The Battle of Brooklyn (also known as the Battle of Long Island) was the "largest of the American Revolution" and was fought after the Declaration of Independence on August 27, 1776. For the 232th anniversary, the battle was re-created at Green-Wood Cemetery (the Minerva Statue is on Battle HIll). WNBC reported, "Re-enactors in period costume demonstrated the use of Revolutionary War muskets and other weapons in Green-Wood's Meadow and the surrounding area near the main......

Why can't a Williamsburg luxury rental building offer, besides a doorman and health club, a nod to the founding of the country? That's what new development The Continental does, and Curbed observes it's almost genius (besides being weird), since "the building is across the street from Continental Army Plaza, which has a statue of him at Valley Forge." No word on whether landscaping will include cherry trees. Funny sidenote: Christopher Walken as The Continental.......

LEARN: It's that special time again when hipsters gather round to discuss home-buying. The informational event clues in those looking for new digs about the logistics of purchasing their very own pad. Learn from Licensed Real Estate agents, Mortgage Brokers and Real Estate Attorneys whilst you sip on a cocktail or two. 6:30pm // Huckleberry Bar [588 Grand St, Williamsburg] // Free EVENT: It's like a never-ending President's Day this week; tonight enjoy a......

Photographs of the Bedell House, clockwise from upper left: Normal-looking in 2005 (from Tottenville Historical Society), covered in graffiti in 2005 (from Tottenville Historical Society), and boarded-up in 2008 (from Staten Island Advance) A landmark Tottenville home that caused a bitter fight between its owner and neighbors has entered a new stage of its existence: foreclosure proceedings. The Staten Island Advance reports John Grossi, who bought the 1869 Bedell House in hopes of razing......

Today is a federal holiday honoring the birthday of first president George Washington. Washington was actually born on February 22, but in 1971, the holiday was "shifted to the third Monday in February, by the Uniform Monday Act" (per Wikipedia). Given that Abraham Lincoln's birthday is February 12, some state governments call the holiday "President's Day." And then the marketers got involved, making this day for sales as well and many presidents in one fell......

WWOR/channel 9 got a wake-up call that it's supposed to be a New Jersey TV station when the FCC held a hearing about the station's license renewal. Critics say the station's license shouldn't be renewed because it has failed to discuss NJ news and issues. The station, owned by News Corporation whose local media holdings include WNYW/Channel 5 and the NY Post, was moved to NJ in 1986 due to FCC law that each state......

We hope all of you, whether you have stayed in the city or have traveled to spend the holiday with loved ones, have a happy and safe Thanksgiving. While, for many people, Thanksgiving is about the bounty of food, football games, or the start of the holiday shopping season, it's also a good opportunity to appreciate your life. The History Channel has an extensive website about the history of Thanksgiving (with video). Scholastic's school-children-targeted......

There have been a few ads in the NY Times weddings section that spoof the real wedding announcements. For instance, we believe we recall a few for divorce services, but less ironically, there have been ads for marriage-related movies, like The Starter Wife. And this week, there's an ad for an upcoming wedding on the ABC comedy Ugly Betty. Of course, the ad is a lot wordier than the usual NY Times wedding announcement,......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck at White Plains Rd. and 219th St. in the Bronx, an animal incident on Rochelle Pl. on Staten Island, and a hate crime at Columbia University in Manhattan. A tour of Jam Master Jay's studio, where the rap impressario was gunned down five years ago. A brief update on the unforgettable case where a man beat the bejeezus out of a grunting and yelping spin class......

Three-year-old Curlin, jockeyed by Robby Albarado, won the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic yesterday after finishing the 1 1/4 mile race with a home stretch run that ended with a 4 1/2 length victory. Curlin set the track record for the distance at Monmouth Park, despite conditions that were left sloppy after days of rain. It was an exciting race, with Curlin even with Street Sense coming out of the final turn--both chasing front......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a white powder incident at 25 Beaver St. in Manhattan, report of a large crowd gathered at the center of the south side of the George Washington Bridge's upper level, and an explosion in the basement of a building at 77th St. and Lexington Ave. in Manhattan. Dedicated bike paths and fences separating them from traffic can only do so much when a cab driver really wants to take......

