comedians
New Yorkers tend to be hard, dry people. And when it comes to humour, that's what they like too. Ironic, political, sarcastic, fast and dark. There are many New York comedians, including Groucho Marx, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Woody Allen, Jon Stewart, Janeane Garofalo, Bill Maher, Jerry Seinfeld... and the latest star to join the long list: Louis CK. Don't lose his word flood on the Web...
chinatown bus
There are two main Chinatowns in New York. One is the one that all tourist guides will show you in Manhattan; the other, less well known and larger, is in Brooklyn's Sunset Park. There's an illegal transport system which takes you from one Chinatown to the other for a dollar. If you get into one of those white vans you'll find that the journey in itself is an adventure.
illustrated buildings
James Gulliver wants to draw on all the buildings in New York. Maybe influenced by his surname, it's clear this illustrator is very keen on giant challenges. Although it's an impossible project, he has already drawn on a load of buildings and seeing them is a special, interesting way to visit the city.
nycc
New York Comic Con. If there's a comic strip city in the world it's NYC. The best example of this is the comic strip section in this special number of the balde. Comic strip and fanzine shops are as common in New York as they are scarce in the Basque Country. If you want to see the latest things, new creators and tendencies, you can't miss out on NYCC.
look at the edges!
The pavements of New York are spray painted every certain distance. They are marks showing gradient changes and pavement edges. It's something they do so that if anyone trips up and falls over he/she can't sue the city council. Don't forget we're talking about the city where even sharks are afraid of the lawyers.
pictotales
A project which combines images and words, words and images. Pictotales invites us to share and transform our creations. This project is open to anybody living in New York or the Basque Country.
5pointz
If you love graffiti you can't miss Queens'es 5 pointz. As if it were ivy, graffiti grows up the buildings' walls, multiplies and ends up invading the whole block. It's amazing how much graffiti there is, how diverse and good it is...
rockaway beach
The waves of surf fashion have taken hold of New York too. They've opened surf brand shops on Broadway and you can see that the surfing wave has dominated the Rockaway area between the underground station and the beach. The Ramones' Rockaway beach surf song has gone from being ironic to being the hipsters' hymn. In fact, there's nothing much more ironic than that.
booklyn
The Booklyn organization is a treasure trove of artistic fanzines, books and magazines. As well as being a promoter and exhibitor of independent publications and artistic books, they also hold auctions and exhibitions.
projects
This is the name for groups of buildings built by the government and rented at economical prices. They are houses with a social mission. And you could say that if at the same time as fulfilling that mission they manage to create ghettos of poverty and a layer of social conflict, well, they've done a complete job.
front-yard
You can find all sorts of things in the areas in front of many houses in New York. There are private markets for things people don't want any more - or maybe they just give them away - and exhibitions, jam sessions... We were struck by this bookshop. Spending hardly any money and using a lot of imagination they've put together a bookshop which is as fine as it is simple.
the green way
When you think about New York, cars, yellow taxis and the metro come to mind. But NY is a city which obliges you to become a pedestrian. As in many other cities, bicycles are used more and more and there's a new colour in the city: the green bicycle lanes.
euskal etxea 100 years
Tons of Basques have gone to New York. Many of them went west from New York in search of new opportunities. But many others stayed put in the skyscraper city. For the last 100 years the Basque Club has been their meeting place. If you're planning to visit NY, have a look at the Club's programme.
