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  • Guest column: It's time to listen to the people and rebuild the Twin Towers

    Sunday September 28, 2008 8:42 PM By Rolando Pujol

    This column was submitted by Margaret Donovan of the Twin Towers Alliance

    A remark that Gov. Paterson recently made to the editorial board of the New York Times holds the key to rescuing the World Trade Center from the world-class embarrassment it has become. “When asked what had particularly surprised him in his six months since becoming governor, he said bluntly, ‘What surprised me the most was how little people who have authority want to exercise it.’”

    The shambles at the World Trade Center is crying out for someone to exercise authority, but the right kind. That is, authority derived from the public will. The shocking mess at Ground Zero was caused by the arrogance of George Pataki, who felt free to exercise his vanity instead of obeying his oath of office. Why are we still tangled up in his web?

    The banana republic-style selection process that Pataki used to undermine the will of the people has been exposed by respected observers across the political spectrum. As a New York Press review of Philip Nobel’s book Sixteen Acres explained in 2005: “Though for many the Ground Zero rebuilding effort exuded the quaint impression of a grassroots, democratic process in the heart of a grief-stricken Big Apple, Nobel’s book, together with other recent examinations, reveals the degree to which the process was manipulated by big money interests and a powerful governor on an election-year time table who dealt from a stacked deck.”

    Now Gov. Paterson has the opportunity to show that he understands his obligation to the people. If we can build spectacular new Twin Towers and a fitting memorial for far less than the projected costs of the current plan and far sooner than expected, what grounds would there be for preventing what most people have always wanted and expected?The Twin Towers II Redevelopment Plan for the World Trade Center, which first came to the public’s attention when it was endorsed by Donald Trump in 2005, has been in constant development for more than five years. Unfortunately, the grassroots nature of the project was lost on the press as they mugged Mr. Trump for his “hubris,” while missing or ignoring the fact that he was simply advocating what most of us believe.

    But we can still convert the current fiasco into something that is a credit to our national character. The only obstacles are political. An impartial evaluation could be finished in a matter of days. We are confident it would show that the Twin Towers II alternative is demonstrably superior by every measure. Furthermore, the transition could be easily achieved.

    It’s time for the politicians to respect the people’s proper role in deciding our country’s

    destiny. It’s time for officials to stop subordinating the rebirth of our World Trade Center

    to the dictates of New York’s real estate lobby, which has opposed rebuilding the Twin

    Towers for selfish reasons from the start. And it’s time for people to stop rolling over instead of standing up for what they know is right.

    Those who run our government owe the people of this city and the world something at least as noble as what was destroyed on September 11th. That is what we want, that is what we need, and that is what we deserve. As Nicole Gelinas wrote in the NY Post in 2004:

    “To watch the steel structures of new Twin Towers pierce New York's skyline floor-by-floor – after all New York has been through – would be to experience one of the greatest moments in modern history.”

    What could legitimately short-circuit such an awe-inspiring prospect? Nothing. The Twin Towers were destroyed by a virulent strain of hatred for the democratic process. But there is a low-grade strain in our politics that will prove just as deadly in the long run unless we put those who “know better” in their place – not above us, but beside us.

    Rebuilding the World Trade Center was the last place on earth where back-room elites should have been allowed to frustrate the people’s hopes with their condescending disdain for our good sense. That is why dedicated citizens have spent years trying to get official attention where it belongs – not just for the sake of two beloved towers, but out of love and respect for our beloved country.

    At the end of Saving Private Ryan, Captain Miller, with his dying breath, urges Ryan to “…earn this. Earn it!” Like Private Ryan, we are called upon, after great tragedy, to justify the choices we make about our future. The current mediocre plan will never earn the respect of history. Only rebuilding better, safer, more majestic Twin Towers will.

    We believe that when Gov. Paterson, Port Authority Director Chris Ward, and Larry Silverstein see the challenge in this light, they will discover that it is still not too late to do the right thing. Fortunately, The Twin Towers II Plan is ready to deliver a World Trade Center worthy of our dreams.

    MORE: amNY's World Trade Center archives. Urbanite's WTC coverage.

    Tags: world trade center, twin towers, twin towers alliance, port authority, ground zero

  • NYers mull over gov't bailout plan

    Sunday September 28, 2008 5:26 PM By Emily Ngo

    By Marlene Naanes

    mnaanes@am-ny.com

    The $700-billion bailout package set to go before the House for approval today sparked ire among New Yorkers who say they too are hurting financially. Some admit, however, that the government’s plan is a necessary evil.

    “We gotta do it, unfortunately,” said Ben Guthrie, 60, who lives near City Hall. “Obviously I don’t want to reward the thieves for their malfeasance, ... but we’re in pretty dire straits economically.”

    The historical rescue plan, if it is approved, would allow the government to take over faltering banks’ bad assets to help free up lending and avert a monumental financial crisis. One part of the negotiated proposal — doling out billions in installments with oversight — made the plan easier for New Yorkers to swallow.“You don’t want to give these guys everything,” said Robert Stash, 58, of the Lower East Side. “They’re going to just give some of the money and see where it’s going to go. That’s pretty smart.”

    Many people yesterday also expressed uneasiness with the quickly negotiated proposal because there were still many unanswered questions.

    “I don’t understand how it’s going to make things better because it’s going to dilute the dollar,” said Daisy Castellucci, 27, of Astoria. “I’ve heard different opinions. I’ve heard financial strategists say its better to do nothing because the markets will right themselves. I don’t know what the truth of the matter is.”

    Success of the plan would be evident immediately, partially if loans become more available again. For New Yorkers who rent, however, the pang of a poor economy fueled anger with the bailout, which also calls for renegotiated mortgages for some homeowners.

    “Why don’t they pay off my credit card?” said Elizabeth White, 23, of SoHo. “Just because I’m not in the poor end or the rich end, I don’t get my mortgage paid off or my business bailed out.”

    At least one New Yorker outright rejected the bailout.

    “It’s absolutely ridiculous,” said Mark Tassinari, 23, of Manhattan. “America is in a lot of trouble.”

    The AP contributed to this report.

  • Haps around town today ...

    Friday September 26, 2008 8:39 AM By Lauren Johnston


    Where's Malcolm? Read on to find out ... photo/ mbowen.org

    It's raining so maybe you're planning a hot date with Netflix for later on -- but if you're got all-weather gear, you may be interested in ...

    All week-end: 46th annual New York Film Festival. Last year's fest gave us 'No Country For Old Men' and 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.' This year we have 28 films from 18 countries, helmed by veteran and first-time directors. See our top picks [HERE].

    2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Kashmir supporters demonstrate against India human rights

    abuses; United Nations, First Avenue and 47th Street.

    5:30 p.m. Opening reception for the National Museum of the American

    Indian’s new exhibition, “Identity by Design: Tradition, Change, and Celebration in Native Women’s Dresses”

    5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Prime Minister of Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, delivers speech on “A Maoist Vision of New Nepal”; Tishman Auditorium, Alvin Johnson/J. M. Kaplan Hall, 66 West 12th St.

    5:45 p.m. Buffalo Soldiers portrayed in Spike Lee’s film, “Miracle at St.

    Anna,” attend opening night screening; AMC Loews Lincoln Square, 1998 Broadway, between 67th and 68th streets.

    7 p.m. Julianne Moore, Billy Crudup, Malcolm Gladwell, Famke Janssen

    and others attend Tropfest NY short film festival; World Financial Center Plaza, 200 Vesey St., at Battery Park City.

    7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein holds public town hall meeting on the digital television transition; St. Francis College, Founders Hall, 180 Remsen St., Brooklyn Heights.

    7:30 p.m. New York Public Library for the Performing Arts launches free

    jazz concert series; Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza.

    Tags: stuff that's cool

  • Yankee Stadium dirt anything but dirt cheap on eBay

    Tuesday September 23, 2008 4:44 PM By Emily Ngo

    Ever thought you would pay good money for dirt? Savvy entrepreneurs are hoping to capitalize on Yankees fans’ love for their cherished stadium by selling dirt from the baseball field for as much as $199.99.

    The offers were found on eBay and Craigslist yesterday, along with ticket stubs from the last game played at the House that Ruth Built and paint chips from there.

    “It’s kind of like taking advantage of people who are vulnerable to their emotions right now,” said Ryan Smith, 20, a die-hard fan from the Upper East Side.

    The team played its last home game at the 85-year-old stadium Sunday to a packed house of fans who were warned by officials in the days leading up to the big finale not to take home anything they didn’t pay for.

    It seems, however, that some people didn’t listen. Dirt was being offered for sale on the Web in vials, in glass containers that read “Yankee Stadium Infield Dirt, Final Game, September 21,” or simply heaped in a pile on a table.Yankees fan, Laurence Watkins, 23, of the Bronx, scoffed at the offers. He said he is willing to spend $2,000 on the right team memorabilia, though he wouldn’t purchase it online.

    “I’d rather go to the store,” Watkins said. “That’s a true fan.”

    Yankees officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.

    A sports memorabilia dealer, however, warned buyers to be wary of the online offers, saying that it’s difficult to verify an item’s authenticity.

    The team currently is in negotiations with the city to parse out who owns what items from the stadium. Those pieces that the team claims as theirs — parts of the center field scoreboard, carpet and shower stall doors from the clubhouse — are already officially on the block for thousands of dollars.

    Gabe Esquilin, 40, a fan from the South Bronx, said he understands how things work in a capitalist society. During games in the late '70s and early '80s he said he took the back of a chair and some dirt from the stadium. He has since thrown out these pieces, but if he had kept them, he said he would also probably try to sell them on eBay.

    Despite his love for the Yankees, Smith said he would never buy Yankees Stadium dirt, explaining: “Dirt is dirt.”

    — Rebecca Wolfson

    Tags: yankee stadium, bronx, yankees

  • Wall Street crisis: What business school professors are telling their 'worried' students

    Tuesday September 23, 2008 2:55 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Professor Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh teaches a class at NYU's Stern School of Business on Tuesday. (RJ Mickelson/amNY)

    By Jessica Troiano

    Special to amNewYork

    Business school classrooms are abuzz with tales of bubbles, busts and bailouts.

    Students who enrolled in b-school to advance their careers will graduate into a vastly altered financial arena. And professors at local universities are busy keeping track of each day’s bombshell development, while assuring students that the financial industry will survive.

    “The full-time MBA students are really worried,” said Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, assistant professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business, where most students study finance. “A lot of students want to know if they’ve made the right choice — not choosing Stern, but in choosing finance as a major.”

    Van Nieuwerburgh teaches “Fundamentals of Finance” at Stern, and he’s spent the first few weeks of class assuring students that even in times of crisis, the fundamentals stay the same. “Concepts like the time value of money and how to discount future cash flows are elemental concepts that will never go away.”

    Fellow Stern professor Viral Acharya agrees that basic knowledge of how markets function is still necessary for business students. “Teaching about capital markets is first about showing the models,” said Acharya. “But the beauty of understanding the model is showing when it doesn’t work.” The current crisis, he said, “is a way of illustrating why models fail and how they fail.”

    The fallout from widespread defaults on subprime mortgages is also an important lesson for future finance professionals, says Acharya. “It’s showing the dark side of financial innovations,” he said. Lenders made risky loans, but passed along the risk by selling the debts to investors, who packaged them into securities. “Bankers who are making loans and ultimately don’t bear the risk of these loans,” said Acharya, “They don’t have the incentives to make the right loans. It’s very important for students to see that.”

    The vulnerability of markets and institutions to human emotion is another hard lesson to learn from the demise of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, says K. Ozgur Demirtas, assistant professor of economics and finance at Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business. “There are two things at work in the economy: people’s expectations and the fundamentals of the economy,” said Demirtas. Bad financial news can create what Demirtas calls a “self-fulfilling prophecy.”

    “If everyone thinks banks will go bankrupt,” he said, “banks will go bankrupt.”

    Stern professor Van Nieuwerburgh says that while crisis hasn’t made him rethink the basic tenets of economics, it has exposed a need for more academic research on the financial sector, which has grown at a staggering rate in recent years.

    “The obvious question is how do we prevent something like this from happening?” said Van Nieuwerburgh. “What is the role of government? These are all interesting questions that are crying out for an answer right now.”

    Tags: wall street, nyu, mba, education

  • Battling mold

    Tuesday September 23, 2008 11:20 AM By Marlene Naanes

    (Courtesy of Liz Krueger's office)

    State Sen. Liz Krueger announced yesterday legislation that will help residents and landlords battle toxic mold in homes, the senator’s office said.

    The legislation, if passed, would require the state Department of Environmental Conservation commissioner to certify anyone that remediates mold commercially.

    “I constantly hear from constituents who have paid to have mold removed, and then find out the mold has returned,” Krueger said at a rally in front of City Hall yesterday.

    She and New Yorkers with mold-related illnesses held a press conference to support the legislation and other tougher regulations. The event coincided with a meeting of the Toxic Mold Task Force, which is drafting a report to send to the governor and legislature.

