The Financial District continues to attract interesting new businesses

At Maiden Lane and Gold Street. (This was a Burger King at one point, though the storefront has been vacant for four-plus years.)

At Water Street and Maiden Lane.

All this will go perfectly with the other businesses on Maiden, such as Duane Reade, Subway, Papa John's, Chipotle, Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts...

Russian Tea Room is advertising on the Lower East Side

At Clinton and Houston. Is this a good buy?

Flier of the day

At St. Mark's and Avenue A.

I looked up Guns&Mattresses after reading this. Given the slumping economy, I guess Sleepy's had to diversify their business.

That woman in line at the Regal Battery Park 11

We're at the Regal Battery Park 11. Something seems to be amiss -- nearly 50 people are in line for the first screenings of the day. Still, things are moving well enough even though only one person is selling tickets. (And the Fandango machine things are down.) Anyway, we're all just fine. Except for one agitated woman in her early 40s. She seems to be dressing down the rather doofy fellow she's with. She moves from the middle of the line to the front and asks, not really politely, if she could cut -- her movie has already started! The first fellow she asks was having none of it. "It's not my fault you're late." She tries the next woman in line, who was sympathetic, but firm, "I'm cutting it close myself." The agitated woman sighs and returns to her place in line. Finally, she gets her turn at the window. And what is she there to see?

Sex and the City.

Of course. And why hasn't she already seen this?

How good places are ruined: One perspective (aka, Sex and the City II: Carrie's Abortion)

[New York magazine/Photo by Ben Rosenzweig]

Gawker's Sheila McClear has a nice anecdote about her evening at the Holiday last night.

To which commenter Rod Townsend responded:

There are places about which you aren't supposed to write . . . Remember, if you write about it, some editwat at TONY or the Post or Hello! will write about it too. Then some location manager for Sex and the City II: Carrie's Abortion will see it and boom, it's a stop on a tour bus.

Meanwhile. Let's dance.

Student union

Ah, young, Ivy League love in the city. Gothamist had this Craigslist link yesterday:

Hi! We were on the RED local line, I got on at 14th Street, you were already on the train. I got off at Columbia University 116th. Around 5PM. It was very crowded and you were behind me. We talked awkardly while you were still behind my back, pushed into each other. I told you I hate being an undergrad, we connected. You eneded up fingering me while no one else was noticing. I didn't get your full e-mail. If you see this, let me know. I hope you do! I miss you.

Wow.

Well, I think this is just a viral campaign for next season's How I Met Your Mother. That Ted!

Lady Liberty is attracting true New York sports fans!

As Gothamist reported June 5, Major League Baseball put 42 8 1/2 feet tall Statues of Liberty around New York City in preparation for this year's All-Star Game, which will be played at Yankee Stadium on July 15. Each mini-liberty is adorned with the colors of a Major League baseball team, such as the one below for the Chicago White Sox that's on 14th Street and 4th Avenue.

It's a great way for us to show the world what great sports we are!




By the way, look at the size of Lady Liberty's feet! Wish I had put something next to the foot for scale, something like a midsized car.



[OOPS! East Village Podcasts had a good piece on the baseball statues last Thursday. Sorry fellas! And yes -- Walgreens is still selling that post-Halloween candy corn...]

Meanwhile, just stop putting baseball stuff on her. We get it.


I don't get this ad, though. The best in NY? OK, David Wright. Mets. 50 Cent. Born in Queens. OK. David Ortiz? He plays for Boston. Tell me what he has to do with New York. (Aside from being a Yankee killer through the years...)

Looking at 377 E. 10 Street -- then and now

I've been admiring the work of amg2000 on Flickr. There's a nice collection of then-and-now shots of downtown NYC...as well as 59 black-and-white photos from the 1980s.

I can't stop looking at this one, though -- 377 E. 10th St., the squat that got legal rights to the building a few years ago:


Here's what it looks like today:

[Note: I took the shot of 377 today...this one wasn't part of his then-and-now series.]

So what's all this about?

At 92 E. 7th Street, just east of First Avenue. Tearing up what used to be the garden dining space of Imagine and, before that, the Miracle Grill.

"You see, I have this little problem with my apartment..."

One of my favorites, The Apartment, was on earlier today on TCM. As you know, it's November 1959 in the film. Jack Lemmon's character, C.C. Baxter -- C. for Calvin, C. for Clifford -- lives 0n West 67th Street in a one bedroom place just a half block from Central Park. His take-home pay is $94.70 a week. As he says, "My rent is $84 a month. It used to be $80 until last July when Mrs. Lieberman, the landlady, put in a second-hand air conditioning unit."

Hmm, a quick look at just one West 67th Street price today...

