1000 Places to See in the U.S.A. and Canada Before You Die
Author: Patricia Schultz
It's the phenomenon: 1,000 Places to See Before You Die has 2.2 million copies in print and has spent 144 weeks and counting on The New York Times bestseller list.
Now, shipping in time for the tens of millions of travelers heading out for summer trips, comes 1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die. Sail the Maine Windjammers out of Camden. Explore the gold-mining trails in Alaska's Denali wilderness. Collect exotic shells on the beaches of Captiva. Take a barbecue tour of Kansas City—from Arthur Bryant's to Gates to B.B.'s Lawnside to Danny Edward's to LC's to Snead's. There's the ice hotel in Quebec, the Great Stalacpipe Organ in Virginia, cowboy poetry readings, what to do in Louisville after the Derby's over, and for every city, dozens of unexpected suggestions and essential destinations.
The book is organized by region, and subject-specific indices in the back sort the book by interest—wilderness, great dining, best beaches, world-class museums, sports and adventures, road trips, and more. There's also an index that breaks out the best destinations for families with children. Following each entry is the nuts and bolts: addresses, websites, phone numbers, costs, best times to visit.
Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York
Author: James T Murray
This is a visual tour so saturated with realism you can smell the knishes neatly displayed in the window of the Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery, a visual tour comprised of hundreds of images of unique 19th and 20th century retail graphics and neon signs still in use and inspiring us to purchase to this very day. But for how long?
Are New York City s local merchants a dying breed or an enduring group of diehards hell bent on retaining the traditions of a glorious past? According to Jim and Karla Murray the influx of big box retailers and chain stores pose a serious threat to these humble institutions, and neighborhood modernization and the anonymity it brings are replacing the unique appearance and character of what were once incredibly colourful streets.
Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York is a visual guide to New York City s timeworn storefronts, a collection of powerful images that capture the neighborhood spirit, familiarity, comfort and warmth that these shops once embodied. Almost all of these businesses are a reflection of New York s early immigrant population, a wild mix of Irish, Germans, Jews, Italians, Poles, Eastern Europeans and later Hispanics and Chinese.
The variety is immense from Manhattan's Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery and Katz s Delicatessen to the Jackson Heights Florist in Queens, Court Street Pastry in Brooklyn, D. D'Auria and Sons Pork Store in the Bronx and the De Luca General Store on Staten Island. And as the Murray s stunning, large format photographs make patently clear, the face of New York is etched in their facades.
The New York Times - Steven Heller
If you're at all interested in the passing cityscape, this book is a documentary mother lode; if you're happy to see these joints disappear, it might at least kindle appreciation for them. The Murrays' photographs, however, do not romanticize these not very picturesque locales. The images are bright and crisp, though most of what the authors photographed was dingy and covered with graffiti; quite a few fronts and signs were falling apart or grungy to begin with. Yet it is in this state of decay that the stores hold a curious fascination—indeed, a raw beauty—for anyone concerned with vernacular design.
Valerie Nye - Library Journal
While documenting graffiti art, professional photographers James and Karla Murray noticed that the city's neighborhoods were changing quickly and many traditional storefronts were disappearing all together. The recognition of this change inspired this book dedicated to documenting storefronts. The Murrays have captured the details of New York's "mom and pop" stores including neon and hand-painted signs, old doors, peeling paint, aging steel, and the items hanging in the front windows. The text accompanying each image mentions the year the store opened and often includes detailed remembrances of the stores' histories obtained through interviews with managers or owners. Images in the book are grouped by borough and neighborhood. Each section is accompanied by a clear map outlining the area and a short description of the cultural heritage of each neighborhood. The book includes four foldout sections of panoramic photos capturing entire city blocks, so that the storefronts may be seen within the context of the locale. The book documents this subject with such deeply fascinating detail, it will be of interest to many patrons, including people who never intend to visit New York City. Highly recommended for academic and public libraries.
