John Ades, Carrot Peeler, Dead At 75

Ah — I always wondered who this guy was — I saw vegetable peeler-purveyor John Ades/took pictures of him two different times. The pictures sat on the hard drive for a while — What was it? Who was he? How do you classify it? I tried googling it but what do you google, “peeler guy manhattan”? In retrospect, I should have googled the Daily News clip in the background with the headline “A Slice of the Street Action” . . . I would have come across this. Then one day I just finally labeled a page “The Pitch” under “Curiosities” and uploaded the pictures there.

Anyway, John Ades passed away last Sunday, February 1.

Here he is in Lower Manhattan probably about 3 years ago (I think — I can’t quite remember):

And here he is in Union Square in September 2008:

One Times Square, Midtown Manhattan

The new Year’s Eve ball on top of One Times Square is now a year-round feature (see for example):

And before the ground floor finally became a Walgreen’s . . .

. . . it was vacant for some time. The best use for the space was the DEA’s traveling Target America: Drug Traffickers, Terrorists and You Exhibit. The exhibit is now called, “Target America: Opening Eyes to the Damage Drugs Cause.” I guess they had problems answering the smart ass in the back who kept insisting that the link between personal drug use and international terrorism was as good a reason as any to simply grow your own . . .

Bank Of America Tower, Midtown Manhattan

I can’t tell if they’re done with the Bank of America Tower or if that’s what it’s supposed to look like at the top:

It’s been like five years. There is still a bunch of scaffolding around the sidewalk:

Maybe it has something to do with all the falling glass.