This remarkable site from the Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation takes us on a lot-by-lot tour of Lower 5th Ave. from 8th St. to 14th St., telling the story of every building at every address over time. Layer after layer of history is revealed, with lots of photos. A remarkable effort!
Awful news: the building replacing Bowlmor Lanes will be 23 stories high. Here are the terrible details.
In this article, an NYU rep fires back at Village preservationists.
It’s opening day for the Nutella Café. Start Instagramming.
DNAinfo Reports:
A 31-foot-tall sculpture resembling a stick of pink rock candy will rise on the plaza at 14th Street and Union Square East this fall, officials said.
The installation — dubbed “Rose Crystal Tower” and designed by renowned glassblower Dale Chihuly — will consist of a 22-foot structure made of glass-like resin sitting on top of a nine-foot base, according to Parks Department representatives.
The department is looking into whether it will be possible to use power sources in the area to light the sculpture from the inside, according to Jennifer Lantzas, deputy director of public art for the agency.
The tower will consist of numerous layers of pink crystals stacked on top of each other to create a column, according to early renderings.
The resin which Chihuly is using in place of his usual glass materials will be hard enough to withstand breakage, according to Dale Lanzone of Marlborough Gallery, which is sponsoring the Union Square installation.
“You could throw a rock at it or really do whatever you wanted to break it and it’s not going to break,” he said at Community Board 5’s Parks and Public Space Committee meeting Monday.
This will be Chihuly’s second public exhibition in the city, coming on the heels of an installation in the New York Botanical Gardens that will debut in April. It will be displayed from October 2017 until October 2018.
Chihuly, who sports a distinctive eye patch stemming from a glassblowing accident, is known for his creations that range from flora and fauna to abstract designs that have helped turn glassblowing into an avante-garde artform, Lanzone said.
“In the world of glass, he really invented the art form,” Lanzone said. “Chihuly is synonymous with glass sculpture.”DN
Cars will mostly be banned from 14th Street starting July 1 as the city launches a busway to help speed up traffic on the busy Manhattan thoroughfare, DOT announced Monday.
Private through traffic will be banned between Third and Ninth avenues from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily to accommodate the pilot busway during reconstruction work on the L train’s Canarsie tunnel. Cars will still be able to make pick-ups, drop-offs, and access area garages on the street during the pilot, according to DOT.
In April, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that buses, trucks, and emergency vehicles would be given priority on the stretch of road—the same span that had been pitched for a busway under the original L train shutdown mitigation plan but was thrown up in the air after Gov. Andrew Cuomo suddenly swapped plans to repair the Hurricane Sandy-damaged tunnel. But the city had yet to unveil a launch date or hours of operation for the pilot busway until now.
“The 14th Street busway is great news for transit riders and neighborhood residents,” said Danny Pearlstein, the Riders Alliance policy and communications director. “By ensuring fast, reliable transit starting July 1, the busway will provide an excellent alternative to jam-packed L trains and expensive, inefficient car trips.”
To enforce the busway, new cameras on the buses will issue tickets to those violating the street’s new restrictions. But drivers will be given warnings and tickets will not be issued until at least September, according to the DOT.
The busway’s July 1 launch will also be accompanied by the MTA’s new M14 select bus service that will replace the current M14A and M14D routes and nix 16 existing stops—that’s down from 22 after public outcry over the slashed stops. Riders will have to swipe their MetroCards at machines lining the curb before boarding the new select bus service.