NYC Today
This Page Will be the home of What’s happening Around NYC the Best Places to go, plus the Latest in the Theater, The Arts and the Night Scene.”NYC Today” will Also have Local Attractions and Local News.
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LAST UPDATE TO PAGE: 16 March 2011 at 08:19 EST
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August 16th} Bronx pool gets quiet in Heatwave
“It’s been almost the hottest July on record. Numbers should be up,” said Adam Liebowitz, of the Point Community Development Corporation. “In previous summers you had to wait on line 20, 30 minutes before you could go in. But now I’ve heard the lines are gone. It’s obviously because of the lack of public transportation.”
August 15th} Can’t Drive unless you Breathalyze
Under a tough new law that took effect yesterday, anyone convicted of a DWI must pass a Breathalyzer test before they can start their car.
The electronic Breathalyzer, called an interlock, will be installed on their dashboards. Convicted drivers will be required to have the device for a minimum of six months and up to five years.
The legal threshold for drunk driving is .08, but even if you blow a .025 blood alcohol, you’ll fail the test and the car won’t start. That’s because even one drink is illegal for those who’ve been convicted of a DWI. The Breathalyzer is so sensitive it can even pick up a hangover.
The new requirement is the second half of Leandra’s Law, named after Leandra Rosado, the 11-year-old girl who died last year when a car driven by a friend’s mother flipped on the Henry Hudson Parkway. The woman pleaded guilty last week to manslaughter.
New York is the 13th state to enforce the ignition Breathalyzer test for first-time offenders.
August 6th} DiNapoli: Overtime at MTA is out of control
At the same time it’s cutting service and raising fares, the MTA is handing workers a whopping $590 million in overtime. MTA managers have made “no real efforts” to curb overtime payouts, alleges a report released yesterday by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
Even worse, much of the overtime pay could be avoided if the MTA simply changed some “unproductive” work rules, DiNapoli found. For example, Long Island Rail Road train engineers can receive a full extra day’s pay if they are required to drive both an electric and diesel train in the same day. MTA Chairman Jay Walder has promised to go after overtime during his tenure, and has already trimmed $26 million in OT pay so far this year. But that’s not nearly enough, said the comptroller.
“There has been a culture of acceptance among MTA managers regarding overtime,” said DiNapoli in the report. “As a result, overtime has become the rule rather than the exception for many of the MTA’s employees.”
“We will do our part, but active participation from our labor unions is the only way to make the type of impact we all want,” said an MTA spokesperson. But union members contend that overtime will only increase since the MTA laid off hundreds of bus drivers and station agents this summer.
August 5th} Judge pulls Obama condom
A Manhattan judge barred two unlicensed street vendors from selling condoms packaged with images of President Barack Obama and Sarah Palin. The Obama condom, carrying a picture of the president and the slogan “Hope Is Not a Form of Protection,” and the Palin condom — “When Abortion Is Not An Option” — were not license-exempt political free speech, and required a license to hawk on the street, the judge ruled last Friday. The two men must perform a day of community service.
August 2nd} Solar City aims to dampen blackouts
This summer, building owners who install solar panels in three special “solar empowerment zones” are taking pressure off Con Ed’s electric grid, lowering the risk of dreaded blackouts.
The eastern shore of Staten Island, Downtown Brooklyn and Greenpoint are all areas where the grid is the most constrained during the day, according to Tria Case, director of Sustainable CUNY.
But all of New York, with its 1.6 billion square feet of rooftop — is an ideal solar energy collector, said Dr. Richard Perez, a solar energy research professor at the University of Albany.
“Even if you only use the rooftops, which take up about 20 percent of the city, you can provide half the city’s energy,” said Perez. “And if you add in parking lots, zones around factories and highways, you can increase that to 100 percent.”
The mayor’s office, in partnership with Sustainable CUNY, plans to jumpstart solar power produced in the city. Just 350 buildings including the Javits Center and the Jewish Museum, use photovoltaic panels, but the city, state and federal government are giving out hefty tax credits to encourage more.
