Entries from Gothamist tagged with 'empirestatebuilding'
June 6, 2008
The Empire State Building is going couture! Well, sort of. From a press release about the 300 newly-uniformed employees:As part of a $500 million renovation to restore the Empire State Building’s 1930’s glory, new Art Deco-inspired uniforms are rolling out for staff this summer to kick off the season in style. The dapper uniforms are made to measure and have unique 1930’s details that fit the period and character of the ESB, like chevrons on......
Continue Reading "Empire State Building Uniform Redux"May 28, 2008
After trying to parachute off of the Empire State Building in 2006, Jeb Corliss found himself in front of a judge; at first the charges were dismissed, but earlier this year he was charged with reckless endangerment. The misdemeanor could turn the daredevil into a caged bird for up to one year. However, the Eyewitness News has learned that some key evidence in his case has vanished! What's more, they report that it appears to......
Continue Reading "Missing Evidence in Jeb Corliss Case"May 19, 2008
Photographs by Jared Max/WCBS 880 WCBS 880's Sports Director Jared Max noticed that ESPN's NYC skyline shot--during the Mets-Yankees game last night--was not live but actually stock footage from the holiday season. The telltale clue was the Empire State Building: In ESPN's shot, the building was green and red, but in actuality, the building was lit in both blue and orange AND blue and white, in honor of the subway series. What gives--ESPN can't......
Continue Reading "Live Game Doesn't Mean Live Skyline"May 15, 2008
The Empire State Building will continue its tradition of equally supporting the Mets and Yankees (and whole-heartedly supporting Big City Rivalry) as the two teams enter the Subway Series.Beginning on Friday, May 16, the north/south sides of the building will be lit in Yankees blue and white, while its east/west sides will be lit in Mets blue and orange. The team who wins the series will have its colors displayed on all four sides of......
Continue Reading "Empire State Building Split for Subway Series"April 24, 2008
On Tuesday, the Empire State Building was green for Earth Day. On May 5, it'll be yellow for Project Sunshine, a non-profit that offers free social, educational and recreational programs for children with medical challenges. But tomorrow, the Empire State Building will be purple, pink and white in honor of Mariah Carey. According to the ESB's website, it's "Honoring a Great New Yorker: Mariah Carey Breaks Records With E=MC2 Album Release." Yes, Carey's latest album......
Continue Reading "Mariah Carey Lights Up the Empire State Building"March 5, 2008
Would-be Empire State Building jumper, Jeb Corliss (pictured), isn't in the clear yet. Last year's decision from Supreme Court Justice Michael Ambrecht to dismiss the charges against him was overturned yesterday when The Supreme Court Appellate Division decided to bring the case back to life. A four-judge panel unanimously voted, and the Manhattan District Attorney's office can now pursue its charge of reckless endangerment against Corliss for his 2006 attempted jump. The judges did reduce......
Continue Reading "Courts Bring Corliss Back Down to Earth"March 4, 2008
Yesterday we noted Council Member Peter Vallone Jr.'s latest mission: putting an end to stunts. Of course, one of the best examples of this daredevil activity is brought to us by Jeb Corliss; after attempting to jump off the Empire State Building in 2006 Bloomberg wasn't too happy with this thrill-seeker. Or the judge that dropped the charges against him. But now the city is revisiting the case and trying to appeal the decision. Possibly......
Continue Reading "Jeb Corliss Responds to Vallone's "No Jump" Bill"March 3, 2008
Queens Council Member Peter Vallone Jr. has introduced a bill that would have Evel Knievel rolling in his grave. If it becomes law, stunt men are going to have a tough time working on their craft in New York, as it would outlaw climbing and jumping off any structure taller than 25 feet; daredevils could get fined and spend up to a year in jail. Alain Robert is not going to be happy about this......
Continue Reading "Vallone Says "No" to Stunts"March 2, 2008
In a Friday review of the 1933 original production of King Kong, The New York Sun's film critic Bruce Bennett wonders why the low-tech original continues to hold up so well after 75 years, especially in comparison to higher-tech remakes. "How, then, does a puppet made from rabbit fur, a rubber ball, and some socket joints, painstakingly animated frame-by-frame during the depths of the Great Depression, ably kick the motion-capture behemoth of Mr. Jackson's modern......
Continue Reading "King Kong to Elicit Screams at Film Forum Today"February 29, 2008
Nothing says romance like a public proposal in The Daily News. Marina Maiuri stood atop the Empire State Building (which is so "Sleepless in Seattle") to have her photo snapped by the paper on the observation deck; but she wasn't looking for love, she was looking to propose. The photo and article ran this morning, titled "Hey, Sean: Will you marry me?" Sean is her boyfriend of 18 months, and Marina "wouldn't trade him for......
