Have some extra cash to spend around the holiday season? Even the littlest bit can go a long way in the over 80 year old Operation Santa program. Every year letters pile up at the James A. Farley Post Office from (mostly needy) kids writing to Santa Claus (read one of them here). Their wish lists don't make it to the North Pole, but with New Yorkers pitching in every year, it's as if they......

It was originally named the 8th Avenue Subway, but the 'A' train turns 75 today, having opened September 10th, 1932. Officials are holding a ceremony at the line's northernmost station––Inwood/207th St.––and will be running six antique railcars from the 1930s during the day to commemorate the event. This is more than the Eighth Ave. Subway garnered on its opening day: Back in 1932, just before midnight, transit workers simply dropped chains blocking access to......

Designer Michael Bierut has details over at the Pentagram blog on how he and his team created the recently installed sign at The New York Times Building, the 52-story tower designed by Renzo Piano and FXFowle. At 110 feet, the sign, located on the building's Eighth Ave. facade, is a 10,116-point version of the paper’s Fraktur font. It is comprised of 1,000 custom-designed pieces, each a painted extruded aluminum sleeve a little more than......

MOVIE: One Ring Zero is a lit-rock fans dream come true. The band features Paul Auster, Jonathan Lethem, Dave Eggers and Margaret Atwood’s lyrics set to the music of trumpets, theremins, claviolas, and metallophones. Director Joe Pacheco captured the band on film and presents it now as a documentary, As Smart As They Are: The Author Project. Here's a song/video with lyrics by Michael Chabon: 7pm // Barbes [376 9th St, Park Slope] // Free......

These days, the police get more and more calls about "suspicious packages." And luckily, most of the time, the suspicious packages are just bags left aside. But yesterday, there were a number of suspicious bags found all around Park Slope. The Daily News reports:About 3 p.m., police started spotting suspicious briefcases, luggage and duffel bags in Park Slope. A grid search of the area turned up bags on Eighth Ave. and Carroll St. as well......

In a time before Pastis transformed the Gansevoort Market forever, Gothamist lived in shared commercial space on Little West 12th Street with some artistically inclined folks. The food routine was straightforward; La Taza de Oro and Hector’s (44 Little West 12th Street, 212-206-7592) for day to day prepared food, Chelsea Market and Western Beef to buy raw foodstuffs, and Rio Mar served endless tapas with your Sangria. As time marches on some things change,......

through September 18: Free Champagne at the Biltmore Room To celebrate its 2nd anniversary, The Biltmore Room will serve a complimentary glass of Veuve Clicquot Champagne to each dinner guest through Sunday, September 18th. Starting September 18th, the restaurant will offer all bottles of wine at half-price every Sunday, until Thanksgiving. Ah, we love anniversaries. The Biltmore Room, 290 Eighth Ave. (bet. 24th & 25th Sts.); 212-807-0111. September 21: Sagra di Maiale You know how......

-Rachel Donadio has a fun essay in the Book Review on how the information age will effect future biographers and historians (the moral: make sure your Boswell backs up your hard drive). -As gas prices continue to soar some companies are turning to other means of transport for employees, like zipcars. -Wonder where those trees went in front of Grace Church? The Villager reports they got taken down in preparation for an underground gymnasium. -NY......

Gothamist loves travel - but hates travelling. Who actually enjoys shuttling to the airport, long flights, the interminable wait for your luggage when you finally arrive at your destination? Let's not even discuss the whole packing process! And, so when we really need a travel fix, without the hassle, Gothamist finds itself availing itself of the various international enclaves throughout the five boroughs - Koreatown, the remaining UES outposts of Yorkville, Manhattan's Chinatown, Flushing's Chinatown,......

As a part of their continuing series of classic movies on Thursdays, tonight the Clearview in Chelsea will be showing Alfred Hitchcock's brilliant North by Northwest (1959). Tickets only cost $5.50 (what a steal for a movie in Manhattan!) and the live pre-show event starts promptly at 7 pm. To get geared up, we bring you below a bit from the book-long conversation between French New Wave director and critic, François Truffaut and the Fat......

Like kids who get their Christmas gifts a few days early, or, depending on how you look at it, like kids who get a pop quiz on the chapter they didn't read, New Yorkers were treated to some early protests. From naked ACT UP activists in front of Madison Square Garden (photo above from Daily News) to protesters taking their climbling skills to the side of the Plaza, New Yorkers started to feel pumped/weary/uncertain of......

It's only two days into the Chinese New Year, so here's some more information on the festivities in the city from NYC Visit. The Post looks at places to eat and shop in the Chinatowns of Manhattan, Queens (Flushing) and Brooklyn (Sunset Park). Some of their picks: Gum Fung (Main Street and 39th Avenue) for food and Flushing Mall (39th Avenue and College Point Boulevard) in Queens; Jade Plaza (6022 Eighth Avenue at 61st......