vip in the city

Indian Summer night

Perhaps as penance for my day off, I had to put in some late hours at the office today, which forced me to miss my Russian class this evening.

“Indian Summer” is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a period of warm or mild weather in late autumn or early winter.” The origin of the phrase is unclear, but it is generally understood to relate to the Native Americans of North America, and not to those of the Asian subcontinent.

Regardless of the etymology, I exited the subway two stops before my destination to walk the rest of the way uptown on this unseasonably warm evening. After taking a detour for dinner along the way, I passed through Worldwide Plaza’s mid-block paved and landscaped public space, which separates the commercial office tower at One Worldwide Plaza from the condominium buildings of Two and Three Worldwide Plaza. The complex was built in 1989 over the second site, and third incarnation, of Madison Square Garden (1925-1968).  The NYC Department of City Planning willingly granted the developers bonus space to create this public oasis, among the low-rent brick lowrises along then seedier Eighth Avenue.

In the plaza, the New World Grill, housed in its colorful, glass enclosed gazebo.