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MISSING DOG!
REWARD IF FOUND
Contact:
Danni Tyson
(212) 381-2588
(646) 708-1675
Harlem Fur veteran Danni Tyson writes in to let us know that Bugzy, her rescue Chihuahua, disappeared from the Halstead Office on Lenox Ave and 119th yesterday around 4:30, and has not been seen since.
Danni said that it is not like Bugzy at all, and so suspects that someone must have him.
In about ten minutes, the Mets will face off again against the Cubs in their up, down, up performance at Shea. For those who can't make it in time, but wish to see at least one Met today, Carlos Beltran will be honored this evening at Harlem RBI's annual dinner and auction.
Harlem RBI works with kids to build confidence and get them thru high school and on to college. Plus, they try and have a good time along the way.
Ticket's to this evening's event, which starts and 5:30 with a VIP reception followed by a silent auction and then a dinner at 7:30, are about the same price as last minute tickets to a regular game: $1,000. However, I am sure your chances of getting a ball signed are a bit better at the Grand Hyatt than they are at Shea.
UPDATE: You can congratulate Carlos on the Met's five point come from behind victory in the 9th inning today! Nice!
I've been kinda quite over here for a while; you can blame New York Cyclist for having done an amazing job tuning up my bike. The new, smooth ride, combined with nature's top notch showing, has had me spending my free time outdoors.
But this news brings me back to The Fur: A reader reports that Cold Stone Creamery has a sign up next to the Body Shop at 125th and 5th. With all of the exercise I am getting, I should be able to eat about a gallon a day without putting on any weight.
You know what kind of ice I will be showing off this summer.
Who knew that Cantilever Watch 2007 would provide enough material for one post a week, let alone two? But it does.
Graceline Court proves to be a continual fountain of surprises as it goes onward, overward, and upward.
Today, we give you the development's logo (on the right) AND website. For those of you who have been following the Cantilever, the M. C. Escher-esque horizons on the buildings facade are still there, and now set to music!
Advertecture on the development's scaffolding promises a sales office soon.
Cantilever Watch 2007
· Cantilever Watch 2007: Sneak Peek At Graceline's Backside
· Cantilever Watch 2007: In & Out Edition
· Cantilever Get Some Respect?
For those who just can't get enough of Harlem real estate news today, Curbed has gone all A96 with posts on:
· Grzywinski Pons's MINI-THOR on East 118th,
· Castle Village's wall collapse,
and
It's Thursday, time to check in for the week on Graceline Court, the residential building in the process of cantilevering over Malcolm Shabazz Mosque No. 7.
I took this week's shot from 115th Street to check out Graceline's posterior.
Staring at the walls in Society Coffee (Frederick Douglass Blvd @ 114th St.) is now just as interesting as staring at fellow patrons. Small(ish) Works, a show by Erik Sommer, Stephanie Mulvihill and Gina Fuentes Walker, is currently on view.
From the show's description: Stephanie Mulvihill uses quilting and collage to explore ideas of personal fragmentation and reconstruction, as well as question the validity of tradition in a rapidly changing world. Erik Sommer describes his work as a conversation between age and beauty, capturing the passing of time through the deterioration of texture. Using small and multiple photographic images, Gina Fuentes Walker's work explores our relationship with interior space and urban architecture by transforming the mundane into visually heightened environments.
And just by including the title of Sommer's work, "broken sex," I am sure that Harlem Fur will take part in that conversation between age and beauty, but mostly of the single sided type, as mediated through late night Google searches. I mean, we are headed that way as it is.
For those who wish to converse in person, artHARLEM is hosting an artist get together at Saurin Parke Cafe (110th Street @ Frederick Douglass Blvd) this Friday, May 11th, from 6 to 8 pm. To RSVP, email Co-Founder and Director Gina Fuentes Walker at gina -at- hoast -dot- org.
For those in the nabe with conventional children (not small, furry animals), Harlem mom Sarah has a great list of local goings-on. And at least one of those events encourages kids to dress up as small, furry animals. Amazing. Thanks Sarah!
Harlem 4 Kids is a Parent Run Co-op that is working to provide programs to young children in the neighborhood.
Their main program right now is "Storytime Saturdays" - which is hosted at Tribal Spears (117th & Frederick Douglass). There are two sessions every Saturday - one at 9:30am and one at 10:30am. The earlier session is a geared a bit more towards the under 2 crowd (and way less crowded). There is a $5 suggested donation.
They also have a pretty good listserv going- through it parents are putting together playgroups, babysitting co-ops, providing Doc recommendations and sharing and giving general advice.
