Results tagged “Fifth Avenue”

There may be a recession, but Apple products might be nearly recession-proof. According to Bloomberg News, the company's Fifth Avenue store at 59th Street is the highest grossing store along that ritzy part of the street, which includes Tiffany & Co., Harry Winston, and Abercrombie & Fitch. While Apple doesn't disclose store specific data, given that Apple's overall store revenue has increased by 2.5% and other neighboring stores' company revenue has declined 22-30%, the guess is that the Fifth Avenue Apple store has $350 million in annual sales or $35,000 of sales per square foot (per square foot, Tiffany does less than half). Native New Yorkers and tourists alike flock there, and one analyst explained, "Even if [people] are not spending money elsewhere, people are still spending money on technology gadgets. It’s both a need and a want. It fulfills that retail-therapy component." Apple's retail chief Ron Johnson pointed out that the location is open 24/7: "The middle of the night is a really interesting time. It’s the waiters in the restaurants, it’s the actors on the stage. When they’re off work, they may not want to go off to a club or want to go home." He also confirmed that the Upper West Side location will open later this year.

       

Anywhere between hundreds of thousands to over a million revelers cheered on yesterday's Puerto Rican Day Parade along Fifth Avenue. Some told NY1, "Puerto Rican is one, we all are one, It's the pride of all Puerto Ricans in New York and in the island," and "Nobody understands how proud we are to be from Puerto Rico. Just to show that is an honor."

The shuttered Deli in the Slope location at Fifth Avenue and St. John's Place in Park Slope was the site of a "good morning" car crash around 9 a.m. today. Early reports indicate that the driver of the vehicle had a heart attack behind the wheel; he's currently in critical condition. A report over the news wire doesn't mention any other passengers in the vehicle, and it doesn't seem that any pedestrians were hurt. A manager at another Deli in the Slope location on Butler Street tells us that this Fifth Avenue location has been closed for about a year.

While Elizabeth Brew managed to hold out until her husband parked outside of Mount Sinai Hospital on Fifth Avenue, the twin babies she was pregnant with couldn't any longer. So she went into labor in the SUV. Luckily nurse manager Lucille Nassery, inside the hospial, has good ears—"There's a certain kind of sound that comes from women who are about to deliver. It's not just a typical scream. It's a whole-body scream"—and brought a team of doctors and nurses outside. The AP reports that Brew's "legs extended toward busy Fifth Avenue and Central Park - the hospital staff brought equipment into the middle of the street. Nassery and other staffers used their bodies to block off two lanes of traffic." The Post has video showing the scene, too. Interested drivers and passengers from other cars inquired about the mother's health and cheered when a 4 pound, 13 ounce baby girl was born in the middle of Fifth. A few minutes later, her twin brother, 5 pounds, 5 ounces, arrived. The babies are healthy; but since they are preemies, they will stay in neonatal intensive care while their mother is recovering in a hospital room. Three cheers for the babies, the mom and the hospital team!

                     

Every year on Easter, the city bans cars from Fifth Avenue between 49th and 57th Streets for several hours, transforming the avenue into a leisurely promenade filled with costumed revelers of all ages. And despite the cool temperatures, the throngs amassed outside Patrick's Cathedral seemed even more numerous than usual, perhaps because Cardinal Egan was inside delivering his last Easter mass as head of the New York Archdiocese. Of course, this being New York, the elaborate Easter attire on the avenue was irreverent as ever, ranging from men in pastel drag to Victorian-era dandies to a woman strolling around inside an enormous cake. Feast your eyes by clicking on Katie Sokoler's photographs above.

Memo to lazy dudes: If you buzz your girlfriend into the building and she's not at your door in a timely manner, you need to put Guitar Hero on pause and get your ass downstairs. On Saturday night the girlfriend of a Greenwich Village man was taking longer than usual to get upstairs to his apartment, and when he finally went down to see what happened he found that she was being raped in the building's vestibule. This happened around 7 p.m. on lower Fifth Avenue, according to the Post. So be alert! At least in this case the boyfriend was able to subdue the attacker and call the cops; the alleged rapist, 28-year-old Dean Rogich, told detectives, "I followed her into the building so I could rob her."

