Monday, October 23, 2023
Sunny. High 61 degrees.
It has rained for seven straight weekends in New York City.
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Upper West Side News
By Gus Saltonstall
A pair of Upper West Side building owners have filed lawsuits against Airbnb, claiming the rental platform is violating Local Law 18, as first reported by the Real Deal.
The new legislation, which went into effect in September, requires apartment hosts to register their listings with the city so rental platforms can then verify their legitimacy before they are posted for the public. Additionally, landlords now have the option to block tenants from listing their apartments on rental sites.
The two landlords are claiming that Airbnb is continuing to allow listings in their building, even when the address has been blocked and put on the inclusion list.
The local landlords leading the litigation fight are at 207 Columbus Avenue, near West 69th Street, and at 30 West 63rd Street. Airbnb had previously filed a lawsuit against the city in an attempt to stop Local Law 18 from taking effect, but a judge dismissed the case in August.
You can read more about the lawsuits against Airbnb on the Real Deal’s website.
$15 million. That’s the amount of money you would need to buy the Upper West Side townhouse that Tom Cruise lived in and worked at as the super.
Cruise lived on the Upper West Side before landing his first hit role in the early 1980s. He resided in a studio at 50 West 86th Street, between Columbus and Central Park West, where he also earned money as the building’s super.
To add to the celebrity buzz, Sarah Jessica Parker and Robert Downey, Jr. also lived together in the building during the 80s.
The five-story building, which has been dubbed as the Good Luck Building, is now about to hit the market for $14.99 million, as first reported by the New York Post. The building is currently divided into apartments but could be converted into a single-family home. It has a pool and was previously owned by a celebrity make-up artist.
You can read more on the New York Post’s website.
Change has come to Barnes & Noble locations across the country, including on the Upper West Side.
Many of the book retailer’s stores have redesigned to push “the chain to act more like the indie stores it was once notorious for replacing,” reported the New York Times earlier this week. The interior of the stores have added more color and added new types of shelves.
The Barnes & Noble on Broadway between West 82nd and 83rd streets now has shelves that can come out of the wall and offer more front-facing book displays, instead of the jam-packed bookcases that sometimes felt as if a magnifying glass was needed.
The focus of the nationwide chain has been put back to a “books-first strategy.”
The renovation and redesign of the Upper West Side outpost cost $4 million, reported the New York Times. You can read more about the redesign and the people leading it on the Times’ website.
It is not Upper West Side specific, but dogs in costumes don’t need a local angle to earn inclusion.
The annual Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade took place on Saturday and Pookah the Pomeranian won the title of “Best in Show.”
Hundreds of people and pooches marched along Avenue B, before gathering in the East Village park for the costume contest.
In a more complex process than you might guess, judges selected 40 dogs for the “Best in Show” award, and then divided them into six groups. Winners of each group were then selected by applause levels.
Pookah ended up taking home the crown against the five other finalists.
You can check out photos of the costumed dogs on Gothamist’s website.
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Wow, is that Pomeranian cute!
The audacity of some people putting apartments that they don’t own on AirBnB. Maybe I’m just old school that way in terms of respect for other people’s property.
I liked the old version of B&N, and have never had a problem reading the title on the binding of a book in a library or a bookstore. I went in this weekend and didn’t find one book on my list so I ended up ordering online anyway. : (
I had the same experience. The store looked, felt and was empty, with acres of carpeting sparsely interspersed with tables featuring books the store was pushing. The magazine racks were relegated to the upper floor and had none of the categories I usually buy in multiple. Fiction was pushed so far back against the wall you’d need roller skates to get to it. Harry Potter books got their own easy-to-reach section, though. The whole store had a cold, mall-ish look, nothing like the browsability of a good indie store. I left without buying anything.
I agree, I miss Barnes & Noble’s marvelously diverse magazine section. The offerings now are rather ordinary and useless.
I get that B&N wants to return to their book roots. But people read more than books.
“shelves that . . . offer more front-facing book displays” means fewer books. To suggest that such a redesign at Barnes & Noble would make it “more like the indie stores it was once notorious for replacing” is just false. One measure of a good bookstore is simply the number of books it has, or even books per sq. ft. Barnes & Noble does poorly in that regard.
I love the new B&N – so well curated, books arranged so well, and a light filled and expanded cafe to replace the dim and little one. I love it there!
Another vote for Barnes & Noble. I went there recently & found two books I wanted, one fairly obscure. Then I enjoyed coffee & a delicious cookie in the cheery bright cafe.
I hadn’t been to BN in a while and was surprised when I went there two weeks ago. As someone who judges a book by its cover when looking for something that might be an interesting read, I love the new display. So easy to read the titles even without my glasses.
I miss the old tried and true Barnes and Noble! I found the new set up was like a complicated maze and not as user friendly at all. Did make sense that the little cafe is now located near the rest rooms. Just doesn’t have that nice feel anymore.
I ask the book store employee where something can be found. They will take you right to the section. Find a particular book. If they don’t have it the will order the book.