Two days after Hurricane Sandy last week, The Observer met up with Liena Zagare, the publisher of Brooklyn local news network Corner News Media, at a local coffee shop in Ditmas Park, and found her standing by the sugar and creamers, talking to a fellow customer and asking her to send tips along. That’s just how it Read More
For those of us living in the outer boroughs, navigating Manhattan during the holidays can serve as a great reminder as to why we migrated off the island in the first place. New Years Eve, St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving…the term “amateur hour” was practically invented to describe the hoards of revelers who descend upon NYC like a plague of locusts to “celebrate” these annual events by getting as drunk as humanly possible and clogging up the sidewalks and public transit systems.
Now, most of the time, this does not pose too much of a problem for Brooklynites and Queens residents, who would just as soon stay in their district anyway, throwing Skrillex-themed rooftop parties.
But the 4th of July poses an issue for non-Gotham-dwellers: since 2009, the incredible light show thrown by Macy’s has been held on the Hudson River, making it almost impossible to view from the top of a Brooklyn Heights townhouse. Read More
Jonathan Lethem, author of Motherless Brooklyn and a newly published essay collection, The Ecstasy of Influence, granted an interview with Bloomberg News. Asked to comment on his native borough from his new home in sunny California, Mr. Lethem gave the following response:
It’s been made blander, a little more accessible and it’s taken over the world. Read More
Polytechnic Institute of New York University, the private engineering college in downtown Brooklyn, is nearing a deal for approximately 9,000 square feet of office and administrative space at Metrotech Center, sources familiar with the process told The Observer yesterday.
Currently occupying space at the Forest City Ratner-owned 5 and 6 MetroTech as well as nearby Read More
So it’s come to this: With all appropriate options exhausted, Brooklyn bar owners are choosing to keep their saloons nameless instead of risking having a name that’s just not cool enough. Well, at least one is. The New York Post gallantly explores this Greenpoint boite sans nom, which was thrust upon the world last Read More
Yesterday we learned that R.J. Reynolds, the enormous cigarette manufacturer, would be rolling out a new type of Camels: Williamsburg Camels. Why would that cigarette company take this quaint neighborhood in Brooklyn, exploit it, and use its imagery to lure teens to cigarettes? Oh, right, because they believe Williamsburg is “the most famous hipster Read More
Can the publishing industry, forever a particularly Manhattan-based phenomenon, survive in that far-off borough on the other side of the East River? The New York Times investigates!
David Black, who represents writers such as Mitch Albom and Jimmy Breslin, made the move to Borough Hall over the summer. It wasn’t an easy decision.
“Would Read More