    Mold is a major contributing factor to poor air quality in homes and can cause health problems, the senator’s office said.

    Tags: health

  • Google your way around the city

    Tuesday September 23, 2008 9:06 AM By Marlene Naanes

    (A free map from Google via flickr's kellan)

    Getting around the city just became a little easier.

    Google and the MTA teamed up to help riders find their way through the city--and beyond, officials announced today.

    Straphangers and commuters can now use Google Maps for Transit to find directions throughout the region for areas served by the MTA and other transit agencies. They include: New York City Transit, Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad, MTA Bus, Long Island Bus, Staten Island Railway, New Jersey Transit, Air Train and the Staten Island Ferry.

    The service comes at no cost to the MTA. Check it out here.

    Tags: transportation

  • Report: Doctor's office wait times a barrier to health care

    Monday September 22, 2008 3:32 PM By Jamshid Mousavinezhad

    By Emily Ngo

    emily.ngo@am-ny.com

    Having health insurance and affordable medical care doesn't mean better access to doctors, according to a city-commissioned report released Monday.

    The reason most residents would rather go to the emergency room than their neighborhood doctor? The waiting game.

    The city’s survey of 3,000 New Yorkers found 42.7 percent of people thought waiting room times are too long. Similarly, 31.3 percent of people needed a doctor’s appointment sooner than possible. In short, many of the city’s neighborhoods have inadequate access to preventive health care, the survey concluded.

    “We wanted to deal with the reality that too many New Yorkers go to the emergency room because they can’t find a doctor,” said Council Speaker Christine Quinn. “This makes people sicker before they get help and in the end, it costs us far more money in our health system.”Quinn and an armada of community health representatives yesterday appealed for more primary health care capacity in 11 target areas. Among the Manhattan neighborhoods found to have the greatest need were Central Harlem, the Lower East Side and Chinatown.

    The study recommended expanded primary care capacity and in some cases, new state-of-the-art facilities. It also highlights the need for dental and mental health care services.

    About $6.4 million in capital and $795,000 in expense funds are already set aside in this year’s city budget for the initiative, Quinn said.

    Staten Island was the only borough identified in its entirety as lacking sufficient primary care access in the report.

    “We need health care for our children and ourselves, the parents,” Osvelia Morales, a Port Richmond mother of five, said through an interpreter. “We need health care in the languages we speak in our communities.”

    Access to health insurance does not guarantee people will seek medical care. Here’s a look at the numbers in some neighborhoods:

    Manhattan


    -Lower East Side and Chinatown


    -Have health insurance: 86.2 percent


    -Haven’t received healthcare in last two years: 9.9 percent

    East and Central Harlem


    -Have health insurance: 58.6 percent


    -Haven’t received healthcare in last two years: 37.4 percent

    Brooklyn


    -East Williamsburg, Bushwick and Bed-Stuy


    -Have health insurance: 74.2 percent


    -Haven’t received healthcare in last two years: 28.5 percent

    Brownsville, Crown Heights, East New York and New Lots


    -Have health insurance: 72.9 percent


    -Haven’t received healthcare in last two years: 20.4 percent

    Queens


    -Corona, Jackson Heights, Woodside, Elmhurst, Lefrak City, Astoria and Long Island City


    -Have health insurance: 74.5 percent


    -Haven’t received healthcare in last two years: 15.5 percent

    Source: 2008 City primary care report

    Tags: health

  • MTA spooks riders with service cuts talk

    Monday September 22, 2008 2:57 PM By Jamshid Mousavinezhad

    By Marlene Naanes

    mnaanes@am-ny.com

    Only months after announcing two fare hikes, the MTA is asking its agencies to develop budget-tightening scenarios that could include service cuts if the economy worsens or local government does not offer more money, an official said Monday.

    Even the talk of cuts immediately upset transit advocates, who argued that the system’s growing ridership makes service reductions senseless, and suggested the call may simply be a ploy to get more funding for the cash-starved organization.

    “It’s no way to treat your customer,” said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign.

    Each agency, including New York City Transit, must come up with a contingency plan by next month that decreases expenditures by about 10 percent, and includes scenarios that would scale back subway and bus service.

    The agencies will also propose a plan to cut management expenses by five percent, and reduce the rest of their expense budgets by almost five percent

    “This is going to be different agency by agency,” said Gary Dellaverson, MTA chief financial officer. “I don’t know what the outcome is going to be. I think it’s fair to say that it will be difficult for agencies to find that much savings without affecting the service package, but until I see their responses ... I don’t know.”The call comes on the heels of the agency’s proposed 2009 financial plan that includes fare hikes next summer and again in early 2011.

    “It just doesn’t make sense to cut service when your ridership is up,” said Russianoff, the staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign. “They have several subway lines that are over capacity, and bus lines have severe crowding.”

    Other straphanger advocates believe that the MTA’s announcement may be an effort to stir up funding from state and city governments that have decried their own budget problems.

    “There is some degree of sending a message here…this is what could happen if we don’t get resources,” said William Henderson, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Council to the MTA. “They want people to know what the situation is going to be if they don’t have the funding to provide resources.”

    The agency is expecting almost $1 billion in deficits next year, largely from unanticipated jumps in fuel and energy costs and drops in real estate revenues, and has planned on or already implemented more than $200 million worth of belt-tightening actions. It is unclear what if any of the contingency plans would be included in the MTA’s financial plan, which will be voted on later this year.

    The real estate market, implications from failed financial institutions and the amount of additional government funding offered to the MTA will all play a role, advocates say.

    “I think we’re just going to have wait and see how it shakes out,” Henderson said.

    Either way, MTA board members Monday said that they have to consider all options, given the agency’s gloomy financial forecast, but service cuts would be the last on the list. Cuts can drive riders, and the revenue they produce, away and do not save substantial amounts of money, some said.

    “It’s really counterproductive,” board member Andrew Albert said. “It just enrages people. This is not the time to be making service cuts. We need more service, not less.”

    -Take our poll: Have you been waiting longer for trains?

    The MTA’s recent budget-balancing acts:


    July 2007: Proposes fare hikes and promises service enhancements in return.

    March 2008: Fare hikes take affect, increasing the price of unlimited ride MetroCards.

    June 2008: Announces that a majority of the service enhancements will not go forward.

    July 2008: Proposes fare hikes for next year and in 2011.

    September 2008: Asks its departments to come up with potential cost-cutting proposals, including possible service cuts.

    Tags: transit

  • Trader Joe's in Brooklyn sneak peek

    Monday September 22, 2008 2:28 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Photos of new Trade Joe's in Brooklyn by Dave Sanders

    As construction workers tend to last-minute details and workers stock shelves, some residents are saying Friday’s opening of Trader Joe’s in Brooklyn can’t come soon enough.

    -Click here for photos from inside the new Trader Joe's

    “A lot of people are walking by every day, and they are really excited,” said Greg Glei, the store manager of the chain’s Brooklyn branch. “If the door is open for some reason they poke their head in. They are also leaving us signs to open sooner.”The store is at the intersection of Court Street and Atlantic Avenue, an area that borders Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill and downtown. Trader Joe’s is a low-price grocery store that carries domestic and imported brands. About 80 percent of their products are under their in-house brand, which helps customers save money, said spokeswoman Alison Mochizuki.

    The 14,000-square-foot store is housed in the former Independence Bank Building, with soaring arched windows, antique chandeliers, marble paneling and a carved roof. The building, originally constructed in 1923, stands on the site of an important Revolutionary War battle. Because of the importance of the site, Trader Joe’s worked with the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to maintain key features of the building, like a plaque commemorating George Washington’s victory over the British near the front doors.

    The artwork in the store includes hand-painted murals by store crew members who went to the Brooklyn Historical Society to get pictures of landmarks like Coney Island, the Brooklyn Bridge and Ebbet’s field. The signage of the store was designed to recreate the look of an old-town market, with fonts that would have been used when the building was constructed, Glei said.

    “When we got here, everything was peeling because it had been empty for an entire year,” said Mari Jaye Blanchard, one of the store’s sign artists, who transferred photos she had taken of Prospect Park into murals that will be the backdrop for the fresh-cut flowers section. “Now it looks pretty great. We wanted to blend old school Brooklyn with what it looks like today.”

    The store will carry fresh produce, meat, dairy products along with grocery staples and frozen food. The branch, however, will not have Charles Shaw wine, nicknamed “Two Buck Chuck” for its low price-point.

    Ryan Mackey, a Brooklyn Heights resident, is excited the store is moving in a few blocks away from his apartment.

    “I’m tired of eating from Key Foods and would like to have another option,” said Mackey, 30, a theater producer, of his current neighborhood grocery store. “Key Foods started renovating and making it more organic friendly. It’s funny how Trader Joe’s is giving stores a run for their money and it hasn’t even opened yet.”

    -Click here to peek inside the new Trader Joe's

    What: Trader Joe’s Grand Opening, with Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, live music from a steel drum band, free giveaways to first 100 customers as well as raffles and tastings

    Where: 130 Court St., Brooklyn

    When: Friday, Sept. 26, 9 a.m.

    Tags: brooklyn, food

  • Starrett City developers, listen up

    Monday September 22, 2008 1:42 PM By Rolando Pujol

    As Starrett City residents eye their future, the video above offers a glimpse of its early days. It's a commercial from the 1970s touting the complex's high quality of life and affordability. (via robatsea2008 on YouTube)

    Community organizers want to make one thing clear tonight to developers competing to buy Starrett City: They should honor the agreement to keep the complex an affordable, high-quality oasis in Brooklyn.

    “We want to make sure that any prospective owner knows that we intend to honor the agreement,” said New York City Councilman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn).

    This agreement, reached this past summer, allows for the sale of the community under the guidelines that the new buyer maintains the neighborhood’s affordability and quality of life. The complex could go for as much as a billion dollars, but estimates are now closer to $700 million.

    Starrett City, officially known as Spring Creek Towers since 2002, is comprised of 46 brick towers with 5,881 apartments. The complex has its own power plant, shopping center, and a community paper.

    The complex was created in 1974 under the Mitchell-Lama program, which provides affordable rental and cooperative housing to moderate- and middle-income families, according to the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

    Tonight’s meeting, organized primarily by national non-profit ACORN Housing Corporation, is a dialogue between the current tenants of Starrett City and the four potential buyers.

    Maria Maisonet, a Starrett City resident and ACORN’s East New York leader, said that the developers would present their plans for the area and the tenants would express their desire to have their community maintained as it is now.

    “It’s nice for us to give our opinion, but I don’t think it will make any difference in the final decision of who buys the complex,” she said.

    If you go: Starrett City tenants interview the four finalist developers tonight at 6:30 p.m.; P.S. 346, 1400 Pennsylvania Ave., Brooklyn.

    -- Amanda Magnus

    Plus: Will the Wall Street meltdown lower the price of a Starrett City deal?

    Tags: starrett city, brooklyn, development, affordable housing, gentrification, endangered nyc

  • City Hall Dispatch: Speaker Quinn loses it ... for a second

    Monday September 22, 2008 1:42 PM By Emily Ngo

    Council Speaker Christine Quinn clowns around earlier this month, but wasn't her patient self Monday when asked about term limits. (AP)

    Council Speaker Christine Quinn was quintessential Quinn through a news conference Monday announcing her new health care initiative. She made jokes and even chuckled when a Staten Island woman referenced as “the lady.”

    But when the reporters’ questions turned away from the survey at hand and to the haunting topic of a third term for Mayor Bloomberg, Quinn was less patient and less, well, Quinn.

    “Nothing has changed, everything is still speculative,” Quinn said. “There’s nothing really more I have to say about term limits.”New York Post’s Sally Goldenberg bore the brunt of the speaker’s frustration after she asked where the council was approaching staff members individually for their term-limit views.

    “You’ve asked my staff that question, and you’ve been answered repeated,” Quinn said.

    Goldenberg interjected: “But I’m asking you now.”

    “Let me clear. When my staff speaks, they speak for me,” Quinn continued in a rised voice. “You don’t trust what my staff says, then you can make a formal complaint. You’ve been told by my staff that that didn’t happen.”

    There was an awkward silence before Quinn took another question, jokingly warning the next reporter: “Don’t ask something you’ve asked already.”

    She was back to her cheerful self.

    — Emily Ngo

    Tags: city hall, city hall dispatch

  • Campaign buttons for Williamsburg hipsters

    Monday September 22, 2008 1:32 PM By Emily Ngo

    It's New York City. Street vendors sell Obama buttons by fistfulls. But I'll bet few street vendors have Obamaton buttons of the Democratic Stuff.com variety. I picked out the ones best suited for Williamsburg. You're welcome, hipsters.

    Visit the site to find the best pin for you. Meanwhile, I'm Googling "Hipsters for McCain" buttons. Tell me if you find some.

