New Yorkers may love their pets, but sometimes New York apartment buildings don't like them that much: The Wall Street Journal has some anecdotes of brokers turning down potential buyers of multimillion dollar apartments because the buildings don't allow pets! In fact, some buildings can be especially strict about dogs—sometimes forcing Solomonic choices. more ›

Patrick Swayze once memorably declared to Jerry Orbach, "No one puts Baby in the corner." But now a group of older men in Staten Island are declaring to their condo's board that "no one puts Poppy in the corner" either. The group of New Springville seniors call themselves "The Fined Five" after receiving $25 fines last winter when the board decided that their usual kibitzing in the lobby was loitering. The property manager said that "it's not a 55-and-older building," but compromised by finding them an unoccupied studio to hang out in. But now the men complain that they're being confined, with one saying, "I can't stay inside my sheetrock walls all day; I'll go crazy." So the Fined Five is suing the board, saying that their banishment is illegal and unnecessary. A neighbor whose apartment is adjoined to the lobby tells the SI Advance, "It's a bunch of old guys sitting around and talking about their wartime remembrances and fixing the motors in their cars. They're a lovely bunch of gentlemen." When asked what they do there, one of the Five told the Post, "We don't play Johnny on the pony in the lobby." more ›