The "For the Woodcock Obsessed" Edition
Rihanna opens a store in Brooklyn, Threes Brewing CEO is out, a $17.8 million Brooklyn Heights mansion, Hochul pushes for more booze in NY, The Bushwick Bachelor, and more
Today - Low: 32˚ High: 38˚
Clear throughout the day.
This weekend - Low: 42˚ High: 62˚
The latest seven-day positivity rate: 1.8%
77.02% of city residents have received two shots, 86.08% of city residents have received one or more shots. Source: NYC Department of Health.You have spoken: The positivity rate and vaccinated stats will remain! Thank you to everyone who wrote in about it.
• The NYPL created a reading list for people who want to understand the war in Ukraine better. The list comes from Bogdal Horbal, Curator for Slavic & East European Collections. (Jen Carlson for Gothamist)
• Deborah Kass's 'OY/YO' sculpture outside the Brooklyn Museum was wrapped in the colors of the Ukraine flag to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine. (Devin Gannon for 6sqft)
• The City shines a light on hypocritical Republicans who are publicly sympathetic to the plight of Ukrainian refugees but actively work to keep other refugees out of the country. (George Joseph for The City)
• The Met opened on Monday with the Ukrainian national anthem and suspended relationships with Russian artists and organizations that support President Vladamir Putin. (Bobby Panza for I Love the Upper West Side)
“As banks replace coffee shops and as independent restaurants sometimes give way to fast food chains, one can’t help but wonder what New York would feel like if there wasn’t a Veselka, a so-called third place to let folks gather, eat, grieve, and maybe relax just a bit — especially as the very existence of Ukraine remains in jeopardy.”
-Ryan Sutton, Inside Veselka: A Restaurant Rallying Point for Ukraine for Eater
• March 1 marked two years since NYC's first Covid-19 case. (Matt Troutman for Patch)
• After the Key2NYC mask mandate ends on March 7, these are the places you will still need to wear a mask. (Shaye Weaver for Time Out)
• The CEO of Threes Brewing is out after showing the world who he really is, comparing mask mandates to the Nazis in Germany and Jim Crow. Jim Stylman, the former CEO, will also divest his equity in the company. It's safe to drink Threes again. (Erika Adams for Eater)
• An explanation why Kyrie Irving can watch Nets games at the Barclays Center after March 7, but he still can't play them. (Nsikan Akpan for Gothamist)
• Anna Rahmanan makes a plea to return to the paper menu. I want to push back against a few things right away: "Put your phone down and connect with the people you're with" is such a boomer argument. Having a menu on your phone negates the need for anyone to use their phone as a flashlight to read the menu or to use reading glasses to see what it says. Arguing that you use specific fonts and design your menus tells the customer your twee experience is more important than theirs. Make paper menus like water at restaurants in California, provided only if requested. (Anna Rahmanan for Time Out)
• How NYC will be affected by the White House's new Covid-19 plan. (Matt Troutman for Patch)
• Headline: City's subway safety policy collides with reality as enforcement begins. Of the 1,000 people the city is boasting it "made contact" with and essentially removed from the subway system, only 22 were relocated successfully. (Chau Lam for Gothamist)
• The seizure of Forno Rosso for nearly $400,00 in unpaid taxes might have gone unnoticed by the press had the restaurant not been financed by a close friend of the mayor’s that Mayor Adams showed public support for earlier this year. (Katie Honan for The City with additional reporting by Rachel Holliday Smith)
• The City Council's first preliminary budget hearing was this week. They pushed back on the mayor, saying that Mayor Adams was jeopardizing the city’s recovery by cutting agency budgets when revenues appeared to be higher than expected. (David Cruz for Gothamist)
• Bryant Park is your place if you crave more woodcock in your life. Get your mind out of the gutter; it's a bird. (Willy Blackmore for Curbed)
• The 2022 elections will proceed in New York State, despite a legal challenge to this year's redistricting. Suppose the Republicans win the lawsuit and all inevitable appeals after the election. In that case, the district maps change again, and New York will have another Congressional election in 2023, just in time for the third election in three years in 2024. (Jon Campbell for Gothamist)
• Real Estate Lust: A $15 million UES mansion with six floors, 11,000 square feet, a solarium, a 1,250 square-foot roof deck, and more space than any of us would know what to do with, but it sure is pretty. (Michelle Cohen for 6sqft)
• One of the largest wine distributors in the nation is using a corporate contribution limits loophole to donate $25,000 to Governor Hochul despite the $5,000 cap. This loophole is being used by tons of companies who want to get through the loophole that Governor Cuomo supposedly "closed" in 2019. (Sam Mellins for The City)
• Completely unrelated to the last story, Governor Hochul continues to push for to-go cocktails and hiring more workers at the State Liquor Office. (Jon Campbell for Gothamist)
• The retro-future-inspired and speakeasy-style Dom is open in Gramercy this weekend. Pretty sure the applicable word is "swanky" based on the photos and description. (Amber Suthermand-Namako for Time Out)
• Who won the Dolly Parton Lookalike contest at Mable's Smokehouse? (Emma Davey for Greenpointers)
• If you notice British red phone booths around the city, it's part of a UK campaign to bring British experiences to New York. I'm not going to try to explain it, but the campaign includes "The World's First AI Banquet," where you can dine with Agatha Christie, William Shakespeare, and Charles Darwin. (Anna Rahmanan for Time Out)
• The city’s first-ever free-standing Savage x Fenty store from Rihanna will be on the corner of Fifth and Flatbush in Brooklyn, in the former Triangle Sports building in Park Slope. (Brooklyn Magazine)
• Real Estate Lust: A $17.8 million Brooklyn Heights waterfront townhouse with an elevator, two-car garage, original details, 5,050 square feet, central air, a home gym, wine cellar, garden terrace with an antique fountain, roof deck with outdoor kitchen, and more. (Michelle Cohen for 6sqft)
• Big Gay Ice Cream on the Upper West Side was given an eviction notice this week. (Bobby Panza for I Love the Upper West Side)
• In more bad news for ice cream lovers, Davey's Ice Cream closed its East Village shop. (Melissa Kravtiz Hoeffner for Time Out)
• Slutty Vegan is opening a location at 690 Fulton St in Fort Greene. (Emma Orlow for Eater)
• Morgenstern's, best known for their ice cream, is now offering fried chicken sandwiches, adding to their list of non-ice cream items on the menu. (Anna Rahmanan for Time Out)
• A look at "The Bushwick Bachelor," which hands out PBRs instead of roses, because of course it does. (Christine Fiala for Bushwick Daily)
• 30 abandoned places in NYC. (Michelle Young for Untapped New York)
• Real Estate Lust: A $625k one-bed in Park Slope in a "Chiclet Mansion" with 12-foot ceilings, basketweave parquet floors, and who are we kidding? It's an actual one-bedroom apartment in Park Slope for $625k. That's lusty enough. (Cate Corcoran for Brownstoner)
• A look at the last ride of the R-32 subway cars, which happened in an improbable place. (Jen Carlson for Gothamist)
• 21 places to find birria tacos. (Robert Sietsema for Eater)
Featured Pet: Bagel!
Thank you to reader Jennifer who sent in this photo of Bagel, who you can see is very stylish.
Thank you to readers who contributed to The Briefly using this Ko-Fi link.