Continue Reading "Leap Year Lovers on Today"February 26, 2008
In yet another gem from Modern Mechanix, folks from 1932 ponder "How Much Longer Will Our Big Cities Last?" Photos of subway tunnels collapsing and apartment fires in New York set the apocalyptic tone for the piece which claims "scientific prophets" see the mammoth cities becoming obsolete. We're to pictured a cobweb-enshrouded Empire State Building and dandelions overtaking Wall Street after "exhaustive studies" concluded that we're pretty much, well, screwed.According to such writers as......
Continue Reading "Big Cities "Doomed" According to 1932"February 21, 2008
Buildings, clockwise from upper left corner: Prada Store Soho, American Museum of Natural History's Rose Center, Hearst Building, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Morgan Library expansion, Apple Store Soho, Conde Nast Building, and Seagram Building; in the center, Grand Central Terminal interior and the Chrysler Building The Chrysler Building. The Seagram Building. The Apple Store Soho? The Center for Architecture's executive director Rick Bell made a list of 10 great buildings to see in New......
Continue Reading "Are These NYC's 10 Great Buildings to See?"February 16, 2008
The late artist Jim Flora, perhaps best recognized for his album cover art in the 1940s and '50s, was also known for his commercial art, illustrations, paintings, woodcuts and prints. The above is "a limited-edition, archival-quality fine art print of a 1954 Jim Flora hand-tinted woodcut entitled Manhattan." There were 5 of these prints selling on eBay (only 25 were made), but they sold out quick! Here's the seller's description of the coveted work:The......
Continue Reading "Jim Flora's Manhattan"February 15, 2008
The traditional way to know what color the Empire State Building is to look at the building's website. But plain text can be lacking, which is where What Color is the Empire State Building comes in. Corey Johnson designed the site, using color and event information from the Empire State Building and overlaying it on an image of the building - there's even a widget. For the recent past and the for the upcoming......
Continue Reading "Empire State Building's Lighting Colors, the Fun Way"February 14, 2008
Don't have a Valentine's Day card yet? Print out this page, cut out the cards and give it to yourself! You can also download EPS versions of these Valentine's Day cards immortalized on the Simpsons' episode, I Love Lisa, at deconcept. Fun facts about Valentine Day's from the US Greeting Card Assocation: With an estimated 190 million cards to be exchaged, it's the second biggest card occasion after Christmas.1 billion "classroom valentines" will be......
Continue Reading "Happy Valentine's Day"February 13, 2008
Times Square fixture The Naked Cowboy (Robert Burck) is singing a litigious song these days against Mars Inc., maker of M&M candies. He is claiming that the company is infringing on his trademark, i.e. singing in tighty-whities, cowboy boots and a Stetson, with a six string slung on his shoulder. Burck wants $6 million after the company started broadcasting a film on a billboard screen in Times Square showing anthropomorphic M&Ms re-enacting famous scenes, structures,......
Continue Reading "Naked Cowboy Tolerates No Candy-Ass Imitators"January 27, 2008
The Daily News has an entertaining story today about the possibility of the five-block radius surrounding the Empire State Building becoming a sort of Bermuda Triangle for cars. Apparently, a number of cars have to be towed from that area every day, which makes people suspicious. The common denominator: the ESB.“We get about 10 to 15 cars stuck near there every day,” said Isaac Leviev, manager of Citywide Towing, the AAA’s exclusive roadside assistance provider......
Continue Reading "Urban Legend In The Making: The ESB Dead Zone"January 19, 2008
Last June Scientific American took a look at a human-less New York, a vision that was fairly on par with how the city was portrayed in I Am Legend. Now it's The History Channel's turn to jump on board the post-apocalyptic train, their show Life Without People will premiere this Monday (at 9pm). The scene is eerily similar to how Chernobyl looks after decades without human inhabitants. The show's site tells us: "Abandoned skyscrapers......
Continue Reading "The History Channel Looks to the Future"January 18, 2008
Say, did you hear anything about this movie that opens today, Cloverfield? No? Yeah, it’s kind of a [Spoiler Alert!] obscure art-house thing, all shot with a camcorder from the perspective of a few friends fleeing a massive monster smashing Manhattan. We attended a screening earlier in the week and deemed it top-shelf disaster porn; though the main characters are rather annoying and the apocalypse takes a little too long to blast off, “by the......
Continue Reading "New York Critics Swat Cloverfield"January 15, 2008
Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a train derailment at 86th St. and 20th Ave. in Brooklyn, an overturned crane at 100th St. and Rockaway Beach Blvd. in Queens, and an amputation on Hylan Blvd. on Staten Island. A guy who jumps off buildings for fun says that security guards caused him "severe emotional distress" when they prevented him from leaping off the Empire State Building, so he's suing the ESB's owners for $30 million.......
