Results tagged “batterypark”

Hometown post-punk heroes Sonic Youth played a free show for approximately 7,000 fans in Battery Park on July 4th as part of the River to River Festival. The decades-old band started the set with a spellbinding, spacey rendition of “She is Not Alone,” followed by the Kim Gordon-led classic “Bull in the Heather.” By the third song, a blistering “Silver Rocket,” 50-year-old frontman Thurston Moore seemed to have had enough of the photographers separating his band from the frenzied crowd, so he climbed down into the photo pit to thrash through the scrum,......

First Lady Laura Bush was in Battery Park yesterday to help the National Park Foundation launch First Bloom, a program to encourage children in urban centers to learn about the environment and what they can do for their parks and neighborhoods. First Lady planted some flowers and other plants with members of the Boys Club of New York and the Lower East Side Girls Club. She said, "When people think of New York City, national parks probably are not the first thing that comes to mind. But in......

It may have looked like simple joyriding on a Friday afternoon, but the Parks Dept. employee careening around Battery Park near Whitehall St. yesterday afternoon was actually a man on a mission, i.e. to kill as many birds in the park as possible. Martin Hightower has been a Parks Dept. employee since 2005, but was arrested after 911 started receiving calls about a man driving recklessly on a golf cart at the southern tip of Manhattan. Hightower narrowly missed several pedestrians in the park, but did succeed......

It may have looked like simple joyriding on a Friday afternoon, but the Parks Dept. employee careening around Battery Park near Whitehall St. yesterday afternoon was actually a man on a mission, i.e. to kill as many birds in the park as possible. Martin Hightower has been a Parks Dept. employee since 2005, but was arrested after 911 started receiving calls about a man driving recklessly on a golf cart at the southern tip of Manhattan. Hightower narrowly missed several pedestrians in the park, but did succeed......

Earlier this week, the Post reported that "high-profile" Bronx Republican Fred Brown, who is a GOP district leader in the Bronx and votes there, actually lives in Battery Park City in lower Manhattan. Which means he's been voting in the Bronx illegally. Now, the Bronx's DA's office is investigating the matter. Brown, who is also chairman of the National Black Republican Council and would have been a delegate for Rudy Giuliani if had stayed in the presidential race, told the Post he has lived in Battery Park City......

An appeals court ruled that a doctor who had been missing before September 11, 2001 died during the World Trade Center attacks. The family of Dr. Sneha Anne Philip, last seen at Century 21 on September 10, had in courts for years trying to do so. Previously, a court-appointed guardian implied the 31-year-old doctor led a dangerous lifestyle, because she, per the Post, "frequented bars (including several bars that cater to women customers) and spent the night with individuals she met there [who] tended to be strangers."......

What Lower Manhattan will look like after Silverstein's buildings are completed; the Woolworth Building with its ornate green roof is on the left, 99 Church is the tall building to it right (and to the left of what is an illuminated Church street); to the right is the WTC site, with Freedom Tower and the other three towers; image from dbox/Silverstein Properties Developer Larry Silverstein announced yesterday that he will build an 80-story building at 99 Church Street, in place of the former Moody's headquarters, just a block away from......

To be a young harbor seal taking some time from swimming to sun! A young seal was seen hanging out at the 79th Street Boast Basin yesterday morning the Parks Department. Sergeant Rakeem Taylor told City Room, "He was moving around pretty fine, yawning and sunning himself," and estimated the seal to be "3 to 4 feet long and about 90 pounds." Taylor said that the seal's appearance means the Hudson is clean enough for him (or her) to fish her, “It’s not that unusual, but we don’t......

Plans to renovate Pier A, the last remaining pier on the lower west side, are staggering forward again. The Victorian-era three-story pier was built immediately after the Brooklyn Bridge, using much of the same equipment, and was once one of the city’s proudest points of entry, boasting visits from boldface names like Amelia Earhart and the Queen of England. Today it’s a dilapidated eyesore that clashes with the rest of the lavishly rehabilitated west side waterfront, and Governor Spitzer’s office is stepping in to coordinate renovations. Of course,......

