I don’t know how the Metropolitan Opera’s stock portfolio has weathered the financial storm of the past few weeks, but the company suffered a catastrophic hit Thursday night when the machinery that normally moves sets broke down and the huge sets had to be moved by hand.
I knew something was wrong when the long intermission between acts two and three of “La Gioconda” had already lasted 40 minutes
The five buildings at 47-49-51-53-55 West 28th Street has been put up for sale as a group. The Loopnet listing recommends that they be demolished, “yielding over 111,000 sf of Prime Chelsea property.”
See the list of Tin Pan Alley hits, including “Give My Regards to Broadway,” “The Sidewalks of New York,” and “Happy Days Are Here Again.”
A computer hacker is threatening to release “personal and sensitive” e-mails swiped from the swank Thompson hotel chain after taunting the company about its lax security practices.
I suppose I want a return to the waterfront the way it was, with manufacturing, shipbuilding and stevedoring…working. The realities, though, were a choice between decaying remnants of a maritime past, empty and ghostlike, or a bustling furniture store providing employment to area residents, some of which are from the projects and needed the break.
Once shooting started the paparazzi started jockying for position. I’ve never stood with them before and soon realized that it was a blood sport. Each time one got in a good position another one would get in front of that one. There was pushing and shoving and two guys almost came to blows. The phrase “Don’t f- with me man!” was uttered right before someone from the show came over and told them all to cool it, that they were distracting the actors.
Last year, 157,000 visitors from India came to New York, according to the tourism bureau. The hope is that the new office will dramatically increase that number, considering that India’s population exceeds one billion.
For me, the best fun in New York at the moment is Rock Of Ages, the Velveeta-cheesy fluff at New World Stages. Jam-packed with hits from the hair-band 80’s, it’s got three things to recommend it: a tremendously witty supporting performance by Will Swenson (Hair), a hilarious bastardization of Pat Benatar, and — you listening, kids? — full bar service during the musical, delivered right to your seat.
The 596-square-foot boutique will offer more than 300 “useful items focusing on travel” like luggage, blotting papers, toothbrushes, slippers and neck pillows (so no trash cans, cots or file cabinets) as well as a small selection of apparel
The Transportation Security Administration will likely relax the restrictions on carrying liquids through airport security screening checkpoints in a year, TSA chief Kip Hawley said.
In a move sure to excite scholars and vintage clothing afficionados alike, The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art has put its entire collection online in an extensive database available to the public.
Activist David Sylvester and his dog Chiva are touring animal shelters around the country in a moving effort to draw awareness and support for homeless animals. They hit NYC this week and have a full report.
The Hawaiian Tropic Zone in Times Square may be advertised as “the hottest place on Earth,” but it turned into a living hell for four female workers who claim that widespread sexual harassment there escalated into rape and forcible sodomy.
Hairspray, the Tony Award-winning hit Broadway musical, is expected to close in mid-January 2009, but not before welcoming back the Mother of All Ednas — Harvey Fierstein.
No kidding, the room is so tiny, and was so crammed with our person, our backpack and a purse it took five minutes to realize we’d left a suitcase sitting in the hall.
The Freedom Tower, centerpiece of the plan to rebuild Manhattan’s World Trade Center, will not be completed until 2013, well past the original target date of 2009, the landowning agency for the site said on Thursday.
When a man staying at the makeshift “hotel” in Liu’s apartment taunted him on Sept. 4, calling him a mouse, Liu’s temper flared and he stabbed the man.
It is also possible to view the weather at your chosen location, view the location on Virtual Earth and query Yahoo GeoPlanet for nearby places. And if that is not enough, you can also open a Google search for your location, open Google News, view Flickr photos of the location, read the Wikipedia article about the location, view videos and retrieve census information.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer Elliot G. Sander today announced a series of innovative advertising strategies to increase revenue generated by ads in the MTA’s transit system. Sander was joined by History’s™ Senior Vice President, Marketing, Chris Moseley, in unveiling the centerpiece of the initiative, the first fully-wrapped MTA NYC Transit subway car. Three cars will be fully-wrapped, inside and out, with a promotion for History’s™ television series “Cities of the Underworld” for the month of October.
Now, having seen the opening week of the new Met season (and its gala with a sublime Renée Fleming), I believe we’re approaching another operatic Golden Age.
