Tonight is the last chance until December 2010 to witness a total lunar eclipse. This is the third such eclipse in the past year. With any luck the weather will cooperate. It looks like there will be breaks in the clouds over the city, which should make for dramatic views. Break out the tripods and cameras! A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth wedges itself between the sun and moon, casting its shadow on the......

This weekend Gowanus Lounge was first to note the unexpected closure of the 2nd Street Cafe at Seventh Avenue in Park Slope. The decade old restaurant, which on weekends had all the charm of a daycare center on adderall, had undergone a major renovation last summer. OTBKB hears word from a former employee that he/she was given just two days notice. Part of the ever-widening quicksand consuming New York restaurants? No word yet on the......

Did you miss Michael Pollan and Dan Barber discussing sustainable eating last week at the 92nd Street Y? You can catch a video clip on their blog. Fresh Direct is jumping on the sustainability train and fend off some of their criticism from environmentalists by running their delivery trucks on a biodiesel fuel blend. In addition, they have been donating their leftover kitchen cooking oil to the same biodiesel supplier and are introducing technology to......

Remember when you were a kid and it was a big deal to stay up and watch the ball drop in Times Square on TV? Then you grew up and at some point realized that Times Square is the last place you’d want to spend your New Year’s Eve, right? But what if that jaded point of view is just keeping you from celebrating a one-of-a-kind experience in harmony with thousands of your brothers......

The idea was a cross between a voodoo ritual and what an ex does behind closed doors -- and it was all about excorsizing bad memories. Yesterday locals and tourists alike gathered in Times Square for what was dubbed Good Riddance Day. They hauled in medical bills, photographs and floppy disks (remember those?), all to be destroyed, shredded and wiped from their memory. The NY Times reports that "the alliance, a business group that works......

Three men were stabbed during a fight at a Midtown parking garage early Sunday morning. They were apparently in town for a birthday celebration at Mars 2112, but got into an argument with another group, made up of at least five men and two women, while waiting for their car at the Central Parking Corp at 810 Seventh Avenue. It's unclear what the fight was over, but 1010 WINS suggested that the groups had clashed......

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......

Missed Halloween but still feeling spooky? Never fear, you can continue the creepy vibe by celebrating the Mexican Day of the Dead, Dia de los Muertos. Observed on November 1st and 2nd, this holiday celebrates and honors the lives of the deceased and welcomes them to the new stage in their lives that commences upon death. Several Mexican restaurants across the city are joining in the celebration -- here's where to go and what to......

There's been talk of what will happen to the Hotel Pennsylvania for a while now, and today the NY Observer reports that the skyscraper planned to take over the 401 Seventh Avenue address could be stopped by preservationists. Since the demolition project needs to be met with public approval it might not bode well that the construction "would entail building over the railroad tracks that run beneath the hotel and pose engineering and security challenges."......

After many attempts by World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein and state officials to keep brokerage Merrill Lynch downtown, the NY Times reports the firm "appears ready" to move to a new, yet-to-be built skyscraper on Seventh Avenue between 32nd and 33rd Streets. Currently Merrill Lynch has offices at 4 World Financial Center, and it seems that it wants "extra large trading floors." It's questionable whether a Midtown building to accommodate 11,000 employees would be......

A 26-year-old Yale graduate and Greenpoint resident got a lot of attention in Times Square yesterday - and the NY Post's cover today - by walking around naked. The Post reports that Josh Drimmer was walking in his birthday suit for "several minutes" around 11AM along Seventh Avenue between West 47th and 48th Streets. Reporter Jennifer Fermino overheard one witness calling a friend on his cellphone and saying, "Yo, homeboy's got full-frontal nudity right here!"......

Two years after asking various companies to bid to bring cellphone service to the subways, the MTA has finally picked a vendor to wire all stations. Here are the details:Transit Wireless will pay the MTA at least $4.6 million each year over 10 years; Transit Wireless is made up of four communications and constructions companies. Subway stations will be wired for cellular and wireless service. Subway tunnels will not be wired, which means cellphone use......

Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a new campaign, Just Ask The Locals, "the City's first-ever five-borough marketing and advertising campaign to make visitors feel more welcome, thank them for visiting, and help them navigate New York City." The Mayor made the announcement at the new American Airlines terminal at JFK and said, "New Yorkers have always been welcoming and friendly, but not enough people around the world know it. So now we're going the extra mile......

The PR team over at Mercadito sent us a very disturbing email earlier today: On Sunday, August 26, at 7:20 am Antonio Barranco Hernandez was killed, and Luis Romero and Augusto Bravo were seriously injured after a drunk driver slammed into the back of the van while the men delivered produce to Mercadito Grove restaurant, located at 100 Seventh Avenue South in New York City. Mercadito has set up a fund to accept donations on......

A drunk man driving a Lincoln Aviator slammed into people delivering groceries at restaurant on Seventh Avenue South near Grove Street yesterday morning. Antonio Barranco Hernandez, who had taken a delivery shift over from his son, died after the impact of the SUV severed his leg. A witness told the Daily News, "[The SUV] was going very fast. The car cut his leg. The leg, right off." The SUV was driven by NJ resident Christian......

Yesterday saw tens of thousands of people celebrating the 25th Annual Dominican Day Parade on Sixth Avenue. The parade's organizer, Carlos Velasquez, told the Sun, "The crowd is getting younger and younger as they're learning the language and becoming a part of the city." The parade went up Sixth Avenue, from 36th Street to 62nd Street and Central PArk West. Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn marched amidst floats, dancers and diablos......

