Kevin White

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There’s something interesting happening downtown at The Armoury New York.

 

They’re building a team of chic and, more importantly, cool young guys that seem to have a good sense of style and youth.

 

I’ll be very curious to see how the shop and the team evolve over the next few years. New York could use some fresh blood in the stuffy tailored clothing arena.

Tech companies' thirst for more of our home screens may be starting to backfire.

Just a year or two ago, some of the biggest mobile apps were splitting themselves apart.

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The Williamsburg Bridge early this morning by @terrinthekalian

And a different view a little bit later via Bobby Williams...

Confirming what we know (especially when there are signal problems or train issues), more people than ever are riding the subways. The MTA's CEO has described the increase in subway ridership "relentless," and to prove it the authority has announced that straphangers helped break the single day ridership record last month: 6,217,621 people squeezed into the subway on October 29th. [ more › ]

There’s no snow in the forecast just yet. But winter is right around the corner.

And even New Yorkers who have no love for cold weather concede that the city blanketed in snow, especially at twilight illuminated by streetlamps, is magical and enchanting.

Guy Carleton Wiggins saw something enchanting about snow too.

An Impressionist painter who was born into an artistic Brooklyn family in 1883, Wiggins created many lovely scenes of a snowy 20th century Manhattan. (Above: “A Winter’s Evening in New York”; below: “The Circle”)

He depicted blue-gray skies above snow-dusted horses and carriages, skyscrapers and statues, and masses of pedestrians, huddled under umbrellas or tucking their chins into their necks to stay dry.

The son of painter Carleton Wiggins, Guy Wiggins studied with William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri and found early success. His snow scenes take place at Columbus Circle, along Wall Street, on Fifth Avenue, and at other less recognizable points on the cityscape. (Below: “Brooklyn Bridge in Winter”)

In an interview with the Detroit News (by way of the Rehs Galleries Inc), Wiggins explained how an elevated train chugging through a blizzard outside his studio window inspired his work. (Below: “A Winter Night in New York”)

“One cold, blustering, snowy winter day (1912) I was in my New York studio trying to paint a summer landscape,” said Wiggins.

“Suddenly I saw what was before me—an elevated railroad track, with a train dashing madly through the whirling blizzard-like snow that made hazy and indistinct the row of buildings on the far side of the street.”

“In a week, so to say, I was established as a painter of city winter scenes, and I found it profitable. Then suddenly I felt a revulsion against them and I stopped. . . . I couldn’t go on with winter stuff and that was all there was to it.”

[Wiggins, 1910]

With so many skyscrapers in the city topping out with more than 70, 80, even 100 floors, the tall buildings shown in this photo of Times Square look pretty puny.

But they impressed New Yorkers at the time, and the caption on the back of the card boasts about them. “This aerial photograph of the Times Square section of New York shows many of the skyscraper office buildings located in the heart of New York,” it reads.

“Among the best known are the Times Building, the Bush Terminal Building, recently completed Loew’s State Theatre, and the famous Hotel Astor on Broadway.”

KeySmart, $20. This clever little invention (left) looks like a small army knife, but instead holds keys together. No more jangling!

Blue cheese sea salt, $9, to upgrade his steak, baked potatoes and grilled vegetables.… Read more

The post Gift Guide Part #7: Your Hilarious Dad Who Always Answers the Phone When You Call (On the Treadmill, at a Movie, in a Meeting). appeared first on A Cup of Jo.

When Your Shot member Haukur Snorrason hiked into Iceland’s Gljúfrabúi Canyon, he was hoping to see the setting sun hit the canyon’s waterfall. Instead, he got a more unique shot. “I ... noticed some rays from the low sunlight that … colored the spray from the waterfall,” Snorrason writes. “This was a complete surprise to me, since I have never seen a photo like that from this place.”

This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now >>

A small Zodiac touring boat provides scale for this iceberg off the coast of Greenland. “[The boat] gives you an idea how large this berg really is,” writes Your Shot member Lorraine Minns.

