The Daily Transom | The New York Observer

Road Rage

Sadik-Khan Kowtows to Critics, or Is 34th Street Just a Bait-and-Switch?

By Matt Chaban | March 3, 2011 | 7:46 pm

In her four years atop the city's Department of Transportation, Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan has masterminded a re-engineering of the city's streets that not so long ago would have been impossible. Bike lanes proliferate, parking spaces have been transformed into cafes, and Broadway, the most famous road in the world, has been almost entirely closed to cars from Columbus Circle to Union Square.... MORE»

Foodies

No Reservations for Rao's, or Rapoport's Last Supper

By Chloe Malle | March 3, 2011 | 6:10 pm

A signed photo of Regis Philbin in his pre-retirement years of taut jowls and salt and pepper hair greets guests near the entrance to Rao's on East 114th Street. Next to him the top half of a dutch door is open, drawing the eye into the steaming kitchen of the legendary Italian eatery, a stainless steel cauldron the size of Rhode Island gurgling across several stovetop... MORE»

Feminism

The Punk Rocker and the Public Advocate Protest for Pap Smears

By Kat Stoeffel | March 3, 2011 | 5:39 pm

"Why are Republicans such dicks?" asked a pink cardboard phallus rising from the crowd at Foley Square in lower Manhattan on Saturday. Some 6,000 people had gathered to rally against the House Republicans' vote to cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood. "It's great to see so many guys here," said Kathleen Hanna, front woman of Le Tigre and high priestess of the Riot Grrrl movement, a few minutes before she took the stage. Ms. Hanna has long advocated for women's rights in her lyrics and in her... MORE»

Lawsuits

The King's Suit! Newly On-Top Harvey Gets Nailed by Director

By Daniel D'Addario | March 3, 2011 | 5:19 pm

The 1990s are back, baby! Harvey Weinstein is the target of a lawsuit from the filmamkers beind a never-released film, Escape From Planet Earth, who claim Mr. Weinstein's alleged incompetence and erratic decision-making sabotaged the production. Tony Leech and Brian Inerfeld further claim they received a $500,000 payout from Mr. Weinstein to hush them up until after the Oscars. Money well spent, we'd... MORE»

Party Report

Galassi, Jong, and Schlossberg Fête Literary Lights at Capitale

By Daniel D'Addario | March 3, 2011 | 3:46 pm

Last night, Poets & Writers hosted its annual benefit dinner in honor of Farrar, Straus and Giroux publisher Jonathan Galassi, poet Maria Mazziotti Gillan, and authors John Grisham and Elizabeth Nunez. The gala was held in Capitale, the Chinatown enclave. In an upper room, removed from the hubbub downstairs, where hundreds milled about in the grand columned hall waiting for dinner, emcee Paul Rudnick hobnobbed with Mr. Galassi. Was he nervous about hosting? "There are some dinners where everybody talks and nobody listens--this seems like a classier crowd.... MORE»

websites

It Lives! Old Gawker Site Found in Attic with George Foreman Grill, Croquet Set

By Aaron Gell | March 3, 2011 | 1:21 pm

Still missing the old Gawker? With the fun and simple blog-style navigation (just scroll down!) and the prominent bylines and adorable little hit-counters blazing away on the right-hand... MORE»

People who live in LUX houses actually prefer limestone.

Manhattan Transfers

Whose Townhouse Is It Anyway?

By Matt Chaban | March 3, 2011 | 1:19 pm

Last week, former banker, current art dealer and all-around nice, rich guy Robert Mnuchin bought a gorgeously renovated townhouse at 14 East 95th Street for $14.25 million. But is the new home for him or his daughter, Valerie Mnuchin... MORE»

House Porn

It's Free to Look: Thanks, Pop-Pop!

By Matt Coyne | March 3, 2011 | 12:21 pm

For the modest sum of $3 million you can live in the sort of luxury J.P. Morgan originally intended for his kin in Murray... MORE»

concrete thoughts

Wal-Mart and the Lesson of Betamax

By Robert Knakal | March 3, 2011 | 10:50 am

The other day, I was walking around the city taking photographs of buildings for a marketing brochure I am putting together. I was using my old Polaroid Land Camera--you know, the one where the photograph slides out of the front of the camera and develops right before your very eyes. As I was standing in the street taking the photos, I nearly got run down by a horse and buggy that was racing past me up Madison Avenue. The buggy was traveling at a speed much faster than allowed by law, so I pulled my cell phone out of my backpack to notify the police.... MORE»

In Deed!

Tishman Prez Livingston, Cruise King Levine to Park; Ticket Master's Deep Discount

By Matt Chaban | March 3, 2011 | 9:14 am

-- John Livingston knows a thing or two about building in New York, seeing as how he runs one of the city's biggest general contractors, Tishman Construction. Perhaps this insider knowledge helped him knock $875,000 off the price of his new home, a discount of nearly 20 percent. Mr. Livingston and wife Susan just paid $3.625 million for a three-bedroom, three-bath co-op on a high floor at 1130 Park Avenue. The north- and west-facing apartment has a generous layout arrayed around an entrance gallery and enjoys views of the Reservoir.... MORE»

Changes

Two More Times Opinion Editors Decamp for Bloomberg News

By Kat Stoeffel | March 2, 2011 | 6:23 pm

The New York Times has lost two more opinion editors to Bloomberg News, according to a Bloomberg spokesperson. As Mixed Media heard, Toby Harshaw, a longtime opinion editor and Mary Duenwald, David Shipley's former editor, are confirmed to have joined the new Bloomberg View editorial page, helmed by Shipley, who was deputy editorial and op-ed page editor at the Times and Jamie Rubin, former U.S. Department of State Assistant... MORE»

Dining

Arby's Introduces New 'Debris-Style Gravy'

By Aaron Gell | March 2, 2011 | 5:01 pm

As Arby's begins a big marketing push for its new menu of Angus roast-beef sandwiches, the chain might want to avoid the sort of language emplolyed by Brian Kolodziej, its vice president for product development and integration, at a recent media tasting.... MORE»

What's keeping Whitey McWhite up at night.

An Arena Grows in Brooklyn

There Are at Least 21 Bars Within a Half-Mile of Prime 6

By Matt Coyne | March 2, 2011 | 5:01 pm

First they came and started building a basketball arena. Then they came to build a Whole... MORE»

Capitalism never dies, it just fades away.

Big Real Estate

NYSE Sells Former Rival's HQ; Condo Tower Planned

By Matt Coyne | March 2, 2011 | 3:09 pm

Star investor and philanthropist Michael Steinhardt and an unnamed partner have acquired rom the New York Stock Exchange two former American Stock Exchange buildings, 18-22 Thames Street and 78-86 Trinity Place, for a total of $65... MORE»