    — Emily Ngo

    Tags: shopping

  • Mario Cantone: No McCain/Palin lovin'

    Monday September 22, 2008 7:34 AM By Julie Gordon

    Mario Cantone at Thursday's "Sex and the City" DVD launch at the New York Public Library (Getty)

    Joining Matt Damon, Lindsay Lohan and Pamela Anderson, comedian Mario Cantone is the latest celebrity to express his distaste for Republican presidential nominee John McCain and his vice presidential pick, Sarah Palin.

    “If I was voting for McCain, I should just take a syringe of air and pump it into my vein and kill myself or put myself in quarantine, which is what they want to do anyway,” Cantone told us, referring to McCain’s stance on gay rights.

    The “Sex and the City” star, who we caught up with at the "Sex" DVD premiere Thursday, called vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin a “horror." He also poked fun at Palin’s 17-year-old daughter’s husband-to-be, Levi Johnston.

    "I call him the sperm," Cantone said. “That first night [in the public spotlight] he was like a deer in headlights, and then the second night, he’s like, ‘Yo, I’m famous. I’m a f------ redneck.’”

    — Julie Gordon

  • 'Sex and the City': Sequel in the future?

    Monday September 22, 2008 7:27 AM By Julie Gordon

    From left, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon (Getty)

    "Sex and the City" fever is running rampant again, with the release of the film’s DVD on Sept. 23. That leads us to revisit the question that’s been on everyone’s minds since May: Will there be a sequel?

    “If we can’t tell a story that’s really worthy of an audience, we won’t do it,” Sarah Jessica Parker, who not only stars as Carire Bradshaw but is a film executive producer, told us at the DVD premiere Thursday at the New York Public Library.

    Parker said she and writer Michael Patrick King haven’t discussed a sequel yet, but “we will have that conversation sooner rather than later.

    So what would the other stars like to see in a second movie?

    “Well, [Samantha’s] single, so the sky’s the limit. I love Samantha single,” Kim Cattrall said. Cattrall's character broke up with long-time lover Smith Jerrod (Jason Lewis) at the end of the movie.

    Cynthia Nixon (Miranda Hobbes) said she’d love the ladies to “all go off on some wild mad-cap adventure.”

    Willie Garson, who plays Carrie's male sidekick, Stanford Blatch, says he'd like Stanford to find a life partner or just be taken care of by a very old woman.

    "Either one is fine with him," Garson said. "He's an easy character."

    Despite harsh reviews from several critics, "Sex" earned $57 million during its first weekend in theaters, which was well above the $30 prediction.

    — Julie Gordon

  • Bill Clinton will visit NYC talk shows this week

    Sunday September 21, 2008 4:45 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Former President Bill Clinton will make the rounds this week in New York City as he visits two late-night television shows.

    Clinton will make his fifth guest appearance on CBS' Late Show with David Letterman, which airs Monday at 11:35 p.m., and his fourth appearance on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" Tuesday, which will air at 11 p.m.

    He is expected to speak about his charity organization, the Clinton Global Initiative. The three-year-old group said it has raised "upwards of $30 billion to impact more than 200 million lives in over 150 countries."

    Its mission is to bring together leaders to address world problems like public health, the alleviation of poverty and resolving religious and ethnic conflict.

    -- amNewYork

    Tags: bill clinton, politics, television

  • Midtown readies for U.N. General Assembly gridlock

    Sunday September 21, 2008 4:30 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Ray Kafi, 55, organizer of Tuesday's rally against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, looks over posters inviting people to join the 11 a.m. protest. He said, “We’re Iranians against the Iranian government. Ahmadinejad isn’t just an enemy of Iran; he’s an enemy of the world.” (Photo by Emily Ngo)

    Having survived the chaos of 15 years’ worth of U.N. General Assembly sessions, Stephen Tauriello has advice for visitors hoping to catch a glimpse of world dignitaries this week.

    “Just forget about it,” said Tauriello, 42, a concierge at The Tudor Hotel. “It’s shut down for blocks and only official vehicles can get through.”

    Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari are among world leaders slated to address the assembly. President Bush will do the same Tuesday for the last time in his presidency.

    Several blocks of traffic have been redirected, contributing to the annual assembly-related gridlock. First Avenue and other major thoroughfares will be cordoned off until Thursday, and parking lots caught in between will be shut, too.The lack of parking is what kills business during the session, said Sajid Shaikh, who works at the Four Corners Smoke Shop on Second Avenue.

    His store, however, does see a jump in police business during the General Assembly.

    “We just deal with the security guys,” said Shaikh, 20. “The diplomats usually keep to themselves in the U.N. building.”

    Maureen Chamberlain, 37, whose mother worked at the United Nations, considers herself well adapted to the street closures, having lived her entire life in the neighborhood.

    “It’s a little bit of a hassle,” Chamberlain said, “but all I have to do is walk farther down the street to catch the bus.”

    She advises that residents carry ID or mail with them, so police will more readily let them pass through.

    Mollie Portie and Sara Sefcovic may have to get used to similar inconveniences. The friends were apartment hunting on 46th Street yesterday, but their broker couldn’t get past the street blockades.

    “We’re definitely a little irked,” said Portie, 21.

    Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin will no not attend today’s rally against Ahmadinejad, after her invitation was withdrawn. But similar protests this week may draw bigger crowds than last year.

    “Tension is rising and there have been more executions in Iran,” said Hasti Jafarnejad, 18, an Iranian attending a separate rally tomorrow. “You can expect a lot of people here and a lot tighter security.”

    -- Emily Ngo

    Tags: general assembly, midtown, traffic, united nations, neighborhoods, manhattan

  • Wall Street dampens small-business spirit

    Sunday September 21, 2008 4:05 PM By Garett Sloane

    The economic troubles start on Wall Street but carry

    to businesses throughout the city. (Getty)

    David Mezias isn’t sure he’s in the best business right now: Not many people are in the mood to party.

    “Lehman Brothers certainly won’t be contacting me for an event,” said Mezias, managing director of Always Entertaining Inc., a high-end party planning business.

    Lehman Brothers, the storied investment bank, filed for bankruptcy last week, and that was just the latest low in a year of lows that included the fall of Bear Stearns in March. Financial sector turmoil may affect about 120,000 jobs in the New York City area, Gov. David Paterson warned last week.

    Mezias’ business, the luxury goods business and any business that caters to the high-finance crowd are certain to take a hit.

    “I see it coming: smaller party budgets, cancelled holiday entertainment,” Mezias said.Knockout Renovation Services Inc., a residential interior remodeling company with high-income clients, has experienced a 15 percent decline in sales this year, according to owner Keith Steier. Still, he is optimistic.

    “If you run a good business and know how to do things well, unless we go into a severe depression, most of the best businesses will survive,” he said.

    New York Pipe Dreams, a surf, skate and snowboarding apparel store has also experienced a slow down in sales, according to owner David Cooper. Not just sales are hurting, however.

    The business is used to having a line of credit to help operate in the off-season, but the market problems have put a severe clamp on lending.

    Cooper applied for a loan a couple of months ago, and “that’s just not going to happen,” he said. “I don’t think anything will change in credit markets in the near future, even in the distant future.”

    On top of the slowdown in credit and in sales, Cooper’s vendors are applying more pressure on their terms and payment plans.

    “I hope for the best,” Cooper said. “We’ll try to be as careful and wise in making choices and hopefully we’ll make it through.”

    — Rebecca Wolfson

    Tags: small business, wall street, finance, economy, banks

  • You choose the new Grand Army Plaza

    Sunday September 21, 2008 3:15 PM By Emily Ngo

    The Design Trust for Public Space and the Grand Army Plaza have already chosen the winning redesign concepts (a two-way tie!) for the heart of the BK, but the People's Choice Award has yet to be, um, awarded.

    The designs (part of "Reinventing Grand Army Plaza") will be presented at the stretch, which includes the Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Arch and the Bailey Fountain, from now until Oct. 13. Check out the concepts to further beautiful the plaza and text in your favorite design. The People's Choice Award will be announced on Oct. 8.

    Will the people also choose the "Please Wake Me Up!" and "Canopy" entries?

    — Emily Ngo

    Tags: contest, grand army plaza, brooklyn, arts

  • An artist's rollercoaster in Queens

    Sunday September 21, 2008 2:36 PM By Emily Ngo

    Sculptor Jong Il Ma was preparing for the biggest opening of his career when Tropical Storm Hanna rudely interrupted.

    His colorful installation didn’t loom neatly above visitors as it was supposed to. Instead, “To you” was a mass of wood and string tangles.

    Ma spent this past weekend patching up his intricate work at the Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City. Hanna’s high winds had blown it down the night before the opening earlier this month, Ma explained.

    “It was on its side, so I had to gently pull it,” said Korean-born Ma, motioning to a ladder. The rollercoaster-like sculpture represents the interwoven paths of life, he said.

    “To you, Little bigger than a sweet summer pink peach” will be part of the park’s fledgling artists exhibition until March. It will be Ma’s longest-standing installation … granted other natural force doesn’t interfere.

    — Emily Ngo

    Tags: art, long island city, socrates sculpture park, arts, queens

  • Mad Men and the City: Encore presentation tonight (a historic Emmy win makes up for that)

    Sunday September 21, 2008 10:57 AM By Rolando Pujol

    Somebody please give these people an Emmy tonight!

    Tonight's presentation will be a repeat of "Three Sundays," a fine episode which we examined in our first edition of "Mad Men and the City." Check it out here and read more of our reviews here.

    In the meantime, let's hope "Mad Men" makes Emmy history tonight by becoming the first basic cable show to win for best drama. But as the Envelope points out, "Mad Men" "still faces an uphill battle both on and off screen. Emmy voters are notorious for shying away from period-based series, and the audience for the acclaimed show is small, even by basic cable standards."

    Hopefully that will change if the show takes home a statuette tonight. Here's to raising a celebratory drink at P.J. Clarke's or Sardi's!

    UPDATE: Drink up. "Mad Men" makes history!

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: mad men, emmys, television, advertising

  • Catching up with the FDNY 2009 Calendar Hotties

    Friday September 19, 2008 11:37 AM By Elizabeth Nielsen

    We were lucky enough to catch up with four of the hotties from the 2009 New York City Firefighters calendar. They were making the autograph circuit, signing their calendars at the FDNY Store down in the West Village.

    A portion of the procees from the calendar are donated to the Staten Island University Burn Center and The Children's Storefront, a tuition-free school in Harlem.

    How is fame treating them? Does the exposure from the calendar bring the chicks?

    "Being a fireman gives you attention alone," FDNY Justin Zuckerman says with a smile.

    Be sure to check out our video, below. And, as a special treat, here are all the photos from 3 year's worth of calendars!

    --Lizzy

    Tags: entertainment

  • Throwback Thursday: Grimsby and Beutel on 'Eyewitness News'

    Thursday September 18, 2008 4:45 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Roger Grimsby holds court at the Second Avenue Deli in the 1970s. The photo is on display at its new East 33rd Street location.

    When the subject of old-school New York TV comes up, conversations always come around to Roger Grimsby and Bill Beutel. The clip below, from October 1979, is a real beaut, with the top stories that day including a no-nukes protest on Wall Street. And, quite interestingly, a piece on the 50th anniversary of the Wall Street crash of 1929.

    Watch for Grimsby's classic, wry delivery -- he says protesters "milled and moiled" and wanted "to shut down the stock exchange. They did not succeed. But they were noisy."

    No other anchorman in New York would have put it quite that way.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: roger grimsby, wall street crash of 1929, throwback thursday, television, nostalgia

  • Brooklyn Trader Joe's opens Sept. 26

    Thursday September 18, 2008 12:41 PM By Rolando Pujol

    There's good news for the person who left this note outside the Trader Joe's building in Brooklyn. (Photo by mtrelaun on Flickr)

    Tired of lugging your Trader Joe’s groceries all the way from Union Square to your Brooklyn abode? Is the journey on the L train melting your frozen foods and reshaping your popsicles?

    The end is in sight: Brooklyn’s first Trader Joe’s opens Friday, Sept. 26. The store is throwing an opening celebration that morning with a ceremonial lei cutting, live music from a Caribbean steel drum band, an appearance by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, and giveaways to the first 100 customers on opening weekend.

    The quirky, California-based grocery chain has stuck to their usual interior design of cedar-covered walls and Hawaiian-inspired elements, but this particular store has tried to stay true to its Brooklyn location. The store’s workers teamed up with the Brooklyn Historical Society to put up murals of the borough’s key sites around the store. The huge photograph-like scenes depict places like Coney Island, the Brooklyn Bridge, Ebbets Field, and Downtown Brooklyn.The new store, which used to be an Independence Bank, is at the intersection of Court Street and Atlantic Avenue. The building was erected in 1923 and stands on an important battle site from the Revolutionary War. Because of this historical significance, Trader Joe’s and the developer have tried to preserve as much of the original building as possible. The structure’s marble paneling, antique chandeliers, and a plaque commemorating George Washington’s victory over the British are some of the historical elements the company kept.

