Photographs of the Bedell House, clockwise from upper left: Normal-looking in 2005 (from Tottenville Historical Society), covered in graffiti in 2005 (from Tottenville Historical Society), and boarded-up in 2008 (from Staten Island Advance) A landmark Tottenville home that caused a bitter fight between its owner and neighbors has entered a new stage of its existence: foreclosure proceedings. The Staten Island Advance reports John Grossi, who bought the 1869 Bedell House in hopes of razing......

A building that formerly housed the Jamaica Savings Bank is total landmark bait. It was even called "the finest Beaux-Arts building in Queens" by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. But now the building's current owner may stand in the way of the third attempt to landmark the building. Built in 1898, the Jamaica Avenue limestone building designed by Hough & Deuell has been up for landmarking twice - and denied twice, after rejections from the Community......

A well-known ruin is crumbling. According to Roosevelt Island Historical Society president and historian Judith Berdy, part of the north wing of the Smallpox Hospital collapsed about a week ago. She writes, "The rest of the north wing especially the front is in danger of coming down any time... [The Roosevelt Island Operation Corporation] is working with TPL, the Southpoint park developers to find a way to do emergency stabilization of the rest of......

SHOP: Still looking for that perfect gift? The Brooklyn Historical Society is holding the 4th Annual NY Creates Craft Fair, and they may have just what you're looking for. Check it out today and tomorrow, and it will be back the 22nd and 23rd for the real last-minute shoppers. Friday and Saturday // Noon to 6pm // BHS [128 Pierrepont St, Brooklyn] ART: Too much is going on the First Friday of every month, so......

Tomorrow, the city and other organizations will mark the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Here's the official city commemoration:7AM: Families start to arrive at Zuccotti Park, where the ceremony will take place. 8:40AM: Mayor Bloomberg begins the program, which includes first responders reading victims' names and readings from NY Governor Spitzer, former NY Governor Pataki, NJ Governor Corzine and former NYC mayor Giuliani. Bagpipers and drummers lead......

All too often, we read (and write) about horrible instances of traffic fatalities when motor vehicles fail to yield to pedestrians with the right of way. There used to be a simple solution to this problem, and it was known as the Barnes Dance. Although NYC traffic commissioner Henry Barnes didn't invent the concept, it became named after him in the 1960s by a City Hall reporter named John Buchanan. The Barnes Dance involved red......

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg announced a project to commemorate abolitionist activity that occurred in Brooklyn in the 1800s. He named a panel made up of community leaders, academics, and historians to aid the city and Downtown Brooklyn Partnership in asking for and reviewing commemoration proposals. The panels of the Commemoration Panel are: the Reverend Lawrence Aker, Senior Pastor, Cornerstone Baptist Church; Richard Greene, Executive Director, Crown Heights Youth Collective; Colvin L. Grannum, President, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration......

The state legislature in Albany is prepared to issue a formal apology for the historic practice of slavery and will be the first northern state in the Union to do so. Several states on the Confederate side of the Civil War have already issued similar apologies. Albany lawmakers are pushing to pass the resolution in time for "Juneteenth", which is an unofficial holiday celebrating the June 19th arrival of federal troops in Texas to......

On Tuesday, the New-York Historical Society scored a victory at the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), which unanimously approved a scaled-down plan to renovate the building's exterior. In spite of unrelenting criticism from local Community Board 7, the LPC panel affirmed the appropriateness of modifications such as:- A recessed glass entrance vestibule with two new portals adapted from current windows at the Central Park West entrance. - Wider main staircase and free-standing graphic kiosks......

Today, the Sun reports that the State Legislature is considering a formal apology as well as to study the "feasibility" of reparations for New York's role in slavery. The apologies are "technically amendments to Chapter 137 of the laws of 1817 relating to slaves and servants — laws that imposed penalties on those who harbored runaway slaves." While many expect Legislature support for the apology bill (both Maryland and Virginia have formally apologized), some......

During a press conference in Brooklyn about the new skating rinks planned for Prospect Park, Mayor Bloomberg proved that even mayors consider legends and stories as fact. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz joked about challenging the Mayor to a paddle boat race "for the right to call Brooklyn a city again." The Mayor declined but did say, "Staten Island is part of New York rather than New Jersey because of just such a race.......

