sections

archives

Urbanite

New York City news, culture and more from amNewYork on the redesigned amNY.com.

search this blog

  • Throwback Thursday: Keep New York Wet, Save Water ... we mean Wadda

    Thursday August 28, 2008 2:02 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Nothing could go right for New York in the early 1980s. If the crime, the street trash and the graffiti wasn't enough, then there was the water shortage. With the upstate reservoirs running low, the Koch administration took to the airwaves with the memorable campaign, "Keep New York Wet, Save Water."

    From a New York Times' article of the era: "In December 1980, Mayor Koch named every child in the city a deputy mayor in charge of saving water. Flanked by 44 of his deputy mayors in one television commercial, Mr. Koch offered tips on saving water and concluded, in chorus with the children, "Keep New York wet." In fact, on Dec. 31, 1982, the Times made the slogan one of its "quotations" of the day.

    The spot shown above dates from this time, and indeed features city kids with incredibly thick Noo Yawk accents reminding you to conserve. It's priceless stuff from another New York.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Video via trainluvr on YouTube

    Tags: water shortage, mayor koch, throwback thursday, television, history, endangered nyc

  • Amusing history: Spotlight on Rockaway bungalows, Coney Island, the vanished Freedomland and other summer treasures

    Thursday August 28, 2008 1:04 PM By Rolando Pujol

    A bungalow in the Rockaways. (Photo via LaurenKrohnRichman on Flickr)

    The Historic Districts Council will be exploring the leisure destinations of old New York in its fall lecture series, “Out for the Day in New York: Historical Resorts and Amusements.”

    “The Bungalows of the Rockaways,” a documentary, will be screened at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 9. The historical quaint homes that once laced the peninsula have dwindled from nearly 7,000 in 1933 to only 500 today. The film will be followed by a Q&A session with Richard George, of the Beachside Bungalow Preservation Organization, preservationist Caroline C. Pasion, and the filmmakers, Jennifer Callahan and Elizabeth Logan Harris.

    In the tour, “From the Shore to the Sideshow,” participants will delve into the history of Brooklyn’s Coney Island, getting a taste of the amusement park’s humble beginnings and its impending future. The tour will visit landmarks such as the Cyclone Coaster and Parachute Jump. The tour starts at 11 a.m. Sept. 14.

    “Fun in the Sun: Resorts, Pools, Fairs and More!” will look at the venues of amusement and relaxation in all five boroughs. Various noted speakers will discuss the racetracks, railroads, and resorts of Brooklyn, New York’s WPA-era swimming pools, the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair, and the Bronx’s Freedomland amusement park. This event will be held on Sept. 16.

    Lecture tickets are $15, tour tickets are $35, and you can snag a full series package for $60.

    Click here for more.

    -- Simone Herbin

    Tags: preservation, endangered nyc, queens, neighborhoods, bronx, architecture

  • Hurricane Katrina anniversary marked

    Thursday August 28, 2008 10:08 AM By Jamshid Mousavinezhad

    As New Orleans and the country remembers the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, listen again to the voices and frustrations of the survivors, as caught by our Lauren Johnston last year on her visit to New Orleans.

    -Photos of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina are here

    -Even the worst event brings out the goodness in people; here are photos of 23 celebrities who pitched in to help

    And if you're out and about in the city Friday night, stop by 'The Calling', an event presented by the nonprofit NOLA Preservation Society.

    There will be an art exhibit, musical performance from Jonathan Baptiste, and a buffet/open bar for the $25 donation fee. Proceeds are going toward preservations efforts in New Orleans and other Gulf Coast areas that are still battling the impact of Katrina.

  • The Armando's lobster retires to Dutchess County?

    Thursday August 28, 2008 10:02 AM By Rolando Pujol

    The Slammin' Salmon in upstate Millbrook has a neon lobster in one of its windows. (Photos by Rolando Pujol)

    Has the neon lobster from Armando's in Brooklyn Heights retired to greener pastures in Dutchess County?

    We did a double take during a recent visit to the postcard-perfect town of Millbrook, where an Armando's-style lobster holds court in the window of the Slammin' Salmon fish market.

    The Slammin' Salmon lobster, left, rotated to reflect the way the Armando's lobster was positioned. The lobster in Millbrook is slightly different.

    Apparently, there are more than a few of these lobsters still glowing around the country. One of somewhat different design can be found at the Lobster Pot in Provincetown.

    But the one in Millbrook seems pretty similar to its lost cousin in Brooklyn Heights.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    More signs photos here. And submit yours here.

    Tags: armando's, neon, signs, restaurants, food, endangered nyc, brooklyn

  • Lindsay Lohan talks back to Daddy Dearest

    Thursday August 28, 2008 9:22 AM By Linda Perney

    Lindsay Lohan is really, really pissed. With Daddy Lohan out bad-mouthing Sam, Lindsay had to turn to MySpace to weigh in, and she calls him just the meanest things:

    “People were right …” she writes. “he has yet to change…he has become a public embarrassment…”

    Wait. He’s become an embarrassment??? I thought he became a Christian…

    “His recent attack on my life and my loved ones is simply for an addiction that he has – fame,” Lindsay says, getting into the spirit of the thing.

    Not that La Lohan would know anything about either addictions or fame. In the end, though, she knows she can always rely on Sam – who would, of course, never sell her out – and on her mother, who is “wonderful.”

    That is, when she’s not being an embarrassment.

    Anyway, to read more of Lindsay’s rant – and Sam’s sick-making self-justification -- go to http://celebrity.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=celebrity.blog&id=1

    Check out 58 more of our favorite Lindsay Lohan photos here. [Warning: at least 1 photo not appropriate for children].

    Tags: entertainment

  • Jessica Biel pregnant, Dolly Parton dead, Michelle Obama pregnant all in the Ridonkulous Internet Rumors of the Week

    Thursday August 28, 2008 6:16 AM By Elizabeth Nielsen

    Jessica Biel pregnant with Justin Timberlake's baby? Michelle Obama pregnant? Dolly Parton dead?

    Welcome back to Urbanite's latest installment of Ridonkulous Internet Rumors of the week. We take pride in our constant monitoring of Google in order to find out what kinds of insanity is trolling the Internet on a weekly basis. This week, it has been alleged that Dolly Parton is dead, and that Jessica Biel and Michelle Obama are both carrying buns in the oven.

    Jessica Biel sporting a baby bump and carrying super hottie Justin Timberlake's baby? Stranger things have happened. Biel was out shopping at Whole Foods this week, and perhaps a gust of blew her empire waisted dress, or perhaps she's sperminate with JT's spawn. Either way, only time will tell.

    On Monday, it was circulating the eBays that Dolly Parton had passed away. Some likened it to the Bernie Mac rumors that were floating around for awhile prior to his death. However, reps for Miss Dolly shot down the rumors saying that the singer was 'alive and well.' Nobody can quite figure out where this rumor came from, but rumor has it that the rumor spewed from an

    erronious announcement at a high school football game. Who knew?

    Earlier in the week there were certain blogs picking on Michelle Obama's weight gain (or outfit choice) and insinuating that the possible future First Lady was prego. This was all prior to her incredible speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Monday evening, and rumors circulated that she was going to announce her pregnancy during the speech. Lo and behold, she did not, so I think this is one crazy Internet rumor we can put to bed.

    Check out our photos of Miss Dolly Parton through the years.

    Also, take a peek at FHM's Hottest 100 Women featuring none other than Miss Jessica Biel

    Finally, have a look at Michelle Obama and her gorgeous daughters.

    --Lizzy

  • Kew Gardens residents call for landmark protection

    Wednesday August 27, 2008 3:00 PM By Rolando Pujol

    The overall neighborhood of Kew Gardens is not protected. (Photo by Phil S. Kropoth)

    Despite its historic significance, Kew Gardens lacks landmark protection -- an issue that frustrates local residents and preservationists.

    "Kew Gardens is definitely one of the planned communities in Queens that is very significant and hasn't gotten its due in terms of preservation," says Frampton Tolbert, deputy director of the Historic Districts Council, which has Kew Gardens on its endangered list. "Only in recent years do people have a better appreciation for these neighborhoods.

    By that time it might be too late. Residents have on eye on Richmond Hill, Kew Gardens' sister neighborhood, and fear that the insensitive development there might soon encroach upon their turf. Requests for rulings before the Landmark Preservation Commission have gone unheeded, but civic leaders aren't ready to give up.

    "It's the attrition battle--who's going to give in first," says Crawford. "We're not going to give in. This is really an important neighborhood, a real demonstration of smart community development. I think we have to understand rational development.

    "In the meantime, you just do your local battle to prevent as much damage as possible."

    -- Lana Bortolot

    Read more about life in Kew Gardens here.

    Tags: kew gardens, preservation, landmarking, architecture, queens, neighborhoods, endangered nyc, development

  • Bike lock clipping outside the U.S. Open

    Wednesday August 27, 2008 2:52 PM By Pete Catapano

    Beware a new USTA policy. Apparently fearing for plastic explosives stuffed into the tubes of bicycles, U.S. Open officials are working with NYC Parks Department in Flushing Meadows to remove all bikes locked in the vicinity of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

    I have this from an NYPD officer who told me this as I unlocked my bike to ride back to the amNewYork office yesterday afternoon.

    The officer said had I come 30 minutes later, I would have found that my locks had been clipped, a summons issued and a $50 storage fee levied.

    Today, on that officer's advice, I parked and locked my bike near the bike rentals trailer about 500 feet from the USTA East Gate. No incidents.

    But be careful where you anchor your wheels if bike to the U.S. Open you do.

    — Max

    Tags: sports

  • Chicago 1968: Witness to Democratic history

    Tuesday August 26, 2008 7:58 AM By Rolando Pujol

    Anti-war protesters gather in Grant Park outside the Conrad Hilton, base of the Democratic National Committee. (Photo by Jefferson Siegel)

    It was 40 years ago today that another Democratic National Convention began. In 1968, with the country torn apart by the Vietnam War and the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. earlier in the year, the Democrats gathered in Chicago for a convention that would come to be known as a "police riot."

    Demonstrators had arrived en masse to protest the war policies of President Lyndon B. Johnson. His vice president, Hubert Humphrey, was a candidate, as was the anti-war candidate, Sen. Eugene McCarthy. Humphrey would win the nomination, only to lose to Richard M. Nixon in the general election. The war would continue for several more years, eventually claiming the lives of 58,000 U.S. troops.

    In this photo, anti-war demonstrators gather in Grant Park, across the street from the Conrad Hilton, the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. As people in the hotel turned their room lights on and off in a show of support for the protesters, the crowd cheered back.

    * Click to see 12 more photos from the demonstrations

    -- Jefferson Siegel

    Tags: chicago 1968, democrats, dnc, politics, history

  • Who is Kara DioGuardi--and why is she American Idol's newest judge?

    Monday August 25, 2008 7:19 AM By Jamshid Mousavinezhad

    Grammy-nominated songwriter Kara DioGuardi has joined "American Idol" as a fourth

    judge, alongside Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson. Her clients include David Cook, David Archuleta, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Clay Aiken. AP File Photo/Chris Pizzello

    American Idol is shaking up its new season, adding a fourth judge--New Yorker and Grammy-nominated songwriter Kara DioGuardi--to sit alongside Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson.

    Cause everyone's main complaint about American Idol is that we want more airtime for the judges....

    Sheesh. As an avid Idol fan, I think this is a bad move. The ratings are dropping, so a panicking FOX is scrambling to do something.

    Nevertheless, our own Kara (Warner) was on the conference call for the first interview the new American Idol judge did, during which she called herself "a very lucky girl," and answered whether she was going to be the female Simon Cowell.

    DioGuardi's website scrolls a long list of people she's worked with--Marc Anthony, Ricky Martin, Jonas Brothers--that includes a lot of ex-Idols: Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Clay Aiken, Bo Bice, David Cook, David Archuleta.....

    So she definitely knows what an American Idol winner sounds like.

    And her Wikipedia entry says in addition to her singing and songwriting talents, she also worked in the publishing and marketing departments of Billboard Magazine.

    So there's no question she's qualified--but I don't know, I feel like the judges and all their drama are too big a part of the show as it is, what's the point of adding yet another one?

    It reminds me a bit of the Yankees, who go crazy making trades and shelling out big bucks after yet another season without a World Series title, as if more more more is the answer.

    When really, what Idol needs to do is get back to its roots--a showcase for undiscovered, surprising and interesting talented young singers.

    I'd rather see American Idol incorporate more reality show-type angles, and show us who's rooming with who, what the contestants are doing in their time off, and other behind-the-scenes stuff.

    But instead, FOX seems intent on loading down the show with more features, more glitz, and now, more judges.

    * Photos: Click here for Simon Cowell: A life in pictures

    * Photos of American Idol Season 8 auditions

    * Click here to see photos of David Archuleta and David Cook touring

    * Here are photos of what all the American Idol stars have been up to this summer

    * And relive the Season 7 finale here

    * Here's our am/fm blog, which checks out new bands/music in NYC

    Tags: entertainment

  • Mad Men and the City: The New Girl

    Monday August 25, 2008 7:13 AM By Rolando Pujol

    Newly engaged Joan Holloway helps out Don's latest secretery -- The New Girl" of the episode's name -- on her first day on the job. The boys are soon all over her. (Via AMC).

    Welcome to our second edition of Mad Men and the City, Urbanite's weekly look at AMC's "Mad Men" as seen through the prism of New York and American history and culture. As always, spoilers lurk below, so proceed with care. And please share your observations in the comments:

    * Lenox Hill -- As Pete Campbell and his wife, Trudy, discuss with a doctor their inability to have a child, Trudy enthusiastically mentions the wonders of Lenox Hill Hospital. Her theory that Pete is the reason there are no little ones running around their posh Upper East Side apartment is deflated later in the episode, when a test finds his sperm to be quite motile. (Of course, the viewer -- and Peggy -- know this already!) As you might imagine, their fragile relationship takes a blow, and Pete unsurprisingly is remarkably insensitive to Trudy's pain. As he lashes out at her, she's the one running around saying I'm sorry. (Sorry Pete, taking her out to dinner won't quite make things right.) Our take: Smart, casually inserted mention of Lenox Hill, a New York institution which celebrated its 150th anniversary last year.

    * Sardi's -- Bobbie Barrett telephones Don Draper from Theater District institution Sardi's, and asks him to come over and celebrate. The pilot for "Grin and Barrett," which she pitched in last week's episode, has been sold. As usual, Bobbie gets what Bobbie wants, and Don is soon at Sardi's, where she orders him an Old Fashioned and suggests a trip out to her place on Long Island. Don, of course, obliges. Our take: Sardi's is one of our favorite places in the city, largely for its history and its ties to a vanishing world, which "Mad Men" is very much a part of. While nothing would replace actually shooting at Sardi's, the scene is well handled. The camera captures just enough of the Sardi's-style celebrity caricatures that paper the restaurant's walls to establish that we are indeed at Sardi's. And that's enough for us.Whenever we go to Sardi's before a Broadway show, we amuse ourselves with a game of decipher the celebrity caricature (or more often than not, figure out who this once-famous person was.) The scene there was nicely handled.* Grey -- Could the Rachel Mencken story line still have some legs? It appears so. While at Sardi's, Don has an incredibly awkward run-in with his old flame, who was so damaged by their affair's end that she had to leave the country to recover. Flash forward two years, and he finds out the hard way that she's no longer Ms. Mencken, she's MRS. Katz, and Mr. Katz is their to underline the point. We find out that the Mencken Department Store account is now being handled by Grey when Don drops this gem: "How are things at Grey? Are they still taking credit for everything we did?" Zing! Our take: Effortless name drop of Grey Advertising, now called the Grey Group, which has a commanding presence at 777 Third Ave, a building where Sterling and Cooper would feel right at home. By the early 1960s, Grey was heavily involved in work for big-fish advertisers such as Proctor and Gamble, but we'll assume it was conceivable the company would take an interest in reviving a tired Fifth Avenue department store.

    * Stony Brook -- So the Barretts have a place in that Long Island community, and that's where Don and Bobbie are headed when he gets into a boozy wreck that leaves him in the drunk tank, needing $150 to avoid a night in the slammer. He calls Peggy Olson, who becomes this episode's Ms. Fix It: She helps him make bail, takes in the injured Bobbie in her cramped Brooklyn apartment, and all around shows a fierce loyalty to Don. Of course, we already know that Don has helped propel her career. But now we learn much more about their relationship during a crucial flashback sequence to a visit he pays her at St. Mary's, where she is hospitalized after giving birth. He tells her: "Get out of here and move forward. This never happened. It will shock you how much this never happened." That's Don's credo, and in the same episode, Bobbie shares her credo with Peggy: Use your feminine wiles and treat a man like an equal. Powerful stuff. But back to Stony Brook, we like this reference for many reasons. Chief among them: it reminds us of one our favorite movies, "North by Northwest," a film whose DNA "Mad Men" taps. That movie also features a boozy drive on the Island's North Shore, with Cary Grant at the wheel. There's also a stop at a Long Island police station, and the need to call New York for help. Here, Peggy Olson replaces Roger Thornhill's "mother," played brilliantly by Jessie Royce Landis. Our take: No quibbles here: The Stony Brook reference helped give life to an interesting plot twist.

