Yuppies Discouraged From Partying in Tompkins Square ParkPlus plaster nearly falling on East Harlem babies before their souls are insured and a cure for killer staph in the Gowanus Canal. Why wait? Click through today’s boroughs report!
The Golden Rule, Graffiti-StyleEast Harlem’s incoming big-box mall, Rockaway’s unexpected turn, Gramercy’s strange tenements within a condo, and even more, in today’s boroughs report.
neighborhood watch
Your Pencil May Be Your Key to the High Line This SummerA shadow between porn hub Show World and its fate in Times Square, a chain barrier between “the ‘SATC’ house” and Carrie fans in the Village, bad blood between a rock bar and its neighbors in Park Slope … and just a click between you and our daily boroughs report!
Dutch Kills Residents So Mad They Could, Um, Berate the Zoning BoardDutch Kills: Seems that by the time they finish zoning this swath of Long Island City against tall hotels, it’ll already be chock-full of ‘em Ground’s been broken on too many to stop. [NYDN]
East Harlem: In other critter news, this story about a poodle named Miss Bea — rescued from a closet after so much neglect that her matted, dirty coat became “like a tortoiseshell” — will probably make you cry, barf, or both. [NYDN]
Hell’s Kitchen: We must say, we remain fascinated with the charmingly boring blog of this HKer who posts such daily banalities as photos of his dishes in local eateries and accounts of his walks around town. [Hell’s Kitchen NYC]
neighborhood watch
The Army Occupies East 103rd Street; Residents DispleasedEast Harlem: There’s outrage over a new Army recruiting center on East 103rd Street, on the heels of Army promo teams here this summer that included gals in camo midriffs and short shorts. [NY Latino Journal]
Jackson Heights: Starbucks is here! Gentrification officially begins! [Curbed]
Northwest Bronx: So many parks are being repaired here that there’s no place for the massive youth baseball league to play this spring! [Norwood News]
neighborhood watch
Battle Over Randalls Island Playing Fields Wages OnBedford-Stuyvesant: Here’s an arty do-it-yourself interpretation of the glassy standard bus shelter that’s taking over the city. No surprise this is for the bus that goes to Williamsburg, where all those arty DIY kids live! [Bed-Stuy Banana]
East Harlem: Locals are still waging a legal battle against the city’s plan to take $52 million over twenty years from top private schools like Dalton and Spence in exchange for the schools’ use of most of the Randalls Island athletic fields during peak after-school hours. [Newsday]
Forest Hills: Sure, that mini-mall on Austin Street is pretty hideous-looking, but it still has a Thai restaurant, a Greek restaurant, a creperie, a skater shop, and a comic-book emporium, so let’s stop complaining about its ugliness and count our blessings! [Queens Central]
neighborhood watch
People in Dumbo Still Read BooksDumbo: Local, too-cool-for-school publisher powerHouse Books better watch out! Another indie publisher, Melville House, plans to open offices plus a bookstore and event space, just like pH did! [DumboNYC]East Harlem: Council member Melissa Mark-Viverito, who fights for affordable housing here, is “vivacious enough to play herself in any television biopic.” Shouldn’t that be a requirement for the whole City Council? [NYDN]East Village: Hygienic bohos, rejoice! Soap dispensers are returning to the women’s restroom at Tompkins Square Park! [Suzannah B. Troy Artist]
neighborhood watch
Dumbo Makes Its MarkCarroll Gardens: Some people feel that the paltry number of holiday lights strung up on Court Street is really shameful. And they ain’t too proud to blog about it. [Lost City]
Dumbo: It just became the city’s 90th landmark district! Those hulking industrial piles turned boutique lofts will be preserved into perpetuity! Huzzah! [NYS]
East Harlem: Don Imus is kicking in a quarter-mil for an ecofriendly health center up here, saying it’s shameful that such a small hood has such high asthma rates. [Newsday via Uptown Flavor]
neighborhood watch
Malcolm Gladwell: Big Hair, Big Feet, Big Heart?Upper East Side: Malcolm Gladwell revealed his big feet, gesticulated intensely, said people shouldn’t be allowed to say where they went to college, and stole bloggery hearts at the 92nd St. Y the other night. [UES Informer]
Bushwick: Now the hipsters are staging Punk Rock Pillow Fights. Will their crazy, ironic, lo-fi fun ever stop? [Brooklyn Rink via the vaguely anti-Semitic BushwickBK]
