Results tagged “Upper East Side”

NY1 reports that Upper East Side private school Ramaz was shut down yesterday when many students and some faculty came down with a mystery illness." The school characterized it as "a highly contagious but not dangerous virus spread through contact from hand-to-surface and person-to-person" (nearly 60 people have had "symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea and low grade fever")—probably a form of viral gastroenteritis—but is still awaiting results from testing. In the mean time, the school, which is being cleaned, says, "The New York City Department Department of Health, Division of Environmental Investigations, indicated that there were no toxins in the food served in the Lower School and they are now checking to determine if there was transmission of a virus from any of the food workers."

An Upper East Side sports bar popular with Wisconsin transplants was slapped with two fines totaling $20,000 for selling a popular beer that's only licensed to sell in Wisconsin. The owners of Mad River Bar & Grille were fined by the SLA earlier this month for pouring Spotted Cow, a microbrewed ale that retails in Wisconsin for about $30 a case or $1.25 a bottle.

The hand and foot model suing her UES co-op for $10 million for allegedly ostracizing her because she married a former doorman has been all too happy to tell her story to the tabloids this week—until yesterday, when she suddenly fled the building with a coat over her head. But since Christina Ambers is a famous hand model, the local tabloid photographers immediately recognized her distinctive digits, and some truly hilarious images ensued. "You ruined our lives!" husband Angel Rotger shouted at the shutterbugs as he led his hooded wife along the sidewalk.

The hand and foot model who's suing her co-op for treating her like a pariah for marrying the doorman has a history of romancing the help. Before she fell for bareheaded former doorman Angel Rotger, Christina Ambers had previously cavorted with another doorman at the Upper East Side building, a married Romanian immigrant named John Bradatan. But is it so crazy for a woman whose hands are her livelihood to fall for men who professionally open doors?

     

Hand and foot model Christina Ambers fell in love with the doorman at her Upper East Side co-op in 2007, but the superintendent forbade Angel Rotger to see her romantically. And yet the romance between doorman and foot lady could not be so easily snuffed out, and the two continued their affair in secret. When they were found out, Rotger was fired—but not before the super's wife allegedly swung her handbag into his groin so hard he suffered a contusion of the testicle. Naturally, their story is on the cover of the Daily News and the Post today.

Two Upper East Side restaurants refuse to deliver uptown to East Harlem, but they willingly schlep longer distances downtown to service a more affluent and more white neighborhood. An investigation by the Post reveals that both Chinese Mirch on Second Avenue between 94th and 95th streets and One Fish Two Fish on Madison Avenue and 97th Street declined to deliver to addresses located 15 blocks to the north, but readily fulfilled orders 20 blocks to the south — a delivery discrepancy that "smacks of racism," according to state Sen. Bill Perkins (D-Harlem). "The difference between north and south is black and white," he said.

   

Click on the images for more on Bar Pleiades, pizza at Numero 28, and dining at Juliet Supper Club.

The Post reports that a 28-year-old Upper East Side resident was arrested after a "looting spree, scaling fire escapes and slinking into windows to rip off TVs, cameras, iPods and other electronics from a string of buildings -- including her own." However it's unclear if she was wearing sneakers for sneaking.

       

Exuberant chef David Burke is no longer involved with Hawaiian Tropic Zone, and that's probably for the best, since he's had his hands full with plenty of other projects anyway. Last fall his sustainable seafood restaurant Fishtail opened on the Upper East Side to favorable reviews, and his restaurant at Bloomingdale's continues to give shoppers the sustenance they need to keep our economy afloat. Burke, who first made a splash at the River Café in Brooklyn in the '80s, has recently finished changing up his other serious venture in the neighborhood, which opened in 2003 as "davidburke & donatella." Restaurateur Donatella Arpaia is no longer involved (the partnership is said to have ended amicably) so it's now simply called David Burke Townhouse, and has reopened with a new menu after renovations.

Somehow we don't think a broom handle to the ceiling is going to fix this one. One of Madonna's Upper West Side neighbors filed a lawsuit yesterday, charging her of subjecting the building to "pounding noise and vibration" when she uses her apartment as a dance studio.

