Signs of the Times

I was always a fan of '70s and '80s graffiti (aesthetically only of course. I would never dreeeeam of tagging something myself), so I was pleasantly surprised to see that fleabag hotel magnate Moses Fried had his gate at 205 Parkside thusly:

It actually brings some much needed color to the block. For those who don't know the whole sordid history of 205 Parkside, here's a primer. And this. And this. And this. And...there's a bunch more. People have asked me why I don't tag my posts so it's easier to go back on various topics, to which I say I dunno, you can just search for stuff in that little box on the upper left if you want to see if I shot my mouth off about whatever...it's amazing that there's so much to write about in a 10 block square radius. (Er, diameter. Should it be radius or diameter? If I mean 10 blocks in any one direction from the Q at Parkside, give or take, the radius is actually on an angle isn't it? The radius of a square would be from the center to one of the corners, I think. So maybe what I mean is 10 blocks by 10 blocks, or 100 square blocks, with the Q at Parkside at the center? Or maybe I should do a circle? But that would be hard to define. How about up to E.P., down to Church, west to the tennis bubbles, east to anything interesting.)

So then there's the whole Bedbug Dilemma. My mom used to always say "G'night, don't let the bedbugs bite" to me as a child. I thought it was some sort of reference to a fairy tale about mythical creatures. Who knew blood-sucking mini-monsters actually do come out at night to munch on people, leaving excrement and blood in their wake? Well, some fella or gal down the street from me has apparently HAD IT UP TO HERE with the situation, and decided to advertise said nightmare thusly:

Finally, and again on Clarkson, avenue of dreams, they're taking down the three houses bought by a developer in tandem. And they're doing it piece by piece. It's quite an astonishing process really. Here's the latest.

One night, from just the right angle, I could see the moon clear through the front third floor window from all the ways across the street. Were I a proper photographer, it would have made for a pretty pitcher.

To those who continue to have a hard time conceptualizing that people get displaced due to rising rents and the forces of neighborhood desirability, I recall placing flyers advertising our block association meetings on these houses. I recall counting 17 mailboxes between these three big Victorian houses. That, I can conceptualize, particularly as those people's former homes get taken apart piece by piece.