#HTE

Today’s Urban Design Observation: When People Can’t Tell What’s Level

Situated at an intersection of two streets that each have a slight grade, this restaurant has angled sidewalks on both its south and east faces.

The restaurant owner had custom benches made to compensate for the grades on each side. But every morning when they open, the guy who pulls the benches out (in NYC if you leave them outside overnight, they will be stolen) always puts the blue bench on the wrong side.

Since I took these photographs, the restaurant has gone out of business. My theory is that the bench guy’s incompetence bled into the restaurant’s operation.

http://www.core77.com/posts/70426/Todays-Urban-Design-Observation-When-People-Cant-Tell-Whats-Level