This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now >>

Curious how many people were shot near your apartment in the past year—or how many were shot near an apartment you're considering moving into? A bracing new interactive map lets you type in an address anywhere in America and familiarize yourself with the grim realities of gun violence in your vicinity. [ more › ]

Manhattan residents are getting a new 332 area code, news that means very little to those of us with 212 and 917 numbers because we are already better than all of you. [ more › ]

There's only one park in Manhattan where truly sophisticated aristocrats can promenade in peace without being subjected to the vulgar axilla-scratching antics of the lower orders: Gramercy Park, a fastidiously gated paradise accessible only to those who have earned entrée through the merits of our flawless capitalist system. A limited number of keys to Gramercy Park are closely guarded by the noble lords and ladies who reside alongside its idyllic expanse, where they recreate themselves in a secluded sanctuary of hard-won privilege. [ more › ]

Force was needed



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Psychiatric emergency room doctors at Bellevue Hospital Center routinely forcibly inject newly arrived patients with powerful sedatives, not because the patients are dangerous, but because they refused to have their blood drawn, according to a new report. City Limits reports that Mental Hygiene Legal Services, a public defender organization for psych patients, formally complained to the New York Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs, a state oversight agency, citing eight instances of allegedly unnecessary forced injections. [ more › ]

Because nobody wants to see Jar Jar Binks again, check out today's mid-day links: toxic NJ sites, cheese music for grannies, 'The League' oral history, Bernie Sanders whispers, white ISIS, and baby goat bleats. Don't forget to follow Gothamist on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Facebook. [ more › ]

It was only eight months ago that we thought we would never see the pavement again, that New York's perennial garbage heaps had been subsumed by heaps of abominable filth snow. Do you remember that? It was awful. It was interminable. It's not going to be like that this year.* [ more › ]

Caffeine-addicted Mets fans won't be forced to gargle Pepsi with their oversized hot dogs anymore: starting at the beginning of 2016, Coca-Cola will replace Pepsi as the official soda of Citi Field. Pepsi has sponsored the stadium since it opened in 2009, and its departure means the removal of the sign behind right field that gives the Pepsi Porch its name. [ more › ]

awesome-picz:

Cats Who Immediately Regretted Their Poor Life Choices.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Biography
More poems by this author

“Calm your baby in seconds,” says one headline. “Stop it crying EVERY time,” reads another. Is it really as easy as Dr. Robert Hamilton makes it look? I grabbed the nearest infant to put “The Hold” to the test.

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Hovertext: We are all starstuff, except Grampa.

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Today's News:

We still have some Christmachrist cards left! Come for the creepy Santa gif, stay for the mildly offensive merchandise! 

Tired of New York’s terrible traffic and lack of housing options?

It might be time to revisit one of the nuttier ideas for reshaping and redeveloping Manhattan ever proposed: draining the Hudson River and then paving it over.

This idea doesn’t seem to be a hoax. It was covered in the March 1934 edition of Modern Mechanix in a wild article entitled “Filling in the Hudson.”

The terrifying illustration on the opening page shows the Hudson River dammed up and filled in from Lower Manhattan to the tip of Harlem.

The plan, proposed by “noted publicist and engineering scholar” Norman Sper, would “reclaim” from the Hudson River 10 square miles, which would “not only provide for thousands of additional buildings, but also for avenues and cross streets,” to ease congestion.

“Today there are ten avenues laid out along the length of Manhattan,” proclaims the article. “These are crossed by 125 streets. It is the lack of up-and-down arteries which has given rise to the existing traffic crisis. Sper would double the number of avenues.”

The water from the Hudson River would be diverted into the Harlem River and the East River. The entire project was supposed to cost the city a cool $1 billion.

It’s unclear how far this idea went; it doesn’t appear to have been covered in any of the major dailies. And since there is no 15th Avenue running through the middle of the Hudson, obviously no one ever took it seriously.

Check out more crazy plans and proposals for New York City that thankfully never made it past the blueprint stage.

[SantaCon 2013 via EVG reader Steven]

Via the EVG inbox...