    * Marilyn, John, and breathy birthday wishes at Madison Square Garden -- We know it's now May 1962, because we hear a casual reference to Saturday's big event: Marilyn Monroe will be at President John F. Kennedy's fund-raising birthday bash at Madison Square Garden. The matter comes up in conversation between Bobbie and Peggy. "Most people would love to have her problems," Peggy says. They wouldn't feel that way three months later, when Marilyn died. Our take: Just a great line; these little carefully selected treats are among the reasons we love this show so much. Of course, we're still talking about the show Marilyn put on for JFK that night at MSG, which back in those days was still at 50th Street and Eighth Avenue.

    * Idlewild -- JFK keeps coming up in this episode. Well, quite indirectly here, but Idlewild will eventually be renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport in honor of the slain president. Kennedy's death is still a year and a half away at this point in the series. The airport's name comes up when discussing where Don might be able to rent a car after he wrecks his own out on Long Island. Our take: It's one of those nuggets that New Yorkers with a taste for history love to share: JFK was once called Idlewild Airport, the name of a golf course where the airfield was built in the 1940s. Its name is immortalized in the theme song to "Car 54, Where Are You?", which is from the "Mad Men" era. (Khrushchev's due at Idlewild!) Our take: Idlewild is a word that represents a clear and emotional demarcation in the nation's life, and the casual use of it here is powerful and noticeable.

    * St. Mary's -- Peggy is hospitalized here when she gives birth. The only St. Mary's we know of in Brooklyn closed in 2005. It was the last Catholic hospital in that borough, which would make it a logical place for Peggy to be a patient. Our take: The real St. Mary's was in Bed-Stuy. Not sure if this would have the closest or most logical hospital for Peggy to attend. But we're simply not sure if our quibble here holds water.

    Odds and Ends

    * Utz -- Utz potato chips make a return appearance when a grateful Jimmy Barrett makes a personal visit to thank Don for his role in talking Utz into sponsoring his show. Oh, little does Jimmy know the back story that involves Bobbie and Don, but we can only imagine what will happen if (or when) he finds out.

    * Western Electric 500 phone -- Last week we knocked the show for using a make of phone that would not have been available for customers in Ossining, the Drapers' hometown. Peggy's home phone, a yellow 500 rotary set, is spot on. The cords are hardwired, and the one going to the wall is a matching color. And by the way, nice going Peggy on the apartment! The roommate is gone and she has her own pad, a hard-fought milestone for the character.

    * Fuzzy TV images -- Back in the day, crystal clear reception in the big city was no guarantee, and Peggy's TV is testament to that. (Fuzzy TV reception was amply used in the episode when the Sterling and Cooper staff awaits the televised results of the Nixon-Kennedy election, back in season one.)

    -- Rolando Pujol

    More:

    -Click for Mad Men photos from Season 2

    -Click for photos of 'The Women of Mad Men'

    -Click for a look at the style of Mad Men

    Must-read "Mad Men" blogs:

    Basket of Kisses

    Star Ledger blog

    Television Without Pity forum

    AMC's blog

    Scenes from the episode:

    Zipper music!

    A drive to Long Island

    Tags: madison square garden, mad men, sardi's, advertising, 1960s, kennedy airport, television, restaurants, old school, media, manhattan, long island, history, entertainment, brooklyn

  • Adirondacks road trip: Snow in August (kind of), leaf peeping (kind of) and Howard Johnson's (definitely)

    Sunday August 24, 2008 7:12 AM By Rolando Pujol

    We're traveling through the Adirondacks this weekend, and came across three curious things that might pique your interest, too, should you be looking for a regional getaway for the upcoming Labor Day weekend:

    1.) Snow in August

    This "Miracle on Ice" can be found outside the Olympic Center, home of the 1932 and 1980 Olympic games, and piled high just off the sidewalk on Main Street. Snow ball fights under bright sunshine and 80-degree weather? You can't go wrong, and it gears you up for the excellent museum of the winter games that awaits inside.

    2.) Leaf-peeping in August

    A few trees are already coming alive with color, prompting a double-take not only from us, but from the local paper, the Lake Placid News, which headlined a photo about the leaves "It's Too Soon." The photo here is at Main and School streets in Lake Placid.

    3.) Breakfast at Howard Johnson's in Lake Placid

    This is one of three remaining Howard Johnson's restaurants, all that's left of a chain that once numbered more than 1,000. Earlier this summer, we blogged our visit to the HoJo's in Lake George Village. This just leaves us with a requisite visit to the HoJo's in Bangor, Maine, which is reportedly on the block. We'll have more on our visit to the Lake Placid HoJos, along with plenty of pics, in a future post.

    -- Rolando Pujol

  • Four-eared cat Yoda purr-fect

    Friday August 22, 2008 10:54 AM By Jamshid Mousavinezhad

    Yoda, the smoke-colored feline with four ears, has become a celebrity. (Fame Pictures)

    Since it's Friday, take a break and check out this story from our sister paper the Chicago Tribune about Yoda, the four-eared cat who's the latest star of the London tabloids.

    He now has his own talent agent, and is coming soon to a TV talk show near you.

    It sure beats his old life:

    Ted and Valerie Rock found Yoda in 2006 while watching a Bears game at a Blue Island bar with fellow volunteers from the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Patrons were passing the 8-week-old kitten around, mocking his appearance and calling him names such as "Devil Cat" and "Beelzebub."

    The Rocks took pity on the kitty and offered to adopt him. The establishment's owner, who kept the cat in a cage atop the bar to amuse patrons, agreed.

    -126 photos of super-cute animals

    -63 photos of odd-looking animals

    Tags: animals

  • Investigators search for cat torturers in the Bronx

    Thursday August 21, 2008 3:10 PM By David Freedlander

    Feral cats have been found burned and beaten over the last several weeks in the Bronx, said authorities who are looking to track down the perpetrators.

    “It’s vicious, sadistic cruelty, and it should be stopped,” said Councilman Oliver Koppell (D-Bronx).

    On July 30, Woodlawn residents alerted animal rescuers to a stray cat roaming the neighborhood whose tail had been burned to little more than a scorched stub and whose gums were burnt, likely due to an effort on the feline’s part to extinguish the fire.

    “Naturally, the cat didn’t put himself on fire, so we are investigating how this came to be,” said Joe Pantangelo, an assistant director with the ASPCA.

    Reports have flooded in since of cats with broken bones and lacerations, according to Koppell’s office.

    Woodlawn, in the northwest section of the Bronx, is home to several colonies of feral cats who hide out in the area’s abundant parkland and who are fed by area residents.

    -- David Freedlander

    Tags: bronx, cats, torture, sadism, animals

  • Astroland in 'holding pattern'

    Thursday August 21, 2008 12:31 PM By Ryan Chatelain

    (Photo by Getty Images)

    Astroland’s co-owner says she won’t put the storied Coney Island amusement park’s rides up for sale just yet, despite issuing an ultimatum that she would do so if she was not offered a lease for 2009 by Friday.

    “I’m just kind of in this holding pattern,” Carol Hill Albert told amNewYork on Thursday. “I think I’m going day by day. I really just don’t know.”

    Last week, Albert said she was inching closer to accepting the fact that Astroland would close forever on Sept. 7. The park’s lease with developer Thor Equities expires Jan. 31. Thor and City Hall have separate plans for the waterfront property, but construction before the end of next summer is unlikely.

    Albert said Thor officials have not contacted her in the past two weeks. She declined to provide a new deadline for making a decision but said the process of selling and removing the rides will take months.

    Albert briefly put Astroland’s rides up for sale last year before pulling them off the market. Thor eventually gave the park an 11th-hour lease extension for this year. While the rhetoric from Albert might seem familiar, she says the circumstances are different.

    “Last year, every time my rides were to go on sale, I got a call from a city official asking me to pull the rides back, that they thought I was going to get a lease,” she said.

    Albert said that city officials have expressed interest in having Astroland return next year but added that she has “not had the same confidence that I had last year.”

    Previous article:

    Time running out on Astroland's 2009 hopes

    -Click here for photos of Astroland

  • Throwback Thursday: Mad Men's New York, as seen from a 1960 Chevy Impala

    Thursday August 21, 2008 12:21 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Mad Men's first season takes place in 1960, and this ad for Chevrolet was filmed in Manhattan that very same year. During this two-minute spot, follow the red, convertible Chevy Impala as it wends its way through Gotham's streets. Highlights include Times Square (with a shot of the original Ripley's Believe It or Not), Park Avenue, blocks that appear to be straight out of Helen Levitt photos, and even Washington Square Park, where the driver saunters through without notice. (The park used to be open to cars, although by 1960, cars had been banned.)

    And if you want some insight into the Greenwich Village of Midge Daniels -- Don Draper's art illustrator girlfriend whose heart really belongs to an unctuous beatnik/proto-hippie -- check out this most glorious of films, "Village Sunday." It preserves 12 precious minutes of the neighborhood when it was really "The Village."

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: mad men, advertising, cars, throwback thursday, television

  • And a rovin' they will go: walkout planned for Saturday

    Thursday August 21, 2008 7:44 AM By David Freedlander

    Hundreds of New Yorkers are planning to head out of town the hard way this Saturday as part of an organized walk-out sponsored by the Sanctuary of Hope, an off beat performance space in Ridgewood, Queens.

    The group is meeting at Union Square on Saturday and planning to head up Broadway, spending the night in Van Cortlandt Park, before ultimately, two days later, ending up in Croton Point Park in Croton-on-Hudson.

    The idea began with three friends making weekend plans.

    "We all have lived in New York for such a long-ass time and we were trying to get out of it," said Matthew Blair, 26, who is organizing the event and who runs Sanctuary of Hope.

    He added that this is an apolitical walkout--"it's a demonstration, not a protest," he said--and that folks are invited to peel off after a few miles or even a few blocks.

    Blair also said that he hoped that more would join along the way, Forrest Gump-style.

    There they hope to make their way back to the city courtesy of Swoon and her merry mob on Swimming Cities and Switchback Sea

    --David Freedlander

    Tags: swoon, walkout, hipster ridgewood performance spaces, road trips

  • GOP, Dem mystery missiles

    Wednesday August 20, 2008 4:17 PM By Emily Ngo

    A missile-shaped structured was hauled down Seventh Avenue near 34th Street on Wednesday night, emblazoned on both sides with McCain and Obama's names.

    Do you know what these mystery missiles are? A protest of some sort? Apparently, Jet Angel is behind it.

    — Emily Ngo and Garett Sloane

  • Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones: Not dead

    Wednesday August 20, 2008 11:09 AM By Elizabeth Nielsen

    The Associated Press moved an alert not 10 minutes ago stating that Stephanie Tubbs Jones a US Representative from Ohio, had died. Then, about a minute ago, recanted that alert with this gem of comedic gold.

    Kill the APNewsAlert saying U.S. Rep.

    Stephanie Tubbs Jones has died. A doctor says she is in critical condition.

    Yes, its very sad that someone is dying, but a slow golf clap goes to the Associated Press on this one.

    Play a game of dead or not dead with yourself here.

    --Lizzy

  • World Trade Center and Virgin of Guadalupe murals draw the curious on City Island

    Wednesday August 20, 2008 10:49 AM By Rolando Pujol

    Murals in the parking lot of the Neptune Inn on City Island include one of the World Trade Center, which is peeling away, and another for the Virgin of Guadalupe, which is intact. (Photos by Rolando Pujol)

    If there's one thing that City Islanders enjoy in great numbers, it's seafood places. The Neptune Inn, on the island's southern tip, has been closed for years because of a fire, but still draws the curious because of the murals in its parking lot.

    Two murals in particular attract attention. One is in shabby condition, and shows the World Trade Center. A local restaurant worker who noticed us snapping photos of the murals last weekend told us that the paint began to flick away shortly after 9/11, in a coincidence that some felt poignant, if a touch bizarre. But what raises even more eyebrows is the mural right next to it, which shows the Virgin of Guadalupe. That mural is in excellent shape, with no serious signs of damage.

    This juxtaposition, this person said, has inevitably led people to impute some greater meaning to the murals, and, he says, even pay their respects at the murals. (A third mural, right next to the one of the WTC, has some paint damage but not as much.)

    We later asked around and found no other such reports, but we can say for sure that the murals are striking. Another sight-seer also noticed the murals and was snapping away while we were there. Other Web sites have found the Neptune Inn's murals worthy of mention.

    Soon, these conversation pieces may be a memory.

    The restaurant -- its windows smashed open and trash and furniture everywhere -- is poised for demolition, we were told. And that means those murals that attract so much attention may well disappear along with the old Neptune Inn.

    The murals are 35 City Island Ave., across from the popular Sammy's and Lobster Box restaurants. And keep an eye on Urbanite for more dispatches from our recent visit to City Island.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: city island, neptune inn, world trade center, religion, restaurants, old school, history, food, endangered nyc, arts, architecture

  • Jessica Simpson boozes it up on 'healthy' beer

    Wednesday August 20, 2008 7:52 AM By Julie Gordon

    Jessica Simpson (Photo: Getty)

    Add beer spokeswoman to Jessica Simpson's list of jobs. The Texas native, 27, is now the face of Stampede Light Plus beer, the company announced today. She is also a shareholder and has a 15 percent stake in the company.

    "Yes, I work out and take care of myself, but I also like a cold beer once in a while," Simpson said in a statement.

    Stampede Light Plus bills itself as a healthy drinking choice, infused with B vitamins, folic acid and folate.

    "Jessica is America's sweetheart and an internationally known entertainer who takes care of herself," Lawrence Schwartz, who founded Stampede, said in a statement. "You can see it in her smile, her skin, her confidence and her obvious physical fitness."

    -See 59 photos of Jessica Simpon's looks through the years

    — Julie Gordon

    Tags: jessica simpson, beer, entertainment

  • Jonas Brothers+iPhones+MacBooks: Soho residents say enough Apple

    Tuesday August 19, 2008 3:09 PM By David Freedlander

    Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers plays at the Apple Store in New York City.

    -Click here for 88 photos of the Jonas Brothers in concert, at the Apple Store and around the U.S.

    Is Apple, that quirky computer company of urban hipster cred, turning into that loud out-of-control club neighbors hate?

    So say residents and store owners on quiet cobblestone SoHo side streets who are sick of lines stretching around the block, renovation work done at all hours of the night and blasé store managers who scoff at their concerns.

    “For weeks when they were selling the iPhone, it was like breadlines in Russia,” said Sean Sweeney, president of the SoHo Alliance, a neighborhood group and a 30-year resident of the neighborhood. “They should know better. Let’s just say the bloom is off the apple a little bit.”

    Sweeney and other community activists penned a letter this week to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, alleging that “no bar, nightclub, or construction site comes close to continually ruining our quality of life like Apple SoHo has.”

    For many, the coup de grace came when the Prince Street flagship hosted a concert by teen-pop sensation the Jonas Brothers last week. Neighbors said that thousands of pre-teen and teenage girls surrounded the store all day to get into its 80-seat theater, and stayed screaming on the sidewalk well past midnight.

    “They want to create a stir get a big crowd in the street for the events, but they have no right to treat this place like its Madison Square Garden,” said Bo Riccobono, 62, a resident of the neighborhood since 1984 and a professor at New York University.

    He said Apple has been hosting events each month that draw too large a crowd for the store or narrow streets surrounding it to handle.

    Repeated phone calls to Apple representatives were not returned.

    The Apple SoHo opened in 2002 when the company started a slew of flagship stores in major metropolitan areas around the world in an effort to cut out third-party retailers and control the buying experience of their products, according to Chris Breen, a senior editor at MacWorld magazine.

    There are more than 200 Apple stores worldwide, and a new one opens ever few weeks. In New York, there’s three in Manhattan, one in Staten Island and one coming soon in Brooklyn.

    “The whole point was to come in and experience Apple in this jewel-like environment where you were supposed to feel like it was Tiffany’s or something,” Breen said. “The Jonas Brothers concert was for them to show that, ‘hey, we’re New York and we are not just a computer company. We are a musical behemoth but in a cool way.’”

    He added that in the future, the store would probably look to tone down its primacy as a rock venue.

    “They understand the need to be a good neighbor,” he said. “They are like the 25-year-old who just moved to your building and throws a beer bash once a year but makes sure to tell all the neighbors first so they don’t call the police.”

