Brooklyn Heights: The rats here are getting bigger and bolder, and the normally peaceful residents have taken to fighting back with machetes and water hoses. [Brooklyn Paper]
Chelsea: From 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. through Sunday, you can shop for cool old magazines and comics at Time Machine and simultaneously get drunk at their holiday open bar. [Vanishing New York]
Red Hook: A sliver-thin waterfront greenway is going up that will run all the way to Greenpoint. Rad! [OnNYTurf]
Ridgewood: Have you heard of the Ridgewood Reservoir, where a natural forest and bird haven sprang up after the city drained the water basins? Now the city might clear a chunk of it for ball fields, and local tree-huggers are pissed. [Queens Chronicle via Queens Crap]
Upper East Side: Taking its cue from fellow fancy-pants private school Trinity across the park, Brearley is kicking tenants out of a rent-stabilized apartment tower it owns to create classrooms. The school says it’ll find them new homes … . Brearley and truly. [NYP]
Union Square: The Virgin Megastore will close February 1. The twentieth century is now officially over. [Idolator]
West Village: Pier 40, that huge parking lot–cum–ball field that some developers want to turn into a “Vegas on the Hudson” entertainment complex, will cost $125 million to repair, not the previously reported $30 million, says a new report. [Downtown Express via Curbed]—Tim Murphy