Of all the forbidden sites that were opened for public viewing last weekend in the 5th annual Open House New York program, the High Line was one of the crown trophies. It offered rare views of the city, sexy industrial details, and the mysterious allure of a wild grassy flying carpet that won't open until at least a year hence. Built during the same era (early 1930s) as the Empire State Building, the George......

Sen. Clinton proposed awarding every newborn American with a $5,000 bond that could be invested and allowed to grow to a sum that could be redeemed for educational or home buying needs when they reached adulthood. It became a point of widespread criticism for the Senator for New York, even among those who are politically sympathetic. The Daily News quotes a professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University saying "Oh, what a......

Historical ecologists and research cartographers are using historical pre-Revolution military maps produced by the British to create a 21st Century digital rendering of the topography of Manhattan in the 17th Century, before the arrival of European colonists. The New Yorker has a slideshow of a number of images that are attempts to show Manhattan as it was occupied solely by Lenape Indians. The basis for the topographical model was drawn from this 1782 map*......

Jeffrey's Hook Lighthouse, better known to many as the Little Red Lighthouse, is located right under the George Washington Bridge, in Fort Washington Park. And the Parks Department is having the 15th Annual Little Red Lighthouse Festival today between 12PM and 5PM, with hayrides, face painting, the antics of a stiltwalker, live music, and tours of Manhattan's only lighthouse. The lighthouse was erected in 1880 and stood in Sandy Hook, NJ until 1917. In 1921,......

After a few days of delays, Vincent and Cheryl Pierce were finally able to pick up the Moondance Diner, the Soho standby, and move it back to LaBarge, Wyoming. The diner closed earlier this year after the landlords decided to transform the corner of Sixth Avenue and Grand Street into luxury condos. Developer Extell donated the diner to the American Diner Museum, which then sold the structure to the Pierces for $7,500. The diner's......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a homicide on Melrose Ave. in the Bronx, a lightning strike at 82nd Ave. and 249th St. in Queens, and a hate crime on the walkway of the Williamsburg Bridge. 25-year-old former model and current vice president of the Trump Organization Ivanka Trump was appointed to the board of directors of Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc. A recent New York Times column noted that investors in Trump's casinos would have......

The New York Public Library is closed today––it is a national holiday––but New Yorkers should be proud to hear that the main branch on 42nd St. and 5th Ave. has been entrusted with one of two surviving copies of the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson himself. The document is a handwritten duplicate of the document signed in Philadelphia 231 years ago, asserting the original thirteen colonies' indepedendence from England and starting the American......

Staten Island needs some cheerleaders every once in a while, especially after their ice cream flavor was named after their landfill. The NY Times has a piece on the borough's historian, "Brooklyn has Walt Whitman to sing praises of its 'ample hills.' Manhattan has Woody Allen to capture its outsize style and neuroses. And Staten Island? Well, Staten Island has Thomas W. Matteo for a borough historian to chronicle its glories, its goofs and, yes,......

Yesterday, a suicidal man on he George Washington Bridge caused traffic delays up to two hours. Newsday reported that the man was "armed with a box-cutter razor climbed a bridge cable, slashed his arms and wrists repeatedly and threatened to jump," but police officers were able to talk him down. We wrote about New York bridge jumpers last month. Interesting, Newsday was also the one to tell the NY State Department of Transportation about the......

Two bridges spanning the Hudson River just north of the city will be getting suicide prevention phones instead of physical barriers following three fatal leaps in close succession earlier this year. The phones to be installed on the Tappan Zee and Bear Mountain Bridges will be connected to a 24-hour suicide prevention hotline. Plans for installing physical barriers were turned down as being too expensive to install and maintain. The plan to install the phones......