    Trader Joe’s will also use hand-designed signs and chalkboards at the end of aisles to further pay homage to Brooklyn. These signs will use old fonts and lithograph techniques to celebrate Brooklyn’s past.

    “Trader Joe’s wants to celebrate the rich heritage of Brooklyn,” spokeswoman Alison Mochizuki said. The company wants to be seen as a neighborhood store.

    Trader Joe’s is a low-price grocery store that carries domestic and imported foods. Many of the goods sold there are under the Trader Joe’s private label, which helps customers save by buying store-brand items.

    Unfortunately, fans of the Trader Joe’s popular wine Two Buck Chuck will still have to trek to Union Square to get the goods. The Brooklyn outlet doesn’t sell wine.

    -- Amanda Magnus

    Tags: architecture, banks, brooklyn, development, economy, endangered nyc, grocery stores, neighborhoods, real estate

  • 1920s roar back on Governors Island

    Tuesday September 16, 2008 4:26 PM By Rolando Pujol

    The Urbanite crew spent Saturday poking around Governors Island, and from the minute we boarded the boat, we knew something was odd. A man was dressed like it was 1925, and he seemed perfectly unconcerned. A few more sightings of walking anachronisms and we found out the island was hosting another one of its incredibly popular 1920s lawn parties, complete with the stylings of Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra.

    Here are some shots colleague Jamshid and I snapped of the flapper madness. And read more about the Gatsby frolics here.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: 1920s, governors island, zany, stuff that's cool, manhattan, arts

  • Dara Torres throws out first pitch at Yankees game

    Tuesday September 16, 2008 4:20 PM By Jamshid Mousavinezhad

    Dara Torres throws out the first pitch at Yankees Stadium Tuesday night. Photos by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

    It doesn't get much better than this, as 41-year-old five-time Olympic swimmer Dara Torres brought a Yankees Stadium crowd to its feet as she threw out the ceremonial first pitch in tonight's game against the White Sox.

    Torres, who competed in Beijing after taking 8 years off--during which she had a kid--won three silver medals this time around.

    In all, she has 12 Olympic medals--four each of gold, silver and bronze.

    -Check out 41 photos of Dara Torres through the years

    Tags: sports

  • Duly Noted

    Tuesday September 16, 2008 12:39 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Monte's in Greenwich Village has been around since 1918. (Photo by Rolando Pujol)

    * It's subway report card time again. This time, you can grade the No. 7 train. [Tracker]

    * A tour of an amazing Art Deco district, and no, it's not South Beach we're talking about. It's the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. (We detect a little MiMo in one of the photos, too.) [Ephemeral New York]

    * What chic women were wearing in the early 1970s. This Pauline Trigere collection (available at Bergdorf Goodman) begins at size 6! [Ephemeral New York]

    * A 9/11 mural disappears under a coat of paint in Middle Village, but a portion of the Twin Towers survives. [Queens Crap]

    * Sure, the doomed Yankee Stadium that fans are mourning is really a 1970s overhaul of the original, but that's not enough to convince us destroying it is justified. [EV Grieve]

    * Camera-toting tourists document Monday's Wall Street carnage. [EV Grieve]

    * Freaktoberfest coming to Coney Island. [Kinetic Carnival]

    * Hello Kitty store shuttered, awaits overhaul offering "new concept in cute." [Racked]

    * Five Guys Burger coming to Forest Hill (well, close enough). [Forest Hills 72]

    * A fire-damaged Gristedes will return in Brooklyn Heights, complete with a coffee counter. [Brooklyn Heights Blog]

    -- Rolando Pujol

  • On eBay, it's going, going gone for Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch collectibles

    Monday September 15, 2008 12:51 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Would you pay $41 for two mugs, one from Lehman Brothers and the other from Merrill Lynch? That's the minimum bid right now if you want a chance to win a heated eBay auction for memorabilia from the fallen Wall Street giants.

    If you’re seeking Lehman Brothers booty, there appears to be no shortage: hats, travel Thermoses and even something called "operating principles cubes" are up for grabs right now on Ebay.

    The Lehman-Merrill mugs are both from the 1970s and are termed “classic collectable cups” by seller macklem2005.

    Ebay seller ny_dealmaker is selling a “Lehman Brothers Color Changing Travel Thermos.” The former employee writes: “Make my lose your gain.”

    On the description of a green Lehman Brothers T-shirt for sale, mandi8403 writes: “Please bid to help me raise plan B financing for my rent check next month AND receive this lovely soon-to-be vintage tee.”

    So far, the most popular item is a Lehman Brothers mug, which has been bid on 22 times. Another mug and a baseball hat are tied for second with 15 bids each, followed closely by an unopened employee operating principles cube, which has 14 bids.

    The description for the Lehman hat says it all.

    “I worked here for half of my career. Bought most of my stock at a weighted average price of $45. Enough said. I think we can all appreciate the irony here.”

    -- Amanda Magnus

    Tags: lehman brothers, merrill lynch, wall street, economy

  • 'Family Outing' at Keens Steakhouse means no mutton chops --- just for one day

    Monday September 15, 2008 11:05 AM By Rolando Pujol

    Keens Steakhouse is all about tradition: The countless ceramic pipes, the Pipe Club and its illustrious membership list, the Lincoln Room, the memorabilia of the 16th president's assasination, those lip-smacking mutton chops, and the great lore that goes with a place that opened in 1885 as a Herald Square theater district hangout and is still going strong, having operated in, count 'em, three centuries.

    On Sunday, we learned of another Keens tradition: the annual family day outing, for which the restaurant was shuttered. The dark windows on a Sunday night momentarily alarmed us as we swung by, but happily, all was well. The tradition dates to 1937.

    The restaurant, by the way, now markets itself as Keens Steakhouse, but its awning offers a quiet nod to its history. One side goes by "Steakhouse," and the other retains the historic "Chophouse" name.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: keens steakhouse, traditions, restaurant, history, restaurants, real estate, neighborhoods, manhattan, endangered nyc

  • Overheard on Bedford Avenue ...

    Monday September 15, 2008 7:23 AM By Lauren Johnston


    Bedford Avenue, photo by Sam Horine

    We overheard a funny conversation between father and son while walking down the street on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg this weekend. The boy looked to be about 6 or 7 years old.

    KID: What are burr-uss?

    DAD: You know the boroughs. The boroughs of New York City, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island.

    KID: No, you don't count Staten Island.

    Sorry Staten Island ... looks like maybe the mayor of Belmar, NJ (the guido accuser) has gotten to the city youth as well?

    Tags: williamsburg, brooklyn

  • Mad Men and the City: A Night to Remember

    Sunday September 14, 2008 11:56 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Don comes home to find Bets deep in despair about their troubled relationship. She's been drinking, rummaging through his personal effects to find evidence of an affair and is still wearing her party dress from the night before.

    By Rolando Pujol

    Oh what a night all right! Sunday’s “Mad Men” was an incredibly important episode, with Bets finally confronting Don about his philandering ways, and Don ending the episode with the company of a cold bottle of Heineken from his office’s well-stocked fridge -- a trip back home to Ossining is not in his immediate plans. Heineken ironically plays a key role in the dramatic chain of events that leads Bets to confront the truth about her husband (with a little bit of help last week from affair whistle-blower Jimmy Barrett.) But, lest we forget the purpose at hand, let's see how people, places and things in the New York area, as well as in pop culture, figure in the show’s plot twists. And away we go:

    New York area references

    A&P: A&P supermarkets, officially known as the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company and headquartered in Montvale, N.J., turn up in a discussion about the marketing of imported Heineken beer to upscale housewives. Don suggests placing end-aisle displays of Heineken at supermarkets such as A&P, where affluent suburban housewives shop. One of those housewives, Don knows, is Bets, and at a dinner party she hosts that features an international cuisine theme, she offers Heineken, imported from Holland, as the drink of choice. Today, A&P retains a strong presence in the New York area, and also holds other supermarket brands in its stable, including Walbaum’s, Pathmark and Food Emporium. Here's an old commercial for A&P, back from its "Ps&Qs" campaign of the early 1980s.

    The Saw Mill River Parkway: Duck Phillips drives up the pastoral, scenic Saw Mill River Parkway to reach the Drapers' dinner party in Ossining. He mentions that he almost got off in New Rochelle (where he used to live with his family before he got a divorce). This is a misstep, because New Rochelle is nowhere near the Saw Milll. Nor is Ossining, for that matter, but it is closer, and the Saw Milll is a more sensical way to reach this part of Westchester. To see what driving options Duck had, check out this map from 1960, which is not terribly unlike the one he would have likely kept in his glove compartment -- this episode is set in 1962.New Rochelle, Old Lyme, Larchmont and Glen Cove:

    Affluent suburban communities, each on or near Long Island Sound, receive repeated mentions in this episode. New Rochelle, we told you, is where Duck lived before his divorce. And in the television land of 1962, it's where Dick and Laura Petrie lived on "The Dick Van Dyke Show." At the dinner party, we hear of boat trips between Old Lyme, Conn., and Larchmont in Westchester County, two well-to-do communities. And yes, the famous tick-borne disease takes after the name of this and a next-door town. Finally, Glen Cove is mentioned -- it's where Joan Holloway once fantasized about moving, and her fiance, who wants to keep Joan at home eating bonbons and fetching him water, reminds her of her desire to move to this Long Island community. Glen Cove has a special place in our heart, because it's where Roger Thornhill is taken after being kidnapped in "North by Northwest," which we also discuss in an earlier edition of Mad Men and the City.

    Dutchess County: And while we're on geographical name-dropping, we musn't forget Dutchess County, which Bets tells her dinner guests is the source of the lamb at her otherwise internationally themed party. Dutchess County was still a largely rural, farmland-rich place in 1962, and for folks such as Bets living in central Westchester, it definitely was (and still is) the country.

    References from pop culture

    Utz Potato Chips and Danny Thomas: Utz is back, with Jimmy Barrett as usual. We see a nifty animation at the end of the commercial with the slogan "Utz are better than nutz," including an adorable wink from the Utz cartoon girl. Of course, Bets is watching "The Danny Thomas Show" (or really, "Make Room for Daddy," Alan Sepinwall points out), when the Utz commercial comes on, reminding her of that horrible night at the Stork Club when Jimmy confirmed her worst fears about Don. The TV set also shows some ghost images and other typical reception problems of the era, as we've seen in a few other episodes.

    Heineken: We learn that Heineken beer is trying to compete at the tap, when in fact they should be reaching out to suburban housewives, who aren't ashamed to have Heineken in the family fridge. Bets' purchase of Heineken proves the point, and helps sell the advertiser on Sterling and Cooper's approach. The "experiment" does not amuse Bets, and is what finally puts her over the edge. It's also the beer Draper is drinking in the last scene, when he's stuck in the office with no place to go: His wife has kicked him out. Note: Heineken was also an advertiser in the episode, reminding viewers in a slide at the end to not drink and drive. It's also currently displaying banner ads on the AMC site with fun facts about Heineken. Here's one: "Good people bring home Heineken" was a slogan from the 1960s .Heineken also says the beer was first imported to the U.S. just three days after the end of Prohibition, coming in through Hoboken, N.J..

    Pride furniture wax: We see a can of Pride furniture wax on the Drapers' dinner table during a crucial scene where Bets has a meltdown, and destroys a chair after discovering it was wobbly. Read more about Pride and its parent company, S.C. Johnson Wax, in this Time magazine article. A quote from the piece: "In an industry where Pride is a product and Pledge outsells competing furniture polishes 2 to 1, Johnson has cleaned up millions." Pledge is still around, but Pride is no longer part of the family of products touted on Johnson's Web site.

    Fresh female deodorant: Another vanished brand, Fresh roll-on deodorant appears in a commercial. Here's an even older ad for the product, which says you can write to the Chrysler Building for a free jar!

    Maytag: Maytag washers make a hilarious appearance. It turns out the company is angry at Sterling and Cooper for placing its ad on the "ABC Sunday Night Movie," which features a plot point invoking a murderous Russian agitator. Thing is, an ad later appears for a Maytag product, "The Amazing Agitator." Yikes! Harry Crane has some explain' to do, and before his TV department (which is actually just him) gets gutted, he enlists the help of Joan Holloway, who does an ace job reading scripts for possible conflicts, even smartly pushing "As the World Turns" on an advertiser when she alerts him of an upcoming "special summer storyline." But, this being 1962 (and Roger Sterling not keen on doing former flame Joan any favors, we reckon), a new character, Danny Lindstrom, is brought in to assist Crane in the TV department, at a cool $150 a week. Is this the end for Joan's new calling beyond the secretarial pool? We doubt it. She has a flair for the work. By the way, the Maytag repairman, left, would not be introduced until 1967, but we couldn't resist illustrating the bullet point thusly.

    Miracle Whip: The salad dressing is mentioned in a crack about Father Gill, when he visits the office to make copies of the CYO dance flier (and to try to convince Peggy to lift her burden of guilt that is keeping her from "Communion" with the community.)