A new congressional report card judging the progress of the Second Avenue Subway has given the project a B-minus, possibly the highest ratings ever handed out to the mythical subway line. The MTA immediately snatched the report card out Congress's hands and tried to get a signature on it before anyone noticed further problems, the agency expressing gratitude that Congress recognized the elements of the project that they are handling well. That "praise" includes the MTA being diligent in meeting with affected businesses, including the dozen that have closed along the route. Nonetheless Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, who headed the study said, "Up until now, the project has been marred by missed deadlines, cost overruns and a harsh impact on local businesses."

Yesterday afternoon, passers-by and workers around First Avenue and 62nd Street noticed a baby in a stroller—without an adult in sight. It turns out the toddler, no more than 18 months old, was apparently abandoned by her parents (or the couple caring for her); WCBS 2 reports, "Police say the child got caught in the middle of an argument between her parents," who were in a white Mazda. "The angry mother got out of the car and walked away. The father apparently took the child out of the car, and left her in a stroller on the curb. He then drove away." A restaurant owner said, "The carriage wasn't tied or anything, it could have gone in to the street, you think of all the horrible things." According to the Post, police responded to the scene after receiving numerous 911 calls (a woman was holding and comforting the baby when they got there) and are tracing "the little girl’s parents from a cash receipt left in the bag containing the goods... The receipt showed that a pair of baby shoes had recently been bought from the H&M store in the Queens Boulevard mall." Also not good: Leaving your baby in a stroller outside the restaurant where you are eating. Update: NY1 reports that the child's father, Edwin Rivera, has been arrested and faces charges of child abandonment and endangering the welfare of a child.

Since Mayor Bloomberg was robbed of his chance to engage in Weiner Wars this election year, he's settling for the next best thing—the Wars! Yesterday on his weekly radio show, Bloomberg was asked about the recent crackdown of illegal vendors outside the Met. Since it was reported that veteran Dan Rossi was taking advantage of a 19th Century law that allowed vets to vend without paying, more veteran have been making their way to Fifth Ave, many employed by vendors who use them to beat the law and allow them to sit idly nearby. The mayor said, "They hire a vet to stand there and [he] has nothing to do with [it]. That's as much fraud [as] minority and women-owned businesses where you just hire somebody that's a minority or woman and say, 'Oh, you're the name person.'" As for Pasang Sherpa, after being evicted from his $600K lease to vend at the Met, Rossi hired him to man his stand after seeing Sherpa crying on the Met stairs. Now Sherpa simply joined in on the "rent-a-vet" system, paying disabled Leo Morris Jr. $100 a day to nap in his car near Sherpa's new cart.

Swooping in like a regular Mister Monopoly riding in on his hot dog cart (or was it a wheelbarrow?), vendor Dan Rossi has come to the rescue of fellow frank seller Pasang Sherpa after Sherpa was evicted from his high-priced spot outside the Met. Yesterday news broke that Sherpa was $300,000 behind on the $600K+ in annual rent he was supposed to be paying the city to sling dogs outside the Upper East Side museum. That prompted Rossi, who is able to set up his stand without paying rent due to an exception for veterans like him, to invite Sherpa to join his edible empire. When asked about his former rival turned subordinate, the winner of the wiener wars told the News, "He's gonna work for me now. Nobody's gonna touch him now without talking to me...The guy was crying. They pushed him out." Rossi also called for the Parks Department to crack down on unlicensed, "black market" vendors nearby saying, "I sell water for $2 and the others sell it for $1. If I charged $10 a hot dog maybe I could compete."

The wife of Monkees' drummer Micky Dolenz was arrested yesterday after collecting over $130,000 from the city in housing subsidies, long after she failed to qualify for the handout after marrying the actor/musician in 2002. 54-year-old Donna Quinter was charged with grand larceny, which could have landed her in jail for 15 years. Quinter has been collecting $2,800 a month from the Department of Housing for her apartment at Ruppert Yorkville Towers on the Upper East Side, despite the fact that she had a roommate paying rent and was living in California with Dolenz, who still earns plenty off Monkees' residues and as the voice of the Snuggle Bear. The Post says that despite the fact that the former flight attendant "makes a monkee out of the city," Quinter was able to plead guilty at the Manhattan's DA office and repay the entire amount without having to serve any jail time. Her lawyer said, “Donna has cooperated throughout this process and surrendered to further facilitate resolution of this matter.”

