The city's eternal symbol. Even without the towers to frame her, Lady Liberty is majestic.

The Pepsi sign in Queens overlooking the midtown Manhattan nightscape. The sign is no longer there. It was removed when Woody Allen started Silvercup Studios in that building. A lot of television shows and movies have been filmed there.

The piers as I remember them. Thie first pic is the beginning of the demolition. The second one below it is a very early pic, circa 1970 before they took off the roofs of the loading piers. By the time I got there, there was only one covered loading pier left which served as a pitch-black orgy room at night. Oh, the madness and the mayhem...not to mention the cum stains.

The Meat Packing District at the end of 14th Street close to the Hudson River. This is where my cousin, his friend, and I ended up the day I set out to find Christopher Street. At night, the area was infested with trannies and drag queens turning tricks. A few years ago, the area received a makeover as designers decided they wanted an "edgy" location. It is now the trendiest nightspot in town.

The piers as they look today.

But these kids spoil the view for some people. Pictured in these photos are some of my "gay children."

But these kids didn't back in the day. These were shot inside the covered piers in broad daylight back in the bad ole days of the Vill.

The Village today. There really is a Gay Street on the corner of Christopher Street and two blocks from the Sonewall Bar. In the 18th century, it was the street where NYC's African-American community was based. Most of the servants for the wealthier families lived there. Greenwich Village was considered a bucolic utopia "far" uptown from Lower Manhattan and its unsightly immigrant hordes in the Lower East Side, Little Italy, and an emerging Chinatown.

The Stonewall Inn. It's the original location, although not the original bar. The upstairs is now a dancefloor. It used to be my friend Patricia Reddock's apartment when we were in college. Her parties were wayyyy cooler and wilder than anything that goes on in the Stonewall now. She lost the apartment when the Stonewall Inn was ressurected.

The Village still has a small town feel. It's brick townhouses and cobblestoned streets make you almost believe you are miles away from the epicenter of the madness of the city.

The East Village. Greenwich Village's grimier and hipper sister to the east. It's where I choose to socialize these days. Freaks are just better people in my book.

My Sanctuary. Central Park. You can get lost in here. Unless you've spent as much time cruising the Rambles as I have in the middle of the night. No surprise it draws hordes of gay men looking for sex in its forest like sections. It is called "The Lungs of the City."

There's a story behind those twin spires in the background. And one day, if you're nice, I promise I will share it.

And lastly...two New York celebrities. Pale Male and Lola. Red hawks have recently made the city their home. They are indigenous but had rarely been seen due to pollution problems. The city is cleaner and all manner of wildlife abounds--raccoons, coyotes, herons, bald eagles, hawks, peregrine falcons. It comes as a surprise to some that NYC has one of the largest nature preserves on the east coast. The city's Jamaica Bay, a wide but shallow expanse of water protected by a narrow approach from Coney Island and Far Rockaway is the second largest breeding ground for waterfowl in the eastern U.S. People live on only one island in the middle of the bay, Broad Channel. The subway that runs to Rockaway and its beaches goes over the water and the view is surreal.

Pale Male and Lola mating. The building is where some celebrities nest as well. One in particular, Mary Tyler Moore, complained about the birds and had them evicted. Management put up spikes to prevent them from nesting. Popular pressure and people staring into her apartment with telescopes made her recant. Pale Male and his mate were allowed to return and the spikes were gone. Every spring there's a Pale Male baby watch. People gather from all over to witness his offspring fledge.

so you can right click it and use them as well if you like.