Derek Jeter discusses his new venture - a Derek Jeter-branded 24 Hour Fitness Club in the Madison Square Park area; photograph by Tien Mao From a new NYC sports club bearing his name to the last season at Yankees Stadium, Derek Jeter has a busy year ahead of him. Gothamist asked the Yankees captain about his partnership with 24 Hour Fitness to bringing 24 Hour Fitness - Derek Jeter gyms to the city and......

Photo of pizza by Tien Mao Just last week, the Crosby Connection opened in its new location, continuing its tradition of serving delicious, reasonably priced sandwiches. If you were fortunate to get to Crosby early enough last week, owner Joey Cramarossa was giving away samples of a pizza that he planned on selling from his new location. When we previously talked to Cramarossa, he said that there was nothing like this pizza in the......

Photograph of Michael Strahan, coach Tom Coughin (holding the Vince Lombardi trophy) and quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning by Tien Mao Gothamist was amazed after the Giants won the Super Bowl, the city went wild, and it witnessed a ticker-tape parade.Barack Obama drew 20,000+ ahead of Seattle’s Saturday caucus.Londonist had Super Tuesday too.Elusive guerrilla street artist Banksy revisits Los Angeles.After the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and came this close to making......

Photos of snowboarders at the Union Square Street Sessions by Tien Mao Perhaps the only place you'll see snow in New York City this winter is today in Union Square and this weekend in Central Park. On the north end of Union Square, where the farmers market and skateboarders usually are, there's now a man-made hill with 132 tons of snow trucked in from Mountain Creek in New Jersey. The Union Square Street Sessions,......

Photograph of Michael Strahan, coach Tom Coughin (holding the Vince Lombardi trophy) and quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning by Tien Mao Update: Here are some of our photographs from the parade route - it look us a few hours to download the photos and decompress/shake out the confetti from the parade. We'll be adding a slideshow later. Photograph of NFC Championship hero, kicker Lawrence Tynes, by Tien Mao Photograph looking down the......

Photograph of the Puck Building, where at least one 7th floor business supports Obama, by Tien Mao It's pretty safe to say many New Yorkers are aligned with the Democratic party, but it's unclear who NYC's registered Democrats will vote for on primary day - Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Though in the highly unscientific survey of sights around the city over the past week (and year), it seems the senator representing Illinois has......

Photo of tuna at Tsukiji Market in Tokyo courtesy Tien Mao. Hold onto your chopsticks; the Times recently commissioned a toxicology report on sushi from 13 local establishments and got back some rather unappetizing results:More than half of the restaurants and stores surveyed sold sushi with so much mercury that eating just six pieces a week would exceed the amount the EPA says can be safely consumed by an adult of average weight, which the......

Photo of Crosby Connection space by Billy Chasen Photo of the meatball hero and a smoked gouda and ham sandwich (with apples) by Tien Mao On Crosby Street between Bleecker and Houston, there's a literally hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop called The Crosby Connection. Joey Cramarossa, an ex-cop from New Jersey, works out a tiny space to serve up unbelievably fresh, delicious, filling and reasonably priced sandwiches and salads at $5-6 each. The meatball hero (with......

Photograph of an injured worker being unloaded from the construction bucket from reader Nick Sonderup There are reports that a crane lost its load of concrete beams at Spring and 6th Avenue. The beams hit the building and sidewalk scaffolding and people are trapped. One fatality is being reported. Photograph of workers on the sidewalk pointing by from stconrad on Flickr The reports indicate the accident occurred at a building under contraction at 246......

Jen has already posted her Top Stories for 2007-- but here's the list according to you, the readers: By Comments* 1. Pet Food Recall After Cat and Dog Deaths, by Jen Chung (614) 2. Rev. John Carmichael, Church of Scientology, by Jen Carlson (312) 3. Wild Wednesday Weather, by Jen Chung (255) 4. Maple Syrup Was Better: Smell of Gas Covers NYC by Jen Chung (191) 5. Aqua Teen Hunger Force Mooninites Don't Scare......

Looking back over the year in food, 2007 was chock full of tasty goodness. The locavore movement was in full swing, truffles were over the top expensive, and Gothamist readers continue to get pissed off about foie gras. There was a lawsuit over lobster rolls, we got a new Whole Foods, the vendors at the Red Hook ball fields were threatened, rats ran crazy at Taco Bell, and the DOH went ballistic. Chumleys fell,......

Portions of Francis Lewis High School were shut down yesterday after a teenager said he had a bomb. In reality, it turns out that it was more like a rocket. Nonetheless, the teen was charged with placing a false bomb. School security (they're useful for something, apparently) overheard students talking about a bomb, so they inspected 16-year-old Victor Vergara's bag where they spotted the suspicious device. When they asked Vergara what it was, he told......

The tree is lit, and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular is another tradition back for a 75th season. The well-seasoned Rockettes steal the show from Santa every year, and have quite a history -- they were originally called The Roxyettes and originated in...Missouri:The group was started by Russell Markert in 1925 in St. Louis, Missouri as the "Missouri Rockets". In 1927, Samuel Roxy Rothafel discovered them and brought them to New York City. They......

Notice anything funny about the Calvin Klein billboard below? No, not the hot pink splashing. The giant ad that hangs above Lafayette and Houston has a secret in the "negative space" left by the splashed paint. The silhouette is of the new New Museum building on Bowery. Here is what the billboard looked like over the past few days up until last night: And as Josh Spear pointed out yesterday a "stage 3 reveal" took......

Starting in the afternoon, the masses traveled to the Upper West Side yesterday to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons get inflated on West 77th and West 81st Streets between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue. By 6PM, crowds were penned in for blocks - it took us about 30-40 minutes of shuffling and snaking around before we could get close to any balloons. We suspect the Broadway stagehands' strike as well as......

