I Carried A Banana: Adopt A Neighborhood

This month I organized an AAN event to DUMBO for the 12th Annual Art Under The Bridge Festival. Even though the weather was dreary and damp, it made for some spectacular photos.

While a lot of performance pieces were rained out, there was a decent amount of outdoor art to encounter on our wanderings.

For example, we all loved this "map" of Manhattan totally created from bottles and cans of all sizes and shapes.

While escaping the rain, we also stumbled into this video art bar type place (wish I could remember the name). In a city so driven by the value of real estate, it was mind blowing to see floor space scarified for aesthetics of a water feature. I'm happy they did because it was pretty neat-o.

I love taking my non-art friends to events of this nature to watch their reactions. Inside the bar we all enjoyed a really trippy video featuring this woman who did not blink nor break eye contact with the camera during the entire eight minute video. (Also, this photo of Tom makes me giggle.)

But my favorite part of the day involved stumbling into Gleason's Gym. Opened in 1937, Gleason's remains the oldest, active boxing gym in the U.S. It has been the training headquarters for such boxing legends as Jake LaMotta, Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson. There have been 117 world champions from this gym but according to their Wiki entry, they only stay open through the wallets of average dentists and chicks.

I loved the old school feel of the place, including all these duct taped work out benches, dirty weights, and freaky punching torsos. Just goes to show that you can get in shape without the aid of fancy equipment.

Sadly, I totally ruined my own weeks worth of gym time scarfing down several slices of Grimaldi's delicious pizza. It's the best pizza in town and I just couldn't resist.