Of the many distinct neighborhoods in New York City, a select few have established their reputation to such a degree that they've become urban entities of literary proportion. Greenwich Village is one, Harlem is another. Manhattan's Chinat…
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "The earth laughs in flowers." If that's the case, then the Green Guerillas are grinning from ear to ear. While some outreach programs spend a lot of their time working phones and crunching numbers to get wo…
Williamsburg, Billburg, Billyburg"¦ call it what you like. But whatever you do, don't call it over. The Utne Reader called it "the third hippest neighborhood in America" a few years back. Like any place that gets hyped this much, Williams…
Since September 11th, 2001, Manhattan's Community Board No. 1 - one of 59 such boards in Manhattan - has been called above and beyond its usual duties to tend to the needs of residents living in TriBeCa, Battery Park City, the Financial Di…
One hundred and fifty years ago, the New York State Legislature passed a bill designating land in the heart of Manhattan as a great central park. Today, the 843 acres that was saved from being swallowed up by developers is now treasured pu…
Buying a new home is a very big decision that can be filled with excitement and fear, even if you're just moving across town. When you're coming to New York from another city, state, or even country, however, the task becomes much more cha…
Tell someone your address is on Park Avenue in New York City, and immediately you've conjured images of luxury, affluence, and status. Over the last two centuries, Park Avenue has become synonymous with the good life - the home of milliona…
Housing in New York City has always been influenced by a changing urban landscape, population and demographic shifts, and a class-conscious economic and social strata that determined how people lived and in what neighborhoods they chose to …
As we wind our way along city streets and avenues, carefully navigating the most direct route to our final destination, most of us are somehow able to tune out the ambient roar that surrounds us. The traffic, the jackhammers, the bulldozer…
"The whole island is like a garden, and affords very fine scenery." - Henry David Thoreau, Staten Island, 1843 Since Thoreau wrote about its charms nearly 200 years ago, Staten Island has occasionally been referred to as the "s…