Day 22 to 24

I'm really settling in here in Brooklyn. Having my bike is the best. My van has just been siting under a tree next to the East River since I arrived. Every other day I just look in on it. You know, to make sure there isn't a body dumped in it or something. I took a run up to the Mollusk Surf Shop here in Willamsburg and talked a bit with Mike who was working there. Nothing happening surfwise...Not even a blip in the Caribbean to speak of! I'm concerned I might find a wave in Nova Scotia! It struck me for the first time. All the product in that place is created by people I know well. It's funny. Other days I've headed over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan and just meandered around SoHo and the Villages. Up the W. Side, down the E. Side. At one point, my eye caught this random grouping of chairs chained together on the sidewalk and I stopped to check it out. It was an impromptu viewing area for a butterfly garden apparently. A woman coming home from market stopped to tell me she was the one who set this whole deal up. She was beaming with pride, excitement as she spoke, the Monarchs fluttering about behind her. I took a few shots and was on my way. This particular day I was searching for a barber shop that looked old and forgotten with a bunch of old guys hanging around not actually cutting much hair. I figured I'd get a cut and get a great story too. In my search a hand painted window sign caught my eye. The lettering was great. It read "HARRY CHONG" in all caps forming an arch with a white drop shadow. I peeped in at the ancient barber chairs, soda fountain, and glass decanters of colored liquid on the counter. I inquired about a haircut....next week he said. I told him I liked his place and asked if I could take some shots. Ricky (his name was Ricky) said sure and offered me something from the fountain. He told me this place is actually called Sit and Sip Beauty Parlour and he just kept the "Harry Chong" on the window because the neighbors asked him to. He went on to say before he moved in it was a Chinese laundry that had been there 0n the corner of Waverly and Charles for eighty years! The oldest Chinese laundry in New York he said. The lettering on the window was such a neighborhood icon he agreed not to scrape it off.Thanks Ricky. It's funny...for all the bad rep New Yorkers get for being an unfriendly bunch, I've been meeting great people left and right. That same day some waitress/actress just started chatting me up about her show and gave me an invitation....the parking guy, Hasan talked with me for an hour and gave me a recommendation to a friend's shop to get an oil change. All super nice folks! Mike met me one day and we got up to the 50's on the W. Side and it started to down pour. We got soaked and rode back to his place. While the clothes dried and the rain subsided we sat an watched The Deer Hunter. Damn, so good. When the sun came out we got back to it and watched an amazing hazy sun going down behind the Statue of Liberty as we cruised by Battery Park. I stopped in the Chelsea Market building to see another old friend of mine Chris, who was working for Sanctuary Records. He told me this was the old Nabisco building and that the Twinkie was invented "right here". What could I do but be blown away. On his desk was an album from a band called the Tide...I don't know 'em but the cover art reminded me of home and Ando. I couldn't get out with out him giving me some albums for the road! Score. Thanks Chris.