Tuesday's parting shot

A view of Midtown this afternoon...

Saturday's opening shot

Foggy-cloudy Midtown views this morning. 

Speaking of clouds: Per the city's Severe Weather site... 

Rain expected 4/1 - 4/2 ; Severe thunderstorms possible on Saturday night (4/1) 

This is not an April Fools' joke! Half an inch of rain is expected from around 2 a.m. Saturday, April 1, to around 2 a.m. Sunday, April 2. Flooding is not expected at this time. There is also a chance for severe thunderstorms Saturday between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Tuesday's parting shot

Midtown views today via East Village rooftops...

A smoky late-afternoon view of Midtown

A look at Midtown late this afternoon from the East Village via EV Weather. 

Some background on what's happening from AccuWeather:

After a smoky sunset Monday evening, heavy smoke continued to hang over the Northeast on Tuesday, as a result of more than 100 wildfires burning in the western U.S. and more in Canada. Air quality advisories were in effect for much of Canada and had been issued for Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York City as the smoke descended from the upper levels of the atmosphere. 

The AQI reading in New York City Tuesday afternoon was an unhealthy 122, the highest this year so far. At this elevated number, health effects can be immediately felt by sensitive groups. Healthy individuals may experience difficulty breathing and throat irritation with prolonged exposure, and should limit outdoor activity.

The smoke will likely clear out overnight as a cold front moves into the area, AccuWeather notes.

Critters on the loose in Manhattan! (NOT on the menu at Serge today: Possum)

While walking to a dumb lunch appointment today up in Midtown ... I saw five police cars parked along Madison Avenue in the 30s. Several police officers and passers-by were staring at the trellis next to the door at the French eatery Serge.



A makeshift barrier was set up outside the restaurant, which was not yet open.



Uh, so why are we all standing here looking at the trellis? A building maintenance man and bicycle messenger said in unison, "Possum!" Well, sure enough, a possum was hovering in the corner....looking pretty menacing...



So we all stood around like a bunch of dopes while the police officers figured out the best method of humanely trapping the possum. That left people time to theorize. "How do you think he got here?" Well, said one man, "I've seen possum in the Bronx." Another man chimed in, "I bet he took the subway!"

Yeah, OK....the police eventually got a little cranky with so many people — now maybe 40 strong? — milling about.

Back up, people!



We did. People new to the crowd said things like, "What is it, a gas leak?" Tourists took photos.



A few minutes later, an officer approached the possum with an apple-picker-looking thing. The possum was placed inside a plastic trash can and carted off... We didn't hear where the possum was being taken. People stood around for a few more moments, seemingly disappointed to see the free entertainment come to a conclusion.

[Oops...Thanks to the e-mailer...it's an opossum in the Western Hemisphere...Apologies...]

Posts that I never got around to posting: What's new on 53rd Street between Park and Lexington?

A Derek Jeter fitness center and a bank. Which kind of seem to go together.

New Port Authority plan could wipe out a dozen Midtown properties (including two good bars)

From the Post:

An $8.75 billion plan to build another train tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan may wipe out a dozen Manhattan properties that can be seized through eminent domain, the Port Authority said.

And what could be lost?

That means Sunglass Hut, Payless Shoes, Duane Reade, Foot Action and several other businesses -- including 40-year-old neighborhood favorites Blarney Rock pub and Hickey's bar -- are in the way.

PA Executive Director Chris Ward added that the agency is hoping to work with the businesses to relocate them and is "in fact going beyond" in negotiations with shop owners.

But Blarney Rock owner Tom Dwyer -- who has been in his 33rd Street location since he and his immigrant dad opened the pub in 1969 -- is worried he will not find an alternate location he can afford close to Madison Square Garden.

"This is devastating," said Dwyer, who hopes to pass on the business to his daughter. "We worked hard all these years, just to have our place turned into a fan plant. It doesn't seem right."

Jeremiah wrote about Hickey's (and Peep World!) last January.

New York Sun paper holders still being put to good use

Somewhere in Midtown today.

A faded ad on 57th and Fifth

Speaking of ads, this past holiday season I found myself in Midtown...I'd never noticed this faded spot at 57th Street and Fifth Avenue for the Greenwich Savings Bank...



For a better look, I braved the crowd at Tiffany & Co. and headed to customer service on the sixth floor.



I like the private little phone stalls in customer service. Plenty of space to call your bookie.

Window shopping at the Build-a-Bear Workshop store

On Fifth Avenue and 46th Street.






Oh, and I found this user review on Yelp:

A sleek new bar at "21"

Change at the "21" Club! As the City Room reports this afternoon:

There are few entries in the annals of New York alcoholism to rival the bar at the “21” Club in Midtown Manhattan. The broad, mahogany bar stood since the 1940s in the center of the first floor. Drinks were had there by the likes of Humphrey Bogart and Ernest Hemingway.

With its celebrity patrons and speakeasy heritage, it was the subject of paintings by artists like Leroy Neiman and immortalized in films, notably “The Sweet Smell of Success.”

But now in the celebrated dining room of “21,” which reopened this month at “21” West 52nd Street after renovation, there is only the sweet smell of shellac, given off by — egads — a sleek new bar, freshly varnished.

It resembles the old bar, down to the brass foot rail, but there are differences. It is much narrower (about half as wide as the four-foot-wide old one), and shorter (by about 12 feet), leaving more space in the dining room for tables. And there are no spittoons.

Hawaiian Nights in Midtown

A taste of Hawaii in New York in the 1950s and 1960s...


And today...

[1950s ads via Arkiva Tropika, where a lot more like these came from]