The "It is Staten Island's Fault" Edition
The "It is Staten Island's Fault" Edition
The Grand Prospect Hall was sold, Little Paris, Dave's Lesbian Bar, espresso martinis, an American Horror Story bakery, and more
Today - Low: 77˚ High: 89˚
Humid throughout the day.
This weekend - Low: 74˚ High: 86˚
Rob’s note: I’m always low on pet photos! Send me your pet photos!
• Where to eat and drink in Coney Island. (Nikko Duren and Bryan Kim for The Infatuation)
• The delta variant of Covid-19 is now the dominant variant in NYC, making up a very not nice 69% of new cases. (Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky for Gothamist)
• NYC's positivity rate for Covid-19 cases broke 1% again and there's a direct correlation between areas with low vaccination rates and an uptick in new Covid-19 cases. Nearly 99% of Covid-19-related deaths in the city this year are people who were not fully vaccinated. (Ann Choi for The City)
• "Who's responsible for the uptick in cases?" I hear you ask yourself while thoughtfully reading this digest. It's a good question and you can also look to the start of the pandemic for your answer. Staten Island's seven-day positivity rate is over 2.4% and it's primarily younger people who are getting sick. Eight of the 15 zip codes with the highest positivity rating are in Staten Island. (Devin Gannon for 6sqft)
• New York and the CDC disagree about how many people died in New York state as a result of Covid-19. New York state reports about 43,000 deaths but the CDC reports more than 54,000. New York only counts deaths in hospitals, nursing homes, and adult-care facilities but not homes or prisons. On top of that, it only counts deaths confirmed with a Covid-19 test by a lab, which does not conform to the CDC's system of counting deaths. (Luis Ferré-Sadurní for NY Times)
• The Grand Prospect Hall sold for $22.5 million. This may be the end for the hall, as for years the owners received regular offers to sell the building to turn it into condos. The buyer hasn't said what it will do with the property. I'll miss their life-sized, talking stuffed animal horse outside the beer garden. (Jen Chung for Gothamist)
• Photos: Scaffolding, but make it Instagram bait. (Scott Lynch for Gothamist)
• Night Bites Bakery is an "American Horror Story"-themed bakery in the Meatpacking District in promotion of the new season starting in August. (Will Gleason for Time Out)
• The photos coming out of Moynihan Train Hall are embarrassing. How much money did we spend on a train hall with no seating? (Diana Budds for Curbed)
• Answering your questions about the sudden flood of news about Kraft Mac & Cheese ice cream from Van Leeuwen and yes, it's supposed to taste pretty good. (Rachel Sugar for Grub Street)
• The 7 best beaches for surfing near NYC. (Dana Schulz for 6sqft)
• Congratulations to New York state, which distributed zero dollars in the first month of its rent relief program. There were 120,000 applicants in the first month. It's not too late to apply for rent relief, as the program doesn't have a deadline. (Allizon Dikanovic for The City)
• Getting a haircut in a barbershop in New York state was illegal until this week. (Nick Reisman for NY1)
• By the latest released count of votes, Eric Adams is less than a percentage point ahead of Kathryn Garcia. If the vote difference walls to within half a percentage point the results can be challenged in court. The difference is currently about 7,100 votes with more votes to be counted on Thursday. (David Cruz for Gothamist)
• Rendering: A look at 9 DeKalb, Brooklyn's first supertall tower, which will stand 73 stories tall, roughly twice the height of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower. (Valeria Ricciulli for Curbed)
• When it came to assigning blame for why someone was tased by the NYPD for helping a subway farebeater in Harlem, Mayor de Blasio made sure to assign the tased man some of the blame despite the NYPD's lack of de-escalation. None of the charges against him are related to fare beating. (David Cruz for Gothamist)
• Eight great NYC spots for espresso martinis this summer. (Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner for Time Out)
• As the city mourns the loss of the Astor Place Kmart (who would have thought it was so beloved?), a look at one of the weirder things to ever happen there: When U2 played a live show in the Kmart lingerie section. (Untapped New York)
• "The first time my wife, Roberta Smith, learned that I shopped for my clothes at Kmart, she was appalled. Actually, she was very upset." - The Astor Place Kmart Was My Place to Be Normal. (Jerry Saltz for Curbed)
• The Times has discovered the long wait times for subways. (Winnie Hu and Nate Schweber for NY Times)
• A new ranking of the best cities to live by US World Report and puts NYC at #118 of 150. Boulder, Colorado took the top spot.
• A guide to the city's future "Little Paris." (Julia Vitullo-Martin for Untapped New York)
• Real Estate Lust: A $1.87 million Yorkville loft in a former piano factory with an 800-square foot terrace, three beds, a sunroom, and more. (Dana Schulz for 6sqft)
• The first pop-up for Dave's Lesbian Bar in Astoria will be July 24. Queens has no lesbian bars and the pop-up is part of Kristin Dausch's plan to change that. (Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner for Time Out)
• It's not that no one wants a memorial for essential workers, it's that Governor Cuomo and team continually pick the worst places to shoehorn it in. Stop trying to make Battery Park happen and put it in Queens you dolts. (Zack Fink for NY1)
• 9 great places to drink sake. (Hannah Albertine for The Infatuation)
Featured Pet: Nestor!
Thanks to Athena for sending in this photo of Nestor, who is a big fan of staying cool.