Always nice, with the potential for some magic, when Manhattan slows down during a snow storm. Course today it’s raining and the snow is all but a memory here in midtown.

[Photo Credit: Eye Heart New York]

Snow! Holy Cow, gettothestoregetfoodhurryhurry. Do you think we’ll make it?

Eh, it’s iffy. In the meantime, I saw this picture over at the always great site, Kottke. Like the shot, especially because it was taken in father’s old neighborhood.

The things around us are so easy to miss. This morning on my subway ride to work, though, I looked up from a magazine article and paid attention. First, uptown, before the train got crowded, a fat guy a few seats to my right, placed half of his Cuban sandwich on his left leg, the melted cheese almost touching his jeans, as he texted with both hands. And to my left, a trim, smartly-dressed guy who looked like he stepped out of a GQ fashion spread–skinny legs, red pants, no socks, black suede loafers with an ornate design. He sent a text, too, on a large Samsung smart phone.  Surprised to see a SoHo dude like that get on at Dyckman.

Later, a middle-aged mother–Russian, maybe?–and her two boys, both wearing brown coats, not older than ten, her arm around the young one, the one with glasses, pinching his cheeks, holding him close. And the scowling teenage girl wearing combat boots who fell asleep, her head leaning to the side, her face not so angry in sleep, revealing the tenderness of her age.

Then a woman sitting next to me, hard and firm, angling for position. I didn’t want to give up my arm location, established because I was there first. I was finished with the magazine but I didn’t lean over and put it in my napsack, resting on the floor between my legs, because then I’d give up my position and she’d surely take advantage. A stranger, no words, no recognition even, but engaged in silent combat.

Soon it was crowded and I couldn’t help but smile at the young boy with the small head who, packed in his huge coat, backpack weighing him down from behind, looked like a turtle. Or the tall girl with the pom pom on her hat that made her look six feet tall.

And when I got off the train at my stop, there was the short man with the small, tight mouth that I often see, though he’s usually with his wife, who also has a small, tight mouth. They remind me of people whose dogs look like them and it makes me wonder if people are drawn together for similar reasons. Passing through the turnstiles with a school of commuters, up the stairs, a pretty Asian girl wearing a North Face jacket and black tights is at the top of the steps waiting to walk down. She halts and waits. As I move by I turn my head slightly–though never is slightly so obvious when we’re talking about a man–shift my eyes and and take a look. Sure enough she’s got a backside that could stop traffic. Ass for days, the kind that makes men–or women, for that matter–do foolish things. But I don’t stop, I keep it moving. It’s just that I took a moment to notice.

More Grand Central goodness over at The Atlantic.

Here’s more on Grand Central Station’s birthday over at Kottke.

[Photo Credit: Adrees Latif/Reuters]

Hizzoner…

Good site: New York Neon.

Russ and Daughters. L.E.S.

New York pictures by Michael Sean Edwards.

Over at Flavorwire check out this photo gallery of the library’s most loyal patrons.

[Photograph: Aaron Colussi]

Grand Central’s many secrets.

[Picture by Bags]

Sunlight counts. It really helps, no matter how cold it is.

[Picture by Bags]

Welcome to Brick City (all due respect to Newark). You know, these warm winters spoil us when it gets cold…in January…you know, like it’s supposed to…

Which isn’t to say that I’m thrilled with how brick it’s been this week. I moan more than most–just ask The Wife. But last night, as I was leaving work, I got some bright news. The sky. It was lighter than it’d been, even just a day earlier. Which means, no matter how cold it is now, in the middle of winter, the days are starting to get longer. Soon enough–less than three weeks in fact, pitchers and catchers report, and the spring and the summer will follow.

And then we can bitch about the heat.

Dorie Greenspan’s got a couple of stores. They look worth checking out, man.  Seriously.

Scouting New York does Mishkin’s.

Grand Central Station turns 100 next month.  Sam Roberts has a new book about the great old place. And here’s a preview in the Times.

[Photo Credit: Joel Zimmer]

Its’ wet this morning and the day looks like night, especially around midtown.

This photograph by Ernst Haas (1952) was taken on a bright day, but the reflections remind me of neon mirrored on the slick streets.

On the train last night. The New Yorker magazine vs. the New Yorker on a tablet.

Over at Flavorwire, dig Andrew Lynch’s minimal posters of subway lines.

All hail James and Karla Murray. Dig the blog. Buy their latest book.