More Proof of Recession in NYC

You know the economy is really bad when you see headlines like this: Manhattan Apartment Sales Drop, Office Rents Fall

They went down nearly 10% from last year. The recession officially started in December 2007 so even though most people thought New York City real estate was immune from the overall macro-economy, clearly this was not the case. It's as fallible as everything else. I don't know if this is good news or bad news. Falling real estate prices are good for future home buyers like myself but if they keep falling -- and certainly if they plummet -- that's a sign of another Great Depression. Let's hope this stabilizes soon!

And here's a more subtle sign of falling fortune (like my alliteration?):

Deal for Wireless Access in City Parks Collapses

The deal between the City Parks Department and the contractor Wi-Fi Salon collapsed because the contractor couldn't get corporate sponsorship. The city and various private ventures have been working on getting the parks "hot" for wi-fi these several years. Clearly the economy had other plans. A little bit of progress put on the back burner -- for now.

I'm going to look high and low for good news stories on NYC. After all, this is a basically upbeat blog and, in these trouble times, I will venture to soothe your fears and lift your spirits :)

The Most Important News Story in NYC Today

New Yorkers Who Drink Have More Sex Partners, Warns Survey

Warns? Warns? Interesting turn of phrase there.

Sorry, I'd write more about this but I gotta run to the liquor store ...

Selected Shorts

Apparently I'm a powerful enough New York City blogger to be contacted today by Symphony Space (along with about 1,000 other city bloggers) to plug Selected Shorts at Symphony Space.

These are short story readings performed live on stage by various actors and actresses of the stage and screen, and they are also broadcast on NPR.

There's a bunch of Selected Shorts events coming up this month and next so you can check them out here.

We can all breath a big sigh of relief today ...

Ex-Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush won't run for Senate in 2010

Jebby says "his decision wasn't based on politics, but on his 'personal journey.'"

Huh? Let's hope his "journey" doesn't lead him to running for president in 2012 -- or ever.

You know the Republican party used to be the paryt of Lincoln, TR, and Eisenhower. Now they're basically just real estate brokers -- always trying to get their favorite clients, the Bush family, into the White House.

"He said his brother's low approval rating didn't factor into his decision ..."

Is there any lie these Bushies won't tell?

Say goodnight Georgie and Jebby, you won't be missed.

Stuart Smalley in the Senate?

Looks like it.

Democrat Al Franken wins Minnesota senate recount

The state of Minnesota has certified his victory although the Senator he beat, Norm Coleman, vows to sue. We'll see how this plays out. Although it's only by about 250 votes (!) a win is a win is a win.

So congrats to Al Franken, comedian and Senator. That makes him one out of ... sorry one of 100.

Al Franken aka Stuart Smalley was a writer and performer on "Saturday Night Live" during the 70s and 80s. He wrote some of the most brilliant sketches during SNL's golden years. If he's as good a Senator as he was a writer, he'll be pretty damn good.

Interesting irony this election: Al Franken is from Minnesota but made his career in New York at SNL. Now former Senator Norm Coleman is actually from Brooklyn, NY but made his career in Minnesota. Two sides of the same coin (or "kern" as the Brooklyn-born Coleman might say).

Another interesting thing about this race: Norm Coleman lost the 1998 Minnesota Gubernatorial race to Jesse Ventura. As Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone noted, this makes Coleman the first politician to lose not to one but two television personalities. How friggin' embarrassing.

Broadway Blues

If you want proof, real demonstrative evidence that the economy is bad then it doesn't get any more clear than this: a record thirteen shows are closing on Broadway this month.

Perhaps it's only fitting that it's 13, that most unlucky of numbers.

These closings include some really big hits, certified audience-pleasers like Hairspray, Spamalot, Spring Awakening, and Young Frankenstein. The end of Hairspray and Spamalot are, in particular, significant since they've been running for years. But audience demand obviously isn't big enough right now to justify the costs and so the markets have rendered their verdict.

An aquaintance of mine who works as a roadie and show-techie told me that January will be a bizarre month for him and his brethren. There will be tons of work this month as these shows are loaded out of the theaters but after that ... nothing ... And not only will stage hands be out of work but so will all those back up singers and dancers in the big musicals. Hard, hard times in Broadwayland. My best to them all.