July 10th}Bus-only lanes get federal boost
The city’s plan to build a two-lane bus-only corridor with a pedestrian walkway along 34th St. picked up a little steam on Thursday with $18.4 million from the federal government.
The money will reportedly cover about half the estimated cost of building the lanes along the length of congested 34th Street.
The lanes are expected to increase speeds of the M16 and M34 buses by 20 to 40 percent.
May 19th} ‘NYC Today‘ is on hiatus, and will return in June
Asnycnow Radio’s ‘NYC Today’ is on an official Holiday, however the column will be updated in June. the Official Radio show on Asnycnow Radio 2 will be pushed to June as well
May 19th} SmartBuy sued for bilking GIs
New York’s Attorney General Andrew Cuomo yesterday sued a national retailer that he accused of selling grossly overpriced electronics to members of the armed forces, and then steering them into exorbitant payment plans.
Cuomo alleged SmartBuy bought laptops, televisions and gaming systems from retailers such as Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and Costco then marked them up 225 percent to 325 percent for resale to military personnel.
Cuomo said SmartBuy’s store in Watertown, N.Y., near Fort Drum, financed more than $4 million of sales to military personnel from 2007 to 2009. He said the company abruptly closed the store after learning of the planned lawsuit.
He said SmartBuy, based in Fayetteville, N.C., steered customers to affiliated lenders that charged effective annual interest rates averaging 244 percent.
“Our lawsuit not only seeks to bar them from ever doing business again in the state, but also to vindicate the countless soldiers who were preyed upon and defrauded,” Cuomo said in a statement.
The lawsuit seeks restitution, a voiding of finance agreements, the disgorgement of profit at the Watertown store, and a $5,000 civil fine for each deceptive or illegal act.
May 4th} Many eyes , but few leads from Times Square
The NYPD has 82 cameras in and around Times Square and was still poring through them yesterday. After reviewing footage from 30 cameras Sunday, police found just three with leads for Saturday’s would-be car bomber.
With scant images of the Nissan Pathfinder’s driver, Mayor Michael Bloomberg yesterday renewed his push for the Midtown Manhattan Security Initiative, a network of public and private security cameras to blanket 30th to 60th streets, river to river. The expansion of Lower Manhattan’s “Ring of Steel,” has come under fire from civil liberties advocates.
“That will greatly enhance our ability and the ability of the police to detect suspicious activity in real time and disrupt possible attacks,” Bloomberg said. “It will also give police more evidence more quickly concerning incidents.”
Yesterday, police went to stores and banks to check their cameras and even called on tourists to come forward with potentially relevant footage, as a Pennsylvania resident did.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Sunday that a surveillance system would have analytic software that could detect such suspicious behavior as a bag left unattended or a vehicle cruising many times around the same block. “It has a lot of promise in that regard,” he said.
However, the MTA’s $215 million contract with Lockheed Martin for a surveillance system to detect abandoned objects failed to work when bags were positioned among hundreds of moving forms, WNYC reported last month.
May 1st} Suspicious Package Halts Times Sq. after Car Fire
An police investigation after a car fire is disrupting traffic, both on the roads and the sidewalks, in Times Square. Officials say there were no injuries in the car fire, but that there was a suspicious package in the vehicle’s back seat. As a precaution, the bomb squad was brought to the scene and was using a robot to inspect the package.
April 26} Left to die by passers-by
Police were looking for a man suspected of stabbing a good Samaritan who lay dying for more than hour on a Queens sidewalk while passers-by ignored his injuries.
Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax, who was homeless, was killed at 5:40 a.m. last Sunday when he tried to protect a woman from a mugger on 144th Street near 88th Road in Jamaica.
More than two dozen people were captured on surveillance camera footage released this weekend walking past him as he lay face down bleeding into the sidewalk.
“Hugo wouldn’t have done that,” a cousin of his told the New York Post. “It’s not important who it is, if we see someone hurt, we should help, at least call an ambulance.”
One person paused to take his picture with a cell phone camera. Another shook him but then walked away. Firefighters arrived in response to a 911 call an hour later. By that time Tale-Yax was dead.
