Liskula Cohen, a model, is suing Google over comments made on a Blogger.com blog entitled “Skanks In NYC.” Liskula Cohen: The “Skanks In NYC” Blog Lawsuit The “Skanks In NYC” blog refers to Liskula Cohen as a “skank” and “old hag,” among other things. “Don’t you guys think she should grow and an get on with her life?” one post reads. “I mean really, 40 year old women (or in her case that look 40) shouldn’t be out at night looking and acting like ho’s.” Cohen wants Google to reveal the identity of the person behind the blog and has...
A jury decided that real estate developer (and father of the former gov) Bernard Spitzer discriminated against employees and must pay them $1.3 million in back wages and damage. Four employees had sued Spitzer and the building management at 150 East 57th Street after they were fired by the super and replaced by white or light-skinned Hispanics. The building management company settled with them, but Spitzer did not and the suit headed to court. The ailing 84-year-old, who had denied racism ("If I see a doorman, I see a doorman - I do not see a white doorman or a...
Meet Sal Giangrande, the self-styled "Couch Doctor" of New York. Sal has a pretty unique business niche: he saws and re-assembles couches for people who couldn’t fit their old couch into their new apartments but don’t want to give up either one: ‘I can’t watch," said Andrew Clarke, shutting his eyes. "You shouldn’t," the doctor said calmly. The doctor’s assistant pulled out an electric saw. He started slicing. The ground was already strewn with staples that had been yanked out. After one, two, three . . . seven incisions, Clarke’s $4,000, perfectly worn-in, brown leather couch lay in pieces with...
In a Bronx courtroom yesterday, 84-year-old real estate developer Bernard Spitzer insisted four black employees at one of his apartment buildings were not fired due to their race. The father of the former governor said, "If I see a doorman, I see a doorman - I do not see a white doorman or a black doorman... I don't see the blackness or whiteness or pinkness or yellowness of a doorman. I have a mind that focuses on the fact that a doorman operates as a doorman." Four former employees at 150 East 57th Street, Anthony Haydenn, Akim Rodriguez, Leonard Boyce,...
From Serious Eats I blog by day and wait tables by night. I'm excited to bring you Served, dispatches from the front of the house. Enjoy! When I bring the dude at Bar-10 a menu and a wine list, he is talking intently on his cell. When I come back to pour him a glass of spicy Portuguese red, he is again parleying tense, intense conversation loudly into his phone. So I go talk to someone else, then return to B-10. The man dramatically snaps his phone shut. "Whew, sorry. That was my ex-wife." I splash some wine into a...
M.I.A. may be one of the few cover girls out there who is happy to spew private nuggets about her relationship. The December issue of SPIN has her discussing the details of how she came to fall in love with fiancé and baby-daddy Ben Brewer of the Exit. Also, his family, which owns the liquor company Seagram: "They're rich because they threw big, illegal parties, so I don't mind. "Still, I know I'll catch flak," she admits. "But I think I would've been screwed either way. I kept dating guys who were broke, who came from the streets, or...
Click the image above to view the full photogallery. "If you're blue / and you don't know where to go to / Why don't you go where fashion sits?" Namely, unit 1404 at the Ritz Carlton Residences, a ridiculously spacious 2,090-square-foot 3 bedroom condominium. This luxury corner unit has all the high end fixins you'd expect from The Ritz, including Miele appliances, high-end finishes, city views, wine storage, a welcoming doorman, and —the kicker— VIP status at all Ritz hotels. It should go without saying that such treatment is truly priceless, but if you absolutely had to put a pricetag...
The Real Estate Group released its "Manhattan Rental Market Report" today and found that October rents were, as expected, lower: "As we are entering into the historically sluggish fourth quarter, we normally expect to see a seasonal slowdown. In step with these trends, rents are down across the board this month and inventories, which had previously been in a two–month decline, are back up sharply." Overall, the report finds that rents have fallen many unit types--rents have fallen 7.23% in doorman studios since last year (non-doorman studio rents are down almost 2%)-- and though some landlords are offering concessions, "this...
Food Facts and Diet Tips - Direct from the JT360 Fat Removal Room Ghosts, Goblins, Gremlins ... oh My! More likely than not, you will be (or are now) tempted to indulge in (at least) one piece of candy on and/or before and maybe even after Halloween. In other words... ... it's mid-October and Halloween fever is on the climb. What to do? JT360: Keeping YOU Thin! Exposing Empty Calories. Think Ahead! Curb the Sugar Cravings. On Halloween or on any other day, remember that balanced meals curb sugar cravings! Therefore, do not make a candy bar your breakfast. First...
Sure, it's just a novelty ice maker, but the $15 Bullet Ice Cube Tray makes ice in the shape of frickin' AK-47 bullets. The obligatory bloggers quip should enter at this point -- something about being perfect for cooling tequila shots, or maybe a recipe for a Silver Bullet*. But this reminds me of a game we used to play in a bar I once opened in North London. We'd take ice cubes from our industrial ice machine, very cold, very hard chunks of ice, and use the doorman's Black Widow catapult to fire them out of the first...
Photograph by Somebody Shouted McIntyre on Flickr From the Gothamist Newsmap: A car vs. building on Mermaid Ave in Brooklyn, a person struck by a train on 173 & Southern Blvd in the Bronx and a homicide on Catherine Slip in Manhattan. Sorry, commuters to NJ: The outbound Lincoln Tunnel was closed due to a suspicious package on the helix. VP candidate Joe Biden will be in Soho next week for a "big, gay fundraiser." Riverside Drive apartment building doorman Carlos Pellecier was named the West Side's best doorman by union Local 32BJ and Manhattan Media. A third patient with...
The travails of Russell Harding, former Rudy Giuliani-appointed head of the NYC Housing Development Corporation have been well documented, especially in the Village Voice. Harding, who billed the city for his personal travels, dining, and a vehicle and whose computer was found with child pornography on it, is out of prison and seemingly ready to settle some scores. The NY Times notes that Harding's new website, Rudy Veritas is unsparing in criticism about the former mayor. But the article (which reminds us that Harding's inclusion in the Giuliani administration was "widely viewed as a political favor to his father, Raymond...
Photograph by JGNY on Flickr From the Gothamist Newsmap: A water rescue at Battery Park City / West Street in Manhattan, shots fired at E 175th St & Grand Concourse in the Bronx and a pedestrian struck at 98th St & Liberty Ave in Queens. The Teamsters Union has come to an agreement with the city over a contract, which includes two 4% wage increases. If you're locked out your apartment, just call a locksmith--don't lower yourself from the roof and get stuck on a ledge. Fancy food and cocktail lounge Death & Co. can't catch a break: Now...
Tom points us to this fascinating concept. It's called the uncanny valley and it goes back as far as Freud. When you get too good at faking it, people freak out. We love cute dogs, cute monkeys, clairvoyant websites, smart voice mail systems. But we get totally wigged out when a website knows too much about us, when we start talking to a voice mail attendant like she's a real person or when a photo or a robot is just too good. A magician is fine, an actual mind reader we burn at the stake. The relevant issue here for...
Ray Otero cannot buy a break. For the past three years, he’s spent $500 to $700 a week playing the lottery, but he’s only won big a few times: $1,000 once and $2,000 twice. Still he keeps playing. He’s sure his luck is bound to change. Otero’s story, told in a recent New York Times article, is simultaneously funny, poignant, and exasperating. This New York City building superintendent simply wants the “easy life” for his family. He wants to find the money to move back home to Puerto Rico. So why doesn’t he save the money from working? Because working...
