Yesterday, the heat and crowds couldn't keep an estimated 2 million people from celebrating their heritage with the 51st Annual Puerto Rican Day Parade. As one 23-year-old woman told the Sun, "We're all from the island anyways. It's this hot in Puerto Rico, so I come no matter what. Everyone is proud of where we come from." Another spectator who traveled from Massachusetts told the Daily News, "It makes you feel like you're at home......

Photograph of Jennifer Lopez on a float during last year's Puerto Rican Day Parade by Horatio Baltz on Flickr One of the city's biggest parades will attract millions of revelers tomorrow: The 51st National Puerto Rican Parade starts at 11 a.m., with the parade route beginning on Fifth Avenue at 44th Street and traveling north to 86th Street. The parade's producer Carlos Valasquez told amNew York one hundred musicians will perform, "We have music......

Well, according to a New York Magazine Intelligencer item, it might be Madison Avenue cafe Via Quadronno. The establishment "closes for just four days each year: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and a certain spring day."A spokesman claims coincidence. “We close that day every year for internal construction,” he says. “The last day of the first week of June.” The Puerto Rican Day Parade is on the second Sunday of June each year. Snap! And a......

Happy Father's Day! For those of you who have dads, are dads, or know dads, this one's for you, from all of us at the Gothamist network." It was a week of bizarre, embarassing headlines at DCist. The trial of the local administrative law judge who sued his cleaners for $54 million over a pair of missing pants left everyone shaking their heads. Then the capital city was nearly brought to its knees, twice, by......

To anyone attending next year's Puerto Rican Day Parade, we have this suggestion: Don't wear black-and-gold. At a press conference, parade organizers decried arrests of people who were not engaged in any illegal activity during Sunday's event. National Puerto Rican Day Parade president Madelyn Lugo said, "We are very disappointed and alarmed that these violations of civil rights should occur." The organizers, who admitted they warned the NYPD that the Latin Kings might try to......

There are new details surrounding Sunday's 208 arrests at the Puerto Rican Day Parade: According to the NY Times, the police still claim that people were arrested for "specific illegal behavior," like blocking traffic, and not because they were wearing colors of the Latin Kings gang. However:Criminal complaints filed against 10 defendants show that the police were concerned about the risk that those arrested would engage in violent or threatening behavior or cause some public......

Yesterday's reports about the number of people arrested during the 50th annual Puerto Rican Day Parade were incorrect: While numbers like 80 and 173 were offered, today the NY Times reveals 208 people were arrested, due to police concerns about the Latin Kings. However, there's some question as to whether more people without gang connections were arrested during the sweep. Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne said the breakdown of the arrests was 198 gang......

Fifth Avenue was packed with revelers and performers during the 50th Annual Puerto Rican Day Parade. Celebrities, like "King" Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, were out in force, as were the politicians, including Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Eliot Spitzer, Senator Charles Schumer, Representative Jose Serrano, and Puerto Rico governor Anibal Acevedo-Villa. Bloomberg said, "I think the most impressive thing is that people love to be living here and be part of New York......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on Madison St. in Manhattan, a homicide on Wyckoff Ave and Himrod St. in Brooklyn, and an overturned auto on Hone and Mace Aves. in the Bronx. A trio of yeshiva students and their teacher were rescued from a 200-foot-high ledge by rapelling park police yesterday, after straying from a trail at Bear Mtn. State Park. The news of a crash that persists in Chinatown, as the......

The Puerto Rican Day Parade is supposed to draw 2.8 million spectators to 5th Ave. in Manhattan this Sunday, making it one of the most popular annual parades in New York City. It's the 50th occurrence, so expect lots of enthusiasm from marchers, who will be heading north from 44th St. to 86th St. and entertained by Parade King Ricky Martin. The size of the event is amazing, considering that the estimated population of......

The MTA announcement that alcohol would be banned from LIRR and Metro-North trains on St. Patrick's Day has caused quite a stir. The NY Sun has angry comments from barkeeps and even a State Senator. Irish State Senator Marty Golden said, "It definitely looks like stereotyping, and that's what the MTA should be faulted for. Some people do get out of control, but to focus on that day, and on certain segments of the......

A very weird incident occured in Washington Square Park yesterday morning. Apparently a man put a stocking over his head and harrassed two couples with babies for a while, but then calmed down. The Post reports that the man climbed over a fence to the playground (though the gate was unlocked) and charged the couples a few times, and then climbed "the jungle gym and sat, Buddha-like, atop the kiddie-slide." It took a while for......