    And Owen Linzmayer, author of “Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World’s Most Colorful Company” said after the success of the iPod, the company’s ethos and image changed from scrappy underdog to swaggering corporate cool.

    “The company’s fortunes have changed quite a bit in the last decade, and the attitude has changed as well,” he said. “They went from being defensive and just trying to survive to now where they clearly are a little more aggressive and don’t care as much about public opinion.”

    Now all of the estimated 10,000 residents tucked into SoHo’s cast-iron lofts consider the Apple store a bad addition to the neighborhood.

    “It’s convenient,” said Carol Chen, a 15-year resident of the neighborhood who said she probably has popped into the store once a month. “They always have the newest things. It’s exciting.”

    But being an Apple-user, even a devoted one, doesn’t mean SoHo residents succumb to the charms of the store.

    Hirotsugu Aoki has lived a few doors down from what is now the Apple store since the ‘70s in a loft that contains no fewer than five Apple computers, but avoids the store down the street.

    “For 15 years I was always telling people that they should switch from their PC’s,” he said. “I feel betrayed.”

    -Click here for 88 photos of the Jonas Brothers in concert, at the Apple Store and around the U.S.

    --David Freedlander

    Tags: soho, apple, teen-pop bands, neighborhoods

  • 'Whole Foods' of kosher shops opens in Midwood

    Tuesday August 19, 2008 2:23 PM By Rolando Pujol

    A boy does some grocery shopping at Pomegranate kosher foods supermarket on Tuesday in Midwood. (Photo by AP)

    Dubbed as the “kosher Whole Foods,” Pomegranate, Midwood's much-anticipated upscale supermarket, opened its doors yesterday to a neighborhood full of observant Jews, many with disposable income.

    "This is a prime location," said a well-dressed orthodox woman who did not wish to be named. She was impressed by the cleanliness of the store. "I waited two years for something to open here; what was here before ... was filthy."

    The 20,000-square-foot store at 1507 Coney Island Ave. at Avenue L replaces a KDS Supermarket. It has a 50-car parking lot and full-time rabbinical supervision over products ranging from prepared foods (bundles of haricot verts, sushi, roasted chicken) to imported snacks to dry-aged beef. A butcher pointed out a customer who bought $150 worth of their best steaks, at $32.99 a pound.

    "Our clients will come from way beyond Midwood," manager Mayer Gold said. "I've already seen hundreds of people in here from all walks of life."

    Gold tells us that any time the store or its kitchen is open, there are two rabbis paying attention to every move. Its "high-end that happens to be kosher," he says.

    But some people were just window-shopping. "It won't be my main store," said a woman in her 30s who declined to be named. "But there are some interesting items."

    The store is owned by Abraham Banda, of Williamsburg, who also owns a kosher grocery store in Great Neck, Gold said.

    Jesse Blonder, director of the nearby Center for Kosher Culinary Arts, hopes Pomegranate will live up to its claims. "I hope to have a one-stop shopping experience over there," he says. "I can't send my staff to Red Hook Fairway every time we need good kosher cheese."

    -- Sara Pepitone

    Tags: kosher, midwood, shopping, religion, gentrification, food, brooklyn

  • A Bronx building and its unknown tales

    Tuesday August 19, 2008 11:42 AM By Rolando Pujol

    Do you know the story of this Bronx building? Urbanite wants to know. (Photos by Jefferson Siegel)

    In the Bronx, at 436 Westchester Ave. near Bergen Avenue., just blocks from the area known as The Hub, sits this small two-story building. In faded letters one can read "N Y Post Office Station R"

    The ground floor appears to be empty; the second floor is occupied by "John's Gym" where boxing is offered for women. Several women wearing boxing gloves were observed running around an empty lot across the street one day, obviously part of their training.

    Does anyone know the history of this building? Or, to be more specific, about its post office days?

    -- Jefferson Siegel

    Tags: bronx, boxing, urban archaeology, real estate, old school, gentrification, endangered nyc, development, architecture

  • Stoned? You still won't think this Park Slope sign is clever

    Tuesday August 19, 2008 9:13 AM By Emily Ngo

    It's Rolando who has a penchant for New York signs (older, history-saturated ones at that), but I couldn't pass up a chance to share this blatant abuse of puns.

    "Stoned," located on Brooklyn's Fifth Avenue at St. Marks Street, sells ... ahem ... stones. Crystals of some sort. I guess that's why all those dreadlocked kids in tie-dyed shirts left the store shaking their heads in disappointment. Just joking, Stoned owners.

    The boutique name gives me almost as big a headache as "Pastabilities" and "Get Framed" in Syracuse. Report commercial pun abuse here on Urbanite.

    — Emily Ngo

    * See our extensive collection of classic and cool New York signs.

    Tags: park slope, stores, brooklyn, signs

  • MTV asks wannabe models to lose weight

    Tuesday August 19, 2008 7:13 AM By Julie Gordon

    As if young girls didn't feel enough pressure to be thin, MTV is glorifying weight loss to achieve a model-esque figure with a new reality show.

    The network's upcoming series "Model Makers" puts girls who are tall enough to be models — just not skinny enough — through 12 weeks of intense training to help them get down to their ideal size.

    Women must be between 17 and 24 years old, 5'9" to 6' tall and 130-190 pounds to enter. A 5’9” woman weighing 130 pounds has a Body Mass Index of 19.2. The healthy range is 18.5 to 24.9.A 5’9” woman weighing 130 pounds has a Body Mass Index of 19.2. The healthy range is 18.5 to 24.9.

    The show, which is currently casting, will begin taping in September and air sometime next year.

    Here's an excerpt from the press release I received:

    "Women come in all shapes and sizes, but models don't. The term model conjures an image of stick-thin, towering beauties oozing confidence, glamour, poise and sexuality from every pore. "Skinny," "no body fat," and "size zero" are the words and phrases associated with models. "Chubby," "well-fed," and "big- boned" are not."

    It goes on to say, "With weekly eliminations looming, models must put their best foot forward at all times while staying focused on losing weight."

    A show rep responded by saying, "The goal of the show is for women who have the potential to be a model by losing weight in a healthy and realistic time span. Ideally we are not accepting model-thin girls for the competition just women who have a little extra weight and are ready to do what it takes to become the next supermodel."

    Model manager Michael Flutie will spearhead the "transformations." The winner will receive $100,000, a modeling portfolio, a personal trainer for a year and "the chance to jumpstart the career of your dreams."

    We'd prefer "America's Next Top Model" to this excuse for entertainment any day.

    -See 63 photos of super-skinny models

    -See photos of thin, fat, and all types of celebrities who MTV's been happy to have on their TRL show

    -15 contestants on America's Top Model cycle 11

    — Julie Gordon

    Tags: entertainment

  • Hurricane Fay, where are you?

    Monday August 18, 2008 11:46 AM By Linda Perney

    Hurricane Fay. Tropical Storm Fay. The Florida Hurricane. Never mind what you call it, it’s the hysteria of the day.

    if you’re looking for the latest storm news, click on our sister publication’s website. If, on the other hand, you’re just looking for photos, click here for updated hurricane pix.

    The jabberers at the weather channel can make anybody crazy, but then again, this is their equivalent of the Anna Nicole Smith story. Flashbacks to Alicia, Donna, Charley Betsy and Andrew, come complete with ominous voiceovers and dramatic footage.

    The storm has made landfall on the Keys, but It doesn’t appear to be heading anywhere close to us, but you can never tell. Forecasters all but missed the 1938 storm that demolished a good part of coastal New England and killed 700 or so people. While today’s weather guys have a lot more to work with, we all remember Katrina.

    Still, everything isn’t everything. Get a grip.

    Tags: weather; tropical storm fay; hurricane fay; florida

  • Baby whale thinks yacht is mom...

    Monday August 18, 2008 11:20 AM By Elizabeth Nielsen

    A sad story off the AP from Australia

    SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Australian media say a lost humpback whale calf has bonded with a yacht it seems to think is its mother.

    The 1- to 2-month-old calf was first sighted Sunday in waters off north Sydney, and on Monday tried to suckle from a yacht, which it would not leave.

    Rescuers towed the yacht out to sea, and the calf finally detached from the boat but still swam nearby, Australian Broadcasting Corp. and Channel 10 television news reported.

    The calf appears exhausted but rescuers hope it will continue out to sea and search for its mother or another pod of whales.

    "The outlook is not good, but we are giving the calf its only option. It can't be fed, and in fact we wouldn't know what to feed it" because it is not weaned, National Parks and Wildlife regional manager Chris McIntosh told ABC radio.

    Poor little guy hardly has a chance. Here's to hoping he's adopted by a nice passer-by whale family.

    No word on who owns the yacht.

    See photos of plenty of adorable little critters.

    --Lizzy

  • An IM chat with Williamsburg's 'Hipster MD'

    Monday August 18, 2008 8:40 AM By Lauren Johnston


    Williamsburg's hipster MD Jay Parkinson has more in common with "Little House on the Prairie's "Doc" than you may think.

    "Hello, doctor's office, hold please ..." Then the Muzak begins to play.

    If you hate those kinds of calls, it may be time to ditch your HMO and switch to Williamsburg's Dr. Jay.

    Maybe you've already heard of Jay Parkinson, 32, the "hipster doctor" of Williamsburg who's injected the popular social technology of today into his medical practice, i.e. you can "talk" to him about what ails you via e-mail, text, IM, video chat, or if you're keeping it old school -- the phone.

    He's a high-tech pioneer among the Hippocratic set and his just-launched practice Hello Health borrows features from services and businesses built upon Internet convenience: the Apple Genius Bar, Google, Facebook, Zipcar and Netflix to name a few.

    In other words, Dr. Jay is about the direct connect -- he's gotten rid of the all the intermediary stuff and closed the distance between you and your doctor. You need him? Just logon and ask him to come to your house. Or text him a photo of that mole that has you worried or zap him that link from WebMD you think may describe your symptoms. Go about your business, wait for the ping.

    Until recently, Parkinson was working solo. He started his own practice in September 2007. But now he's joined the Montreal-based company Myca, which specializes in using technology to improve patient care, to create Hello Health -- a team of three doctors (Parkinson, plus Dr. Sean Khozin and Dr. Devlyn Corrigan) based on Berry St. in Williamsburg.

    The irony here is that Parkinson is actually using all the high-tech stuff to take the doctor-patient relationship back a century. Back to a time when doctors served their immediate community. As Hello Health's "Our Story" section says: You knew his first name, of perhaps you just called him "Doc." So yeah, kind of like "Little House on the Prairie."

    The Hello Health site shares not only your doctor's first name, but also stats like their favorite books. Dr. Jay's fave? "The Omnivore's Dilemma." Anyone can sign up to become a member of Hello Health for $35 per month, then schedule appointments and talk to your doctor online. Office visits will never cost more than $200 and that includes the tests and any generic meds you may require. [For more HH pricing info, click HERE]

    Hello Health officially launched last week -- so in the spirit of hip health, Urbanite caught up with Dr. Jay for an IM chat to get some more dets on the company and see how it's going so far.

    urbanite: ok cool .. so i guess let's just start with the basics

    urbanite: What is Hello Health?

    jayparkinsonmd: Hello Health is a neighborhood doctor's practice that uses the internet and in-person visits to keep you healthy and to make going to the doctor as simple and stress free as possible...but I'd like to refer you to this:

    jayparkinsonmd: https://www.hellohealth.com/main/story/

    Click through for the full transcript of our IM chat: And then if you still have questions, check the Hello Health FAQs.urbanite: do most of the people you treat have health insurance?

    jayparkinsonmd: About half of my patients have health insurance. Those without health insurance come to me because we also function as what I call, a healthcare financial consultant -- a health care provider who helps them spend their money wisely. We've formed relationships with various specialists and radiologists who are very Hello Health friendly and who have agreed on a set price. For instance, we have radiology partners who have agreed to charge our patients $60 for a chest x-ray. If you were to go on your own to just any radiologist, you may walk out of there with a $300 bill for a chest x-ray. You can't really do a google search for how much healthcare is supposed to cost. But we've done our research and know how much healthcare costs and found partners who agree to a set rate. We simply help you spend your money wisely. We tell you to go to Target to get the prescription for $4 instead of Walgreens where they would charge you $40. There are all kinds of tricks we have up our sleeve to help you get affordable, high quality healthcare.

    jayparkinsonmd: For those with health insurance, you come to us at Hello Health because you want an accessible, convenient doctor and are interested in having a relationship with your doctor that is updated for today's lifestyle. We ensure you get plenty of attention. We don't believe in 5 minute doctor visits. If you forgot to tell me something, just shoot me an email after the appointment. It's pretty convenient. Also, we don't take any health insurance, but we give you an invoice and the required forms for you to get reimbursed and you simply drop it in our mailbox. Since our visit fees are so inexpensive, you should get fully reimbursed if you are allowed to see out of network doctors.

    urbanite: There seem to be elements of social-networking going on. How similar is being a member of Hello Health to having a profile on Facebook?

    jayparkinsonmd: There really aren't any similarities between a Hello Health membership and having a profile on Facebook. Our platform is a healthcare-grade , 110% HIPAA compliant platform that has elements taken from social networking platforms like Facebook. First , I , as a doctor , have "friends" who are really my patients. Once members choose their doctor , we can communicate on the platform via secure email , IM , video chat , and SMS. Members log in and make their own appointment. The first appointment is always in person either at your home or our office. After we get to know you , we can follow up online or in person. It's about using the internet to communicate so our relationship is enhanced to partner with you to keep you as healthy as possible.

    jayparkinsonmd: we don't really think that people want to socially connect with other people who have a similar illness. there are other sites that do that , like patientslikeme.com. we'll let them do that stuff.

    urbanite: So changing direction a little to stuff that's not available on the info part of your site ...

    urbanite: In other blog posts written about the way you practice medicine , you've been dubbed the "hipster doctor" -- how do you feel about that?

    jayparkinsonmd: I've learned that the press will label you what they want to label you. I've also learned that all press is good press. I live and work in WIlliamsburg and I love this community so much. It just happens to be full of what people call hipsters. So naturally , the association will happen. But of course , I treat hipster and non-hipster alike.

    urbanite: b/c the idea is that you don't have to be "hip" for this practice to fit your practice right? This is just how people are living ...

    jayparkinsonmd: exactly.

    jayparkinsonmd: but it's also how all the hipsters communicate nowadays

    urbanite: Your description [of Hello Health] kind of reminded me of "Little House on the Prairie" .. going back to the days when you knew your doctor and called him "Doc"

    urbanite: so in some ways you are taking even a 19th c. idea of medical care and fusing it together with all the tech advantages (well , i guess hygienic advances too) ... taking what's old to improve the new? Is that right .. could you talk about those ideas and why the close patient circle is important to you?

    jayparkinsonmd: That's exactly what we're doing. Healthcare delivery has been taken out of the neighborhood and into the large institutions. That's great for when you need a specialist. But when you need simply primary care , it's very beneficial to both you and your doctor if they live and work within the neighborhood. A close-by , accessible doctor should keep you out of the expensive ER. Imagine that coupled with the advances in communications that the internet has brought , and this tends to solve some serious problems within the healthcare system. I actually think that one of the main problems in healthcare is a lack of communication. Hello Health is the beginning of a whole new era of efficient communication within healthcare.

    urbanite: Hello Health members have online profiles with their health information, right? Are there any worries over info security there?

    jayparkinsonmd: They do have online profiles. As far as security info goes, here is our official statement: "HelloHealth is dedicated to protecting the privacy and assuring the security of our patient's medical records and information. In fact, all of our policies and procedures meet HIPAA requirements, but most of them exceed the requirements of HIPAA. We're very HIPAA-ish. A lot of people don't know that HIPAA establishes a new civil right of patients to access their medical records, even when in electronic formats. And we will always make it easy and user-friendly for our customers to view, access, and transport their medical information. It's in our DNA."

    urbanite: i see you have a form online for people who'd like to be hello health doctors ... what qualities are you looking for as you add new partners?

    jayparkinsonmd: We're looking for doctors with the hello health personality. Doctors who have excellent listening and communication skills. Doctors who exude concern and care. It's interesting, we've had over 600 doctors contact us and ask about becoming hello health doctors. Primary care is getting more and more difficult for doctors to practice. Many doctor's practices are simply closing down due to the high overhead (overhead in a traditional doctor's practice is nearly 70%!) that needs to be built in to maintain all of this billing infrastructure to deal with insurance companies. And insurance companies are denying more and more to physicians and reimbursement rates are getting lower every year. This doesn't apply to specialists. Many of their reimbursement rates are actually increasing. But primary care docs are contacting us because they see this as an opportunity to finally do their job well without feeling rushed by the unfortunate 5 minute doctor visit they are forced to implement in their traditional insurance-taking practices. Many doctors have to see over 40 patients a day just to break even. That's sad to me because I know I want more than 5 minutes of my doctor's time. Hello Health is about giving doctors an opportunity to do their job well and giving patients an opportunity to have a real relationship with their doctor but updated for today's lifestyle.

    jayparkinsonmd signed off at 3:51:21 PM.

