Last night on Court Street I overheard a man and a pregnant lady bemoan the bazillion hours they've spent looking for something decent to buy in Brooklyn (at least, in white people Brooklyn). They just can't give up their Manhattan place until they find that magical Brooklyn apartment!

They will be waiting a while. Or perhaps they'll panic when the deadline of their second baby comes, and just buy something cruddy. But it's not any better for renters, according to this week's figures from the hilariously named RentJuice (ew). The average rent in the East Village is $3,859, now almost exactly tied with the average rent [...]

I know nastiness is SO 2009 because 2010 is going to be deep-fried rainbows in effusive sauce but I can't help but be anything besides pshaw at the news that New York City's vintage stores are going out of business. Hey, it's not like I don't enjoy other people's underwear, bias-cut velvet shit, and keen little heels in a women's size 4 AA but um, hi, as far as business models go, I just don't see the appeal of buying pre-owned crap at extortionate prices just because there's a hangtag that says all eight of the shearling vests are from the '70s. I mean, seriously, why so expensive?

Before the “events” of 2011, which if you were “lucky” made your life surreal and possibly oneiric (and if you’re reading this, I’m sure you know what I mean), I had lived in a part of Manhattan (specifically: the northern or “unsettled” part) for close to two decades. Sections of this neighborhood nevertheless remained unfamiliar or “foreign” to me, although I had heard rumors about a specific “location” said to be found somewhere west of Broadway—i.e., close to the river—and most likely north of the bridge (but this fact was far from certain), a place known for its mutating and unmappable streets, represented on the internet by gray “zones” [...]

Did you know there was a "spike in violence" downtown, in the First Precinct (which covers a huge swath of West SoHo, Greater UPS Village (AKA The Shipping District), TriBeCa, Wall Street and Ground Zero Village)? Well there sort of was, over the summer, and you know what's to blame? Nightlife! Specifically, Holland Tunnel outpost Greenhouse. (Probably not on "gay night." Otherwise, it's just full of "GAY AND BL;ACKS," say some of the many unhappy visitors who don't like $400 bottle service) Despite the brief "spike" of gun-toting club-tards, crime is down in the precinct by huge amounts from last year, five years ago and [...]