Because "overrun by people who are considered to be sexually promiscuous, junkies and pushers" just didn't have the same ring to it

The Post has this report today:

Drug dens, homeless shantytowns and prostitution are rampant in New York City's parks, a Post investigation found.
Comparing the manicured lawns of Manhattan's Central Park to the barren, rat-infested eyesore of Spring Creek Park in Brooklyn, the disparity is shocking.
While the Bloomberg administration boasts that parks are in better shape than they've been in four decades, an investigation of 70 parks over the last nine months found:
* Clusters of homeless living in tents and small shantytowns in 10 parks, including Riverside Park near 148th Street in Manhattan.
* Hookers brazenly plying their 24-hour trade, including at Printers Park on Hoe Street [EV Grieve note: !] in The Bronx.
* Areas where junkies shoot up and crack dealers set up shop, including at Fort George Playground in Washington Heights.
* An illegal chop shop where stolen vehicles, including a stripped US Defense Dept. sedan, are harvested is thriving in Fresh Creek Nature Preserve in Brooklyn.
* And many barren parks covered in weeds up to 12 feet high that are used as illegal dumps for items like abandoned boats and cars, construction debris, containers of hazardous material, opened steel safes, Vegas-style slot machines - and even a discarded tombstone in Dreier-Offerman Park in Brooklyn.

Interesting, but:




Um, hos?

Flier of the day

At 9th Street and Avenue C.

To be honest, this sign makes me sad. Someone wanted to start a business and they went to the trouble of making all these fliers (there are many taped up along Avenue C). And then they went and spelled the name of the company incorrectly. Unless they do mean Cinderlla's and not Cinderella's. (And I'd argue that Cinderella's isn't the best name for a cleaning business...) But I'm probably thinking way too much about all this.

Fitness secrets of Coyote Ugly bartenders -- REVEALED

Yes, it's the Ab Lounge!


I walked by this discarded Ab Lounge on First Avenue twice this morning...and each time someone stopped and futzed with the thing for a moment, as if he might seriously bring this home. They wisely moved on. And this other guy stopped and took pictures of it...Oh, wait.

Developing story today...heartburn

Goldenfiddle noticed the important news from New York City yesterday that CNN was working on developing...

Getting to the bottom of that noise last night from somewhere over the East River

Last night, we were on a rooftop in the neighborhood enjoying a nice, quiet evening. Then, about 9:30, we heard a series of loud "bangs." My first thought was the ConEd plant on 14th Street had finally blown. But we still had power. The ruckus seemed to be coming from somewhere over the East River, I'd say in the 30s. From what I could gather, someone was setting off explosive pyrotechnic devices, which can be very dangerous. Anyway, the noise continued for nearly 30 minutes, all the while a great variety of sparkling shapes, often variously colored, could be seen through the cloudy skies. We called the police several times, but couldn't get through. Regardless, my guess is that someone was filming a big Hollywood movie. (These people have no consideration for the rest of us who have to live here.) There are many rumored sequels in the works that may be filmed here, such as Cloverfield 2: We Still Can't Afford a Tripod or I Am Legend 2: Still the Legend Despite that Hand Grenade at the End of the First One. Must have been that.

Anyway, I'll continue to investigate this. Here is 30 seconds of the action.

Tasting the difference

As I wrote one day last week, I've long been a fan of the random use of quotation marks on signs, which is why I'm a big fan of The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks.) Bonus here for the quotation mark going the wrong way after difference...

A view that I used to enjoy

You know, looking north on Union Square...

The most accurate depiction of life as a runaway in New York City that I have ever seen

At least watch until the Big Dance Scene. (The 3:21 mark if you're in a hurry.) And some nice shots of 8th Avenue from the early 1980s. (And did you know that Pat Benatar was born Patricia Mae Andrzejewski in Greenpoint? Anyway, I always kind of liked her.)

Sonic Youth at Central Park, July 4, 1992

On July 4, 1992, I saw Sonic Youth at SummerStage in Central Park. Sun Ra and his Arkestra opened. I remember SY being as frenzied as I'd ever seen them as they played a Dirty-heavy set. (The record was just about to be released.) I don't remember much else, except that I loved every minute of the afternoon. (No need for all the details!)

There is a bootleg release of the show with:

Teen Age Riot
Eric's Trip
Dirty Boots
Drunken Butterfly
Theresa's Sound-world
Youth Against Facism
Swimsuit Issue
Orange Rolls, Angel's Spit
100%
Kool Thing
Sugar Kane

I couldn't find any video from this 1992 Central Park show. But I did come across Sonic Youth playing "Kool Thing" in Hultsfeld, Sweden, on June 14, 1992 (Close enough!):



By the way, as you may know, Sonic Youth plays later today with the Feelies at Battery Park.

Updated: This week's issue of Time Out New York featured the following line prominently displayed on its cover:

Yes, Sonic Youth was a free event. But you needed to get your tickets in advance. Inside the same issue, you'll see in two places that, although it was free, you weren't getting into the show. SOLD OUT.

Guess no one told this to the person writing the cover lines.

Can't stop the laughing, er, music

For the holiday weekend, let's pay homage to a most deliriously awful movie set in New York, 1980's "Can't Stop the Music." There's camp-o-rama galore with Valerie Perrine, Steve Guttenberg, Bruce Jenner and the Village People.

You've seen it, right? (It's OK if you have -- I actually own the damn thing. Think I paid $2 for it. Or so I'm claiming.)

The rather grainy-looking intro gives you all you need to know. Enjoy!