Amsterdam

Fasten the safety belts: After standing ovations on the festival circuit, cult director Paul Verhoev  read more »

10 a.m. Sen. Hillary Clinton attends a HELP Committee Hearing into 9/11 health effects in Washington, D.C.

11:30 a.m. The state's Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions will hold a public hearing on cable franchise agreements at the State Education Building, 80 Washington Avenue, in Albany.  read more »

Steve Wiebe has been hearing the same question repeatedly: “Is the bar closing?”  read more »

The Observer has launched a new weekly real-estate section called Location. Macklowes Ink Second-Biggest Building Buy in U.S. History "Macklowe Properties paid $1.73 billion for Worldwide Plaza at 825 Eighth Avenue, the second-largest sale price for an office building in U.S. history." Durst Signs Himself at One Bryant Park "The Durst Organization will take the entire 48th and 49th floors for a total of 61,000 square feet at the Bank of America Tower." Go to Commercial Breaks by John Koblin. No Vacancy for Stephen Ross' Related at Amsterdam Inn "Steve Wiebe's Westside Brewery Co., located at the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and 76th Street, is about the last business left on the block. Apart from the bar, only the low-budget Amsterdam Inn directly above it remains in operation on this side of the street. Both the hotel and tavern are staying put, though, which somewhat complicates things for developer The Related Companies, which has otherwise wiped out a whole strip of storefronts in ravenous pursuit of the full block." Go to Counter Espionage by Chris Shott. Mr. Bollinger's Battle Over Columbia's Harlem Expansion "It was more than two years ago, over a couple of beers at The West End in Morningside Heights, when Jordi Reyes-Montblanc first told a Columbia University official that he wanted a community-benefits agreement." Go to story by Matthew Schuerman. Stuy Town Paper to Landlord: Read This! "Town & Village's torchbearers insist that the paper never shies away from more contentious issues at Stuyvesant Town and Cooper Village, reporting extensively on neighborhood crime as well as the frequent landlord-tenant disputes that inevitably arise at any rental property, particularly one so enormous. Lately, though, the landlord-tenant stuff has taken up an awful lot of column inches." Go to story by Chris Shott. Bloomberg Administration Names Top Development Priorities "Pull up a chair in City Hall! Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff gabs about Atlantic Yards, the far West Side, Bloomberg's final years in office,and Adam Gopnik." Go to The Sit-Down by Matthew Schuerman. How Pricey Co-ops Get Better Deals at Tax-Time "The city Department of Finance estimates New York's property value at $802.4 billion for the coming fiscal year, which starts July 1. It could be worth a lot more, if some in city government had their way--and if the state, which sets the city's property-tax structure, would listen. But fundamental changes to the city's property-tax structure seem as bloody likely as a new rent-controlled building along Central Park West." Go to The Lab by Tom Acitelli. Dude Descending a Staircase "Where did all the skinny spiral staircases go? That was a time. It's all over. The duplex is no longer so de rigueur. The man in the turtleneck is now a boy staring at a rectangular screen. He wears no gold around his neck. All the ornament is in the digital image, going left or right. Life has become an eternal pan, a horizontal prison. There is no secret upstairs: no murder, no spiritual ascent." Go to Interiors with Toni Schlesinger. Billionaire Flowers Seeks $23 M. Flip for Old Lycee Mansion "Billionaire J. Christopher Flowers has put the East 73rd Street mansion he bought just three months ago on the market, with a $6 million markup." Luca Luca Guy Drops $3.345 M. in Gramercy "Forty-two-year-old Luca Orlandi, the celebrity-friendly founder of Luca Luca, will have a nice new nest to feather now that his fall line has finished exhibiting at Fashion Week. According to city records, the designer has bought a duplex penthouse co-op at the Gramercy House at 22nd Street and Second Avenue for $3.345 million." Go to Manhattan Transfers by Max Abelson. They All Live in City Boxes, But They're Not All the Same "The new book High Rise Low Down is a love letter to Manhattan's better buildings, and, like most love letters, it's sappy in parts, repetitive, and ends with rosy hopes for the future." Go to book review by Tom Acitelli. Deeds and Deals "Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton lean on the new owners of Starrett City, and Robert Caro wouldn't change a thing about The Power Broker." Go to Deeds and Deals by Tom Acitelli and Mark Wellborn.