    CYO: The Catholic Youth Organization is referenced in an interesting plot line that brings Father Gill and Peggy together again. Peggy once again finds herself advising Father Gill at his prompting, this time using her Madison Avenue skills to develop a flier for the CYO Dance Committee. The one she comes up with, with its suggestive name "A Night to Remember," runs into trouble with the CYO, and gives the episode its name. Here's a link to the CYO from the Diocese of Brooklyn. No information about any potentially salacious dances, alas.

    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 story

    Television Without Pity forum

    AMC's blog

    Video clip

    Bets confronts Don about his cheating ways

    Tags: mad men, advertising, manhattan, history, television

  • Ghost of Morris Brothers haunts Upper West Side

    Sunday September 14, 2008 4:17 PM By Rolando Pujol

    This is the only remaining visible sign for the old Morris Brothers department store. (Photo by Rolando Pujol)

    Morris Brothers, the Upper West Side department store that clad neighborhood kids in summer-camp gear for decades, is still empty 13 months after it was shut down. All that's left of the shop is this one sign, visible on West 84th Street. The others have been covered up, and signs promote the retail space (between 1,300 and 5,600 square feet available). The spot did briefly serve as a Halloween accessories store last year.

    This reminds us of a New York retail development that has driven neighborhood residents batty in recent years. Longtime shops that are vital to the neighborhood are forced out by higher rents. The landlord then waits to find the perfect tenant, or simply one that is willing to pay the new, astronomical lease. If no takers come along, the space sits empty, sometimes for years. In the meantime, the old business could have hung on a little -- or a lot -- longer, and the landlord could have kept making some money on the space.

    We could fill a blog post every day on this dispiriting and incredibly frustrating phenomenon.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: upper west side, retail, morris brothers, real estate, old school, neighborhoods, endangered nyc, economy, development, architecture

  • For $50, unlimited beer -- and mirth

    Sunday September 14, 2008 2:08 PM By Rolando Pujol

    This photo says a lot about what Brewfest was like.

    Friday night, the Seaport was a rainy, miserable place to be. Except for the free-flowing beer. That made up for a lot.

    But I'm getting ahead of myself. Brewfest, if you aren't aware, is a large annual tasting festival of craft beers hosted by the New York State Brewers Association. For $50 you get a four-ounce glass and unlimited (within reason, of course) refills.

    When I got there, around 6:30 p.m. (the doors opened at 5), the Seaport was crowded and my friends were ... well, let's say less than sober. I was cold and wet and not in a good mood at all. A few swigs of some quality craft-produced beer, and that all went away. We were making friends left and right, and while it was raining cats and dogs outside, it was sunny in our hearts. There was singing, there was sports-team-cheering, there was beer.

    Which is not to say the event is just an all-night drinks fest. It is that, but it's not just that. Talking to the brewers as they served up their suds, you could tell that they were really passionate about what they do. If you wanted to engage, they were happy to educate or just share a love of beer.

    Of course, toward the end of the night, people did start to get rowdy. But security was speedily on hand to make sure no one's face (or buzz) was ruined.

    -- Emily Hulme

    Tags: south street seaport, brewfest, beer, food, bars

  • A taste of Target in Manhattan

    Sunday September 14, 2008 1:25 PM By Emily Ngo

    Monday is the last day to shop at the mini-Target on 57th and Sixth. (Flickr)

    Monday is the last day (this time around) to experience Target in Manhattan. The four mini-stores (located in midtown, Union Square, SoHo and the East Village) and called Bullseye Bodega are ending their five-day run of low-priced goods by high-end designers.

    Are these Bullseye boutiques better than that floating Target at Chelsea Pier last year? Can't wait for Target in Manhattan to open next year? Tell us why.

    — Emily Ngo

    P.S. When I first came across the storefront, I remember thinking how much intellectual-property trouble that poor bodega was going to get into for using Target's trademark. Then, I learned it actually was Target.

    Tags: target, shopping

  • 9/11 survivors: The Sphere, as well as a model of the famous WTC Plaza sculpture

    Thursday September 11, 2008 3:04 PM By Rolando Pujol

    The Sphere was at the center of the World Trade Center Plaza for decades, and survived the collapse of both towers with damage, but essentially intact. You can visit it today in Battery Park, where an eternal flame sits beside it.

    One man who knows a thing or two about The Sphere is Guy Tozzoli, the Port Authority official who oversaw construction of the World Trade Center. We profiled him and his organization, the World Trade Centers Association, earlier this week. Read the stories here and here. I asked him whether anything from his 63rd floor North Tower office survived the collapse.

    One thing did: A maquette, or model, of The Sphere, by German artist Fritz Koenig. We found it amazing that both The Sphere and its model managed to survive the destruction at Ground Zero.

    Tozzoli shared a bit about the struggle to get the Sphere to New York from Germany.

    "We had to transport Der Kugel an hour outside of the port, all the way out across the ocean ... and then, at night, took it through the Holland Tunnel," Tozzoli says, using the phrase Koenig's wife would use for the sculpture, German for "The Ball."

    One of the best ways to find out more about the history of The Sphere is to watch the film, "Koenig Sphere," which details its creation, its arduous trip across the ocean, and its survival amid the destruction downtown seven years ago today.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Photos by Rolando Pujol

    Tags: world trade center, the sphere, fritz koenig, guz tozzoli, history, endangered nyc, architecture

  • Williamsburg cart delivers local foods to the masses

    Thursday September 11, 2008 10:43 AM By Lauren Johnston

    The McCarren Park dog run just got a lot more civilized with the addition of a food cart and 10 picnic tables with umbrellas supplied by the nearby all local/organic market Urban Rustic, locoated on N. 12th Street.

    After talking with the Parks Department, Urban Rustic donated the tables along with four garbage cans and several planter boxes for the previously underused area between the dog run and the park’s community garden, The Green Dome.

    The idea has been in the works since the store opened last December, said owner Luis Illades, and finally came to life over Labor Day Weekend.

    “A lof of what we're trying to do is have these local foods, grass-fed and cage-free but make it available to everyone. So we figured the ultimate way to do that was to have cart food,” he said.

    Already, the patch of grass and concrete where the cart vendors dish up (cage-free) egg breakfast sandwiches and apple-maple sausage baguettes has morphed from a dog park crosswalk into a neighborhood destination.

    The plan was hatched when Illades called the Parks Department to talk about donating some garbage cans before the store opened last year.

    “I didn’t want our coffee lids and cups floating around,” he said. It turns out the department had long-planned to install some tables and also to open up a bid for a hot dog vendor in that spot, but never found room in its budget to get the plan off the ground.

    So Illades put in a bid, and the parks people loved his idea. The cart is now open seven days a week with plans to stay open through the cold months, hopefully with new hot chocolate menu items provided by Brooklyn chocolate-makers the Mast Brothers.

    “I think Sunday is going to be the most perfect day there,” Illades said. “There are a lot of young families there and they can get brunch for under $10. That's what I'm shooting for.”

    Tags: williamsburg, quick bite, grocery stores, gentrification, food, brooklyn

  • Old commercials with the World Trade Center [Throwback Thursday]

    Thursday September 11, 2008 10:35 AM By Rolando Pujol

    The closing shot of an ad for Martini & Rossi from 1992

    You all know the feeling.

    You're watching an old TV show set in New York, and, when you least expect it, the World Trade Center appears on the screen. But it wasn't just TV shows and movies where the towers offered a simple way to communicate the majesty of New York City, or the ideas of wealth, power and sophistication.

    During the towers' 30-year existence, Madison Avenue couldn't get enough of them, and they turned up in all kinds of print ads and television commercials. Below, we've selected five TV ads where our lost towers figured prominently.

    1.) Texaco commercial from the 1970s: Here, a man runs through the World Trade Center Plaza (passing James Rosati's sculpture) and climbs up one of the stairwells in the north tower. We can date the era of this ad because the North Tower does not yet have its massive antenna.

    2.) World Trade Center observatory, early 1980s: This ad has beautiful shots of the towers and the plaza, and some incredible sad ad copy. One line: "Fall in love with a New York only fliers used to know." It's quite a reminder of how the towers were sold to tri-state residents, when the WTC was still sort of new.

    3.) Martini & Rossi Asti Spumante, 1992: A jazzy ditty, "You Make Me Sparkle," plays while a sophisticated couple enjoys New York nightlife, ferried around town by a Checker cab with the twins towers always shimmering in the skyline. At the end, the shape of twin Champagne glasses appears on the towers' facade.

    4.) Citibank, 1980s: A man jogs on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, and the towers seem to follow him in the background. This is also a good example of the "It's Your Citi" ad campaign, which had a catchy jingle.

    5.) American Airlines, 1998: A most disturbing ad in hindsight. This commercial for American Airlines shows the towers several times, and the closing shot features a jet seemingly heading toward the towers.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: world trade center, throwback thursday, advertising, television, architecture

  • Guest column: Teaching children the lessons of 9/11

    Thursday September 11, 2008 8:02 AM By Rolando Pujol

    By Joe Daniels

    President & CEO

    National September 11 Memorial & Museum

    Today, as we honor the thousands of innocent people lost in the attacks of September 11, 2001, we must also reflect on the meaning of this event in our collective history. 9/11 was the most witnessed event in modern times. Hundreds of millions of people watched the attacks unfold while standing on the streets of New York City or gathering around televisions across the United States and around the world. Yet there is already an entire generation growing up with no firsthand knowledge of what happened that day – a generation for whom it’s difficult to comprehend that we live in a world defined, in part, by the events of 9/11 – because they were born into a post-9/11 world.The record of the attacks and our understanding of their aftermath and impact are still evolving. But given that the threat of terrorism remains a global reality, we have a responsibility to help our children learn about 9/11 and how it shaped our world today.

    Future generations must learn that people responded to the 9/11 attacks by acting on their core values. The inspiring courage, generosity, and compassion seen in the aftermath of 9/11 showed that it is sometimes in the face of the worst of humanity that we can find the best of the human spirit. There are so many stories of selfless actions people took in response to devastation -- and examples of people who channeled their anger, hatred, and fear into acts of healing, helping, and learning.

    This morning, many classrooms will observe a moment of silence or engage in another act of commemoration. However, educators are charged with much more than that. They have to find a way to make 9/11 comprehensible to young people who will increasingly have no personal memory of the attacks. The horror of what happened and the potential for high emotions make 9/11 a difficult subject to broach.

    To make the topic even more difficult for educators, there are relatively few up to date resources available for teaching about 9/11. Given the breadth of historical topics, it is often difficult for teachers to include recent events.

    Despite these obstacles, these discussions need to begin now. Educators must lead conversations about what happened, remember their own experiences, and consider how best to honor an important chapter of our nation’s history. And we must look toward building a national curriculum that will give teachers the resources needed to guide lessons and discussions.

    This past Monday, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum launched a pilot program to help provide teachers with resources and tools to honor and commemorate the anniversary. We hope to receive feedback from teachers and begin a dialogue about teaching this history. We are also encouraged that the September 11th Education Trust has developed a civic education program.

    When it opens, the Memorial Museum will serve as an educational resource for school groups who visit the World Trade Center site. However, we need to make sure that teachers have resources in their classrooms to teach the history of 9/11 and its aftermath. Now is the time to start thinking about how we can ensure that this recent but seminal history can be shared with students -- teaching children to carry the selflessness exhibited in response to 9/11 with them, and to do their part, no matter how small, to make the world a place free from the horrors of that day.

    Tags: world trade center, history, education, 9/11, wtc memorial

  • 9/11 commemorations around NYC today

    Thursday September 11, 2008 7:17 AM By Lauren Johnston


    AP PhotoEvents throughout the day commemorate the 9/11 anniversary.

    Until 12:30 p.m. City's 9/11b Commemoration Ceremony marking

    seven-year anniversary of the terror attacks; Zuccotti Park,

    Liberty Street between Broadway and Church Street, Manhattan.

    Until 4 p.m.: Celebrity guests join BGC Partners brokers for fourth annual

    September 11 Charity Day event; One Seaport Plaza, 199 Water St.

    Until 10 p.m. “Flags of Honor” NYC 9/11 Memorial Field; Battery Park, WTC

    Sphere, Manhattan.

    12:30 p.m. The British Memorial Garden Trust presents free September 11

    memorial concert; Hanover Square

    12:45 p.m. FDNY Chief of Department Salvatore Cassano lays wreath at the

    New York City Fire Museum Memorial; Fire Museum, 278 Spring St.

    2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Kelly Ann Lynch signs copies of her children’s book, “He Said Yes, The Story of Father Mychal Judge”; St. Paul’s Chapel, Church Street between Fulton and Vesey streets.

    5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Memorial service honoring Staten Island firefighters who died on 9/11; The Alice Austen House Museum, 2 Hylan Blvd., Rosebank, Staten Island.

