Monthly Archives: September 2005

Secret Downtown Restaurant – La Esquina, SoHo

This “secret” SoHo restaurant was outted this past summer by the New York times in a Style section article. Appearances can be misleading. The photo shows a small, no-frills Mexican diner and bdeli/bodega called The Corner La Esquina, but the real restaurant is behind and below the diner “front.” To ge to the real La Esquina you must pass through an unmarked, non-descript door that looks like an employees-only portal to a storage room. Once past, you enter a totally different space, a quintessentially chic downtown restaurant and boite. La Esquina is at the interesection of Cleveland Place and Kenmare and Lafayette streets, a block south of Spring Street.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Latest Calvin Klein Billboard, Soho, NYC

Here’s the latest superlarge Calvin Klein billboard at Houston and Lafayette streets in Soho, New York. What more can we say? This ad is as sexed-up as all the other Calvin Klein ads that fill this space in lower Manhattan. Whether the advert is touting underwear, jeans or just the Calvin Klein brand, the titilation factor is always turned up to 11. The tenement building upon which this billboard screen hangs is probably a very valuable piece of Soho real estate given both its location and the adspace.

Ivan Corsa Photo

NYC: “Mel Gibson” Stencil in Soho 1

We caught this awesomely fresh stencil of Mel Gibson at the bottom of a door on Prince St. in Soho, New York City. Seeing this gives us an idea — what we’d really, really like to see is a stencil of Russell Crowe on the side door of the Mercer Hotel (that’s where Crowe had his recent infamous telephone-throwing tantrum — c’mon … irony, people, irony.) Anyway, if you want to find this one, walk west on Prince from Broadway, past the the Apple Computer Store, towards Kid Robot. You’ll find this on the left side of the street.

Ivan Corsa Photo

NYC: “Mel Gibson” Stencil in Soho 2

A mid-dsitance shot of the Mel Gibson stencil on Prince St. in Soho, New York City. If you want to find this one, walk west on Prince from Broadway, past the the Apple Computer Store, towards Kid Robot. You’ll find this on the left side of the street.

Ivan Corsa Photo

NYC: “Mel Gibson” Stencil in Soho 3

Here’s a close-up detail shot of a fresh Mel Gibson stencil on Prince St. in Soho, New York City. If you want to find this one, walk west on Prince from Broadway, past the the Apple Computer Store, towards Kid Robot. You’ll find this on the left side of the street.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Paris: Tribal Graf in Saint Germain des-Pres

A surprisingly large piece of graf in a surprsing location, in a very small, well-manicured park in Saint Germain des-Pres in Paris. This “up” has a African tribal aesthetic, which distinguishes it from much of the classic New York “wild-style” type of aerosol art that dominates the graf landscape worldwide.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Some Dude Wheat-Paste 2, Saint Germain des-Pres, Paris

A black-and-white wheat-paste street art of some dude wearing sunglasses in the Saint Germain des-Pres neighborhood of Paris. The nabe is filled with art galleries and shops selling rare-books and antiquities, as well as some chi chi Parisian real estate.

Ivan Corsa Photo