Pigeon Lady

RESTAURANTS

Yoshi Sushi - "This is my spot in a clutch - when I don't want to think of where to go - when all I want to do is eat and eat good. It's a really small place so you get individual attention and they do really beautiful things with fish."

Paul's "Da Burger Joint" - "Paul's makes the best burgers in New York and don't try to tell me anything different. They have tons of varieties. You can get any kind of special burger yet it still tastes like meat. Good meat."

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Wo Hop - "Let's get real here for a second...The food here is really fucking good. They're open 24 hours but the good chefs are there midnight to 5 a.m.  It's your typical Chinatown hole in the wall but the food is absolutely where it's at. There's two Wo Hops on the same block remember and I'm talking about the one that's downstairs. So hit the basement, get the Szechuan Lobster and go to bed happy."

MOVIES & MUSIC

Jungle Brothers - "Mike Gee is an old business partner of mine and one of the dudes in the Jungle Brothers. One of the other guys in the group decided he wanted to go all glam and started to do all kinds of freaky things but the Jungle Brothers, to me, are still a classic New York gem. They were doing old school Hip Hop when it was still fun and humorous. Not like the crappy Hip Hop out now."

King of New York - "Abel Ferrara's masterpiece. I just love the balls of Christopher Walken's character Frank White."

Scarface - "Scarface...I mean really...just the audacity of the movie is enough."

Sergio Leone's Westerns - "I love Westerns. Especially Spaghetti Westerns and especially the ones made by Sergio Leone. My favorite of all these is Once Upon a Time in the West starring Charles Bronson and Henry Fonda. The cinematography is awesome, the landscapes are awesome, the soundtrack is awesome and Henry Fonda as a villian is awesome."

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AROUND THE CITY

Tiffany's - "This is one of my favorite shops in New York. They have tons of shiny expensive things and the whole store just reeks of money."

The University of the Streets - "My father is an old school jazz guy and back in the day he started this building as a vocational arts building with federal funding. All the old jazz heads used to come down and play. My dad spent a long time working on the preservation of jazz and this spot allowed musicians to let their hair down after what we'll call commercial gigs. Now we've scaled down the operation a bit but it's still a place for artists to cultivate and show their work."

"This building I'm on has an interesting history. It was built by the Astor Estate, by one of the guys who died on the Titanic. It originally housed furs and furniture. Then my father adopted it and convinced philanthropists to give him money to start community programs. We had the best minds here - Buckminster Fuller and so on. It was a vocational school for all the different people of the community who needed to learn trades. This neighborhood was such a melting pot. Look at me...I'm Jewish, Black and American Indian, all the dregs of the Earth combined."

"When the 80's hit, the East Village became a throwaway neighborhood and all the crusties and the squatters and the trustafarians moved in under the guise that they had no money...but they did. The funniest part is that every wave of gentrifier hates the next one because they're supposed have even more money. Then you get the people like Madonna who lived here, used it, got famous and didn't give anything cultural or socially relevant back to the neighborhood. Fuck Madonna. Fuck the crusties."

ANIMALS & PETS

Bronx Equestrian Center - "The Bronx Equestrian Center in Pelham Bay is a great place to go horseback riding. You get free rein of the horse and if they see that you know how to ride they don't babysit you."

Mikey's Pet Shop - "Mikey's Pet Shop is in my building. They have great prices and best of all it's a mom & pop shop. So you should support it."

The Bronx Zoo - "Come on...it's The Bronx Zoo. It's one of the best around. They have excellent exhibits and an exotic selection of animals."

The New York Aquarium - "To me, this is the most relaxing place in New York City. It's soothing to just sit and watch the fish swim. It's also in Coney Island, which is a really cool place."

photo by Phil Wiffen

The American Museum of Natural History - "I'm a history buff so this is the place to go to satisfy that part of me. They also have an exceptional collection of all types of skeletons."

Maspeth Bird Store - "This is a great little bird store out in Queens. They have an excellent selection of pigeons including Fancies. If you can make it out there, it's better than going online."

"The East Village and the Lower East Side was a stomping ground for anybody just getting into the U.S. and it's the only neighborhood I can think of that has Puerto Ricans and blacks going into Jewish delis to order Latkes and actually knowing what the hell they are."

NEW YORK LANDMARKS

The Chrysler Building - "This is my favorite building in New York. I highly suggest everyone visit it. The Empire State Building gets all the props but this building is better, I mean, Lex Luthor's office was in this building so it's gotta be cool."

photo by ktylerconk

Grand Central Terminal - "This is an example of beautiful architecture. The building is so alive with restaurants, cafes, people...it feels good just being in there, unless of course you're forced to be there because of a delay, in which case it sucks."

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