Like many torch-bearers of old family-owned businesses, Steve Chahalis hopes that his son, too, will  read more »

I taught my first philosophy classes in the autumn of 1952, at Northwestern University.  read more »

The storefront mannequins were only half-dressed and the lower level was unfinished. But the shelves were stocked with yarn and knittings of all colors and kinds -- as promised -- during the Friday grand opening of Yarntopia, located at the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and 108th Street.

Not to be confused with Yarntopia of Katy, Texas, Upper West Side designer Dona Flam's store has been in the works for nearly three years, now occupying the former Botanica La Luz & Gift Shop site.

"It took me forever to find space because rents are so expensive," said Flam, who claimed to have registered the stitcher's utopian trade name long before her Texan counterpart ever appeared online.

Flam, a former psychiatric social worker whose knitted hats, bags, and scarves have sold in other local boutiques, envisions her shop helping to fill an artistic gap in the Upper West Side enclave commonly called Manhattan Valley. "There's no real creative outlets up here," she told The Observer.

The currently 400-square-foot shop will double in size once Flam can finally open the basement area, pending city and co-op building approval. Within a few weeks, she hopes to start hosting knitting classes.  read more »

The lunchtime opening on "Black Friday" proved frantic for the first-time shopkeeper, who hastily threw black t-shirts over the mannequins in her front window -- statues otherwise sporting only hats, scarves, and handbags -- just before welcoming her first customer. "They were naked until 11 this morning," she said.

- Chris Shott

I've spent a lot of time critiquing an event at Yivo Institute last week, well I must praise the all-day conference Yivo put on Sunday, to mark the 350th anniversary of the excommunication of Baruch Spinoza by Jewish religious authorities in Amsterdam. A wonderful event.

I almost didn't get in. The conference was sold out, there were scores of people waiting for an extra ticket on 16th St. I of course played the press card, but happily for all of us, Yivo lowered the screen in its main hall, allowing the overflow to watch the event on simulcast.  read more »

In 1656, when he was excommunicated—"By the decrees of the Angels and the proclamation of the Saints, we hereby excommunicate, ban, and anathematize Baruch d'Espinoza"!—Spinoza was just 23 years old. He had formed many heretical thoughts; and there's evidence that the Amsterdam rabbis sent some informers to draw him out on these ideas. One of the speakers, Steven Nadler of UWisconsin, said that religious authorities regularly excommunicated Jews at the time, for say, theft; but the thief could get back into the community by paying a fine. (And Yivo's executive director noted that Jews in Spain were excommunicated for having relations with non-Jewish women. Ouch).

In addition to endorsing Chris Owens for a Brooklyn congressional seat today, The Amsterdam News made a number of other endorsements [no link yet]. In a surprise move, they went with Tom Suozzi over Eliot Spitzer, saying:

"Both men are talented; one of them is human to the core."

Update: Amsterdam News also endorsed: Hillary Clinton for Senate Charlie King for Attorney General Charles Barron for the 10th Congressional District in Brooklyn Hiram Monserrate for the 13th Senate District in Queens Hakeem Jeffries for the 57th Assembly District in Brooklyn Sylvia Friedman for the 74th Assembly District in Manhattan. Update 2: The paper made no endorsement between state Senator Marty Connor and Ken Diamondstone in the 25th Senate District. -- Azi Paybarah

New York Times publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. gave the first of his 2006 State of the Times addresses at 10:30 this morning at the New Amsterdam Theatre. In his opening remarks, Sulzberger discussed the paper's efforts to expand its online and digital operations in a newspaper industry that's mired in struggle. "The intro was clearly about how tumultuous things are," one staffer said.

Things were also a bit tumultuous in the open question-and-answer period following Sulzberger's scripted remarks. Several staffers asked Sulzberger about stock grants awarded to senior Times executives, citing an Observer report that showed Sulzberger receiving some $800,000 in shares in 2005, while CEO Janet Robinson received $2 million in shares and $4 million in options.

