Tag Archives: Manhattan Monday

– On the market: a five-story, century-old, 18,500 square feet Upper East Side townhouse listing for $64M. You get 30 rooms including 15 bedrooms, 17 bathrooms, and a grand ballroom. The home sold for a mere $7.6M in 2003. Now that there’s some flipping! If it goes for the asking price, it will eclipse the previous Manhattan townhouse price record …

– NYC is hurting for new cops. Could it be the $25K starting salary? – Brooklyn’s McCarren Pool, a nifty concert venue of late, is being turned back into a swimming pool. Yuppies in the hood rejoice. – A scandal may be brewing over NYC’s primary vote count. Unofficial tallies show zero votes cast for Barack Obama in about 80 …

The world’s largest Gucci store opened on Fifth Avenue this weekend, taking up 46,000 square feet on three floors of Trump Tower. The fashion house simultaneously launched their new line of Gucci ♥ NY handbags and luggage, which retail for up to $7000. However, the state of New York owns the trademark for anything that ♥’s anything, something they have …

– It’s raining men. And scaffolding. And concrete. Construction workers are falling out of the sky on almost a weekly basis these days. Manhattan’s high-rise boom has created an 83% spike in construction accidents over the last year. – Despite what my Punjabi cabbie told me last week, it looks like NYC’s massive Indian community is voting Clinton, as are …

-The new Bermuda Triangle: the AAA tows more disabled cars away from the area around the Empire State Building than any place in the city. It’s suspected that the ESB’s giant radio tower is disabling car locks and triggering those security systems that turn your car off when it’s stolen. -The MTA is expanding the tap-and-go payment system to some …

– Last year almost 2000 NY’ers responded to the MTA’s “If you see something, say something” anti-terrorism campaign. One repeated theme was callers reporting Muslim men seen using counting devices, presumably to find the most crowded trains. Turns out the men were using prayer-counters as they mentally recited the “many names of God.” The counters are sold in Islamic shops …

– Manhattan’s famed 2nd Avenue Deli has reopened – on Third Avenue. The restaurant family’s patriach, Abe Lebewohl, was murdered in 1996 in a robbery that remains unsolved. His nephew Jeremy is the co-owner of the new location. I can personally vouch for their spectacular corned beef and pastrami sandwich. – Cabbies are continuing to thwart the new credit card …

– NYC soup kitchens saw a 20% rise in hungry New Yorkers over the last year. New report: One out of six NY’ers, 1.3 million people, “cannot afford an adequate and consistent supply of food.” When the economy catches a cold, the poor get pneumonia. Those in need can now call 311 for a direct connection to a food bank …

– The nine day old Broadway strike will continue though the Thanksgiving weekend as negotiations were broken off again on Saturday. No new talks are scheduled. Analysts are now describing the strike as a “disaster” for holiday tourism. Unrelated: the vanity plate on this car parked in front of my building. – The feds have approved $1.3B for the construction …

– Real estate bust? What bust? A few blocks from me, a billionaire just paid $150 million for a condo, nearly double what has ever been paid for a Manhattan residence. He gets 30,000 square feet at about $5000/sq. ft. But hey, it comes with maid service. – Also now available on the Upper East Side, the world’s most expensive …

-After their dismal showing this season, the Yankees have replaced manager Joe Torre with the infinitely hotter former catcher Joe Girardi. Makes me want to care about the American League again. Almost. The Yankees won three World Series with Girardi behind the plate. -The 34th Annual Greenwich Village Halloween Parade starts at 7pm on Wednesday. In honor of the day, …

-Fuerzabruta, a show involving aerial, aquatic, acrobatic and dancing components opens on Wednesday in Union Square’s Daryl Roth Theatre. “Fuerzabruta (it means “brute force”) is a largely wordless physical and visual extravaganza inspired in part by Carnaval. It is built around a few major set pieces: a 45-foot clear-bottom tilting pool, hung from the ceiling and only partly filled; flying, …

– DRV-IN, a one-car “drive-in” movie theatre has opened on the Lower East Side. For $75, you and your pals can sit in a 1965 Falcon convertible while films are projected on a pull-down screen. Three shows a day, concession stand available, reservations required. The theatre is sold out for days in advance. $75 to sit in a car and …

-NYC taxis get a logo makeover, design geeks take offense. -The fine for stealing recyclables from trash has been raised from $100 to $5000 for repeat offenders, in an attempt to thwart underground trash-picking businesses that prowl in advance of city garage trucks. City officials promise that the new law is not aimed at homeless people. -Daniel Leibeskind is designing …