Put Your City On

Looking east in the 20's towards 3rd ave

• Video: How Madison Avenue Shoppers Cut Back in the Downturn <The Cut>
  
• Drinking a beer on your stoop will get you a ticket <City Room>
  
• Manhattan Apartment Building Sales Drop From '07 <The Real Estate>
  
• Ad Agency's Epic Fail at "Revitalizing" I ♥ NY Logo <Gothamist>
  
• Winning Bike Rack Design Revealed! <Gothamist>
  
• John Liu Wants Federal Bailout for MTA, Calls Bridge Tolls a "Distraction" <Streetsblog>
  
• Best Buy Opens Bronx Store Before Inevitable Bankruptcy <Runnin' Scared>
  

Google Wraps Times Square Subway Shuttle In Advertisement

The History Channel was recently the first to take advantage of the MTA's new decision to allow a complete wrapping of subway cars in advertisements, when they wrapped the shuttle train in Times Square. And now Google has stepped up as the next concern to wrap a train, wrapping three exterior cars with an advertisement for Google Maps, slightly less understated then the History Channel's ad, if such a thing could be, as Google has only wrapped the exterior of the train, leaving the interior with the more traditional ads we are used to seeing in the square displays or banners up top.

The Times Square station seems to be ground zero for utilization of a number of uncommon advertising uses, with columns, steps, turnstile arms, trains, and many other surfaces being covered in ads. More pictures below of the Google train below.

[UPDATE: Adage is reporting that Google advertisements inside the train which offer directions are erroneously giving wrong information. "Specifically, we spotted this erroneous tip inside the train car: To get from Grand Central to Madison Square Garden, take the 1, 2 or 3 train and then walk to 4 Penn Plaza. Only the 1, 2 or 3 train doesn't run through Grand Central -- it goes through Times Square. Oops!"]

Related:

• Asics Digital Projection Ad: Union Square Subway Station
  
• Straphangers At 163rd St C Train Station View Less Number Of Advertisements
  
• Obama Wins; Subway Trains Parade Down 125th St Last Night.
• The Most Cavernous Subway Station In NYC?

Harlem World

A Kinky Deli, photograph by CarbonNYC.

• Taxman Spares Harlem Eatery <NY Post>
• Take an artsy walk around Harlem <Time Out Ny>
• Verizon to hand out free turkeys in Washington Heights <TCMnet>
  
• Harlem Holds Dedication For Harriet Tubman Sculpture <NY1>
• Tonight and Tomorrow, Harlem Tenants Council 2nd Annual Housing Conference
  <Google Groups>
• New York Rep. Charles Rangel has hired an accountant to pore over his personal finances as he faces an ethics committee investigation. <AP>
• Reading out loud: Literary venues for Latinos bloom in the city <Daily News>
  
• Woman Takes Command of 369th "Harlem Hell Fighters" <Read Media NewsWire>
  
• A leader of the consortium selected by city officials to build a mixed-use development on East 125th Street in Harlem has been dropped from the S&P 500 because its shares are virtually worthless <NY Observer>
• CITYarts, a non-profit public art organization in New York, had a ribbon cutting ceremony yesterday to celebrate the restoration of the 36-year-old mosaic benches <UptownFlavor>
• Target Free Sundays at the Studio Museum offers free Museum admission every Sunday between 12 and 6 <Uptown Flavor>

UPDATED: Newsstand At 116th And Lexington Downtrain 6 Train Station Has Last Three NY Times Nov 5th Election Papers In The World

The whole world wanted a newspaper on Nov 5th. But you couldn't find one. And because you didn't feel like making a phone call to whatever paper, requesting a copy, which they gladly would have sent you, maybe you waited on a line for an hour or two to get your grubby hands on one. Or, in an even worse display of your rampant unchecked consumerism/lack of intelligence, you paid $300.00 for a copy of the historic NY Times paper on Ebay. Papers freely made available on the NYTimes website for $15.00 where they note, "Don't worry: We have an abundance of Nov. 5 newspapers!", which are still inexplicably being sold on Ebay for upwards of $40.00 or more.

If you're going to spend that kind of money, you might want to consider an official aluminum press plate the NY Times used for the Nov. 5th edition, made available in limited quantities, which the Times is also shilling on their website for $149.00 and which seems a more appropriate value.

Either way, if you must have a copy of the newspaper itself, the photo above right shows one enterprising newsstand in the downtown bound 6 train station on 116th St and Lexington, which as of last night had "three or four" Nov. 5th NY Times papers available at $8.oo a pop, as well as a few New York Amsterdam News left, "The new Black view", which are printed weekly and is the Nov. 6th-12th edition, the first printing after the election. Those too are currently being sold on Ebay for upwards of $25.oo each. If you don't get up to 116th in time, NYC The Blog will be making a copy of each available next week.

