If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where this bar is and what its lousy childhood was like, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap. But we don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores us, and in the second place, J.D. Salinger would probably have two hemorrhages apiece if he was still alive to see this slick new saloon, inexplicably named after Holden Caulfield, one of the most enduring characters in modern American literature. Welcome, phonies! more ›

Are you trying to bring a little respectability to your recently-formed nation state? Have you been dying to bang on your noisy apartment walls and say "SHUT UP MIKE WALLACE!"? A $20 million Park Avenue duplex that belonged to the former Yugoslavia is about to hit the market after 19 years of squabbling between the countries that made up the former republic, and boasts 2,325 square feet, six bedrooms, four bathrooms, and counts 60 Minutes's Mike Wallace as a neighbor. Now you'll be able to express your displeasure with Andy Rooney by walking across the hall! more ›

It must have sucked to be a downhill skier stuck in NYC during Blizzageddon, what with all that great powder lying around but no way to get to any ski slopes. But if you had some rope and a friend with a car, you could get your kicks all the same, without paying through the nose for lift tickets. Watch this lunatic get towed on skis behind an SUV barreling down Park Avenue in the snow: more ›

A mother duck and her 11 newly hatched ducklings were reunited after some well-meaning New Yorkers tried to lead the newborns to safety, and ended up scaring the mother off in the process. Born in a nest in the middle of the Park Ave median, the mother tried to lead her ducklings into the tulips, but flew away when one local tried to help the ducklings over with her newspaper. City Parks Rangers attempted to lure the mother back after putting the ducklings in a basket, hoping their cries would attract her. It worked, and the Rangers led the family through traffic and into Central Park. And now there are baby ducks in the lake by the Boathouse! Check out the photos. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] An NYPD officer was shot inside a Bronx public housing project just before 12:30 p.m., according to police scanner reports. The wire dispatches indicate that an emotionally disturbed person shot an officer at 3073 Park Avenue in the Bronx and "barricaded [himself] with a gun inside the [apartment]." It's unclear if the officer was on duty at the time of the shooting, but responding officers put him in a patrol car and drove him to Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center, according to the scanner. more ›

A monetarily secure hedge fund manager is suing to keep his rent on Park Avenue rock bottom. Though Ross Haberman could afford the increase (which could be as much as thirty times what he’s paying now) his lawyer says he shouldn’t have to since he was willed the apartment by his late grandpa, real-estate legend Louis Katz. But despite what the last letter said, relatives want him to pay up. more ›

Terrible—WABC 7 reports that a pedestrian on a sidewalk at Park Avenue and East 50th Street was killed when a box truck jumped a curb. "A box truck that apparently made an illegal left from Park Avenue to East 50th Street collided with a pickup truck, which was northbound on Park Avenue. The force of the collision pushed the box truck onto the sidewalk, mowing down the victim. Neither driver was injured. Both were tested and came up negative for alcohol consumption. However, the box truck driver will likely be charged with driving with a suspended license." more ›

The Google street view car has captured plenty of odd incidents since its creation. Pat Kiernan points to a recently discovered one in Manhattan, taken at 29th and Park — where a collapsed (possibly dead?) man lay on the street as a crowd gathers around him. It strikes us odd that Google seems to have taken the steps to not only blur, but pixelate the man's face... why not just remove that section of the block until a reshoot is possible? more ›

A couple of months ago the scenesters behind the infamous Naked Ping Pong parties went legit and opened a beautiful 13,000 square foot table tennis emporium in a subterranean space on East 23rd Street, formerly occupied by Woolworths. Called SPiN New York, the approach is sort of like what Brooklyn Bowl is doing with bowling; taking a sport normally associated with basement-dwelling poindexters and recreating it in a funky nightclub context with a bar, restaurant, DJ. more ›

Take a gander at this new Specter piece that went up on Park Avenue in Bed-Stuy yesterday. Specter tells us that "its basically about the under appreciated workforce that runs the city anyone from some guy collecting bottles and cans to someone who works in a warehouse moving boxes. This series and my latest piece also touch on the idea of disappearing industrial spaces when you see the piece it will drive the concept home." more ›

If you've passed by 57th Street and Park Avenue you've most likely noticed a building filled with balloons being saturated with LED lights subtly changing colors. WCBS investigated and found the creators, Hello Darling, who say all in all there's 10,000 balloons of different sizes in there, with the largest measuring in at 8 feet! They have a little video on their site showing the piece being put together, allegedly with the help of someone in Brooklyn. Leave any sharp objects at home and go check it out yourself. more ›