East Harlem: A principal at a high school here sent teachers a memo telling them to dumb down their standards for the kids. Uh-huh. [NYDN]
Harlem: Amid its massive, seventeen-acre expansion in the hood’s west side, Columbia says it won’t tear down the Cotton Club on 125th after all. That’s Christian of them. [NYP]
neighborhood watch
Will Dave Walentas Dunk?Dumbo: Will local megadeveloper hero-villain Dave Walentas really subject himself to a carnival-type dunk tank at an arts festival Thursday night? [DumboNYC]
East Harlem: Mt. Sinai will offer free prostate-cancer screenings on Thursday. Says an official there: “Smart men get checked annually.” But what do you call men who get checked more? [Uptown Flavor]
Lower East Side: The city’s looking to remove those Essex Street stalls selling things like religious figures and Uzbek haircuts. [Vanishing New York]
Nolita: Dandies, fops, feys, and flaneurs are the hot new archetype here. Wilde! [Gridskipper]
Prospect Lefferts: Why can’t that annoying marching band practice on the other side of Prospect Park … you know, where Jennifer Connelly lives? [Across the Park]
Roosevelt Island: If you take a daytrip to this loo-deprived isle, you better hold off on the bottled water or cross your legs real tight. [Roosevelt Islander]
Sunset Park: Oh my God, you guys, could we really get a park alongside some of that desolate postindustrial waterfront here? That would be awesome. [Brownstoner]
Neighborhood Watch
Frying Pan Secure for Next Five Years; Whole Foods Selling Flat Beer on the LES?Chelsea: The Frying Pan has signed a five-year lease that will begin next May. [Chelsea Now via Eater]
Clinton Hill: Get your Oktoberfest on with a beer, cider, and sausage fest at 55 Lexington Avenue on September 29. [A Brooklyn Life]
East Harlem: Italian Americans are still mourning the August closure of Morrone & Sons bakery on East 116th Street. Especially the 72-year-old matron who opened the shop in 1956. [NYT]
Fort Greene: Crisp artichokes make a great burger topping at 67, even when the beef is greasy and overcooked. [Eat for Victory/VV]
Jackson Heights: Jackson Diner and Rajbhog Sweets are among some 85 restaurants participating in Queens Restaurant Week running September 17 to 20 and 24 to 27. [About.com]
Lower East Side: Whole Foods should top off beer-container refills with CO2 if they care about customers getting home to find flat beer. [Eat]
Park Slope: Frank Bruni was inundated with responses to his feature on handicapped-accessible restaurants, including one about his “beloved Franny’s” who wouldn’t slice “a pizza for someone who had just undergone neurosurgery on her (writing) hand because ‘the chef doesn’t do that.’” [Diner’s Journal/NYT]
Soho: Barcelona’s artisanal-candy chain Papabubble has settled on a U.S. location at 380 Broome Street and an opening date of October 18. [Papabubble via Down by the Hipster]
Neighborhood Watch
Rizzo’s Square Pizza Rules in Astoria; Picholine Alum Takes on the West VillageAstoria: There was a bit of volatile reaction from our readers to the quality of Rose & Joe’s Sicilian pies: “Any self-respecting pizza eater in Astoria will know that going anywhere but Rizzo’s for a square pie/slice is absolutely maniacal.” [Grub Street]
East Harlem: If you have trouble finding “cuchifritos (a.k.a. Puerto Rican soul food), Mexican, French, Caribbean, and pizza” in the nabe, you can join NoshWalks for a food tour this Saturday. [Uptown Flavor]
Flatiron: Gramercy Tavern jumps on the beer-for-dessert train by pairing stout with chocolate bread pudding. [NYDN]
Park Slope: Another cupcake shop mobilizes to join the bakery front on Flatbush Avenue. [Eater]
Upper West Side: Two food writers found a special of gnocchi with short-rib ragù and ricotta cheese at Ouest to be a perfect plate of food, and want it to make the fall menu. [Ed Levine Eats/Serious Eats]
West Village: Picholine alum Craig Hopson moves into the kitchen of One if by Land, Two if by Sea, now that Gary Volkov is opening his own spot. [Restaurant Girl] Da Silvano may not have been taken out of the rat feature on Inside Edition, but his lawyer was given uncommonly ample on-air time to respond. [Gawker]
In the Magazine
It’s August, and the Eating’s Easy
It’s August, cheap-eats time, when you should be gobbling down raw artichokes, Cuban sandwiches, tapas, and pasta. It’s time to chill out, in other words. And that’s the idea behind this week’s food coverage.
