July 3, 2007 While eating at Enoteca Maria, the new upscale Italian place on Hyatt St. two doors down from the St. George Theater, I came across this image posted to the restaurant menu. Looking sort of like a cross between Rome's Spanish Steps and the downtown San Jose, it's the proposed redesign of the St. George municipal parking lot. Currently site of the weekly Green Market and future site of the new city-funded courthouse, the parking lot is the closest thing to a city plaza in this neck of the woods and I'm all for anything that puts it to better use.
Earlier characterization aside, I'm also pretty cool with the design -- assuming it survives the Staten Island cheese-ification process. The current lot offers an awesome view of the VN bridge, a view which, when you couple it with the hilltop location and the Beaux Arts skyline of the neighboring buildings, gives you the feeling that you're in downtown San Francisco. Click on the image to go to the B.P.'s website, where Molinaro is taking full credit for the plan.
July 2, 2007 This weekend the Grotto of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Rosebank plays host to the 104th Annual Our Lady of Mount Carmel Feast. Two dollar beers...legal low-stakes gambling...Sinatra...miss it at your peril.
Oct. 29, 2006 The kids in the Cromwell Rec Center's after school program have put together a series of word puzzles. If you think your word finding skills are up to the test, check out the sampling.
Sept. 14, 2006 [1:55 p.m.] Do you know this man? With Election Day less than 60 days away, we figured it was high time the residents of Staten Island got a chance to meet their Democratic candidate for Congress. Sure, the smart money has Vito in a walk, but as Harrison points out, the smart money isn't necessarily synonymous with your money. Back before the Labor Day break, we had a chance to sit down with Mr. Harrison. We offer up a transcript of the interview as the latest in our meet-your-neighbor series.
Aug. 24, 2005 [5:16 p.m.] MMMoil canMMM!....MMMoil canMMM! [clink, clink]. Oh that's much better. Relief! Sorry for the lapse, folks. One of has been attending summer school while the other tackled the planning for the recent First Annual Staten Island International Dance Festival. We're hoping to get back on a regular schedule in Sept. In the meantime, here's a long overdue installment of the North Shore Newsletter.
June 27, 2006 [5:25 p.m.] The second of two public meetings about Stapleton and the waterfront took place on June 15th - this one a follow up to the last meeting hosted by HR&A a year ago. Alot of the same folks showed up pressing various agendas such as changing the zoning to R-10., the highest density allowed in a residential district, to volunteer trash pick up initiatives.
June 10, 2006 [7:55 a.m.], updated Sept. 14 The World Cup has come and gone, leaving only the memories of great goals, great bars and ill-timed head-butts. At the World Cup's outset, Looking North co-founder Sam Williams went looking for a good island bar willing to pre-empt the Yankees game in favor of a little jogo bonito He found just the place in theNurnberger Bierhaus. He filed this report after the tournament's opening match.
June 7, 2006 [5:54 p.m.] I had to rush out the North Shore Newsletter this week just to make sure people had heads-up on the lastest Stapleton Waterfront meeting. Now that the meeting has come and gone, I've used the news page to provide a (subjective) follow-up assessment of the meeting.
June 6, 2006 [2:30 p.m.] In searching for a new home, the raccoon ran into traffic on a roundabout, a massive dust cloud, gentrification, and an end of an era. [WTF?]
June 1, 2006 [7:41 a.m.] The Staten Island Film Festival starts tonight. Local works to look out for incude Staten Island Catapult by Gregorio Smith, SLOWday by Scott Gerber, and Dead Man's Hand by Lance J. Reha. All three works will be showing tomorrow night at Staten Island Academy. In the meantime, we've got a "meet your neighbor" interview with festival organizer [and St. George resident] Jeannine Marotta [photo left] and event publicist Kamillah Hanks of Ferry Tales fame.
May 23, 2006 [9:03 a.m.] The Staten Island Advance is running a front page story on the SCARS "Slow Down" campaign. The campaign is in its second week and is set to run through the middle of June. As Seth Solomonow reports, however, some want to keep the signs up as long as possible. [That's SCARS team member and Tompkinsville-based photographer Willie Chu toting a "Slow Down" sign in the photo.]