    6 p.m. Staten Island borough president hosts September 11 memorial; at

    “Postcards” on the St. George Esplanade next to the Ferry Terminal

    6 p.m. State Sen. Martin Golden hosts September 11 memorials; Marine

    Park, by the Field House at Fillmore Avenue, Brooklyn.

    6:30 p.m.: Congressman Anthony Weiner speaks at Sept. 11th candelight ceremony; Remsen Memorial Park, between Alderton Street and Trotting Course Lane, Forest Hills, Queens.

    7 p.m. The Oriel Choir of Oxford University performs 9/11 tribute

    concert; Soldiers’, Sailors’, Marines’, Coast Guard and Airmen’s Club, 283 Lexington Ave., between 36th and 37th streets.

    7:15 p.m. to 6:34 a.m. “Tribute in Light”; West and Morris streets, Lower Manhattan.

    9 p.m. Pace University 9/11 candlelight vigil and procession to ground

    zero; starts at the entrance to Pace University, 1 Pace Plaza, just east of City Hall between Park Row and Gold Street.

    Tags: world trade center

  • Conflux to open this weekend, then to close for good

    Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:00 PM By David Freedlander

    Conflux 2007 from Doryexmachina via Flickr

    Conflux, an annual art festival that has turned the streets of New York City into a mobile playground and research lab for five years now, will be no more after this weekend’s run.

    Some of Conflux’s past events include a noise parade through the Lower East Side, installations in roped-off construction zones and a 24-hour “road trip” around the city, but Christina Ray, the festival’s founder said it’s time to move on.

    “I feel like I planted the seed, and now it’s reached the point where this community has been built around it, where instead of 30 artists we have 100 artists coming from all over the world,” she said. “It’s not an entertainment festival with big corporate logos around it, and the big challenge has been to keep it that way.”

    This year, the four-day festival that starts this morning will be based out of NoHo after three years of tramping around Williamsburg. One highlight this year is an Urban Disorientation Game, where teams of participants will be blindfolded, driven to and dropped off in another part of the city from which they’ll have to find their way around without the benefit of maps or cell phones.

    “We use it as an opportunity to let people look at the city in a different way,” said Calvin Johnson, who is organizing the game. “The question is, what does it mean to get lost and find your way again?”

    In another activity, participants will be given classic novels of English literature and read them aloud on park benches throughout the city. A group calling itself the Federation of Students and Nominally or Unemployed Artists will set up a table and give away $10 to $60 grants to anybody who comes up with a convincing use for the money.

    “It’s about art that approaches the viewer instead of the viewer approaching art,” said Thies Ten Bosch, a Rotterdam-based artist who will be building small houses in empty parking spaces in Manhattan over the weekend. “It’s art that people can’t get around.”

    Artists and participants now say they see the city as a drearier place without the annual twist of perspective that Conflux afforded.

    “You live in this city and after a while you get into a habitual routine and you don’t pay attention,” said Jeffrey Barke, who moved to the city after attending Conflux in 2003. “Conflux opens up the city again as a source of creativity and play. That’s something you risk losing as you get older and Conflux helps you reawaken it.”

    Ray said she was open to others running the festival, but some wondered if the city had changed too much to permit an offbeat, under-the-radar arts festival to flourish.

    “It’s scary to think about what happens if rents keep going up or if you organize something like this and have to go down a more commercial route or less experimental route to stay viable,” said Calvin Johnson, the organizer of the Urban Disorientation Game.

    “What happens to New York when the artistic activity that was here goes away?” he asked.

    --David Freedlander

    Tags: conflux, arts

  • Did Tom Brady cheer when Tom Brady got hurt?

    Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:26 PM By Ryan Chatelain

    Here’s a humorous side note to Curt Schilling’s rant yesterday that “the Yankees suck” so “New York’s excited” that Tom Brady suffered a season-ending knee injury: The Patriots’ MVP quarterback is a Yankees fan!

    Brady was spotted by the Boston Herald last year wearing a Yankees cap.

    In 2001, Drew Henson, Brady’s former teammate at Michigan who also briefly played for the Yankees, outed Brady to reporters: “Tom’s a huge baseball fan and a big Yankee fan,” Henson said.

    Scuttlebutt has it that Brady used to wear his Yankees cap around the Pats locker room until he was told not to.

    So using Schilling’s logic, Tom Brady is happy that Tom Brady got hurt.

  • Williamsburg's Recon outpost there to stay

    Wednesday September 10, 2008 11:11 AM By Lauren Johnston

    Earlier this summer we reported the opening of a secret discount outpost in Williamsburg that was set to last only through the summer. We've now learned the secret sneakerhead haven (N. 5th and Roebling) is here to stay -- and not only that, they're expanding the merch.

    They still have the sneaker overstock from the Lafayette St. Recon shop ($40 sneakers) and have started to stock surplus merch from urban streetwear line Hellz Bellz, which sells for about a third of the retail price.

    According to the shop dude, new shipments come in once a week and sell out fast. Hours are roughly until 8 p.m. Hazier on the opening time.

    Tags: williamsburg, brooklyn, shopping, stuff that's cool

  • Tribute in Light stays lit, for now

    Tuesday September 9, 2008 2:07 PM By David Freedlander

    From Sister 72 via Flickr

    Two beams of light will rise again Thursday night to mark the spot where the Twin Towers once stood.

    And though the “Tribute in Light” is slated to go dark after this year, organizers and officials say they are determined to see that the makeshift memorial doesn’t disappear.

    “New Yorkers would like to see it go on,” said Frank E. Sanchis III, senior vice president at the Municipal Art Society, which organizes the commemoration. “And so would I. We are approaching the future very straightforwardly.”

    The contract that the Municipal Art Society has with the Lower Manhattan Developement Corp. to produce the remembrance ends this year, because both believed five years ago that the work on Ground Zero would be largely completed by now.

    Sanchis added that he believed it is likely that his group and the LMDC would reach an agreement to continue the project next year and possibly beyond.

    “It’s pretty easy to keep going if you can find the money and as long as you can locate a site,” he said.

    For now, the money comes from the LMDC through a grant from the federal office of Housing and Urban Development.

    The lights were originally placed on the site of the new Goldman Sachs tower downtown. They are now placed on top of the MTA garage that straddles the Brooklyn-Battery tunnel.

    On Friday, the tribute will end as the lights dim when the sun rises.

    -- David Freedlander

    Tags: tribute in light, world trade center

  • Great Wall of China uses a BlackBerry Curve (what, no Bold available?)

    Tuesday September 9, 2008 12:49 PM By Rolando Pujol

    A tall wall on West 34th Street and Eighth Avenue has long served as a canvas for epic-scaled advertisements. After years of hosting ads for Delta, the wall has been AT&T's turf of late.

    The past three ads have been focused on Asia -- the first showing a sumo wrestler and the second displaying a geisha girl. The latest is downright trippy. It shows hands shaped like the Great Wall of China, gripping a BlackBerry Curve. Why not?

    We chronicled the ad's birth below, and click here and here for a similar profile of this wall as it was transformed into a geisha girl.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: advertising, at&t, zany, stuff that's cool, manhattan

  • Breaking News: Borough presidents eat pickles, discuss the issues

    Monday September 8, 2008 1:15 PM By Pete Catapano

    Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer; Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz; Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión.

    This just in from the office of omnipresent Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz: The five BPs in the city got together today at Junior’s restaurant for a summit to discuss “keeping or doing away with term limits, the City budget, mayoral control over public schools and budget cuts at the Department for the Aging (DFTA).”

    This might be the biggest meeting since heads of the five families met in “The Godfather.”

    From the picture it seems they also ate some pickles at what they called a “semi-annual” gathering.

    — Pete Catapano

    Tags: markowitz, junior's, pickles, zany, politics, restaurants, quick bite

  • Smell, dead fish, invade Queens

    Monday September 8, 2008 12:24 PM By Pete Catapano

    Something smells rotten in Howard Beach, Queens. And that something is hundreds of dead fish. For nearly three weeks, residents have been dealing with the smell and outright strangeness of the fish that washed up at the Shellbank Basin, right by the CVS, Gold’s Gym and Starbucks, off Cross Bay Boulevard.

    The cause of this fish massacre, apparently, according to reports and DEP workers I ran into on Friday, was blue fish that chased the victims right out of the water, leaving them to suffocate.

    The worker told me this happens every year, but residents say this is new them. The Queens Crap blog has a photo of the carnage.

    Well there could be one good thing, however, that came of Hurricane Hanna's stopover in the city over the weekend: One Queens Crap commentor said the storm washed the fish away. We'll have to check on that.

    — Pete Catapano

    Tags: zany

  • Mad Men and the City: The Gold Violin

    Monday September 8, 2008 9:19 AM By Rolando Pujol

    Don and Bets share a happy moment at the Stork Club. Jimmy Barrett will ensure that the evening goes right into the "garbage."

    New York landmarks figure prominently in key plot twists during Sunday night's important episode of "Mad Men." Jimmy Barrett, content to "Grin and Barrett" no more, calls Don "garbage" for carrying on with his wife, Bobbie. The showdown happens during a party at the Stork Club. Roger Sterling, impressed with "New Girl" secretary Jane Siegel's snug pink sweater, asks where she got it -- so that he can make ensure his daughter never buys it. (She bought it S. Klein's on the Square, in Union Square, of course.) And Jane, all of 20 years old, proves herself to be quite adept at the office politics game. She survived getting fired by Joan Holloway by turning to Sterling. It comes up that she lives on Jane Street in the Village, a fact that Roger finds all too delightful as he assures her that her job is safe. And now, on to the show:

    * Klein's -- The defunct Union Square institution, S. Klein on the Square, comes up in a flirty conversation between Sterling and Don's secretary, Jane. Roger manages to find out not only where Jane bought that sexy sweater, but he also pointedly asks whether she also lives in the neighborhood that was home to the store, Union Square. (He finds out later that she lives in the Village.) So could Roger have his latest office concubine in the making? She is cold to his flirtations -- until she needs him later to keep her job. We shall see. As for Klein's, it closed in 1975, and the building was empty for about a decade during the neighborhood's rough days. The site now holds the pyramid-topped Zeckendorf Towers, a major catalyst in the area's revival. The place was famous for its deep discounts, and many a New Yorker of a certain age remembers hitting up Klein's in a scavenge for deals. Ethel Mertz herself says she hunted for bargains at the store in an episode of "I Love Lucy." It also comes up in "All in the Family." Now you can add "Mad Men" to the list. More on Klein's here. And click here to see a Walker Evans photo of the store on Union Square East.* Stork Club -- Today, it's the site of a pocket park named after CBS pioneer William Paley, but in 1962, the Stork Club, at 3 E. 53rd St., was in the twilight of its years as one of New York's swankiest nightclubs, where the rich, the famous and those chronicling their adventures intersected. It was precisely the sort of place where Jimmy Barrett and his bosses at ABC would celebrate Jimmy's 39-episode deal for potential Candid Camera-killer "Grin and Barrett." Just three years after this episode was set, the Stork Club would be no more. We've always had a weakness for Stork Club memorabilia -- get your own ashtray on eBay. Or better, head down to Moon Indigo at the Showplace Antique Center in Chelsea, which has a mouthwatering collection of Stork Club collectibles.

    * Jane Street in the Village -- Last week, we knocked the show for having Peggy live in "Prospect Park," especially since in the early 1960s, much of Manhattan or Brooklyn Heights would have been within reach of a working girl blazing up the career ladder. In this episode, we find out that Don's secretary, Jane Siegel, lives on Jane Street in the Village. Roger Sterling is charmed by this discovery, and so are we. It sounds just about right for a well-appointed young professional woman starting her career in 1962. The Village was not yet entirely the preserve of financiers, actors and lucky rent-stabilization holdouts. Here's a good overview of Jane Street history, which informs us that there were were once so many writers living there that it was called "author's row."

    * Murray Hill -- Now if Jane Street was the place for writers, then account executive (and, as he will oft remind you, published author) Ken Cosgrove should be the one living on Jane Street, or chasing the haunts of name-brand authors like Arthur Miller and Truman Capote across the river in Brooklyn Heights. But, no, much to our surprise, Ken lives in, gulp, Murray Hill. Now, in 1962, Murray Hill was a much quieter neighborhood, without the twentysomething scene on Third Avenue that you either love because you're part of it, or you passionately detest. It was a time when the hood was more serene, with more families, old-timers and the deep-pocketed townhouse crowd, and nary a "Dormandy Court"-style tower in sight. And yes, you can walk to your job on Madison Avenue, which, Ken tells us, he choose not to. Based on events in this episode, we suspect that the married but gay Sal will be making excuses to pop into the neighborhood to bump into Ken, or heck, return that lighter he seems to have kept as a curious token.