Word has now come that the Path Fund will produce a one-night concert of THE WHO’S TOMMY to benefit BC/EFA with the bulk of the original cast, many of whom have gone on to become Broadway stars: Michael Arnold, Anthony Barrile, Bill Buell, Maria Calabrese, Michael Cerveris. …
The $139 million Picasso painting, Le Rêve, that was damaged in 2006 by billionaire Stephen Wynn will be publicly shown for the first time since the accident at Acquavella Galleries in New York City.
The Vesturport Theatre in Iceland has produced a lauded production of the1837 Georg Büchner play Woyzeck, presented (in English) by BAM as part of their Next Wave Festival. It’s directed by Gísli Örn Gardarsson (pictured) with original music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.
For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl. Sometimes she’d ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.
The first flights will taxi into the terminal on Oct. 22, rather than the previously announced Oct. 1. The airline attributed the delay to retail stores and restaurants needing more time, but did not elaborate.
Jay-Z heard about “Fela!” - which is based on the life of Nigerian musician and political activist Fela Kuti - from a friend, record producer and drummer Questlove, who’s such a “Fela!” fan, he’s been raving about it on Twitter for weeks
Greenpoint is the preeminent Polish enclave in New York – and one of the largest outside of Poland itself. According to the 2000 Census, New York had the second-largest Polish community in the country after Chicago, and the majority seem to live in Greenpoint.
Customers flying on the Delta Shuttle can earn double elite-qualifying miles on flights between New York LaGuardia and Boston Logan or Washington Reagan National. Delta frequent-fliers must register online at delta.com/shuttlebonus and fly on or before Dec. 15 to take advantage of the promotion.
The result, a year after the city announced the $2 million commitment, will be a project called “In Pursuit of Freedom,” which will have an “artistic installation,” a self-guided walking tour, a theatrical performance, “interpretative exhibits,” and a Web site.
Most all the Vermont locals I have talked to agree that the fall leaf colors this year are much better than average. I am seeing more red than any year in recent memory. We had a very good foliage season last year and I think this will be better.
Tadashi Kawamata arrived at Madison Square Park yesterday to begin constructing the tree huts. Forklifts, boom lifts, table saws, power drills, and wood were spread around the 6.2-acre park just north of East 23rd Street between Fifth and Madison avenues.
Graphically bloody novel, which juxtaposes Reagan-era decadence and gruesome killings, includes prominent references to bands of the era, a fact that contributed to the idea of musicalizing the story. Sounds of the time will influence the new show’s score.
(City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan) said it is “highly likely” the program will be extended next summer to the boroughs outside Manhattan. City officials are still exploring what streets to include next summer.
New concretes (a type of thick frozen custard) include the Natural History Crunchstellation (made of vanilla custard, malt, chocolate, caramel, and hot fudge), inspired by the Museum of Natural History, which is soon to be the Shack’s newest neighbor. A portion of the proceeds of this concrete will go back to the museum. Other concretes include the Shacky Road (chocolate custard, chocolate, marshmallow, and almonds) and the Upper West Slide (vanilla custard, strawberry puree, banana, and shortbread cookies).
One of the first facts you learn as a student of New York City history is that Wall Street, that canyon of tall buildings and center of the American financial world, is named for an actual wall that once stretched along this very spot during the days of the Dutch. The real story is rather fuzzied by the presence of a small community of French-speaking Belgians known as the Walloons.
We Earthlings can now book advance tickets (free, by the way) for Zaha Hadid’s spaceship-like Chanel Mobile Art show, set to descend on Central Park’s Rumsey Playfield from October 20th to November 9th.
The tool — which encompasses the M.T.A.’s subways, buses and two commuter railroads, along with the PATH and New Jersey Transit commuter lines — appears far more sophisticated than existing online trip planners like Trips123, a site that was built with public financing.
The entire sandwich is just about perfect: the beef-to-bun ratio is spot on and the textural distinction between the components is pronounced, but the components come together in a synergistic manner. The tangy, oozing cheese serves to bind the charred onions and adhere them and the patty to the bun, making the burger easy to eat with one hand as it stays together perfectly.