neighborhood watch
Mind Your Bike Manners in WilliamsburgAstoria: They’re taking bets on which store will close next on the area’s Broadway strip. Will it be Broadway Bakery or Radio Shack? [Forest Hills 72]
Bedford-Stuyvesant: Obamaphiles will be gathering at two funky spots to cheer on their man during Thursday night’s Dem-hopeful debates. [Bed-Stuy Blog]
Chelsea: Chelsea Hotel devotees are already devising ways they can drive the new corporate management crazy — and, they hope, away. Sidewalk “greed kills” notes, anyone? [Living with Legends]
Clinton Hill: This creepy thing spotted on Hall Street last week couldn’t be a pile of dirty snow. So what is it? Also: Ew. [Clinton Hill Blog]
East Harlem: There will be a community meeting tonight to discuss the brutal murder in Mount Morris Park last weekend. [Uptown Flavor]
Maspeth: Did you know that Native Americans founded this Queens neighborhood in 1621? Oh, wait, that’s not true, according to a critic of a new guide to the hood. [Queens Crap]
Williamsburg: The many cyclists of Bedford Avenue found a little scolding from the NYPD attached to their bikes recently. [Streetsblog]
buy low
Enter the Market in HarlemNothing like the words “price reduction” to get a bargain hunter’s pulse quickening. This two-bedroom apartment at 137–9 W. 142nd St. was already tolerable at $265,000, but a discount weeks ago has brought it down to an even-more-palatable $250,000. The building’s a walkup, and this unit’s on the fifth floor a hardship if you’ve got kids and strollers to transport every day. But considering the co-op has no income restrictions (which some listings at this price range in the neighborhood do) and requires only 10 percent down, this property may just be the entry you’ve been waiting for into the city’s untenable real-estate market. S. Jhoanna Robledo
neighborhood watch
War on Breeders in Brooklyn Heights?Brooklyn Heights: Youngish guy pops out and coldcocks a dad with young kids. Violence against breeders in this upright place? [McBrooklyn]
Chelsea: Here lives a shaman who will touch you and tell you things about yourself. Sounds like a typical night out in Chelsea to us. [Blog Chelsea]
East Harlem: A rogue developer has been blocked from building a hotel whose planning he’d already sunk $7 million into. [NYDN]
Red Hook: A kid-core band had to perform without percussion last weekend after its 16-year-old drummer was arrested for tagging the corner of Dwight and Beard. [McBrooklyn]
Williamsburg: History will soon be made on Bedford and North Seventh when street space to park cars is actually supplanted by bike parking. [Streetsblog]
neighborhood watch
Tourists Held Hostage in ChinatownChelsea: Blood flows red in Chelsea. But is it an art project on Seventh Avenue, or a fight to determine which gym is fiercest? [Blog Chelsea]
Chinatown: Knockoff Louis Vuitton shoppers, beware! You, too, may be locked in a basement by vendors attempting to hide you from the cops. [NYP]
Coney Island: Thor Equities may one day close Astroland Park, but the Cyclone is safe and sound on city-owned land. [NYP]
East Harlem: How do you protect a community garden from turning into a condo tower and African art museum? Chain yourself to the fence. [On NY Turf]
East Village: Rififi, that fun dive of burlesque, live comedy, and the notorious dance bash Trash, is on the market, with rent at $15,000 a month. [Brooklyn Vegan]
Midtown: Iconic towers like the Chrysler, Woolworth, and Empire State don’t even make today’s list of the ten most valuable skyscrapers in the city. [NYO]
the morning line
Jersey Jackals
• The Times reveals that the Garden State has been regularly raiding its own state-worker pension fund, funneling billions into other government projects. Given the size of its public sector, disaster looms; New Jersey, we thought better of you. [NYT]
