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Get Busy
by Damian Van Denburgh 05/22/2012Neighborhood: East Village, Featured
My friend Flip didn’t read, he told me, because he was all about music. Slick, shiny, high-gloss music. Nothing got him more excited than discussing “production values.” He’d play dance remixes for me and practically conduct them as some new version of an awful song stomped and restomped its way through a cathedral-like reverb chamber [...]
Old Enough To Die In Brooklyn: The Mortician’s Lament
by Chris Pomorski 05/10/2012Neighborhood: Cobble Hill, Featured
When the previous resident of my apartment, who was still living in it when my girlfriend and I viewed it for the first time, told us that the funeral home downstairs hardly ever held services, the effect on me was less than palliative. Jenna nodded thoughtfully in the way real estate shoppers are prone, apparently [...]
The Wild Turkeys Of Staten Island University Hospital
by Tom Diriwachter 04/17/2012Neighborhood: Featured, Staten Island
Wild turkeys roam the grounds of Staten Island University Hospital. When my mother was hospitalized in April 2011 with a respiratory infection, I had the opportunity to observe them in detail. Turkeys stand around a lot, sort of like escaped mental patients who suddenly find themselves free, but then what. One day, they might be [...]
In The Living Room Of The Beggar
by Glora Manuilova 04/13/2012Neighborhood: Brighton Beach, Featured
He sat sprawled on the furthest side of the Q train, nose plumped with alcohol and ears flushed a chili-pepper red -- laughing so hard his breath left two giant spheres of fog on the window. The rest of us were bunched on the other side, in an attempt to escape the stench of human [...]
From Howard Beach To An Ashram; A Mafia Journey
by eugene baron 04/06/2012Neighborhood: Featured, Howard's Beach
All names in this story have been changed. It is not every day that one visits an Ashram for yoga and encounters a “retired” Mafia soldier, adrift there because of illness and poverty. From my end, I envisioned a documentary film covering his faded world; however, for his own security - though the events occurred [...]
A Frothy Goodbye
by Nicholas Soodik 03/26/2012Neighborhood: Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Featured
Every English teacher needs a café of his own, and my weekend joint for nearly seven years has closed. The Fall Café frothed its final latte in early December. I hope my students understood why their last batch of essays was returned later than usual. Signs of the café’s demise were written everywhere, literally. Last [...]
Queen of the Plaza
by peter nolan smith 03/17/2012Neighborhood: Featured, Midtown
St. Patrick’s Day promised to be another disaster for the Retail Collection of the Plaza Hotel. Hordes of green-clad spectators streamed down the escalator into the basement. Their eyes averted the luxury goods on offer, as their destination was the hotel’s public bathroom. Within the first hour I had given directions to the toilet over [...]
Bento Box Bingo
by Ben Yagoda 02/26/2012Neighborhood: Featured, Lower East Side
Many things are curated in this day and age. Google will happily refer you to “a curated book,” “curated digital apps,” “a curated list of televised soccer games,” a “meticulously curated” fixed-gear bicycle boutique in Paris, and “a curated set of grooming products.” A curated door, such as can be found at 27 Ludlow Street [...]
Elevator Days
by Joseph Scalia 02/10/2012Neighborhood: Featured, Financial District, Lower Manhattan, Manhattan
Whenever I go to a party or I am introduced to people I don’t know, they invariably ask me what I do. “What do you do?” And I always tell them, “I am an elevator operator.” I say that I drive an elevator in downtown Manhattan. The reaction to my announcement varies. Some people smile [...]
January 25, 1987
by Thomas R. Pryor 02/03/2012Neighborhood: Featured, Letter From Abroad
The New York Giants are heading to Indianapolis for their fifth Super Bowl. 25 years ago, I spent a perfect day in Pasadena. “Tommy, want some action?” Al said to me on the school bus. “No, the Giants are favored by 9 ½ points.” I answered. “What about over and under, it’s 39 ½?” Now [...]
King of Handball
by Raanan Geberer 01/24/2012Neighborhood: Brooklyn Heights, Featured
By any standards, Mark Margolies, who is now in his late sixties, lived an uneventful life. He was modest and soft-spoken. Even after he graduated from Brooklyn College, he lived with his parents until he was 30, mainly staying in his room, working only sporadically, and reading philosophy books. Then, on a weekend hiking trip, [...]
Looking For Lady Gaga
by Josh Gilbert 01/04/2012Neighborhood: Featured, Midtown
A Barney's window display of Lady Gaga's work has legendary multi-media performance artist Colette's notorious creations written all over it. Colette, whose seminal performance art and multi-media installations originated out of New York City's vibrant art scene in the 1970's has traveled to museums and galleries all over the world; including the Guggenheim; MOMA; and [...]