“I think people are afraid to help. Also, he was homeless. Maybe if he was wearing a suit, it could be a lot different,” said Lower Manhattan resident Joe Tarzia, 43. “One time I saw a man exposing himself on the subway and I got up to block him. Everyone else just sat there like, ‘this is New York.’”
April 21} Amid High HIV Rates, city calls for condom use for anal sex
Spurred by high rates of sexually contracted HIV among women, the city Wednesday put out a renewed call for condom use during anal sex.
“For every sexual encounter, use a condom. People often do what I call the ‘eyeball test’ – you look OK – and that’s just not acceptable, because the germ theory is real,” said Monica Sweeney, an assistant commissioner with city health department.
Just 23 percent of women make their partners wear condoms during anal sex, compared with 61 percent of men, the city found. Many women aren’t aware of the risks, Sweeney said.
“Many younger women have anal sex to, quote, keep their virginity, and sort of think of anal sex as not being sex because they can’t get pregnant … but anal sex carries a greater risk of HIV infection than even vaginal sex,” Sweeney said.
Women ages 18 to 24 are six times more likely to have unprotected anal sex than those who are 45 to 64, the city said.
City officials found an increase in HIV diagnoses through sexual transmission among women, but a decrease in such diagnoses through drug use.
The rate of diagnoses overall is reducing too slowly, the city said. There were 943 diagnoses in 2008 versus 1,141 in 2005.
April 22} Report: Livery Cars gouge up Wheelchair Users
Many livery cabs aren’t wheelchair accessible, and the ones that are have become a price-gouging paradise, according to a damning report released Wednesday.
Livery cabs have been illegally charging an average of $37 more for an accessible-vehicle than a regular one, the report by Assemblyman Micah Kellner, (D-Manhattan), found.
Rates for limos — or black cars — were $109 more on average.“Wheelchair users are finding the door slammed in their face,” said Kellner, whose office surveyed all 563 livery and black car companies in the city last year.
According to the report, 40 percent of livery car companies and 43 percent of black car companies said that they would be unable to provide any services for a wheelchair user.
Meanwhile, the Taxi and Limousine Commission only began recently enforcing a rule requiring the companies provide equivalent service to wheelchair-users — six years after the regulation went into effect.“It is an outrage,” said Jean Ryan, of the Taxis for ALL Campaign.
“We need more accessible cars and more oversight from the TLC.”Part of the problem, the report found, is that 164 of the companies rely on just four contractors to provide accessible-cars, as they don’t own their own.
Drivers fold up wheelchairs and put them in trunks when they can, but buying accessible-cars would bankrupt livery cab companies, said Fernando Mateo, spokesman for the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, which represents livery cabs.
“We can’t provide the service. Who is going to subsidize the cost of it?” Mateo said.
The TLC said it is now enforcing the rule and has issued 30 summonses to companies for violating it, spokesman Allan Fromberg said.“There is clearly much more work to be done, and we will continue to monitor the situation carefully,” Fromberg said.
April 21} Brooklyn Assemblyman: Use old [Subway] Cars for the G Train
A Brooklyn Assemblyman has come up with a novel idea for the mad dash to catch the G train—add more cars.
Assemblyman Joe Lentol, (D-Brooklyn), wants the MTA to expand the four-car G line by using old cars to be abandoned by the doomed V line once it stops running in June.
“Year after year the G train is treated as the step child of the MTA,” Lentol wrote to MTA top brass in a letter released Tuesday . “It is cut, prodded, trimmed, and at this point it is extremely difficult to get even get a seat in the middle of the night because there are only
four cars!’
The G train is the shortest of the subway lines that is not a shuttle train. It carries about 100,000 riders on weekdays, and catching the train often forces riders to run for it along the platform.
“G line commuters in North Brooklyn desperately need to have a full length train restored to ease their commute and peace of mind,” Lentol wrote.
NYC Transit spokesman Paul Fleuranges said that while they appreciated Lentol “thinking outside of the box,” they won’t have any “spare” cars that will be lying around gathering rust” once the V and W lines are eliminated this summer as part of cost-saving measures.