Continue Reading "Extra, Extra"January 9, 2008
Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck on Autumn and Liberty Aves. in Brooklyn, a suspicious fire on Wallace Ave. and Pelham Parkway in the Bronx,and a carjacking on 85th St. in the Bronx. Lawyers for Ted Corliss continue to argue for charges to be dismissed against their client, who attempted to jump off the Empire State Building, even after the State Supreme Court ruled that jumping off tall buildings was a form......
Continue Reading "Extra, Extra"January 9, 2008
The Manhattan DA's office really wants to make sure people understand that jumping off the Empire State Building is not legal! Last year, a judge dismissed charges against "daredevil" Jeb Corliss who attempted to jump off the Empire State Building - with a parachute - in April 2006. The Manhattan DA's office appeal notes "it took a number of security guards, police officers, two pairs of handcuffs, and the actual removal of a portion......
Continue Reading "Another Go at Empire State Jumper"December 30, 2007
Like the GWB and the Holland Tunnel, the Brooklyn Bridge will have LED lights installed next year, but how exactly do the bulbs get replaced? The NY Times says it only takes one man to screw in these bulbs. Okay, maybe he has some help. Ben Cipriano, the leader of a crew of electricians who maintain the four major East River Bridges for the city’s Department of Transportation, and his colleagues make about a dozen......
Continue Reading "How Many People Does it Take to Screw in a Lightbulb on the Brooklyn Bridge?"December 26, 2007
We checked in with some folks recently for a little end of '07 "exit interview" before we enter a new year. Next up is Nick Kroll, actor, caveman and one of our favorite comedians of '07...and probably '08. What did you do last New Years Eve? What will you do this year? Last year i listened to a cab driver complain about how a girl pee'd in his cab. I don't know why i would......
Continue Reading "2007 Exit Interview: Nick Kroll"December 18, 2007
Did your commute feel more like Springfield than New York today? If you're out and about than you'll likely run into the Simpson-izing of Manhattan! Too bad we don't have a monorail here. Earlier this year upon The Simpsons Movie release, we saw 7-11s transform into Kwik-E-Marts, and today with the DVD hitting stores, we'll be getting a lot more than KrustyO's.Today's Simpsonfest is an all-day Fox affair in the heart of the city marking......
Continue Reading "Empire State Building Goes Yellow for Simpsons-Mania!"December 6, 2007
Will Macy's give its regards to Broadway? The NY Times reports that the developers who are trying to redevelop the James Farley Post Office building into the new Moynihan Station "are in the early stage of negotiations with Macy’s" to move from the store's landmark Herald Square location to the Farley building on Eighth Avenue. Charles Bagli's article summarizes the progress of the Penn Station redevelopment and Farley-into-Moynihan Station project: It's complex, given the......
Continue Reading "Developers Want Macy's to Move West"November 25, 2007
Back in June, we looked at a fascinating article from Scientific American titled "An Earth Without People." The article was based on the premises of a book by Alan Weisman called "The World Without Us." Both focus on what would happen to the earth if humans vanished from the planet immediately. The SA article even has some cool animation of what would happen to NYC here. This obviously inspired other artistic renderings of what......
Continue Reading "Post-Apocalypse New York Is Confusing"November 9, 2007
The Sklar Brothers spent years living in New York, working their way through the alternative comedy scene, becoming in demand performers, and eventually getting their own MTV show, Apt 2F, and later a Comedy Central Special. Then, once they had moved to LA and gotten comfortable, they were sent back into New York to film their show Cheap Seats for ESPN Classics. It seems like the Sklars just can't stay away from the city because......
Continue Reading "Randy and Jason Sklar, Comedians"November 1, 2007
We guess that we don't have a Golden Gate Bridge to complain about, but a lot of our out-of-towners are in the Big Apple to off themselves. The Daily News reports that a new study shows "more than one in 10 people who kill themselves in Manhattan are 'suicide tourists'" and they choose NYC landmarks to do so! Men are mostly to blame for seeking out better-known landmarks like bridges or historic landmarks to leap......
Continue Reading "NYC: Destination Spot For Suicide"October 31, 2007
Whether or not you're going to the annual Village Halloween Parade this evening, it'll probably effect your day in some way if you live or work in the area. If you want to avoid the mayhem, don't be anywhere in the vicinity of 6th Avenue between Spring and 22nd Steets. The streets intersecting the route will be closed off at 5pm sharp! If you want to watch, get there early to stake out a spot.......
Continue Reading "Planning for the Parade"
