I Love NY and Always Will

This is the first photograph, in its 2 megapixel glory,  I took when I moved to NYC. I moved here, like many do, with a suitcase, an open mind and a desire to build a business, meet a girl, and order steak frites for delivery at 4am. Thankfully, I leave here knowing I managed to do all that.

New York is the greatest city in the World. There’s no comparison. I love London, I love Barcelona, I love LA, I love SF, I love Stockholm, I love Venice, I love Cape Town and so on, but nothing compares to NYC. It’s a city where on a good day you feel like you’re on top of the World as the people, the cabs, the lights, the noise and the energy seem to lift you up and whisk you around town. On a bad day, all of these things seem to hammer you down to the point of feeling worthless.

From sleeping on couches, to moving furniture in Queens, to doing websites as rent barter the first year was long, but still fun. Long nights with Mario at Milk & Honey (our friend was the bartender) were a highlight. Jen Fowler hired me to do some work for J Records and things fell into place. I somehow stumbled into Southpaw one night after they opened and started djing an indie night there called Painting and Kissing. This was followed by hundreds of posters which got my business going. Somewhere along the line I met a girl called Mindy who is currently reading a book to an amazing kid called Jack.

In the end, I leave this city in a much better place than I arrived and the real thanks go to the city itself. It’s truly the one place that can change your life and if you’re willing to work hard it’ll happen for you. I look forward to moving back here with Mindy when we’re much older. I’ll miss you NYC. Thank you for everything.

Here are some awesome things I learned and experienced in NYC:

1. BEST TIP EVER: if you hate humidity like I do, you need to apply a little Gold Bond powder after you get out of the shower – it stops the sweat. Thanks Ricky!
2. Yo La Tengo performing in Prospect Park to a non-stop light show of fireflies.
3. Playing ping-pong 10 ft. from a Mogwai soundcheck – my ears will never be the same.
4. The blackout of 2002.
5. The fresh mozzarella at Russo’s
6. After work drinks at Pastis – touristy but worth it
7. Late night steak frites at Casimir
8. The crisp air of the Hudson Valley
9. Seeing the Brooklyn Bridge everyday and never tiring of seeing that beautiful behemoth.
10. Riding bikes through Times Square at 3am.
11. Fashion trend hilarity in Williamsburg.
12. Broken Social Scene at the Bowery in 2004.
13. Adopting dogs, while covered in the scent of White Castle, in Queens.
14. The Met, The Moma, The Guggenheim, The Whitney, The Transit Museum, The Jewish Museum, etc.
15. Bike riding with Jack in Prospect Park
16. Documenting Alicia Keys’ second album – a truly phenomenal person I feel lucky to have spent time with.
17. Getting paid to do design work
18. Putting on the Go Team show at Southpaw
19. Vetiver / Vashti Bunyan at Southpaw
20. Being in the same Borough as my sister.
21. Walking around the neighborhood and seeing people you know on every block.
22. The bodega guys letting you pay the next day.
23. LA BAGEL DELIGHT
24. All the fantastic folks I met and all the old friends that moved to NYC.
25. Not owning a car or really needing one for the better part of a decade.
26. Coney Island, Ave P, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, Midwood and the rest of the real Brooklyn.
27. Having a studio in DUMBO.
28. The Carlyle Room.
29. Roof decks.
30. Mindy, my love.

The list is endless. I look forward to my new list in Los Angeles. Here’s a parting shot. An old video taken from the Q Train on the Manhattan Bridge.

Q Train 2002 from jon setzen on Vimeo.

Summer 2010

The piles of garbage in Prospect Park can only mean one thing – Summer is here. I caved early this year and installed our bedroom a/c today – may 31st. It’s almost a good thing I won’t be here to experience another Summer in NYC. We’re moving West in 30 days and it’s crazy, but good. Los Angeles is a brand new experience for me and I look forward to exploring the city.

Most importantly, this Summer is the 2010 World Cup in my home nation of South Africa. South Africa, who were handed arguably the toughest first round group of any host nation, will exceed expectations by getting out of the first round. Right now, they’re 11 matches unbeaten in a row including a 5-0 thrashing of Guatemala. If they can get 3 points against Mexico there is a chance they can pick up a point against either Uruguay or France and get out of the group. Anyway, much luck to the Bafana Bafana and to the nation as a whole – prove everyone wrong and show them Africa can stage a World Cup.