Hot dog vendor Pasang Sherpa made headlines a few months back for his big six-figure bids to guarantee lucrative space slinging franks outside the Metropolitan Museum, paying out $643,000 annually to the Parks Department for his spots outside the Met. At the time, he said that he didn't want to pay the city his big rent bills because he contended that nearby construction was having too negative of an impact on his business. Now after following through on his threat to hold off rent, the city has responded by evicting him. A Parks Department spokesman says Sherpa had fallen $310,000 behind in rent. Sherpa told the News that he was "going crazy" and didn't know what to do or where to go. Even more lost though were some Rhode Island tourists outside the Upper East Side museum, one of whom told the paper, "We don't know the area or where else to eat but here. There's no other place to eat around here." When Sherpa's original beef was reported in January, the Post said that another nearby vendor on 5th Avenue was set up and operating without permission or paying anything because of "a regulation that lets veterans like him bypass the bidding process."

But Murray and Aljulah Cutts were stunned by 'what a tough old guy he was'" a police source said. It was unclear if Brinkmann was choked to death manually or accidentally asphyxiated during the robbery." The source added that Aljulah Cutts allegedly said "he didn't mean to kill Brinkmann, it was an accident." Brinkmann's beaten and bound body was found in his apartment by a super (cause of death was asphyxiation) and one of his safes as well as ID and tax forms were found in Murray's apartment.

According to the Post, two brothers have been arrested in connection of the murder of a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor who was found beaten and bound in his Upper East Side apartment: "Aljulah Cutts, 27, and Hasib Cutts, 30, were picked up this morning for their role in the July 29 slaying." Angela Murray, 30, was already arrested for her alleged role; it appears that she knew Felix Brinkmann, who allowed her up to his apartment. Police suspect that Aljulah Cutts accompanied Murray upstairs—while his brother "waited downstairs in the getaway car"—and helped Murray kill Brinkmann during a robbery. The Daily News reports, "The brothers have 50 prior arrests between them, a mix of low-level charges for criminal possession of stolen property, trespass and marijuana."

When one Upper East Side subway station was not prepared for the final transition over to the newly-priced unlimited Metrocards post-fare hike, straphangers freaked the fudge out. The Post describes the scene at the 86th Street station for the 4, 5, 6 where commuters were "banging the station agent booth window, crying, and forming lines that were 30-people deep at the card vending machines — until one broke down." Since yesterday was the end of the grace period for monthly cards purchased at the pre-fare hike rates, many were forced to exchange their $81 cards when they wouldn't swipe. The station had a mere 50 pre-paid envelopes to give to riders to mail their not fully-used MetroCards back to the MTA for a pro-rated reimbursement that were quickly snatched up, adding to the chaos. The Post says there wasn't even a sign up letting riders know that their old cards wouldn't work. While a NYCT spokesman has already apologized to riders, one commuter told the paper, "I'm hot, frustrated, and they should have honored the old cards. This is bull." No word on if he was crying while quoted.

A few more details on the arrest connected to the murder of 90-year-old Holocaust survivor Felix Brinkmann. Brinkmann, whose body was found bound and beaten in his Upper East Side apartment last week, had apparently given permission for Angela Murray and a male companion to enter the building. From the NY Times: "To enter the building, Ms. Murray called Mr. Brinkmann on her cellphone and handed the phone to the building’s doorman. Mr. Brinkmann gave permission for her to come upstairs, the doorman told the police, and she and the unidentified man went up to the apartment."

According to the NY Post, a woman has been arrested in connection to the murder of Felix Brinkmann, a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor. According to the NY Post, Angela Murray, 30, of the Bronx, was arrested on Saturday: "She and her accomplice allegedly ransacked the apartment and stole Brinkmann's credit cards and car."

Police suspect that robbery is the main motive in the murder of Felix Brinkmann, a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor who was found beaten and bound in his Upper East Side apartment on Thursday night. Brinkmann's apartment was ransacked and a man and a woman left his building's garage in a Honda Civic belonging to the victim. The car, with the license plate "FELIX B," was found abandoned in the Bronx last night.

Police are investigating the death of a 90-year-old man whose beaten and bound body was found in his apartment on East 65th Street near York Avenue. NY1 says "the man had trauma to the head, and his hands were tied behind his head." And WCBS 2 reports that the super had checked on the apartment of Felix Brinkmann, because " someone, possibly a neighbor, called to say he hadn't seen the elderly gentleman who lived alone there for days."

