As chains take over every nook and cranny of this city, some people in the East Village are forming a united front against them. The Villager reports on the corporate takeover, the resistance and the new spin on this story as old as time. Multiple Starbucks in Astor Place act as a welcome sign to the East Village, but the East Village Community Coalition would like to say good riddance to them, and more than......

The initial news of the legendary 2nd Avenue Deli’s reincarnation led us to stockpile Lipitor as visions of pastrami, chopped liver and gribenes danced through our heads. And when we feasted our eyes on the sneak preview of this fresser’s paradise, we could hardly wait to go and devour more of the menu. Even though it’s been open for a little more than a week, Gothamist paused to recover from holiday feasting before hitting......

If you've ever struggled to figure out which direction you're facing when you step out of a subway station (and there are no landmarks or sun to guide you), you won't have those problems at four subway stations in Midtown anymore. That's because the Department of Transportation and the Grand Central Partnership are placing temporary directional compass decals outside them. DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan explained, "Not a single person, native New Yorker or visitor, can......

SALE: Our recent interviewees at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden are having a plant sale today and tomorrow. With .50 cent plants for kids and "new and exclusive varieties [of plants] from Monrovia Growers" for adults. Tomorrow at 10am there's a "Houseplants for Sun or Shade: guided shopping trip," so that may be a good time to go! Today 9am to 7pm, Thursday 9am to Noon // Kids Free, Adults $8 FILM: "West 32nd" is one......

The Fighting 6019 is holding a protest rally at noon today in Union Square. Who are the Fighting 6019? They are a group of FDNY hopefuls who are upset with the Firefighter civil service exam given in January by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services. Among the problems alleged with the exam: nearly half the questions had more than one correct answer, 105 of the 150 questions were hypothetical in nature, proctors were ill-prepared, and......

Inside Edition, better known for covering tabloid stories and entertainment, has found something that mixes the best of both worlds: Looking for rats in NYC restaurants. Perhaps the most famous restaurant goers these days are city rats, and Inside Edition was on them like paparazzi on Britney Spears:INSIDE EDITION took to the streets of Manhattan between 1:00 AM and 4:00 AM peering their cameras and flashlights into the windows of a wide variety of......

PARTY: What's the holiday season without awkward office parties? Metro Metro is having their office party tonight, think of it as more of a Christopher Guest version of the office party. A mockumentary, if you will. Nametags and job titles will be assigned at the door! Dress code: office holiday attire. 6pm // Still Bar [190 Third Ave] // $5 THEATER: The Blue Coyote Theater Group has instigated an evening of short plays called The......

If you want fresh, it makes sense to go straight to the source. So if you crave fish and chips, why not go to a fish shop? Wild Edibles, the premiere purveyor of fresh seafood in the city, also offers a full menu of ready-to-eat dishes at its Murray Hill location. There are plenty of fancy options from shrimp gazpacho to macadamia-crusted soft-shell crabs, but what really hits the spot is plain fried fish. Here......

Last night, a sniper was on the loose in Queens, injuring seven people during a four hour rampage. The victims were either in cars or walking on the street; here's a chronology from the Daily News:- 7:19 p.m. at 59th Place and 56th Drive. Man shot in knee. - 8:10 p.m. at 31-10 48th Ave. Car window is shattered, but male driver escapes injury. - 9:40 p.m. at 114th St. and Liberty Ave. Man shot......

According to our friends at Curbed, Broadway Panhandler will be moving to 8th Street (at Mercer) in August. It's one of Gothamist's favorite kitchen supply stores. You can't beat their Le Creuset sale every January, their customer service is terrific and they offer knife sharpening each weekend (call in advance to confirm times: 866-266-5927). This move will complete a troika of kitchenware store openings and moves within the past year. Among our other favorite sources,......

We recently had occasion to drop by Ribot, an ambitious Midtown East Italian-Mediterranean with a focus on ingredients. Peas, their shoots, fava beans, morels, and asparagus all make their springtime appearances, and we were struck by the use of Heritage Farms pork and Wagyu beef. Not that these last two ingredients are that rare or special, but we rarely seem to see Heritage products north of 14th street. The aforementioned ingredients find life in a......

It's the holidays, and we're pretty sure that most of you are still comatose on the couch suffering from either an eggnog overdose or a family overdose, pick your poison! But in case there are still five or six of you wondering what you'll do without a reading, here's your solution. Tomorrow night, Wednesday, December 28th, Harlem's famous Sugar Shack (2611 Fredrick Douglas Blvd. on the corner of 139th St.) is home to What's the......

We're not entirely sure how much walking for your highbrow literary art you guys are willing to do, and with the holidays coming up there's a dearth of good readings going on in the city this week anyway, but Gothamist is here to get you to your literary events through snow, sleet, hail, transit strikes, whatever! So taking all that in stride, here are a few things you'll want to mark on your calendar. Something......

Proving that some subway stations are in a sad, vicious circle of getting worse and worse every year, the NY Daily News selected ten subway stations, with the help of readers, the NYC Transit Riders Council and the Straphangers, that are awful. Bad stations seem to be ones less frequented (five stations in the Bronx, two on the G, and the lone Manhattan station being the J, M, Z station on Bowery) and in poor......

Imagine being 87 and coming back from a vacation to find that you are no longer able to get into the Upper East Side apartment that you've been living in for 47 years because your new landlord changed the locks. Now imagine finally getting into your apartment, after calling the police to break down the door, and finding out that your new landlord also threw out all of your possessions (except a "calendar, a......

Last week's bombing outside the British Consulate in Midtown East still has police puzzled, but the NY Post reports that a biker seen on a surveillance tape is now a suspect. The bike rider, seen around 3AM, was found on tapes from "from Sixth Avenue and 48th Street to 845 Third Ave., the site of the bombing, and on to East 53rd Street between Park and Lexington avenues," as the NYPD expanded the area of......

You still have seven hours to get a free cone at Ben & Jerry's today. Even though the free cones are a subnormal sized scoop, it's free and you can get in line for seconds, or even thirds. Either way, it's nice to tip or donate money to one of the charities the shop may be collecting for. Ben & Jerry's locations in NYC that are participating in Free Cone Day: Ben & Jerry's......