A great new sign for C'est Magnifique?

Many thanks to Ken Mac for sending along this photo ... a new awning for MacDougal Street mainstay/survivor C'est Magnifique.

Meet the Man in the Van

You may recall reading about Jimmy Tarangelo back in March. For the past eight years, he has lived with his four dogs in a 20-foot-long Boise Cascade Aristocrat (with a Ford Econoline for storage) over on a street in the West Village...

Now, Brooklyn-based filmmaker Sean P. Dunne has put together a fascinating six-minute documentary on Tarangelo.

Man In Van from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

For further reading:

Mobile Home (New York magazine)

The Aristocrat: The Mystery of the West Village Camper (Scouting New York)

Van man sleeps in park (New York Post)

Feels as if we just wrote a post like this

In case you missed the news, Kim's Video at 89 Christopher St. in the West Village is closing June. 30. I swung by the other day. New videos are 70 percent off; former rental DVDs are going for $5.99. It's pretty picked over, but there are a few gems here and there. The First Avenue branch is now the last Kim's left in the city.

In the West Village, "big, fat rats" are terrorizing rich people, models

"There's been a parade of big fat rats every night," complains one local, whose neighbors include Rupert Everett, Michael Cera and NBC News anchor Lester Holt. "You can hear shrieks from fighting rats, and from girls walking by who see the rats," adds the resident. A witness even overheard Gisele Bundchen scream after almost running into one. (Page Six)