New York on business

I'm in New York City for a few days to provide a deposition in a patent infringement lawsuit. IBM is putting me up at the Club Quarters hotel on 51st Street, at Rockefeller Center (for $237/night...). I came down by train this afternoon; Katy drove down and joined me. (She's driving directly to my mom's home from here, hence the need for a car in New York City.)

We had a quiet, but pleasant, first evening. The weather is gorgeous, so we walked from the hotel to Greenwich Village for supper, enjoying the sites as we strolled south on Broadway. At 14th Street, at Union Square, we encountered this bit of street theater in progress.

From NYC, March 2009

It turned out they were handing out flyers, so Katy walked up and took one.





It was an ad for the home opener of the Red Bulls (vs. the New England Revolution).

I got a little confused as we got close to Washington Square Park, and we wound up much further east than I intended. We came across this parking lot; it makes sense, but it's funny (to my eyes) nonetheless.





We continued south on Lafayette, and eventually reached 339, home of the Peace Pentagon. When I lived in NYC 30 years ago, I spent a number of afternoons doing office work for the War Resisters League (still alive) and Mobilization for Survival (defunct, I believe).





My connection with these groups was through the SHAD Alliance, an anti-nuclear group I belonged to in the early 1980s. Here's the plate by the entrance.





With my nostalgia itch scratched, we walked west on Bleeker Street, taking in shop windows, like this one:





We had dinner at Panchitos, a Mexican restaurant on McDougal Street that I frequented back in the day. Thirty years later, the vegetarian salad was pretty much unchanged (and still a delicious meal all by itself), the quacamole was fresh and tasty, and atmosphere funky and relaxed.

AFter dinner we walked across McDougal for coffee and then took the subway back to Rockefeller Center. By this time the ice skating rink was almost deserted.









Tomorrow - work.