May 23, 2006 [8:57 a.m.] The International Contemporary Furniture Fair in Manhattan wraps up today at the Javits Center. Today's the day they open up the show to the general public, and Stapleton furniture designer Jim Murphy is holding down booth #1237 just in case you wanted to stop by and say hello. If you can't attend, check out our lengthy interview to catch up with Jim and his work.
May 17, 2006 [9:30 a.m.] Looking North has been blessed with not one but two food writers. Pekes Canfield, who penned week's report on the opening of the 2006 St. George greenmarket, returns with a green market update and a review of Forest Thai restaurant.. Meanwhile, former ex-pat Cook-Eye makes a debut appearance, delivering an Asian food lover's enthusiastic appraisal of the Mariners Harbor supermarket K M Food.
May 11, 2006 [4:03 p.m.] During oceanic voyages in the age of sail, whenever the winds died down, sailors used the quiet time to sew up torn clothes and rigging and to take a momentary break from the exhausting labor that characterized the typical sailor's life. Later, when they lived at Sailor's Snug Harbor, the 19th century retirement facility opened by Robert Randall, they kept up the tradition, using needle and thread to exercise both the hands and mind and to maintain the social rituals that had shaped their lives at sea. Today, the Noble Maritime Collection, one of many inheritors of the Randall-built complex, offers an instructional All Sailor's Sew program to island kids. Last month, Mona Le Roy paid a visit to Snug Harbor last month and brings back this photo-packed report..
May 10, 2006 [3:44 p.m.] Intrepid food reporter Pekes Canfield takes a break from her kitchen to file a story on the first St. George Greenmarket of 2006. Although the pickings were slim, Pekes says the quality was high enough to warrant a return trip. Good news as the market enters its 21st season.
May 10, 2006 [2:30 p.m.] After building a community empire of pet projects, a rising cabaret star has a breakthrough and vows never to leave Staten Island again.
May 5, 2006 [7:20 p.m.] This week's North Shore Newsletter highlights: Police bring down the hammer on St. Pauls Ave., while the upcoming "channelization" project on Van Duzer St. promises a longer term approach to the local speeding problem.
May 3, 2006 [2:20 p.m.] It's meet-your-neighbor time again! Those who've passed by "The Cup" recently may have noticed that the sign outside reads just that "The Muddy Cup." Over the weekend, the coffee house's new owner Joe had the original "Muddy Cup" sign painted over. Joe explains why in our latest lengthy Looking North interview .
April 26, 2006 [5:45] Homeless decoys uncover conspiracy to blast bridges, bus depot and to miscount ballgame tickets.
April 26, 2006 [1:30] Located where the Kill Van Kull collides with Upper New York Bay, the North Shore Esplanade is in many ways the ideal symbol of Staten Island: A little awkward in spots but largely underrated. Looking North's resident fitness guru Natasha Spearman-Isip is a big fan and offers this report on the park's cryptic parcourse.
April 19, 2006 [5:45 p.m.] TV stars emerge from their habitats to enter a local political race on old ferries along the edges of the city.
April 17, 2006 [2:30 p.m.] How's this for bi-coastal? San Francisco writer Annalee Newitz delivers a semi-salacious profile of the folks at Ganas in New York Magazine. Ganas, for those unfamiliar, is the local "intentional community" and the organization behind the Every Thing Goes business empire.
April 12, 2006 [12:20 p.m.] Retiree crashes into house, risks road rage, taking bus tour to oyster dinner and dance.
April 6, 2006 [5:10 p.m.] Vince DiMiceli, a senior editor over at The Brooklyn Papers, stopped by to offer a house-warming gift: a column suggesting a compromise plan on the Nascar track. Vince would let Nascar parent company, International Speedway Corp., build a track out in Bloomfield one one condition: They also have to finance the resurrection of the long dormant northern line the city let die 50 years ago. We like creative thinking which is why we're posting it. Feel free to offer your own ideas via our new community page.
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