Results tagged “washingtonsquare”

The building at 19 Washington Square North is almost ready to become the NYC center of NYU's campus in Abu Dhabi. The center will hold office space and a special teleconference room where NYU professors can offer instruction to students, who will be in Abu Dhabi.

       

We can't resist—here are more photographs of the newly re-opened Washington Square Park. (Yesterday really was a marvelous day to enjoy it!)

After what seems like ages of renovations, Washington Square Park is back to its glorious self with fountain turned on and parkgoers enjoying the lack of construction material in the way. A tipster told Curbed, which has more photographs, "It's all very pretty, and clean -- but it looks like the local dogs will take care of that pronto. Nothing like days of yore (yet). Neither a guitar nor blunt in sight."

       

Last night the force was with Washington Square Park as a Lightsaber Battle brought out the masses. But these weren't your father's lightsabers, Luke. 3,000 blacklight-reactive, meter-long cardboard tubes were distributed as massive blacklight cannons took aim, lighting up the crowd. After the battle was over, the tubes destroyed, and hopefully the intergalactic mess cleaned up... the crowd headed to a secret Brooklyn loft afterparty, which if these photos are any indication, was quite heavy on the dudes.

Did you know you could go inside of the Washington Square Arch? Well, at least those with the secret password can get inside. Curbed just infiltrated the marble structure and took some covert photos that are worth checking out. A little history: designed by New York architect Stanford White (and modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris) the arch was erected in 1892. In 2003, the Villager took at look at the repair work the arch was undergoing, noting that when it began on April 30th "the department opened the spiral stairway within the west leg of the arch that leads to the roof, giving visitors a rare view of the interior brickwork." On that very same roof in 1914 Marcel Duchamp and other artists "lit a bonfire and read a resolution proclaiming the Republic of Greenwich Village, which they toasted with Champagne." Sounds like something Reverend Billy & Co. should reenact!

On the one-year anniversary of the Virginia Tech shooting, NYU officials announced yesterday that the university is "exploring installing an unprecedented security system involving an electronic remote lockdown system that would shut down classrooms and entire buildings" in the event of an emergency.

       

The effect of a well-trafficked park under renovation really doesn't come into full relief until the spring, when the absence of greenery and flowers seems less like a normal part of urban living and more of a desecration of greenspace. The renovation of Washington Square Park continues at full tilt, however, as the fountain is reoriented centrally and the rest of the park is reordered to be greener and less anarchical. The Square used to be a potter's graveyard before it became a fashionable address. New York City's inexorable desire for change marches on.

A sonic device designed to drive off troublesome youths has been installed in one Queens building known for vandalism and drug use. It's called The Mosquito, and is produced by a British company, where more than 3,500 units of the equipment are in use. As humans age, they naturally lose some of their hearing, beginning at the higher end of the audible spectrum detectable to man.

The late artist Jim Flora, perhaps best recognized for his album cover art in the 1940s and '50s, was also known for his commercial art, illustrations, paintings, woodcuts and prints. The above is "a limited-edition, archival-quality fine art print of a 1954 Jim Flora hand-tinted woodcut entitled Manhattan." There were 5 of these prints selling on eBay (only 25 were made), but they sold out quick! Here's the seller's description of the coveted work:

The cityscape depicts New York in its 1950s glory, including a number of gotham landmarks such as the Empire State Building, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Madison Square Garden, the Statue of Liberty, famous theaters and legendary musical bistros, Washington Square arch, subways, taxis, horse-drawn carriages and tourists.

In the territory immediately surrounding NYU, and therefore Washington Square Park, fine dining isn't always the first thing to come to mind. Instead, there's Mamoun's for late-night falafel, the Dosa Man, or the Dessert Truck – great for meals on the cheap and meals on the go. But on nights when you feel like you deserve a glass of wine with dinner, have a downtown date, or just crave a real sit-down meal, the Washington Square Hotel's North Square Restaurant (formerly C3) is a another subterranean option that'll dig slightly deeper into your wallet, but is well worth the price. In the L-shaped dining room on the corner of Waverly and MacDougal, the art deco-meets-contemporary furnishings set the right tone for some fancied up home-cookin'.

After the stunning Giants' Super Bowl win, people cheered like they hadn't seen a Super Bowl victory in 17 years! Throughout the city, folks were stumbling onto streets, chanting the names of players and even getting arrested.

In the course of conducting soil testing during the renovation of Washington Square Park, archaeologists discovered the skeletal remains of four people. Some adjustments will be made to redesign plans, but the skeletons will be left in place as a gesture of respect for the dead.

Brilliant, reclusive and eccentric, Chicago-born and Brooklyn-bred Bobby Fischer died at age 64 in Iceland. His spokesman said the cause was kidney failure, after a long illness.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a possible abduction on Warwick St. and Livonia Ave. in Brooklyn, a police involved shooting on West Kingsbridge Rd. in the Bronx, and an abduction on 33rd St. and 5th Ave. in Manhattan.
• A contestant on Deal or No Deal from Bayonne, NJ tells host Howie Mandel that the godawful smell around there is from the dump on Staten Island. Residents of Richmond County are not amused.
• Two pitbulls, one dead and the other severely injured, were found in a dumpster at a Yonkers gas station Sunday morning. Police say that it appears that the two animals were used as bait in a dog fighting session.

After years of protesting renovations to it -- this evening community members will be grieving Washington Square Park, and protesting those with its blood on their hands: the Parks Commissioner, Mayor Bloomberg, and City Council Members. Yesterday we received this letter, sent out by the Open Washington Square Park Coalition.

It is with frustration and remorse that I write to inform you of a memorial service for the spirit of Washington Square Park.

Continue reading "Washington Square Park, R.I.P."

