Oslo ~ a NYC coffee shop

A few doors away from our apartment on 75th Street, is a terrific coffee shop named Oslo. Founded, strangely enough by immigrants from Norway, the business started in Brooklyn and has branched out to the Upper East Side. There are two locations in Brooklyn and one in our neighbourhood on the Upper East Side.





Our experience with Oslo is positive; we've been here almost every day so that must say something. Different baristas do make a difference and ... we seem to have found our preference. However, stopping at Oslo in the morning for a wonderfully sweet espresso is also a preference.











There's always an interesting music mix playing in the background with the selection and the volume determined by the staff of the moment. It's a busy little place and it concentrates on good coffee and not much else. While there are some pastries available, it's really all about the coffee.










The Oslo coffee company is relatively small. It is a company that returns something to the community. They roast their own beans. This is all very good ~ for New York and for coffee lovers. You're here already. Have a coffee.


Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2014.

The Guggenheim in New York City

The Guggenheim Museum on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York is appealing for its collection of art and for the building in which the art is displayed. In fact, the building is reason enough to visit.

It is a building created by the amazing Frank Lloyd Wright and it is the only museum he ever designed. Solomon Guggenheim, part of a wealthy family that made much of their fortune in the gold fields of Alaska and Yukon, wanted to create a radically new space for modern art in New York. He chose Frank Lloyd Wright as architect and after sixteen years of planning, debate and compromise, the building finally opened in 1959.

Originally the architect wanted people to take an elevator to the top of the structure and then leisurely walk down the gentle and continuous ramp, interacting with both art and other humans along the way.




Taking an elevator certainly isn't the practise and we, and hundreds of others, meandered up the ramp and then slightly more quickly down again. It was interesting to view The Guggenheim after seeing Wright's desert campus in Arizona four months ago. This is an impressive building and it houses an amazing collection of art. The wealth and power that created such an undertaking is amazing too.

Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2014.

Le Pain Quotidien in NYC

Starbucks might be concerned, but probably isn't. The Europeans are coming. Perhaps slowly. Here in NYC and around the world.


Le Pain Quotidien is a fairly common coffee house and bakery throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. Organic of course, decent coffees, simple but almost satisfying lunches, and communal tables where we "sit together around an idea of pleasure." Or something like that. It sounds good, as does the background music which is usually classical.




Well, it's a good idea and it seems to work in wealthier neighbourhoods in Manhattan and Palermo (Buenos Aires). And, it is fairly good food. I would recommend Oslo for a much better coffee, but they have only three locations.




LPQ was founded by Alain Coumont in Brussels in 1990. It is a privately held company with over 200 locations around the world including Argentina and Australia. Not Canada. Yet. The company's headquarters is in NYC. Of course it is.



Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2014.