    Tags: williamsburg, jay parkinson, technology, health, brooklyn

  • Fall fashion has arrived

    Monday August 18, 2008 4:14 AM By Julie Gordon

    If a drop in temperature leaves you bright-eyed over boots, jackets and sweaters, take a look at our fall fashion guide.

    Shot around the streets of West Chelsea on a recent cool day, it showcases many of the season's trends: country chic, a return to women's pants, florals, a dressed-down corporate look for men, hats, Dr. Martens, texture, embellishments.

    Click here to view.

    And then head to the stores.

    — Julie Gordon and Jessie Pascoe

    Tags: fashion, fall, shopping

  • Mad Men and the City: "Three Sundays"

    Sunday August 17, 2008 9:04 PM By Rolando Pujol

    That's Don Draper wearing casual clothes during a rare Sunday in the office in a scene from the "Three Sundays" episode of "Man Men." (Via AMC)

    -Click for Mad Men photos from Season 2

    -Click for photos of 'The Women of Mad Men'

    -Click for a look at the style of Mad Men

    For us at Urbanite, Sunday night at 10 is the magic hour, when our rapturous gaze is devoted squarely on the object of our affection: the latest installment of "Mad Men" on AMC.

    As part of a new feature, "Mad Men and the City," we'll be writing about how period details involving New York City and its suburbs are treated in the scripts. After all, the show is so fastidious about getting every little thing right that it raises the bar on properly capturing New York as it was in the early 1960s.

    Now, we have all of season one and several episodes of season two to contend with -- and we plan to blog them in due time -- but we begin with Sunday night's episode, called "Three Sundays." Spoilers lurk below, so proceed with caution. And please share your observations:

    * Green-Wood Cemetery: A guest announces as she arrives for Sunday lunch with Peggy's family: "I went by Green-wood to visit my son." To which the obliging Father Gill, a new character, responds by expressing a desire to meet the son, completely oblivious to the fact that Green-Wood is a cemetery in Brooklyn. During lunch, Father Gill takes a shine to Peggy. Our take: Smooth insertion of a city landmark into everyday conversation. Nicely played by the writers.

    * Fourth Avenue BMT/Brooklyn streetscape: When Peggy makes her excuses to leave the Sunday lunch, she says she has to catch the "Fourth Avenue BMT." Father Gill, sensing an opportunity to spend some alone time with Peggy, offers to drive her there. While parked outside of a Brooklyn streetscape, featuring a neon pizza sign, a shop called O'Mara News and a stationery store, Father Gill asks for Peggy's advice on delivering his big Palm Sunday sermon. That monsignor is a tough cookie, after all, so the young priest needs all the help he can get from a sharp Madison Avenue copywriter. Our take: Good use of the term BMT for Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corp. We do wonder whether she'd really say the name of the line, or merely the name of the station she had to go to. [Clarification: We know the terms IRT, IND and BMT were universally used, and still are by some, but something about its use here struck as forced.]

    The Brooklyn streetscape tries hard to look of the period, and largely succeeds. The neon pizza sign is a little too self-conscious, and looks kind of '80s.

    * Lutece: It's April of 1962, and the Mad Men crowd's place to eat and be seen is Lutece. The French standby opened in 1961 -- only the year before -- and people are still talking about whether "you've eaten there yet." Roger Sterling takes his latest extramarital conquest -- one he shelled out cash for -- to Lutece in a bid to impress, extend their date, and convince her to skip her next appointment. It's not the first time the restaurant has figured in the show. For the record, Lutece shuttered in 2004. Our take: This place became one of the "it" restaurants for celebs and the ladies who lunch crowd, so the obsession with Lutece so soon after it opened rings true.

    * Church of the Holy Innocents: Through parish bulletins that mark the progress of the "Three Sundays" of the episode's title (Passion, Palm and Easter), we see that Peggy and family are parishioners of the Church of the Holy Innocents in Brooklyn (presumably in Flatbush). The actual church, by the way, now arranges the words differently: Holy Innocents Roman Catholic Church. Click here for more on the church. Our take: Pretty cool detail. And the bulletins are a clever device to mark time, but cover wording of church bulletins is rarely changed from week to week, at least in our experience.

    The Pierre: The Fifth Avenue hotel where Roger Sterling and his wife, Mona, have their dream wedding. Well, her dream wedding. At dinner with his daughter and her fiance, Roger ratchets up the pressure for engagement to translate into marriage, and Mona reminisces on her own wedding. Our take: Good use of the Pierre, the place for debutante balls and other high-society affairs. One can't help but sympathize for Mona as she recalls her wedding ... Roger, after all, hasn't taken those vows too seriously.

    Odds and ends:

    * Duck and cover: A joke whose entirety we do not hear ends with the phrase "Duck and Cover," the old atomic-age campaign that urged kids to protect themselves from nuclear armageddon by hiding under their school desks. (Duck is also a character who tries -- tries -- to reel in the game-changing American Airlines account in the aftermath of Flight One's death plunge into Jamaica Bay on March 1, 1962.

    * Princess-style phone flub: In their bedroom, the Drapers have a phone similar to the recently introduced Western Electric Princess. The ad campaign for it went: "It's Little, It's Lovely, It Lights!" (A campaign conceived by a real-life Peggy?) But alas, it's not a Princess phone, but a slightly different knock-off, most likely the Automatic Electric Starlite. The Ossining of 1962 was New York Telephone country, and the phone company would have installed a Princess phone.

    * 18 bucks: That's what it costs to fix the phonograph Don's son broke.

    * Candid Camera: The take-no-prisoners wife/manager of insult comedian Jimmy Barrett visits Don's office uninvited, with sex on the mind and an idea for a "Candid Camera" style show for Jimmy, called "Grin and Barrett." It's noted that ABC is reeling from losing the rights to "Candid," but the show was airing on CBS during this period. [See comments for an amplification on "Candid Camera."]

    * Gorton's: A character is introduced who works for Gorton's frozen fish food company. Will the "Mad Men" crew work on the "Trust the Gorton's Fisherman" campaign? Hmm ...

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: mad men, advertising, television, amc

  • Madame Paulette: With customers like Donald Trump, city dry cleaner looks to go global

    Sunday August 17, 2008 4:51 PM By Garett Sloane

    John Mahdessian, owner of Madame Paulette dry cleaners, poses for a portrait inside his corporate headquarters in Long Island City. (Photo by Jason Andrew)

    John Mahdessian considers himself the “chief surgeon” of dry cleaning.

    People come to his store to get out the toughest of stains, and he’s been known to perform emergency cleanings at parties. If there’s a spill, then luckily there is a dry cleaner in the house.

    Mahdessian is the third-generation in his family to run Madame Paulette dry cleaning shop, founded on the Upper East Side by his great uncle in the 1950s.

    Today, Madam Paulette is a business that is set to go global with a clientele list full of celebrities, according to Mahdessian.

    “For once I bring a nice celebrity status to the table. I bring the level of a true expert if not a chief surgeon in this industry,” Mahdessian said.Fashion designers use his services, as do celebrities, including Donald Trump and Meryl Streep, he said. He tells stories of cocktail parties at Park Avenue apartments and weddings at the Plaza Hotel.

    He didn’t always want to enter the family business. After college he worked for a month at Madame Paulette, but intended to move on to a Wall Street job.

    His career aspirations shifted, however.

    “I realized that I felt obligated to be there for my father,” whose health had deteriorated, Mahdessian said. “He wasn’t going to make it much longer in this industry.”

    He took over the business in 1987 and transformed the store.

    Business picked up, growing 20 to 25 percent a year, he said. When Mahdessian first took over about 10 employees worked for him, but today he employs about 90 pressers, stain-removers and dry cleaning experts.

    Madame Paulette’s flagship outlet, located between 65th and 66th on Second Avenue, is being renovated. The store will display designer clothes in its windows, mimicking boutiques on Rodeo Drive or Madison Avenue, and it will expand to take over half of the Upper East Side block, Mahdessian said. The renovation is slated for completion by Nov. 1.

    He also plans to take Madame Paulette global, starting with Dubai and Los Angeles, and eventually opening stores from Milan to Tokyo to Paris.

    Wherever the demographics are fashion conscious, or wealthy, there’s demand for Madame Paulette, Mahdessian said.

    “There’s a need for my services to be all over the world to maintain the integrity of them and to serve clients that have these possessions,” he said.

    (Rebecca Wolfson)

    Tags: manhattan, dry cleaning, retail, small business, family business, neighborhoods, fashion, economy

  • Pandas on the prowl in Williamsburg

    Sunday August 17, 2008 3:08 PM By David Freedlander

    From Dantekgeek via flickr

    A roving street party turned ugly Saturday night when police confronted hundreds of people — some of the dressed up as panda bears -- in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.

    The police say that they arrested two of the organizers, who were charged with inciting a riot. Videos of some of the clashes quickly made their rounds on the Internet and blogs.

    The party was called “Pandamonium 2008” and word of it was distributed on social networking sites and Twitter. Participants who signed up for updates were told to meet at Union Square at 8:30 for a “Costumed+Roving+Street+Party+Apocalypitc+Dance+Rock+Battle.”

    The group migrated over to Williamsburg, where they occupied the streets around the Bedford Avenue L stop for several blocks. Witnesses estimated that there were about 300 people in attendance, many of whom had black and white face paint, wore masks and were dressed in white painter’s outfits.

    The participants were chanting, “Whose street? Out street!” and some began overturning newspaper boxes. They were soon accompanied by a sizeable police presence including squad cars, helicopters, and fire trucks.

    “Hundreds of people were out on the sidewalk, dancing, yelling, having a good time,” said Noel Hidalgo, a community activist who goes by the name No Neck and who witnessed the event. “Police were trying to control people and clear the streets and that’s when it got out of control.”

    Some of the participants said the purpose behind “Pandamonium 2008 remained unclear.

    “I’m not quite sure what the whole idea was other than to wreak havoc,” said Dan Lurie, 19, a City College student. “It was an interesting event but I’m not sure there was a message here.”

    --David Freedlander

    Tags: pandas, performance art, protest, brooklyn

  • Parking provision may clog streets, hurt environment

    Sunday August 17, 2008 2:17 PM By Rolando Pujol

    A little-known provision in the city’s zoning code that forces new residential developments to provide off-street parking is threatening to clog streets and lead a trail of smog behind in the coming years, a new report found.

    The study, issued by a coalition of environmental and urban planning groups, showed that regulations requiring new buildings to contain underground parking garages or adjacent parking lots could derail the Bloomberg administration’s signature environmental goals as the he pushes for more new housing.

    “This increase in the parking supply will unleash a torrent of unnecessary car ownership, unnecessary driving, and unnecessary traffic and associated pollution,” said Paul Steely White of Transportation Alternatives, a cycling and pedestrian advocacy group. “All of this traffic will largely erase all of the climate and transportation benefits of PlaNYC.”PlanNYC 2030 is Bloomberg’s much-heralded plan to make New York City a more environmentally sustainable city by that year.

    Parking requirements differ by neighborhood. In most of Queens and South Brooklyn, new buildings must provide one parking space per unit. New buildings in Manhattan below 96th Street are exempt under the Clean Air Act.

    Anti-car advocates say the New Yorkers are far more likely to own a car if they buy an apartment that comes with a parking space, even if their new home is near public transportation. Currently, fewer than half of New York City households own a vehicle.

    “The opportunity cost of that space is really very high,” said Rachel Weinberger, a professor of urban planning at the University of Pennsylvania who co-authored the report. “It could be put to additional use as additional residences.”

    Developers who wish to forego mandated amounts of off-street parking can apply for a “hardship exemption” from the Department of City Planning. But with the Bloomberg administration attempting to add 265,000 new housing units, the streets will become clogged with new drivers, according to Weinberger.

    The rezoning of Jamaica and Willets Point, both in Queens, would add nearly 15,000 parking spaces between the two of them, the study found.

    It is unclear when the parking regulations were first added to the city’s zoning code. The last major revision to the code was in 1961, when city planners expected New York and other urban centers to be navigated chiefly by automobile.

    Jennifer Torres, a spokesperson for the city’s Department of City Planning, said that the agency was reviewing the report.

    “We are reviewing off street parking regulations, but in most areas south of 96th Street in Manhattan do not require any parking, and in other neighborhoods, lack of parking is a frequent community complaint.,” she added in a statement.

    -- David Freedlander

    Tags: parking, bloomberg, transportation alternatives, zoning laws, neighborhoods

  • So get this: DNA doesn't prove that Bigfoot exists (Mr. Spock and the Six Million Dollar Man sigh)

    Friday August 15, 2008 9:46 PM By Rolando Pujol

    The Bionic Woman and the Six Million Dollar man enjoy the 1970s with

    their pal, Bigfoot.

    Ahh, Bigfoot.

    Anyone around in the 1970s knows America couldn't get enough of good old Sasquatch during that strange decade. Which is why all the talk this week of the "discovery" of Bigfoot's corpse (some of the DNA was from, uhh, an opossum) had us waxing for the last time America went Bigfoot crazy, that decade when the guy who played Mr. Spock on "Star Trek" went hunting for him in the wilds of Washington State and the "Six Million Dollar Man" went mano a mano with our Nair-deprived monster.

    First off, no Bigfoot enthusiast's understanding and appreciation of the subject is complete without watching the episode of "In Search Of" where Leonard Nimoy and his investigative crew earnestly tackle the subject. This precursor to today's reality TV shows completely wigged us out as a kid: The spooky synth music, the creepy theme song, the muddy film prints, the haunting narration by Mr. Nimoy. This show is about as 1970s as it gets.

    Well, come to think of it, the "Six Million Dollar Man" episode where Steve Austen battles Bigfoot may well be the very definition of 1970s cheese. Through the wonders of YouTube, this epic disco-era battle -- up there in significance with umpteenth showing of "Battle of the Network Stars" -- is preserved for all the world to see -- and struggle to understand.

    Your Bigfoot bonaza awaits below:

    "In Search of Bigfoot," in three parts

    "The Six Million Dollar Man" vs. Bigfoot

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: bigfoot, entertainment, television, throwback thursday

  • Let Paul Newman die in peace

    Friday August 15, 2008 10:40 AM By -- Diane Goldie

    Is Paul Newman dying or not?

    A report in London’s Daily Mail cites the usual “close family friend,” as saying that legendary actor had left the New York City hospital where he’d been treated for cancer. The unidentified pal continued: “Paul didn’t want to die in the hospital” and had gone home.

    With friends like this, the 83-year-old actor hardly needs enemies. Newman has always kept a sensible distance from the celeb press. Instead of posing for the paps, he’s an old-fashioned up-front philanthropist (Hole in the Wall Gang for disabled children; Newman’s Own foods, which has dispensed $175 million to charity) and political activist (liberal Democrat). Unlike a newer generation of Hollywood stars, he’s never seen fit to, say, sell photos of his new-born children.

    So, given the man’s grace, it’s maybe too much to hope that he could be left alone to get on with his life, or his death, as the case may be. Instead, the bloggers – perhaps smarting from last week’s failure to pick up on the Bernie Mac story before it was too late – are weighing in.

    “Newman,” reports something called ‘Readandgain,' "is said to be putting his affairs in order and even gave away his prized Ferrari -- a move that apparently angered his children who are having a hard time coming to grips with his imminent death.

    And the so-called mainstream press, depressingly, is following close behind. His wife, actress Joanne Woodward and his daughters “are beside themselves with grief," reports Fox News – courtesy of another (unnamed) source.

    Well, then, just leave the man -- and his wife and his kids, maybe even his family 'friends' -- alone.

    -See 42 photos of Paul Newman through the years

    --By Linda Perney

    Tags: paul newman, entertainment

  • In the East Village, an endangered synagogue and its divided congregation

    Thursday August 14, 2008 2:42 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Unless something is done soon, a century-old temple in the East Village may turn to dust.

    Some neighborhood residents and preservationists are upset that the congregation had a deal with mega New Jersey developers the Kushner Companies to demolish the Mezritch Synagogue on East Sixth Street and turn it into high-end residences with a ground floor place for worship.

    But synagogue's few remaining congregants and the temple's rabbi say that the building is in such disrepair that it is a danger to the surrounding area, and selling to the highest bidder remains the only way to ensure having a safe place to worship.

    "This is a battle about the heart and soul our neighborhood," said Andrew Berman, president of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, who is battling to save the synagogue "It tells the story not only of how New York City grew but how our country did."

