Union Square Greenmarket

Isn’t it basil season yet? I want me some pesto in the worst way!

I headed down to the Union Square Greenmarket to find out.

Took the subway to Union Square – Broadway and 17th Street

On Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays this fabulous Greenmarket takes place here – it has since 1976 and is a much cherished institution.

Local and semi-local farmers and vendors set up booths and sell their goods.

You can purchase plants for your rooftop or fire escape garden

Get your homemade, organic breads here

Green onions and strawberries

There is something to me so poetic about that – “Green Onions And Strawberries” – a children’s book, or a song title perhaps?

Jams and jellies and honeys

Yum – Wild Blueberry Ginger, or how about Garlic Raspberry jelly?

Lavender pillows, or just a free sprig

Or, something that I previously had not really given much thought – ostrich meat and ostrich eggs

Union Square Greenmarket is well-known as the early-morning-must-go-to destination for neighborhood chefs, who buy what is fresh that morning and serves it that day in their restaurants.

Here’s a chef now, in his chef whites, coming around to check out the Jersey Beefsteak Tomatos

This is one of the reasons that the area is home to some of New York Cities top restaurants, including  The Union Square Cafe

The Blue Water Grill

and abckitchen

which just last month won the 2011 James Beard Award for the Best New Restaurant in the country!

While you are in the area, be sure to check out the new Andy Warhol statue

and note Warhol’s significance to the neighborhood, as explained by The Huffington Post:

“It’s easy to pass by the Decker Building at 33 Union Square West or the building at 860 Broadway, now housing a Petco, without knowing their historical significance in the world of Pop Art. There’s no sign explaining that Andy Warhol had his “Factory” here, first in the Decker building, in 1968, before moving a block away in the 1970s to Broadway and 17th Street to make his silkscreens, print his magazines and do his screen tests.

The shiny chrome statue towers over the pedestrian plaza at 17th Street, across from the park and near the spot where he was shot by Valerie Solanas in 1968.

The pop art icon, who worked in the Union Square area until 1984 and passed away in 1987, is returning to the area in the guise of a ghostly silver 10-foot-tall sculpture by Rob Pruitt.

The artist made the stature as he imagined Warhol in 1977 dressed in Levi’s 501s, a Brooks Brothers blazer, wearing a Polaroid camera around his neck and carrying a Medium Brown Bag from Bloomingdale’s.“

And, who can resist wandering a few blocks north, in order to gaze upon this masterpiece, The Flatiron Building (at 5th Avenue & 23rd Street)?

Here’s a bit of trivia for you: when The Flatiron Building was completed in 1902, it was one of the tallest skyscrapers in the city, and the ONLY skyscraper north of 14th Street. It drew very strong gusts of wind because of its height and positioning. Men began to loiter around it, as the wind would cause women’s dresses to be blown up above their ankles. Policemen would shout “23 skidoo” to get the men to keep walking.

xoxo,

SAllan

 

 

 

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