DISCUSSION: Noam Chomsky will be taking questions on US foreign policy tonight, following a screening of Harold Pinter's 2005 Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech. Get your questions ready, smartypants. You can watch the video of Pinter's speech here, too. 6pm // Columbia University, Miller Theater [Broadway @ 116th St] // $5 THEATER: Isabella Rossellini with be playing Lotte Lenya in a one-night only performance at the New-York Historical Society called Kurt and Lenya: Two Great Artists......

We bet most anyone who has attempted to follow a map in Queens can empathize with the plight of new immigrant Damon Mootoo. Mootoo, who had just arrived from Guyana, got lost when he left his brother's home on 152nd Street in South Jamaica and ended up wandering around in the cold for five days. Five days! The Daily News reported that Mootoo, who can speak English but is hard of hearing, "didn't want to......

+ Expect another uptown expansion battle, this time involving the New York Historical Society. First neighborhood resident to intimate Paris? Journalist Bill Moyers. + Architects Billie Tsien and Tod Williams have been tapped for Lincoln Center’s Harmony Atrium. Say goodbye to the climbing wall. + The city is rezoning a 100-block area in the East Village, leading to an 80-foot height cap and more housing. A response to neighborhood newbies Blue and The Hotel on......

Some readers have been asking about events related to the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Aside from the official city plans, which include moments of silence, reading of victims' names and time for the families to lay flowers at Ground Zero, as well as the lighting of Tribute in Light, a number of organizations and groups have events all weekend and on Monday. For instance, the September......

The not-so-private life of everyone's favorite avian poster children for friendly coops, red-tailed hawks Pale Male and Lola, after they - okay, their human advocates helped them - moved back to their 927 Fifth Avenue digs is revealed. And it's been a barren nest. The NY Times gets nosy about the birds' year without a chick. It seems that even with a super fancy nest, baby bird making isn't a sure thing: Lola's eggs went......

One of the things on Gothamist's must-see list this week is the New York Historical Society's new exhibit, Slavery in New York. The show reveals New York relationship with slavery, from the days of the Dutch settlers until 1827. The exhibit is open until March, and the online site is pretty extensive, but a reason to go this week is for the pencil-written copy of the Emancipataion Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation is on display until......

The Brooklyn Historical Society's endless renovation gets the Times treatment today, with the Paper of Record calling the buliding "beautiful" but a "money pit. And how - the renovation was originally projected to cost $14 million over 18 months, but it's ending up at $23 million for four years of work. The article seems like a desperate (but very worthy) plea for more donors, but what Gothamist is taking from it that more people should......

What can you do to recover from a day of stuffing yourself silly on Grandma's maple-glazed turkey, Dad's cornbread and oyster stuffing and Aunt Sally's pumpkin pie? Go on a noshing tour of the Lower East Side, of course! Big Onion Tours and the New York Historical Society present their Annual Post-Thanksgiving, Multi-Ethnic Eating Tour on Friday, November 26 at 1:00pm. This tour will make pit stops to sample traditional foods from the Dominican Republic,......

New Yorker architecture critic and Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Goldberger speaks tonight about his new book, Up from Zero: Politics, Architecture, and the Rebuilding of New York, about the reconstruction of lower Manhattan and the World Trade Center. Goldberger surveyed many key figures - from politicians to city planners to architects to the families of September 11 victims - exploring the fundamentals of the rebuilding process, the bureaucratic armatures required to set such a process......

Gothamist would rather lick a subway pole than go to most conferences, but there are the rare exceptions. The second annual Good Experience Live was held on Friday at the surprisingly swank New York Historical Society, and, perhaps in an effort to keep things democratic, we managed to slip in unnoticed among the internet cogniscenti. Despite being late, hungover, and covered in a thin layer of cat fur, we enjoyed many of the presentations, including......

There's lots of excitement about the new exhibit, Petropolis: A Social History of Urban Animal Companions, at the New York Historical Society and Glenn Collins of the Times looks at what some New Yorkers will do for their pets, which include cats, rabbits, snakes, rats, mice, chickens, geese, pigeons, ferrets, turtles and tropical fish - but it's certainly dog-heavy, as dogs can break the ice between you and that cute guy or girl like nothing......

Terrorist anxiety, stale pretzels, endless security check lines and that packed-like-a-sardine feeling are just some of the reasons why flying any commercial airline today is far from glamourous or exciting. Troubled airlines concentrate more on profits margins and high fuel costs then creative marketing campaigns or flight attendant demeanor and service. Which is why I felt nostalgic for an era before my time while I was flipping through Keith Lovegrove's, Airline: Identity, Design and......