taking a bite out of the Big Apple, part one...

Finally! I’ve had a moment to catch my breath over here on the west coast. They say that’s what happens to you, when you travel or take a vacation – it always takes awhile to get caught up. What does that mean for me? Well, I’m finally making my way through all of my NYC photos, to share with you, dear readers!

why is it so early? WHY?

I don’t care what anyone says: SFO before a certain hour of the morning is unholy. I consider it absolutely uncivilized that any flight should leave the ground before 10 a.m. Needless to say, the airlines haven’t been consulting with yours truly as of late, so it looks like I’m stuck with bogus call times.

This is the part of the blog post where I skip over all the hassle of airports, Super Shuttles, and terrible airline food (what food?!?). I’ll go right into my first meal on the ground in NYC:

and guess what? the floor was tiled in black and white!

That’s right. Artie’s on the upper west side. Matzo ball soup, just like mom used to make.

Since I was in NY for the NY Art Book Fair, the first day was spent running around town, picking up last minute items. A lot of time was also spent looking up at the sky, since Mother Nature was constantly threatening rain.

no photoshop here -- the sky really looked like that...

Thursday arrived, which was the “preview” day (I’m super condensing/editing things here…); the aforementioned rain arrived – in buckets. Herr Baron and I waited around in Manhattan until the last possible minute, then hopped a train over to PS1, in Long Island City…

seriously, I am flipping out. It's the NYABF and I'm IN IT!

Now, you may not believe this but it’s absolutely true (would I lie to you?): the vendor entrance for PS1 faces – wait for it – a post office. I couldn’t make this up. To prove it, I snapped a photo…

my tribe, my people!!!

And then it was time to set up, as well meet the folks I would be pal-ing around with for the next three and a half days…

On my right, Eunice Lak/Fantasy Camp:

beautiful screenprinted goodies...

And to my left, Denise Schatz/Miniature Garden:

the totebags were super cool & I loved the "book about books" poster...

Herr Baron headed up the RLD posse:

would you look at that bowtie?

On Friday morning, I arrived half an hour early to PS1, to find that there was already a line waiting outside to get into the building…

who says print is dead? these folks are hungry for BOOKS!

…and there was a constant stream of readers/lookers/buyers all day long. There was more off-and-on rain, but we felt safe and snug in our tent in the schoolyard.

our beautiful schoolyard tent, as seen from the third floor...

I knew that I would have to do most of my window shopping on Friday, since everybody kept telling me that Saturday was “a day of insanity” and non-stop action. I managed to sneak some peeks at the work of fellow zinesters…

zines from Japan's Zines Mate, organizers of the Tokyo Art Book Fair...

the table of Girls Like Us...

…as well as see the “Loose Leaf: Publications as Assemblage” show in one of the PS1 galleries. Focusing on the work of Wallace Berman (one of my idols), this show brought together reproductions of his incredibly rare artisan zine Semina, as well as work by other visual poets/writers/printers of the time.

a case full of Semina reproductions...

Semina close up, 1963...

At the end of the day, Herr Baron and I hightailed it out of Long Island City; I was determined to get back into midtown, in order to make it to Casey Rubber Stamps. For now, let’s just say that I made it in time. Tomorrow, I’ll regale you with more tales: beautiful rubber stamps, a lead on the best jazz club in midtown, and a trip to the Strand. Until then, I remain –

Ever postally –

–JH

PS: here’s a snap for Miss Rose, who wanted a shot of the table (sorry it’s a close up!):

a little bit of everything! the new goodies (somehow) didn't make it into this photo...

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