Yesterday we reported that 71-year-old John Swain confessed to burning down the Bryant Park Corporation's shoe shine booth not once, but twice over the past month. A few hours later we reported that after being charged with two counts of arson, he was back at his shoe shining station at Grand Central! Both the NY Post and NY Times went to visit the elderly arsonist—who could be facing either a fine or jail time—and there he was, wearing a cardboard sign around his neck with black lettering that read: Shoe Shine. more ›

As we await the Bryant Park shoe shine booth to be rebuilt, the mystery around it and its predecessor's demise linger. On March 23rd we reported on the first booth being torched in the middle of the night, and just yesterday at 1:30 a.m. the replacement booth met a similar fate. Now the NY Times has given the incidents some attention, wondering along with park administrators who exactly is targeting the booth. more ›

Late last month the shoe shine booth, located on 42nd Street near 5th Avenue and owned by the Bryant Park Corporation, was torched in the middle of the night. This morning we heard rumblings that the same exact thing happened, and Jerome Barth at the BPC just confirmed with us that around 1:30 a.m. someone set fire to the replacement booth. Sigh. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] The shoe shiner on the corner of 42nd and 5th has lost his set-up in a fire. A reader sent in this photo of the charred booth this morning, and our sources in the area tell us it's been like this for at least a day; the plaque is also missing from what's left of the booth. Officials don't have any information about a fire incident on that corner, but all signs point to an arson job executed by the sinister electric shoe shine machine industry. more ›

Despite fare hikes, the MTA has cut those maroon-vested station agents from 17 Brooklyn subway stations, effective yesterday. The affected stations include the Prospect Park B/Q station, where cops allegedly sodomized a man back in October 2008. Abandoned subway entrances will have intercoms patched into the 24-hour booth, but residents are uneasy, and one commuter at the Utica Avenue station in Bed Stuy tells the Daily News, "So I'll have to phone someone at the other end of the station to let them know I'm being mugged? That makes no sense." more ›

File this one under unsurprising: The shiny new TKTS booth in Times Square that's supposed to finally open this month over 18 months late is also way over budget, the Post reports. The ambitious new discount theater ticket outlet, which features an all-glass skin with an amphitheater-style roof (pictured) and "a shimmering and floating carpet of color and light," has cost 100 percent more than its original $8 million estimate. more ›

Remember the plans for that fancy new TKTS theater ticket booth in Times Square that were unveiled back in Aught Six? Producer Ken Davenport (Altar Boyz) does, and the other day he was just wondering, you know, why the hell it’s not ready yet, since they originally said it would be open for business in just six short months. (The Times Square TKTS has been operating at the Marriot Marquis in the meantime.) more ›