    The Mezritch Synagogue is the last operating "tenement synagogue," so named because of the narrow slot it occupies mid-block, still in operation on the Lower East Side. Read on ...

    -- David Freedlander

    Synagogue photos

    Photo: Jefferson Siegel

    Tags: adas le israel anshei meseritz, endangered nyc, religion, development, architecture

  • Greedy studio delays 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'; Alan Horn awaiting owls

    Thursday August 14, 2008 2:17 PM By Jamshid Mousavinezhad

    Warner Bros. executive Alan Horn says 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' will be delayed until July 17, 2009. Photo above, from"Harry Potter and the

    Order of the Phoenix", is AP Photo/Warner Bros.

    It's rare for a big corporation to come right out and admit they're willing to anger their customers so that they can make more money.

    Well, Warner Brothers just announced that the eagerly-awaited 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'--which is pretty much finished--will no longer be released November 21.

    Instead, they're going to delay it until July 17, 2009.

    Outraged fans are gathering at fan sites like Mugglenet.com, which put up the full press release that includes this fascinating section:

    The announcement was made by Alan Horn, President and Chief Operating Officer, Warner Bros.

    In making the announcement, Mr. Horn stated, “Our reasons for shifting ‘Half-Blood Prince’ to summer are twofold: we know the summer season is an ideal window for a family tent pole release, as proven by the success of our last Harry Potter film, which is the second-highest grossing film in the franchise, behind only the first installment.

    Additionally, like every other studio, we are still feeling the repercussions of the writers’ strike, which impacted the readiness of scripts for other films—changing the competitive landscape for 2009 and offering new windows of opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of. We agreed the best strategy was to move ‘Half-Blood Prince’ to July, where it perfectly fills the gap for a major tent pole release for mid-summer.”

    It's clear Horn's audience is Wall Street, where analysts are going to applaud things like 'family tent pole release' and 'competitive landscape'.

    Rather than Potter fans who have been counting the days until autumn.

    In plain English, Horn is saying because films released in summer generally make more money, and because the writer's strike means the current crop of summer 2009 films is weak and few in number, we're going to take a film that will make a ton of money in November and move it to July so it can make a ton of money plus even more money.

    Hmmm.... I wonder what the Potter fans Horn is counting on fleecing, suddenly facing an additional 8 months of waiting, are going to do with all that time?

    I think Warner Brothers should prepare themselves for a ton of Howlers.

    Since there isn't going to be a Potter film anytime soon, take a trip down memory lane (you won't believe how young Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson look in some of the photos).

    * Photos: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

    * Photos: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

    * Photos: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

    * Photos: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

    * Photos: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

    * Photos: Harry Potter stars through the years

    * Photos: Harry Potter Walk of Fame

    * Photos: Harry Potter and the Muggles of Doom

    * Photos: J.K. Rowling at work and play

    * 41 photos of Rupert Grint, at work and play

    And how many times can you watch this trailer between now and next July?!

    Tags: entertainment

  • Kushners pull out of plan to demolish and redevelop historic synagogue in East Village

    Thursday August 14, 2008 12:12 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Mega New Jersey developers the Kushner Companies have pulled out of a controversial plan tear down a century-old synagogue in the East Village and build residences in its place, Urbanite has learned.

    The board of Congregation Mezritch Synagogue voted last month to give Kushner Companies the rights to demolish the stately structure on East 6th Street in a controversial move that left many involved with the sale feeling that they were excluded from the process.

    The sale was slated to undergo review by the state attorney general.

    Preservationists and neighborhood activists are holding a rally and news conference in front of the synagogue this afternoon to urge that the building be preserved.

    Many were unsure what to make of today’s news that the Kushners had pulled out.

    “It doesn’t mean that the synagogue won’t look to do this again, and then what will the ground rules be,” said Joel Kaplan of the United Jewish Council of the East Side. “If they are going to do things in a nontransparent way you never know what’s going to happen.”

    As recent as yesterday, Brian Bursin, an attorney representing the board of the synagogue sung the praises of the Kushner Companies for striking a deal that would allow the congregation to continue to meet in the first two floors of what was supposed to be a six-floor residential rental development.

    “There were three years of discussions with developers,” he said. “We are actually the Davids in the battle with the Goliaths.”

    Requests for comment on what Anshei Meseritz plans to do now that the Kushner Company is no longer were not returned by Bursin or by the synagogue’s rabbi, Pesach Ackerman.

    A demolition permit for the temple has already been filed with the city’s Department of Buildings but has yet to be approved.

    “It’s not only a beautiful building, it’s a critically important link to the history of the neighborhood and what was once the most important Jewish community in America,” said Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. “We just want to see it saved.”

    -- David Freedlander

    Tags: adas le israel anshei meseritz, kushners, real estate, neighborhoods, endangered nyc, development

  • The 2003 blackout: 5 years ago this afternoon

    Thursday August 14, 2008 9:48 AM By Rolando Pujol

    A couple hugs as pedestrians react to the power outage in Times Square.

    The famous electronic displays went down with the rest of the city's power

    grid. (AP Photo / August 14, 2003)

    About 4:14 p.m. on Aug. 14, 2003, my E train had (thankfully) just pulled into the 23rd Street-Ely station in Queens when it came to an abrupt halt. The lights went out. As our conductor awaited word "from supervision," I disembarked and, guided with the light of my cell phone, made it up to the base of the Citigroup building. And to my shock, there were hundreds of people milling about, with many looking west at the skyline and speculating that al-Qaida had struck again. For me, a two-hour walk to Kew Gardens awaited to reach Newsday's Queens office, where a long night of battery-powered light awaited.

    Where were you when the 2003 blackout happened? How did you cope? Let us know in the comments. Click here to read David Freedlander's cover piece on the anniversary, and whether we are any safer than we were five years ago. Check out our photo gallery here.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: 2003 blackout, energy, history, con edison

  • The Cushman Collection: Some of the greatest mid-century photos of New York you will ever see

    Thursday August 14, 2008 8:00 AM By Rolando Pujol

    Exhibit A: Times Square, July 9, 1960, by Charles W. Cushman. (Via University of Indiana collection)

    Exhibit B: The same view, Aug. 14, 2008, 11 a.m. (Photo by Rolando Pujol)

    A few quick observations: A skyscraper now dominates the southwest corner, where Nedick's once stood. Off in the distance, you can still see the McGraw Hill Building, but its presence is overwhelmed by a taller tower behind it. The New Amsterdam is still there. Lights from One Times Square still project from the right side of the view. The "Don't Walk" sign has been replaced by the hand.

    One of the nation's great treasure troves of New York photography resides at the University of Indiana, where its name, the Charles W. Cushman Collection, hints not at its wonders.

    But oh, if you love cities and what gives them texture and what makes them such fascinating places to live and work and play, these photos are worth a few minutes of your time right away. Cushman took photos of many American cities, all of which are classic and preserve mid-century America in vivid, color-saturated photographs.

    We share this collection because twice yesterday, colleagues independently forwarded to me links of his work, with which I have been long familiar. But if you haven't seen Cushman's material before, well get ready.

    First, a little about Mr. Cushman. He was not a professional photographer, but you wouldn't know it by the caliber of these photos. Indeed, if Cushman were from our times, he would have had one heck of a Flickr photo stream.From 1938 to 1969, he exhaustively photographed American landscapes as well as its people in beautiful, larger-than-life Kodachrome. An alumnus of the University of Indiana, Cushman left the school his vast collection. Here' s much more about his life and work. And here's the story of his travels with his camera.

    But now, onto the good stuff. Get ready for vanished landscapes, each street teeming with the sorts of landscapes that warrant blog posts on Urbanite because they are now so rare. This is Endangered NYC before it was endangered. When it was just the streets of New York, nary a chain store (expect Woolworth's, which gets a pass) or glass condo in sight.

    Enjoy.

    Cushman's New York photos

    An interesting bulletin-board thread on Cushman's photography, including some NYC pics.

    The official Cushman Web site

    -- Rolando Pujol

    To get an email whenever amNewYork posts items about NYC architecture, history and urban change, click here to sign up for news alerts and amNewYork's daily email newsletter.

    Tags: charles w. cushman, endangered nyc, kodachrome

  • Madonna adopting another child?!

    Wednesday August 13, 2008 1:40 PM By Elizabeth Nielsen

    So The Sun of London is reporting that her Madgesty is adopting a second child from Malawi, where she adoped son David a year ago.

    The child's name is Mercy James, and she's three, and according to The Sun, Madonna's reps have been spending a great deal of time with the child.

    Malawian adoption minister Penstone Kilembe told The Sun: "Madonna's representatives have been visiting the girl. The adoption is now advanced -- all the government is waiting for is Madonna to forward the petition of adoption formalities."

    Madonna's people, of course, issued a denial on the story. Although if you remember correctly, she did the exact same thing when adopting David.

    Madge must be irked by the slew of bad publcity she's received as of late. First, her marriage to husband Guy Ritchie was allegedly on the rocks. Then, she was credited with allegedly brainwashing Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez with kabbalah, and effectively ending his marriage to his wife, Cynthia.

    --Lizzy

    See pictures of Madonna through the years

    Tags: entertainment

  • Edwards and 'Kenneth': Separated at birth?

    Wednesday August 13, 2008 7:54 AM By Lauren Johnston


    Sen. John Edwards circa 2000 bears a striking resemblance to our favorite southern dimbulb -- '30 Rock's' Kenneth.

    We were startled, in fact, we gasped at this resemblance! Are "Kenneth" (Jack McBrayer) and John Edwards long lost twins?

    While surfing through shots of Sen. John Edwards (looking for a good one to add to our political "Faces of Shame" photo gallery), we suddenly came across this photograph of the fresh-faced senator back in 2002 when he was gunning for the Al Gore veep spot.

    The image snapped at a Tar Heel town hall meeting in Greenville, N.C. on Aug. 3, 2000.

    The Edwards of a few years back - when the road ahead showed nothing but promise and possibility - is a dead ringer for fellow southern boy "Kenneth" - the lovably innocent - and, ahem, law-abiding and morally upright NBC page character on the still under-loved best-sitcom-since-Arrested-Development "30 Rock."

    Why isn't the National Enquirer all over this? Couldn't it be Kenneth skulking around with ex-NYC party girl Rielle Hunter? Is Edwards just the fall guy?

    Or if not -- maybe this opens up a new career opportunity for Edwards. If he's shamed out of politics for cheating on his cancer-stricken wife, then perhaps there's a future for him as Jack McBrayer's - Kenneth's -stunt double.

    Tags: joh edwards, entertainment, politics, television

  • Protesters slam Bloomberg as planners ready to examine rezonings

    Wednesday August 13, 2008 7:47 AM By Rolando Pujol

    Protesters gather outside NYU's School of Law library Wednesday morning, hours before the Planning Commission meets there to consider controversial redevelopment plans. (Photo by David Freedlander)

    Issuing a broad critique of the Bloomberg administration's plans to rezone several neighborhoods, about 100 protesters gathered outside NYU's School of Law as the City Planning Commission heard public testimony about several redevelopment plans.

    Protesters included residents from Chinatown, the Lower East Side and the East Village. Also represented are business owners from Willets Point in Queens.

    The Manhattan protesters argued that the redevelopment plans would push out people from already limited affordable housing. In Chinatown's case, protesters were concerned that the neighborhood wasn't included in the plans, leaving it vulnerable to out-of-scale development. The called the lack of planning for Chinatown's future "racist."

    "They want to get rid of us," said Lee Wah, a longtime Chinatown resident at a makeshift news conference in front of the hearing. "Low income workers, people of color, small business owners, so they can build a luxury neighborhood."

    The Willets Point concerns center on the use of eminent domain to oust auto shops and other businesses that have been in the Iron Triangle for decades.

    The Willets Point plan also has major opposition in the City Council, with 31 members unified against the Bloomberg administration's proposal unless certain condition are met. Those specifications include not resorting to eminent domain, and the inclusion of more affordable housing.

    The council coalition has outlined its concerns in a letter to the Planning Commission chairwoman, Amanda Burden.

    Queen borough president Helen Marshall, who is in favor of the rezoning, accused the opponents of being unwilling to compromise.

    "I watched the place deteriorate," she said. "They are very busy trying to stop this project from happening. They don't want to improve a thing."

    The commission began the meeting at the law school's Tishman Auditorium , at 40 Washington Square South and expected it to stretch well into the evening as dozens if not hundreds of members of the general public expected to speak in favor or against the rezonings.

    A spokeswoman for the planning commission, Rachaele Raynoff, said that translators in Cantonese, Mandarin, and Spanish were being provided and that people interested in testifying could check the updated schedule on their website throughout the day.

    -- David Freedlander

  • The haps around town today ...

    Wednesday August 13, 2008 6:07 AM By Lauren Johnston


    Hundreds showed up outside the NYU law school this morning to protest planned rezoning in the East Village and Lower East Side. Photo/ David Freedlander

    9:15 a.m. and on Hundreds protest East Village/Lower East Side rezoning

    plan prior to the noon City Planning Department hearing; in front of 40 Washington Square South. WE ARE LIVE BLOGGING

    10 a.m. Representatives of UJCARE present 5,312 new voter registration

    forms from Brooklyn’s Hasidic communities; NYC Board of Elections, 32 Broadway.

    10 a.m. The Museum of the City of New York unveils glass and aluminum

    pavilion and curatorial center; 1220 Fifth Ave., at 103rd Street.

    10 a.m. Chinatown YMCA hosts 32nd Annual Summer Festival for hundreds of summer campers; Sara D. Roosevelt Park track field, Forsyth and Hester Street.

    10:30 a.m. The MTA and Bronx Council on the Arts honor Daniel Hauben for his stained glass artwork at the Freeman Street subway station; Freeman Street station

    10:30 a.m. More than 1,000 city children compete in CityParks Track &

    Field; Icahn Stadium at Randall’s Island Park.

    11 a.m. Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta presides over promotion

    ceremony for 34 members of the FDNY, Fire Academy, Randalls Island.

    Noon Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Billy Joel and Clive Davis

    attend press conference to unveil new plans from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; 76 Mercer St., between Spring and Broome streets.

    Noon City Planning hearing on Willets Point redevelopment plan; Tishman Auditorium, NYU Law School, 40 Washington Square South.

    1 p.m. Elected officials, environmental and civic leaders rally in

    support of Willets Point redevelopment; Washington Square Park, LaGuardia Place and Washington Park South.

    1:30 p.m. Wednesday Groundtracks Concert Series continues with Agua Clara, Music of the Andes; Trinity Churchyard.

    2:30 p.m. Rep. Anthony Weiner holds media availability prior to meeting

    with members of New York’s Georgian community; Congregation for Georgian Jews, 63-04 Yellowstone Blvd., between 63rd Drive and 63rd Road, Queens.

    5 p.m. Doors open for McCarren Park Pool Wilco concert. It's sold out, but you can always take a picnic and enjoy the tunes from the grass outside. :)

    5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Children and families from Harlem march to denounce violence in the community and to remember the victims of violence; from West

    134th Street, between Frederick Douglass Boulevard and Adam Clayton

    Powell Boulevard, to the PAL Harlem Armory on 143rd Street between

    Lenox and Fifth avenues.

    6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Grand Central Oyster Bar holds “Christmas in August”

    celebration of Feast of the Seven Fishes; Grand Central Oyster Bar, Grand Central Station.

    7 p.m. Jimmy Delgado y Orquesta featuring Renzo Padilla play a free show for River to River at Wagner Park

    8 p.m. Headlong Dance Theater: Hotel Pool performs at Rector Square's indoor swimming pool, 225 Rector Place, Battery Park City Condominiums

    Tags: today's check it out, stuff that's cool

  • Tick Tock Diner: Turning back the hands of time

    Tuesday August 12, 2008 9:17 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Click on photos to enlarge. (Historical images courtesy of Joe Kinney)

    Well before the New Yorker was home to the Tick Tock Diner, the hotel hosted several interesting eateries.

    They included the swanky Manhattan Room, as well as one with which we have become intrigued: Lamp Post Corner, at West 34th Street and Eighth Avenue, where you can find Tick Tock today.

    Check out the fantastic ephemera of the vanished restaurants courtesy of hotel archivist Joe Kinney, who has put together an impressive collection of the hotel's memorabilia. How could you not want to eat at these places? Some enterprising restaurateur would be wise to bring back this retro iconography.

    Lamp Post Corner seems to capitalize on that mid-century nostalgia for turn-of-the-century America, and its handlebar mustaches (find a pair below!), gas lamps, barbershop quartets, and old-fashioned ice-cream parlors. What a fun place this must have been.

