Results tagged “madisonavenues”

Langston Hughes came to New York to study at Columbia in 1921, but after a year he left due to racial prejudice at the institution. He aimed his focus towards Harlem, becoming a large influence on the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, even when he was physically worlds away.

Real Estate site The Real Deal has detailed the priciest streets or micro-neighborhoods to live on in each of the five boroughs of NYC. Ironically, except for Manhattan, the most expensive streets in New York's four other boroughs lean heavily towards suburban idyll rather than luxurious urbanism. But we suppose that has always been an appeal of the outer boroughs: the ability to escape Manhattan's teeming population density. If you recently came into a large sum of money, here's where you should be house-hunting, in alphabetical order.

The Post's Braden Keil reveals that Madonna has been scoping out townhouses on the Upper East Side. With three children and probably many helpers, the Madonna has probably grown out of her 6,000 square foot duplex at 41 Central Park West's Harperley Hall.

We love this time of year, when the Straphangers Campaign hands out the Pokey Awards for the city's slowest buses. Usurping last year's winner M34 from the slowest spot this year was the M14A, which goes between 11th Avenue and Avenue A, and then down to Grand Street, and travels at an average of 3.9 MPH, which is what a healthy New Yorker speedwalking can do easily (average pedestrian walking speed is 3 MPH). Ah, the combination of traffic and pedestrians around 14th Street, especially near Union Square . The M34's sped up from 3.4 MPH to a blazing 4.2 MPH - check out the the 2005 and 2006 speeds here (PDF). And the other borough's slow poke buses are:

through June 18: 1996 at Rain

Ah, Spring. The flowers are blooming, the sun is shining, and we can finally put away that puffy down coat for good. But for many of us out there, the most exciting part about Spring is the arrival of Spring produce at our local greenmarkets. The sighting of the first ramp at the Union Square greenmarket brings a level of excitement to the food community as we know that it means that we'll start to see them, along with asparagus, fiddlehead ferns, zucchini blossoms, and more, starting to grace the menus of restauarants around the city. The New York Post highlights some restauarant dishes that showcase the Spring bounty, and Aureole has developed an entire menu focused on rhubarb (pictured), an ingredient that is often relegated to dessert. During the 7-course dinner (or 4-course lunch), you'll find rhubarb tucked into ravioli, as part of the crust on striped bass, as a sorbet, and more. Dinner is $89 per person, or $150 paired with wines, lunch is $35, or $65 with wines, and a vegetarian version is available. 34 East 61st Street, between Park and Madison Avenues. Call (212) 319-1660 for reservations.

The MTA and Transport Workers Union are supposedly talking again at the Grand Hyatt in Midtown, after a day of threats and fines, yet no action. To summarize: Justice Theodore Jones threatened to jail union leaders for contempt (and the strike) which threw the Post into a tizzy, the Mayor called the union a bunch of "frauds," and Governor "Not Doing Nothing" Pataki said talks would only begin when the strike ends. MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow reiterated their last offer (though their last offer last Friday wasn't really their last offer) and TWU President Roger Toussaint said the union would talk if the MTA dropped its pension demands (an employee contribution of 6% of the salary). Dare we hope these two crazy kids can work it out? For the sake of 7 million commuters?

Oh, yes, it's on. After 3AM this morning, the Transport Workers Union announced they would strike a couple hours after rejecting the MTA's latest offer. Thousands of subway and bus workers walked off the job, leaving millions of New Yorkers to find new ways to go to work (sneakers, meet 60 blocks of walking). Now, New York City is in a state of emergency, in its special "contingency plan," with restrictions on vehicles (only cars with at least four people inside) for most of the morning, people trying to hail cabs, and Fifth and Madison Avenues closed to traffic. Transit workers, though, did finish their routes and close up stations carefully, at the union instructed; one station's sign read, "Strike in Effect. Station Closed. Happy Holidays!!!!" The city is trying to convene an emergency court session to stop the strike, but who know, this could go on for days.

Gothamist was supposed to spend the evening on a rooftop with friends and free drinks. Thank you rain for ruining the start to our weekend! We usually don't take a negative tone around here, but it needs to be said: Gothamist hates weather. It's also going to ruin at least one of the below events, see if you can pick which one. When you're done with that, grab your umbrella and rain boots and find fun indoors - after all the sun will come out tomorrow, or like, in August.

Although technically, Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican defeat of the French army at the Battle Of Puebla in 1862, Gothamist looks at it as a great excuse to celebrate with food and drinks. Then again, we turn just about anything into an excuse to celebrate with food and drinks. Tap into your Mexican heritage and join in the fun.

Because there are so many ways to celebrate, we can hardly decide what to do! If you're sick and tired of the same old "sinker" matzo balls and dried-out brisket that you've had every year since you were six, convince the family to come join you for one of the Passover menus being offered throughout the city. New York Magazine rounds up a few, including Coco Pazzo, where chef Mark Strausman is preparing a Roman-Jewish menu for $90. It "starts with Tuscan chicken-liver pâté on matzo and segues into 'my mother’s brisket.'" If Italian's not your style, try Aix for a French seder. Their passover menu, $85, features a duck consomme to accompany the mazto balls and a foie gras charoset with lavender honey. For a modern Mexican seder, try Zscalo. Their matzo ball soup is laced with corn, cilantro and jalapenos, and their "Tacos de Brisket" are braised brisket tacos with matzo tortillas and chipotle-avocado salsa. You won't find that at granny's seder.

Mayor Bloomberg decided on one package of each kind, after joking that neither would be good for his waistline (he did pass on the Krispy Kreme doughnuts, though). He handed over $2 for the cookies, three each in clear plastic packages.And then, when he went to go vote, he reassured a woman that he wasn't trying to cut her, saying, "I'd be massacred on the front page of the newspapers." Oh, Mayor Bloomberg, if you really cared about us New Yorkers, you would have cut a lady so we New Yorkers could have read and laughed about it.

We don't know the exact numbers yet, but Gothamist overheard Paul Kirk, of K.C. Baron say that he went through 1600 pounds of meat on Saturday and 1500 today. Whoa. [Tien has some great photos of Paul Kirk here.] His ribs (above) were quite delicious, but we couldn't try just one kind of 'cue, could we?