Instead of walking to Newtown Creek to catch dinner with a condom, wouldn't it be nice to hop into the car and glide down to the street in a private elevator? Glauco Lolli-Ghetti, a Manhattan real estate developer, lives this dream from the 11th floor of his $7 million Chelsea condo. “This is about as close to a suburban home that you can achieve in an urban area like New York,” Lolli-Ghetti tells the Times. Does anyone remember that cool car elevator that the Cleavers had in their glass-bound condo on Leave It To Beaver? more ›

An Islamic center-owned piece of real estate is causing a controversy in Long Island—and the center doesn't even want to build anything on it! The Hillside Islamic Center wants to expand its currently 19-space parking lot, so it asked the North Hempstead zoning board "for a variance to convert residential property into a parking lot that would create 18 spaces." Cue non-New York candidates to seize this issue and call it a "victory parking lot"! more ›

Cases of Lyme disease in New York City have risen close to 20%, from 538 to 643, in the last year alone according to the Health Department's latest count. The disease, contracted from a tick bite, has all sorts of nasty repercussions ranging from headaches and muscle aches to memory loss and arthritis (even reality show breakdowns), with new symptoms being attributed to the disease every year. more ›

Recently we stumbled upon this photo, which was taken in 1935 and ran in LIFE magazine, where its caption simply reads: "Similar houses of a 'cookie cutter' suburban Queens neighborhood in New York City." It's almost mesmerizing! But what neighborhood in Queens is it? Given the vantage point it's proving more difficult to pinpoint than the last brownstone standing was. Our best guess is South Ozone Park, around Aqueduct—prove us right or wrong? more ›

The Atlantic is asking if today's McMansions are tomorrow's tenements in an article titled The Next Slum. It seems suburban developments nationwide are seeing the same problems the city streets are: druggies, homeless, grafitti, gang activity, broken windows, stray bullets, and even in Pleasantville copper wire is a commodity. more ›