steveb leatherworks: the blather

More random images from my rambles through Manhattan. Grand entrances, mysterious/odd store fronts and the absolutely normal, as ingested every day seen through my lens. Hope you enjoy these utterly common and mundane images as much as I do….a celebration of our ecosystem.

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

I know – I need to stop picking on the Smart Car, but I cant help myself. I am sorry, I know it is wrong and that I should be loving it..but i dont. Can’t they get Jonathan Ive in to take a look at the design and the weak way this stinker is branded and named? 

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 […]

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..

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 […]

I am a big fan of the Japanese two-wheel street scene. There is a cut&paste art component attached to this culture and i think it is great. These guys are so rowdy, smart and subversive – i cant help but smile when i see their work! We need some more  of this in NYC, methinks… The art […]

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!

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 […]

Check out these worn granite steps outside of Grand Central Station. This is a back entrance used primarily by commuters. That is some serious wear, or maybe not considering those steps are probably 75+ years old.  If you stood at this spot from 515p to 730p, Mon-Fri, you’d think you were in the middle of a human salmon […]

Saw this car type thing on the street, just the other day…call me crazy but I don’t think that this is so “SMART”. Driving around NYC streets in one of these silly little electric death traps is plain dangerous.. especially when the going gets tough and metal meets..ahhhh.. plastic and foam rubber. Talk about “Unsafe at any […]

I think our obsession with messaging and screen based stimulation has reached a new and absurd height. This picture below was taken in Union Square Park/ NYC.  The building is the Shake Shack – a pretty good place to get a snack believe it or not, even thought the park itself is a squirrel and rat infested box of dirt. The tables at […]

Saw this piece of vintage British street meat in Brooklyn recently. From what I understand the owner leaves it outside year round and blasts about the streets on it like a man possessed.

Found this slick indian on the street when i was out running around on the bike. Owner told me it is a 1947. I see he made made some critical charging system updates – hooyah. The full face helmet is in questionable taste, but given his extreme class in rides..I will forgive. This was a young guy to boot…

I can find something to love with almost any two-wheel machine. I mean, I look at bicycles with the hairy eyeball for chrissakes, so when i come across any kind of motorcycle, i stop and scope it from stem to stern..just as i would if i were to judge it in a show – short of running my […]

I know what the worst job is:

Staying on the NYC natives getting screwed by the price of wood theme – I have for your perusal – the not so good wood vendor. You can get a plastic wrapped bundle worth 1.75 in my neck of the woods, for about $20 NYC dollars or you can get a couple of log fakies for […]

Saw this BMW, parked in the garment center under one of those “overhead” plywood deals. Chained up, ridden regularly – but treated well, this is a prime example of an NYC warrior.  Enough dings and dents to ward off the trophy spoilers, enough class to warrant a second look. Good stuff!

New Yorkers by and large know food. The city is stuffed with all manner of nationalities and these newcomers bring their indigenous (mm, good word, eh?) foods to the city making it one hell of a smorgasbord for the food savvy and culinary curious. Near every block in NYC has some food, almost always a pizza joint, a deli and a street […]

If you keep your eyes open in the urban sprawl you can come upon some curious sites. Hard to believe someone was actually playing in this sad, diesel dust covered excuse for snow on the side of a dangerously busy road……..but they were