    * Give a hoot, Draper family! Woodsy the Owl and his PSAs urging you to "help keep America looking good" clearly would have never originated in the mind of Don Draper. The Drapers' suburban picnic, possibly somewhere near their home in Ossining, ends on a most distasteful note. After a pleasantly relaxing afternoon, the couple is reclining on a picnic blanket, with Bets resting her head on Don's stomach; both observe that they should do this more often as they take in the bucolic delights. Shortly after, they get up to leave and an inebriated Don chucks his empty beer can into the field, while Bets shakes her blanket onto the grass and leaves crumpled napkins and other trash behind. To add insult to injury, their young son is taught to urinate behind a tree. No matter, they will drive home in Don's gleaming new Cadillac Coup De Ville. Well, we can hope that by the early 1970s, environmentalism will catch up with the Draper bunch.

    * Meet the Mets -- It's the late spring of 1962, and the Mets are in their inaugural season, hoping to fill the void in the hearts of New Yorkers left by the Dodgers and Giants, and even pairing their team colors (blue for the Dodgers, orange for the Giants.). Anyway, Ken Cosgrove, our author friend from Murray Hill, has scored tickets to a Mets game, and he says, in the kind of phrasing that has forever haunted the Mets, has "great seats for probably a terrible game." And he would have watched the game not at Shea Stadium, which would not be ready for two years, but at the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan. When the games at Shea began, it was the end for the Polo Grounds, which is now the site of a public housing project by the same name.

    * Martinson Coffee -- Sterling and Cooper wins an account to freshen up the image of Martinson Coffee (nee Martinson's). The New York area coffee was prized among many and can be found in ShopRite stores to this day, we've read. It was founded in New York City 1899 by a Latvian immigrant Joseph Martinson, who soon became a pioneer in vacuum-sealed coffee. The show makes references to using puppets to sell Martinson, a reference to Jim Henson's early Muppets, who appeared in commercials for this and other coffee brands. Will interest perk in Martinson now that it's been name-dropped on "Mad Men"? You can order it online. And here's a discussion on NYC coffee brands.

    * Museum of Early American Folk Arts -- Don has been asked to join the soon-to-open museum's board, a sure sign, Cooper tells him, that he has arrived as a power broker in society. ("Philanthropy is the gateway to power," advises Bertram Cooper.) The museum opened in New York in 1961, about the time the episode is set. It eventually became the American Folk Art Museum. More on its history here. Find out more about the museum today here. We know we'll be looking for Don Draper's name in the lobby the next time we visit!

    -- 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

    Mad Men as a work of art

    Television Without Pity forum

    AMC's blog

    Video clip

    Jimmy Barrett lets Don have it

    Tags: mad men, advertising, television, media, manhattan

  • Saying goodbye to Astroland

    Sunday September 7, 2008 10:49 AM By Ryan Chatelain

    Visitors wait for Astroland to open its front gates Sunday. The storied amusement park closes forever Sunday night. (Photo by Ryan Chatelain)

    Dozens of thrill seekers were already waiting when Astroland rolled up its front gates for the final time Sunday. Many others shuffled in and out throughout the day to say goodbye to the storied Coney Island amusement park.

    For some, it was their last ride at a 46-year-old New York institution they’ve known since they were children.

    “I’ve been coming here my whole life,” said Arthur Nash, 36, of Chelsea. “I’ve been hearing stories about the park my whole life. My grandfather was a journalist for Parade magazine in the ’50s and ’60s, and he brought Marilyn Monroe to the Cyclone and Nathan’s. … We had to be here for the last day.”

    Meanwhile, Ray Chao, 35, who moved from Chicago to Brooklyn a year ago, took advantage of his last chance to visit Astroland for the first time.

    “It seems so unique,” Chao said. “I walked on the boardwalk, and I was thinking, I don’t think there’s any place in the world that looks like this. I felt like it would be a real shame to update it. It just doesn’t seem to need it.”

    Others held out hope that a deal between Astroland and Thor Equities, which owns the land, could still be worked out, even though Astroland co-owner Carol Hill Albert informed employees Thursday that the park was closing for good Sunday.

    “I hope that it doesn’t [close],” said Eliya Ahmad, 7, moments after riding the Popeye Boats while wearing an ear-to-ear grin. “Next time I see a star, I’m going to wish that it’s not going to happen.”

    More: Photos here and here. Classic Astroland commercial here.

  • Starbucks alert: Pumpkin Spice Latte is back to "warm your day" [File under "too soon"]

    Sunday September 7, 2008 10:37 AM By Rolando Pujol

    With the mercury soaring in Central Park to 86 on Friday, we were taken aback that evening by one of the surest signs that Halloween is around the corner: The return of the Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte.

    We love this treat, and plan to savor a few later this month, but early September seems much too soon. We snapped this shot (with an unfortunate typo) outside a midtown Starbucks. The script should have also been modified a bit -- our day didn't need any "warming" on such a toasty Friday.

    By the way, a colleague informs us that Starbucks will make you a Pumpkin Spice Latte at any time of year. (At least, they will at a location she visited last March.) All you have to do is ask.

    Now that's simply not right.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: starbucks, pumpkin spice latte, autumn, food, holiday traditions, religion, restaurants

  • Fossil store opens on West 34th Street Monday; building's facade not quite as ugly

    Sunday September 7, 2008 9:54 AM By Rolando Pujol

    The facade of the building at 38 W. 34th St. was cleaned up, but is still no stunner. Click on images to expand. Below, the storefront itself has a sleek look. (Photos by Rolando Pujol)

    Not that long ago, the facade of 38 W. 34th St. was one of the most bizarre in the city. It was covered in corrugated metal, had roughly cut windows and displayed bizarre signage for a mysterious "Dr. Locke" and "Foot Saver." We recently noted its destruction, and the news that Fossil would be opening an accessories shop in the building, and now we have an update.

    The Fossil shop is set to open at noon Monday, according to employees who were busy polishing up the store today, and the facade, well, you can judge for yourself. The lower half is sleek, with stone accents. But the top looks like a cleaned-up version of the old facade, which disappointed us. We were expecting something a little different. Maybe it's not the ugliest facade in the city anymore, but it's certainly not in the running for the prettiest.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: fossil, dr. locke, architecture, ugly buildings, herald square, urban archaeology, manhattan, history

  • Time to hug it out

    Friday September 5, 2008 3:06 PM By Jamshid Mousavinezhad

    Sunday night. 10 p.m. HBO.

    Entourage.

    The fifth season of the show comes back after more than a year off.

    When we last saw the boys from Queens, they were experiencing the epic failure of their 'Medellin' screening at the Cannes film festival. The opening of this season will deal with all of the fallout of this disaster. Vince trying to rebuild his career. E and Ari at each other's, doing their best to help Vince while dealing with their own problems. Drama dealing with his own growing success. And Turtle... well, being Turtle.

    This season promises to be an exciting one, with cameos from Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Mark Wahlberg, Tony Bennett, Michael Phelps, and Phil Mickelson, as well as returning characters played by Emmanuelle Chriqui and Martin Landau (is that something you might be interested in?), and new characters played by Bow Wow, Kevin Pollack, and Fran Drescher.

    Believe it or not, we're also getting the return of Dom, played by Domenick Lombardozzi, who was less than popular during his first run in the series. It remains to be seen how fans will react, but with the rabid populous craving Entourage, I doubt that many will be too bummed.

    If you're a current fan, you should have a lot of fun watching this season. If you've never seen the show, do yourself a favor and check out an episode or two this weekend before the premiere. You won't be disapppointed.

    -- Tim Fiorvanti

    Click here for photos of Entourage's Season 5 premiere

    Tags: entertainment

  • Benches along Broadway

    Friday September 5, 2008 10:12 AM By Lauren Johnston

    After we heard that Mayor Bloomberg planned to remake two lanes of Broadway into a swath of tables and benches for pedestrians to sit and relax, we were skeptical about whether New Yorkers would use it - who wants to sit and lunch in a cloud of Times Square exhaust?

    But a stroll outside in the upper 30s along Seventh Ave. today proved us wrong.

    Still not so sure about the mayor's idea that this will encourage people to exercise (The Broadway plan will "give us a lot more room to walk on the streets and to get people ... out of their cars and walking, which is good for their health and also good for the environment," Bloomberg has said on his weekly radio show.)

    But they definitely have the sitting part down.

    Tags: entertainment, manhattan, neighborhoods, parks

  • As Hanna approaches New York , we look back at Hurricane Gloria [Throwback Thursday]

    Thursday September 4, 2008 2:28 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Tropical Storm Hanna on Saturday will deliver two to four inches of rain and high winds across the New York area. But 23 years ago this month, New Yorkers were battening down the hatches for the terrifying Hurricane Gloria. Sure enough, schools were canceled, residents as far north as Westchester put plywood on their windows, and people watched breathless news reports of the impending doom. In the end, Gloria was not a disaster akin to the Long Island Express of 1938, but it caused considerable damage on the East Coast, including Long Island, where power company LILCO struggled to restore power to parts of the area for weeks.

    Step back in time and see live coverage from 1985 of Hurricane Gloria, including an almost full hour of Weather Channel coverage with hurricane expert John Hope. And check out photos of hurricanes that have struck New York.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Photo: Waves crash into Cedar Beach as homes in the background take a pounding from Hurricane Gloria. (Newsday file photo, 1985)

    Tags: hurricane hanna, hurricane gloria, weather, lilco, long island, history

  • 'Real World,' 'The Bachelor,' 'America's Next Top Model' stars hit the runway

    Thursday September 4, 2008 1:53 PM By Elizabeth Nielsen

    amNewYork caught up with a slew of reality TV stars at 'Reality Runway: Fashion for a Cause,' held Wednesday night at Lower East Side hotspot BLVD. Some highlights from the evening.

    -Paula Meronek of 'The Real World: Key West' was looking blonde and beautiful, and had clearly undergone some upper torso area enhancements. She made no secret of it though, doing some hot shimmies on the runway. You rock those babies, Paula.

    - Manhattan resident Jason Rockland dropped $860 to spend the evening with the beautiful Johanna Botta from 'The Real World: Austin.' Which would have been the highest bid of the evening, if celebrity designer Indashio hadn't bid $1000 to hang out with the lovely Marshana from 'The Bachelor.'

    -Speaking of the lovely Johanna, she made it perfectly clear that she is no longer with former flame Wes.

    "I have recently broken up with my ex-boyfriend. I'm single and ready to mingle! And New York City is full of hot guys. It's like being a kid in a candy store." Bodda told us.

    Click here to see pictures of the newest cycle of 'America's Next Top Model.'

    --Lizzy

  • Dig in: Edible Manhattan debuts on Monday

    Thursday September 4, 2008 1:39 PM By Rolando Pujol

    For two years, the publishers of Edible Brooklyn have been championing local foods and food folks in the borough.

    On Monday, they will become advocates in Manhattan with the newest in the growing line of Edible magazines -- Edible Manhattan.

    "Frankly, in the beginning it was too daunting to take on Manhattan," co-publisher Brian Halweil said, adding there could be an Edible for every neighborhood in the city. "Finally we're up to it and we've gotten enough steam to do it."

    The line of Edible magazines got its start six years ago when two women from Ojai, a tiny exurb of Los Angeles started a magazine covering their local food and farmers.

    Since, the magazine series, which focuses on local foods, artisans, chefs

    and eaters, has expanded to 50 communities including, San Francisco, Brooklyn and East End of Long Island.

    Halweil said Edible Manhattan will differ from its Brooklyn and East End counterparts because in Manhattan "local food is global food."

    "You can get everything from the best Russian food to the best Korean, the best from East and West and South Africa," he said. "It may not have all come from here, but because it's the best and it's here, it's still very local."

    The magazine will be available at Whole Foods, Zabar's, ABC Home, and various bookstores, wine shops and specialty grocers.

    -- Emily Ranager

    Tags: edible manhattan, brooklyn, east end, food, long island, restaurants

  • The relics of the World Trade Center

    Thursday September 4, 2008 1:10 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Large pieces of steel called tridents recovered from the World Trade Center site, and once a structural part of the ground level exterior arches of the twin towers, are preserved in Hangar 17 of Kennedy International Airport. There are about 1,350 pieces of steel, many weighing over 30 tons. (Photo by Lane Johnson)

    Two years ago, we had the honor of visiting Hangar 17 at Kennedy Airport, where the Port Authority meticulously cares for relics from the World Trade Center, saving them for the day they either return to Ground Zero or are sent to other museums.

    Here's our story from the visit, plus a flash presentation with video and photo gallery. In addition, check out these blog posts for more from our visit.

    "Memorial Sites: New York to Nairobi Photographs by Julie Dermansky," an exhibit opening Sept. 10 at the Center for Architecture, will also present images from Hangar 17.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: world trade center, history, september 11, hangar 17, endangered nyc, development, architecture

  • Astroland: A brief history

    Thursday September 4, 2008 12:26 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Photo by Lane Johnson

    After last year's false alarm, the inevitable came to pass Thursday: The owners of Coney Island's Astroland announced the amusement park will close for good this weekend after 46 years. Full story here. Photos here and here. Classic Astroland commercial here.

    Here's a short history of the site:

    1955—Three investors, including the owner of Nathan’s hot dogs, buy the land where Astroland sits in order to keep it out of the hands of NYC Parks Commissioner Robert Moses.