Before there were iPods, New Yorkers had boomboxes. Since 1992, people have been gathering to celebrate an Unsilent Night, when dozens of portable sound systems play a piece of ambient music simultaneously. Of course, iPods are allowed, and mp3 downloads are available on the Unsilent site...but boomboxes and cassette tapes are the preferred way to go.

Artist Phil Kline has brought us an Unsilent Night every year since 1992. He describes his experiment as an "outdoor ambient music piece for an infinite number of boomboxes. It’s like a Christmas caroling party except that we don’t sing, but rather carry the music, each of us playing a separate track that is a voice in the piece."

ART: Last night the works of ex-Guided By Voices frontman Robbert Pollard were unveiled at an invite-only opening, and today it's a free-for-all. Come by and check out his debut art exhibit, which "will consist of more than 50 collages that date from 1990 through 2007. Using elements from 1950's -70's era magazines, pamphlets and obscure pictoral paperbacks as his primary tools, he portrays allegorical personas and hallucinogenic-type environments to create small, almost random synapses...

After commuters on the L and B/D (as well as N/Q/R/W) lines had to deal with breakdowns and commuting delays last night, this evening's commute brings delays on the F, D, G and N lines. Apparently a signal problem at 4th Avenue-9th Street Station in Brooklyn is causing the F to be shut between West 4th Street-Washington Square Station and the Church Avenue Station in both directions. The F then runs on the D...

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: shots fired on Soundview Ave. in the Bronx, a gas leak on Snyder Ave. and East 34th St. in Brooklyn, and a bank robbery on West 4th and 6th Ave. in Manhattan.
• High school girls (including a pair from Long Island) swept the top prizes in both team and individual categories for the first time in the history of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science, and Technology.
• Houston St. now sports south-side sidewalks that have doubled in width and feature trees planted in the middle, after a renovation of the street between Broadway and West 6th.
• Silicon Alley Insider names the 100 most influential people in the New York world of digital business. Mayor Bloomberg captured the top spot.
• A New Jersey task force recommended that Drug Free School Zones are too large and the mandatory harsher penalties against non-violent drug offenders crowd actual violent criminals out of prison and back onto the street.
• Gov. Spitzer raised $1.5 million at a fund-raising dinner last night in an effort to refill a diminished campaign war chest. Voters are indicating they've got buyers' remorse after electing the once-popular Spitzer.
• Police recruits studying for their pre-graduation (Dec. 27) exams will receive an early Christmas present in the form of iPods loaded with study material. They will have to return the devices after graduation.
• And a judge has cleared the way for Washington Square Park's renovations. City Councilman Alan Gerson who previously opposed the renovations but is fine with concessions the city has made: "We have secured unprecedented protections against the commercialization of the park."

FESTIVITIES: Forget about that big shiny show-off in Rockefeller Center. Tonight the menorah and Christmas tree in Washington Square Park will be illuminated for all. Come bask in the glow of holiday, people. 6pm // Washington Square Park [W 4th St to Waverly Pl between MacDougal and University] // Free FILM: In a week-long tribute to Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini (pictured), tonight The Film Society of Lincoln Center will be screening Notes for an...

EVENT: This is pretty...interesting. The Sprinkle Brigade "unveils the future of Urban Beautification. Their upcoming show entitled, 'EQUIPPED' at the Riveria Gallery, focuses on the cutting edge in dog poo decoration." The brigade say the "art form" came about after spending "several years of experience wandering the streets of New York, decorating what most people consider to be the enemy." The opening is tonight and the show runs through the 23rd. Leave the pooper scooper...

Barack may have Oprah, but the stagehands' and writers' union have John Edwards! The former senator, currently in third place after Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in the hunt for the Democratic presidential nomination, voiced his support of Local One, the Broadway stagehands union that has been on strike since November 9 over a new contract. Democratic political consultant Hank Sheinkopf said, "To interfere with the power of the Broadway community is not...

The local papers have some details about the NYU sophomore who was found dead in his dorm room Friday night. Police says 19-year-old Pranay Angara suffocated himself with a plastic bag. Angara, who is from Hopewell Junction in upstate New York, lived in the Water Street dorm at 200 Water Street in the Financial District. The police say he wrote a note for his family and that he pushed a dresser in front of the...

A sophomore at New York University was found dead in his Water Street dorm room on Friday night. The Washington Square News reports that other residents were told about the death on Saturday and that the university did not send out an NYU community-wide email per a request from the deceased students' parents: "The family has asked that they be accorded the utmost privacy, and the university will do its best to honor its wishes...

Last night, an unoccupied five-story hotel at 22 West 24th Street collapsed; no injuries were reported. The former La Semana Hotel "fell into itself leaving a giant, although relatively tidy, pile of rubble," according to the Post. Witnesses said the 8PM collapse sounded like a bomb explosion and that "floor by floor, the building simply gave in." A fire official told the NY Times, "If this happened during the daytime, during a workday when there are a lot of people on the street, I think we could have had a lot of injuries here."

A lot of the filming for the upcoming Will Smith zombie movie I Am Legend took place in Washington Square Park and at the Brooklyn Bridge, but Union Square gets the star treatment on the I Am Legend website. Well, star treatment if you consider a rather bombed-out looking New York to be glamorous.

Last night, Stephen Colbert had a reading for his book I Am America (And So Can You) that was full of fans of truthiness and enemies of bears. The Washington Square News reported that the erstwhile maybe-presidential candidate said, "It's time to impregnate this country with my mind."

Early this morning, a man was stabbed to death on Washington Place near 6th Avenue in the West Village. Police believe the 43-year-old victim was arguing with other men outside 123 Washington Place when the attack occurred around 1:40AM.