One of the city's biggest parades will attract millions of revelers tomorrow: The 51st National Puerto Rican Parade starts at 11 a.m., with the parade route beginning on Fifth Avenue at 44th Street and traveling north to 86th Street.

Yesterday's Israel Day Parade along Fifth Avenue attracted thousands of people during this 60th anniversary of Israel's founding. One parade watcher told the AP, "It's important to show our solidarity with the only Democratic state in the Mideast."

A taxi cab caught fire at Fifth Avenue and 50th Street, outside St. Patrick's Cathedral. The fire was extinguished within a half hour, but part of Fifth Avenue was shut down an hour and a half. According to WNBC, the cab driver, who "got out of the cab and ran away after it caught fire," will not be charged by the police.

Tomorrow is the 246th anniversary of the first St. Patrick's Day Parade held in New York (it's the oldest parade in the nation's history). The first parade was held in 1762 to honor St. Patrick and the Archdiocese of New York. Over the years it has become a celebration of almost anything Irish. The parade will march uptown on 5th Ave. in Manhattan from 44th St. to 86th St. and will last from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Parade goers then usually migrate to 2nd Ave., which can become quite crowded and rowdy.

Two New Yorkers whose sex lives have been an open book are red-tailed hawks Pale Male and Lola, whose fight for their Fifth Avenue digs was closely watched by New Yorkers. The latest bit in their saga: Some nest renovation work to make sure they can successfully procreate!

The owners of four Manhattan Burger King franchises are locked in a nasty legal battle with their royal overlord. Luan Sadik and his sister, Elizabeth Sadik, rebelled against the mandatory 99-cent menu and the recent dollar Value Menu because the prices couldn’t cover the obscene Manhattan rent and the fast food monarch roared.

Congratulations, America! You're having less sex than almost anyone else! According to the Durex Sexual Wellbeing Global Survey, Americans get it on less often than most, with only 53% having regular, weekly action (and with only 44% actually reporting being satisfied with their sex lives).

Andy Warhol once said, “My favorite smell is the first smell of spring in New York," and now someone has stepped in to capitalize on the scent (good thing he didn't say summer in New York). Along with the Gap now using Warhol's "hot dead celeb" status to sell khakis; Laurice Rahmé, creator of Bond No. 9, launches her latest neighborhood fragrance (in collaboration with The Warhol Foundation) this month: Andy Warhol Union Square.

• Today on the Gothamis Newsmap: a bank robbery on 40th St. and 7th Ave. in Manhattan, a stabbing on Morris Ave. and East 190th St. in the Bronx, and a sinkhole on 68th St. and Madison Ave. in Manhattan.
• The original and exisiting Coney Island boardwalk originated from wood chopped down from the Amazon rainforest. The new and improved CI boardwalk will be made of plastic, made from oil. Onwards and upwards!
• Queens Crap reports the Mayor's Community Affairs Unit "sent police to St. Saviour's today to make sure the developers' efforts to demolish the church were not impeded."
• That duct tape-homicide at the Best Western motel? The ME ruled it a suicide.
• The Park Slope Armory's $16 million renovation was revealed; the YMCA will operate the stunning facility.
• Bernard Kerik was back in court. Prosecutors are arguing his lawyer has to recuse himself because he's a likely witness.
• Parker Posey sells her East Village digs, joining the establishment at 30 Fifth Avenue.
• A Connecticut battalion chief firefighter was shot during a bank robbery. Cops shot another person by accident as the actual robber made his getaway.

Georgia, the runaway subway cat rescued by a Con Ed meter reader and two determined MTA track workers, is resting up not just from her 25 days in the subway tunnels, but from surgery yesterday to repair a fractured leg. The doctors at Fifth Avenue Veterinary Specialists waited until yesterday to perform the surgery because Georgia was dehydrated at the time of her rescue and they wanted her stabilized before they performed the procedure.

