Chilltown Bears

We marched on Washington DC in October 1992 when we came to see the full AIDS Quilt on display in the Mall.  There were boxes of tissues on the ground to wipe away the tears of an ocean of people as they studied row after row after row of quilt panels made by the loved ones of those who had fallen.  In the early evening of the 11th, we lit our candles and together marched through the streets.  I remember shouting “Shame! Shame! Shame!” as we marched by the home of the Vice President, Dan Quayle. CARLOS

Up early this morning figuring out what we’re going to do today.  Supposed to be a beautiful day, so we’re definitely taking advantage of it and going out and about.  We waited too long to go back to Coney Island Astroland, they just announced that it was closed for good.  An Atlantic City type resort area is planned for Coney Island now.  I think some of the major rides survive the buildout though, they were named historic landmarks, but everything else goes.  I have mixed feelings about the whole thing, but my thoughts aren’t clear enough for a blog entry on it, so another time.

Yesterday after hurrying through some Saturday morning chores, we hit our favorite place here in downtown Jersey City for Brunch, Isabella’s Cafe on the corner of Erie and 7th Streets.  God service is S-L-O-W there, at least at prime time Saturday noon-ish, but wow the food is so good! I don’t mind gulping down 2 cafe con leches and reading three newspapers while we wait.

Then we hopped in the car, through the Holland Tunnel and parked in the Village.  Walked over to Broadway and Houston to MoCCA, the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Read more »

So Joe, I, and our man-child, Ryan, spent a few hours at HOWL today, held at Tompkins Square Park on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.  If it weren’t for the humidity, we would have spent the whole day traipsing around the Lower East Side.  By 3:30pm though, we scurried home to our wonderfully cool and dry air conditioned apartment.

But back to the great day we had.  We drove in to the city (subways would have been murder) and got a parking spot right along the northern edge of the park on 10th Street between Avenues A and B.  Of course Life Cafe is right there, an old haunt of mine from when I lived in SoHo in the 80′s, so we stopped there first for brunch.  Then we walked all around the park for the Art Around the Park portion of the festival.  Basically the entire outside of the park is covered in paper, then artists of all sorts register to paint and get a segment of it to work with. Read more »

Joe and I spent the day Saturday in the Williamsburg and Greenpoint neighborhoods in Brooklyn daytripping.  Hit a bunch of local stores like Permanent Records and chowed down at Dumont‘s outside garden where we noticed that we were being stared at and then realized we were the only ones there with gray hair, oy.  Visited McCarren Park and Grand Ferry Park and then ended up at the Greenpoint Coffeehouse for a final triple latte before we headed home.  I absolutely love days like Saturday.  Relatively close to home, but not home, and a beautiful day with lots of interesting sights to see, and ample time to relax and take it all in.  Quality husbear time too. CARLOS