Skulls, Orgasms, and Dionysis

Back to Manhattan, where I found myself scouting less and less frequently (it costs way less to shoot in any of the other boroughs). I started in the Lower East Side, or LES if you’re feeling lazy. I love the building ad for S. Beckenstein Fabrics, complete with arrows pointing to the door that takes you up to the second level.

I saw this awesome burlap-covered skull in a store window, one of the few remaining Halloween decorations in the neighborhood (note pumpkin in bottom right).

Everyone was laughing at this guy’s truck. Sadly, the driver looked like the last guy to be delivering orgasms.

I had hot dogs and fries at Katz deli for lunch. I go around with my big SLR camera and handy flip-up Manhattan map for reference, so I basically I fit in perfectly with all the other tourists trying to take pictures where Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan sat. The food is good, though $10 for hot dogs and fries? Come on…

After, I headed south into Chinatown. I love this sign lettering that is most definitely not nostalgic/ironic (note the suit behind the chicken wire). OK, some of us aren’t cool enough to get invited to hip, secret bars like Milk & Honey (see its fake facade below), an invitations-only bar with a set of rules regarding drinking behavior. I’m leaving up my embarrassing assumption that this was real as I reminder that I’m not the know-it-all New Yorker I sometimes assume I am.

Further into Chinatown brought me by the Red Dragon Exterminating Co. (see yellow sign in window). Frankly, if the choice is between something like Kawolski’s Bug Experts and Red Dragon, I’m going with Red Dragon.

Finally, on my way uptown, I noticed this graffiti on a random building beneath some scaffolding.

Dionysus, if you remember, is the god of wine.

-SCOUT