From a new NYC sports club bearing his name to the last season at Yankees Stadium, Derek Jeter has a busy year ahead of him. Gothamist asked the Yankees captain about his partnership with 24 Hour Fitness to bringing 24 Hour Fitness - Derek Jeter gyms to the city and his thoughts on the "house that Jeter built."

It's the reproductive version of the subprime mortgage crisis! According to the NY Post, New York City's sperm banks are holding a lot of junk.

Some new details from the ME's office about slain realtor to the stars Linda Stein. Toxicology tests on Stein, who was brutally bludgeoned to death in her Fifth Avenue apartment in October, show that there were "no traces of marijuana in her system," according to the NY Post.

Gucci has been touting its love (or ♥) of New York with a new "Gucci ♥ NY" line of luxury products and 46,000 flagship store on Fifth Avenue, but its legal department never cleared the usage of the trademarked "I ♥ NY" logo. According to the Post, the Empire State Development agency was never contacted for permission.

In a sign of these struggling economic times, more than a few New York businesses are making it clear that money is money, whatever the currency. Reuters spoke to a few business owners who explained why they are open to moneys from foreign lands.

In the course of conducting soil testing during the renovation of Washington Square Park, archaeologists discovered the skeletal remains of four people. Some adjustments will be made to redesign plans, but the skeletons will be left in place as a gesture of respect for the dead.

The NY Sun takes a look at the city's skybridges, and their place in our future. While some cities offer the plenty of the structures to their residents (Minneapolis, we're looking at you), they are often only found in parts of the country with extreme hot or cold temperatures. Do our humid summers and frigid winters warrant more indoor walkways?

There are a number of restaurants opening in 2008 that we've been eagerly awaiting and we thought we'd highlight some that particularly piqued our interest and have us drooling in anticipation.

Manhattan real estate sales set a record in the fourth quarter of 2007, with residential sales averaging out to be $1.4 million (according to data from Prudential Douglas Elliman), an increase of 17.6% over 2006's fourth quarter. However impressive that statistic is, the growth was primarily driven by super high-end sales of at least $10 million.

Stores were packed with post-Christmas shoppers, as retailers marked down their products in hopes of boosting holidays sales. So far, holiday period sales are up 3.6%, which is the "lower end" of expectations according to MasterCard Advisors.

It’s a common gripe that pretty much everything that gives New York its flavor is being steadily eviscerated and replaced with corporate chains and exclusive amenities for the affluent, but this week has been a doozy. In the past two days, for starters, we’ve seen closures announced for the following joints:

• The classic, blue collar Donuts Coffee Shop on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope.
  Continue reading "With Pathmark in the Path of Condos, LES Locals Rally"

Could Apple be planting a seed on a location near Lincoln Center? The Meatpacking district Apple store still has that new-store smell as Apple fever extends north. According to the Post, Apple is looking to take over space at the northwest corner of Broadway and West 67th, where there's currently a two-story Victoria's Secret store.

Did anyone go see destructo-porn blockbuster, I Am Legend, this weekend? Apparently New Yorkers who saw the movie up close and personal when it was being filmed gave it two thumbs down, or rather -- one middle finger up! amNewYork reports on Will Smith's run-ins with disgruntled locals.

"I would say, percentage-wise, it's the most amount of middle fingers I have received in my career. I'm used to people liking me… [all those] middle fingers, I was starting to think F-U was my name."

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Austin St. in Queens, a pedestrian struck off Balfour Pl. and Empire Blvd. in Brooklyn, and a rescue on Bank St. in Manhattan.
• The Domino Sugar factory on Brooklyn's waterfront has achieved landmark status.
• David Chase is heading to court to face a former municipal court judge who claims he came up with an idea for a show about a northern NJ mob family.
• David Blaine's next stunt of endurance in the Big Apple will be a tribute to I-bankers and lawyers logging billable hours, as he attempts to stay awake for as long as humanly possibly. The magic? No cocaine.
• Led Zeppelin may be traveling back to NYC for a return engagement. The songs remain the same.
• The men convicted in the 1989 "wilding" Central Park rape attack case have been given the go-ahead to update their lawsuits against the city.
• A former waitress at the strip club Scores is suing one of the managers for sexual harassment.
• New York City as retirement village.