• Activists in East Harlem faced bulldozers in a dramatic, and failed, showdown over a community garden. The site, on 110th and Fifth, is being cleared for the future Museum for African Art — and, of course, a luxury condo tower. [amNY]
• The Giuliani campaign, God’s gift to tabloids, has turned to Rudy’s international-policy experience: “I’ve probably been in foreign lands more than any other candidate” as a private consultant, he assured New Hampshire and hinted he’ll hit Iraq next. [NYDN]
• The Knitting Factory, the Tribeca music institution, is promising not to go the way of Tonic, Sin-é, CBGB, and many others: Should the rent skyrocket when its lease runs out, the club will try buying the whole building. [MetroNY]
• And midtown’s old-money hangout/tourist trap ‘21’ Club has even longer arms than previously thought: It just stopped the Pittsburgh Pirates from naming a stadium sports bar “Club 21.” Because otherwise the two would be indistinguishable. [NYP]
neighborhood watch
You, With the Pet Raccoon! Time for Your Rabies Shot
Chelsea: When you buy into “the most coveted new address” in “New York City’s most desired neighborhood,” hot babes in fishnets await you on your couch. [Curbed]
East Harlem: Were you one of the two white thirtysomethings wearing scrubs who brought that injured raccoon to the 110th Street animal shelter Tuesday? Well, you better call the Health Department, because that little mofo was rabid! [Flatbush Gardener]
East Village: Complaints from upstairs neighbors have led to a ban on live music at Avenue B punk dive Manitoba’s, owned by Handsome Dick Manitoba of the Dictators [Brooklyn Vegan]
Prospect Heights: Those long-sought financials for the Atlantic Yards project are finally out. Now just try to understand them. [Brownstoner]
Sunnyside Gardens: Residents want to turn the pretty area into a landmarked historic district, but their state senator opposes the idea. [Queens Crap via Queens Gazette]*
Sunset Park: A high-rise threatens to obscure the view of Lady Liberty from one of the highest points in Brooklyn … and residents are fuming about it. [NY1 via Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn]
*Correction: An earlier version of this story suggested that Sunnyside Garden residents opposed the area’s historic designation while their state senator supported it. Also, the original item was found in the Queens Gazette, not the Queens Courier.
neighborhood watch
In East Harlem, the Bohemians Can’t SpellBrooklyn Heights: Our compelling bocce coverage continues! Brigate Bocce almost beat the Old Dirty Barristers in the opening week of FloydNY’s winter bocce league, but then they didn’t. [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
Chelsea: Apparently unable to save his landmark mural Venus from being blocked by an imminent condo tower, artist Knox Martin will now save whales with a new mural downtown. [BlogChelsea]
Clinton Hill: Bank of America is throwing a grand-opening party to convince you that it’s just like all the other homegrown, mom-and-pop storefronts on Myrtle Avenue. [Clinton Hill Blog]
East Harlem: Attention, “Sophiscated [sic] Bohemians”! Prudential Douglas Elliman has a brand-new luxury tower that captures the “soul and lifestyle” of “the ‘New’ East Harlem.” [Uptown Flavor]
South Slope: The illegal demolition at 574 Fourth Avenue continues, according to the Concerned (and video-enabled) Citizens of Greenwood Heights. [Gowanus Lounge]
Tribeca: Could entrenched Tribecans actually not want newbies flooding into all those rising new towers? The residents of 49 Vestry suggest as much. [Curbed]