In response, Sulzberger told the audience that his compensation is set at 60 percent of what average executives in his position earn.

Staffers also asked the publisher why he had ended the employee stock-purchase program, which had allowed staffers to buy New York Times Company stock at a 15 percent discount. Sulzberger said the decision to eliminate the program was a "painful choice to make," according to a staffer present--but that since the New York Times' stock isn't gaining value, "staffers shouldn't worry about it."

--Gabriel Sherman

Click image to enlarge.

Devoting an entire issue to real estate is a great idea for two reasons.

First, New Yorkers seemingly can't get enough of the topic. Second, there's a lot of brokerages ready to spend big money on full-color ads for their luxury developments.

Bulging to over 200 pages, this weekend's New York Times magazine features plenty of articles, advertisements, and advertorials.

It's honestly difficult to know where to begin.

There is the "Agents Provocateurs" piece with full-page, stylish shots of the city's top developers and brokers. Some of those included are Aby Rosen, Dolly Lenz, and Paula Del Nunzio--whose picture is taken at Emilio Ambasz's mansion on East 62nd Street. Not only do we find out about their current projects and biggest coups, but also fantasies and dress codes. For the record, Mr. Rosen prefers Thomas Pink cuff links.

There are at least a dozen other pieces which vary from subsidized housing, to the Donald Trump of New Orleans, and even what a 400-year old house in Amsterdam can say about today's market.  read more »

We might need all weekend to get through it.

- Michael Calderone

In the past year, I’ve visited nearly 100 restaurants, eaten at least a dozen tuna tartares, o  read more »

Onera   Two Stars   222 West 79th Street (between Amsterdam and Broadway)  read more »

Onera

Two Stars

222 West 79th Street

(between Amsterdam and Broadway)  read more »

212-873-0200

Victoria’s Secret’s “Very Sexy” bra collection is flying off the shelves.  read more »

The Politicker doesn't know much about the arrest, reported in the Post, of the Amsterdam News's top editor for allegedly stealing from the paper. But a reader reminds me that the ex-editor and his boss had a very odd public fight about the Mike's absence from the Harlem debates race on the Brian Lehrer Show not long ago, which we covered here.  read more »

Or you can shell out for Rush Limbaugh's benefit show at the New Amsterdam Theater on Broadway next month. Really. Gawker has a particularly pungent take.  read more »

Those weekly-newspaper endorsements are flying around like crazy today. Miller got the Jewish Press, Mike the Ecuador News, and Anthony the Queens Chronicle. Nothing for Freddy as far as I can see, but Virginia picked up a genuinely important one: a front-pager in the Amsterdam News.  read more »

More than two decades have passed since Natalie Charkow (as she then was) made her debut as a sculpt  read more »

Up and West at 'Cesca,Four Rich Guys Convene  read more »

The recent arrival of the Dean and DeLuca store at 85th Street and Madison Avenue isn't just great n  read more »

It has always been a conundrum for established opinion in the New York art world: how to come to ter  read more »

It was just another Friday night up at Brother Jimmy's.  read more »

Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York takes place in Manhattan of the 1860s-a place described by Leona  read more »

It has been said of the French artist and writer Paul Signacthat he was an "almost-great painter." S  read more »

Dutch food always looks so wonderful in paintings.  read more »

Christopher Nolan's Memento , from a screenplay by Christopher Nolan, based on a short story by Jona  read more »

Joep de Koning is a Dutchman with a big idea. It came to him two years ago.  read more »

Some nights, a person can't sleep.  read more »

Experience and common sense would suggest that one can never be too careful when putting on a rock c  read more »

Rembrandt's Eyes , by Simon Schama. Alfred A.  read more »

Dutch and DutcherThere are still a few people in the city who refuse to wear anything but black, and  read more »

In life, as in death, it was the fate of the 17th-century Dutch painter Pieter de Hooch (pronounced  read more »

When asked the secret of her good looks, the actress Katharine Hepburn was once quoted as saying, "Y  read more »

While in Amsterdam recently, I met an old friend who moved there from SoHo over 25 years ago.  read more »