Yankees now handing out money faster than the US Government

By giving Mark Teixeira $180 million, the Yankees now have the four highest-paid players in baseball. Well, guess that means beers will be $40 next season at the new Yankee Stadium.

Breaking! Firetrucks (and firefighters!) in action at the corner where Keith McNally will somehow probably ruin

Just after 3, the corner of Bowery and Houston was the scene of chaos! Enough equipment to put out the inferno at the Towering Inferno! Fire trucks! Ladders! Firefighters! Drivers trying to turn right onto Bowery and honking their horns!








Everyone stood around for a little bit then left. No report of actual flames from the people standing around -- the people standing around who weren't firefighters. Tourists took pictures. Someone had a video camera. Anyway, good thing there wasn't a real fire -- the firefighters would not have been able to penetrate the quadruple plywood protecting McNally's new pizza joint.

Let me get all Metropolitan Diary on you

I was walking in the 30s today for some reason...I got stuck behind a slow-moving tourist dad and his young son (7? 8?)...They were taking their time looking here and there. I wasn't paying too much attention. But it was clear they couldn't find what they were looking for.

The boy said, "But I thought you knew the city."

The dad shook his head sadly, "Not anymore I don't."

Turned out he used to live here.

The Christmas tree at Washington Square Park could likely use a hug or something

The Christmas tree at Washington Square Park looks lovely....well, from a distance, anyway....Get a little closer....



and it starts to look a little more, well, straggly.



Closer still! And there's branch cracked off...A whole section looks somehow dented. Someone miss the light and plow into it? Or maybe just a hungry rat?

I'm not waiting on a lady...say, what the hell is Mick wearing anyway?

Yeah, we've all seen the video for "Waiting on a Friend" enough times...



However, we've never seen these photos taken by schillid when the Stones were shooting the video on St. Mark's Place in July 1981. (I found the photos at the It's Only Rock'n Roll Stones fan site.) Here, the boys hang out at the old St. Mark's Bar & Grill on the corner of First Avenue.





Here's what the corner looks like now.

For more on the St. Mark's Bar & Grill, go here.

"Back then this whole area was just people who were into art and you know…"

Speaking of the St. Mark's Bar & Grill, Matt Harvey profiles author Michael Largo — the man who owned the bar — in the latest Chelsea Now. Largo (pictured right from the old days) recently saw the publication of his latest book, "Genius and Heroin." To mark the occasion Harvey and Largo went on a mini walking tour of the East Village:

Largo, a compact man with a gray-flecked auburn goatee, spent the 1980s owning and operating the legendary St. Marks Grill, which sat on the corner of St. Marks and First Ave. Since then, the generic black canopy façade of the lounge Tribe has erased all evidence of his bar; it served as a louche retreat for Joni Mitchell, pop art “godfather” Larry Rivers and — for a short time — Keith Richards. (The Rolling Stones used the Grill as the setting for their video of “Waiting on a Friend,” their jazzy portrayal of coolly anticipating the drug connection.)

“The first thing Keith asked me when he came into the bar was ‘Where can I cop?’” Largo said, perfunctorily tossing off a worn over anecdote. “My liquor license is right above my head and cops and producers are around.” A smile crept to his lips, as he continued. “I said, ‘Here’s a bottle of Jack, that’s all I can help you with.” His barroom charm managed to infuse his name-dropping with some life.

Twenty-five years, and several layers of gentrification later, Largo — who moved to Miami in 1990 and stayed there — couldn’t find his bearings in his old neighborhood. His usual wry grin turned slack and he said; “Back then this whole area was just people who were into art and you know…” His soft, Staten Island-accented voice broke up into a slightly sinister laughter.

Previously.

EV Grieve's last-minute gift guide

For someone you really don't like....



Being sold by a street vendor on Sixth Avenue near 22nd Street.

Or! She's the perfect accompaniment for the next time you watch The Village of the Damned.

Stocking stuffers for St. Brigid's?

Hmm, is that big enough to hold $20 million? On Avenue B and Eighth Street at the entrance to the St. Brigid's renovation.

Actually, we're still infuriated

Daily Candy checks in today with their take on the new Cooper Square Hotel (aka, "Dildo of Darkness"):

Cooped Up
The Cooper Square Hotel Opens

You can hate your neighbors only until you realize you love them.

So it was with The Cooper Square Hotel, which infuriated the testy East Village. Then came the post-construction reveal: Damn, this is one fine-looking, well-mannered new kid on the block.

An intriguing, modern glass tower, The Cooper has enough outdoor garden space to make you think the 6 train added a stop in L.A. The beautiful library off the lobby has a fireplace, bookshelves filled with eclectic volumes from Housing Works, and an honor bar for everyone. (Yes, even off-the-street riffraff like us.) Govind Armstrong’s long-awaited Table 8 outpost will open in February.

Overnight guests (yippee, no more fleabag St. Mark’s hotels!) won’t want to leave, what with the indie movies in the minibar, Red Flower amenities, three bathrobes, and insane city views.

It’s enough to inspire a block party.

Happy holidays from the state comptroller! (And MTA!)

The Post reports today:

It keeps getting worse.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli warned yesterday that the city faces budget gaps of $3.5 billion and $8 billion in the next two fiscal years -- far higher than previous forecasts.

That's a sharp increase from the $1.3 billion and $5 billion deficits Mayor Bloomberg projected last month in his budget plan for the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years. It even surpasses the state Financial Control Board's dire figures that came out just five days ago and put the city's budget gaps at $2.3 billion and $6.4 billion.

Meanwhile, subway and bus fare will probably increase to $3 next year!

Now let's go out and spend some money!

Good seats still available! Cheap!

Spotted on the subway platform on 14th Street and Eighth Avenue several weeks after the play closed. (And only after eight performances....)

Noted

Thanks to the tipster who pointed out an item that I had missed Friday: American Apparel is laying off hundreds of employees. We linked to a piece a few weeks back that claimed American Apparel was hiring.

Meanwhile! I didn't realize AA had vans. Do they deliver?

Adult Swim doesn't care for your vandalism, really, really, REALLY wants you to watch stupid King of the Hill

We continue to monitor what will likely be the most important news story of the year, if not our lifetime. As you read here exclusively last week, Bobby Hill was, at first, orphaned and maimed on the wall outside the Tile Bar. Then the satanic cult took Bobby's head and legs.

Anyway! Thanks to the tipster who reported yesterday that a NEW set of Hills were back at Seventh Street and First Avenue. Wow. Does Adult Swim have a Hill Swat Team who works OT on weekends...? Is there a warehouse full of Hanks and Peggys and Bobbys ready for such an emergency?




Oh, also noticed the ad on Lafayette and Great Jones.

Fall from Grace

I was curious how much longer the inspirational message would stay up at the Grace and Hope Mission at 114 Third Ave. near 14th Street. Workers have been pounding away at this place in recents weeks....



to turn it into a barf factory. It's now revealed.



UPDATED: As a commenter notes: I don't think this spot is going to be a Mitchell Banchik bar anymore. I belive this is where Robin Raj (the deli on the corner is relocating too).... The Robin Raj people told me they are moving here sometime between Christmas and New Years.

Jeremiah has some history on the Grace and Hope Mission here. By the way, even though the place shuttered in the fall of 2007, the Grace and Hope Mission's Web site is still up and running.