There is also Grandma's Place Toy Store at 84 West 120th - which has provided much solace for me during rainy winter days. They entertained Sadie and let her roam around and play with all the toys. They are also working to start a Sunday Story Time hour - and are looking for parent volunteers.
Lastly - we spent Earth Day at the newly developed Glade (104th and CPW) - it's really nice and should have a lot of kids programs over the summer.
Ella is a very energetic 3 year old pup who you can see was quite eager to get her photo taken. But she didn't let her desire be known right away.
She cleverly hid her excitement under a veil of disinterest and white fur until I was ready to take the shot. Then, Ella let it all hang out.
Joe Schumacher reminds us with a great photo set that we are currently in the midst of Bike Month, and could be doing a little more about it.
However, he did have two opportunities to catch a photo of me on the west side bike path this past Saturday, and Sunday too. And later this month, I'll be riding to Montauk, but have not decided if I will do the full 147 miles, or wimp out and go for only 100.
So, in preparing my bike for this year's Montauk ride, I took it for the first time to Harlem's New York Cyclist on Cathedral Parkway between Manhattan Avenue and Frederick Douglass Boulevard. They have a spring tune up special for $39.99, which I will post a review of when my bike comes back later this week.
Taking my bike in for a tune up is part of a yearly dance I do where I hem and haw over whether or not I should buy a new bike, or keep riding the one I have, which is a now ten year old mountain bike with road slicks. One side of the argument is that if I actually had a road bike, I might do more long distance rides. The other side is that ten years ago I bought the mountain bike because I broke two forks on a different bike in one month, and since riding the mountain bike, I have not broken one. (The first fork was broke hitting a curb, and the second was broke hitting a cyclist going the wrong way on a bike path- at least I bent his frame in the collision. Dumbass.)
Plus, there is always the extra ego boost of doing what other people do on much lighter bikes and making it look easy. On the 2005 Montauk ride someone rode alongside of me and said that I must be using 20 percent more energy riding my mountain bike. "Good," was my response, "that means I'm stronger."
With the passing of another month comes a look thru the search strings that brought random Interweb sojourners into our company for a fleeting visit.
For some, their quest for knowledge on the nature of cats and dogs, where to grab a bite in the hood, and filming locations for their favorite shows were answered. For others, we have no idea why they were searching for what they entered, how they thought they would find it here, or why they came back for it multiple times. In fact, we sleep a little less easy simply knowing they think we can satisfy their desires.
The winner for the month of April is: Not one, but two searches from the same person for "karen minton boobs"
Based on some Googling, we have concluded that the Karen Minton in question is a meteorologist for Atlanta station WSB-TV channel 2. Our lascivious searcher didn't just think that there may be a photo of Karen Minton's chest on a Harlem Fur weekend wrap up post once, but twice they clicked on it. You know, they just might be there the second time.
One of the greatest Interweb myths is that any woman on earth with mild notoriety has somewhere, someplace, if you just Google the right phrase, a photo of her exposed breasts. It's not true. Believe me, I have spent many fruitless hours looking for ex-girlfriends.
Parks
The Friends of St. Nicholas Park are holding their FIRST! EVER! regular monthly meeting. Attendance is open to all, bringing a friend is encouraged, and people are asked to come with ideas for events and the organization.
The agenda, roughly, will be:
1. Summer Events Calendar
2. Increasing Membership
3. Fundraising Activities
4. Dog Run Update
5. Capital Projects Update
Tuesday, May 8th, 7pm at Harlem Visitor's and Community Resource Center, the first floor at West 502 142nd Street (between Amsterdam and Hamilton Place).
Dance
It was Benny Goodman vs Chick Webb on May 11th, 1937, in what became a classic night of dance and jazz in Harlem's historic Savoy Ballroom. So why let the 70th anniversary of a great battle pass without a little reenactment? Enjoy live music from the Savoy Stompers, a smart dance performance, and a free swing lesson just in case 70 year's time has put a little dust on your dancing shoes. Tickets are $20.
Friday, May 11th, 7pm at the Julia de Burgos Cultural Center, Lexington Ave & East 106 St. For further Details contact:
Clyde Wilder 646 - 546 - 8684
Bronx Barbie 917 - 941 - 0935
Clay Herndon 917 - 549 - 7075
Dogs
Move over big dogs, the little dogs are moving in. Now that big dogs have a place to call their own in St. Nicholas Park, it's time to carve out an area for little dogs (with big dog personalities). Tasks at hand include fence erecting for the small dog run, cutting and moving fencing for the new corral entrance, landscaping around the new corral entrance, and spreading woodchips in the small dog run.
