Positively East 4th Street

New York Theatre Workshop--where Rent premiered in 1996

Phaser and fuzz box at Rivington Guitars

The late Ellen Stewart's legendary theater lives!

What exactly do they import?  Closed.  I couldn't find out.

A jewelry store I'd never noticed.  I like the image reflected in the window.  Snow!

I fell in love with this Freddy Mercury portrait at the Fab Cafe

I love how parallel Lara's and my day was today.  She, too, visited a chocolate shop.

Lured in by the sandwich board, I ended up ordering tea.

KGB is one of my favorite venues for readings.  The Kraine Theater is here, too.

Good browsing--antique prints and maps

More portraits at Fab Cafe:  Andy Kaufman and Carson McCullers

Why do I almost always forget about the block on East 4th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues?  Just a hop, skip and a jump from the Hell's Angels headquarters (which I mention for no reason at all), this humble, yet excellent block (which has to be one of my favorites in the city) is literally packed with an embarrassment of riches.

Today--the morning of the first snow of the season--I ventured over after dropping a kid at a friend's, and set myself to picture snapping.  (Many shops were closed, and many on the block are not even represented here, including the 4th Street Food Co-op where the Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players used to volunteer, or do they still?  I hope so.)

Then I hung out in the Fab Cafe for a spell, studied the graphite-on-paper portraits (part of Christina Mazzaluppo "Portraits of Excellent People" series, which also included Trotsky and Frederick Douglass) and read a novel written by another excellent person, James Baldwin.

I really do need to get out more.  January has been finding me taking my city for granted, so as penance, I'm going to give you another block profile next Saturday.