    Lamp Post was actually part of a national chain, whose locations included the great El Rancho Hotel & Motel in Gallup, N.M. When we stayed there during a road trip through the Southwest 10 years ago, Lamp Post Corner, alas, was as much a part of history as the "Gay '90s" vibe it sought to recapture. But you can always pop in for a bite of nostalgia on this corner of the Web.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: new yorker hotel, manhattan room, lamp post corner, tick tock diner, nostalgia, urban archaeology

  • Signs we love: Catania's Shoes in Pelham Bay

    Tuesday August 12, 2008 12:07 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Our recent tour through Pelham Bay turned up many interesting gems, but our favorite signage has to belong to Catania's Shoes on Westchester Avenue.

    Look at the streamlined feel to the sign, and the wonderful curved lettering in "Shoes." It's a museum piece, and locals are lucky to have it.

    The prominent sign for Florsheim is a nice touch, too, and the doors themselves have all manner of interesting stickers, some of which are classics.

    More Pelham Bay classics coming soon. And share your signs here.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Click to enlarge: Stickers on the door include Pelham Bay Little League, and CitiCorp Travelers Checks, featuring the now defunct star Citicorp logo and even a reference to Ciibank's predecessor, First National City Bank.

  • 8coupons.com offers eight-cent deals in city

    Tuesday August 12, 2008 11:51 AM By Garett Sloane

    Co-founders of 8coupons.com, Landy Ung, left, and Wan-Hsi Yuan, attend their company's promotion at Wicked Willy's last week. (Photo: Emily Ann Epstein)

    Jordan Fisher waited patiently in line — about 20 deep — to show the bartender his coupon for a pair of frosty eight-cent Miller beers.

    When it was his turn, he reached into his pocket, but didn’t pull out a crumpled paper voucher. He presented his cell phone and redeemed his beers for pennies.

    Fisher’s coupon was texted to him by New York-based 8coupons.com.

    “It’s cheap alcohol,” Fisher said at the promotion for the beers at Wicked Willy’s on Bleecker Street last Friday. “How can you go wrong?”

    The deal was part of 8coupons.com’s “Ocho Loco” offer — Spanish for crazy eight. The startup Internet company is celebrating its year anniversary this month with weekly specials, including eight-cent hot dogs, latkes or matzo ball soup at Friedman’s Deli in Chelsea Market next Tuesday.Landy Ung, 29, co-founded the site with her boyfriend, Wan Hsi Yuan, in August 2007. It is for New York businesses, but the couple plans 8coupons.com sites for Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and possibly Boston in the second quarter of 2009, Ung said.

    “The site just works so well because there’s nothing for people to download or print,” she said. “It’s just texting.”

    The coupons are texted to customers who visit the Web site and request them.

    The site has been growing steadily since its launch, doubling its user base nearly every month.

    According to Ung, 8coupons.com boasted 60,000 unique users in July, up from 30,000 users in June, which in turn was up from around 20,000 in May. Ung wouldn’t discuss how much money her company has generated, but by the looks of things she’s doing well: She quit her day job and the company has moved from her home to a Midtown office.

    Merchants pay a $265 monthly subscription fee to put promotions online. They can either post their own coupons or they can join forces with 8coupons.com for “Ocho Loco” deals, which are not always as low as eight cents but some promotion with eight in the price.

    “It’s good advertisement for the place and it brings in a lot more business,” said Rudy Farran, owner of Snacklicious Cinderella Falafel, which will serve eight-cent falafels and hold a falafel-eating contest at its East Village shop on Aug. 31. Nearly 800 people showed up in a two-hour span when Farran partnered with 8coupons on a similar event last year.

    Ung knows that many folks are suspicious of texting, fearing that they’ll be spammed nonstop once they give out their numbers. She assures them, however, that is not the case with 8coupons.

    “We don’t spam,” she said. “All we do is send the text out that one time.”

    (Leah Hochbaum Rosner)

    Tags: deal, stores, coupons, retail, e-coupons, economy, manhattan, shopping, zany, stuff that's cool, restaurants, food

  • Madonna is still a 'Material Girl'

    Tuesday August 12, 2008 11:14 AM By Julie Gordon

    Madonna's "Gangster Pimp" and Art Deco-inspired costume for her upcoming "Sticky and Sweet" tour (PRNewsFoto/Givenchy Haute Couture)

    Madonna's gypsy-inspired costume (PRNewsFoto/Givenchy Haute Couture)

    Madonna may be Zen these days, but the Material Girl still lives up to her nickname when it comes to fashion.

    French Haute Couture house Givenchy is outfitting Madge in two looks for her upcoming “Sticky and Sweet Tour,” which hits New York’s Madison Square Garden on Oct. 6, 7, 11 and 12.

    One of the costumes has a “Gangster Pimp” and Art Deco feel, according to Givency. It features an elaborate frock coat and a waistcoat with fringes, jet beads and a laced-up corset back.

    The second, a gypsy-inspired ensemble, consists of a hooded cape worn over a chiffon dress with multi-colored ribbons, fuschia metal chains and a necklace.

    “I feel incredibly fortunate to have been given the opportunity to offer the world of Givenchy Haute Couture to Madonna the Icon, the Artist, the woman for whom I have so much respect and admiration,” designer Riccardo Tisci said in a statement.

    -- Julie Gordon

    Tags: madonna, givenchy, sticky and sweet, entertainment, fashion

  • On City Island, an eerie relic of FDNY campaign

    Tuesday August 12, 2008 7:57 AM By Rolando Pujol

    Photo by Rolando Pujol

    Remnants of an old FDNY safety campaign survive on Tier Street on City Island. These haunting stickers were pasted to the side of fire alarm call boxes, and years of weather and sun have taken their toll. But you can still make out a large "Stop" sign, and the wording "False Alarms Cause Death." The image of a firefighter, flames behind him as he carries a baby, is eerie.

    It's a powerfully effective campaign, made even more so by the sticker's derelict state.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: fdny, city island, urban archaeology, bronx

  • The haps around town today ...

    Tuesday August 12, 2008 5:23 AM By Lauren Johnston


    Bob Dylan, seen here in Pittsburgh on Aug. 9., will play Prospect Park tonight. Getty Images

    10 a.m. Advocates and elected officials rally outside City Hall against a state move they say could cause low and moderate income tenants to lose their

    homes

    11 a.m. Borough President James P. Molinaro unveils Staten Island’s new

    tourism video; Whitehall Ferry Terminal, Lower Manhattan.

    11 a.m. Rep. Charles Rangel, other politicians and community members

    announce outcome of effort to preserve affordability of six Harlem housing complexes; Cannan IV Towers, 95 Lenox Ave. at 115th St.

    2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Former Knicks star John Starks and NY state Sen. Kevin Parker at Read to Achieve program; Kensington Branch of Brooklyn Public

    Library, 410 Ditmas Ave.

    6:30 p.m. New Yorkers who organized on Facebook speak in favor of granting The Roxy a new 4 a.m. liquor license, Ambassador 3 Room, Westin Hotel, 270

    West 43rd St., between 7th and 8th avenues.

    6:30 p.m. Cover model Marisa Miller, boxer Miguel Cotto, hip hop artist 50

    Cent, Olympic skating champion Oksana Baiul at fundraiser for children’s home in Ukraine;

    Cipriani 23rd St.

    7 p.m. Yiddishfest 2008 summer concert series; Cunningham Park, Horace

    Harding Expressway and Grand Central Parkway, Queens.

    7:30 p.m. Wyclef Jean at SummerStage in Central Park, tickets $66

    8 p.m. Bob Dylan plays the Prospect Park Bandshell, tickets $55-$100

    10 p.m. - Bust Anniversary Party @ Spiegelworld is at Pier 17, South Street Seaport today and will be hosted by Amy Sedaris with guest DJs JD Samson (MEN/Le Tigre) and DJ Smithmix and musical guests Free Blood, Morningwood, Leslie Hall. Performers include Mr. Murray Hill, The World Famous BOB, The Pontani Sisters & Lady Circus. There will also be free cupcakes from Babycakes Bakery. Tickets: $25, which includes a free subscription to Bust.

    Tags: today's check it out

  • The summer of the staycation

    Monday August 11, 2008 3:13 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Take your next vacation on Staten Island and not only will you save money but you’ll contribute to the city’s economy — a win-win.

    Well, you don’t have to spend the whole time in Staten Island, but keep it in the city, and for every 1,000 New Yorkers who do “go local” for a week instead of taking a vacation in another destination, NYC could see an additional $1,365,000 in spending in the local economy that would have been spent on food, entertainment and shopping while out of town, NYC & Co. estimates.

    NYC & Co., the city’s tourism agency, has been on a tear trying to attract recession-weary New Yorkers to vacation here at home. The “Go Local” campaign has expanded lately with spot ads on TV screens in taxis that rolled out last week.

    -- Garett Sloane

    Tags: staycation, vacation, go local, neighborhoods

  • Is there a Blue Man inside you?

    Monday August 11, 2008 2:33 PM By Lauren Johnston


    Photo by Newsday photographer Ari Mintz

    When we heard about an open casting call [PHOTOS] for the Blue Man Group, we expected to find a manic-panic-cacophonous affair, and it was, but it turns out there are some rules too.

    Rule No. 1: Don't show up painted blue

    "We look for someone who kind of has a Blue Man inside them already, and then we work to bring that Blue Man out," said Blue Man casting director Deb Burton at Monday's auditions, which were held at the Blue Man Training Center at 412 Broadway, just south of Canal St.

    Rule No. 2 - Don't PhotoShop your face blue on your headshot or send your resume disguised as a pipe bomb.

    Both of these things have happened says Burton, adding, "those types of things are entirely unnecessary because part of our process is for US to discover what the person will look like in the makeup. [laughing] We don't really need people to do that ahead of the game."

    Rule No. 3 - You must be between 5'10" and 6'1"

    No elaboration here, them's just the facts. You must be tall and you must have rhythm -- but you DON'T have to be a man to play a blue man. So all you blue ladies out there, come on down. We met one woman in the audition waiting room Monday, dancer Oceane McCord, who lives in Manhattan.

    "It's kind of out of my normal auditioning experience, usually i'm surrounded by hundreds of women," McCord said, adding she thinks as a female performer, she might bring an interesting layer of vulnerability to the Blue Man character.

    Blue Man hopefuls don't get painted blue in the first round, it's more of a screening and drum check, said Burton, to see "what kind of person they are, how they react to drumming with another blue man performer." The full audition process can last up to six months.

    Drummer John Donovan, 32, from Deer Park, Long Island, said the week-long wait to find out if he makes it to round two will be "the longest week of my life so far."

    He's a drummer and he misses working with drummers. "I miss it all the time," he said. "I miss playing with other drummers terribly -- like it aches at me."

    Tags: blue man, zany, manhattan, arts, entertainment

  • Time running out on Astroland's 2009 hopes

    Monday August 11, 2008 2:31 PM By Ryan Chatelain

    Astroland’s co-owner says she is coming to grips with the realization that her storied Coney Island amusement park may close for good next month.

    Carol Hill Albert said yesterday the only way Astroland will reopen in 2009 is if Thor Equities, which owns the property, offers a one-year lease extension by the end of next week. If no agreement is reached by then, Albert said she would begin putting the park’s rides up for sale.

    Albert said she spoke with Thor officials last week and was told “they really were not in a position right now to make a decision, that they would try to get back to me soon, but there were no guarantees.”

    Much like a year ago, when Thor gave Astroland an 11th-hour, one-year lease extension, Albert had been holding out hope this summer that the amusement park could return in 2009.

    But when asked yesterday if she was resigned to the fact that this could be the 46-year-old park’s final season, Albert responded, “I kind of am. I’m getting there.”

    “It’s really very difficult for us to keep trying to run a business on a year-to-year basis,” said Albert, who co-owns the park with her husband, Jerome Albert. “People have their lives to plan, so we really cannot wait forever.”Astroland employs 370 people during the summer, 90 of whom work year-round.

    The park will close for the season Sept. 7. Its lease expires Jan. 31.

    In a prepared statement, Thor spokesman Stefan Friedman said “Astroland is signed until January, 2009,” adding that the developer is focused on sponsoring events in Coney Island this summer.

    Astroland’s signature ride, the Cyclone roller coaster, is a protected city landmark and will continue to operate next year.

    The Alberts sold their 3.1-acre waterfront property to Thor in November 2006 for $30 million. Thor planned a $1.5 billion redevelopment for 10 acres between West 10th and West 15th streets, which would have included a new amusement park, a water theme park, hotels and other offerings.

    However, in an effort to protect Coney Island as an amusement district, the Bloomberg administration has since announced a plan to acquire nine acres, including much of the Astroland property, from landowners and designate it parkland. Bloomberg then hopes to attract a single operator to develop a city-owned amusement park.

    The earliest the city expects to break ground on the project is next fall. The project is undergoing an environmental impact review, and the formal rezoning approval process will begin before the end of the year, said Lynn Kelly, president of the Coney Island Development Corp., which is charged by City Hall to protect the amusement district.

    Kelly said the loss of Astroland would underscore the need for Coney Island to be rezoned.

    “This is a real call to action for everyone to pay attention because what happens is the more vacant property that ends up in Coney Island, the more opportunity it is for any landowner in the future to say to a future administration, ‘Hey, this zoning doesn’t work. I have lots of vacant property. I want to do luxury condominiums and a giant mall,’ ” Kelly said. “And you know what? They might get it. That’s why it’s so important to get the zoning done now.”

    -- Ryan Chatelain

  • Jonas Brothers madness in midtown

    Monday August 11, 2008 2:15 PM By Elizabeth Nielsen

    Sara Hoffman, 15, Katie Hoffmann, 15, and Katy Yutsus, 1, all of Mountainside, N.J., pose outside the Jonas Brothers tour bus in midtown Monday. (Photo by Caroline Coppel/amNY)

    The Big Apple is burning up for the Jonas Brothers.

    Fans of the pop group flocked to Madison Square Garden on Monday, hours before the start of the last New York show on their “Burning Up” tour. Some were decked out in homemade T-shirts; others carried handwritten posters and signs.

    “I love New York and I love the Jonas Brothers, it’s a perfect combination,” said Ariel Gaylinn, 18, who traveled from Florida to see the show. “It’s my third concert of theirs.”

    Other fans stopped to sign the band’s tour bus, which was parked off of Seventh Avenue. The bus – which travels to every concert – was covered in names, phone numbers and messages left by fans from previous shows.

    “We wrote all over it,” said Sara Hoffman, 15. “People leave notes, their names: it’s pretty cool.”

    The Jonas Brothers’ new album, “A Little Bit Longer”, hits stores Tuesday.

    -- Caroline Coppel

    Tags: jonas brothers, entertainment

  • Perlman to the rescue: Preservationist works to save forlorn 1940s Greenwich Village diner

    Monday August 11, 2008 1:14 PM By Rolando Pujol

    This diner at 357 West St. was manufactured by the famed Kullman Diner company, possibly in the late 1940s. (Photo by Tiffany L. Clark). More photos [HERE]

    It was once called the Lost Diner, and now, the name truly fits.

    The 1940s chrome diner in Greenwich Village sits abandoned, its glass door broken and its interior filled with trash.

    But what is lost may have been found again. Preservationist Michael Perlman, who has already rescued the Cheyenne and Moondance diners in Manhattan from sure obliteration, tells Urbanite that he has submitted a proposal to owner Peter Moore Associates to preserve the diner and bring it back to its former glory. In fact, the Moondance is set to reopen next month in Wyoming.

    The eatery, at 357 West St., has been known over the years as Terminal Diner and Lunchbox Food, and was most recently Rib, a North Carolina-style barbeque joint.

    But that establishment closed in 2006, and the building has since fallen into disrepair. Perlman says he and Peter Moore Associates, which bought the property in 2006, will further discuss his proposal in October. He says that it would be more affordable to renovate the space than to demolish it. The owner could not be reached for comment.

    Perlman said a metal tag bearing the name of the famous Kullman Diner manufacturer still hangs above the door. It’s details like that that Perlman wants to preserve as much as possible.

    "Diners are becoming an endangered species, especially in the tri-state area,” Perlman said. “They definitely don't manufacture them like they used to. And diners are the ultimate public institution; they were places where people from various classes would mingle side by side."

    -- Megan Stride

    amNY photo galleries

    Great NYC diners, past and present

    Remembering the Munson Diner

    Tags: diners, cheyenne diner, market diner, moondance diner, urban archaeology, restaurants, gentrification, food, endangered nyc, architecture

  • And now a Williamsburg fairytale ... and there's even a crown!

    Monday August 11, 2008 11:20 AM By Lauren Johnston


    Can you spot Mr. or Miss Williamsburg in this sea of cool?

    Once upon a time, in a borough that's super-close to Manhattan there was a little Williamsburg [PHOTOS] hipster girl who fancied herself "incredibly cool" and "creative."

    Then one day she heisted two 40s of Colt 45 from a local deli, got arrested and slapped with community service.

