A view toward the Williamsburg Bridge circa 1913

Was poking around Shorpy.com when I found this photo... Summer 1913. "Bird's eye view of N.Y.C. from roof of Consolidated Gas Building." George Grantham Bain Collection.

It's looking to the south east... if you click on the image, then you can see some familar landmarks...such as Tompkins Square Park and the two old steeples at St. Brigid's...I keep staring at it and finding something different...

But how will we know what reality show to watch or strip club to hit?

As the Times reports:

[F]or the month of January, Show Media, a Las Vegas company that owns about half the cones adorning New York City’s taxis, has decided to give commerce a rest. Instead, roughly 500 cabs will display a different kind of message: artworks by Shirin Neshat, Alex Katz and Yoko Ono.

The project is costing Show Media about $100,000 in lost revenue, but John Amato, one of Show’s owners and a contemporary-art fan, said: “I thought it was time to take a step back. January’s a slow month. I could have cut my rates but instead I decided to hit the mute button and give something back to the city.”

Uh, gee, thanks?

Santacar back in the East Village on Christmas night

After delivering presents to the eligible 378 million* children in the world (roughly 91.8 million homes), Santa was back driving around in the East Village last night in his Santacar. He looks surprisingly refreshed and clean for having climbed down 91.8 million chimneys.



Thanks to EV Grieve reader Cheryl for this Santacar photo....

* estimated

Bring out your dead...trees

It appears some folks are getting a headstart on the city's annual MulchFest, which usually happens the second weekend of the new year... Late yesterday afternoon, a pile of abandoned Christmas trees appeared in Tompkins Square Park...



Though, on closer inspection (yes, I actually inspected them, kind of), the trees appear to be the leftovers from the lot on Second Avenue and 10th Street...

Things that were closed on Christmas

The McDonald's on First Avenue near Sixth Street.

Fly away

Not ELO, but The Motors.

Things to do today

Seventh Street, 9:36 a.m., Dec. 25

Second Avenue, 9:21 a.m., Dec. 25

Hope that they were on sale.

So this is Christmas....

Christmas Eve blockbusters -- Cooper Square Hotel in default on $52 million in loans: report

The Real Deal has the blockbuster:

A German bank claims the developers of the year-old sleek 21-story Cooper Square Hotel in the East Village are in default on $52 million in loans, at the same time the building owes millions to contractors.

Not only is the project in financial distress, but developers and investors in the 145-room hotel at 25 Cooper Square at East 5th Street could owe as much as $6 million in personal guarantees, the recent lawsuit says.

Commercial lender WestLB filed to foreclose on $52 million in loans given to Cooper Square Hotel, Cooper Square Mezz Lender and seven individuals including the hotel's co-developer Matthew Moss and real estate investor Kyle Ransford, a lawsuit filed Dec. 14 in New York State Supreme Court says.

Walking on 14th Street: Nordstrom setting a date; Baked by Melissa and Subway coming soon

Maybe I should walk on 14th Street near Union Square more often. Or not.

Noticed that a Baked By Melissa shop is coming to 14th Street just east of Fifth Avenue. She bakes tiny cupcakes.



You know that the Nordtrom Racked store is opening at the former Virgin Megastore location... Now a date has been set for the opening: May 11, 2010. (And will they actually make that date?)



And the city's 8,976th Subway is opening right along the Chipotle and Bravo Pizza in the Zeckendorf Towers on the northwest corner of Irving Place and 14th Street.



EV Grieve reader Nowooski pointed this out the other day...