Gunshots stemming from the attempted armed robbery of a jewelry store inside the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel led to a scene of chaos inside the lobby of one of New York's fanciest destinations for hospitality. more ›

One suspect is in custody after a retired police officer was shot in the chest following a botched robbery at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel on Park Avenue. The victim was working in a jewelry store inside the hotel and was shot after trying to thwart the suspect from stealing some high-end watches for the store. Streets surrounding the hotel have been closed off as the investigation continues. We hear that the Secret Service was on the scene too--because there apparently a foreign dignitary staying across the street at the Intercontinental! more ›

Time to cast aside more rumors about Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez: It turns out that his Park Avenue condo is not as ugly as it is on the listing website. The Post's Braden Keil finds the four-bedroom, 4,600-square foot apartment "surprisingly elegant" and "more like the home of a buttoned-down business executive than an athlete." There are signs of A-Rod: "a Lucite-encased home plate from Yankee Stadium that was presented to Rodriguez after hitting his 500th home run in 2007, and an artfully designed "13" in the hallway." No mention of whether there was any Kabbalah water around. The apartment is priced at $12 million; A-Rod bought it for around $7 million. [Via Curbed] more ›

A recent high school graduate was killed in a car accident early yesterday morning when a pickup truck drove into the Honda Civic she was riding in at East 65th Street and Park Avenue. Julie Tsang, 17, had graduated three days earlier from Millennium High School and was planning on attending Hunter College this fall. Police charged the truck's driver, 22-year-old Robert Gomez (who was not hurt), with criminally negligent homicide, DWI, and driving with a suspended license. Sources told the Post Gomez "refused a breath test but reeked of alcohol." The Honda's driver Kevin Chang is in critical but stable condition. more ›

The man accused of pretending to be a Park Avenue gynecologist apparently had an accomplice. The Daily News reports that, according to sources, Monsey resident Zalman Silber "tricked one woman into undergoing a pelvic exam by saying his friend, the Rockland County police officer, was a doctor who made house calls." Sources also say the cop ended up conducting the exam in Silber's house--with Silber watching. more ›

So much for a healthy start to the morning. The Pillsbury Doughboy will be in town come sunrise, and he's promising "a sweeter morning commute." more ›

Will 2008 be the year frustrated artists stop whining about the Whitney Biennial for being too cliquey, too scattershot, too short on women, minorities, and criminally overlooked artists like the ones doing all the griping? Hardly, but this year’s themeless Biennial, which opened last night, goes a long way toward appeasing the disgruntled hipster artist crowd with a big, rowdy slate of installations and events at the Park Avenue Armory through March 26th. more ›

A building collapse at 124th Street and Park Avenue has prompted the MTA to shut down all train service in and out of Grand Central Terminal. Metro-North's Dan Brucker told WCBS 880, "We don't know how long the closure will last. We have been told by the police not to have any trains run through the 125th Street station." more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a power outage on Cranford St. and Amboy Rd. on Staten Island, a bank robbery on East Gun Hill Rd. in the Bronx, and a carjacking on the Horace Harding Expressway and 108th St. in Queens.
• Update on the 14-year-old girl who was killed and stuffed into a boiler by her father: The ME's office found that she was pregnant - and they are testing the DNA to see if her father impregnated her.
• For those who read Maxim for the articles and believe in the lad mag's editorial integrity, it apparently published an album review of the new Black Crowes' release without listening to it. Maxim later explained it was an "educated guess preview."
• Subway delays are up by 31% from a year ago and are at 154% the level of delays in 2005. Capital improvements are being singled out as the cause of the dramatic increases.
• West Village speakeasy Chumley's may not be lost to the ages after all. Construction begins Monday and the owner hopes to reopen in May.
• A corner townhouse that has 100 feet of Park Avenue frontage may be undesirable because of its design. Or its $30-35 million price tag.
• Gossipmonger Baird Jones was discovered dead in his East 8th St. apartment yesterday evening. The 53-year-old purveyor of celebrity tidbits to multiple gossip columns reportedly died from natural causes.
• A Dallas police officer in Sen. Hillary Clinton's motorcade was killed in a crash today.
• Yesterday marked the 43rd anniversary of Malcolm X's assassination at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan.
• And get your Cosmopolitans ready: There's a new Sex & the City trailer that drops some big bombshells and a good joke about feminine grooming.

