During the opening night of the Republican National Convention on Aug. 30, Rudy Giuliani was midway through his speech, recounting yet again his experiences on Sept. 11, when he uttered the line that raised plenty of eyebrows. “As I stood watching the towers fall,” he said, “I turned to Bernie, and I said, ‘Thank God Read More
PRECIS: You can’t say you weren’t warned: A year ago, The Observer’s Marcus Baram sat down with Peter Kalikow, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. While a strike seemed hard to imagine in December 2004, Mr. Kalikow’s comments were a warning of hard times for city straphangers.
Peter Kalikow’s legacy is about to take another Read More
Peter Kalikow’s legacy is about to take another left turn.
The white-haired, dapper-suited chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has long dreamed of expanding the transit system through high-profile projects such as the Second Avenue Subway and the East Side Access plan connecting the Long Island Rail Road and Grand Central Terminal. Those schemes would Read More
At a little past 9 p.m. on Nov. 20, Dave Chappelle arrived unannounced at the Comedy Cellar in Greenwich Village. The audience, packed into the small red-brick room and just starting in on their two-drink minimum, was delighted.
Mr. Chappelle lit a cigarette. “Fuck the law-I’m a rebel!” he proclaimed after taking the stage. “I Read More
“Being old-fashioned, I remember when a museum cost nothing,” the artist Will Bennet said as guests filled the Museum of Modern Art’s cavernous new second-floor atrium on the evening of Nov. 16, early in the night of the opening preview party. Invited guests included Spike Lee, Jasper Johns, John Waters, Isabella Rosellini, Larry Gagosian and Read More
Two inches of rain shuts down parts of the subway system. Track fires cause a panic among commuters, who rush for the exits. Over 160 token booths are to be eliminated. And they’re talking about raising fares twice in the next few years? What’s going on? Add a little graffiti to the trains and a Read More
Sure it’s October, but there’s an extra chill in the air around East 63rd Street between Park and Lexington avenues. That’s because the war between two of that block’s neighbors, billionaire mogul Ron Perelman and the popular boîte Le Bilboquet, just keeps escalating. Mr. Perelman, who has long complained about the restaurant’s noisy crowd, has Read More
The tide of film and TV productions fleeing to cheaper non–New York locations such as Toronto and Prague has infuriated city leaders for years, prompting anti-Canadian propaganda on the set of Sex and the City and moral outrage over the shot-in-Montreal Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story. On Sept. 28, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor George Read More
A few lucky dogs had their day at the Waldorf-Astoria’s Grand Ballroom on Sept. 22. Some of New York’s “most glamorous pet lovers,” including Oscar and Annette de la Renta, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, Sharon Bush, Daisy Soros, Jean Doumanian, Nan Kempner, some Vanderbilts, Phipps, Boardmans and a Topsy, sauntered into the “Top Dog Read More
The lure of a Democratic Presidential nominee and his wife wasn’t enough to draw some celebrities to Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall on Monday, Sept. 20. Sprite-like actress Sarah Michelle Gellar was being honored at Redbook magazine’s annual “Mothers and Shakers” luncheon for her work with Project Angel Food, but canceled at the last minute Read More
