Features

I walked around the Village asking people what is the main thing they think is wrong with New York City now. Easy question! Elias Tsikis, owner, Washington Square Diner: Petty theft, a lot of homeless people and mentally ill people on the street, hanging around and committing crimes, it’s gotten out of control. And it’s […]

Recently, in Holley Plaza on the west side of Washington Square Park in Manhattan, a crowd gathered around a robot and his attentive security guard. The robot was named Rizzbot and it wore a cowboy hat. Was the hat meant to make one feel at ease? If so, the attempt fell flat – for me

I moved to the city in the 1990s for a publishing job. Wally Lamb’s “She’s Come Undone” had just become a bestseller, and I remember an in-office celebration with a sheet cake decorated with the book’s cover. New and nervous, I hadn’t yet learned the hierarchy: editors sat at the table, assistants along the wall.

University Place is bustling with students. Turn the corner onto East Eleventh Street and the crowds disappear. In the window of one of the block’s longtime restaurants, a sign pleads, “WE NEED YOUR HELP!” When you hear “vegan restaurant,” the first word that comes to mind is probably not “elegance.” But at Peacefood, that’s the

As Shakespeare noted “summer’s lease has all too short a date.” But I also love autumn in New York when it’s still warm during the day. I used to lounge outside in the Westbeth courtyard, around our center garden, but since Westbeth is now a loud construction site, it’s no longer relaxing to hang out

In 1984 I took an oddball part-time summer job with a company that created newspaper indexes. My first task every morning was to call an obscure office at The New York Times. How many dots? I would ask. The voice on the other end would give me a number ranging from zero to four, and

The Jeffrey Epstein horror show just keeps on swelling, what with revelations about blackmail, his political protection and his involvement with a major bank. Just this week the British sacked Peter Mandelson, their ambassador to the US, upon learning he had emailed Epstein right after he had admitted guilt to soliciting a minor, writing I

Pumpkin Coffee Recipes: Bring the Coffee House to Your House Pumpkin is no doubt the flavor of Fall. Pumpkin coffee, has become an extremely popular item with cafés and coffee bars rolling out their signature pumpkin-flavored drinks every Fall. Here are some great at home recipes if you want to bring the coffee house to

The New York City landmarks law, enacted by the city in 1965, is increasingly controversial, misunderstood, and under attack. As one typical critic put it, landmarking is “a way for government-empowered preservationists to obstruct new development…[E]ntire neighborhoods of marginal historical value are frozen in time, hindering the ability of cities and their residents to adjust