Thanks to Modern Mechanix we can now see what New York was supposed to look like by the year 2000, as seen from 1927. In that article "streets on five levels have been prophesied," but by 1931, two-level streets (pictured) seemed more realistic.

A definite step towards the relief of traffic congestion on much traveled city thoroughfares by the construction of streets under streets is soon to be taken by the city of New York. When this stupendous project has been brought to completion the metropolis will have an underground lane for fast through traffic, a tunnel for local and express trains, all built underneath the surface street, which will be left for local traffic. more ›

Pinch & S’MAC: Dejected fans of Pinch, the defunct Park Avenue South “pizza by the inch” joint, will not only be reunited with their favorite Pinch pizza, but they can even slather it with the incredible mac-n-cheese from East Village favorite S’MAC. The new cheese and carb cartel will bring the best of both menus together on the Upper West Side, forming a single, unified, belt-busting celebration of starch. If you’ve never tried S’MAC, you’re best off staying away; those who’ve tasted their mac-n-cheese speak of it with glazed-over eyes befitting a Shake Shack devotee. Opening “soft” on Monday, Pinch & S’MAC promises a casual environment with take out, delivery, catering and a separate room for private parties. 474 Columbus Ave., between 82nd and 83rd, (646) 438-9494. more ›

Ever since real estate developer Vornado revealed plans for a boxy, glassy skyscraper at 125th Street and Park Avenue last March, people were curious what might companies might lease some of the 640,000 square feet. Now the NY Times reveals Major League Baseball will take a swing at starting its cable network in the building. Wow. more ›

are distressed by the trend and blame it on the fact that executive chefs’ salaries in China are matching or even surpassing the U.S. pay grade. more ›

Manhattan real estate sales set a record in the fourth quarter of 2007, with residential sales averaging out to be $1.4 million (according to data from Prudential Douglas Elliman), an increase of 17.6% over 2006's fourth quarter. However impressive that statistic is, the growth was primarily driven by super high-end sales of at least $10 million. more ›

This week in the Times, Bruni two-stars Allen & Delancey. Loves the atmosphere; says “the food at Allen & Delancey is at once sophisticated and accessible, reliant on fail-safe luxuries deployed in a modestly creative and occasionally playful manner.” Says that in some ways it’s similar to what he did uptown (at Gordon Ramsay at the London) but it works much better in this context. In $25 and Under, "> Peter Meehan goes to Food... more ›

We've been monitoring how I am Legend, the big budget post-apocalyptic zombie movie set in New York, will be portraying the Big Apple ever since filming took place on the Brooklyn Bridge (it eventually gets blown up). Now, with reviews starting to pop up, we're hearing mixed things about the movie but raves about how a futuristic people-less New York City looks. The Observer's Sara Vilkomerson was freaked out, noting how the city is... more ›

The pedestrian, bicyclist and sensible transportation advocacy group Transportation Alternatives has just launched a new website, Crash Maps: CrashStat 2.0, which maps intersections and streets where pedestrians and bicyclists have been hit by vehicles. It's an updated version of their previous map, and when the information is presented different depending on how closely you zoom into the map. For instance, at one level, it shows crashes (those with injuries as well as the fatal... more ›

Crave on 42nd: Top Chef Season One's Dave "I'm not your bitch, bitch!" Martin has found a home in New York serving comfort-driven American bistro fare. He reprises one of his Top Chef dishes -- the Black Truffle Mac ‘n’ Cheese, with black truffles, brandy and fontina slow cooked with fresh thyme and oregano, and the menu offers wood grilled pizzas, burgers, and hearty entrees, like "Sassy Sea Bass," farm raised bass, dry rubbed and... more ›

Kellari’s Parea: This Greek bistro, housed in the space that was formerly Michael Symon’s Parea, was created by the same team that runs Kellari Taverna in midtown. This "green" restaurant features an organic menu that includes pizzas fresh from the wood-burning oven, lamb that has been marinated overnight, and eggplant with feta ice cream. 36 E 20th St between Broadway and Park Ave South (212-777-8448) Maxie’s Grill: This casusal offshoot of Angelo & Maxie’s steakhouse... more ›