“Those cars will be used elsewhere, replacing older cars … that have outlived their useful lives,” Fleuranges said.
In a bonus to riders, transit is increasing the frequency of G trains in the evenings to every 10 minutes once the service changes are fully implemented on June 27, Fleuranges said.
April 20} It’s a man’s world in the Big Apple
You can forget about “Sex and the City,” this is a man’s town, according to a ranking by AskMen.com. The Big Apple beat out 28 other cities based on jobs, vacation time, nightlife, the ratio of single men to single women, weather and other categories.
Even after losing thousands of jobs in the financial sector, New York beat out Chicago, last year’s top town. Miami, the next best U.S. city this year, came in seventh.
“We’re positioning the best cities that you can live in say, for a year, somewhere exotic, with cultural options, and job opportunities as well, and also entertainment as a man, which includes clubs and fresh air options,” James Bassil, the website’s editor-in-chief, told Reuters.
The website compiled its list with help from contributors around the world and a statistician.
Still, some New Yorkers weren’t so sure about the victory, particularly when it comes to the local weather.
“The weather — forget about it,” said Peter Dudine, a stockbroker from Brooklyn who otherwise gave the city high marks. “That destroys its reputation. You see the sun maybe one or two days.”
April 19} New Yorkers Gear up for life without doormen
A million New Yorkers may soon get much more familiar with how to run their buildings.
The union representing some 30,000 doormen and other workers were still without a contract deal Monday night and are facing a 12:01 a.m. strike deadline Wednesday, leaving residents to prepare for life without the handymen.
“There’s a sign-up board in the lobby with all the duties that workers perform — sorting mail, sweeping, mopping,” said Sean Wade, resident manager for a 165-unit condo in Kips Bay.
The two sides are divided over a new contract in which the owners of some 3,200 buildings want workers to pay for a portion of health insurance premiums and wait longer to earn top pay.
Here’s a 4-1-1 for New Yorkers on what they can expect in the event of a strike:
— Your building may be giving out identification cards that must be shown to security guards in the lobby. The names of regular workers, such as housekeepers, and guests would be put on a list kept by a guard.
— You may also end up getting familiar with the route to your building’s dumpster if there is no volunteer effort being organized for garbage collection.
— Forget door-to-door service. While regular mail will be delivered, FedEx and UPS officials said workers, who are unlikely to cross a picket line, will contact you to meet them at a nearby corner.
— Finally, if you’ve been holding your breath to move in to your first doorman apartment, you might have to wait a little longer. Move-ins may be rescheduled.
April 16} Jay-Z to Big Papi: ”40/40” Name is Mine!
Hip-hop mogul Jay-Z and his business partner sued Boston Red Sox baseball player David Ortiz Thursday for naming a Dominican Republic nightclub after their chain of 40/40 Club sports bar lounges.
Jay-Z and Juan Perez own 40/40 Clubs in New York City, Atlantic City and Las Vegas and have plans to open further venues in Tokyo and Macau.
They have accused Ortiz of trading on the fame, value and goodwill of their name through his club Forty/Forty and its Web site, www.fortyforty.net, which they say has caused their business “marketplace confusion and damage,’” the lawsuit said.
“David Ortiz is fully aware of plaintiff’s Manhattan 40/40 Club, since he had been a patron there on several occasions long before he opened his infringing Forty/Forty Club,” said the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court.
April 15} Lesbian Teen , denied prom in Mississippi , to Lead NYC Gay Pride Parade
A Mississippi teen who fought a school ban on same-sex prom dates has gone from being ostracized to being honored.
Constance McMillen, 18, will serve as a grand marshal of the NYC Gay Pride March on June 27. She shares the honor with Judy Shepard, mother of Matthew Shepard, who was slain in a 1998 hate crime.
“I never dreamed so many people would support my fight to take my girlfriend to the prom, much less that I’d end up being asked to be a Grand Marshal at NYC Pride,” McMillen said in a statement. “I’m really honored and touched to be asked to be part of this celebration.”