Today, State Senator Brad Hoylman, along with City Comptroller Scott Stringer, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, State Senators Adriano Espaillat, Liz Krueger and Daniel Squadron, Assembly Members Deborah Glick, Richard Gottfried and Linda Rosenthal, and Council Members Daniel Garodnick, Corey Johnson and Rosie Mendez sent letters to SantaCon and the New York State Liquor Authority (SLA) calling for greater oversight and accountability in an effort to rein in the annual pub crawl.

The coalition of lawmakers, building on similar efforts in 2013 and 2014, proposed a set of guiding principles for SantaCon’s organizers, including better coordination with officials, greater accountability on the part of the organizers, and stronger efforts to mitigate risks to pedestrians. SantaCon, an annual bar-crawl that draws thousands of participants dressed as Santa Claus, regularly draws the ire of local residents and law enforcement for its disruptive effect on local communities as well as its perceived threat to public safety.

"SantaCon needs to grow up," said State Senator Brad Hoylman. "An organization that brings over 25,000 people to our neighborhoods should show us respect by sharing its routes with community boards and local elected officials and working together with us well in advance to determine how we can mitigate the negative impacts of this bar crawl on our local communities and small retail businesses, whose annual sales depend heavily on this time of year."

The local officials also reached out to SLA Chairman Vincent G. Bradley, urging the agency to take a “proactive approach” to this year’s event by reminding participating licensees to be mindful of potential violations and committing additional inspectors along the route to ensure adherence to local regulations.

###

To Whom It May Concern:

For a third year, we write to express our concerns regarding the annual SantaCon bar crawl and the negative impact it has on the residential communities where it takes place. Each holiday season, local elected officials, community boards and local precincts face a wave of complaints as the SantaCon bar crawl passes through their neighborhoods.This year, we are again hoping to take preemptive action.

We appreciate that the SantaCon bar crawl can provide additional short-term sales to a small group of local business establishments. However, we also recognize that the event’s many adverse effects significantly disrupt the quality of life of entire communities. While the SantaCon bar crawl has pledged to take proactive steps in the past, the organization’s efforts have not mitigated the bulk of the event’s deleterious impact. There is still more that can and must be done to ensure that the event is positive and safe.

Previously, we requested that the SantaCon bar crawl adhere to a set of common-sense principles. We urge you to agree to a similar set of guidelines this year in anticipation of the event’s 2015 iteration. The three principles are as follows:

• Share defined routes with the community – The SantaCon bar crawl’s path often comes as an unwelcome and last minute surprise to community members, the NYPD, and local businesses. We ask that the SantaCon bar crawl make its routes and timetable publicly available far in advance in order to give all of these stakeholders time to adequately plan for the arrival of SantaCon bar crawl participants.
• Ensure responsible participant behavior – While the police can certainly play a role in ensuring SantaCon bar crawl participants abide by laws regarding public intoxication and urination and overly aggressive behavior, the NYPD is responsible for serving the public at large rather than providing security for a private event. The SantaCon bar crawl’s organizers must make a concerted effort to self-police at establishments along the route and should expel overly intoxicated and badly-behaving participants.
• Mitigate pedestrian safety risks – The Santacon bar crawl’s participants often overwhelm sidewalks that were designed to accommodate smaller crowds, posing serious safety concerns for participants and other pedestrians. The SantaCon bar crawl should identify opportunities to reduce these risks. For example, staff members or trained volunteers can be present along the route to ensure the free-flow of pedestrian travel and to prevent individuals from walking into busy vehicular traffic.

With the date of the event rapidly approaching, we urge the SantaCon bar crawl to act swiftly to adopt these guidelines and make its programmatic and safety plans public.

To date, the SantaCon route has been shrouded in secrecy. DNAinfo reported that the event to take place this Saturday will start in Bushwick, and wind up in the East Village.

Previously on EV Grieve:
SantaCon 2015 set for Dec. 12 in NYC, says SantaCon

Local politicians call on SantaCon 'to adopt good-neighbor principles'