Merging urban exploration with something akin to La Blogotheque's Take Away Shows, the below video gives a glimpse at what's hidden in the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel underneath Downtown Brooklyn while performer Greg "Cosmo D" Heffernan scores the journey. The video is part of an online magazine called NY Moon. Each month there are several features including one called "Blueprint" which proposes new ideas for NYC. In February's issue someone suggests New York's billionaires buy up......

Jose Rivera, who shot at a car full of undercover cops, hitting one of them, was sentenced to 16 years in jail. In February, while driving in Park Slope-Prospect Heights, Rivera thought that the cops were giving him a dirty looks and yelled at them, "You got a beef?" and then fired. The police fired back and later, Rivera's police officer wife seemed to try to cover up the shooting by parking their bullet-ridden car......

The NY Times has a Section A, Page 1 article about a woman whose identity since the WTC attacks has been defined as a September 11 survivor but her September 11 story doesn't quite add up. Tania Head said she had been on the 78th floor of the north tower, still bearing some burns, and gave tours at the Tribute 9/11 Visitor Center. She also acted as president of the Survivors’ Network and said her......

Getting shocked by an electrified manhole isn't just for the winter: Yesterday morning, a Labrador retriever suffered a jolt when he stepped onto a wet manhole cover on Thompson Street. The Daily News reports that John Doran had been walking his 11-year-old dog Socha. When the dog stepped into a puddle, she "Socha let out a series of blood-curdling yelps - and collapsed near the curb." From the News:"I never heard a noise come out......

In February rumors started to fly about Jimmy Fallon becoming the next Late Night host when Conan O'Brien leaves his current spot to take Jay Leno's spot. It's an after-hours game of musical chairs! (Though no one knows where Leno will end up, it is said he'll likely stay in the late night game.) NBC chief Rick Ludwin says that Fallon is now at the top of the short list for possible Late Night hosts.......

While poking around on YouTube recently we stumbled onto this awesome clip from 1989 of David Letterman appearing on Live at Five and Live at Five simultaneously appearing on Late Night With David Letterman. In it, we see Letterman, whose studio 6A is just across the hall from WNBC's Live at Five's studio 6B, being interviewed by Jack Cafferty (and vice versa) on the occasion of a prime time anniversary show. Late Night taped......

Recently Rolling Stone took a 60-second tour of The Beatles' New York, with a little help from Google’s Street Maps feature. First up on their tour: John and Yoko’s first NYC apartment at 105 Bank Street (where they lived during the release of this album). Here's a closer look at the property, which is also shown at right. In 1971, after a long stay at the St. Regis Hotel, John Lennon and Yoko Ono moved......

Nowadays, when people see rodents at restaurants, they aren't necessarily calling 311 immediately - it seems the first call is to the local news station! A couple strolling by the Upper East Side Pinkberry at 82nd and 2nd Avenue called WABC 7 when they saw mice running around the store at 2:30AM yesterday. WABC 7 observed, "The mice seemed to prefer the counter area. It is just feet from the yogurt machine where the......

In February, the State Liquor Authority suspended the liquor license for Scores West, the West Chelsea exotic club where some employees were arrested for prostitution. Now, in the latest chapter of Scores West vs. the law enforcement, the Post reports that the manager for Scores West was "roughed up by lawmen" and is now in the hospital! Manager Harvey Osher, other Scores employees and supporters were meeting with the State Liquor Authority, where a strange......

A 2005 law that prohibits passing between subway cars while the train is in motion was enacted to increase the safety of passengers who would otherwise engage in the risky behavior. Law enforcement officials are now reporting some spillover safety effects of that prohibition. Searches of passengers caught car hopping are turning up weapons. The Daily News gives an example: In February, Jones was busted again. Officer Pedro Murphy saw Jones walk between subway cars......

Newsday reports that NYPD Assistant Chief Bruce Smolka is retiring. While many officers Newsday spoke to love Smolka, he leaves behind an interesting legacy. Let's paraphrase Aaron Naparstek's 2005 piece about Smolka for the NY Press' 50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers issue:...Smolka was the commanding officer of the NYPD’s infamous Street Crimes Unit. It was his officers who, in February 1999, pumped 41 bullets into Amadou Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant guilty of nothing more......