McMillen’s school district canceled prom rather than let McMillen wear a tuxedo and bring her girlfriend. Earlier this month, a private prom was held to replace the traditional one, but McMillen was among only seven students who attended.
McMillen’s case gained national attention after the American Civil Liberties Union helped to challenge her Fulton, Miss., school district, which banned same-sex prom dates and allowed only male students to wear tuxedos.
April 1}METRO NY: The Mistrial Minstrel show fails to balance
Clearly John Kander and the late Fred Ebb, creators of musical classics such as “Cabaret” and “Chicago,” knew how to spin cynicism into theatrical gold. And that talent is very much in evidence in “The Scottsboro Boys” at the Vineyard Theatre, which combines hard-boiled skepticism with tuneful razzle-dazzle to often entertaining effect. Yet despite its clever story-telling, “Scottsboro” fails to find its balance. It should take your breath away but barely elicits a sigh.
In 1931 in Scottsboro, Ala., nine black teenagers wrongfully accused of raping two white women were tried and repeatedly retried in a sea of guilty verdicts and mistrials. The choice to tell this dark historic episode as a minstrel show is a bold one that almost pays off but ultimately backfires.
There’s shuffling and blackface (on African-Americans) and lots of catchy music. And Susan Stroman’s choreography is a pleasure, skillfully blending vaudeville with pirouettes.
But the artificiality of the proceedings (including men playing women and blacks playing whites) keeps the audience at a distance. Rather than establishing an attitude that comments on the action, the minstrel show becomes the show’s center, relegating the boys’ tragic tale to the periphery.
April 1 } METRO NY’S ROBINSON: Andrew Jackson a ”Bloody” good Role
Who knew our seventh president — the brash, bold, controversial Andrew Jackson — could be so emo? Writer and director Alex Timbers did. Collaborating with musician Michael Friedman, Timbers created the raucous (and yes, emo) new musical, “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,” a mixture of fact and fiction, about the life of Old Hickory. Metro New York’s Dorothy Robinson spoke to actor Benjamin Walker, who gets to wear the tight pants of Andrew Jackson night after night, to find out just how he’s able to button them.
You’ve been portraying Andrew Jackson for a while.
Yes. I saw the musical at a workshop at the Williamstown Theater Festival, and it blew me away, so I begged Alex to give me an audition. I got the role, we did it as a workshop in New York City, then moved it to L.A., and now it’s back at the Public. So three years.
It’s a very strenuous performance; how do you keep up your energy and enthusiasm?
Well, the crowd is so supportive and energetic. You know, support and energy, that’s pure actor food.
Did Andrew Jackson really wear such tight pants? How in the world do you get in them?
[Laughs.] With a shoe horn! Yes, they are pretty tight. I actually have to wear a cup.
Do you ever want to take on another president in your acting career? Hoover, perhaps?
That’d be a lot of fun, actually. I’d do all the different presidents all set to different music. That’s it — I’m talking with my agent!
‘Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson’
- Through April 25
- Public Theater
- 425 Lafayette St.
- $20-$70, 212-967-7555
- www.publictheater.org
March 31th} 99 Years Later , work Rights still an Issue
It was 99 years ago today, near closing time, when a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, a garment factory near Washington Square Park that made blouses. The blaze claimed the lives of 146 poorly paid workers, mostly recent Italian and Jewish immigrant women.
With exits blocked, many women — some children as young as 15 — jumped from the ninth floor rather than burn alive. The incident galvanized unions and spurred labor reforms, but improvement is needed, officials say.
“In 99 years, obviously there have been advances,” said Bruce Raynor, president of Workers United, an SEIU affiliate that represents laundry, hospitality, apparel and manufacturing workers.
“Unfortunately in the apparel industry, it’s still a problem worldwide,” he said, pointing to fatal fires in Bangladeshi garment factories and American workers who lose limbs in industrial laundries.
With exits blocked, many women — some children as young as 15 — jumped from the ninth floor rather than burn alive. The incident galvanized unions and spurred labor reforms, but improvement is needed, officials say.
Leo Rosales, of the state Labor Department, said the most flagrant violation here is “wage theft.”