Also, this time of year (well actually Mindy and I think about it all year) we can’t stop thinking about Rhode Island and our two week holiday in Narragansett. The house we’ve rented in previous summers has been sold and with our impending move we’ve needed to skip going out there this year. What is it about that little town that is so fantastic? Here are some things I love about Narragansett (yeah – many are food-related):
1. lobster rolls from Monhans.
2. lighthouses
3. that first time you get in the water and it washes all the stress and city ick off you
4. buying vegetables and fruit from the little farm up the road
5. the train table at the local library
6. quick drives to wakefield and the crossing guard self-service flags
7. screened in porches
8. endless hand-painted signs
9. del’s frozen lemonade
10. drives along narragansett bay
11. brickley’s – the best ice cream parlor anywhere
12. stop and shop – it’s just not key food
13. radio flyers
14. suntan lotion / bug spray
15. quick trips to providence
16. sand
17. going to sleep with the sound of the ocean
18. waking up to the sound of the ocean
19. the picnic basket – best place to pick up a sandwich for the beach
20. daydreaming about the day i call this place home

Finally, this a song from the best album I have heard this year. “The Wild Hunt” from the album by the same name by The Tallest Man on Earth. Happy Summer.

Dutch Boy Burger Menu

On March 8, 2010 my good friend, Matt Roff (Southpaw, Franklin Park Public Assembly) will open a new burger joint on Franklin Ave. in Brooklyn. The restaurant, Dutch Boy Burger, will be accessible through the main bar at Franklin Park as well as the storefront entrance on Franklin Ave. The food options are nothing less than amazing. You’re all in for a treat. I’ve had the honor of working on his menu designs and some other pieces of collateral and we’re printing these today. I thought I’d give a little peak. We’re hitting them with the sometimes nasty, but in this case vintagey-lookin’ Copperplate Gothic and the utilitarian master font Futura. I can’t wait to see these printed and dripping with burger grease. Congrats to Matty who is just one of those guys who gets things done. This looks destined to be another huge success.

Slim Angel Wide Angle Roll 2 – Brooklyn and Venice

Here’s my first color roll of film with the little Poketo Slim Angel Wide Angle. These turned out exactly as I had hoped and it’s so amazing to see the difference in the light between NYC and LA. I love NYC, but look at the February weather in LA.

First snowfall of our last winter in NYC

It’s our last Winter in New York City. The first snowfall of the season is always the best. It’s so beautiful out. No one seems angry or agro right now – just lots of people out walking around, catching snowflakes on their tongues and pulling kids in sleds. Cars drive slowly and are courteous. The city seems soft. It all changes 24 hours later when everything turns slushy and grey, but for that first little bit you forget where you are. It’s that perfect kind of snow like soft confetti that sticks and mounts up perfectly. I’m looking forward to taking Jack out for some sledding in the AM – his first time. I’ll miss this next year. So, I figured I’d dust off the tripod and head across the street to Prospect Park to take some pics.

Poster: New Year’s Eve at Franklin Park

New Year’s Eve is just around the corner and I just finished up the poster for the New Year’s Eve bash at Franklin Park. You’ve got some leaf clusters thinking they’re fireworks up in the sky of this poster and everything else is just as it seems. Happy early New Year – is this decade really over?

Fjällräven Store NYC

Coolhunting had a nice write-up on the new Fjällräven Store in NYC. They’re a Swedish company that used to make explorer type clothing and goods, but now makes winter wear for the common person. I absolutely love this Swedish flag made out of what appears to be backpacks. I look forward to swinging by there this weekend.

Tim Burton MOMA Promo

Pathetically, I haven’t been to the MOMA in 18 months. There is really no excuse for this. However, I plan on heading there next month to check out the Tim Burton Retrospective. I think my son will love it. The promo piece he did is weird and fantastic. The exhibition has a rather large Flash experience that is worth checking out.

Watching Planes at Dusk with Jack Dusk

I managed to get out of work at a reasonable time and got to hang out with Jack and Mindy in the Park early this evening. I love dusk. It’s the best time of day. I love it so much that we made it my kid’s middle name. It was a perfect almost-Fall evening in here in NYC. It felt cold and the park smelled like trees and grass and not gross bbq, garbage and soda. We lay on the grass for a bit watching the planes go by as Prospect Park is right in the flight path of planes landing at La Gaurdia in the early evenings. I’ll miss a lot about NYC. Prospect Park (anytime but during bbq season) is right near the top of the list.

NYC Transit Museum

the old NY Transit Authority logo

We took my son to the Transit Museum in downtown Brooklyn today. It’s nice to see what the subway used to be like before it got disgusting, although the “new” F trains are nice. At some point the trains went from being rather beautiful with soft benches to the institutional looking beasts they’ve become today. Anyway, it’s a worth a trip – but there is basically no air conditioning which made us hurry through. Some shots below.

nice train from the 40s - look at the fans