Today we wrote about the discontinuation of the requirement for subway conductors to announce a train's arrival at the 47th-50th St. Rockefeller Center station with a plug for the "Top of the Rock" observation deck. Most commenters found the idea of corporate sponsorship of subway stations distasteful, let alone the fact that this was an enforced and required announcement that generated no revenue for NYC Transit. Some people do enjoy when their conductors deviate from......

Subway conductors no longer have to hype the Top of the Rock observation deck when they pull into Manhattan's 47-50 Streets Rockefeller Center Station. Back in October 2006, we wrote how conductors had been instructed to append the attraction "Top of the Rock" to the actual station name. An MTA sokesman said the announcement was just a courtesy to let riders know about the attraction, but the co-owners of Rockefeller Center, Tishman-Speyer, decided to remain......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: shots fired on Jamaica Ave. in Queens, another shooting on East 126th St. in Manhattan, and yet another shooting at Snyder and Rogers Aves. in Brooklyn. Some Lower East Side residents want the currently vacant portion of the Essex St. Market used as a site for cheaper housing, not additional restaurants for wealthier newcomers. A beautiful panorama shot from the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center. The Daily......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A Large Sink Hole at 187th Pl. and Jamaica Ave. in Queens, a Serious Multi-Vehicle Accident on 125th and Lenox Ave. in Manhattan, and Bank Robbery at 178th St. and Hillside Ave. in Queens. Podpeople are invading the city! 800 podcasters to descend upon Manhattan for PodCampNYC. Queens DA Richard Brown is leading the charge to bring the death penalty back to New York State. The Federal Reserve Bank......

In the wake of a judge dismissing charges daredevil Jeb Corliss for his attempted jump off the Empire State Building, Mayor Bloomberg is very upset. "If I understand the ruling, just from reading the headlines, the judge said the guy did nothing wrong and should be able to jump off buildings with a single bound or whatever - I don't know where the judge is coming from. Whether it's legal, that's up to the court......

NYC is a two time loser now! After the Republican party decided to have its 2008 convention in the Twin Cities, the city hoped to win the Democratic convention. But now the Democratic National Committee has announced the 2008 convention will be in Denver. Here's DNC Chairman Howard Dean's statement:The recent Democratic gains in the West exemplify the principle that when we show up and ask for people's votes and talk about what we......

With the Citigroup buying the naming rights to the new Mets Stadium, MTA executives are hoping to hitch a ride on the company's money train. On Tuesday, the Daily News reported that the MTA will be in discussions with Citigroup about renaming "two MTA stations: the Shea Stadium stops on the subway and commuter railroad systems, an authority spokesman confirms." There were two opinions in the article: An MTA board member who said he would......

Funny - the Daily News reports that subway conductors were told to hype the "Top of the Rock" observation deck when they pull into the 47-50 Streets Rockefeller Plaza station. While motormen and conductors think the "order is unprecedented," MTA spokesman Tom Kelly explains that it's just a free "courtesy" to let people know about attractions.A spokeswoman for Tishman Speyer, co-owners of Rockefeller Center, was tight lipped. "We are declining to comment," the spokeswoman said.......

-- Nothing kicks off the weekend like a touch of the 'thrax! Luckily, it looks like the "beige" powder found at the Times today is harmless. -- New owner says it's "highly doubtful" he'll turn the Park Slope Pavilion movie theater into a residential building. Our bet: tenants move in by late August! -- Interesting spotlight piece on Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest rules: "a competitor will be disqualified if the effluvia hits the......

Ooh - the Observer looks at how New York City will convince the Democratic National Committee to hold the 2008 Convention here. We pieced together their itinerary from the article, and clearly, the mayor misses having the International Olympic Committee to woo. :Today - Check into Ritz Carlton (Central Park South, we assume) tongiht - Hansom cab ride through Central Park - Dinner at Mayor Bloomberg's townhouse Thursday - Breakfast at Gracie Mansion - Tour......

Remember that high dynamic range shot we put up last week? Here's a whole set of them! By compositing multiple images in Photoshop CS2 (or Photomatix-- another program that does the same thing), Automatt was able to get some stunning skyline colors. Lots of shots from the Top of the Rock and around midtown. [Bonus: a fake-tilt shift of a fire taken by Esther, but manipulated by Matt-- very nice.]......

Inspired by this week's Time Out New York cover story this week, we visited a new bar/lounge in Times Square- we went to Times Square in search of a bar that would be entertaining for out-of-towners. At a glance, Club 49 aims to be competition for Top Of The Rock but at closer inspection it's bottle service among the billboards. With uninspired decor on the main level- semi-private booths and curved cocktails tables against the......

The two mayoral candidates, challenger Fernando Ferrer and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, headed to the polls this morning, hoping to encourage people to go out and vote, even though Mayor Bloomberg is leading by, as some polls say, as much as 38 points. The Ferrer campaign is hoping that their supporters will vote so the defeat won't be so crushing and Bloomberg's is hoping that his supporters will actually vote after being told Bloomberg will......

Praise be: The NY Times reports that building of the new World Trade Center have commenced with the first work on Santiago Calatrava's PATH transit hub for the Port Authority. Workers constructed a wooden trough that will become a retaining wall for a future, temporary PATH train placement (if you like learning about where the rebar goes, you'll love this article). And while some September 11 victims' groups want to stop the Port Authority's building,......

Even though Gothamist got to visit the Top of the Rock during the day, we had also purchased tickets two months ago to visit on opening day night. And the city was a glittering jewel, inspiration for visitors to have romantic moments and attempt to capture the view for friends back home. We moved smoothly through, from getting our pre-printed tickets scanned to waiting for an elevator; guards said it was more crowded during......

The Top of the Rock, Rockefeller Center's observations decks, opens today after being closed for 19 years, and it will soon become something anyone visiting New York for the first time or someone who has lived here for ages will want to do. We've been excited about this since reading the NY Times article in March, and Gothamist was able to head up there before today's opening and we weren't disappointed. It truly is......

- Museum masterpieces meet modern monsters, halloween hijinks ensue. [via Boing Boing]. - Speaking of Halloween, are you looking for some Halloween events to attend tomorrow? GoogGhoul might be the search engine for you. But seriously, the main event is clearly the famous Village Halloween Parade. - The Times lets MoDo out of her Select chains in order to ">excerpt her new book. - Trick-or-treaters to be subject to random bag searches. - On......

Amy at Newyorkology reminds us that today is the first day you can buy tickets for the observation decks at Rockefeller Center! The roof decks have now been renovated on the 67th to 70th floors, which seem to go on forever (read our March post about the renovations). The Top of the Rock website as this nostalgic movie of old images from the observation deck that recalls its Art Deco history. You can buy tickets......