Cram all sorts of culture down your gullet in one fell swoop tonight at the annual Museum Mile Festival, a giant art-fueled block party along Fifth Avenue. Cars are blocked from 82nd to 105th Sts, and nine museums are opening their doors for free—yes, that's right, free!—from 6 to 9 p.m., plus there's live music and art-in-the-street activities to keep the festivities going, rain or shine. more ›

The art world is breathing a sigh of relief today as the announcement of The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation's director stepping down was announced. For many, Thomas Krens has been more of a dictator than director; with a focus on franchising a "McGuggenheim" business over exhibiting modern art or focusing on the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building itself.

The Guggenheim flagship -- one of New York's top tourist attractions -- was falling apart. (Its crumbling facade is currently undergoing renovation.) Krens wasted considerable time and money trying to get the city to accept a second Gehry Guggenheim in Manhattan when he failed in his attempt to attract either steady streams of visitors or compelling exhibitions to a SoHo branch. (The space is now a Prada store.)

Last year, the Toledo Museum lent the Guggenheim Museum the Goya painting "Children with a Cart" for the Guggenheim's Spanish painting show. But on the way to New York, the painting disappeared near Scranton, PA. The painting was eventually found, but now the FBI has arrested the tipster who brought the painting to them! more ›

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on 155th Ave. and 79th St. in Queens, a bank robbery at the Chase branch on De Kalb and Bedford Ave. in Brooklyn, and a pedestrian struck at Hunts Point and Lafayette Aves. in the Bronx. The Guggenheim sent out a postcard inviting people to a seminar about Andy Warhol. The message on the reverse side is expletive-laced and describes Warhol and his fans in derogatory terms... more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on Beekman Ave. in the Bronx, a double shooting on Throop Ave. in Brooklyn, and a dead body in the water just south of the Bayonne Bridge off Staten Island.
• There was a breaking news story on a cop being shot and killed this morning at or near a Hilton Hotel on 31st St. in Manhattan. Details were conflicting and confusing (not unusual in a breaking news event) and we expected clarification as the day went on. So far: total media silence on any such event.
• Someone "splashed" the black Astor Pl. rotating cube with a variety of paints, but the culprit doesn't appear to be the "Splasher".
• Claudia Cohen, former Page Six Editor at the NY Post, legendary gossip reporter, and ex-wife of billionaire Ron Perelman, succumbed to ovarian cancer yesterday. Former NY Sen. Alfonse D'Amato once famously called a press conference to announce that he was in love with Cohen.
• The Gowanus Lounge reports on the phenomena of someone, or some people, taking poops on people's property on Brooklyn's Bergen St. We emphasize: not dog crap, human crap.
• A Staten Island man has been indicted for his habit of poking young girls with a sharp object, allegedly for sexual gratification purposes.
• Longtime Harlem mainstay The Record Shack on 125th St. is facing eviction by the store's landlord.
• Chelsea neighbors object to the construction of an incongruous addition to their block.

You may have noticed that the Guggenheim Museum has been shrouded in mesh netting lately, and it makes sense the museum would be undergoing some facade/maintenance work. The NY Times, though, has this amazing graphic showing the cracks in the museum's walls. The Guggenheim explains the restoration online (and with podcast- MP3) and also has an exhibit about "Restoring a Masterpiece." more ›

Remember how last November, a Goya painting en route to the Guggenheim's Spanish Painting from El Greco to Picasso show was stolen? The painting, which belongs to the Toledo Museum of Art, was pilfered near Scranton, Pennsylvania outside the Howard Johnson the drivers were staying. There were concerns that the painting was nicked in an inside job, but luckily it was found in New Jersey, with the FBI calling it a "typical New Jersey cargo theft" (think of any mob movie or show you've seen where the crews are lifting shipments). more ›

The wonderful Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanic Garden opens this Saturday, and Gothamist urges anyone with a passing interest in NYC architecture to head up to the Bronx to see it. We went last year, and it was absolutely magical: The Guggenheim made out of huge mushrooms! The Brooklyn Bridge carefully constructed from twigs - with trains zipping on it! The lions outside of the New York Public Library! The NY Times' Ink column looks at the creation of buildings and bridges, which has Yankee Stadium as a new addition this year, and there's a great quote from tPaul Busse, the landscape architect who builds the models: "Every year, we take a ride into Manhattan. But after working with our buildings, the real thing can almost be a letdown." more ›

- Hey, wacky junkie Jewels, last seen on the ground in the NY Times, talks to the Village Voice! more ›