Puerto Rican Day Parade--sort of

My plan on Sunday was to do some street photography at the Puerto Rican Day parade, but I didn't get out of the house on time. Still, I figured I might catch some of the kids shopping on lower Broadway and made that my destination instead.

Here are some of the images I snapped:


^^This Soho shoe boutique window sums up pretty neatly what's hot in shoes this summer: Vans, Converse and then select styles from Adidas's Adicolor series.


^^I was on a mission to find someone wearing big gold earrings, another return-from-the-80s/90s trend I've seen perculating on the streets of Brooklyn for a while now. Well, finding someone flaunting this trend in SoHo on a Sunday wasn't easy. I should have stayed in Brooklyn! I finally found this gorgeous Capricorn girl wearing a pair of big gold astrology earrings while shopping in Urban Outfitters. Retailers generally freak if you try and take images in their store, but I wasn't going to be deterred and I pulled off the shot without getting even a passing glance from anyone.


^^One of the street vendors was selling a whole section of doorknockers, as they were called back in the day, but when I asked if I could photograph them, he kept saying, "I don't want any problems," i.e. hell no! So I just went ahead and bought a pair, which you see here. They set me back a whole 8 bucks.


^^On the subway home, I spied two adorable teens sporting these belt chains, which is another super hot accessory item in the hood. The girls told me that in their largely West Indian neighborhood, they're called Shotta Chains. They also let me know that you can buy them in boutiques in the Village and in Downtown Brooklyn. Thanks girls!


^^Down the street from where I live in Brooklyn, there's this really nice guy who repairs and restores bicycle, which he displays on the street in front of his home almost everyday. On the way home from the East Village, I spied the bicycle featured here. Pretty cool, huh? The bicycle guy told me that it's a 1968 Roundabout and that it priced around a thousand dollars. Look closely and you'll see that it has a three-speed stick shift, a speedometer, headlights and TWO rearview mirrors!


^^The Roundabout from another angle.


^^The bicycle guy was nice enough to let my son hope on board for a picture. He's wearing his first pair of Jordans, which you're gonna hear more about in my next post. Stay tuned!