[UPDATE: A reader writes in to say that after visiting the NYTimes store to purchase the historic paper today, she was met with an invitation to leave an email so they can notify you when they have more available. Wow, have they run out? Just last night the store website allowed you to purchase the paper, and as noted here, said ""Don't worry: We have an abundance of Nov. 5 newspapers!"]

[UPDATE: City Room responds via email, "Doubt they've run out. We've seen them around town at other vendors." I'd tend to agree, though just to be clear, as the screen grab taken late afternoon from the NYTimes Store website shows, they ask you to leave your email, and state that "you will be notified as soon as a paper is available for you to purchase", implying there are no papers available for purchase at this time.]

[UPDATE: The papers are now again available for immediate order]

Put Your City On

Spartan Bail Bonds, Baxter St.

• As Economy Weakens, Bridge and Tunnel Traffic Drops <City Room>
  
• New Yorkers March Against Proposition 8 <Gothamist>
  
• Tree-Topping Star Unveiled At Rockefeller Center <1010 Wins>
  
• VBS TV does a three part interview with Bernie kerik, NYC's past Police Commissioner, and almost Homeland Security Chief <VBS TV Part 1> Part 2, Part 3. Runnin' Scared has an review of all three parts

Why Are Four Cameras On The Corner 125th And Federick Douglas BLVD Focused On The United House Of Prayer For All People Church?

The top right photo shows the corner of 125th and Frederick Douglas BLVD as photographed from the SW corner of 125th St. You can see a large brick building housing a Duane Read on the NE corner, and on the SE corner a building housing a Capital One Bank on the ground floor, and the United House of Prayer on the second floor.

Slightly befuddling, there are a number of cameras on top of the red brick building that seem to be trained directly at the widows of the church across the street, The United House of Prayer For All People, which I first noticed early in the summer.

The photo above right displays the south side of the brick building which faces the church, with the five cameras visible on the roof, with one pointing towards the sidewalk on the NW side of it's building; the other four cameras appear to be trained directly at the windows of the church on the second floor across the street.

It's possible the cameras are recording the sidewalk, the general area, the bank, a combination of all three. As well, a building the church owned was the target of an arsonist in 1995 which killed eight people, a fire the police surmise was set in retaliation in response to the church's effort to evict The Record Shack, a long standing record store in a building the church owns, an effort which went on for years recently culminating in The Record Shack being forcefully evicted, which opens up the possibility that the church itself arranged for the cameras to be placed there as a means of recording any further possible criminal activity directed at the church. A call to Church headquarters was not returned.

I wonder if anyone can date the cameras? Did any of you make notice of them years ago? Anyone hear why they were installed?

Without knowing who owns the cameras, what they are recording, and why, they remain a source of suspicion as to their intent. The building housing the church is pictured to the right.

Harlem World

Morningside park waterfall in Harlem

• Harvard For Harlem Families <Harlem World Magazine>
• Columbia Contemplates Cutbacks Due to Financial Crisis <Daily Intel>
• A blog devoted to the dogs of Washington Heights and their people. (!!)
  <Washington Tykes>
• "Aggressive, cheesy and overpowering - just like its inspiration - "Paolo" is not suitable if you're going out on a hit." <NY Post>
  
• Harlem Flo (floral atelier) A great little addition to the up and coming new businesses on Frederick Douglass Blvd. <Harlem Condo Life>
  
• The Abyssinian Baptist Church Men’s Ministry Presents Jazz at Abyssinian
  <Uptown Flavor>
  

"I paid $35,000 for the apartment in 1994"

Those are words that casually came out of a friends mouth, while at his one bedroom apartment in Murray Hill this week. (not pictured in photo at right)

"I bought it at foreclosure in 1994. Actually, someone else did. Some woman placed the winning bid, sight unseen, for $29,000. After giving it some thought, I offered her $35,000 for the apartment after the auction ended."

"After giving it some thought"? Like what? You went home and batted the idea of buying an apartment in NYC for $35,000 and were like, I don't know, that's a lot of money, its not worth a dime over $30,000!?

Uggh. "I bought the apartment for $35,000", "Do you like my new Coach bag?" and "That restaurant is very exclusive. It has a doorman and velvet rope" are all little sequences are words that make me want to kill myself.

Dear God please help me find an apartment for an equivalent price. Also, thanks for blessing my friend.

