Working his political connections to score one of the few below-ground burial plots left in Manhattan, former Mayor Ed Koch has announced that he will be buried in Trinity Church Cemetery at Broadway and 155th Street. The 83-year-old New Yorker says, “The idea of leaving Manhattan permanently irritates me.” So when the time comes he’ll be laid to rest in the company of such notables as Jerry Orbach, naturalist John James Audubon, and a slew......

In 1988, the Jackie Gleason Bus Depot was renamed in memory of the Brooklyn native whose most famous role was acerbic bus driver Ralph Kramden on the classic television show The Honeymooners. In fact the logo for the depot is based on the title sequence for the show. The depot takes up several blocks on 5th Avenue in Sunset Park, across 36th Street from Green-Wood Cemetery. It is one of five that serves Brooklyn......

In Charles Mee’s Queens Boulevard (the musical) the titular traffic artery is no longer the “boulevard of blood” notorious for hit-and-run collisions. In fact, there isn’t a drop of blood in Mee’s colorful fairytale, which takes as inspiration the centuries old dance-drama style of Hindu theater called kathakali, among other things. In Mee’s eyes, Queens Boulevard is the symbolic common thread connecting New York’s myriad ethnicities and cultures, with Queens as the proverbial melting pot......

Anthony Marshall has not only been indicted for alleged criminal mishandling of his mother Brooke Astor's estate - he's being called a "STONE COLD HEIR" by the Post for not properly maintaining his mother's grave. Ouch! A public spat with his own son over Astor's care led to an ultimate court settlement where Marshall ceded guardianship of Astor and her estate to JP Morgan Chase and Astor's friend Annette de la Renta. But after Astor......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn, a high-angle rescue on West 18th St., in Manhattan, and a multi-vehicle accident on Farmers Blvd. and the South Conduit in Queens. Hoboken mayor David Roberts was apparently prescient to ask how many stops his SWAT team made on the trip back north--fearing more embarrassing photos of his police force as they returned from relief efforts after hurricane Katrina. Additional pictures of......

Next week, Halloween eve to be exact, will mark the five year anniversary of Jam Master Jay's death. The murderer still walks the streets, as witnesses don't want to step forward in naming the man who ended the life of the rap legend. amNewYork and the Daily News are both looking back at the open case, stating the little that is known:On the night before Halloween 2002, the 37-year-old Mizell was in his recording studio......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck in a hit and run at Knickerbocker and Gates Aves. in Brooklyn, a wall collapse at Cromwell Ave. in the Bronx, and an escaped prisoner at 107th Ave. and 131st St. in Queens. Firefighters had to rescue a Queens cemetery worker who was buried up to his waist after a cave-in occurred in a 20-foot-deep pit where he was working. The cave-in broke the man's leg......

The police arrested the man who fired the shot that hit a 16-year-old boy who looked outside his window earlier this week. Tavin Alves, a quiet ninth grader who was shot in the head and found slumped against a wall by his 5-year-old brother, was taken off a respirator by his family on Thursday; yesterday, they held a Stop Gun Violence rally. With Alves' death, police were looking for a murderer, not just a shooter,......

Open House New York weekend is coming up in 7 days and NewYorkology has a handy guide to which places you'll need reservations for this (the 5th) year, check it out here. Touted as America's largest architect and design event, OHNY opens usually locked doors throughout New York City each October (and sometimes Spring). Discover new nooks in each of the five boroughs through special talks, tours, performances and workshops. The weekend is free and......

There are likely many unsolved crimes in New York City's past, but this week, one 150-year-old case finally gets a sort of closure. The crime was well-documented as the Butchery on Bond Street. Love, money, Bellevue, dentists...all the usual makings for criminal behavior are accounted for, and amNewYork spoke to Benjamin Feldman, who has written a book, The Butchery of Bond Street. Harvey Burdell, a dentist who lived at 31 Bond Street, was "found in......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck on York Ave. and Richmond Terr. on Staten Island, another pedestrian struck on 37th Ave. and Union St. in Queens, and a missing child on 12th Ave. in Brooklyn. Three teenagers were hospitalized after being stabbed immediately after school let out in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn yesterday afternoon. Two of the injured were also slashed in the face. The City is introducing a new public awareness campaign......

The most famous new heiress these days is Trouble, the Maltese dog who was left $12 million in owner Leona Helmsley's will. To put this in perspective, Leona Helmsley gave a chauffeur $100,000, two grandchildren $5 million each (plus another $5 million each if they visit their father's grave at least once a year), and two other grandchildren nothing "for reasons which are known to them." Trouble has had a bad rap, even before becoming......

If you live in Washington Heights, you'll want to stay indoors tonight. The Health Department will be spraying pesticide as a preventive bid against the West Nile virus. The Post reports that the spraying (of Anvil 10+10) will be at Trinity Cemetery between 8PM and 6AM. While there are no reported cases of people with the West Nile virus yet, the Health Department has been spraying parts of Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island this......

Firefighters and elected officials were at St. Patrick's Cathedral yesterday for the second funeral of a firefighter killed while fighting last Saturday's Deutsche Bank building fire. Twenty-three FDNY veteran Robert Beddia was remembered by his sister, who eulogized, "You are my friend, you are my brother, you are my hero... Remember those days of playing chess, Risk and Monopoly? Remember how many of my high school friends had secret crushes on you? Remember when......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on Sutter Ave. in Brooklyn, a water rescue off the Breezy Point Jetty in Queens, and a missing child on East 178th St. in the Bronx. Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum is upset that Coney Island native and Knicks star Stephon Marbury donated 3,000 pairs of his new Starbury basketball shoes to male high school basketball teams, while ignoring the female players. The Brooklyn Paper reports that the......