    But she chanced to appear before a merciful judge. He took pity on the poor hipsterina, clad only in a gold lame American Apparel bikini top, and decided to allow her to choose her own service project.

    (OK .. we don't really know whether she wore the below-mentioned bikini top in court, but it's funnier if she did. And yes, that's really her in the photo.)

    And deciding she ought to devote her life to slaying hipster apathy like the ugly fire-breathing dragon it most certainly represents - she spun together the Mr. and Miss Williamsburg contest -- a hipster's take on the Miss USA Pageant.

    This little hipsterina is one Misha Calvert, 25, and we first heard about her plight via the WilliamsburgCourier

    So obviously someone who truly embodies Williamsburg is going to look just like Calvert, right?

    We think some of the North Side giglio boys or the South Side Satmars might have a beef with that idea, but what do we know? Maybe they'll show up.

    Here is Calvert's take on why this event constitutes community service:

    “I pitched it as kind of a uniting force in the Williamsburg community. I’ve been talking to my friends about the level of apathy around here, so I figured, why not put together something about a subject a lot of us are most passionate about: ourselves ... Plus, I really like hot guys."

    Wow, Williamsburg is already a better place.

    The event goes down on Sept. 5 at 10 p.m. at the bar Supreme Trading. Anyone over 21 is eligible. If you think you're a candidate for the crown, e-mail mrandmisswilliamsburg@gmail.com

    As much as this event annoys us, it does give us an excuse to revisit the superb YouTube effort, "The Hipster Olympics" inspired of course by the classic Monty Python sketch, "Upperclass Twit of the Year." See both below:

    Tags: williamsburg, zany, neighborhoods, entertainment, brooklyn, arts

  • What's up with our President in Beijing?!

    Monday August 11, 2008 8:00 AM By Jamshid Mousavinezhad

    We pulled together photos from the Associated Press (top) and Getty Images (bottom) to create what we think is the sequence of events when President Bush visited some women's beach volleyball players at the Olympics this weekend.

    Still not sure what's going on here--maybe he's getting a tutorial on the hand signals players use to communicate with each other?

    Or perhaps there's a simpler explanation.

    Check out 37 other photos of President Bush's goofiest moments at the Olympics, so far.

    He really seems to be having a ball--perks like this must be why the Obama-McCain race is so hard-fought.

    Tags: sports

  • The haps around town today ...

    Monday August 11, 2008 4:59 AM By Lauren Johnston

    If you always wanted to dance like a Blue Man, read on ...

    9 a.m. to noon American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals hosts weeklong mini-camp to teach children about companion animals; Snug

    Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island Children’s Museum

    11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Blue Man Group holds open casting call; third floor, Blue Man Training Center, 412 Broadway.

    4 p.m. Georgian Association in the United States rallies in support of

    Georgia; in front of U.N. building, 43rd Street and First Avenue.

    7:30 p.m. Opera star Monica Yunus gives a free concert for River-to-River at the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts

  • The dance of the giglio in East Harlem

    Sunday August 10, 2008 5:27 PM By Rolando Pujol

    The giglio was danced in East Harlem Sunday, and amNewYork photographer RJ Mickelson was there. Just outside Our Lady of Mount Carmel on 115th Street between First and Pleasant avenues, the Giglio Boys performed their annual Dance of the Giglio, where roughly 100 men carried a wooden, five-story, hand-sculpted tower while a brass band played Italian folk songs. Atop the structure was a Statue of Liberty. Click here for RJ's photos.

    More: Check out Lauren Johnston's coverage of the giglio in Williamsburg.

    Tags: giglio, manhattan, neighborhoods, religion

  • Watch out for efficient meter maids in Pelham Bay

    Sunday August 10, 2008 4:20 PM By Rolando Pujol

    So frustrated are the proprietors of the All American Laundry in Pelham Bay with overly efficient meter maids that they've created a sign warning customers of the massive fines that await. Apparently making a quick drop-off or pick-up is dangerous for customers' fiscal health. And it's "killing" the business too, Mr. Mayor.

    We have to hand it to the shop for its creative way of coping with a chronic frustration. The sign doesn't hold any particular mayor accountable, so we'd imagine whoever succeeds Michael Bloomberg will be on the hook, too.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: pelham bay, meter maids, parking, neighborhoods, crime, bronx

  • Going out of your way for good pizza? We advise calling ahead, especially in August

    Sunday August 10, 2008 3:55 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Great pizza makers need time off, and it's Louie and Ernie's time to relax. Below, Joe's Pizza announces its August vacation. (Photos by Rolando Pujol)

    On Saturday, a few Urbaniters hopped on the No. 6 train, got out at Buhre Avenue -- the second to last stop -- and sampled the pizza in Pelham Bay. We hit pay dirt, and it surprises us that this neighborhood isn't on every best-pizza short list. There is indeed an overabundance of options, enough to pull off a hearty pizza crawl.

    But we offer traveling gourmands a warning about venturing into the city's northerly reaches for pizza in the month of August. Your highly anticipated destination just might be closed!

    Had we gone but a day later, we would not have been able to enjoy the delights of Louie and Ernie's on Crosby Avenue or Joe's Pizza on Middletown Road. Nor would we have been able to slurp down the refreshing Italian ices at Family Pizzeria on Crosby Avenue. Each place was about to shut down for a well-deserved break.

    Indeed, in pizza parlors all around New York, the old-country tradition of closing up shop in August seem to persist. (Our favorite pizza joint from childhood, Fleetwood Pizzeria in Sleepy Hollow, would close for what seemed like a month. Talk about withdrawal pangs.)

    So if you have great pizza -- and a far flung location -- in mind, just call ahead.

    And if it's Pelham Bay you want to try -- and you really should if you claim to be a pizza lover -- here's a handy guide from the good people at Slice.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    They serve up great Italian ices and pizza ... not just this week, as the sign below attests.

    And while you wait in line, check out the mural of great Yankees players. These are but a few of the names represented.

    Tags: pizza, pelham bay, no. 6 train, tabloid tours, neighborhoods, food

  • Growing up in the shadow of the New Yorker

    Sunday August 10, 2008 12:56 PM By Rolando Pujol

    From the collection of Joe Kinney

    We wanted to share a fascinating letter we received about our story Friday on the New Yorker Hotel. The writer, Ruth Lennon, grew up and still lives in the neighborhood, and during her childhood in the 1930s and the 1940s, the hotel was, among other things, a fun place to play with her friends. Thanks, Ruth, for sharing your memories with us:

    Dear Mr. Pujol,

    Thank you for such an interesting article on the Hotel New Yorker. I along with some of my close friends were born back in the 1930's and were raised on West 35th Street between 9th and Dyer Avenues. We had many places to play in the area, as street kids growing up, one place being the elevator that went from below ground in the 34th street and 8th avenue subway directly up one flight to the Hotel New Yorker.

    The elevator stopped in the vestibule of the side entrance of the hotel that is next to Manhattan Center, now known as Hammerstein Ballroom, and would discharge passengers for the hotel including a few of us neighborhood kids. I remember when the Shriner conventions would come to town and stay and party at the Hotel New Yorker. We had torch light parades with many celebrities during the second World War that would parade by the Hotel New Yorker.

    I still live in the neighborhood and was delighted to watch as the New Yorker was spiffed up and the sign on the top of the hotel restored. Thank Mr. Kinney for helping restore some good memories for a few of us from the old neighborhood.

    Sincerely,

    Mrs. Ruth Lennon

    Tags: new yorker hotel, history, hell's kitchen, urban archaeology, real estate, manhattan

  • Struggling Starbucks offers $2 afternoon promotion

    Sunday August 10, 2008 9:19 AM By Rolando Pujol

    This morning, our barista at 35th and 8th enthusiastically handed over our receipt and informed us of a special promotion: Come back after 2 p.m. and get a grande cold drink for $2, plus tax. (Which works out to about half the usual price)

    Starbucks Gossip reports the chain has gone nationwide with the promotion, which began in select cities and requires making a purchase before 2 p.m. The promotion runs through Sept. 2 The chain is trying to "answer consumers' calls for more value at the chain, which has seen traffic drop as gas prices rise and consumer spending falters," the AP says.

    The promotion is part and parcel with various promotions Starbucks has been offering as it tries to weather its dark days.

    The comments in the Starbucks Gossip thread are worth a read. This one caught our attention:

    The (sweet?) irony is that the local shops were forced to do the $2 happy hour promos a decade ago, in the face of sbux predatory market practices.

    And now the shoe is on the other foot.

    Congrats. You are now fast food, sbux.

    Unless you're a routine repeat customer, we're not sure how effective this will be. Will you visit again just to cash in on the deal? We won't.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: starbucks, quick bite, food

  • Whole Foods: Go hungry; leave full

    Friday August 8, 2008 12:19 PM By -- Diane Goldie

    This week my daughter Grace and I dropped by Manhattan’s newest Whole Foods outpost in Tribeca to pick up a few groceries for dinner. We were in the store for three minutes when a cheerful young woman offered us a taste of kiwi. It wasn’t just a taste; it was kiwi halves – gold or the usual green – in a cup with a matching green spoon/knife. Very chic.

    A few steps into the frozen food section a man cooking empanadas handed us a whole broccoli and cheddar sample. Very tasty.

    An aisle away, another fellow wearing an apron was dishing out nice portions of a pasta and vegetables. Nearby there was a sampling of nuts and dried fruits, and as we left the store we sipped on a fairly large cup of an unsweetened energy drink. Very satisfying.

    We spent just about a half an hour in the store, but we left well fed. No need to cook dinner.

    Check out amNewYork's City Living

    Diane Goldie

    Tags: whole foods, tribeca, grocery stores

  • Duly Noted

    Friday August 8, 2008 9:23 AM By Rolando Pujol

    Millys Mini Market in Williamsburg. Help build our sign collection here. (Photo by Rolando Pujol)

    * Hey "Mad Men" fans. Here's a guide to city locales mentioned on the show's first season. [Gridskipper via EV Grieve]

    * The Williamsburg giglio gets all the attention, but Jeremiah reminds us that East Harlem has its very own giglio, which will dance this Sunday at 2. The celebration is one of the last links to East Harlem's Italian days. [Jeremiah's Vanishing New York]

    * A most auspicious day: the Wonder Wheel turns 88 on 8/8/8. [Gothamist]

    * How green is my wall: The side of an East Side building has been transformed into a verdant paradise. [A Fine Blog]

    * Marion's Continental on the Bowery is closed, but its catering business will carry on. The owners bid farewell in the same way the original Marion's did in 1973 -- by stepping into the light at the end of the bar and raising a toast. Sad. [Eater]

    * Also sad: Gasparino's in the East Village closes for "lack of interest." The sign says just that in the window. [Eater]

    * This Web site show the novel things you can do with your finds at Ikea. [Ikea hacker via Jackson Heights Life]

    * Way before eHarmony, there was Compramatics. Here's an ad from 1970 urging Gotham singles to harness the power of the computer (and fill out painfully long questionnaires) to find the perfect mate. [Ephemeral New York]

    * Doing some hopping between North and South Brother islands. You have to see the pictures. [Gowanus Lounge]

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: duly noted

  • Delphi still 'hangin,' with Brushtroke in the wings

    Thursday August 7, 2008 3:43 PM By -- Diane Goldie

    A building on the northeast corner of West Broadway and Reade Street still sports remnants of long time Tribeca Mediterranean eatery Delphi only weeks before uber chef David Bouley is slated to open his Japanese restaurant Brushstroke in the space.

    The new restaurant, expected to start serving in September, is named after the vintage painting on an exterior wall of the landmarked building.

    Bouley is teaming up with Yoshiki Tsuji, president of Japan’s largest professional cooking school, the Tsuji Culinary Academy.

    Though it's hard to see what's going on behind the brown paper covering the windows of the two-story building, the pair reportedly are planning a robata grill and a Japanese room with Western flourishes on the ground floor. An intimate, but upscale kaiseki dining room will occupy the second floor where elaborate Kyoto-style seasonal tasting menus will be served.

    -- Diane Goldie

    amNY's Tribeca City Living

    Tags: bouley, tribeca, restaurant, restaurants

  • Gotham's Gems: Urbanite visits New Yorker Hotel

    Thursday August 7, 2008 12:36 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Images from the collection of Joe Kinney. Check out our photo galleries HERE , HERE, and HERE and check out Lauren Johnston's great video tour of the hotel with Joe Kinney.

    The maze of tunnels under New York includes one you probably never heard of. It lies 30 feet below the intersection of West 34th Street and Eighth Avenue and links the New Yorker Hotel to Penn Station.

    This tunnel is no utilitarian slouch: It's sheathed in sumptuous Art Deco tile and long-empty glass sign displays that promoted Duke Ellington shows to travelers being whisked through the passage by bellhops. You'd say, "Take me to the New Yorker and you wouldn’t have to go outside,” Joe Kinney, the hotel's engineer and historian, said during a recent tour of the hotel.

    Indeed, the New Yorker's historic spirit is filling all of its corridors again, as a room-by-room renovation draws toward completion, powered by the strong Art Deco genes that gave it life almost 80 years ago. But for many of those years, the hotel had lost touch with its history. It closed in 1972 and was purchased by the Unification Church. In 1994, it reopened under its original name, but only now is it truly reclaiming its lost history and pride of place among the city's hotels.

    It's easy to see how Kinney, 57, who joined the staff in 1996, became captivated by its history, and how he was able to sell senior management on the idea that the hotel's future lay in its past. The striking pyramidical, set-backed tower was financed and built before the Wall Street crash of 1929, and opened into a sobered-up world on Jan. 2, 1930, with the Great Depression already under way.

    The 43-story hotel boasted many extremes when it opened: It was the biggest, the tallest, the one with the largest switchboard, the largest kitchen, the largest private power plant. Today, its massive LED sign is a skyline fixture and is possibly the largest of its kind anywhere.

    You hear of the ice follies at the Terrace Room, of visits by actor Mickey Rooney and band leader Benny Goodman, and of Nikola Tesla, the electrical genius whose obsession with numbers and his love for pigeons still draw the curious to the hotel, where he spent his final years.

    The New Yorker Hotel's historically minded renovation comes at a time when the future of its former swing-era arch enemy, the Hotel Pennsylvania, has been in question, and during a time when the wrecking ball has been tearing down old New York with abandon.

    The hotel’s rebirth is due in no small part to Kinney's curiosity and cheer-leading for the hotel's history.

    “I feel very happy that I was able to push the Art Deconess of the hotel and that the architects took that into consideration," Kinney said, speaking of the work of the firm Stonehill & Taylor. "They did a great job.”

    A quest to save history

    Like the Empire State Building, its considerably more famous Art Deco cousin down 34th Street, the New Yorker was born of the high hopes of the 1920s and confronted with the harsh realities of the 1930s.

    "The hotel really, really struggled. It never really got over it," Kinney said, but the New Yorker weathered the Depression and World War II years with style. A who's who of celebrities, big bands and high-living swells coursed through its lobby during the 1930s and 1940s, a story Kinney is piecing back together every day through the massive memorabilia collection he continues to build. He has rescued long-lost menus, copies of the hotel's in-house magazine, Caravan, and countless other ephemera that tell the story of one of New York's iconic hotels.

    Many of his finds are on eBay, but every so often, a relative of a former employee might stop by with a stunning discovery, or a story that would have otherwise been lost to history. Just the other day, a 92-year-old former bellhop stopped by and, beaming with pride, recalled that he was an employee of the month in 1939. "They’ll give you stuff, if they think it’s going to be put to its best and highest use," Kinney said.

    And his passion for hotel history helps tells the story of mid-century New York, and more broadly, American culture.

    It's difficult, for instance, to think about Madison Avenue's gift at promoting smoking without considering Johnny Roventini.

    The pint-sized pitchman would exclaim "call for Philip Morris" on television for years. Yet he began his career by hailing visitors in the New Yorker's lobby. A Philip Morris executive took a shine to Roventini, and the rest is advertising history.

    Tesla, the eccentric inventor of AC current, called room 3327 home. The numbers held a certain magic for him, and it is here that he allegedly kept company with a beloved pigeon, and died after a 10-year stay. (The feds swooped in to clean out his room, just in case the inventor had come up with some plans that could fall into enemy hands. This was January 1943, after all.)

    A hotel's secrets

    The underground tunnel is certainly a highlight of any tour. Now used for storage, the tunnel poses too many security risks to reopen. And then there's a far more quotidian reason to keep it shut. "Now luggage has wheels on it, they can drag it down Eighth Avenue and walk in our front door,” Kinney said.

    Another surprise awaits behind the massive brass door on Eighth Avenue. The door once lead to a branch of Manufacturers Trust bank. The door connotes wealth and security, a comforting or possibly alienating symbol for New Yorkers scraping by during the Depression.

