Strange Things In My Neighborhood

One of the things I like about living in the city is there's so much stuff to see. And the slower you go, the more you see. Not just in the city, but pretty much anywhere.

That's why you miss a lot when you're in the car, and you almost always see something interesting every time you go out for a walk.

A couple of weeks ago I needed to go to a bank with an ATM machine. Turns out (I looked on the internet, of course) the closest one to me was fifteen blocks away on Greenwood Ave.

Since 10 blocks equals half a mile here it's about three-quarters of a mile from my house to the ATM. That's ten minutes at a fast walk, or about fifteen minutes if you're just strolling along. I was just strolling along.

If you walk up the 71st street where I live and turn right, you're on Greenwood avenue going north, and the street numbers get bigger. So there's 72nd steet, 73rd, street, and so forth...until you get to 85th street (click on the map for a better version)



What's interesting is that once you get to 85th street, the whole neighborhood changes and instead of having shops and offices you have a whole bunch of tiny stores and restaurants from cultures from all over the world. There's a Tibetan crafts store, a Persian restaurant, a Greek delicatessen (a delicatessen, or deli, is a store that sells fancy prepared foods and sometimes there's tables and chairs to sit down in, but it's not like a regular restaurant), an Indian restaurant, a Mexican taquieria, a Thai place, and a pizza place...all on the same block!

So here's a riddle: you know I like to eat and I like all the kinds of food mentioned above, and I had my camera with me, but I didn't take pictures of any of these places. Instead, I took pictures of a little store on the next block over. So why would I do that?

I'm not going to tell you, because you wouldn't believe me. So I'm just going to show you the pictures instead:




Yes, it's an actual store, called the Greenwood Space Travel Supply Company. Really. No, really.

Except they were closed so I couldn't go inside.

But this link takes you to the inside of the store, with a virtual tour and even an in-store video cam, you you can see what's going on inside right now. I wrote this on a Sunday afternoon and I can see a man and a woman in the store and two employees (one in a yellow jumpsuit) helping them.

One of the employees just walked into the black closet that looks like a locker next to the counter area. He closed the door, a big purple spark shot out of the top of the closet, then nothing. Then the guy in the yellow jumpsuit opened the closet door, and the other employee was gone. Now a couple women have some into the store. There's another bolt of purple electricity and the closet door opens and the guy in black is back.



If you want a closer look at the signs outside the store, click on the photo above (which is a composite image, made from a bunch of different photos stuck together). This will take you to a special website I've set up since the Google Blogger doesn't let me do that kind of stuff within the blog.

Pretty interesting, huh? Why don't you guys see what else you can find out about the Space Travel Supply Company and let me know what you learn?

Or-- even better-- tell me about something interesting going on in your neighborhood (it doesn't have to be as weird as a space travel store. I just want to know what you two little miscreants are up to.)