Mother nature cooperated by providing us with the first taste of spring today. R's friend had sent two of his friends along to help out with the move (he has a barbershop and Saturday is his busy day). Both of the guys were Southsiders who had lived in the neighborhood since the late 60's. They had a different view of the gentrification of Williamsburg than most.
We got down to Brooklyn later than we would have liked but it didn't really matter as R still hadn't packed most of her stuff. You could get the sense the move was somewhat overwhelming for her. She had been in her place for five years and she and I are similar in that we are both pack rats.
So, the truck wasn't even loaded and we got a chance to pack it up. Once upon a time I delivered refrigerators and washing machines for a living and those skills proved useful when packing the truck and then unloading it at the other end. The truck was packing full by around 1:30. The truck drove about a half a block and then we got about unpacking it. So, the move was about five minutes but, the packing and unpacking of the truck took hours.
Some of the kids in the neighborhood helped with the unloading which made things go much faster on the back end. Now, R is in her new place with all her stuff. Of course since her new place is that much smaller than her old place, her stuff is piled up almost to the ceiling and I worry as R probably tops out at around 5ft.
Then I went into the city and packed up all my personal effects from the gig I've been at for the last few months. I got a chance to take pictures of the view out my window which was probably the thing I liked most about the job. If I can figure out how to do it, I'll post them. I really liked that view. I looked out at probably the last real Times Square block in the city. There was a porno theater, a sex shop, an adult video store and a topless bar all on the block opposite the office.
I never got a chance to go in any of those places, not that I wouldn't of and it sure seemed that they had a pretty steady clientele without me there. I can't imagine they'll be around much longer. They're in the process of breaking ground for the new Times building across from the PA terminal and it seems like the sanitizing of Times Square is making it's inexorable way to completion. I like Times Square now, lots of cool neon.
Believe me I wandered around Times Square enough in my youth to have enjoyed its seedy past and I am old enough to remember what is was like.
I stood on a line that wrapped it's way from Times Square back up to Sixth Avenue to see a band I hadn't heard of:
It was one of the best shows I ever went to and I wound up seeing the same band two more times.
Of course that doesn't even speak to the movies I saw first run in Times Square - the big secret these days in Times Square is the second run movie house in the bottom of the Virgin Store where we went to a movie one Friday night recently for only $5!
Anyway, if I get motivated, maybe I'll get around to making an animation of that marquee I sat across from. I thought I'd use that as a downtime project, giving myself the chance to learn something new but, there didn't seem to be any downtime at that place.
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