A 22-year old Manhattan deli clerk that took the late shift on New Year's Eve lucked out when he bought himself a winning scratch-off ticket. While everyone else was welcoming 2008 with friends and family, the Yemen native's wife and baby were still living a world away, so Waleed Alsaidi bought himself a little present at his family's deli in Harlem to pass time on the lonely shift. The NY Post reports on the feel-good story, which happily ended with Alsaidi getting the largest payout in New York......

Last night we received a link to a treasure trove of old copyright-free photos being hosted on the Library of Congress's Flickr page. Here's a link to all of their New York images, and some of our favorites are below and after the jump. The pilot project will get 3,000 of the Library's 14 million photographs online. See what both the Library of Congress and Flickr have to say about the endeavor. Woolworth Building, between 1910 and 1915

After months and months of delays, the BAM Cultural District may be moving forward. The NY Times is reporting that city officials have chosen Harlem-based developer and Brooklyn resident Carlton Brown to create what the Times' Terry Pristin calls the "cultural district's centerpiece." This is the first Brooklyn project for Brown, who developed the Kalahari and 1400 on Fifth in Harlem and the Solaire, the city's first residential green building, in Battery Park City. The......

Yesterday morning's rain caused a recently installed sewer main to burst, flooding the basement and parking garage of a Battery Park City luxury apartment building. Water levels reached up to 20 feet. Not only were car owners greeted with news that their vehicles were either submerged or floating on top of sewer water, hundreds of tenants at 90 West Street were evacuated. Fire officials explained that, per WNBC, "rain flooded a re-routed sewer pipe,......

We hope all of you, whether you have stayed in the city or have traveled to spend the holiday with loved ones, have a happy and safe Thanksgiving. While, for many people, Thanksgiving is about the bounty of food, football games, or the start of the holiday shopping season, it's also a good opportunity to appreciate your life. The History Channel has an extensive website about the history of Thanksgiving (with video). Scholastic's school-children-targeted......

British comedian John Oliver has become an indispensable fixture on The Daily Show, where he’s found a highly receptive audience for his particularly earnest style of fake reportage. But millions of viewers accustomed to their nightly laugh therapy have been going through heavy withdrawal since the Writers Guild strike put the kibosh on new episodes. At issue is the guild’s demand for a taste of the loot being raked in from new media outlets. The......

Make sure you’re sitting down before reading further: Today TV bloggers formed a virtual picket line to support the Writers Guild strike. We’ve been refreshing Ramblings of a TV Whore all day, hoping for some blogging scab to post something! All this strike activity is becoming quite the trend; CBS News writers are expected to join their more gifted and talented “creative” colleagues who are entering week two of the strike. The CBS News scribes......

Members of the Writers Guild of America have been striking in Los Angeles and New York this past week over details of a basic contract between writers and producers - one of the biggest sticking points is the amount of residuals writers get from DVD and new media distribution. The NY Times op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd asked Seth Meyers (who we spoke to on Tuesday) to give her a weekend update about the strike:......

It's the not the first time the government has wasted lots of money and it won't be the last, but the Daily News special investigation into former Governor Pataki's never-built Museum of Women is great proof of how bureaucracy sucks. Originally conceived to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Women's Rights Convention in Seneca, the museum would have been at the south end of Battery Park City. Various grants were directed to the commission (chaired......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck at White Plains Rd. and 219th St. in the Bronx, an animal incident on Rochelle Pl. on Staten Island, and a hate crime at Columbia University in Manhattan. A tour of Jam Master Jay's studio, where the rap impressario was gunned down five years ago. A brief update on the unforgettable case where a man beat the bejeezus out of a grunting and yelping spin class......

Developer Charles J. Urstadt, the man behind the creation of Battery Park City in the 1970s, is eager to duplicate the feat further north up the Hudson by creating an additional 40 to 50 acres of Manhattan real estate. How? Well, by depositing fill dredged from Lower New York Bay. Urstadt estimates that the city could create land for $75 a square foot that could be worth $2,000 to $3,000 a square foot when developed as waterfront property. The 100 acres that comprise Battery Park City were......

