A con artist has been using Craigslist to scam gullible apartment seekers out of hundreds of dollars, according to the Daily News. Nothing new here, except this time the scheme so sketchy it’s hard to feel too sorry for the victims. Using the alias JoAnn Rinaggio, a compulsive check bouncer named JoAnne Smith has been posting listings for a fully furnished two-bedroom with a balcony in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. This amazing place can be yours......

What with Pacific Standard’s North Slope location, their blog, their robot blog, and their faux-formal alternative title (Jon & John's House of Starchy Living and Temperance Den), the Fourth Avenue watering hole seems determined to become the McSweeney’s of bars. Now they’ve taken their clever eccentricity one step further with a Frequent Drinker Card Program, which gives patrons something in return for their consumption beyond inflated self-worth and unwanted pregnancies. Each patron who joins pays......

Riders hope that low grades for the G line will eventually lead to improvements, while plans are in place to make the G a more usable line. Despite being the two largest boroughs in New York City, there is only one train line dedicated to getting people from Brooklyn (2.5 million people) to Queens (2.3 million people). All other passages must make their way from one borough, through Manhattan (1.6 million people), and then on......

Yesterday, Gothamist attended the 33rd annual Atlantic Antic along Atlantic Avenue between Hicks Street and Fourth Avenue. It is not your typical New York street fair with actual local groups, business and restaurants getting involved. Plus the New York Transit Museum had free admission as well as its annual vintage bus festival. Although it did have some of the street fair food staples like Mozzarepas and roasted corn, we weren’t able to find tables......

With Labor Day weekend well under way, the season of block parties is about to come to an end. The NY Times has a story today on 4 of the 225 block parties that took place in the city last weekend (overall most take place in Brooklyn). That high number is courtesy of the mayor’s street activity permitting office. To get approval one must fill out an “application for street activity permit,” pay $15 in......

A man driving a Ford Explorer fatally hit a 77-year-old woman crossing 22nd Street at Fourth Avenue yesterday afternoon. According to the Post, a minivan first clipped Jozefa Dzwiga, "but then, a Ford Explorer swerved around the van and ran over" her. The Explorer was going south on Fourth and dragged Dzwiga 50 feet. The driver only stopped when people ran after him. Yahaira Vazquez who witnessed the incident told the NY Times, "I started......

#1 I have a coworker who is running the marathon on Sunday. Where are some good locations to cheer the runners on? #2 Is there a better map of the course out there? The official map is missing an amazing amount of information about the actual roads of the course? The ING New York City Marathon is one of the world's great road races, attracting more than 90,000 applicants from all over the world.......

The ING New York City Marathon is just five days away, and many people are probably thinking about their viewing strategies. The marathon website has different suggestions for watching the professional marathoners and friends and family. If you're cheering someone on, the ING NYC marathon suggests:Mile 8 in Brooklyn , where the three starts converge, is a great place to catch runners looking fresh for photographs. A variety of subways can get you there:......

September 16: Waldemar and Nadia at Telepan - Late Summer Cheeses Join cheese experts Waldemar and Nadia as they highlight late summer cheeses, including the aged goat and sheep's milk cheeses that were made from the first milkings of the season. They will be paired with wine from Telepan's cellar, selected by sommelier Aaron Von Rock. 12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m., $65 per person, all inclusive. Space is limited and reservations are required. Please call......

The Times has a good article about the traffic nightmare that occurs at the intersection of Flatbush, Atlantic, and Fourth Avenues in Brooklyn, and comes up with some great facts: During the commuter rush, as many as 4,600 vehicles pass through the intersection every hour, according to the city's Department of Transportation. Hundreds more join the flow toward the intersection from Fourth Avenue, which cuts across Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues to the west, servicing......

So we were looking over the Gothamist Contribute and we noticed the photo to your left from kerfuffle & zeitgeist's flickr stream. Ever since we were first started going on urban hikes (not to mention when we started working nearby) we've found this incongruous sign, located on 27th and Park Avenue South, and it's many brethren strange. We'd just never thought of Fourth Avenue being a "real" avenue beyond it's tiny existance between Astor......

It's the city's greatest sporting event, but it does leave some people unhappy. Mainly storeowners on Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn, it seems, who have had to smell the pee stench from the many runners who urinated in alleys. The Daily News takes the medical approach, finding out that "[t]raditionally, bladders tend to break down at mile seven"; the NY Road Runners' Club apologized, explaining the logistical difficulties of thousands of runners and only so......

This morning's West 4th Street subway fire caused a lot of excitement downtown. First of all, the new helicopters: The nation loves seeing New Yorkers have problems with their underground trains. Second, Sixth Avenue's streets were closed, with traffic backed up for blocks. Third, tons of firefighters and police officers on the scene. Subway service was restored by 11:30AM, but with the Sixth Avenue lines running on Eight Avenue. Reroutings, via NY1: - The......

While billboards generally attract complaints from area residents just don't want billboards period, many advertisers and building owners just ignore them, interested in getting their message out and keeping the coin respectively. But, sometimes the advertiser is willing to fold and take their signs down, even without intervention from the Department of Buildings: The strip club Flashdancers has a big sign up across from a public school in Brooklyn. The NY Times is particularly funny......

Sidney Pollack's The Interpreter definitely makes a point of depicting the city in grand panoramic style, with plenty of overheads and shots on bridges. There are street scenes, as Nicole Kidman goes in and out of her apartment on Stuvesant and 10th, rides her Vespa up Lafayette Street and Fourth Avenue, and walks in and out of the U.N. building. There is even a few scenes in the outer boroughs, with nods to Crown Heights......

This Sunday will welcome one of the most amazing New York City sporting events, the ING NYC Marathon. Covering the five boroughs in 26.2 miles, the NYC Marathon brings together both professional and amateurs runners on what is usually a brisk fall day. Gothamist loves the marathon because we admire the men and women for their nerve and persistence, as well as an opportunity to yell and cheer as loud as we can. The......

Gothamist can hear the longing strains of Carly Simon, as we anticipate the festivities to come this Sunday, September 26th at the 30th annual Atlantic Antic. Brooklyn's grand-daddy of street fairs, from 10am - 6pm, the Antic will take over a 1.5 mile stretch of Atlantic Avenue between Hicks Street and Fourth Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, offering visitors a melting pot of feasting options, trinkets galore, live music, live dancing, and even a bevy of......

The Domino Sugar Plant in Williamsburg has been bought. The NY Times reports that New York Region > Developers Known for Residential Work Buy Domino Sugar Plant on Brooklyn Waterfront" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/01/nyregion/01sugar.html">developers have not disclosed what the plant will be, but notes that one of the partners, Isaac Katan, is a "Brooklyn developer who has helped gentrify Fourth Avenue in Park Slope", while the other partner, C.P.C. Resources, has experience in rehabilitation of older apartments.......

Are pigs flying? P.Diddy has entered the New York...wait, the ING New York City Marathon! The Post says that P.Diddy is looking raise money for a number of causes, including NYC school kids, an pediatric AIDS charity, and his own organization that mentors children (no, not Making the Band). The Diddy's sponsors include Nike, McDonald's, Foot Locker, MTV, Pinnacle Vitamins and Yucaipa book publishing, and while he did meet with Schools Chancellor Joel Klein......

The New York Road Runners Club is contemplating taking on ING as a sponsor of the New York City Marathon. Part of the motivation may be J.P. Morgan Chase's withdrawal as a major sponsor; another may be to increase the purse and attract more talent. Gothamist always thought that New York was in the top marathons in the world: Boston more prestigious as its runner have to qualify, but New York City is New York......