A no parking sign? A fire hydrant? Mere street dressing when it comes to drivers with a DOT-issued Department of City Planning placard. Streetsblog observes that a yellow Porsche convertible parked on Seventh Avenue belongs to City Planning Commissioner Dolly Williams. Hello, Dolly indeed. Streetsblog notes that Williams, Brooklyn's sole representative on the planning commission, "has been barred from participating in Kings County's most important recent land use processes." For instance, she can't attend Atlantic......

Centro Vinoteca: The owners of Gusto have teamed up with Chef Anne Burrell in this two story corner spot in the West Village. Burell's experience as Batali's Sous Chef on Iron Chef America shines through in her Italian menu. 74 Seventh Avenue South, at Barrow Street, 212-367-7470. Omido: Designed by Avroko (who did Public, among others), this high-end sushi restaurant brings a bit of luxury to midtown West with touches like foie gras and gold......

Of all the days and in all the neighborhoods for this to happen: On Sunday, the Daily News reports that Khadijah Farmer, a "masculine lesbian," was kicked out of the women's bathroom at the Caliente Cab Co. on Seventh Avenue in the West Village. And this happened to be a few hours after the Gay Pride Parade! Farmer says that when she went into the ladies' room, another woman gave her a look and said,......

Her name known worldwide, Liz Claiborne has died at the age of 78. The designer had a rare form of cancer affecting the abdominal lining, complications of which put her in the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where she died Tuesday. Born in Brussels, she ended up in New York as her family was driving through Manhattan (after Claiborne had already gotten a taste for design by winning a contest) when she told them she was staying.......

This past weekend was notable for a number of shootings that left many injured and at least three dead. In Harlem, police have been looking for any links in three shootings that occurred between 10PM and 11PM Saturday night. Two 22-year-olds were shot at Lenox and 125th, a 17-year-old was shot at Lenox and 137th and a 15-year-old was shot on Lenox (at a pizzeria) between 125th and 126th. Then just two hours later, a......

Was this baby lamb a little too eager for the city's Farm Aid concert? Because she was found wandering around the Bronx yesterday morning. Julio Rivera, who saw her near his car, chased her in order to get a hold of her, but then the lamb chased him back! Newsday reported, "The spectacle lasted half an hour until Rivera got the upper hand and corraled Lucky Lady in a parking lot. Responding police officers......

A week and a half ago, NY Times managing editor Jill Abramson was hurt in what an internal Times memo called a "traffic accident". Or, in Page Six parlance, it's called "crossing at the intersection of West [44th] Street and Seventh Avenue just as the garbage hauler was making a right turn" and having the truck ran over her foot. Ouch! The Post's Page Six reported at the time that the cops weren't charging the......

With the recent agreement the city made with the public school principals' union in the news for it's unusual additions (like a $25,000 incentive for principals to head schools in difficult areas), we suggest you also read the Village Voice article about teachers in "rubber rooms" for the underbelly of the public school dealings. The "rubber rooms" are where teachers who are in the middle of disputes, whether they've been rightly or unfairly removed......

Eats on Seventh Avenue SouthThey might look like child's play, but these frozen cocktails pack quite a punch for grown-ups.Good food around Port Authority? Really?On Earth Day this year, eat sustainably.This weather is no good for the lobster industry.What's the best way to learn about a country's cuisine? Why go there, of course, and learn from the locals.......

There's been a flurry of activity on the openings front recently. Even if spring hasn't quite made it to town, these new spots are starting to bloom and shake off the winter blahs: - Insieme, the new restaurant from the folks at Hearth (Paul Grieco and Marco Canora, pictured at right), is scheduled to open on Monday. It will be serving an Italian menu, focusing on "uncomplicated food" and "sincere hospitality." If Hearth is any......

The special US Postal Service-Star Wars R2D2 mailboxes have arrived, just in time to get acquainted with NYC-style slush. WNBC has a slideshow of a mailbox in Midtown, and we suppose the horrible sleet kept some fans away, lest they sully their Jedi robes. Some readers noted that there were R2D2 mailboxes outside the Kaufman Studios in Astoria as well as on Mott and Bayard in Chinatown, in addition to Manhattan locations of 43rd and......

Take this as your dose of levity for the day: As part of a big Star Wars stamp roll out for the film's 30th anniversary, the US Postal Service will have some mailboxes across the country wrapped with R2D2 decals. The mailboxes will be in 200 cities, and New York City is getting a few. The locations mentioned in the Daily News are 43rd and Broadway, 58th and Fifth Avenue, and 33rd and Seventh Avenue.......

One of the first Carnegie Hall shows we went to, years ago, was the Tibet House Benefit. The President of Tibet House is none other then Uma's dad, Robert A.F. Thurman. The annual show he has help put on is now in its 17th year, and this time around will take place on February 26th. The lineup has been confirmed (why the press release is giving Ben Harper top billing is beyond us) and some......

Sushi Samba 7, the popular Greenwich Village restaurant on Seventh Avenue, has been battling with the city over its rooftop deck for the past five years. The deck had violated landmarks law, because the owners never consulted with the Landmarks Preservation Commission over its constructions as they should have. A judge even forced the restaurant to remove a "steel rooftop structure" the restaurant had replaced a city-approved trellis. Silly Sushi Samba, trying to skirt the......