With exits blocked, many women — some children as young as 15 — jumped from the ninth floor rather than burn alive. The incident galvanized unions and spurred labor reforms, but improvement is needed, officials say.
“We’re still calling factories ‘sweatshops’ in 2010,” Rosales said. “We’re hoping that in 2015, we’ll be able to eliminate that word from our vocabulary. Not that it will be eliminated in five years, but we’re trying.”
March 20th }Black and white meets new technology at photo show
Traditional black and white is sharing the spotlight with color and new digital formats at a major international photography show that runs through Sunday in New York.
“There are two different audiences, but they are certainly coming together more than they have in previous years,” said Stephen Bulger, a Toronto gallery owner and president of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD), which organized the show.
“For the most part, people who were collecting black and whites in the 1970s and 80s were not interested in color at all. Then they were worried about the longevity of it. But now the camps are coming together.”
The show, which opened Thursday, features works from more than 70 major photography galleries, including a wide range of museum-quality work, modern and 19th century photographs, photo-based art, video and new media.
The New York show is the longest running and among the most important exhibitions of fine art photography.
The works range from those of digital media artist Shirley Shor, whose alternating images of a man’s and a woman’s face is listed for sale at 20,000 dollars, to the 1856 black and white still life of early French photographer Adolphe Braun.
“It is only a bouquet of flowers, but the range of tones between black and white is impressive for the period, and this photo remains intact after 150 years,” said Paris gallery owner Jonas Tebib, who lists the print at 6,000 dollars.
The highest price tag of the show goes to a unique 1921 print by US photographer Edward Weston, who died in 1958. This is the first time Weston’s photograph of a naked woman’s bust is shown in public, and the owner is asking for 650,000 dollars.
Andy Warhol’s black and white photographs from 1976 to 1979 are displayed by Steven Kasher Gallery, which is also showing the first ever prints of autochrome prints, from the National Geographic collection dated 1907-1925.
March 2nd } NYPD Looking for Naomi Campbell After Alleged Assault on Driver
New York City police are on the hunt for supermodel Naomi Campbell after she reportedly assaulted her driver Tuesday afternoon.
Law enforcement officials say Campbell got into a fight with the unidentified driver and proceeded to slap and punch him from the back seat. The 27-year-old man says Campbell struck the steering wheel, causing bruising under his right eye.
It is not clear what sparked the assault.
The driver pulled over the black Cadillac Escalade in Midtown Manhattan near 58th Street and Second Avenue where he called 911. He claims the 39-year-old model jumped out of the car and took off.
The alleged victim, who was hired for just the day, was taking Campbell to Astoria Studios in Queens.
Authorities are looking to speak to Campbell. The NYPD is deciding whether or not to charge Campbell with a crime.
The model’s spokesman Jeff Raymond wasn’t available for comment late Tuesday afternoon.
This isn’t the first instance Campbell is accused of roughing someone up.
In March 2005, she allegedly slapped her assistant Amanda Brack and beat her with a BlackBerry. That same year, an Italian actress claimed Campbell left her “covered in blood” following an altercation at a Rome hotel. The fight was reportedly sparked over a dress the actress had wanted to wear.
In March 2006, New York City police took Campbell into custody for allegedly assaulting a house keeper with a cell phone. The victim had apparently suffered injuries to her head that required several stitches.
Campbell pleaded guilty on Jan. 16, 2007, to a charge of reckless assault against her housekeeper Ana Scolavino. She was sentenced to five days community service and ordered to attend two days at an anger management course.
That following April, Campbell was reportedly arrested inside Heathrow airport for allegedly beating a cop after one of her bags had been lost.
2/26 }Democrat Calls for Rangel to Yield Tax- Writing Job
A House Democrat is urging Rep. Charles Rangel to step aside as the top tax writer in Congress a day after the ethics committee said he violated travel rules by letting corporations pay for his trips to theCaribbean.
Rep. Gene Taylor of Mississippi was the first Democratic lawmaker to suggest that Rangel should give up his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee, which originates not only tax laws but also benefit programs that now pay nearly half the costs for Americans’ health care.
