You know it, the mice eating your Saltines know it, your real estate broker HAD to know it (damn you, Mickey): your apartment is a sieve. And now it's confirmed: The gaps around your A.C. unit are costing the city an extra "$130 million to $180 million a year" in fuel consumption. That's around a billion delicious, heat-thwarting Freeze-Pops, people! more ›

After surviving the horrors of Vietnam and a hellish battle with his East Village landlords, it was ultimately a falling air conditioner that took veteran Anthony Franzese out of commission. You'll recall that Franzese, 67, was sitting with his dog outside his building on Second Avenue one morning at the end of September when a 45-pound air conditioner fell from a sixth floor window, bounced off of Wine Bar's awning, and landed on his head. And after nearly dying during surgery—and being harassed by his landlords while still in the hospital—Franzese wants payback. more ›

67-year-old Vietnam veteran Anthony Franzese was sitting on a standpipe outside of Wine Bar on Second Avenue when a sixth-floor air conditioning unit fell to the street yesterday morning. Franzese's head was lacerated in the freak accident, and Raymond Azzi, the owner of Wine Bar, says he thinks his establishment's awning saved Franzese's life—even though it was the awning, not the the A.C., that cut Franzese's head open. "We are lucky it was down," Azzi tells the Post. "It protected whoever was here and definitely saved the man's life." But it all depends where exactly Franzese was sitting! more ›

Of all the people a falling air conditioner could have hit in the uber-trendy East Village, why did it have to be an elderly Vietnam veteran who's being evicted from his apartment? Probably because it was 8:30 a.m., not 8:30 p.m. Not that we want anybody to get hit by falling air conditioners, but you'd think—statistically speaking—an A.C. unit falling onto Wine Bar on Second Avenue would be more likely to land on someone a bit more scummy yuppie than Anthony Franzese, 67. But the timing was just all wrong. more ›

Even if you have a perfectly functional air conditioner, you probably shouldn't be over-using it right now on account of the whole imminent city-wide blackout you'd be helping to cause, right? So how does one live without these little cooling dream machines? Here are some helpful tips we use, and a few from some friends we know who have chosen to exist sans A.C. for years—they are destined to be a New York Times trend piece! Okay, here we go: more ›

An underage gambler has cost the Atlantic City Hilton Casino over $115,000—the second-largest fine for underage gambling in the city's 31-year history of casino gaming. (Last year Bally's Atlantic City was slapped with a record-setting $157,500 fine for letting an underage customer gamble; the legal age there is 21.) The Hilton's teenage gambler, identified only as "M.R." by the gaming commission, was granted a player's account at the Hilton in 2007 and even given a free room. He was 19 at the time, but gave fake identification indicating he was 24. During the next 16 months, "M.R." traveled repeatedly to A.C. from Brooklyn, and in February 2008, he was arrested at a different casino for underage gambling. Still, the Hilton didn't know his real age until April 2008, when the Gaming Enforcement Division found a record for "M.R." at the Hilton, and notified the casino. But the next day, the casino permitted him to gamble some more, for nearly three hours. Linda Kassekert, chairwoman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, tells the AP, "We have a big concern about it because kids can make themselves look older, and that's problematic." Especially if they get lucky. more ›

It's summertime in the city, whether or not the weather's caught up yet, and it's likely you are currently sitting in a freezing cold air-conditioned office. Yesterday NY1's Pat Kiernan Twittered about a USA Today graphic that claimed "2/3 of Americans say air conditioning a 'necessity'," which actually seems slightly low. more ›

The City Council voted by an overwhelming margin to pass the bill requiring chain stores to shut their doors when their air conditioners are running, leaving many small business unhappy. Cookie Falack, the owner of six Cookie's clothing stores called it "anti-business" and claimed that when they closed their doors earlier this summer, business went down almost 25 percent. But Mayor Bloomberg is expected to sign the green initiative, saying "We are trying to take some reasonable measure to reduce energy consumption at a time when the systems are most strained." more ›

Last year City Councilwoman Gale Brewer proposed a bill that would fine establishments $200 per open door/window in air conditioned spaces (as well as heated spaces in the winter), the bill wasn't fully backed by the Bloomberg administration and never saw the light of day...until now! The NY Post reports that the environmentally friendly bill is now supported by Bloomberg and "is expected to win council approval tomorrow." more ›

Moviegoers who tried to beat the heat by packing a matinee screening of The Dark Knight this weekend at the Park Slope Pavilion were sorely disappointed. Gowanus Lounge has some scuttlebutt from the Brooklynian message board, where a picture of oppressive, non-air conditioned hell has emerged: “It must have been 90 degrees in that hot box for the entire length of the movie. Everyone was sweating profusely and downing tons of water. Afterward a mob scene ensued with people loudly complaining – all to no avail. The best excuses from the ‘management’ – ‘I just work here’ and ‘there were too many people.’” Another person corroborates: "A staff member complained about not having any AC to ME — a customer." more ›

Last month, word on the Boardwalk was that two former Atlantic City hotels (the Howard Johnson and Holiday Inn) would morph into a boutique hotel named the Chelsea (no relation). Further bringing a Manhattan feel to the has-been Jersey destination is the oft-celeb-drenched scene of Manhattan's Beatrice Inn; the club's operators, Paul Sevigny and Matt Abramcyk amongst them, have been charged with creating "a vibe." The collaboration had AC's Visitors Authority declaring, “The New York hipsters are coming to Atlantic City." more ›