Tag Archives: NYC

The busiest record store in the country, Virgin Times Square, will be closing in April, much earlier than previously announced. The coming closure of the Union Square location was announced last year, but no final date of business is known. Music retailing, what little is left, has effectively been returned to the place from which it first sprang over 40 …

The MTA asked over 750,000 New Yorkers to grade their subway lines and the results sure wouldn’t get the system into the Honor Society. As usual, the Lexington Line (which serves the Upper East Side) got the lowest grade due to its overcrowding. The best grade went to the L, which runs from the West Village to Canarsie, Brooklyn.

New York Knicks star center Eddy Curry has been hit with a sexual harassment and racial discrimination suit by his former chauffeur. The stunning court papers claim Curry, a married father of three, repeatedly approached chauffeur David Kuchinsky “in the nude,” allegedly telling him, “Look at me, Dave, look” and “Come and touch it, Dave.” Curry also made Kuchinsky perform …

The NYPD is asking for federal permission to disrupt cell phone service in NYC in the event of another terrorist attack, citing the use of mobile devices to coordinate last year’s bombings in Mumbai. A draft copy of [NYPD Chief] Kelly’s statement to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security says the NYPD believes the Mumbai attacks could be a model …

There’s an interesting discussion making the rounds of NYC news blogs regarding what happened at a Jewish wedding reception last week. A 23 year-old Christian-raised cater waiter, who for five years had worked for a catering company that specialized in Jewish weddings, decided to express his sympathy for Palestinians by using the Woodbury Jewish Center’s PA system to broadcast some …

Over 1200 shivering Gothamites showed yesterday for Improv Everywhere’s annual No Pants Subway Ride. Check out Improv’s galleries of pants-less nonsense here.Photos credit: Katie Soloker.

There will be a fundraiser tribute party tonight for Mel Cheren, “the Godfather of Disco.” Top DJs and performers from the days of the Paradise Garage will perform. Get tickets here. Admission benefits LIFEbeat, AREA, and the Gay Men’s Health Crisis.

Surprising nobody, new data reveals that health costs and other benefits are wreaking havoc on NYC’s budget. Average salaries for NYC employees went up 33% since 2000 (very comparable to the 29% inflation rate since then), but the cost of employee benefits soared 186%. Overall compensation cost has risen 66% in just eight years. The NY Post points out that …

Cafe Fugo, 1st Avenue, 1pm Teen Girl 1: I think he’s gay. He must be with that hair. Teen Girl 2: You did his hair. Teen Girl 1: Yeah, but he let me.

That bizarre maple syrup smell wafted over Gotham again yesterday. The mysterious sweet smell that swept over parts of the city more than three years ago returned on Monday night. The city’s 311 information line was flooded with callers reporting the smell of maple syrup, or something like it, wafting across several neighborhoods, a spokesman for the Office of Emergency …

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters jammed Times Square this weekend to decry the Israeli/Hamas conflict. Chanting “Free Palestine,” thousands of Palestinian supporters demonstrated in Times Square Saturday to protest Israel’s punishing military offensive in Gaza. The wave of protesters stretched across three blocks, dwarfing the dozens of boisterous supporters of Israel assembled across Seventh Ave. “What’s happening in Gaza is something …

For the second year in a row, New York City has topped perennial tourism leaders Orlando and Las Vegas with an estimated 47 million visitors. Foreign tourists, who took advantage of the weak dollar and flocked to the city, accounted for most of the increase, with their numbers reaching nearly 10 million, about a million more than in the previous …

In 1991, excavation for a new office tower in lower Manhattan revealed a centuries-old burial ground for the slaves of New Yorkers, grim testament to the nearly 200 years that slavery was legal here. An estimated 15,000 Africans are buried on the seven acre site, which in those days was just outside of the city limits as slave cemeteries were …

Well, probably not. But the MTA has released its list of proposed fare increases for next year, listing a $3 subway ride as the top possible price under the new schedule. That way when it turns out to be $2.75, people aren’t so freaked. Via NY Times: The base subway and bus fare could go as high as $3 next …

It looks like Saturday’s Light Up The Night event was not quite the silent protest requested by the organizers at Join The Impact, at least in NYC. The clip below was sent to us by Richard Davis at NYC’s LGBT Center.Also check out Eric Leven’s coverage of the protest in Miami and Rex Wockner’s report from San Diego. Wockner says …

Longtime readers will know that the only issue on which I’ll likely ever agree with PETA is the treatment of NYC’s carriage horses. Check out this clip from filmmaker Donny Moss (Blinders), which was taken during Friday’s ice and snowstorm. The tourists adore the carriage rides through Central Park and many New Yorkers see the trade as quintessentially Manhattan. But …

If you can’t get your broke ass down to DC, the New York City Council will open City Hall to the public to show Barack Obama’s inauguration on big screen TVs. Via emailed press release: Speaker Christine C. Quinn, the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus and the New York City Council announce that City Hall will open its doors to …

Gotham is being belted with its first snowstorm of the year and already I’ve fallen on my ass, right in front of a window full of women sitting under nail dryers at Dashing Diva. Eight winters in NYC and I still don’t know how to walk on icy sidewalks. Anyway, it’s sucky timing for holiday travel – JFK and LaGuardia …