Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: high-rise fire in Midtown and a bank robbery in Brooklyn Heights. Jon Brownstoner comes out to the New York Observer: he's 37, lightly-bearded, and lives in Clinton Hill. There's a protest against that huge Meatpacking District billboard tonight-- 8:30PM in front of the Hotel Gansevoort. The Army frequents Harlem high schools to recruit; a student says, "It's harassment because you can't walk through the hallway without them saying things......

What a strange way for Community Board 5 to decide whether to name 53rd Street at 8th Avenue after Jerry Orbach. Last night, the board's notoriously difficult committee approved 3-2 in favor of naming the street after the great late actor. And then the full board voted in favor - 18-17 - as well. But, as the NY Times explains, "that slim margin was not enough to qualify as an approval because the votes......

There's Joey Ramone Place and Peter Jennings Way. But getting a street named after the city's arguably most famous TV detective who was also a Broadway legend is no easy task. The NY Times has the full story about the quest for Jerry Orbach's name to grace a street corner. Specifically the corner of West 53rd and 8th Avenue, where he and his wife Elaine Orbach lived. It turns out that Community Board 5,......

This morning's subway commute made us do a double take. Because we saw Jerry Orbach looking at us and the other riders from an ad! The Eye Bank for Sight Restoration has launched an advertising campaign to encourage people to become eye donors. As it happens, today, the Daily News has a story about the Orbach donation:The Broadway and TV star donated his eyes when he died in December 2004, giving sight to two......

Ex-Gawker editor Jesse Oxfeld joins New York just in time for the magazine's big story on where celebs are in the city! Well, he's only quoted (as is current Gawker editor Jessica Coen), but given that yesterday's Post went ga-ga over Brooklyn celebs and where you might see them, forget the locusts, it's the day of the celebs. For the record, Gothamist's favorite star-sighting is not seeing Harrison Ford (with, ugh, that earring!) have dinner......

There's a sweet article about the Lone Star Boat Club in Hell's Kitchen in the NY Times today. While there might not seem to be anything sweet about "Big H., Tony, Shimmy and Mickey [who] show up and trade their street clothes for T-shirts and shorts or towels around their waists" while they play pinochle and whose average age is 50, the sweet part is this was a hangout of Jerry Orbach - he was......