Put Your City On

Police Officer Jose R. Diaz recognized for off-duty action. (photo cred)

• The off-duty officer pictured above who apprehended the shooter who wounded three people on St. Nicholas Ave last week was honored by Police Commissioner Ray Kelly <nyc.gov>
  
• Veterans Day in the Harbor <Tugster>
  
• M96 bus riders have the slowest ride in town <Urbanite>
  
• Jamaica Bay: Scientists and officials are working to protect a tarnished ecological gem before it fades forever. <City Limits>
  
• Night shift at the tanning salon <City Room>
  
• Did you get one of the fake NYTimes handed out today declaring the war over? <Gothamist>
  
• $30M Queens-Based Gambling Ring Busted <1010 Wins>
  
• Rockefeller Center tree arrives Friday; lighting set for Dec. 3 <Newyorkology>
  
• Chinatown Group Complains About English-Only Rezoning Hearing <Runnin' Scared>
  
• Manhatta: Art of the silent city <The Bowery Boys>
  
• Three year old patrols the subway <Subway Blogger>
  

Asics Digital Projection Ad: Union Square Subway Station

More of these types of advertisement will become prevalent in our subway stations as the format becomes aggressively marketed by the agencies selling the space, (in this case CBS Outdoor who handles all the ad space in our subway stations) and embraced by companies looking for new ways to get their message their across.

The NY Times recently ran a piece exploring the variety of advertising options available in the stations to get your message across, such as the projecting of ads on tunnel walls as they do in Boston and L.A., wrapping whole cars as was done recently on the Times Square Shuttle, and wrapping poles as you might have seen in the Herald Square station. CBS has also recently began testing a large digital display above a passageway by the 7 train in Times Square. As well, according to the Times, "it has offered stairs and the full interior of trains to advertisers for a technique known as a wrap." And for those truly looking to utilize all ad space available, and one that I've never (yet) seen covered with any ads, CBS also makes available for advertisers the turnstile arms, and the entire turnstile structure.

For further reading, Public Ad Campaign has a nice collection of stories regarding advertising in the subway stations.

Harlem World

• A Brief history of Graffiti, from Philly in the 60's to it's migration to Washington Heights in 70's <Rail Car Graffiti>
  
• "...a development team that plans to transform a weedy site in East Harlem into a 12-story rental apartment building had cause to celebrate last week." <NY Times>
  
• Malik 16 - My Block Harlem, (this was linked here once before, but whatever, it's good enough to share twice <Nah Right>
  
• My favorite Boutique resides in Harlem <Posh Glam>
  
• Joe Budden goes shopping on 145th for "a leather" <YouTube>
  
• An update now on former Development Du Jour East 120th Street Townhouses <Curbed>
  
• Applications Surge for Courses at CUNY’s 2-Year Colleges <NY Times>
  
• Deiwy Cruz recently celebrated the first-year anniversary of Net Plaza Café Internet, an East Harlem business he opened with his two brothers. <NY1>
  
• Dia Art Foundation held their fall gala at the Hispanic Society of America on 155th and Broadway, raising $625,000 and treated their guests who braved the trip to rose pedals, candle lit entrance, and dancers from the Trisha Brown Dance Company who performed between the tables during dinner. <Biz Bash>
  
• "In response to the recent economic downturn, the state’s Entrepreneurial Assistance Program has expanded its services to two new centers in Harlem." Columbia Spectator>
  

President Paris Hilton

Seen at yesterday's Veterans Day Parade, on 5th Avenue between 26th and 27th Streets. The gentleman holding the sign spoke to NYC The Blog, explaining that Paris "did a political video" and "was involved with the campaign. She's already like America's President and I just want to spread the word."

Nuts 4 Nuts On 53rd And Broadway

I've since forgotten what the proprietors name is, having neglected to write it down, though I did remember a few details from our conversation. He came to the U.S. from Chile ten years ago, and lives a few blocks west from where he sets up his cart here at 53rd and Broadway, south of the Ed Sullivan Theater, this evening catching everyone waiting on line for the Late Show With David Letterman. He's been working the cart in this spot for seven years, from 10 am to 11 pm everyday; sometimes he set up across the street on the east side of Broadway if the foot traffic is better over there. He tells me that he takes home about 70-80 dollars a day, 100 on a good day. I'm not sure if he was referring to his gross take or his profit and am unaware what his expenses might be, if he rents the cart, pays a fee of his take to someone else, how much the peanuts cost, etc...so I'm inclined to believe those numbers, if accurate, were referring to his profit after any and all expenses, as in the ten minutes I stood there conversing with him, he sold a half dozen or more bags of peanuts at two dollars each; if indicative of his business, that's about 70 dollars every hour.

