Stockings with Care, the charity based in Battery Park City that makes the holidays brighter for families in need throughout the five boroughs, is asking for your help. This year, the organization will be buying, wrapping, and delivering gifts for more than 1,700 needy kids. You can assist by signing up as a Santa, which […]
Archives for November 2017
November 29
800 – Charlemagne arrives at Rome to investigate the alleged crimes of Pope Leo III. 1783 – A 5.3 magnitude earthquake strikes New Jersey. 1864 – American Indian Wars: Sand Creek massacre – Colorado volunteers led by Colonel John Chivington massacre at least 150 Cheyenne and Arapaho noncombatants inside Colorado Territory. 1929 – U.S. Admiral […]
Lower Manhattan’s Version of the Second Avenue Subway
What the long-promised proposed T train (which is slated someday to run from 125th Street, down Second Avenue, to Hanover Square in Lower Manhattan) is for the rest of New York, the similarly ambitious and wistful notion of a direct rail connection between the World Trade Center and Newark Airport is for Downtown residents. The […]
November 28
1582 – In Stratford-upon-Avon, William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway pay a £40 bond for their marriage license. They were married in 1582, when he was 18 and she was 25 years old. She outlived her husband by seven years. 1660 – At Gresham College, twelve men, including Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, and Sir […]
POPS Pap
The City Council recently enacted a new law that strengthens enforcement over “privately owned public spaces” (POPS), in response to an April report from City Comptroller Scott Stringer, which found that of 51 POPS located in Lower Manhattan, only eight were meeting legally required standards for public access, hours, or the availability of amenities such […]
November 27
1095 – Pope Urban II preaches first Crusade 1703 – The first Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed in the Great Storm of 1703. 1817 – US soldiers attack Florida Indian village, beginning Seminole War 1826 – John Walker invents friction match in England. Then pours himself a drink 1868 – Battle at Washita River, Oklahoma. General […]
EYES TO THE SKY November 27 – December 10, 2017
Our Sun sets in the southwest at around 4:20 in the afternoon. When twilight gathers, golden Capella, the fourth brightest star in northern skies, commands our attention above the northeastern horizon. Capella, from the Latin for ‘she-goat’, is the brightest star in the constellation Auriga The Charioteer. At nightfall four lesser stars appear, shaping a […]
Evacuation Day
Evacuation Day is New York City’s most famous celebration you’ve never heard of. While November 25, 1783, marks a significant moment in American history, Evacuation Day never reached national prominence. And while New York embraced it with great enthusiasm-parades, flotillas, fireworks-for more than seventy years, that’s not surprising since it was New York that was […]
Taking Down the Ritz
The company that owns the hotel portion of the Ritz-Carlton building in southern Battery Park City has apparently decided to strip the luxury brand name from its hostelry, as part of its ongoing campaign to shut down the lodging facility and convert it to condominium apartments. The 38-story Ritz-Carlton building at the foot of Battery […]
November 22
845 – 845 : The first King of all Brittany, Nominoe defeats the Frankish king Charles the Bald at the Battle of Ballon near Redon. 1492 – Pinta under Martín Alonso Pinzón separates from Columbus’s fleet 1794 – Strasbourg Alsace-Lorraine, prohibits circumcision and wearing of beards 1809 – Peregrine Williamson of Baltimore patents a steel […]