It might be interesting yet sad to walk around the Theater District some night in early February. Around 7:30 on any given show night, the streets are usually jammed to overflowing with theater-goers. It'll be interesting to see just how diminished the crowds are. That's when it'll really hit home.

Amazingly, none of these closing shows include The Phantom of the Opera. This show will have been on Broadway 21 years this month! Imagine ... this is the first Broadway show that's actually legally old enough to drink. Who are all these people keeping this show alive after two decades?

Well, for the time being, let's be thankful for them.

Happy Birthday Charlotte!

Mayor Bloomberg's mother turned 100 years old yesterday.

Mayor's Mother Turns 100

Hope he got her a nice gift. Apparently she's still going strong and is alert and healthy. We should all be so lucky.

The Rainbow Room

Rainbow Room to close restaurant, citing economy

Actually it's only the restaurant, the Rainbow Grill, that's closing. It's going to remain as a giant bar area. Still, it's a loss. It's one less place for the power elite to go to eat lunch and "be seen." People like Henry Kissinger and Sandy Weill have permanent tables there -- or they did. I wonder if they'll get their money back.

The Rainbow Room actually opened in 1934. Hard to believe that it was actually able to open and thrive during the Great Depression but not now. But if the Russian Tea Room could come back, why not the Rainbow Room? We shall see.

Good News ... Sorta ...

Republicans to flee DC for inauguration

Sadly I think a lot of them are planning to go back. We couldn't possibly be so lucky that every Republican would leave DC permanently. But a boy can dream ...

Will some of these Republicans flock to NYC on January 20th? If so, we New Yorkers should be gracious to them. After all, on that date a lot of them will be out of work, and with the economy being what it is (thanks to them), NYC needs all the visitors it can get. Let's hope these depressed GOPers drown their sorrows in our city's various watering holes and crash in our hotels. That should add some tax revenue to the "ol' coffers," to quote their outgoing President.

My only concern is that a lot of these disgruntled Republicans who might visit NYC during that week would bring guns -- we know how much Republicans love their guns, "from my cold dead hands", etc. Let's just hope they leave the guns behind -- I can only imagine some angry drunk Republican in a New York City bar (or elsewhere in the land) watching Obama getting swore-in on TV and then shooting out the screen. If you're going to a bar full of Republicans on January 20th, better watch the hell out.

We've all heard about the possible record attendance to Obama's inauguration. My guess is that a lot of them will be people who just want to make sure that George W. Bush is one Republican who does leave DC for good on January 20th (personally I won't breath easy until it's wheels up on the SOB's plane). It's sort of like showing up to the funeral of a person you don't like -- not because you're mourning the person, just because you want to make sure that he (or she) is dead.

One of these days, Alice... Bang! Zoom! Straight to the Moon!

If it's New Year's Day in NYC, then it must mean The Honeymooners marathon on WPIX.

Before All in the Family and The King of Queens, The Honeymooners was the first and still the best show about working class life in NYC.

Each of its 39 episode was basically the same. Brooklyn bus driver Ralph and sewer worker Norton would think up some idiotic get-rich-quick scheme, Ralph's wife Alice would bust his balls nonstop, and Norton's wife Trixie would stand by her man. Inevitably Ralph's scheme would fail and Alice would be proved right.

Throughout the episodes Ralph would threaten his wife -- "Bang! Zoom!" -- but he'd never actually hit her and, at the end of each episode, they'd embrace and Ralph would exclaim "Alice, you're da greatest!"

Although these days, more than 50 years later, jokes about domestic violence fall flat, remember that Alice was always presented as the smart one and that Ralph was all talk and no action. In many ways, The Honeymooners was really the first great feminist show -- and this was before The Feminine Mystique.

Broadcast live from NYC in 1955 and 1956, The Honeymooners remains a classic.

P.S. "The Man from Space" episode we all saw in Back to the Future was not broadcast in November, 1955 but on December 31, 1955. It was a little bit of temporal artistic license on the movie's part.