You’re walking on East 54th Street. It’s sundown on a Friday and you gaze up. A waffling monolith ponders you back — or is it the face of Le Corbusier?
No matter. Its loading docks open and the week is disgorged. You’re as rank as the trash bags being hauled to the curb.
Suddenly, there’s a flash of light, a blaring sound: It’s one of those new advertising blimps the City’s been testing. It comes in shouting above the streetlight. You hear the announcement:
“A new life awaits you in the Off-World Colonies. The chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure. New climate, recreational facilities…. Absolutely free.
Use your new friend as a personal body servant or a tireless field hand — the custom-tailored, genetically engineered, humanoid Replicant designed especially for your needs.”
…and you wonder if maybe you’ll go.
Copy of the Off-World Colonies/Replicant ad taken from Ridley Scott’s film Blade Runner, 1982.
Photos by Rick Stachura. May 26, 2016.
The south side of 909 3rd Avenue from East 54th Street. Designed by Emery Roth and completed in 1968, the superstructure has over 1.3 million square feet of space and stands 33 stories tall.
(This story was originally posted to my old Tumblr site on June 4, 2016.)