We popped down to Brighton Beach on July 4 to soak up the atmosphere and some sun. Here are a few pics…

The World’s Most Exclusive Delicatessen!

Get your piroshki here!

Boy Buries Friend

Man makes Gaudi-esque sandcastle

Makes you wonder what the non drug-free schools are like.

I read about this graffiti/mural in the New York Times a couple of weeks ago and promptly forgot about it before I ran into it on Houston the other day. I would love to have linked to the original Times story (written by Howard Kurtz) if it wasn’t for the fact that the Times idiots have put their archived stories behind a paywall. So, instead of sending you to the NYT website, stick around for some (free) tidbits of information…

This pope was painted by Lower East Side muralist Chico, who has used the wall in years gone by to immortalize other icons such as the Tejano singer Selena, Celia Cruz, Princess Diana, and Pope John Paul II (as part of a larger antiwar mural).

Graff geeks may be interested to know that for this mural, Chico used a color called teal green. The color, which can no longer be bought, used to be made by Krylon, but Chico picked it up in a hardware store on Clinton Street.

He’s hoping that the mural will stay up for at least a couple more years, so if you want to check it out here’s the address.

Only in New York…

My parents and I were privileged to peek inside the Beth Hamedrash Hagadol synagogue, in the Lower East Side, today. It houses America’s oldest Orthodox Jewish Russian congregation (founded in 1852) and, as is obvious, is based in the former Norfolk Street Baptist Church.

The church was converted into a synagogue in 1885. Sadly, it is desperately in need of repair. More on this later, but for now follow this link for a spectacular view inside.