The other night, a friend of mine asked me what was my favorite thing about living in New York (we ran into each other at an event after being out of touch for an undisclosed double-digit amount of years). The easy answer was “everything”: Walking though neighborhoods (and looking into apartments), green markets, random weekend festivals (not so random if you bother to read signs or neighborhood blogs), Central Park (and its coyote), the East River Esplanade, Governor’s Island, cabbies who don’t know how to get to the airport…the list is long.

Anyway, one of the things that I absolutely love about New York is the public art. It’s a thrill to walk down 6th Avenue and see the Robert Indiana “Love” sculpture, or find the Alice in Wonderland bronze sculpture in Central Park, but it’s even more thrilling to find art where you least expect it.

Earlier this summer, my friend D and I were walking back to her office from Oren’s Daily Roast when we happened on a giant, wind-up Hello Kitty sculpture at the Lever Building, and then a section of the Berlin Wall — both on East 53rd Street.

I’ll add more images of public art as I find them. If you know of some great pieces not to miss, drop me a line and share the info!