    The doors themselves, though, have been shuttered since the Reagan administration, and what lurks behind is a cavernous banking hall dripping with terrazzo flooring, brass railings, and Art Deco murals by the noted artist Louis Jambor.

    The banking hall is now undergoing restoration, on track to become a grand ballroom. Once completed, it will return one of New York's great architectural spaces to public use.

    Jambor made 26 panels in total for the hotel, with many of them covered under plaster during an insensitive renovation during the 1960s, the "Tupperware architecture," period, Kinney said. For a future renovation project, the hotel might undertake an effort to bring those panels to light. Indeed, the hotel is focused on reclaiming its history, one art mural, old brochure or knick-knack at a time. Kinney’s collection, in fact, may one day become part of an exhibit at the hotel.

    “By recapturing and reconstituting the true history of the New Yorker Hotel ... we are actually adding value to this building and even meaning to our working lives," Kinney said.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: new yorker hotel, history, art deco, urban archaeology, old school, hotels, endangered nyc, architecture

  • Yo-yo champ puts new spin on old tricks

    Thursday August 7, 2008 11:58 AM By Lauren Johnston


    Yo-yo champ Pat Cuartero demos his tricks in Washington Square Park. Photo/ Lauren Johnston

    Urbanite recently met yo-yo champion Pat Cuartero -- who is incidentally CEO of his own company YoYoNation.com (yeah, he gets to yo-yo for a living!) in Washington Square Park, where he showed us some original tricks like "Angel Wings" and one where he knocked a quarter off a kid's ear and some cool updates on old faves like "Walk the Dog," and "Around the World."

    Cuartero and some fellow yo-yo champs will put their skills on display Saturday at a yo-yo event - the 2008 International Yo-Yo Open - at the South Street Seaport. Details [HERE].

    For now, check our vids:

    Tags: arts, entertainment, manhattan

  • Jersey 'Housewives' out and about!

    Thursday August 7, 2008 4:40 AM By Julie Gordon

    The Jersey housewives, along with NYC housewife Alex McCord (in sheer pink) and her husband. Photo by Jori Klein/Metromix.com

    We spotted the "Real Housewives of New Jersey!"

    The ladies from the next installment of Bravo's "Real Housewives" series were out on the town Tuesday night at National Underwear Day's underwear/lingerie runway shows.

    Though the four dolled-up gals wouldn't out-right admit they were the Jersey housewives, they implied they were, and a source confirmed it. Also, a film crew was following them. How un-obvious.

    The four-some wouldn't say where in Jerz they live, but one housewife said she gets her hair done in Chatham, N.J., and frequents Italian restaurant Stretch's in Livingston ("The Sopranos" has filmed in Livingston a few times).

    At Espace in midtown west, the ladies took in the underwear models and chatted up NYC housewife Alex and her hubby.

    Bravo didn't phone calls or an e-mail about the show; earlier in the year, the network released the following:

    "The newest edition to Bravo's successful 'Real Housewives' franchise brings big homes, big hair, new money and drama. Shot through Bravo's pop culture filter, welcome to New Jersey, home to five of the Garden State's most affluent ladies and the families they run. These best friends do everything over-the-top, from their decorating, to their dating and their fighting. 'The Real Housewives of New Jersey' showcases the McMansions and lavish lifestyles of these women and all the drama that money can buy."

    Sounds like one big Jersey-licious party. I'm in!

    — Julie Gordon

    Tags: real housewives, new jersey, bravo, entertainment

  • Baring (almost) it all

    Wednesday August 6, 2008 10:13 AM By Julie Gordon

    undies.jpg

    Models show off their skivvies at National Underwear Day Tuesday night. For more sexy photos, click here (Jori Klein/Metromix.com)

    Did you know yesterday was National Underwear Day? The crowds at Freshpair’s runway show last night was certainly aware of this special day.

    Held at Espace, the event showcased the undergarments of 14 designers, including Diesel, Sean John, DKNY, 2xist and Natori.

    However, we were more intrigued with the high quota of reality stars mixing and mingling. We spotted “America’s Next Top Model” winner Jaslene Gonzalez and judge Nole Marin, Ben and Tyson Beckford from “Make Me a Supermodel” and Robert Verdi of “She’s Got the Look” fame.

    Eyebrows were raised when Alex McCord and Simon van Kempen from “The Real Housewives of New York” chatted up “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.” Although the Jersey gals were coy in letting their identities slip, we’re willing to place our favorite silk robe on the fact that they were the “real” thing (the camera crew following them around and their visible microphones were dead giveaways).

    After three long hours of staring at semi-clad models, reality stars in the wild and Lydia Hearst (she was the guest of honor), we decided to call it night. Our only regret was not asking Simon van Kempen if he prefers boxers or briefs. On second thought, perhaps this is something we’d rather just not know.

    — Jessie Pascoe, Metromix.com

    Tags: fashion

  • Dial FDNY to open a hydrant near you ...

    Tuesday August 5, 2008 10:15 AM By Lauren Johnston


    Street revelers leap through an open hydrant at the corner of North Third Street and Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (Photo by Rolando Pujol)

    On a steamy Saturday in late July, the fire hydrants along Williamsburg’s Bedford Avenue were cracked and showering arcs of cool water over clusters of shrieking pedestrians and the street, which was closed to cars that day for a festival.

    These were not spouting geysers – the telltale sign of an illegally popped hydrant. The hydrants were fitted with spray caps, perforated lids mounted by the fire department, which release the water in a controlled stream like a sprinkler or showerhead.

    So how exactly do you get the fire department’s consent to open a hydrant? It’s easier than you may think.

    “Someone has to call the neighborhood firehouse and make a request for one of the trucks to open a certain hydrant,” said Firefighter Alex Bartley. “When we do it, it’s because of the heat, for the kids and the neighborhood – whoever needs to cool off.”

    The FDNY conducts regular water pressure tests to determine whether it’s safe to open the hydrants, Bartley said. Low pressure from an open hydrant could impede the department’s ability to fight fires.

    Spray caps have been in use at least 20 years as a measure to save water. When a hydrant is opened illegally, it spews out about one thousand gallons of water per minute which adds up to one million gallons over 24-hours, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.

    “One hour of an open hydrant would be enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool,” said DEP spokesperson Mercedes Padilla. The caps slow that stream to 25 gallons per minute.Last summer, DEP launched the HEAT program (Hydrant Education Action Team) in Washington Heights and Inwood in Manhattan and Highbridge, Fordham, Morris Heights and Concourse in the Bronx – areas with a history of hydrant complaints – to curb illegal use. Padilla says results have been good so far.

    The number of complaints for illegally opened hydrants in targeted Manhattan neighborhoods dropped from 4691 in 2006 to 2824 in 2007. This year the program was expanded to cover more areas in the Bronx and several Brooklyn neighborhoods.

    Hydrant caps are affixed with a strong magnet and the fire units travel with a special magnetized wrench to remove them, so calling the fire department to open them legally is much easier than the illegal alternatives. But that doesn’t deter some rogue residents in hot weather.

    “People in New York can be pretty creative and sometimes find ways to bypass that system,” said Firefighter Jim Long.

    Tags: fdny, zany

  • Dawson frozen in time at 34th-Herald Square

    Monday August 4, 2008 8:11 AM By Emily Ngo

    Commuters trudging up the sloped exit of the 34th-Herald Square station are haunted every day by this image of James Van Der Beek in all his "Dawson's Creek" glory. Not to mention that his nerdy grin graces the cover of the now-defunct YM magazine. How late '90s. (Why is he smiling anyway? He totes lost Joey to Pacey.)

    The owner/manager of this newsstand hasn't changed out the issues in his window for a good nine or 10 years. Are there outdated magazines on display at your train stations? There must be a dimpled JTT out there somewhere.

    — Emily Ngo

    Tags: dawson's creek, transit, media

  • Photo essay: Spirit of 1776 hits Governors Island

    Sunday August 3, 2008 6:22 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Sgt. John Cronin, 45, of Newburgh, and a re-enactor with the 5th New York Regiment, participates in a drilling and historic weapons firing demonstration during the "Experience a Revolutionary Weekend" on Governors Island. (Photo by RJ Mickelson/amNY)

    Revolutionary War re-enactors stormed Governors Island on Sunday, and our photographer RJ Mickelson was there to catch the action. The 5th New York Regiment along with the National Park Service offered demonstrations and programs about the road to the key Battle of Brooklyn.

    Check out his photo essay here. And hey, have you made it out the island yet? Do it before the visiting season ends Oct. 4. It's a free ferry ride for a great visit to the island the Dutch called home even before they took a shine to Manhattan.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: governors island, revolutionary war, manhattan, history

  • Riots give way to slam dancing

    Sunday August 3, 2008 4:43 PM By Jamshid Mousavinezhad

    Photo of the group Giuda performing in Tompkins Square Park by Jefferson Siegel

    Two days of concerts were held over the weekend in Tompkins Square Park, to mark the 20th anniversary of the famed riots between police and homeless squatters/activists.

    In the photo above, a group of slam dancers were doing their thing as the group Giuda

    performed.

    The park's an almost unrecognizable place today, with picnics and baby showers being held where people once feared to tread.

    And the battles today are mostly verbal, as we noted last week in Vets of Tompkins Square battle ready to fight again.

    --Jefferson Siegel and Jamshid Mousavinezhad

    Tags: tompkins square park riots, endangered nyc

  • How old zoning laws have new consequences

    Sunday August 3, 2008 2:09 PM By David Freedlander

    Unite d'Habitation le Corbusier Marseille from esmuz via flickr

    Robert Moses lives!!!

    The zoning laws that currently guide city planning were created in 1961, and allowed for developers who agreed to build small and off the street to sell their air-rights to nearby building sites, allow them to build higher than the regulations permit.

    Most of the city's public housing projects were built before then, from the 1930's-1960's, back when Modernist, Le Corbusier, "tower-in-the-park" ideas of one largish tower surrounded by green space were all the rage.

    Thus, many of them are sitting on unused open space or below unused air rights that they could sell off to the highest bidder, and have already looked into doing so in Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen.

    Area pols have figured out that there are major loophole possibilities here, since public housing projects are governed by the city zoning laws, but aren't by the rigorous land use process that other property owners are who want to auction off air rights.

    For more, check out my story in Monday's amNY.

    --David Freedlander

    Tags: zoning laws, modernism, robert moses, public housing, mitchell lama, real estate

  • Ma Bell is still ringing for you -- on sidewalks

    Sunday August 3, 2008 10:55 AM By Rolando Pujol

    Photo by Jefferson Siegel

    Jefferson Siegel sends along this photo of one of New York's hardiest historical survivors: telephone company manhole covers. They offer glimpses into phone-company history. Above, enjoy the pre-1969 Bell logo, as found in Cadman Plaza West in Brooklyn. Designer Saul Bass cleaned up that logo with the modernist one you see at left, which Verizon still uses on pay phones, hard hats and trucks.

    As Jefferson points out, it's been 23 years since the dissolution of Ma Bell -- the original AT&T and its local phone companies. Its descendants are still in our midst, with AT&T (which is really SBC with Ma Bell's name) and Verizon (nee Bell Atlantic, Nynex and New York Telephone.)

    Click here for a little New York Telephone history, as told through, of all things, a rusty utility cart we ran into earlier this year.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: urban archaeology, at&t, bell system, verizon, new york telephone, old school, history, brooklyn

  • Duly Noted

    Sunday August 3, 2008 9:32 AM By Rolando Pujol

    * The New York Times visits the memorial, left, to the seven people killed in March's crane collapse in Turtle Bay. A homeless man is lovingly taking care of it, though he is quick to point out that it was begun by a mysterious, middle-aged man. By the way, foreclosure looms for the tower's builder. [The City]

    * And here's a goodie from last week's section, in case you missed it: An ode to the Cheyenne Diner. [The City]

    * It drew the attention of "The MacNeil/Lehrer Report" and the anger of Con Ed: The East Village building that tried to go off the grid with the help of a rooftop windmill back in the 1970s. Well, the experiment didn't quite work, but they sure were on to something. [The City]

    * Now here's an interesting idea: Subway cars devoid of seats during the rush hour. [Gothamist]

    * Stay out of the water! Not content to be outdone by the Montauk Monster, jellyfish are making a play to be the beach terror of the summer.

    * While on the topic of aquatic creatures, if you simply must have a slice of Fudgie the Whale, Queens is your best bet. It has the most Carvels of any borough. [Queens Crap]

    * Yes, people are still waiting in line for iPhones. And Apple is said to be predicting shortages of both iPods and its MacBook laptop line.

    * Harlem now has a "rare" HSBC branch. [Uptown Flavor]

    * Seth Rogen not funny? [EV Grieve]

    * And EV Grieve undertakes a thorough documentation of all that's left of the old Bowery. We've done similar neighborhood canvassings .. it's a race again time everywhere.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Photo: The Turtle Bay memorial as it looked in mid April. (Rolando Pujol)

    Tags: duly noted

  • Ice cream, Tribeca style

    Friday August 1, 2008 11:19 AM By -- Diane Goldie

    Tribeca doesn't have a cluster of ice cream or yogurt shops (aside from the Baskin Robbins embedded in a couple of Dunkin' Donut stores), but this summer two popular restaurants have opened mini-stands that serve up the sweet stuff.

    Duane Park Cafe has sprouted Griff's, a sliver of an ice cream stand that features an ever-changing menu that includes scoops of: spearmint, fig, peanut butter malted milk balls, sesame brittle, coconut custard and oatmeal cookie. The all-natural ice cream is made at the restaurant.

    The bright blue and white mini ice cream stand sits on Duane Street between West Broadway and Hudson Street. It's open Mon.-Thurs. from 1 p.m. - 9 p.m.; Fri., Sat. and Sun. from noon- 10 p.m. One scoop in a cup or cone costs $3; two scoops will run you $5.

    Just around the corner, on West Broadway and Thomas Street, you can satisfy your ice cream craving at a street stand run by the Odeon restaurant.

    Executive Chef Vincent Nargi had the idea to open the stand for the first time this year because “he thought it was a good idea for the neighborhood,” said hostess Suzie Finkel.

    The organic ice cream and waffle cones are made on the premises by the pasty chef. Daily rotating flavors include: spearmint chocolate chip, peanut butter fudge ripple and pistachio.

    The stand is open 3 p.m. – 11 p.m. and a cone or cup with about 2 ½ scoops costs $4.

    --By Diane Goldie

    Tags: ice cream, tribeca, food

  • Throwback chains: Korvette, Crazy Eddie, Horn & Hardarts, Two Guys ... but wait, there's more!

    Thursday July 31, 2008 10:15 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Our weekly Throwback Thursday feature shows up Friday morning, but hey, we've got a good one. amNY on Friday takes a look at a story you don't really need our cover to understand -- chain stores are everywhere. Long gone are the days when the Astor Place K-Mart was viewed as some sort of bizarre interloper. (Imagine, a K-Mart visible from the No. 6 train!)

    Nevertheless, our intent is not to go on another screed against the mallifacation of Manhattan -- there is always another time for that. Rather, let's, for a moment, remember some chains we didn't mind so much, chains that were distinct parts of NYC's identity, not emblems of the city's suburbanization.

    Urbanite put together this handy list of vanished chains. The names may or may not be familiar, but, below, we've included a few commercials to remind you of the chains of yore. And one more thought: If you happen to be newish to the city, and somehow never heard of the antics of Crazy Eddie and his insane prices, well, consider this your lucky blog post.

    E. J. Korvette

    Here's the story of this lost chain. And below is a jingle that'll have you bopping along all day.

    Crazy Eddie

    The electronics chain was represented by actor Jerry Carroll, who despite popular perception was not Crazy Eddie Antar.

    Two Guys

    We save money for you at Two Guys, naturally! Check out commercials here and here.

    Horn & Hardart

    No commercials for the automats, but here's a frustratingly short but interesting clip of a Horn & Hardart toward the end of its life.

    Pergament Home Centers

    Here's a visit to a Franklin Square Pergament ... in 1987!

    Kleinsleep

    We could find no commercials or other video, but we'll leave you with the jingle: Have more fun at Kleinsleep, and have more fun in bed!

    M.H. Lamston's

    The variety-shop chain vanished in the 1980s. We could find no photos or video of this Woolworth-like chain. Send 'em along if you have any.

    Caldor

    We refer you to an earlier edition of Throwback Thursday for your Caldor fix.

    Alexander’s

    Who can resist this commercial for discount chain Alexander's? (One of its locations is now home to the Bloomberg tower, which tells you plenty about how NYC has changed in 20 years.)

    Ohrbach's

    via tetetetempo on Flickr

    Here's the story of the late discount-store chain. It began in Union Square and eventually branched out to Los Angeles.

    Your Turn

    Please share your memories of these and other New York-area chains.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: throwback thursday, retail, television, history

popular tags