In Taylor’s words, Rangel should “either step down or step aside until this is resolved.” Taylor made the remark to reporters while the House was voting on an intelligence bill. Rangel was on the House floor taking part in the votes at the time.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declined to speculate on the embattled congressman’s future. Pelosi said she had yet to read the committee’s report and noted that the powerful pol remains under investigation on other alleged ethics lapses.
She said “there is obviously more to come” and “we’ll just see what happens next.”
24 FEB}>NYC EVENTS< Black Eyed Peas Headline MSG, How To Turn Your Blog To $$$$
- THREEFER: The utterly inescapable Black-Eyed Peas cap off their biggest year yet with this MSG gig. Come for the “Boom Boom Pow” and Fergie’s five-inch heels; stay for opening act Ludacris (the other way around, but you understand). Also, oddball duo LMFAO opens for the opener. Are we the only ones who feel like it’s the Peas who should be opening for Ludacris? No? Thank you. 7:30PM.
- ’TIL YOU’RE SORE: Maria Finn‘s husband was cheating, so she threw him out. Then she cried, and when she was done with that, she signed up for tango lessons. A lot more happened, of course, and that’s the meat of Finn’s memoir “Hold Me Tight and Tango Me Home” (Algonquin Books) – join her for the launch party at Idlewild Books, complete with live tango music, dance demos and flowing Argentinean wine. 7PM.
- SAVE, PUBLISH: Hey, have you heard blogs can lead to book deals? Ok, the concept isn’t new – but come to the JCC to hear two notables in the trend, “Julie & Julia”’s Julie Powell and “The Happiness Project”’s Gretchen Rubin, talk about how they turned their self-improvement jags into printed matter. “Blogs to Blockbusters” is at 7:30PM.
22 FEB} Bowlmor goes for a strike in Times Square
The the iconic Union Square bowling alley announced today it will be building a second Manhattan facility in Times Square. It will be one of about a half a dozen bowling alleys in Midtown once it opens in October 2010.
But Bowlmor is hoping to make a bigger and better bowling experience. The massive 90,000 square foot space will be housed in the former New York Times building on West 44th Street and its design is an unapologetic tribute to the Big Apple.
The 50-lane bowling bonanza will be divided to portray seven different quintessentially New York attractions — including Chinatown, Central Park, Soho, Tribeca and the Subway system.
Inside the complex, Warhol-esque artwork will cover the walls of the “Pop New York” lounge and a stairway will be fashioned to look a lot like the Brooklyn Bridge, according to the developers.
The Midtown venue will be the largest of the six Bowlmor Lanes locations around the country, the company said in a statement.
The original Bowlmor Lanes in Union Square was opened in 1938.
18 FEB} Mysterious High Line Building is Losing its Head
A property butting up against the High Line should be a gold mine, and while certain sites near the park in the sky are yielding pricey nuggets, others have proven to be a wad of woe.
Count the shell of a building at 508 West 20th Street among the latter. From atop the stairway where Phase I of the High Line now ends, High Liners come face-to-face with four floors of steel beams and open-ended concrete, but not for long. The DOB has issued a demolition permit to remove the top two floors and seal the remaining structure, and work might just begin today.
The deconstruction will remove the eyesore from the High Line’s cluttered western view that includes archigeek favorites likeAnnabelle Selldorf, Shigeru Ban and Jean Nouvel (not to mention the slightly older IAC building from the Gehry gang). As for the future of this problematic plot, it’s a bit uncertain.
The mystery shell has a convoluted history, including a batch ofviolations and stop work orders covering non-conforming and unsafe construction, but the economic downturn more than anything brought things to a halt.
Then the 3,834-square-foot site was listed for sale in an online flyer(warning: PDF) that showed a rendering of all four floors covered in glass, and proclaiming that “existing air rights may be transferred anywhere within the Special West Chelsea zoning District.” The site has its many pluses, including front row seats to the High Line Renegade Cabaret across the way, but in these troubled times it’s anybody’s guess how this one will turn out.
