Brighton Beach: Brooklynites don't want Manattanites to know about a swank new Russian bana (bath) where they'll beat you with a bundle of birch leaves for $40. [Flatbush Pigeon via Curbed]
Clinton Hill: This is your big chance to be in a Talib Kweli video about abortion. You won't get paid, but you'll get free food. [Bed-Stuy Blog]
Long Island City: The owner of the graffiti-soaked 5 Pointz building wants taggers to paint all over it…until he sells it, that is. [Real Deal]

Lower Manhattan: Almost half-empty since 9/11, office building 100 Church Street is getting a face-lift, in part to help itself get over being recently jilted by Newsweek, which decided to move to Soho instead. [NYS]
Ridgewood: Is the Parks Department really dumping its debris in a palustrine marsh (that's a nontidal wetland, duh!) near the Ridgewood Reservoir? These pics suggest so. [Queens Crap]
Union Square: A fifty-foot-tall, 80-year-old Siberian elm was cut down this morning in Union Square Park to accommodate renovations. But you can plant a piece of the tree and keep it alive! [Fine Company]
Williamsburg: We wish that, instead of writing this item yesterday, we'd really been at the Frank Sinatra tribute on Graham Avenue, smoking ciggies and eating twelve-foot-long subs with the old grammas. [Newyorkshitty]