steveb leatherworks: the blather

While NYC has done its best to sweep homelessness out of the publics eye and the media has chosen not to focus any attention on it – it still sadly exists… Personally having been close to the edge at one time or another when i was younger – seeing this in the worlds greatest city […]

9.11 has left some pretty deep wounds on my city, besides the obvious scars on the ground and the memorials. Everyone I know who was in town that day has a story, myself included

Two wheels in NYC take some work, some dedication and grit – be your conveyance a bicycle or motorcycle.

NYC folks love Tasti D, we love our art and we sure love our free papers…

Eyes wide open walking around the city you see some sweet street meat and then ya see specimen’s of hardship, gestated in the NYC petri dish. Do you think this bike has seen love? coddling, a waxing and detailing or two, do you think it is a poodler? I think this machine tells a story […]

if you have your eyes open, you will see some interesting things.

Mister Squirrel is the toughest and wiliest of all animals in Manhattan. This fine specimen was giving me the hairy eyeball when i stopped to notice him. I mean, this squirrel had an attitude!

I saw these two red bike riding characters in NYC during February. A Ducati and  Honda, both pretty modified cranking around midtown.  I learned  about the machines once i asked – as the owners started rattling off a litany of mods they’d made to their machines..cool guys, cool day in NYC and cool machines.  Ya […]

it kills me – people will pretty much eat any damn thing if it is served on the street, even better if it is served from a rather unsanitary cart. Makes one wonder, don’t it? In the city with the worlds best food,  so many choose to basically eat…in a word…s-h-i-t.  If you knew where these […]

I hate when people abuse the little bit of authority that their job gives them, or should i say, lends them..

It’s all about Artur Avenue in the Bronx, – thats right N-Y-C- and no I dont mean the tourist-y part either – ok, ya don’t got a problem with that? doya? This area is home to the very best italian food in the tri-state area, hands, down bar none, fact – plain and simple.

This laser eyeball uniform wearing babe is not loving her job and she is not loving me. She has one of the worst, most unenviable jobs a person in NYC can have – NYC Traffic Enforcement. These guys get kicked, cursed and spit on.  I’d imagine the owner of this car also has some strong feelings about the scene unfolding here …

I guess some pizza, not quite fit for human consumption is fit for the birds as evidenced here. Wanna bet some of these pigeons become part of the “landscape” as they chow on this feast…in the busiest of  streets..  5th Avenue…lol

Back in the day, I worked around the corner of this Hotel. This was a rough and tumble neighborhood that hosted at this location – a SRO homeless squat of a place, I dont know i’d classify it as a hotel, more like a residence – nasty, drunks, druggies, fighters and troublemakers all called this dark, all business block (no residences) […]

I was walking around NYC as usual, camera in hand and met a proud rider. He loves his bike and worked hard to get it…pretty obvious.

Just a typical day in the hood. Fireman on the street, folks running around. All is good. Fo youse not in the know – Bx.  – it stands for “da bronx” – aight? 

Although i am a Harley fan and devotee, i am no hater of metric brands… at all. Owners show pride the same as the HD riders.. and here is a fine example…You can only imagine it is not easy to keep a nice bike in the city or keep a bike nice in the city – but […]

One of my favortite past times – people watching in NYC One of the best places to do it on a sunny Spring day – Bryant Park, 42nd Street and 6th Avenue. When i first began working in NYC in the early 1980’s – this park was a rat infested, overgrown hangout for the homeless, […]

Seeing as how I am on a eat whatever the hell I want diet, I eat  whatever I want, pretty much whenever i want it. I am not on all the goddamn drugs that I will no doubt be forced to take at some point, so up until the time the sawbones says “B – you got to […]

Just in case you were wondering, a close second to the oft imitated Grays Papaya is Papaya King. You can get a pretty good dog and a whipped papaya drink here. There, now you can begin your week!

Shout out and major props to Elisa and Bobby for getting Genuine Motorworks open and off the ground. You’ll find all kinds of really cool stuff at this Brooklyn store including Jeff Decker castings, cool clothes and books and my leather work.

The price of parking in NYC… in a word, brutal. 

Three random images from a recent day in NYC. Holding a camera forces you to see the world a slightly different way if you tale the responsibility seriously. Welcome to Monday  – I invite you to see your world through a slightly different lens today – let me know how it feels. Send me the […]

I have been a huge fan of Alexander Calder’s work, since i saw it in a museum when i was a kid. I think it was one of the huge mobiles he had installed in MoMA that floored me on a 3rd grade class trip. Maybe you’ve see his work, and if so, I can only hope […]