THEATER: Temporary Distortion’s Welcome to Nowhere (bullet hole road) juxtaposes lushly photographed cinema with hypnotic live performance. Positioned within a small but elaborately designed boxlike installation, the actors draw the audience into their blood-stained world with a stillness that approaches meditation. When fused with the rich film projection above their heads – which furthers the abstract plot of the road movie/love story – the show draws you into an intimate embrace, as if the characters are whispering in your ear while you watch their dreams. (Read a feature

A memorial to thousands of people buried in downtown Manhattan will open to the public Friday at 1 p.m., and there will be a candlelight procession at 8 p.m. from Battery Park to the monument at Duane and Elk Sts. The African Burial Ground National Monument is set to open 16 years after construction workers discovered human remains while doing foundation work on a downtown federal building. What they discovered were the remains of early black residents of Manhattan––some free, most slaves––who were buried in......

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 WTC Flag to the stage. Brooklyn Youth Chorus performs Star Spangled Banner....

Two years ago, we wondered if there was a big list of all the fountains in New York City. We haven't made that much progress with the list, but at least now we have a list of the "display fountains" the Parks Department maintains. And it's interesting - Brooklyn only has three while Staten Island has eight. Of course, there are many fountains outside of the Parks Department's jurisdiction (for instance, the fountain outside the Brooklyn Museum), so if you can help remind us of others in the......

With 30,000 red yardsticks on hand, New York artist Gene Schmidt is measuring the width and length of Manhattan. Each yardstick is numbered, used once, and later taken to Schmidt's studio and added to a sculpture. The pilgrimage/performance/art project, titled Manhattan Measure, was inspired by an ancient Hebrew text, but also parallels city walking "pioneers" like Mike Epstein. Begun in in October of last year, Manhattan Measure is about two thirds completed. Starting August 24th Schmidt will measure Sheep Meadow in Central Park down......

Earlier this year the National Park Service ended Circle Line's contract to run their ferry service between lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island (Hornblower will take over in October). Below you can check out some old footage of what their 3-hour boat tour had in store back in the day (with old-timey commercials played over the footage). Circle Line was introduced to New York on June 15th, 1945 when Frank Barry, Joe Moran and others merged several......

Picnick, the new Will Goldfarb double kiosk project at the Battery, is starting to shape up for its projected Labor Day weekend opening. Director of operations will be Kevin Pomplun, most recently chef at the Hotel on Rivington restaurant Thor. The somewhat upscale Picnick menu will range in price from $6-11. Sandwich selections will include sous vide chicken club with Berkshire bacon, prosicuitto with taleggio, and a Caprese-style sandwich with Joe’s mozzarella and local arugula. “We wanted to create food that was healthy, but not overly healthy,”......

As recently discussed here and there, a group of scientists have tried to predict how more frequent flooding--induced by global climate change--could affect New York City. An interesting facet of this conceptual floodmap from the Union of Concerned Scientists is the way it uncannily traces the boundaries of 400 years' worth of landfill on both East and West sides of lower Manhattan. In the 1600s, the East River lapped the edge of Pearl Street, while the Hudson approached the......

If you aren't at a BBQ, aren't watching the fireworks or a big budget summer movie...below are some options for you. Whatever you do, though, bring sparklers! MUSIC: The New Pornographers and Midlake are playing a free show at Battery Park. If you didn't get a free pass, then go hang out on the outskirts, enjoy the day, and listen to the music - we're sure it'll be loud enough. 3:30pm // Battery Park // Free Puracane, De Novo Dahl and Ghosts I've Met are......

Last night's cold front didn't bring as much rain as expected but it did cool us down and clear out much of the mugginess, making today feel a whole lot more comfortable than the rest of the week. The dew point temperature has dropped from a miserable 76 Wednesday afternoon to a reasonable 59 this morning. Our bodies cool by evaporating perspiration away from our skin. The closer the dew point is to our skin temperature, the less cooling can occur, hence the expression "yes, but it's......