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Published at 5:14pm
Published on 9/5/08
Own This City
Video
Walking around this city is like being on a visual Tilt-a-Whirl—it’s gorgeous (nice park!) and then horrifically ugly (what was that architect thinking?!?) and then beautiful again (wow, the Prada store!) and then homely some more (a…pink…brownstone). Chances are, you barely process each step. So we did it for you.
Within these pages, you’ll find the best- and worst-looking sights of the city (no interiors)—our aesthetically minded picks.
A few ground rules: A site must be permanent to qualify, so no fly-by-night public art or construction sites. As for judging streets, we chose main thoroughfares, thus eliminating the random bombed-out-block targets. If something has stood the test of time, it got special consideration. Finally, candidates earned points for centrality—the more visible the item, the higher it scored.
Here are our top fives in various categories; for the full top tens, go online to timeoutnewyork.com/sightsandblights. Then flip through the issue for the dirty, pretty things in music, theater and more.
dm10003
Thu, Mar 20, at 10:51am
I'd like to see an absurdist's angle on the obvious results you've come up with. Point out the blight on THE classic NYC site: antennas and cables on the spire of the Empire State Building. Point out a site on an NYC blight: something like a New School sculpture studio overlooking drab 14th Street?
dm10003
Thu, Mar 20, at 08:53am
sorry, my previous post mistakenly has "site" instead of "sight".
sydney amanda cecilia harris
Sun, Dec 16, 07, at 8:41pm
i think NY is the most beautiful place ever
John B. Moore
Mon, Oct 15, 07, at 7:53pm
Okay, you've got Central Park, 843 acres of one of the most beautifully landscaped parks in the world, an urban oasis that includes Bow Bridge, Bethesda Fountain, Belvedere Castle, Conservatory Garden, The Lake and Gapstow Bridge. Out of all of these, and many other iconic images of the park you chose the Sheep Meadow - a vast lawn full of greased up New Yorkers desperate for their share of carcinoma causing sunshine, a space that was arguably put to better use as a buffet for the inbred mutant sheep that once inhabited the Sheepfold, the current Tavern on the Green.
You really believe that the Sheep Meadow is the most beautiful spot in Central Park? Or did you just suck back a Mohito at the aforementioned former livestock hostelry, snap a picture at the nearest open space and call it a day?
Bryan
Mon, Oct 15, 07, at 2:02pm
This article forgot to mention the BIGGEST blight in the city: those flowery-design taxicabs. The classic yellow taxicabs have been violated unforgivably with hideous 60's era hippie patterns. What was Bloomberg thinking when he approved this?
Gregory Greenberg
Sun, Oct 14, 07, at 6:16am
Your Sights & Blights issue was great but you, er, dropped the ball re your criticism of the Mets' team colors. It's not simply a National League thing; the team's blue, white, and orange colors date back to the tricolor flag of the United Netherlands used in 1625, the year New Amsterdam was settled. So, jarring as it may be, let's keep our city's almost 400-year-old tradition alive. But if you want to end the heinous practice of CBGB tee shirts in any shade but black, you've got my vote.
Thank you.
