Things are so bad this summer that John Catsimatidis, billionaire owner of the Gristedes grocery chain, is offering a $5,000 bounty for the arrest of ice cream rustlers. So get your posse together, ride them varmints down, and get the reward. Quick, before it melts.
More:
“Ice cream bandits are wreaking havoc on NYC supermarkets,” Reuven Fenton and Linda Massarella, New York Post
“So Maybe Don’t Buy Ice Cream At A Bodega,” Nell Casey, Gothamist
Update:
“Stolen, Sold and Savored: Ice Cream Is a Hot Commodity in Manhattan,” Michael Wilson, New York Times
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Image (“Lady With an Ice Cream Sundae, after d’Agesci”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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In New York City during the 1960s, radio station WWRL-AM (1600 kHz) exerted a cultural force well beyond its 5000 watt signal. Under program director Hal Jackson the “Soul Sixteen” broadcast a wonderful blend of regional Soul and R&B, including a healthy dose of Memphis Soul as well as Motown.
“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?” Donald Trump, West Des Moines Iowa January 23, 2016 [NBC News]
Note: Donald J. Trump has a New York City concealed-carry permit and owns several handguns.
Last week New York comedian Matt Little was at the First Avenue subway station waiting for the Canarsie Line when a fellow traveller walked down the stairs carrying a slice of pizza. Nothing unusual about that, except the diner was a rat. Mr. Little recorded a video on his phone, and it’s been watched 6 million times on YouTube:
“Each stand in the city makes do with whatever space is available, whether it’s under the F train or in the shadow of the projects. As diverse as the locations are, each Christmas tree vendor is even more unique. It’s a New York subculture that paints a diverse and ambitious picture of the New York the city struggles to be.”
— “NYC’s Incredible Christmas Tree Seller Subculture” (photo essay), Nick Stango, Gizmodo
It’s a tough racket …
“While most New Yorkers are drawn to the glitter and nostalgia of the Christmas tree business, few see it for what it is: an exacting, complex and bitterly competitive industry. Vendors wage bidding wars each year over plots of land in city-owned parks and ink deals with local shopkeepers or property owners to construct their tree stands on the busiest sidewalks.”
— “Hidden Malcontents: New York’s Christmas Tree Industry,” Adam McCauley, City Beats
“In New York, volunteers showed up at the Riverside Church at 3:00 AM to make bagged lunches. The bagged meal, comprised of a cheese sandwich, mustard, marble cake and an apple, could be purchased by marchers for 50 cents. Working in shifts until 4 in the afternoon, the assembly line crew paused once for a few words from Dr. Robert Spike, director of the Commission on Religion and Race of the National Council of Churches: ‘As an act of love, we now dedicate these lunches for the nourishment of thousands who will be coming long distances, at great sacrifice to say with their bodies and souls that we shall overcome.’ In all, 5 tons of American cheese went into the 80,000 lunches that were loaded onto refrigerated trucks and shipped down to Washington.”
— “Eating on the March: Food at the 1963 March on Washington,” Smithsonian Magazine blog [links added]
Last Thursday the Scripps National Spelling Bee was won by 13-year-old Arvind Mahankali when he successfully spelled “knaidel,” a word for “matzoh ball.” Surprised a young man with an Indian name can spell a Yiddish-derived word? Kid’s from Queens, fahcryinoutloud! As Lenny Bruce said, “If you live in New York … you are Jewish.”
But you think any aspect of Jewish-American culture is without controversy, especially in New York City?Fuggetaboutit.
Slobs like you decide where to eat by consulting Yelp, but the monied classes rely on LeGuide Michelin Rouge, which rates restaurants by awarding stars. New York City’s Health Department rates restaurants too, according to hygiene, and eateries must post their sanitary inspection letter grades in their front windows. Gawker has noticed that some restaurants with high Michelin ratings have low health inspection grades. These include:
