Category Archives: newyork

The City Harvest lunch at Le Bernardin is still a good deal

Posted on April 10, 2024 | Comments Off on The City Harvest lunch at Le Bernardin is still a good deal


One of the best meals I’ve had around 7 years ago this month was also one of the greatest value meals I’ve ever had. It was the lunch in the lounge at Le Bernardin and back then it was $55, with $5 of that going to the charity City Harvest. Even four years later, Eater NY said it was only $60. Still a steal.

So I was somewhat shocked when I heard it was now $127! That’s quite a jump from $55. Alas, I got that wrong. $127 is for the lunch. The City Harvest lunch in the lounge is $94, of which $5 still goes to the charity.

I still think it is worthwhile at that price. I know between 2019 and now the restaurant was dealing with the pandemic like everyone else and spent a lot on upgrades to keep the place going. And going it still is. You should go, too.

For more information to help you to decide, here’s the Lounge Menu (and more). The wines by the glass are also good value. To get a lunch at one of the best restaurants in New York with 3 Michelin stars for under $100 is still worth stopping for, I believe.

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On walking around New York, thinking of Basquiat

Posted on March 25, 2024 | Comments Off on On walking around New York, thinking of Basquiat

I was walking around Great Jones Street in lower Manhattan recently and came across the place that Basquiat lived for a time in the 80s. (Now it’s owned by Angelina Jolie. More on that, here.)

That got me thinking about the artist, so I went searching for more on him and came across came across this, from 1988. It’s something like an obit for Basquiat that focused on the “hazards of sudden success and fame” (from the New York Times.) He deserved better.

Speaking of better, here’s a better piece on Basquiat in California. I tend to think of him solely as being in NY, but he travelled around in his short life.

Finally, it turns out that art forgery is a bad idea: After Fake Basquiats, Orlando Museum Faces ‘Severe Financial Crisis’ (from the New York Times). Quelle surprise!

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Back to New York – a tale of eating and walking

Posted on March 22, 2024 | Comments Off on Back to New York – a tale of eating and walking

After being away for awhile, I recently spent a long weekend in New York. Not surprising, it was great! I stayed in the Lower East Side and as usual, I went and ate at a number of good places. If that sounds like your idea of a good time, this is a good intro to eating well in the Lower East Side (LES). P.S. I would add Wildair to this list.

I had gone to many of the places on that list, so this time I branched out. I went to Freeman’s Alley, Lafayette, and Claud. All good. But the best place I went to was Libertine. More on it here. (Photo of it, above.)

But hey, that’s just me. If you would prefer to know where others dine in NY…for example…Taylor Swift…then you want to read this.

It wasn’t all just eating. I got to walk around a fair bit because Manhattan in particular is good for that. While I walked all over, on one walk downtown, I crossed over Great Jones Street to where Basquiat lived in the 80s. Since then, Angelina Jolie has taken it over. You can read about all that, here.

I’ve loved so many parts of this great city over the years, but the Lower East Side has always been one of my favorite parts. This is a fascinating story on how the city and that area has changed over the years. It has everything, as they used to say on SNL.

Speaking of good NY stories, this is a good one of how working for a dog shelter did a world of good for one New Yorker. Another good story, this time on old New York, is this: The Luncheonette Serving New York’s Best Egg Creams. Finally, this is a fascinating story on the Crown Heights Tunnels at the Tzfat Chabad Lubavitch synagogue. I’ve seen a number of stories on it, but this one in the Guardian was the best.

In NYC news, Flaco the owl has died after the year of freedom in Central Park and elsewhere. Sad. More on Flaco here. Also, this was no surprise: after a brief tour of duty, the NYPD subway robot has retired. It’s spring now, but this winter the city tried to have a remote school snow day at short notice. It did not go well, according to this.

Finally, how is the mayor of NYC doing? Not great, according to this. People in the city are not doing well either, according to this. That’s too bad. New York has made great strides to recover since it was hammered by COVID at the start of the decade. I hope it can pick its chin up, soon.

 

 

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New York City is full of stories. Here’s 15 of them.

Posted on October 17, 2023 | Comments Off on New York City is full of stories. Here’s 15 of them.

New York City is full of stories. Here’s 15 I’ve collected over the last few months that I thought were really good. I hope you like them too:

  1. Here’s a good story on the Louis Armstrong house museum in Queens. I love that museum. I love the fact that Armstrong lived in Queens, too.
  2. This is a sad story of an 82 year old man and a Stewart hotel long term resident who is facing eviction after living there for decades.
  3. Here’s a fascinating story of the brooklyn seltzer boys who still make seltzer the old fashion way.
  4. Here’s a story for book lovers:  five enchanting art bookstores in NYC they should visit.
  5. Here’s 10 Movies that tell the story of New York and capture its essence.
  6. Here’s a cool story on how Brooklyn Public Library is offering free eCards to teens nationwide who are dealing with book bans in local communities.
  7. This is a story to follow up on: How New York’s MTA is using AI scanning software to stop fare evasion.
  8. Another story to follow up on: how the Mayor plans to convert midtown Manhattan buildings into housing.
  9. No one can tell a story like Anthony Bourdain. Here he is in 2000 writing in the New Yorker and describing a day in the life of working in his kitchen at Les Halles in NYC. Bourdain is a romantic and it comes across in that piece.
  10. A practical story: how to  find a public restroom in New York.
  11. This is a fascinating story on how Korean fine dining has taken over the New York restaurant scene.
  12. Times Square is full of stories. This web cam proves it.
  13. Here’s how three vastly different subway signs can tell a story of three eras in NYC.
  14. This is a scary story of how New York is not ready for climate change flooding storms
  15. Finally, I love this story on the the improbable resurrection of an all night kebab place in the Lower East Side.

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New York stories and snippets (April 2023)

Posted on April 16, 2023 | Comments Off on New York stories and snippets (April 2023)

Here’s some bits and snippets on the New York I’ve been collecting over time. I hope you like them.

A great source of such snippets of life in New York can be found here, in the New York Times section called Metropolitan diary. Just little bits of life in the Big Apple, with wonderful grease pencil drawings to go with them. (See one such drawing below).

Speaking of the Times, noted conservative David French is joining them as an Opinion Columnist. I have to say, these conservatives often start out there with great praise but then become awful. Let’s see how French does.  I’m not optimistic.

Yesterday I wrote of a landmark of the city closing down: the Pennsylvania Hotel. Here’s a story on a smaller landmark also leaving: Alleva Dairy in NYC Will Close. I am sure that place contains many stories itself.


Manhattan is a region of extremes when it comes to rich and poor. On the rich side, here’s a Look Inside the NYC Apartment of MALIN GOETZ Founders. Pretty posh. Also, what’s it like surviving as a staff member of the high end store, Bergdorf Goodman? Well not as tough as being Flaco the owl, but tough nonetheless. To see what I mean, see this: Surviving 10 Hours and 32 Minutes at Bergdorf Goodman. If nothing else, you can see what providing exemplary service is all about.

If you want more stories on the rich and famous of New York: here’s something on the gatekeepers of New York’s most coveted tables.

For stories on the flip side, here’s a story on how Hell’s Kitchen got its rough and ready name. Also downtown based is this piece on someone coming of age in LES before it was gentrified: Watching a Girl’s Life Change on the Lower East Side. And here’s a tough piece on NYC’s jails.

People often hate the mayor of New York, and the current one is no exception. Here’s what he is working on: Mayor Adams Focuses Agenda on the ‘Working People’ of New York. You be the judge. Speaking of people more and more people hate, here’s something on Robert Moses: Robert Moses Is A Racist Whatever.

Finally, here’s a worthy piece on the Central Central Park Conservancy. Here’s a piece on another Robert of NYC who is praiseworthy: Robert Caro Wonders What New York Is Going To Become. Don’t we all wonder?

(Top image: Christopher O’Keeffe, the director of loss prevention, locks the door at the end of the shopping day of Bergdorf. Credit…Landon Nordeman for The New York Times)

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Flaco the Owl! A free bird in New York….

Posted on March 4, 2023 | Comments Off on Flaco the Owl! A free bird in New York….

Flaco, in case you haven’t heard, is an Eurasian eagle-owl that escaped the Central Park Zoo when vandals opened his enclosure. The zookeepers tried to lure him back to capitivity, but he wasn’t having it. They weren’t being mean: there was a good chance he could die in the wild, even if the wild currently consists of Central Park. Instead, he seems to be thriving, flying around the park and dining on the many rats available to him.

I think one of the reason we love him is that Flaco and his new freedom is a great metaphor that gives us hope. I also think we love him because he is a handsome bird! Regardless, we all want him to be independent and well. It makes me happy every day to read about him.

If by chance you don’t know about him, the Times has a story on him,  here. You can find lots of people talking about him on twitter. He even has an account dedicated to him: .

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The best time to visit New York is in December. And other things NYC

Posted on December 4, 2022 | 1 comment

The best time to visit New York is in December. I did once many years ago and I just remember how magical it was: the city was lightly covered in snow, the shops were all lit up and decorated for Christmas, and everyone was bustling about. I had a moment where I stood in front of a store, the snow lightly falling on me, and thinking excitedly: it’s perfect. I hope you can go and experience something similar.

Whenever you go, you’ll need a place to stay.  Vogue has some suggestions on places. The New York Times has a recent guide to what you can do in 36 hours. The food writer Michael Ruhlman has some suggestions, too. If you want to go where few do, perhaps you can head to the Bronx and enjoy what that borough has to offer. One day the Bronx will have it’s moment. Get there first.

If you haven’t been in awhile, this piece tells you what has changed in terms of dining. Don’t be deterred though: New York is always changing and is always good.

I’ll close off with three New York Stories. Here’s a sad story of how Trump destroyed one of the gems of Mahhattan to put up his Tower: Vanished New York City Art Deco – Bonwit Teller. Here’s a cool story on the Hart Island cemetery. And here’s a good story on planting a million trees in NYC .

One last thing: here is the trailer for one of my favorite films, Metropolitan. It’s set in New York in December, and that’s just one of many things I love about it.

(Image from Cup of Jo. I recommend their Guide to NYC in Winter.)

 

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On restaurants loved and lost: Brasserie in midtown Manhattan

Posted on November 27, 2022 | Comments Off on On restaurants loved and lost: Brasserie in midtown Manhattan

It was fairly nondescript from the outside: a simple awning, some signs stating its name, and a revolving door. You might not think much of it walking along East 53rd.

Once you walked in, though, your impression immediately changed. Especially if you were there early in the morning, the way I often was in the 80s and 90s. You would be at the top of the stairs looking over the whole place, and it was packed with people there for power breakfasts. The sound of people talking just washed over you, and if you managed to find a seat, you would hear what was on the mind of Manhattan men and women of that era.

It could be intimidating, especially walking down those stairs into the middle of it all. Everyone seemed so confident, so polished, so put together. The fact Mike Bloomberg would often dine here to start his day gives you an idea of what it was like. While I felt shy on my first visit,  I quickly found the place thrilling and energizing. No doubt the other diners did too.

Among other things, it was a convenient place to go. I would be in the city for business and the offices we worked in and the hotels we stayed in were nearby. I could wander over to the Brasserie and have delicious croissants or a proper egg and sausage breakfast before I went to work. The coffee and orange juice? Also great. As was the service.  Convenient yes, but excellent too.

I don’t ever recall it changing that much over the years, which is one of the things about it that appealed to me. It gave me that constant connection to midtown Manhattan over the decades. It was my spot. After a long period of not visiting, I went back to NYC around 2018 and I wanted to hit it up, only to discover it had closed. Sad.

I’m glad I got to go all those years. If you visit a city often, I hope you can find such a place that allows you to fit in and belong and be part of something. It won’t be Brasserie, but I hope you find the next best thing.

For more on it, see this piece in Eater on it’s closing. Looks like they went out with a bang. Nice. More on it, here. (Images from those two places.) Finally this piece is in Japanese but you can get Google to translate it and there are some good images of Brasserie in it too. One thing I like about the Japanese post is you can see some of the food but you can also get a sense for what the stairs were like.

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The pandemic hit NYC in so many ways, including an unusual one

Posted on October 6, 2022 | Comments Off on The pandemic hit NYC in so many ways, including an unusual one

The pandemic hit NYC harder than many cities, I believe. While terrible things like COVID deaths and ad hoc evacuation have thankfully declined, it is still feeling the impact. Dining is one of these things that was affected. According to the Times, the city that never sleeps is now turning off the “Open 24 hours” sign, at least in some places:  In NYC Some Doors Now Close at 10 p.m. One of the reasons for this could be that for (some) New Yorkers, 6 p.m. Is the New 8 p.m. How long will will this last? I’m guessing like many things in New York, it is transitory and the city that used to never sleep will be sleepless soon enough and flocking to places like Katz’s Deli in the Lower East Side.

I love New York. It never gets old. It’s just acting like an oldster lately. 🙂

P.S. Somewhat relatedly, this was a fun story: Immigrant brothers crafted New York’s hand-drawn posters for decades 

(Image: from the Times piece – Katz Deli)

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In defence of the 80s against current day philistines

Posted on August 14, 2022 | Comments Off on In defence of the 80s against current day philistines

I try not to write too much here on my love of the 1980s, but sometimes the world forces me to do otherwise.

It started recently when in this piece on John Lurie and his Downtown Confessional book, the reviewer compared him to Pete Davidson. I mean, I’m sorry, but that is an egregious comparison, even in the slightest of ways. John Lurie is cool in a way Davidson could never be.  Comparison aside, that’s a good review and I recommend it and anything to do with Lurie, including his book and his work with Jim Jarmusch.

Meanwhile there are people who are in the fight to save New York’s Extravagantly ’80s Subway Entrance. (shown above) Thank god. Someone wants to replace it with some banal all glass neutral atrium or something like thousands of other places. No way. Let’s hope they save this.  It’s a small sliver of 80s goodness.

Finally, here’s a piece on Devo who were truly ahead of their time.

(Lnk to the image of Gabby Jones for The New York Times)

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The High Line, or why it is important to push for improvements in your city

Posted on September 4, 2021 | Comments Off on The High Line, or why it is important to push for improvements in your city


There are lots of reasons to push for improvements in your city but one of them is it can have a cascading effect elsewhere. Case in point is New York’s High Line.

As this article Manhattan makeover for London with floating green walkway plan | London | The Guardian), shows:

New York was revitalised by the High Line, a ribbon of parkland floating above Manhattan on a disused elevated railway that has become one of the city’s biggest tourist attractions. Now the High Line’s designer hopes to give London its own green thread, after being chosen to create the Camden Highline.

James Corner was picked last week as the lead landscape architect for the structure, a linear park on three-quarters of a mile of railway viaducts running from Camden to Kings Cross, which he believes will give London a similar boost after the trials of Covid and Brexit.

For more on the Camden highline, go here. More on the New York version here.

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On restaurants loved and lost: Florent (and Odeon)

Posted on August 29, 2021 | Comments Off on On restaurants loved and lost: Florent (and Odeon)

Here are a number of pieces on two great downtown Manhattan restaurants: Florent and Odeon. Florent has been closed for a number of years. But Odeon lives on, happily. What I love about both restaurants is how the embodied that era and how they both set a stage. You can see that in the pieces below about them. Florent in particular was a radical place that was like no other, right down to their menus and promotional material (like the one above).

When they both opened the lower part of Manhattan had nothing like them. There was no gentrification down there like there is now. They were an oasis of good food, good design, and good times.

To really get a sense of that, read Restaurant Florent Takes Its Final Bows – The New York Times.

For more on the design ideas around Florent, see: Restaurant Florent | Restaurant Design in New York, NY — Memo Productions

A short history of the space Florent occupied is written about here: What remains of a Gansevoort Street restaurant | Ephemeral New York

Lastly, here is it’s Wikipedia write-up: Florent (restaurant). It’s a good source of other links on the place.

Before I forget, this is a fun piece on The Odeon: A Retro Haven That Defined New York 1980s Nightlife | Vanity Fair.

Also worth reading. Now go and eat at The Odeon.

 

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More on New York in the 80s

Posted on July 4, 2021 | 2 comments


Here on my blog I like to write about one of my favourite places (NYC) and my favorite eras (the 80s). So I am happy to highlight this piece on an exhibit on the music of New York at time: New York, New Music: how the city became a hotbed for music in the 80s | Music | The Guardian.

New York then was a hotbed not only for music, but for art. After almost dying in the 60s and 70s, it started it’s Phoenix rebirth in the 80s. I was happy to be a part of it, and I often like to highlight it. That Guardian piece does a good job of capturing the place and the time.

(Photo by Bryan G. on Unsplash.  I don’t think it is of the 80s, but it is a photo of the Lower East Side and it is reminiscent of it.)

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Big city, very small (72 sq ft) apartment

Posted on June 15, 2021 | Comments Off on Big city, very small (72 sq ft) apartment

I am always fascinated by very small apartments. NYC is the king / queen of them. While I have seen some small ones before, this 72 square foot one may be the smallest of all. You have to see it to believe it. It even has a kitchen (sort of) and it’s own bathroom (mainly). What it does have going for it is two amazing things: location and price.

If I was young, I would love living there. For a few years, it would be a great adventure. And like I said, you can’t beat that location at that price.

(Image via the article).

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Virtual travelling: hotels in New York for people who love design

Posted on November 11, 2020 | Comments Off on Virtual travelling: hotels in New York for people who love design

Assuming these will still be around post pandemic, here’s 12 beautiful hotels to consider staying at in New York, starting with the TWA hotel which has been wonderfully remade. I have seen a number of New Yorkers staying there and posting pictures on social media because….why not. While the other hotels don’t have the benefit of being put in a  building designed by Eero Saarinen, they are still great. You can see them all here.

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Vestiges of New York: the taxi light

Posted on October 23, 2020 | Comments Off on Vestiges of New York: the taxi light

All cities have vestiges, things that once made sense but over time became obsolete, yet still remain. In my former house I had a small door and nook near the main door where milkmen would once leave milk. Across Toronto you can still see coal doors at basement level, where coal delivery people would shovel in the coal for the coal furnaces.

Elsewhere, here is a great story about taxi signs across New York City that were once used to hail a cab if you needed one. In the days of Uber and Lyft apps, these seem quaint. Just like those apps will seem years from now. Great story, though.

I love the blog that story comes from. It’s full of odd bits of New York, written with love. Well worth diving into.

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Is New York dead yet?

Predictions are hard. Predictions about New York City especially so. This one was written a few years ago, and talks about how gentrification is killing NY: The Death of a Once Great City | Harper’s Magazine.

Now in the midst of the pandemic, that economic costs of that will take a bite out of gentrification, which will be nothing compared to the closures that will occur as this disease hangs over the city and the rest of the world.

Whatever happens to New York, be it 9/11 or gentrification or the pandemic, I think the best and safest prediction is to never count it out. Perhaps some far off day New York will no longer be one of the world’s great cities. Perhaps some day it will die off, like many other great cities have. I think we can predict that day is far away still.

So whenever you read about New York dying of one thing or another, take it with a grain of salt.

(Photo via malteesimo)

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Posted on August 7, 2020 in newyork

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Invisible cities: the eruv of Manhattan

What’s the eruv of Manhattan? Well according to the article below:

The eruv encircles much of Manhattan, acting as a symbolic boundary that turns the very public streets of the city into a private space, much like one’s own home. This allows people to freely communicate and socialize on the Sabbath—and carry whatever they please—without having to worry about breaking Jewish law.

Here’s a map of it:

You might think that it is hard to believe such a thing could last for long, but as this piece shows, it is diligently maintained.

I found this fascinating. There’s many interesting aspects of New York, but this is one of the better ones. For more on this, read: There’s a Wire Above Manhattan That You’ve Probably Never Noticed

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Posted on July 2, 2020 in new!, newyork

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New York in winter: a photoessay

I love and miss New York. So I enjoyed this photo essay: New York in the Snow Photography Series – Fubiz Media.

It’s not a series of photos of great architecture or famous people. It’s simply a sequence of photos of NYC at night covered in snow. It’s wonderful and wistful.

Enjoy.

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Posted on May 12, 2020 in newyork

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On Prune, and restaurants in general

Many many people were blown away by this piece written by Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune fame: My Restaurant Was My Life for 20 Years. Does the World Need It Anymore? in The New York Times. 

She’s a great writer, and a great restaurateur, writing about a time of peril for all restaurants.

During the pandemic I’ve thought about it often, as well as the future of restaurants. I don’t know a fraction about the business Hamilton excels in, other than to recognize that even for someone good at it, it’s a hard business. It was a hard business before when places were jammed with hungry eaters. It may well be impossible now.

My hope is that knowing that  restaurateurs are smart, hard working and passionate people.  They have managed in difficult situations before. They will find a way to make the foods that they love and feed them to us. And we will find a way to get out and support them.

I have had a number of meals at Prune, and they have been some of the finest of times for me. Here’s to it and many more places coming back soon and giving us meals and memories that make life worthwhile.

(Image is a link to the Village Voice.)

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Posted on May 7, 2020 in newyork

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It’s winter in New York. You don’t want to be outside. So go see these places.

Yesterday I showed you how to cry in New York. Today I want to show you how to enjoy New York when the weather is less than ideal. The best way to do that is to be indoors. And the best way to enjoy the indoors in New York is to visit the most beautiful interiors in New York City

P.S. If you are a fan of New York like I am, then ny.curbed.com might be for you too.

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Posted on February 20, 2020 in new!, newyork

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What are the best places in New York City’s to cry in public?

Yes, it is an odd list. And yes, you might not find it useful. But read it. Make notes. You will find some wonderful places in NYC as a result. Even if you never plan to cry in public: New York City’s best places to cry in public, mapped

(And if you do plan to cry in public in New York, you are now all set!)

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Posted on February 19, 2020 in newyork

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What are the most beautiful streets in New York City?


The folks at the Thrillist have a great list, here, including images such as the one above.

It would be great to go to NYC again just to visit some or all of these.

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Posted on October 23, 2019 in new!, newyork

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Photoessay: A Field Guide to New York Workers


This is great: A Field Guide to New York Workers – People in NYC | Topic.

All the people you typically see in NYC. Well worth a look.

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Posted on August 18, 2019 in new!, newyork

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On the super tall and skinny buildings popping up all over New York City

New York City has had skyscrapers for a long time. A new twist on the skyscraper is the super skinny ones popping up all over Manhattan. There’s plenty of reasons for that, and the Guardian well documents that, here: Super-tall, super-skinny, super-expensive: the ‘pencil towers’ of New York’s super-rich | Cities | The Guardian.

I don’t particularly like them, but like all buildings, I am sure they will grow on me over time. They seem too featureless. Their main feature seems to be the thinness. That hardly puts them in the same class as the Chrysler Building or the Empire State Building.

Regardless of your thoughts on them, the article in the Guardian is good.

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Posted on August 14, 2019 in new!, newyork

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Crunch time for Barneys


Bad news for Barneys, the premiere merchant in NYC. On one hand they are getting hit with a huge rent increase, and on the other, people’s shopping habits are changing. Could this be the end? It seems so.

See this for more: Bankruptcy for Barneys? Symbol of New York luxe faces uncertain future | US news | The Guardian

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Posted on July 26, 2019 in new!, newyork

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The Restaurant That Has Helped New Yorkers Feel Famous Since 1984 and other links to NYC


For fans of NY back when, or people just curious about a very different New York then the current one, here’s a bunch of links worth reading:

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Posted on July 19, 2019 in new!, newyork, nytimes.com

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New York’s tea water pumps

This is a fascinating story: The famous tea water pumps of 1700s New York | Ephemeral New York. 

Hard to imagine now, if you’ve seen NYC, to think of water being drawn this way. Good weekend morning reading!

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Posted on July 6, 2019 in new!, newyork

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The Widows of the Plaza Hotel

This is a great read: The Widows of the Plaza Hotel – The New York Times. 

If you love New York, hotels, stories of odd balls, and people sticking it to Donald Trump, you will want to read that story. I ate it up! 🙂

(Image hotels.com)

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Posted on June 8, 2019 in new!, newyork

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Random 80s nostalgia links

Mainly for me:

 

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Posted on May 26, 2019 in new!, newyork, Toronto

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Looking to travel to NYC? Here’s some budget boutiques to consider

Posted on March 19, 2014 | Comments Off on Looking to travel to NYC? Here’s some budget boutiques to consider

This NYTimes.com article is older (2010), but that just means that these places may be easier to get into now: Budget Boutiques in New York City – Interactive Map – NYTimes.com. (It could also mean that some of these places have come and gone.)

Boutique hotels have a feel of the city that you are in: it’s a feeling that large scale hotels rarely have. I’d recommend checking out this list if you are thinking of heading to New York. Any money you save on accommodation  can easily be spent elsewhere. 🙂

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