City of Magic, WNYC, 1956

Yet another piece of kooky 1950s NYC propaganda, this time produced by WNYC when the city owned its own public TV station. Again, you must see it to believe it -- and see how much the city has changed in the last 50-plus years.

Review: "South Pacific"

Meet Carl Berner

At 108, he's the oldest person in NYC. He lives in Queens in the same house he moved into 72 years ago -- back when FDR was president and LaGuardia was Mayor and the Empire State Building was only four years old.

He's an inspiring story. An immigrant from Germany, he came to our shores in 1928 (back when Calvin Coolidge was President and Mayor Jimmy Walker was in his first term) and moved into his current house at the age of 36 (I'm a few years younger than that and can't imagine that the house I might move into in a few years would be the same house I'd be living in for more than eight decades!).

Mr Berner is a former tool and toymaker and still has a wonderful relationship with his family. All of us can only hope that we'll be so lucky to live so long -- and so well.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Again, apologies for the lack of updates lately. This past week was CRAZY and this next week is going to be busy as well. However, I will strive to blog more if possible. Don't give up on me yet!

Secrets of NYC

They couldn't be more different but these two areas of NYC are part of what makes this city great: City Island and the Bowery.

City Island, that little nautical community off the coast of the Bronx, is a charming village-like place that is the subject of a new movie starring Andy Garcia. I've blogged about this place before and this article from today's Times gives some further insight into this almost secret part of NYC.

Then there's a Bowery. It is an historic and fascinating part of lower Manhattan. It used to be the epitome of the city's Skid Row, a place where the down and out found refuse and where no decent person would ever venture to. Today, it is a booming center of development although it has come at a steep price. Again, the Times today has an interesting story about the evolution of the Bowery -- and particularly poignant story about a man named George.

Who'll Stop the Rain?

Oy vey! For the last two days NYC has been pelted with lots and lots and lots of rain. And it's driving the entire city nuts! You know how when it usually rains, it rains for a while ... then stops ... then rains again ... then stops again ... maybe rains a little more, then stops for good? Not this weekend. It's just been pouring and pouring and pouring non-stop since yesterday morning -- no relief in sight. And the wind has been even fiercer and it's apparently destroyed so many umbrellas that the sidewalks are littered and the trashcans are full of wrecked, cheap umbrellas. It's a mess. The rain is supposed to keep going like this for the next couple of days, then it'll be beautiful. Let's just hope the city hasn't drowned by then. The good that will come out of this, I suppose, is that at least we won't be suffering from a water shortage anytime soon.

And Justice for Some ...

If you've ever been in a New York City cab and the meter seemed to be clicking really fast, you probably thought you were being gouged.

Guess what? You were!

Apparently more than 3,000 cab drivers were recently busted for gouging riders an extra $4 to $5 per trip. The city used GPS technology to figure out the length of various trips vs. what was being charged and figured out which cabs were ripping their passengers off. Some taxi drivers have had their licenses revoked and others are facing stiff fines. Personally I don't want any of these cabbies to lose their licenses or their livelihoods, I just want them to stop ripping of their customers!

But what the city gives with one hand, it taketh away with the other. In 2007, the principal of a NYC Muslim school was forced out of her job due to a McCarthyite witch hunt. A bunch of Republican activists put enormous pressure on the Bloomberg administration to fire her by charging that she harbored terrorist sympathies. Yesterday, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a report indicating that this firing was unjustified, biased, baseless, and political. And what's the city's response? Nada. They won't hire her back. They've dismissed the report and won't reconsider their decision. It sadly goes to show you that some injustices, in life even when they're recognized, will go uncorrected.

This Is New York, 1950

Narrated by a booming "voice of God", this little movie has a creepy charm all its own. But what makes it most interesting are the beautiful images of NYC from an a more innocent time.

It was such an innocent time that this move even refers to NYC as"Baghdad by the Sea" I doubt that anyone would call it that today. And remember: "Hit the "doit!"

A Scandal Ends

As I blogged about earlier, NYC has become Scandal Central lately -- and they haven't all been political scandals. Case in point: the David Letterman extortion plot. A CBS News producer tried to blackmail the late night host for millions over his affairs with staffers. Dave did the right thing, manned up, admitted his infidelities on the air, and had the guy arrested. When this scandal broke, I blogged about what Howard Stern had to say about it; his observations were really, really interesting.

Recently, Vanity Fair published a big article about the Letterman scandal called Big Trouble at 11:35. Very interesting, revealing article about the scandal, David Letterman the man and entertainer, and the vagaries of show business. However, today, the extortionist plead guilty and will spend six months in jail. Letterman, his family and staff, all of his fans, and everyone else except the media must be relieved.

At least this is one NYC scandal that can be put to rest.

A Good Politician is Hard to Find

Right now New York has become the epicenter for political corruption. We're giving states like Louisiana and New Jersey a run for their money. If Huey Long rose from the dead and moved to our fair state, he'd feel right at home.

An upstate congressman just resigned due to allegations of sexual harassment; the governor is under siege for several reason; and another very powerful congressman is under investigation and has had to give up his committee chairmanship.

And all of this stuff is happening after, in the last few years, we had a governor and comptroller resign in scandal, along with another congressman who was forced out of office after it was revealed that he had a love child. Plus a former NYC police commissioner who is now in the pokey.

What a mess. The New Yorker has a great piece about this contretemps. Read it and weep ... literally.