Monthly Archives: July 2026
In Chinatown, displacement continues
By Kevin Chen Behind the frosted display, 10 flavors of rolled ice cream and 15 toppings — mango yellow, strawberry red, blueberry purple — line the counters of Minus Celsius. Qiming Li settled into his store on the corner of Grand Street and Allen in 2016, when the average monthly rent in Chinatown was $1,028. […]
Food and fellowship at a senior center
By Eliana Mercedes The green sign at the entrance lists what Greenwich House Center offers: Lunch, arts, music, culture, crafts, games, health, well-being, friends and fun. June Grancio, 85, participates in several of those activities. Especially, she loves the friendships and the Tuesday shopping trips to the supermarket. Sometimes, she dines there at the center. […]
Pro dancing is more than just making a living
By: Mariana Zepeda The stiff competition. Being rejected during auditions. Not knowing your next income source. Those are some of the reasons why many aspiring dance professionals get asked, “What’s your backup plan?” Yet, for many of them, dance is more than just a way to make a living. “I would do it for free […]
Teaching martial arts, creating community
By Arianna George Clouds of dust rise into the air from a sandpit across from the Washington Square Fountain. Exchanging blows and throwing kicks as they spar, members of the NYC Fight Club stir up that haze. What began three years ago as a search for a place where Martin Cheung, 35, the fight club’s […]
An exhibit on flag-burning artists of 1970
By Nayla Nernekian The first items viewable to those entering 80WSE Gallery on Sept. 9 will be a wall-sized U.S. flag, photos of Christian crosses and a plywood table from the church that hosted “The People’s Flag Show,” an open-call art show protesting war, racism, patriarchy and government surveillance in 1970. If those visitors follow […]
A short, growing list of women firefighters
By Sharika Dhar Maya Torres, 31, was motivated to become a firefighter after a family member took her around the job. After serving eight years, being there for fire victims is what makes her most proud. “I always knew I wanted a career where every day mattered,” said Torres, one of the Fire Department of […]
Fighting City Hall and a roaring A/C generator
By Ariella Allariez The decibel meter Claus Habermeier ordered online was delivered on July 16, 35 days after a generator the length of a short school bus started roaring outside the New York Police Department’s 9th Precinct on his block of East Fifth Street. He plans to measure, from different angles of his neighborhood, how […]
Stopping for a celestial, New York moment
By Sophie Yang Briefly, Manhattan forgot to be in a hurry. For three fleeting minutes — along some of the city’s busiest east-to-west cross streets — strangers stood still, shoulder to shoulder, their gaze fixed on a sliver of sunset. “It’s so aesthetically beautiful,” said Noelia Grardy, a Brooklyn College student. “Compositionally, it’s really beautiful […]
How The Bowery helped birth New York City
By Olivia Rimpel Before it became the oldest roadway in New York City, the 1.25-mile-long Bowery Street was a trail for Lenape traders and travelers. The most storied buildings would later include havens for Black people who’d escaped slavery or gave birth to vaudeville and places that became the earliest cultural hubs for LGBTQ New […]
‘Bee boxes’ revive a buzzing population
By Keerthisri Senthilkumar Outside a Brooklyn apartment building, manmade bee hives shoot up from flower pots. In Manhattan’s Cooper Square, they dwell in flower beds. Bees buzz and fly in, out and around. Through those and other in The Horticultural Society of New York’s network of Borough Bee Boxes, bees can find repose. Over a […]
Rage and resolve over co-op’s Israel boycott
By Charlie Akira Mochizuki Removing peanut puffs, matzah, shampoo, conditioner and other goods made in Israel did more than change product placement on the shelves of the Park Slope Food Coop. Their absence has sparked ongoing conversations. “Money is power,” Grace Roebuck, 27, said in early July, weeks after she was one of 4,551 […]
Outdoor produce market feeds local community
By Alexia Mena As soon as she stepped through the community garden’s front gates, Jhovana Samano paused to admire the native wildflowers growing along the path. After the COVID-19 pandemic left her stranded at home and out of work, the garden went from just being a tranquil spot in the neighborhood to being a food […]
Where dogs’ play, size doesn’t always matter
By Chloe Minja Lee Cheng Frankie weighs roughly 15 pounds. One of his best friends at George’s Dog Run is Matilda, a golden retriever several times his size. Monica Matta, 37, jokingly calls 3-year-old Frankie, whom she fostered for a month before adopting him last week, the “irritant” of the dog run. He loves rough […]
Less reading means less literacy
By Evelyn Ramirez As the popularity of physical books and bookstores continues to decline, John Kruth tries to make the shop he helps manage a comfortable place for people who love and buy books. I “can’t imagine going through life without having so many books. Just like albums and records, [they] have made a difference […]
Bowery church aids recent African immigrants
By Finn McKeinle Elise Gardella, a mentor and guide at St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery’s Welcome Center, pointed around the nave, directing a visitor’s attention to different tables. To her left in that church sanctuary, two civic advocates sat across from two immigrants, discussing ways to secure their special immigrant juvenile status, one pathway to a U.S. State Department […]
Debate over an East Village homeless shelter
By Jaeda-Li Blair Some neighbors of Project Renewal Shelter for homeless people argue that having it on East Third Street has disrupted their community and are actively pushing for its removal, while others see it as an essential resource. The shelter is intended to provide temporary housing and support services for the citizens in need, […]
Citi Bike price hikes deter some, not others
By Sebastian Urrutia For those who don’t pay an annual membership fee, it costs $4.99 to unlock either a non-electric or electric Citi Bike, with the latter immediately charging 41 cents per-minute to ride and the former offering the first 30 minutes for free. So what makes the bike ride — versus hopping the subway […]
How far would you go for fro-yo?
By: Emilee Youn At the start of an hour of shifting her weight from one foot to the other as she waited for a taste of yogurt she’d seen on TikTok, Maria Kadaba, 18, was the 57th customer in the line. “I mainly came to visit the city because I wanted to try out Mimi’s,” […]
Chaplain ministers to fire responders and victims
By Adrie Quinn By Adrie Quinn For the Rev. Pamela Holmes-Saxton, few workdays are the same. A morning may begin, as it did recently, with a plaque dedication honoring a fallen firefighter. From there, she might make hospital visits to injured first responders or stop by firehouses and emergency medical service stations to counsel those […]