The Jane Jacobs of Gowanus

On a recent sunny Saturday morning, a group of 30- to 40-something Carroll Gardens locals stood outside Carroll Park at a table manned by local community activists, their discussion rife with words like “developers” and “preservation.” Upset that the nearby Hannah Senesh Community Day School was seeking a variance that would allow it to acquire public Read More

The History of Jazz, by Darcy James Argue

Leading his interviewer up to his second-floor apartment on Smith Street in Carroll Gardens, Darcy James Argue, the leader of the Secret Society, a postmodern, 18-piece, big-band jazz outfit, apologized for the mess. He’d just received a new shipment of Secret Society T-shirts.

“They are all over my apartment,” he said. Mr. Argue’s flat is Read More

The Afternoon Wrap: Thursday

  • Some wonderful T-shirt company has provided a “perfect gift for your favorite real-estate pro!” Obviously, that gift is a bubble-mocking shirt, and that bubble-mocking shirt apparently helps “fight media sensationalism.” What’s more, the proceeds go to charity. [Matrix]
  • The Third Annual Curbed Awards have dubbed the Urban Glass House as the “New Read More

  • Affordable Housing Vote Today

    As reported by the Observer’s Matthew Schuerman yesterday, Council Speaker Christine Quinn has reached a deal on a bill to revise the 421a program, the Lindsay-era initiative that gives developers huge tax breaks on new residential construction. Essentially, the deal preserves the controversial program while mandating that developers in some rapidly gentrifying areas (Harlem, Read More

    This Just In: Billyburg is Hot

    The National Realty Club announced its luncheon line-up next month, featuring Upper West Side broker Barak Dunayer. The topic of the day sounds like a winner:

    Join us at the National Realty Club Luncheon at Noon on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 at the Williams Club, 24 East 39th Street [between Park and Madison Avenues] to Read More

    Louisa Halpern Vranesich

    July 7, 2006

    10 p.m.

    7 pounds

    N.Y.U. Hospital

    String-beanie baby! At 26 inches, with an auburn mullet and chipmunk cheeks, not-so-little Louisa takes after her father, Dan Vranesich, 43, a 6-foot-6 film technician. Mom is Jennifer Halpern, 39, an interior designer. Childbirth occurred the day after the couple’s four-year anniversary, and Ms. Halpern is Read More