18 FEB} NYC’s First Gay Hotel (Maybe) Coming to West Side
The city’s first gay boutique hotel, replete with a 10,000-square-foot new dance club, will be coming to Hell’s Kitchen if developers have their way.
Ian Reiser, head of Parkview Developers, and his business and life partner, Mati Weiderpass, want to convert a building on 42nd Street and 10th Ave. into a 123-room hotel, which aside from the major dance club will also include a spa, restaurant, café and stores,according to the Daily News.
The rennovations at 508 W. 42nd Street are expect to cost at lest $20 million.
“It’s going to be called ‘The Out N.Y.C.‘ Like, ‘Come out! Let’s go out and play!’” Reiser told the paper of his pet project.
Such an establishment is a marketer’s dream, considering the massive number of gays and lesbians in the city and their propensity to travel more than straight people.
Until now, hotel operators, originally targeting their design to straight couples, have adapted to make their accommodations and services more gay friendly. Reiser’s concept is revolutionary.
The proposal would thus provide access to a huge untapped market – and the amenities outlined in the plan would likely attract travelers and non-travelers alike. Reiser wants to incorporate a 10,000-square-foot, 750-customer dance club. He and his partner are collaborating with kingpins in the gay nightlife scene to develop it.
The Business Licenses and Permits Committee of Community Board 4 has already approved the development, and the complete board votes in two weeks, reports the News. That final OK may be a crucial step in getting construction underway.
Most residents in the area eagerly anticipate the vitality such a project would bring to the neighborhood.
“I think it’s a great idea,” 20-year-old April Schoenfeld told the News. “It will add a lot of color and spice to the area.”
18 FEB}Stvy Hgts : One Of Best Old Neighborhoods in Country
Brooklyn‘s Stuyvesant Heights Historic District landed itself on a nation-wide “Best Old-House Neighborhoods” list, thanks in part to its diverse array of townhouses.
The March issue of This Old House magazine specifically named the Brooklyn neighborhood as the “Best Place for Brownstone Buffs” for its third annual list.
Editors of the home and real estate publication searched the country and Canada for 51 neighborhoods that they describe as having “promising futures, people that care, and homes that truly deserve a long-term commitment.”
Located nearby Clinton Hill and Fort Greene, Stuyvesant Heights, hailed as a cultural enclave, was chosen for its variety of brownstones, the emergence of restaurants and cafés and the town’s decreasing crime rate.
“If you’re a buyer looking for lots of architectural detail, this place has a lot to offer,” said real estate agent Judd Harris. “And homes are still within reach of the average New York City buyer.”
The magazine said the neighborhood’s townhouses, which usually go for millions of dollars, are currently selling for as low as $475,000, but won’t remain that way for long.
16 FEB}Coney Island To Get 19 New Rides, Neighborhood Changes
After years of hand-wringing over the future of Coney Island, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is promising 19 new amusement park rides this summer.
They’re made by an Italian company — the world’s largest manufacturer of mechanical rides.
At a Coney Island news conference Tuesday, Bloomberg said the new “Luna Park” will open on Memorial Day weekend.
By summer 2011, Coney Island’s new “Scream Zone” will offer two roller coasters, a human slingshot ride and go-carts.
The mayor also outlined plans to turn the run-down neighborhood into a year-round entertainment district with restaurants, retail stores and hotels.
The renewal of the neighborhood by the Brooklyn boardwalk is moving forward after the city purchased land owned by a developer for $95.6 million, in November.
16 FEB} Charles Dickens’s Old Dog Collar goes for $11K at Auction
A dog collar that belonged to Charles Dickens has fetched $11,590 at a New York City auction.
The leather and brass collar is inscribed with Dickens’ name and carried an estimate of $4,000 to $6,000. The buyer’s name was not immediately disclosed.
Like many Victorians, the author of “David Coppperfield” and “A Tale of Two Cities” was fond of dogs.
Last year, an ivory and gold toothpick that belonged to Dickens sold for $9,150 at auction.
The collar was auctioned Tuesday at Bonhams New York’s sale of dog art.
The auction featured paintings of dogs by well-known artists of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