On the edge of Middle Village sits Uvarara Vineria and Ristoro, a charming family-owned wine bar that looks and feels like it should be in the middle of an Italian village instead of Queens. This is due to the efforts of the Iadicicco's who spent nine months converting what had been a tailor shop with dowdy green walls into a cozy space with exposed brick and a dining area whose four rooms each have a......

It's the future, now! The Daily Intelligencer posted this Skidmore, Owings & Merrill/SWIM rendering of Freedom Tower's lobby, and finds out from SOM's TJ Gottesdiener that the lobby will shed "light into the memorial pool." Notice how the way light falls in Freedom Tower's lobby mimics how light would fall in the World Trade Center's lobby. It's wild to think there's a lobby rendering - remember when Freedom Tower was just redesign upon redesign?......

One of the saddest images from yesterday were the parents of slain police officer Russel Timoshenko, weeping at Brooklyn criminal court after the arraignment of the three men accused of Timoshenko's murder. The suspects, Dexter Bostic, Robert Ellis, and Lee Woods, were arraigned last week on charges including attempted murder. It is believed that Bostic, firing from the front passenger seat, shot 23-year-old Timoshenko in the face and neck during a July 9 traffic stop......

The NY Sun has a report on the city's largest music festival in history. We mentioned Make Music New York back in April when it was all still being pulled together. This Thursday, it begins. Aaron Friedman has been at the center of it all, coordinating with city officials to put on over 560 performances in one day, in both real and makeshift venues throughout New York neighborhoods. See musicians on the Brooklyn Bridge, in......

Forget Slimer, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and Dr. Peter Venkman, here come the real paranormal investigators! Lead by Certified Paranormal Investigator Dom Villella, Paranormal Investigation of NYC has been looking for ghosts since 2003. Gothamist sat down to chat with the leader of these real life ghost hunters. What are a few of the places in NYC that are haunted or rumored to be haunted that people can visit on their own? Trinity Church......

Many look at Woodlawn Cemetery as more than just a graveyard. The NY Times reports this will be true on another level soon as the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, who took title of the cemetery archives a year ago, is now receiving "the family correspondence that illuminates the backgrounds of the dead and their mourners." A new spirit has been released at the 144-year-old cemetery with the transfer of the cemetery’s vast archives......

Though it’s only been open for a little more than a week, Thai Tony’s on Fort Hamilton Parkway at the edge of Kensington, Brooklyn, is already building a strong neighborhood following. During repeat visits, Gothamist watched the owners and staff bustle around the dining room of the self-described “home-style bistro,” greeting returning customers by name. That’s right, they already know most of their customers by name. Thai Tony’s first came to our attention via our......

Jon Benjamin started performing in Boston in the early 90's with comedian Sam Seder before getting involved with the David Cross lead Cross Comedy. Since then, he's been a fixture of comedy in all mediums. Home Movies, Wet Hot American Summer, and the popular live revue Tinkle are amongst his many credits. Gothamist sat down with Benjamin to find out more about this highly saught after comedic talent. What's a typical day like for......

Harry Houdini's funeral was held on November 4, 1926, in New York, with over two thousand mourners in attendance. He was buried at the Machpelah Cemetery in Queens where the crest of the Society of American Magicians is inscribed on his grave site. To this day, that Society holds their "Broken Wand" ceremony at the grave site on the anniversary of his death. With a new biography called “The Secret Life of Houdini” that came......

After The Real Deal reported that skeletal remains were found on the Trump Soho site Monday night, the Department of Buildings issued a stop work order on the building. Naturally the developers were surprised. The Post spoke to Julius Schwarz from developer Bayrock Group, who said, "Despite the fact that our counsel has advised us that there is no authority to issue this order, we are fully cooperating with the Department of Buildings and......

Yesterday afternoon, Sean Bell was laid to rest in Nassau Knolls Cemetery in Port Washington, Long Island. Bell was killed last weekend in a barrage of police bullets outside a Queens club where he had been celebrating his bachelor party. About 200 mourners were present for the burial; Bell's fiancee and two daughters were present, and his older brother sobbed, "My baby brother!" But in Queens, near the Kalua Lounge in Jamaica, hundreds of......

Let's face it, this weekend was made for bonding with your couch, napping and eating leftovers. But if you really want to go against the flow, here are some things to get you out of the house... THEATER: Gutenberg! The Musical did so well at the recent New York Musical Theatre Festival that it’s moved on up to 59E59. (The show was directed by Alex Timbers, who most recently helmed Hell House.) In this two-man......

Wow, the story about a cemetery worker allegedly urinating in a Brooklyn gravestone's vase really is the story that keeps giving. Last week, the Post first reported that Itomer Khaimov spotted cemetery worker James Scott peeing in his dead grandmother's grave vase; Scott allegedly attacked him when Khaimov was upset. The next day, the Post described how they delivered a port-a-potty to Washington Cemetery and that Scott said he never peed in a vase. Now,......

Never one to let a good story end after one day, the Post has a follow-up to the shocking story of an 80 year old cemetery worker attacking a young man - after he peed in the urn of the young man's grandmother's tombstone! The Post delivered a port-a-potty to Washington Cemetery yesterday. But no one really wanted the unexpected present: "Ungrateful employees of the Washington Cemetery in Bensonhurst cursed and angrily spurned the delivery......

In one corner, you have the various tombstones for loved ones at Washington Cemetery. In the other corner, you have the cemetery's 80 year old caretaker James Scott who just needed to go. Itomor Khaimov noticed the caretaker peeing in his grandmother's grave's vase at the Bensonhurst grave site. When Khaimov demanded, "What the f--- are you going?" Scott replied, "I'm urinating" and kept peeing! Khaimov spoke to the Post:"I started to cry and......