Wow: The Daily News reports that Astroland will "open for one last season" thanks to a deal between Astroland owner, the Albert family, and Thor Equities. Thor bought the Astroland property for $30 million in 2006, as part of its billion-dollar redevelopment plants, and it was suggested earlier this summer that Thor would let Astroland open for the 2008 season. However, last month had reports about extreme differences between what Thor wanted for rent......

The Grey Lady is paying a return visit to Peter Luger Steak House in tomorrow's dining section. This New York institution was last reviewed by Ruth Reichl, who awarded it a hefty three stars, proclaiming it "the best steak in New York City." Her description of the Luger experience is almost pornographic: You know the steak is great before you even taste it. You know it from the fine, funky, mineral aroma that wafts across......

The first bowling alley to open in Brooklyn in (we can't even believe this) nearly 50 years is about to open up! The Gutter is new...but the feeling old. Brought to you by two of the same people who brought you Barcade, expect a similar vibe. There's a Schlitz globe spinning over the shoe counter, vintage bowling items adorning the bar, old lamps throughout, and even some TVs with rabbit ear antennas. You won't......

Ooh - NY1 has the exclusive on this exciting bit of subway news: The MTA is planning on installing subway platform doors on the 7 line extension. The platform doors are not only a safety feature, they create savings with energy bills and keep stations cooler. Additionally, they would prevent people from being able to litter in the tracks (and that litter can cause track fires, which is a major cause of subway delays).......

Today is the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's appearance in New Orleans. The storm eventually killed more than 1,600 people in Louisiana and Mississippi and raised many questions about infrastructure of levees and the federal response. President Bush spoke in New Orleans today (text here) where the Times-Picayune printed an editorial asking the President to treat New Orleans fairly: "Nobody wants to have to compete for disaster relief. But that is what Louisianians have......

Last night at Irving Plaza, Andrew "William Ocean" Litz became the 2007 US Air Guitar Champion. Ocean, who lives in New York City, used his home-field advantage to...his advantage. He had several of his supporters in the crowd to aid his performances - throwing water in the air (like an ocean, we suppose) and supporting him as he crowdsurfed. Ocean's moves were enough to move him from 2nd place entering the finals/compulsory round. He......

It's our favorite July 4th tradition, this side of smiley-face fireworks: The Annual Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, held at Nathan's in Coney Island. And this year's competition is particularly tantalizing: Current champion Takeru Kobayashi has been having jaw pains, while Joey Chestnut broke the hot dog eating record, by scarfing down 59.5 at a June event. So we shall begin our liveblogging, and Jen Chung and Tien Mao will be providing other commentary......

Competitive eating powerhouses convened in front of City Hall today to be weighed in for tomorrow's Nathan's Famous July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest. Six-time winner and current mustard belt holder Takeru Kobayashi weighed in at 154 pounds while Joey Chestnut, who broke Kobayashi's hot-dog eating record by keeping down 59.5 hot dogs at an Arizona event last month, weighed in at 215 pounds. Kobayashi had signaled his all-important jaw muscles weren't feeling that......

When will all this Kobayashi drama end?? We suspect that there will be story upon story about Takeru Kobayashi's jaw issues right up until next week's Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. The Times talked to Kobayashi and says his jaw issues are genuine and that he is fit enough to compete on Wednesday. How many hot dogs "fit enough" means obviously remains to be seen. The Times also gets several gristly nuggets: Kobayashi was fitted......

With lines of potential customers snaking around the block, New York's Apple Stores on Fifth Avenue and in SoHo opened their doors at 6PM for the launch of the iPhone, the unbelievably hyped multi-functioning personal accessory. Overall, the lines moved pretty quickly, as Apple employees just focused their efforts on letting customers buy iPhones and move out. The early customers couldn't use the iPhone demos, though later customers were able to try them out......

A lot has changed for women in professional sports since 1905, but in that same time period no female horse has won the Belmont Stakes. Spectators at 139th running of the Belmont Stakes witnessed a little bit of history as Rags to Riches became only the 3rd filly in history to win the race. It was the first filly to win a Triple Crown race since the 1988 Kentucky Derby. Excelling at "Test of......

The Belmont Stakes may be missing Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, and it may only be a field of seven, but that doesn't mean the 139th edition of the race won't be exciting. Some say that this is one of the most competitive fields in recent Belmont history. The odds makers have set Curlin, the Preakness winner, as the 6-5 favorite, a line that will likely come down by post time. The $1 million......

La Maison Tropicale, the Jean Prouvé-designed modernist movable metal house, has sold for $4.97M. While this fell right in the middle of the projected bid ($4 to 6M), Bloomberg.com noted this is "more than twice the price per area of a Park Avenue apartment." Guess that's expected when you buy real estate at Christie's. Uma Thurman's ex and Cameron Diaz's latest maybe love interest, hotelier Andre Balazs, was the high bidder. Though he has......

This 4th of July's Nathan's hot dog eating contest should be especially exciting. Joey Chestnut, who finished second to perennial champion Takeru Kobayashi at last year's event, just broke the Japanese man's world record by eating 59 hot dogs in 12 minutes. Kobayashi's previous record was 53.75, which he set during the 2006 Coney Island hot dog contest. Chestnut set the new record at the Southwest Regional Hot Dog Eating Championship in Arizona. The......

So this is how borough presidents wield power: Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz has flexed his BEEP muscles by dismissing five members of Brooklyn's Community Board 6 - and their common quality was that they were vocal opponents of the Atlantic Yards project. And City Council members David Yassky and Bill DeBlasio also didn't reappoint four other members who opposed the massive $4 billion project that has been the source of community tension. Gowanus Lounge......