Harlem World

Morningside Park pond, 113th and Morningside Ave

• Um, a walking of tour of Harlem for $50? Do people really pay that? <City Dusk>
  
• Or you could go on the 4th Annual Hawk Walk, I have a feeling it's a good deal cheaper then $50 <Harlem Hybrid>
  
• Or how about a walk in the North Woods of Central Parks? <Uptown Flavor>
• Skiing Harlem might be another option as well<what about the plastic animals?>

Smart Car Watch In Harlem. (Is The Vespa Scooter The New Symbol Of The New Harlem?)

After a brief dry spell with a lack of sightings, the Harlem Smart Car Watch at NYC The Blog continues, with this smart looking red one, a popular color, spotted Sunday on 123rd St and Manhattan Avenue as it's owner prepared to open the hatch.

What might be considered more important however, and certainly was more exciting to me, were the two Vespas spotted during the same walk at different locations. The first one, an orange Vespa in the photo bottom right, was spotted parked on the sidewalk around the corner from the Smart Car, on 117th and Morningside Ave. The second one, a black model seen in the poorly lit photo bottom left, was parked on 110th btw Amsterdam and Broadway, an area better known as Morningside Heights. Blogger Harlem Fur came out of retirement in July to note his first sighting of a Smart Car, his headline at the time declaring, "Harlem Is Over: Smart Car Signals the End"

With Harlem declared over in July upon sighting of a Smart Car, two Vespa sightings in one day must surely mark a new chapter in Harlem's gentrification. I'd like to see Harlem Fur's headline for this one.

Put Your City On

Marriage of Heaven and Hell, photograph by Pabo76.

• Ask About the City’s After-School Programs <City Room>
• Barack Obama's New York City <The Bowery Boys>
• City Wants To Mandate Bike Parking in New Buildings <The Real Estate>
  
• HarperCollins Rumored To Get Out Ahead On That One, Adding Employee Bike Parking in Midtown <Streetsblog>
  
• Cyclist Pitches Anti-Dooring Video Icon to TLC <Yellow Cab NYC>
  
• Reverend Billy Can't Stop, Releases Shopocalypse at Highline Ballroom
  <Fifth Column Blogs>
  
• New York Public Library survives in a digital world <Urbanite>
  
• 6 cents a bag? NYC The Blog is publicly taking a stand and advocating for at least 15 cents <NY Times>
  

Harlem Resident And NYC The Blog Reader Details His Own Recent Mugging On Nov 4th

NYC The Blog's report on a mugging around 145th st. last month, resulting in the victim losing his iPhone, prompted a reader to write in, saying, "Oddly enough, I read this blog post when it was first posted. Needless to say, it slipped my mind since, until I was mugged, same fashion on election night at 8PM on 147th, walking from St. Nick to Convent."

Pressing him for more detail via an email follow-up, Harlem Guy left a comment, noting in part,

"...It was around 8PM, and I was walking from the 145th ABCD stop on 147th from St. Nick to Convent. I was caught up in election excitement and was getting live updates from a friend of mine, on, you guessed it, my iphone."

Damn you iPhone! Didn't anybody read the helpful officers guide NYC The Blog posted on how not to get mugged?!

Luckily for Harlem Guy, although his assailants did brandish a gun, the police happened to be in eyesight. He continues,

"Essentially, I was walking, and a guy was rushing up the street yelling. At first, I ignored him, thinking it was NY as usual, until he put a gun on my back and yanked the phone and took off running down 147th to St. Nick. Luckily (I guess), the cops were driving up the street at the time and witnessed the before, during and after of my mugging--but due to a broken radio, were unable to catch the guys (turns out one of them was waiting behind for a lookout/assistance if needed). Had the cops not been there, it probably would have been a much worse outcome--I still have my wallet, well being, and bottle of champagne.

Needless to say, I was a little shaken--especially given the guy would still go ahead with mugging me with a cop RIGHT THERE (the cops said they hesitated when they saw the police car driving up the street but then went for it anyway). Also to be noted were the people hanging out on their stoops that did not raise a finger to help.

I filed a report with the police, although had to encourage them to do so (asked, when discovered it was just my phone taken, "You don't really want to file a report, right?") Looks like these guys are still at it. Be careful up there.

NYC The Blog contacted the 30th Precinct looking to verify the report, who referred me to headquarters downtown, who then referred me back to the 30th precinct. At this time neither of them could confirm or deny the report.