They say New York is home to a million stories, and so far this year, we've published 7021 of them here on Gothamist. So in case you missed any of those, let's take a little stroll back in time, and review the most significant stories the past 12 months, shall we? Here's part one of a semi-chronological look at 2006; part two will go up tomorrow: Nixzmary Brown and the Problem with the Administration for......

Well-known radical lawyer Lynne Stewart was sentenced today to 28 months in prison. In February 2005, she found guilty of terror charges - she had smuggled messages from terrorist Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman to his followers in defiance of prison rules. Stewart had been pleading for leniency, as she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, and before the sentencing, Stewart's lawyer Elizabeth Fink said, "If you send her to prison, she's going to......

In February 2005, the first Pinkberry opened on a quiet street in West Hollywood by 32-year old Korean entrepreneur Hyekyung (Shelly) Hwang. The frozen yogurt fiends came in droves, forced the LAPD to write 1,000 parking tickets because the store's neighbors couldn't find a place to put their cars amidst the visitors' SUVs, and now Hwang has signed more than thirty leases for yet-to-be-opened Pinkberry stores around the country. Often hailed as "crackberry," the......

Excellent - the New Yorker has updated its 2003 story on Bill Jones, the Whole Foods employee who became an institution at the Chelsea location for directing shoppers to available registers, providing comfort with his reassuring, "Number 5 is yours!" and a wonderful smile. When the Time Warner Center Whole Foods opened up at Columbus Circle, we suggested that they should clone him. But wouldn't you know, Bill Jones himself was working at the Columbus......

While Wal-Mart decided not to build a store in Rego Park last year, the NY Sun says the behemoth retailer working on surround then attack approach by opening up stores in just outside the city limits Last month a store in Kearny, NJ opened, and next up is one in White Plains that will be an "urban model." As in an urban model with "design elements that could be incorporated into a New York City......

Kevin Dresser, Rabbit Owner and Designer...

In February of 2005, we booked New York band The Cloud Room to play our 2nd Movable Hype show. We had heard their song Hey Now Now and it instantly stuck in our head like peanut butter to the roof of one's mouth. This is how it was for everyone we talked to. We'd even venture to say that a song hasn't stuck in our head like that since. This week, Pitchfork took a stab......

We noted in yesterday’s roundup of theatre in 2005 that at least in our optimistic eyes, last year had plenty of great shows. If anywhere like the same number of impressive plays and musicals appear in ‘06, it’d be hard to complain. But nonetheless, we do have a small wish list. -- For more affordable tickets. Even if it’s just making a certain number available for a low price at each performance, or making......

In February 2002, Ronald Popadich of New Jersey embarked on a shattering crime spree over four days, shooting two people dead and driving into 25 in Midtown. Yesterday, Popadich pleaded guilty to the murder of one of the hit-and-run victims who died during surgery. Popadich, a paranoid schizophrenic first killed his Garfield NJ neighbor, Lisa Gotkin, on February 10, 2002, and then drove into Manhattan on February 12, running into 18 people. Then, on February......

Roosevelt Island, pop. 10,000, is in the news again. The small town in the middle of the big city, one of the great urban planning "eh-steps" (not quite a misstep, but close), was last seen in the news scaring Jennifer Connely in "Dark Water." But now its got a political scandal, or the makings of one, to call its very own. Let's see if you remember all of this: The 147-acre island was leased......

It turns out that the elapsed amount of time from a wacky, but sorta relevant City Council proposal and thing happening can be as short at 2.5 months! In February, City Councilwoman Gail Brewer floated the idea making movie theaters list the times movies actually started, versus having people sit through the countless commercials before them. Now, Loews Theaters will be printing when movies really start, sorta: The NY Times says movie listings, ads, and......

Last week I didn't tell you about the show Beck played at Hiro Ballroom Friday night (one night before his appearance on Saturday Night Live). That's because the "secret" show wasn't even announced until Thursday. Beck is known for playing last-minute small-venue shows, and I was lucky enough to score a ticket to this one. Here are the pictures. In February, Beck played another secret show in Los Angeles. The opener was none other than,......

Andrew Boyd, Cultural Activist and Founder, Billionaires for Bush...

Sam Seder, Director / Writer / Comedian / Co-Host, "The Majority Report"...

A childhood friend of mine announced her engagement a year ago. In February, I had lunch with the bride to be. She showed me photos of her dress and declared her excitement about my presence at the wedding. After that I never heard from her. Recently, my sister saw the bride and asked about the wedding. She told my sister the invitation was coming in the mail, but I never received one so I......