The moment you've all been waiting for since the clock ran out Sunday night in Pittsburgh: Which New York City landmark should be adorned with a Terrible Towel?
As per a mayoral bet, since the Steelers beat the Jets, the glorified warshcloth (that's Pittsburghese) will hang from somewhere in the city, and The Observer asked readers Read More
Last week, Mayor Bloomberg and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstal made a bet on yesterday's AFC Championship game, as politicians are wont to do. Part of the deal was the all-too-expected community service project in the opposing city, part of the deal was a little more interesting, if cheesy. It was agreed that a team Read More
Here is a visually arresting piece of literature a reader picked up near the Borough Hall train stop in Brooklyn last night. Seeing the Statue of Liberty right behind the Brooklyn Bridge kind of catches your eye. But so does seeing the word words "New Era" anywhere near the name Tracy Boyland. Her brother, father Read More
Chelsea Arts Tower. Around 8 p.m. last night, several partygoers--who had been toasting the Chelsea Arts Tower--tore themselves away from Cheim & Read Gallery, and took in the city view from high above the High Line. Although Calvin Klein--who recently dropped $4 million on an 18th floor unit--didn't show up, there were plenty of Read More
Back in the heady days of 2003, no one seemed to want to talk about how much the World Trade Center memorial would cost. No one tried to keep costs down, and the amount to be raised privately was a well-kept secret. People argued over whether to give extra recognition to police officers and firefighters. Read More
Minerva, looking down. Last night, Brooklyn Community Board 7 overwhelmingly voted against HMS Associates' plan to build a 70-foot-high development at 614 Seventh Avenue in Sunset Park. The neighborhood had recently been down-zoned by the Department of City Planning, and the lot in question has a 50-foot height limit. (See our previous coverage on the Read More
... flies only at Sunset Park? The Post reports today that the Department of City Planning is promoting a rezoning of South Slope/Sunset Park to curtail out-of-scale development on the side streets around Fourth Avenue, while at the same time allowing larger developments--up to 12 stories--on the avenue itself. According to Brooklyn Community Board Read More
Last night's Fantastic Four premiere, ambitiously slated for Liberty Island (perhaps inside the Statue of Liberty's head?), could have used some superhero help as it went up in flames (or down in the rain). Members of the press were herded in Battery Park, then boated to Liberty Island. A red carpet parade happened. (For the Read More
Wednesday 21st
Vonnegut's vigor: When a young fella named Diego Garcia realized that graduating from Brown University isn't quite enough to pull babes, he started a band named Elefant (no relation to the circus elephant, Flora, that Internet porn queens Cameron Diaz and Paris Hilton are struggling to save). Tonight, Mr. Garcia, who's 25 and Read MoreAs we approach, witness–and yea, survive–the much hyperbolized launch party for Talk magazine, your diarist has come into possession of certain letters that may, one day, be of historical interest.
Or maybe not. June 21, 1999. Liberty Island. Dear Ms. Brown: Thank you for your recent inquiry concerning the use of Liberty Island as a Read MoreEarly this month, New York played out a myth of our time.
It came in two parts. The first was supplied by Edwin Sabillon, a 13-year-old Spanish-speaking boy who appeared, alone and broke, in the city, telling authorities he had traveled 4,500 miles from Honduras to look for his father. His story was staggering. His mother Read MoreAs I peered out of the window of a cab circling Madison Park, it was hard to imagine that Stanford White used to push Evelyn Nesbit on her red velvet swing nearby. On the spot where the M5 bus now idles briefly before turning down Fifth Avenue, the Statue of Liberty's torch once sat, collecting Read More
Gotham Bar & Grill is in many ways the quintessential New York restaurant. It is a postmodern take on the city, with its park balustrades, columns and even a Statue of Liberty presiding from one corner. It's not a hushed temple of gastronomy where silver domes are whisked silently from the plates set down before Read More