Harlem World

Hungarian Pastry Shop on 111th And Amsterdam

• Whatever you want to call 12th Ave in West Harlem, "it's going to be the same hazy and nameless row of bars and clubs where you wish you hadn't started a tab."
  <Fifth Column Blogs>
• Median home prices in Harlem and East Harlem were down nearly 20 percent, to $440,000 at the end of this year’s third quarter. Median prices in Hamilton Heights and Morningside Heights dropped 30% <NY Times>
• Harlem Moms Offer Support In Wake Of Violence <NY1>
  
• Good Senegalese Food in Harlem <Harlem Condo Life>
  
• November Events @ East Harlem Cafe <Uptown Flavor>
• Letters to President Obama from Fourth Graders in Harlem <HuffPo>
  
• Harlem Tenants Council 2nd Annual Housing Conference <Narmer's Page>
  
• Philip Reed, Ex-Councilman who represented East Harlem and Manhattan Valley, and parts of the Upper West Side and the South Bronx, is dead at 59 <NY Times>
• The off-duty police officer who nabbed the shooter on St Nicholas Ave last week says, "I'm no hero." <Daily News>

Backlash Against Williamsburg Grows, Community Now A Source Of Derision From NYC To Hong Kong

HSBC Advertisement, shot from Williamsburg side of the bridge, seen at the 6th Ave. 14th St L Subway Station

The above advertisement is reported to have been unveiled with nine other new images in Hong Kong based HSBC's "Different Values" ad campaign on October 20th, a campaign now ubiquitous throughout the city. The ad above, featuring Manhattan's skyline, was only spotted by NYC The Blog for the first time last night in the 14th St. 6th Avenue L subway station, and is shot from the Williamsburg side of the river, as witnessed by the skyline and the Williamsburg Bridge stretching above. Though the ad is relevant without respect to recent events, HSBC could not have imagined just how poignant the ad would become only three weeks later in light of recent events in Williamsburg.

Recent events of course referring to yet another large street celebration on Bedford Ave in Williamsburg which was populated by a large crowd of young men and woman, the fashionable and artistic 'New Williamsburg', drinking alcohol, flashing their boobs, and celebrating the latest news/event/parade. The occasion this time being an Obama presidency.

A notable amount of attention online and in print reporting on the events that occurred there that evening, between residents and the police --and the reaction to those events after police tried to disperse the loud and boisterous crowd celebrating Obama's victory in the streets-- followed. And though these spontaneous celebrations happened in neighborhoods all over nyc without incident on election night, it was Williamsburg's which ended with arrests and accusations from both sides alleging physical violence.

If the comments on postings about the impromptu celebration at places such as Gothamist and elsewhere are any indication, the majority of people are disgusted with the antics displayed by the crowd that evening towards the police of Williamsburg, activities that were recorded by a proliferation of digital media showing individuals taunting and antagonizing the police, and then posted online at places such as YouTube.

After a loud and vocal argument was made online by those attempting to shape the issue as one of a police state trying to crush a political rally, a backlash to this storyline has developed, most recently spilling out directly into the neighborhood as witnessed by the latest salvo spotted, (photograph right) of a flyer from neighbors posted in a local laundromat that declares 15-20 writers --Bronx born artists and teachers who came to Williamsburg over 15 years ago-- "appalled" at the behavior of the rowdy crowd, and warning them not to "humiliate the working left" with their continued "spoiled brat antics", suggesting instead they "donate to NYC public schools and hospitals". This latest display of public admonishment joins the Dear Williamsburg tumblr accepting letters to Williamsburg via email, and the recent decision by the NY Times to dispatch a reporter to the community to do their own report on the situation; a reporter who sought out stinging quotes from community residents offering comments on the "newer crowd" such as "They’re distracted, there’s a total disregard for protocol. They have no regard for nobody else."

It seems a certain class of Williamsburg residents, media savvy, young, and public, have so successfully nutured, embraced, and marketed a community that is now despised for being self-centered, obnoxious, and misguided members of the bourgeoisie class who would rather fight for their right to wear panda costumes in the street then fight for more public school funding for instance --that derision towards that is boiling over in public, and is now part of a marketing tool for international conglomerates. This couldn't have ended any other way really.

As the flyer spotted in the laundromat suggest, as a means of reversing course, "Teach, Counsel, Donate...Stop using Obama's campaign to blow shit coke and BS up ur ass"

UPDATE: Curbed picks up the post, and attempts to offer some ground cover for the beleagured residents of Williamsburg by blaming out of town frat kids for the ruckus, but a commenter isn't helping matters, writing that "I was talking with a friend of mine who had worked on Obama's campaign and she said that the sad/ironic thing was that they couldn't even get enough volunteers in Wmburg to set up a phone bank."

(photograph of letter, on right, from exq1979's Flickr)