Between the Avenues

I always like side streets. South of 34th, between Broadway and Sixth, the costume jewelry and hat stores, the baldly unromantic business names: Top of the Top Shirts Inc., US Jewelry, Wigs, Hairpieces, 100% Human Hair, Go & Go Trading Inc., Classy Jewlry Inc., Euro SOCAP Hair Extensions.  Traders loitering on the sidewalks, fossilized window displays where smudged and scarred ladies (and sometimes gents) address the passers by with sombre expression, or, with eyes averted, hide under veils or the brim of a hat tipped low across their brows.  The sweet, grubby, leftover charms of a city work their magic.