Tag: nyc

Most expensive subway

7x more expensive than anywhere else. time for some union-busting.

An accountant discovered the discrepancy while reviewing the budget for new train platforms under Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan.

The budget showed that 900 workers were being paid to dig caverns for the platforms as part of a 6km tunnel connecting the historic station to the Long Island Rail Road. But the accountant could only identify 700 jobs that needed to be done. Officials could not find any reason for the other 200 people to be there.

NYC Rats

this seems to scale. humans didn’t use to travel more than 30 km from their place of birth in historical times.

When Combs looked closer, distinct rat subpopulations emerged. Manhattan has 2 genetically distinguishable groups of rats: the uptown rats and the downtown rats, separated by the geographic barrier that is midtown. It’s not that midtown is rat-free—such a notion is inconceivable—but the commercial district lacks the household trash (aka food) and backyards (aka shelter) that rats like. Since rats tend to move only a few blocks in their lifetimes, the uptown rats and downtown rats don’t mix much.

Spyscape

Adjaye Associates has unveiled designs for SPYSCAPE, a new museum and interactive experience that illuminates the world of espionage from historical secret intelligence to modern day hacking through a collection of rare artifacts, exhilarating storytelling and immersive personalized experiences. The space will use architecture as a key element of the museum experience. Inspired by the spaces occupied by the world’s most significant spy organizations, the building interiors will resemble a small town, with a variety of spaces unfolding beneath a vaulted canopy. Circulation will lead visitors through a wide range of vantage points and perspectives, playing with perceptions and drawing you into the individual pavilions.

Ex Libris

Ex Libris turns out to be riveting, a monument to the collections and people clustered inside the NYPL’s 88 branches. Chalk that up to the generosity and curiosity of Wiseman’s lens, and the filmmaker’s desire to cede the spotlight to patrons, guests, and staffers, who appear to be coexisting with the camera instead of performing for it. Over the course of weeks spent embedded in the library’s buildings, Wiseman’s crew “became the fabric of the room”.

Emma’s Torch

Emma’s Torch’s brunch is served Saturdays and Sundays, 9:00 to 14:00, and the menu is devised to reflect the skills the students are learning and to highlight unique flavors from their own experiences. A recent menu featured the requisite avocado toast and Greek yogurt parfait, along with a mouthwatering selection of baked goods. The shakshuka, a Middle Eastern specialty with heirloom tomatoes, mixed peppers, feta cheese, garlic confit, onion rings, and saffron-spiced toast is a standout that marries the cafe’s commitment to local produce and the regional flavors the refugees cooks bring from home. “The food is wonderful. It’s a combination of fresh brunch classics, and specials influenced by the participants, foods from their countries of origin”. The menu evolves and changes as new students go through the program, allowing all participants to learn from one another.

Kobrick Coffee Co.

The great buzzed and wired bard of the Jazz Age would have liked Kobrick Coffee, where the baristas are cross-trained as mixologists and the creative synergy between the twin disciplines of craft coffee and craft cocktails rises to the level of art. From early morning until late afternoon, the place churns to the rhythms of aproned barmen grinding beans for espresso and tapping pitchers of steamed milk to break up the bubbles. By 20:00, the lights are dimmed, candles and dainty bud vases are set out, and a menu board rolls back to reveal a handsome liquor cabinet. Sitting permanently atop the counter is a tall and intricate Japanese cold-brew apparatus, in which the makings of a Negroni drip slowly through freshly ground coffee, for the 3 Hour Kyoto Negroni.

Other Half new look

Late last year, we hinted that Brooklyn’s Other Half would have a new, expanded taproom soon. Soon is now, as they opened their more spacious space in the adjoining building at 191 Centre Street in Gowanus. No more cramped dark rooms – the new space is well-lit, has tables, a long bar, and 20(!) draft lines.