough of New York, our aim is to get all the five boroughs. So far we've done the obvious, Manhattan, Brooklyn and even Queens. At the weekend we ventured into Long Island (which technically Brooklyn and Queens are part of, and it's not a New York borough...). There's actually not much there, but Hipster Dufus was responding to the call of the MoMA outpost, PS1. As is the case with him he'd done his research on where to eat, what cafe's to stop at and which shops were worth popping into. We found that most of the shops were closed (or had closed down), but there were a few little cafe's to stop at. We were enticed by afternoon tea, Long Island style, it was lovely. After that we headed straight for the MoMA. 

This was definitely worth the visit, the art was all contemporary and I found two exhibitions that related to my field of study (I know, I know, I'm a geek). The building was an old school that had been converted which always makes for a great setting. Each classroom was yet another gallery space and even the cafe came complete with school desks as tables and blackboards with the menu on. We finished the day with a drink at the Dutch Kills bar, a saloon style bar with delicious cocktails. I won't be returning to Long Island in a hurry, but I would love to go back for the art and a drink. I already have plans for Staten Island and then all that's left is, gulp, The Bronx! 

Lobster & Brooklyn

Yesterday we ventured out to Red Hook in Brooklyn. Hipster Dufus had a burst of inspiration and hogged the Canon AE-1 all afternoon so I was left with only my iPhone. It was such a wonderfully visual place that I didn't want to not take any photos however the iPhone camera made it look so stark and harsh. I decided that I needed to edit my photos to reflect the feel of the area. First I tried my trusty Camera+ app but I wanted a more natural effect so I used the VSCO Cam app instead. Here is an example of how I edited this photo.

Here is the original and the VSCO Cam version side by side. As you can see the VSCO Cam has a warm dreamy quality. It adds depth and a graininess to the photos that completely belies their smartphone origin. I haven't used this app very much so I'm sure I haven't done it very well but its features allow you to add qualities like grain, saturation and enhancing colors. I love it! Check out their website and get some inspiration for other worldliness iPhone photos. 

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As for my opinion of Red Hook? Well it was an interesting place. Little bursts of creativity nestled far between each other linked with abandoned buildings and derelict streets. Which made for a beautiful photography setting, with inspiration everywhere. We walked around and went into little jewelry stores and little coffee shops, however pride place in my stomach was reserved for the Red Hook Lobster Pound. For dessert we had some Key Lime Pie from Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pie. I'm telling you, when you come to New York do venture out and have some as it is totally worth it. There wasn't enough to keep us entertained for an entire day, but I definitely think a lovely Saturday morning or afternoon can be had and then added on to other plans.