The Hotel Carter, known by some as “the worst hotel in NYC,” is next door. It was constructed in 1929 and was known as the Dixie until 1976. It was a homeless shelter in the 1980s.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has begun exploring possible cuts in subway, bus and commuter rail service to shore up its budget in the face of a projected deficit next year of nearly $900 million, officials said on Monday.
Fly to London on British Airways for $472 roundtrip from NYC (JFK and EWR) and receive a free stay for up to two nights at selected three and four star hotels across the UK (based on double occupancy; single occupants receive one free night). The sale begins on September 23 and travelers have until October 2, 2008 to book their trip. For additional savings, travelers can register and book online at ba.com for $20 off each roundtrip booking.
Taxpayers shelled out a record $5.69 last year for every “free” ride on the Staten Island Ferry, as soaring fuel costs drove up the annual operating tab to $112 million, according to newly released data.
Along the east side of the pothole, the rock layers run vertically — not horizontally. The result, where the surface has been carved away in a concave form, is an abstract canvas of swirling, concentric rings; not unlike a gouge in a wall that reveals many layers of old paint. This speaks of a period far more ancient than the glaciers, about 500 million years ago, when the edges of the colliding North American and African continental plates got shuffled together.
On Monday, the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene distributed 400,000 matchbooks printed with graphic images of cancers generally related to cigarette smoking. Bodega owners agreed to give them out free in three of the city’s unhealthiest neighborhoods, Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant, the South Bronx and Harlem.
Apparently, Broadway.com told the producers of 13, THE MUSICAL that while they’d continue to sell tickets to the Jason Robert Brown musical about tiny people with tiny problems, they would not market the show to teenagers or tell schools it was appropriate for students. “My Goodness, isn’t that 13’s target demographic??”, you might ask. Why yes, it is
That $799 price reflects roundtrip airfare departing from New York-JFK on British Airways January 8-23 2009 — for a standard room, double occupancy, at the Comfort Hotel Davout Nation, located about five minutes from the Porte de Montreuil-Metro.
Also on view at the new terminal are some fancy seats from Lufthansa, which owns 19 percent of JetBlue. And our spy on the scene says they’re serving “T5-tinis,” which sounds nice!
MTA begins 30-day test of double-decker buses on some routes (NY1) As for the new double-decker, officials plan to use them only on express and limited routes. The concern is the increased loading time required for people to go up and down the stairs.
New Museum buys adjacent 5-story building on the Bowery (NY Times) Not even a year after it opened a new $50 million home on the Bowery, the New Museum of Contemporary Art has acquired an adjacent building for $16.6 million, museum executives said Monday.
Top Shop not yet open in SoHo, but the website launches for shopping (Daily News) Topshop.com — the British style mecca’s dollar Web site — goes live Tuesday, which means for the first time we can get Topshop goods rushed from across the pond to our doorstep. Dresses are $90-$300, shoes are $90-$350 and t-shirts are $15.
Renovation begins at Beacon Theater, built in 1929 (NY Times) The Beacon went dark last month for a six-month, $15-million restoration by Madison Square Garden Entertainment, a division of Cablevision Systems Corporation, which announced in 2006 that it was leasing the theater for 20 years. The interior face-lift is to be completed by Jan. 31, in time for a February opening.
For a good six years, the mysterious Swoon has been pasting her evocative and eye-catching cut-outs on walls around town, slowly and steadily establishing herself as one of the more intriguing street artists in the game.
Celebrities and middle-class couples from Long Island and New Jersey alike rubbed elbows - and sometimes a whole lot more - in the pioneering swingers hideaway in the basement of the Ansonia Hotel on Broadway and 74th Street. “Everybody went there, whether they want to admit it or not,” says writer-actor Buck Henry, who’s interviewed in “American Swing,” a new documentary premiering tomorrow at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Even many who disagree with the views of our editorial page enjoy reading the Sun. “A fabulous read for culture,” is the way it was described in the Nation. David Remnick of the New Yorker sent a note to say how much he admired what we are doing with the Sun, which he called “just plain good.” He added: “OK, I agree with about ten percent of your editorials, but so what. … I’m a lot happier, and richer, for having faced the Sun in the a.m.”
A long-running success story, The PGA of America grew from a meeting held on April 10, 1916, in the Hotel Martinique’s boardroom, where 35 charter members and 78 total Professionals were elected to membership and formed what is today, the world’s largest working sports organization, with more than 28,000 men and women Professionals.
