Report: A Big Apple coming to 23 Wall Street

"The Corner" is the iconic former home to JP Morgan & Co. at 23 Wall Street that sits across from the New York Stock Exchange and Federal Hall. Now it looks like the luxurious space will become home to ... an Apple store.

According to the New York Post:

Sources tell us that Apple is seriously negotiating for the entire 12,500-foot building at 23 Wall St.

It's now an empty building connected to its tall residential and luxury condominium neighbor at 15 Broad St., which has an Hermes shop on the Broad Street side, facing the New York Stock Exchange.

Lovely.

More from the Post:

Recall that 23 Wall also serves as the quirky Philippe Starck and Yoo Development-designed rooftop terrace for the residents of 15 Broad St.

It has tremendous windows that we're sure Apple CEO Steve Jobs will enjoy illuminating with neon Apple logos.

My office is nearby...so I walk by this area quite often. I'm sure the folks who sit on the steps of Federal Hall taking in the city's history may be lured to go buy an iPod.

Meanwhile, Forgotten New York has the story on the bomb that exploded in front of 23 Wall Street in 1920 that killed 33 people and injured some 400 people.

So what's the worst thing to ever happen to the Brooklyn Bridge?

Being torn down to make way for a floating bank/Starbucks/Duane Reade!

Oh, wait. That happens next year.

OK, OK...As we celebrate the 125th birthday of the Brooklyn Bridge, I wonder...what's the worse thing to ever happen to the Brooklyn Bridge? I'm thinking movies now. I Am Legend? Cloverfield? War of the Worlds?

NO! Getting blowed up by aliens or zombies would be sweet, sweet relief instead of being a plot point in Eric Schaeffer's heinous If Lucy Fell, in which the characters played by Schaeffer and Sarah Jessica Parker agree to jump off the bridge if both of them don't find true love by the time the time they turn 30. Or something.

Let's keep it clean, people

(Shh! It's a secret!)

I've said this before. I've seen these posters up around the neighborhood advertising the May 15 hillbilly extravaganza at Madison Square Garden. Whatever. But! What about the "with surprise appearances by" Rev Run and Peter Wolf part? How can it be a surprise if they're telling you they'll be appearing?

Reminder!

There 's an Informal Celebration of the Tower of Toys tonight from 7-9 at the 6th Street and Avenue B Community Garden.

The Villager has an article about it this week.

[Props to Jeremiah for having the original scoop. He has an update here.]

I'd love to be there, but I'll be far away at a family function. I look forward to hearing about it.

(And if you're new to all this, swing by Sophie's to take a look at some of his other pieces of art.)



Meanwhile, Alex has a great post at Flaming Pablum on another iconic piece of Avenue B that disappeared some 13 years ago....

Dare of the day

Walk into Nevada Smith's and ask if they'd put on the Mets-Reds game.

A shooting on Avenue A

Was running a few errands around Union Square yesterday morning. Started talking to one store employee who mentioned that he lived on 6th Street between Avenue A and B...and he asked if I saw all the police cars on 6th and A early yesterday. I hadn't. He said cops and news crews were everywhere...and that one passer-by told him it was a double murder. Before I could say anything, he offered. "It's a really nice neighborhood." A pause. "There's no regard for human life these days." I went home to check this out. I didn't see a thing about this on any news site. Later yesterday, I heard from a few other folks that there was a shooting outside Sing Sing Karaoke on Avenue A around 3 a.m.
The Daily News has this account:

A bouncer at an East Village bar called Sing Sing Karaoke took a bullet to the chest early Saturday after breaking up a series of melees, police and witnesses said.

As someone belted out Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" on stage, Carlos Salome staggered into the bar around 3 a.m. screaming that he'd been shot.

"He was yelling, 'My arm, my arm!'" said playwright Marissa Kamin, who was inside Sing Sing at the time of the shooting.

Salome was in stable condition at Bellevue Hospital.

The bouncer had been standing outside the singalong spot at 81 Avenue A when two groups of drunks began brawling, witnesses said. "He whipped out his security badge," said a worker at a neighboring bar.

After going their separate ways, the beer-muscled brawlers returned, the worker said, and the bouncers stepped in again. Two of the men walked by the bar a few minutes later, he said. "They walked to the corner and started shooting," he said.

No arrests have been made in the shooting outside Sing Sing, which lists a song by the rapper 2 Pistols atop its list of new tunes and counts celebrities like Cameron Diaz among its customers.

"[Carlos] had good intentions," the worker said. "He didn't want to fight those guys."

[An aside: Was it necessary to mention that someone was singing "Tiny Dancer" ... and that the place has a song by 2 Pistols on its playlist?]

I'd like to know a few more details on the case (and not who was singing what...) and the aftermath. Perhaps Bob Arihood was able to capture some of this?

Countdown to the Ukrainian Festival

Ah, yes -- one of my favorite neighborhood traditions kicks off this Friday afternoon on 7th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenue. (Been saving up my $1 bills for Chuk-a-Luck all year!) Community spirit at its finest.

Here's a little on the history of Ukrainians in New York. And on the St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church, the centerpiece of the festival.


[©HK/BRAMA.com]

A little of the entertainment from last year:




Of course, how will this feel this year with all this crapola going on behind us?



Watch out for the cranes.

Scotch fans, perhaps?

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to deface these hideous ads for Rum. Not bad, people. Oh, why do you know they're selling rum? Because the women are all wearing bikinis and making suggestive faces. Duh.

EV Grieve Etc.: Looking at The Observer

Lots of good stuff in The Observer this week. (And why does my copy arrive Thursday or sometimes Friday? I know I can read it every day online. Still.)
The headline to a piece by Choire Sicha asks, "Who's Running New York? The Council sinks, rents rise, few notice."
Indeed.
He has a nice account of the New York City Rent Guidelines Board meeting from this past Monday, particularly an impromptu speech by Adriene Holder, a Legal Aid attorney and tenant representative.

“First of all,” she said, “I want to know where everybody is.” There were not so many folks there! When confidence in city government runs low, the people abscond.

“The tenants are here but not in the number that you would expect,” Ms. Holder said, “given how important this situation is, and how dire this is to what’s going to happen to tenants here in New York City. Perhaps they’re not here because they’re still working; perhaps they’re not here because they’re working their second job; maybe they’re not here because they’re discouraged, they’re disappointed; and maybe they’re not here because they’ve become weary of a process that guarantees that there’s going to be an increase.

“Increasingly, what we are seeing is two different cities,” Ms. Holder said. “We’re seeing a city that’s becoming increasingly rich, and a city that’s becoming increasingly poor, and a middle or moderate class that is moving away from the city.”

This week's issue also features a terminallly ill singer facing possible eviction from the Chelsea Hotel. Read it here. If you haven't already.