Twilight on the Upper East Side

Last night's weather: hard rain, followed by spotty rain, followed by a visually sporadic sunset made for a swirly twilight sky. I snapped shots and also noted something fleeting: an intact block long tenement row without renovation (100 years or older) on one of the busiest intersections in New York City ~ 57th Street & 2nd Avenue. Not many intact blocks left on major Manhattan thoroughfares. The north west corner is a two-story taxpayer then two unrenovated buildings are west of it on 57th St. Nine tenements run north up to 58th Street. My Pryor grandfather was born on 50th Street in 1900 and it was easy for me to get a sense of the stretch with the 2nd Avenue El running down the avenue in front of the buildings.

My Irish grandmother, Helen Ryan, was a telephone switchboard operator in a building in this row in the 1950s' & early 60s'. She took the M31 bus to work. Sitting on a stoop at the corner of86th Street & York Avenue I'd wait for her to come home.

Today, I never see an M31 go by without hearing Nan Ryan's sweet calm voice. What a contrast her personality was to the rest of the family.

Here are some twilight photos of the Upper Eastside.