Remember how the Port Authority wanted to put Geico ads on various toll booths at the George Washington Bridge? Maybe it's a good thing that plan was scotched, because now the Port Authority is considering elmination of tollbooths at all Hudson River crossings. From the NY Sun:The plan, which is expected to reduce traffic bottlenecks on the highways leading into the city, would complement Mayor Bloomberg's proposal to charge drivers a fee to use the......

The dust-up over Rudy Giuliani's waffling over abortion is small political beans in comparison to a liability he cannot possibly shrug off. Rudy Giuliani is an unapologetic Yankees fan, and people outside of NYC (and some within the confines of the city) HATE the Yankees. With a passion. There's a fabled Broadway musical called "Damn Yankees!" and it's not about Paul Revere or George Washington. To the hometown fan and natural supporter, Giuliani's support......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Amboy Rd. on Staten Island, a shooting on Lexington Ave. in Brooklyn, and a water rescue in the area of the George Washington Bridge, near Manhattan's 176th St. The Italian boyfriend of actress Anne Hathaway is being sued by a business partner for misusing $1.3 million of a joint venture fund, spending it on things like private jet trips with his girlfriend and subsidizing a......

The rain may be keeping people in, but by the looks of theNY Times Weddings announcements, many local weddings were yesterday. otal Number of Weddings: 32 (including Vows column) Total Number of Same-Sex Weddings: 0 Youngest Bride: 25 Oldest Bride: 54 Youngest Groom: 22 Oldest Groom: 54 Biggest Age Difference: 14 years Number of Couples Where Bride and Groom Are the Same Age: 3 (two couples are all 25, one is 29 ) Number of......

It's time go over this weekend's NY Times Weddings Announcements! Total Number of Weddings: 24 (including Vows column) Total Number of Same-Sex Weddings: 0 (but the Styles section had a feature about "Dinah Shore Weekend," aka "The L World") Youngest Bride: 22 Oldest Bride: 38 Youngest Groom: 23 Oldest Groom: 42 Biggest Age Difference: 11 years Number of Couples Where Bride and Groom Are the Same Age: 3 (25, 32, and 35) Number of Columbia......

The Willis Avenue Bridge cost the city $1.6 million when it was constructed in 1901. More than a hundred years later, its planned replacement should cost an additional $635.4 million to build. The low-profile bridge crosses the Harlem River and connects the Bronx to Manhattan's First Avenue. The Transportation Department estimated the cost of its replacement at $417 million and was surprised when it received bids of $612 million and $637 million. At 3,212 feet,......

It's officially spring, and that means lots of NY Times wedding announcements. Twenty-six, to be exact. Total Number of Weddings: 26 (including Vows column) Total Number of Same-Sex Weddings: 1 Youngest Bride: 23 Oldest Bride: 65 Youngest Groom: 25 Oldest Groom: 73 Biggest Age Difference: 21 years Number of Couples Where Bride and Groom Are the Same Age: 4 (30 31, and two couples at 27) Number of Harvard Graduates Married: 3 Number of Yale......

The Pentagon released a transcript where Khalid Shaikh Mohammed has confesses to planning the September 11 attacks, as well as other terror attacks, during a tribunal hearing. The NY Times notes that the hearing "also summarized some of the evidence the Pentagon says supports the designation of Mr. Mohammed as an enemy combatant." Mohammed has been in U.S. custody since his capture in 2003. The Times also offered an excerpt of his "rambling" confession where......

Lots of Times Weddings Announcements today! Total Number of Weddings: 22 (including Vows column) Total Number of Same-Sex Weddings: 1 Youngest Bride: 25 Oldest Bride: 64 Youngest Groom: 26 Oldest Groom: 70 Biggest Age Difference: 13 years Number of Couples Where Bride and Groom Are the Same Age: 3 (ages 26, 29, and 34) Number of Cornell Graduates Married: 4 Number of University of Michigan Graduates Married: 3 Number of Brown Graduates Married: 2......