The signage at Rockefeller Plaza is probably some of the most amazing lettering I’ve ever seen in my life.

Commendably, it looks like they’ve managed to keep a lot of it intact.

The escalators are old and super tiny, and from so long ago that people actually used the word ‘grasp.’ Thanks to CJ for the great tour.

More shots.

W. 42nd Street is now NEW 42nd Street.

McDonald’s serves Vitamin Water?

The Port Authority is running Windows. (How awesome would this be as an Apple ad?)

Jenna loves diamonds.

The kid in the Crazy Coupe doesn’t like ferris wheels.

My favorite pizza place was still serving the best slice in Manhattan.

And across the street, the best Italian in the city. I love New York!

CELTICS G RAY ALLEN EXPECTED TO PLAY IN GAME 6 OF NBA FINALS, INJURED C PERKINS LIKELY TO PLAY

I definitely did not want to venture into this place.

Walgreens is coming soon.

More photos of ads (and other things, I swear).

What is probably my most favorite article [PDF] I’ve ever written was published in the LA Times on the same day I took a flight home to St. Louis. I waltzed from vendor to vendor in the American Airlines terminal, pausing to admire the various shelving systems upon which the LA Times was displayed. While all my copies of the piece were filed like federal documents in my carry-on, it was amazing to see hundreds more copies stacked haphazardly under countertops, spilling onto the floor, awaiting their readers. After I took my seat in the waiting area I squirmed with delight as the man across from me opened the Calendar section and totally read my piece! But that was nothing compared to the swelling of my chest a few minutes later when he got up and threw it away!

It’s an awesome feeling to know your words are so widely distributed that they’ve become, well, disposable.

Such is the humbling nature of today, when I have four pieces published in the LA Weekly’s annual People issue. Except that the LA Weekly is free. It’s so free that for the next week, LA Weeklys will fall over the city like a light dusting of snow. My stories will be abandoned on bus seats, stuffed between Champagne flutes in moving boxes, wrapped around a dozen pink tulips at the farmers’ market.

So think of me sporting this wide, goofy grin when you come cross an LA Weekly this week. But before you use it to Windex your car windshield, be sure to read my pieces on Mathew Cullen and Javier Jimenez of Motion Theory; Ben Goldhirsh of GOOD; Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim of various Awesome Shows, Great Job; and Jonathan Wells of Flux.

And please recycle.

As part of his ongoing series on the New York Times blog Campaign Stops, Steve Heller asked me and three other design industry folk to comment on the merchandise sold by the presidential candidates. In “From Mousepads to Piggy Banks,” Steve also talks to Julie Lasky, my editor at ID, Allan Chochinov, my editor at Core77, and Karrie Jacobs, who is not my editor anywhere but who wrote the awesome book The Perfect $100,000 House: A Trip Across America and Back in Pursuit of a Place to Call Home.

Steve has pulled together a nice analysis of the online stores and I love hearing from my fellow design mavens. I am also extremely excited about seeing myself referred to as ‘Ms. Walker.’ But as always, I am probably most entertained by the post’s comments. For example:

Can we stick to matters of substance? The candidates are running for the presidency, not for a contract to run the airport souvenir shop.

A very good point. As is this:

I wonder who made this paraphernalia. Was it all made in USA? Is any candidate selling sweatshop products?

And my favorite:

Hillary is also selling pander and lies.

Long, long ago, before Jabba glamorized the hookah and live frog-eating craze, Star Wars PSAs tried to educate my generation about the evils of smoking and drinking. Carrie Fisher was originally cast in this drinking and driving ad but she showed up on set too drunk to shoot the spot. And just because R2-D2 needs a menthol Kool to soothe his circuits after a long day at work doesn’t mean you should smoke (never mind that C-3PO is operating what sounds like an electronic water bong).

Thanks to Luke Walker. Really.