Hundreds of thousands of revelers enjoyed the beautiful weather and celebrated during yesterday's Puerto Rican Day Parade. And this year's theme was, "Boricuas...We count, We Vote!" Though Marc Anthony was the Grand Marshal, the real attraction was his wife, Jennifer Lopez. Mayor Bloomberg, who marched with the couple, said, "In the pictures tomorrow, I will be lucky if I am noticed at all." Anthony and Lopez ultimately needed the help of Guardian Angels to......

- The Williamsburgh Savings Bank prepares for luxury. - Chelsea residents seem to be winning the war against a 17-story tower. - The first female rabbi is retiring soon. - A Sweet 16 party was ended badly yesterday when a car ran over four partygoers. - Gypsy moths are eating New Jersey! - Jane Smiley chews out a certain very thin conservative pundit. - Meanwhile, the ever-wonderful Joyce Wadler takes on celebrity commencement speaches.......

- "Fat Nick" found guilty. - A truck with 500 gallons of hypochlorite, a highly concentrated chlorine-based bleech, was stolen Thursday. - A woman waiting for the southbound A train at 125th street fell into the tracks. Short one leg, the woman is in critical condition at Bellevue. - Bloomie really wants to keep those cell phones away from the school kids. - From the Doorman: "Ten Things Not To Do When You Get......

With the Puerto Rican Day Parade right around the corner, Mayor Bloomberg reminded Fifth Avenue buildings not to board up their properties. Many buildings along the parade's two mile route had taken to putting plywood on doors and windows, fearing rowdy crowds. While Puerto Rican Day parade violence has been a concern since the 2000 "wildings," the NYPD has made sure to step up patrols. Daily News says no buildings have been boarded up so......

While the accusations that two police officers groped a woman didn't pan out, it turns out that they were, in fact, drunk on the job near the Puerto Rican Day Parade. The police union says the woman had wanted to cross a police barrier, but wasn't allowed to do so...so it seems like she complained that they were drunk and groping her. Well, 1 out of 2 ain't bad. The NY Times says the police......

Yesterday's Puerto Rican Day Parade shimmered along Fifth Avenue, although there were some problems. In a nutshell, a police officer was slashed, gang members tried to crash the parade, three people were stabbed - 175 arrests all told. Oh, and two on-duty police officers were accused of groping women! The Daily News says that many men "wearing black-and-gold Latin Kings shirts" wanted to march, but the police claimed they found a gun and knives on......

With the 10th Annual Puerto Rican Day Parade around the corner on Sunday, the Mayor is asking businesses along Fifth Avenue not to board up. In past years, violent incidents have caused damage to some stores and apartment buildings, making some owners think it's better to play it safe during the parade, which has had some controversy, most infamously the 2000 wildings in Central Park. For instance, the Post reports that metal fences are being......

Yesterday, Fifth Avenue was filled with millions of people celebrating the Puerto Rican Day Parade. Many revelers think the parade just keeps getting better and better, a point many felt necessary to make after the "Central Park wildings" after 2000's parade (young men assaulted young women). Mayor Bloomberg chastised Fifth Avenue hotels and buildings who closed their doors to the parade and constructed fences to protect buildings and trees from garbage being thrown, apparently worried......

The only bright thing to come from the City Hall shooting, and it's only bright because of a tragedy, is the promotion of Police Officer Richard Burt to Detective, after his quick thinking and actions on Wednesday, killing Othniel Askew who had shot Councilman James E. Davis. Mayor Bloomberg praised, "Thankfully, we will never know what would have happened had Officer Burt not been there, been so quick on his feet and been so accurate......

Currently, Mayor Bloomberg is not so liked and Governor Pataki is lovable, if the Puerto Rican Day Parade is trusted as a barometer of public opinion. The Times notes Bloomberg was booed (though his flacks and Puerto Rican Day Parade organizers were quick to say he got many hugs and kisses too) and Pataki was "more warmly received" but suggests there may be more to it: "Mayors, who deliver day-to-day services and are constantly in......

At 11AM, thousands are going to be celebrating the Puerto Rican Day Parade on Fifth Avenue,between 44th and 86th Streets. The New York Times writes about how Fifth Avenue is literally bracing itself for the excitement - think lots of plywood. Unfortunately, the parade cannot be brought up without mention of the wildings in 2000 during the parade, where men groped women in Central Park. Read an editorial from the National Review about the wildings.......