Gothamist: What's the Deal with that Union Square... Clock... Thing?

smitty

Mon, 14 Mar 2005 11:58:16 -0500

i don't think it really smokes much anymore. I know they turned the smoke off for obvious reasons after September 11th.

uhrrrrrrr

Mon, 14 Mar 2005 00:45:25 -0500

the G is a crosstown serving Brooklyn and Queens, you midwestern Faux-Yorkers

Doug

Sun, 13 Mar 2005 04:15:42 -0500

Jon Graf, the plaque beneath does refer to Metronome, but it does not say anything about the LED being a clock.

Andrew Hearst

Sat, 12 Mar 2005 14:35:55 -0500

Years ago a friend referred to that building as "One Anus Plaza," and I've called it that ever since.

chimpie

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 23:18:16 -0500

Mr. & Mrs. Maller - Well I guess that makes it official then if other people are coming up with the same name. Chimpie, Mr. & Mrs. Maller shall be jointly credited with coining the name "The Smoking Bunghole" for this building. I suggest that in the year 2008, after this appelation is commonly known to all new yorkers that a ceremonialy plaque be adhered to the building officially designating it as the Smoking Bunghole Building.

Joe Maller

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 20:07:04 -0500

Chimpie, I thought my wife and I were the only ones calling that thing "Smoking Bunghole". But I guess it's just so obvious I should have figured we weren't alone. The lunar component is beautiful in an understated way, too bad about the rest of it. In Tilted Arc, there's hope.

xandervaliya

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 18:46:40 -0500

Notice how it's aligned down the center of Park Avenue South and is bookended by Grand Central Terminal. That's what I love about the street grid. How it inadverdantly creates malls & causeways that bustle with streetlife and landmarked with symbolic terminals & junctions like Washinton Square, Grand Army Plaza (in B'klyn and M'nhtn), and the Williamsburg Bank tower. I wish there was something more notable at the southern end of Madison Avenue.

Daryl

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 17:12:50 -0500

Here you can see a diagram of the clock and what each number means: http://daryllang.com/d103/archive/2005/01/30/284/

Jon Graf

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 15:58:28 -0500

Not to be a dick or anything, but there is a plaque underneath the Metronome that explains what it is. I guess like real New Yorkers would be too embarassed to be caught reading a plaque on a building...

chimpie

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 15:03:58 -0500

I've always referred to this building as 'the smoking bunghole.' It is a useful landmark when meeting friends or giving directions - "meet me in front of the smoking bunghole" or "go one block east of the smoking bunghole" etc. I think I have given out enough directions that many people are adopting this moniker and eventually the whole town will refer to it affectionatly as the smoking bunghole.

KeithS

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 15:00:02 -0500

What with the Union Square clock, the fire thingies, and the Jetsons building, Gothamist has made this city a great deal more coherent for me this week.

tien

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 14:47:46 -0500

Keith, the Ask Gothamist answer to your question.

MY

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 14:45:53 -0500

Kieth: Those are indicators that there is a fire alarm on the lamp pole. Aftr reading it here, I totally added it to my useless cocktail party banter repertoire.

stephanie

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 14:41:34 -0500

My respect for my big sis exponentially increased when she figured it out after thinking about it for maybe a minute.

jash

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 14:39:16 -0500

really? none of your friends could figure it out? i'd seriously consider trading up for some more intelligent friends.

KeithS

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 14:34:17 -0500

"This is even more revelatory than the those glowing sticks on top of street lamps!" What are the deals with those? There's one about 10 feet outside my front window, and I've wasted a lot of time trying to reason its purpose.

ping

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 14:27:58 -0500

worst. art. ever.

tien

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 14:11:36 -0500

bing, those are for cell phone reception.

Captain Obvious

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 13:48:38 -0500

The thing is universally called one of the worst and at almost parody levels piece of public art ever created in the design world.

bing

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 13:30:44 -0500

Also, what are those things that look like speakers you see on rooftops? I've seen them in enough different neighborhoods to think they have to be something.

ab

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 13:15:07 -0500

Here's what's even more obscure: "To the right, is the lunar timepiece, composed of a sphere set into a socket, which is synchronized to revolve with the phases of the moon."

Lar

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 12:39:26 -0500

I figured out awhile ago. I prefer to think of that clock as a hour glass - time flows from one end to the other end.

MT

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 12:36:40 -0500

This is even more revelatory than the those glowing sticks on top of street lamps! The meaning of that clock has been driving me nuts for YEARS!

Erin

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 12:33:01 -0500

From the above linked artists' website, on the hand: "A large bronze hand high on the wall gestures a benediction. This hand is an identical enlargement from the historical statue of George Washington in the park directly below. The hand is a reminder of how history is our own creation." And on the smoke: "At the center of the brick undulations is an enigmatic hole from which an ephemeral plume of steam emanates suggesting the intangibility of time." I don't think the smoke comes out at any particular time increment.

janine

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 12:28:47 -0500

What's the deal with the smoke? Is it hourly?

Jen

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 12:24:10 -0500

The other funny thing about the bizarre mixed media: There's a hand somewhere on the sculpture, and it's a mirror of the hand on the George Washington sculpture (or whatever sculpture that is) in the park. It's like the hands are giving each other the peace sign from across 14th Street.