    1962—Astroland opens as owners hope to capitalize on new interest in the Space Age. Attractions include the Cape Canaveral Satellite Jet and the Mercury Capsule Skyride.

    1976—Astroland takes over operation of the Cyclone Roller Coaster. The next month an early morning fire destroys much of the amusement park.

    1988—The Cyclone is named an official city landmark.

    2006—The owners sell the land the amusement park sits on to developer Thor Equities.

    2008—Unable to negotiate a long-term lease with Thor, Astroland operators announce that the park will close for good after the season.

    -- Compiled by David Freedlander

    Tags: astroland, coney island, brooklyn, development

  • Tropical Storm Hanna may well determine your weekend plans

    Wednesday September 3, 2008 2:38 PM By Rolando Pujol

    The Long Island Express of 1938 batters the city. Hanna is expected to be "disruptive," but not nearly as bad.

    Batten down the hatches—there’s a squall heading this way.

    Tropical Storm Hanna pounded Haiti yesterday and is expected to zero in on the Carolinas by the end of the week, and may hit or skirt New York City on Saturday.

    “It looks like it’s coming right through you,” said Andrew Uhlrich, a meteorologist at Accuweather.com. “I’d say it probably won’t be catastrophic, but it will be disruptive.”

    The latest National Hurricane Center projection Wednesday evening had the storm passing just off eastern Long Island before striking southern New England. But it’s still too early for forecasters to determine a firm track.

    Uhlrich said that if the storm moves east, it could drop several inches of rain on the region. If it shifts to the west, weekend weather would be drier, but New Yorkers can still expect gale-force winds.

    A spokesman for the city’s Office of Emergency Management said that the agency was tracking the tropical storm closely and declined to discuss what kinds of preparations are under way.

    The agency Thursday kicks off National Preparedness Month, and volunteers will be handing out Go Bags at site around the city.

    Hanna is being closely followed by two other tropical systems, Ike and Josephine. Ulrich said it is too early to tell where Ike will strike, and added that Josephine was unlikely to hit land at all.

    -- David Freedlander

    Tags: weather, hurricane hanna, history, long island express

  • City Hall Dispatch: Bloomie sez back-off!

    Wednesday September 3, 2008 9:30 AM By David Freedlander

    Bloomberg and bald-eagle via Piano Lady @ Flickr

    Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the press to lay off Republican vice-presidential Sarah Palin's family, after a 48-hour media feeding frenzy turned a spotlight on Palin's unmarried pregnant teenage daughter, Bristol.

    "People in the families have a right to privacy too," the mayor said at an afternoon press conference. "They are not the candidates. I know everybody says, 'oh well, if she is vice-president then her family is fair game. I don’t happen to believe that. The family has a right to their own lives."

    Bloomberg's own daughters, Emma, 29, and Georgina, 25, have kept a studiously low-profile through their father's administration, though the younger one is well-known on the equestrian circuit.

    Earlier in the day, the mayor praised the role of an active press corps in helping to bring to light a new initiative of his which would post bullying incidents from local schools online.

    "Hopefully if somebody is reading what your write or what you put on the air that’s the way you inform people," he said. "That’s the fourth estate’s job in a democracy."

    --David Freedlander

    Tags: bloomberg, fame, the press, city hall dispatch

  • Forget "90210." How about a "Dawson's Creek" remake?

    Tuesday September 2, 2008 4:42 PM By Emily Ngo

    I am not excited for tonight’s “90210” remake. It was before my time, so sorry if I’m not all yay-Kelly’s-back.

    I propose a remake of “Dawson’s Creek.” Now! It’s a tall order to bring back the cast as adult characters as they have mildly successful careers. (Face it, “Tori and Dean” sucks.) Here’s my casting call nonetheless:

    Joe Jonas, of The Jonas Brothers: He’s Dawson, the sweet guy who’s oblivious to everyone’s crush on him.

    Jamie Lynn Spears: The new girl, like Michelle Williams' character. Her parents sent her away because she was acting up and getting all pregnant and stuff.

    Miley Cyrus: Like Katie Holmes’ Joey, she’s awkward but she has spunk and charm.

    Malcolm David Kelly, of “Lost” fame: A Pacey-like, slacker character. He disappeared all the time on “Lost;” he’ll have little problem cutting school like Joshua Jackson did.

    Then, bring Katie Holmes back as the aunt who preaches scientology to Jamie Lynn. (The same way Jen’s grandma preached Christianity to Michelle Williams.) And bring in James Van Der Beek as the local drunk who buys the high schoolers beers! Action!

    Tags: 90201, dawson's creek, television

  • Hurricane Hanna headed for NYC?

    Tuesday September 2, 2008 2:24 PM By Elizabeth Nielsen

    The five day cone for Hurricane/Tropical Storm Hanna

    As one of the two weather-obsessed Urbaniters (you can find the other one here), I was mildy excited this afternoon to discover that the NOAA has forecast the path of Tropical Storm Hanna to go right over Manhattan sometime on Saturday.

    This will probably mean a total Saturday washout here in the city, but what better time to clean or rearrange your apartment, or get some board games, beer and food and have your very own hurricane party.

    Just don't forget the candles. You know, just in case.

    Check out pictures from Hurricane Gustav

    --Lizzy

  • Katie Holmes' Broadway debut faces anti-Scientology picketers

    Tuesday September 2, 2008 1:58 PM By Julie Gordon

    Katie Holmes

    An anti-Scientology group named Anonymous plans to picket Oct. 16 at the opening night of Broadway’s “All My Sons,” which stars church member Katie Holmes, a rep for the organization said. Holmes, 29, and hubby Tom Cruise, 46, are (in)famous for their involvement in the the Church of Scientology.

    Anonymous said it has “uncovered or brought into the public eye hundreds of illegal actions, fraudulent activites and human rights violations perpetrated by the Church of Scientology.”

    Church spokesman Tommy Davis responded by saying a protest from Anonymous is a “very real and credible threat,” and that Anonymous has sent envelopes with powder resembling anthrax and death and bomb threats to churches in the past.

    “These people are basically terrorists,” Davis said. “Let’s say Ms. Holmes was Jewish. These people would be the equipvalent of neo-Nazis protesting the fact that she’s Jewish.”

    -Click here to see Katie Holmes' life, in photos

    — Julie Gordon

    Tags: katie holmes, scientology, broadway, movies

  • Duly Noted

    Tuesday September 2, 2008 11:19 AM By Rolando Pujol

    The Times pays a visit to Jack's on City Island, and gathers up some fish tales. (Photo by Rolando Pujol)

    * The breathtaking transparency of 7 World Trade Center. [City Room]

    * The De Kalb Avenue subway stop turns up where you least expect it: In a bathroom in Glasgow, Scotland. [Curbed]

    * Yet another vintage 1960s-1970s tower will get the glass wraparound treatment. The crown will survive, though, atop the Viacom Building, home to TRL and once the site of the Astor Hotel and its rooftop parties. [Curbed]

    * A Park Slope man gets ticketed for drinking a beer -- on his own stoop! [Brownstoner]

    * The Observer checks out Roosevelt Island 2.0. A few weeks ago, amNY examined the boom on the island as well.

    * 10 restaurants we lost this summer, beginning with Florent. [Eater]

    * And there's no end to the "when will Chumley's reopen" saga. [Eater]

    * An end-of-summer visit to the Lemon Ice King of Corona. [Jeremiah's Vanishing New York]

    * And a "staycation" trip to Hart Island. [Queens Crap]

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Tags: duly noted

  • Mad Men and the City: Maidenform

    Tuesday September 2, 2008 10:19 AM By Rolando Pujol

    A dolled-up Peggy uses her feminine wiles at the Tom Tom Club, which is said to be at 44th Street and Eighth Avenue.

    Peggy lives in Prospect Park? And Pete's family summers on Fishers Island? Real estate (and an ancient Rough Rider) are among the highlights from this week's "Mad Men and the City," Urbanite's look at the show's references to people, places and things in the tri-state area. While not teeming with NYC goodies this week, the episode, "Maidenform," does not disappoint. As always, let us know about your observations.

    * Prospect Park -- Brooklynite Peggy Olson tells former paramour and father of her child Pete Campbell that she lives in Brooklyn, Prospect Park to be exact. A few issues come up here:

    1.) Of course, nobody lives in Prospect Park. You might say you live "on" Prospect Park, but certainly not in it, unless you are homeless. 2.) In 1962, a young professional such as Peggy would likely not be living in the neighborhoods around the park, including Park Slope. At that point, gentrification was well under way in Brooklyn Heights, a more plausible neighborhood for Peggy to call home, but neighborhoods such as Park Slope were not yet meccas for young professionals. One possibility: Since her family is from Bay Ridge, and she's a lifelong Brooklynite, she may have known her way around the park neighborhoods better than a Manhattanite seeking cheap rent. Any thoughts?* Rough Riders -- The scene at the country-club affair features a hilarious moment involving a living, breathing Rough Rider. The emcee at the fashion show points out the ancient veteran, dressed in his uniform no less! The Rough Riders, of course, charged to battle against the Spanish in Cuba, led by New York's very own Teddy Roosevelt way back in 1898. So by 1962, a living Rough Rider was quite a sight. Rough Riders fans will be happy to know that there's a special place in New York where they can indulge their curiosity on these soldiers as well as Teddy Roosevelt. A brownstone on East 20th Street replicates the boyhood home of Theodore Roosevelt. (The original was foolishly demolished.) It contains well-curated displays, original family artifacts and National Park Service rangers who know their stuff cold.

    * Fishers Island -- For at least the second time in the show's run, we hear that Pete Campbell's family has a house out on Fishers Island. Where is this place? It's a small island north of Long Island's North Fork. Even though it's closer to Connecticut than Long Island, it's considered a part of New York state. The Campbells would feel right at home there: It teems with blue-blooded families with impressive manses and country clubs.

    * Tom Tom Club -- The guys from Playtex take the Mad Men crew out for a night of drinks and carousing at the Tom Tom Club. which is said to be at 44th Street and Eighth Avenue. For those with long memories, does anyone know if a club by such a name existed there? When we think of that intersection, we think of Smith's, which has been there for what seems forever.

    Odds & Ends

    Other pop-culture references included J&B Scotch Whisky, (which Pete serves at his Memorial day barbecue), the war between Playtex and Maidenform women's undergarments, Clearasil (the account Pete's father-in-law helped snag for Sterling and Cooper), and the release of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. We also notice that a huge bag of Utz Potato Chips, the sponsor of Grin and Barrett, is in the Draper kitchen ... nice touch.

    -- 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:

    Tags: mad men, television, 1960s nyc, manhattan, brooklyn, advertising

  • No September First Saturday at Brooklyn Museum

    Tuesday September 2, 2008 9:52 AM By Emily Ngo

    Bad news for those of you intent on hitting up this Saturday's First Saturday at Brooklyn Museum. It's not happening! The next free fun night is Oct. 4. Don't miss the Special Salsa Dance Party, 9-11 p.m. and don't forget to stop by Ripple Bar afterward. Everyone else will be there.

    CLARIFICATION: The Brooklyn Museum has informed me that the First Saturdays take place only 11 months a year. It's not canceled this month; it just doesn't happen. See you in October!

    — Emily Ngo

    Tags: brooklyn, museums, free events

  • Hurricane Hanna whips up waves in New York area and may soak city by end of week

    Monday September 1, 2008 2:09 PM By Rolando Pujol

    Hurricane Hanna is already whipping up waves at area beaches and could pelt New York with heavy rain and strong winds by the end of the week.

    The hurricane, currently in the Caribbean, could make landfall in Georgia by the end of the week, and then quickly head inland toward the Northeast. While it will lose strength during its northerly march, it could bring as much as two inches of rain and gusty winds to New York City later Friday and Saturday, according to the latest projections from meteorologists.

    The path, speed and strength of the storm will determine just how much rain New York City will see, and it is too soon to tell exactly how much the storm will impact the area, the National Weather Service in Upton said.

    “There’s a lot of uncertainty right now,” said John Murray, a meteorologist with the weather service.

    The city is forecast to have a chance of showers beginning Friday night. On Saturday, the city has a 60 percent chance of rain with the possibility of thunderstorms.

    Although it’s thousands of miles away, Hanna, which was upgraded to a Category One hurricane yesterday afternoon, is already affecting area beaches.

    Large waves from the hurricane flooded and temporarily closed Robert Moses and Jones beaches yesterday, the Associated Press reported.

    City beaches were less affected, but lifeguards kept swimmers in shallow waters after the National Weather Service said there was a moderate rip current risk, a city parks department spokesman said.

    Hanna lashed parts of the Bahamas yesterday, and forecasters predicted it could hit the United States coastline, most likely in Georgia, but it’s still possible the storm could strike anywhere between Miami and North Carolina, the Associated Press said.

    -- Marlene Naanes

    Tags: hurricanes, hurricane hanna, weather

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