Saturday, May 12th, 10am at St. Nicholas Park dog run @ 135th Street. For more information, check out the St. Nicholas Park blog.
Dogs Again
Uptown Hound will host Sit Stay Dog Training for their seminar "The Urban Dog." The seminar will cover simple things you can do to improve your relationship with your dog, as well as your dog's health. Our cat Cimbi needs some relationship training, so we may try to dress her up as a Wheaten Terrier and bring her along.
Sunday, May 13th, 2pm at Uptown Hound, corner of Adam Clayton Powell and 121st Street. The seminar itself is free but registration is required. To register: email sitstaydogtraining -at- gmail -dot- com or call 646.352.1980.
Native is not dead.
Native, the restaurant pretty much running the show on Lenox Ave in South Harlem, began a phased reopening last week. Selections from the newly developed cocktail menu were introduced Monday and Tuesday, followed by rotating menu selections Wednesday thru Sunday. The grand reopening is set for Wednesday, May 9th. Based on a sneak peak, the time used to remake the restaurant was time well spent.
Stepping inside, one instantly sees that the interior decor has been refined. Someone took care to sweep out the dingy feeling the venue used to have. Solid colors and clean lines replace what I remember as a gradated scheme. The bar is now a concrete-top structure that contrasts nicely with the surrounding solid colors by using washed hues of strong blues. Also, the new bar placement, snaking along the wall back from the door, gives the area a bit more of an open feeling. The former placement could leave guests entering and exiting feeling cramped.
The menu another Harlemite and myself saw Thursday evening is a little disjointed; one would have a hard time determining exactly which native the restaurant was modeled after. However, the entrees we enjoyed were good enough to classify the selections as 'eclectic,' rather than 'schizophrenic.' Appetizers included bar staples such as buffalo wings as well as mainstay staples such as fried calamari. Entrees also ranged from the more casual Red Beans and Rice (with sweet plantains and garlic spinach) to the formal Grilled NY Strip Steak (with stewed tomatoes, black-eyed peas and tostones).
I tried the Basil Curry Chicken (with spicy pan asian sauce and coconut rice), which I found to be excellent. Even after keeping the dish under a warmer while I ran home to grab a camera battery, the chicken was tender and no where near dry. The rice was also good, and tasted like I wanted it to. I would have enjoyed the sauce more if spicy had been left out of the name, as my idea of spicy looks for a bit more kick. The Harlemite I was dining with tried the Moroccan Fried Chicken, which he also enjoyed.
All in all, I was very happy with the fare, and I am looking forward to seeing the full menu on Wednesday.
OnStar, GM's onboard emergency communications feature, looks to have been filming in ViVa yesterday. Was the far west Harlem micro-nabe under the Amtrak, Riverside Drive, 1 train, and Henry Hudson Parkway viaducts used for its foreboding appearance to stage a real life scenario where a hapless driver was stranded outside their vehicle with the keys locked inside?
Maybe.
But with Fairway and Dinosaur Bar-B-Que soon to be joined by recreational piers, Hudson River Cafe, and, of course, Columbia University's Business College expansion, future uses of OnStar in ViVa will probably deal with different complications.
Onstar: "Thank you for using your OnStar system, my name is Steve, how can I help you today?"
Brian: "This is horrible man. I just graduated CBS, and I'm only salaried at $150,000/yr. I mean, I'm driving a freaking Cobalt; it's tan!"
Onstar: "Sir, calm down. Will you receive a bonus?"
Brian: "Yes, but not until the end of Q4."
Onstar: "We understand. We are sending a representative to negotiate an accelerated compensation plan in conjunction with your three-month review."
Brian: "Thanks."
Much like a watched pot never boiling, a watched building does not cant (or lever). I walked by daily waiting for the canting to start, my camera at the ready, with no luck. Then I take off for a week, come back, and the canting has begun.
For those able to drop by 116th and Lenox Ave, more canting than what is shown in the photo awaits. I took this photo in the morning, and came back to see steady progress. However, without night vision, the shots are not too revealing.
· Cantilever Watch 2007: In & Out Edition
· Cantilever Get Some Respect? [Includes rendering with digitally enhanced blue sky]
Low Down
68 Bradhurst
Friends of St. Nicholas Park
Harlem Hybrid
Harlem One Stop
NYC The Blog
UPTOWNflavor
People
CitySpecific
Harlem 26.2 (worth the archives!)
Misguided Misadventures In NYC
Siddhartha Mitter
WATPA?