While the fate of a proposed Whole Foods in Gowanus Brooklyn remains an open question, a group of Upper East Siders are hankering for their piece of the Whole. NYC the Blog spotted this desperate entreaty on Lexington Ave between 86th and 87th Street. Did you know it's tough out there on the mean streets of the UES? It's true; the sign says so: "I'm sick of eating out! We need to take action! They have taken away many of our amenities, making it hard to live in this area! We should have a say in what stores are welcome in our neighborhood." The community urgently needs a tiny violin shop, for one thing. According to an article in Crain's last year, a Whole Foods on 57th and Second Ave is expected to be completed by 2012, so that's a start. Hang in there Upper East Siders!

Updated: Police have arrested 17-year-old Kyle Shaw in the May 25 incident where a crude bomb was set off in front of the Starbucks at Third Avenue and 92nd Street. And what's more, it turns out that Shaw was trying to emulate the film Fight Club—in particular, Tyler Durden. This is so not What Would Tyler Durden Do but it is what Gothamist commenter Rocknrope guessed on May 25 with his comment: "Project Mayhem."

A 19-year-old Upper East Sider has been arrested in connection with three anti-gay attacks that took place in the neighborhood, two of which drew headlines for occurring during the recent Pride weekend. Driton Nicaj was charged with aggravated harassment and robbery as hate crimes after being picked up near his home on East 84th Street. Police say that Nicaj has confessed to one of the robberies and admitted to being a witness on-hand during the mugging of Joseph Holladay (pictured), the former Village Voice staffer who was mugged and called a faggot by a group of teens while he was down from Boston during Pride weekend.

After a woman set a pit bull on cops, prompting them to fatally shoot the dog in an Upper East Side public housing building on Tuesday night, there are some inevitable arrests: NY1 reports that the dog's owner, Milagros Martinez, and five others were arrested on "charges of possession of a controlled substance after police said they found crack residue in a crack pipe." Martinez was also previously evicted; according to the Daily News, she was "booted from her First Ave. apartment in April for not paying rent - but a judge let her back in." Apparently she was evicted because her husband was arrested "in a kiddie-toy drug bust," but was allowed back after paying back rent; Mayor Bloomberg said, "We had disagreed violently with the judge that let these people go back into their apartment." The News also spoke to the neighbor who claims she called 911 on Tuesday because she was "sick of the drugs" in the apartment; the woman felt bad about the dog's death, "I cried. But I feel the dog's probably in a better place than being with them."

Cellar 58: The wine bars are coming for you; they're coming for us all! The latest vino dispenser to descend upon the East Village is Cellar 58; but this one has a lot going for it. One, it's run by real Italians who run around talking at each other in their glorious native tongue. Two, there's a really cute back room, seen here, that fills with diffused, late afternoon light and feels sort of other-worldly. Three, during the opening party last night, we heard the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio, Radiohead, and not a single Andrea Bocelli torch song. Fourth, besides the 120+ international wine selection, they're doing a pretty extensive small plates menu (flatbread pizzas, pastas, bruschetta, etc.) which doesn't set them apart from other wine bars (like the one right across the street) but we felt great amore for everything we tried. 58 Second Avenue; (212) 420-1300

An Israeli Army major, on vacation in New York with her family, was injured in the head when a giant rock smashed the windshield of the cab she was riding in on the FDR Tuesday night. The rock, allegedly dropped by two teens from an overpass near 71st Street, sent shards of glass into Gilat Raz's face above her left eye. Her 11-year-old daughter, Raz's sister and nephew were in the back and were unharmed. Raz, 41, tells the Daily News, "I've been driving in the West Bank, I've been in Gaza. I never imagined that New York would be where I'd get hit by a rock. It was scary how much I bled. The children were hysterical."

Last night, three police officers were hit by bullet fragments when, WABC 7 reports, "they tried to thwart an attack by a pit bull terrier in a public housing complex on the Upper East Side." The pit bull's owner, who police say deliberately set the dogs on the cops, was also hit by a fragment. NYPD spokesman Deputy Commissioner Paul Brown said, "The bullets fragmented and shattered. They were in the hallway, a very confined space."