Cityscape

Curbed
best of new york

Best of New York 2021

 Reintroducing a 36-year-old New York magazine franchise. By The Editors
  1. The American Dream Mall Is Ridiculous Yet Not Ridiculous Enough They’ve stripped the dazzle paint from Xanadu.
    By Justin Davidson
  2. The Homeless-to-Hotels Program Is Ending, and Nobody’s Ready Advocates fear mass eviction; hoteliers say their businesses are still in crisis.
    By Kevin T. Dugan
  3. Eric Adams Gave a Tour of His Apartment; Everyone’s Still Asking Where He Lives It’s a lived-in apartment. That much is clear.
    By Christopher Bonanos
  4. Helmet Laws Are Not What New York City Cyclists Need Right Now Elected officials keep proposing more rules for bicycles and scooters instead of fixing streets.
    By Alissa Walker
  5. A Slice of the Sky The supertall 111 West 57th is what the ruling class builds for itself.
    By Justin Davidson
  6. The Lower East Side Seniors Who Organized Their Own T’ai Chi Class “T’ai chi helps with memory,” one says. “It’s important, at our age, to keep our minds alert.”
    By Valeria Ricciulli
  7. 20 New Yorkers (From Fran Lebowitz to Ron Kim) On Ranking The Mayoral Candidates Fran Lebowitz, Ron Kim, Chelsea Manning, and more weigh in on the mayoral primary candidates.
  8. An Epic New York City Reopening Concert Is Coming to Central Park Who’ll headline? Who cares: We’ll be there.
    By Christopher Bonanos
  9. After MoMA, the Black Reconstruction Collective Plots Its Future in Architecture Its members talk institutional change, practicing refusal, and what comes next.
    By Diana Budds
  10. Weeknight Parties, Weekend Clampdowns, and Angry Neighbors in Washington Square Monday through Thursday, the revelry goes on.
    By Tim Donnelly
  11. Why Your Uber Ride Is Suddenly Costing a Fortune Driver shortage, customer surplus, and harsh financial reality.
    By Alissa Walker
  12. Get Ready for Flat-Rat Summer Rodents and cars do not mix.
    By Willy Blackmore
  13. Look! Books! The Tired Old Mid-Manhattan Library Gets a Sharp New Renovation An understated top-to-bottom rehab puts open access — and open books — front and center (and a café on the roof).
    By Justin Davidson
  14. Buildings Want to Require Vaccinations. The Doormen’s Union Says No. The union, along with many buildings, are encouraging doormen to get the jab. But requiring it for the job is where it draws the line.
    By Daniel Clemens
  15. The Free Food Pantry Gets the Subscription Box Treatment Wellfare is delivering jackfruit chips, grass-fed turkey jerky sticks, and other snacks and drinks to NYCHA residents in Williamsburg and Bushwick.
    By Caroline Spivack
  16. Co-working Is Back, But This Time It’s Really Boring Commercial real-estate developers are plowing money in new, utilitarian shared office spaces.
    By Allegra Hobbs
  17. Little Island Won Me Over The tiny public-but-private garden squeezes in a multitude of experiences.
    By Justin Davidson
  18. Jaime Lerner Made Your City Better The hugely influential urban planner died this week at 83.
    By Alissa Walker
  19. NYC’s Annual Homeless Count Says the Numbers Are Way Down. It’s Probably Wrong. Advocates say the subway shutdown and increased police sweeps likely threw off the numbers.
    By Valeria Ricciulli
  20. A Day With New York’s Bird Paramedics During migrations, thousands of birds crash into skyscrapers. And a few volunteer EMTs rush in to help.
    By Victoria Bekiempis
  21. 40 Eviction Cases Were Thrown Out Over ‘Wuhan Virus’ Notice Turns out, the courts don’t like it when you alter official notices with racial slurs.
    By Caroline Spivack
  22. New York’s Storefront Plywood Finds a Second Life Five public art projects transform the material in citywide installations.
    By Diana Budds
  23. Where Did All the Yellow Cabs Go? Nearly two-thirds of New York’s taxis are gone, and a lot of them may never come back.
    By Jack Denton
  24. The City’s Battered, Beloved Playground Animals Are Retiring to Queens How the Parks Department ended up with this peculiar sculptural zoo.
    By Caroline Spivack
  25. How a Denser Los Angeles Can Still Look Like Los Angeles Where the neighbors don’t want towers, a city competition provides some alternatives.
    By Justin Davidson
  26. The Look Book Goes to New York Dress High-school students tried on tulle gowns and sequined A-lines for proms and quinceañeras at the Maspeth boutique.
    By Louis Cheslaw and Daniel Varghese
  27. It Looks Like New York City Rents Have Bottomed Out And will probably stay low for the rest of the year.
    By Emily Nonko
  28. ‘There Is a Little Light, Finally’: New York Hoteliers on Recovery A roundtable chat about what the past year’s been like and where this beleaguered industry’s headed.
    By John Surico
  29. The BQE Is Still Falling Apart, and There’s No Real Plan to Fix It The outlook is grim for the expressway, but only stopgap measures are underway.
    By Christopher Robbins
  30. The Lower East Side’s (Not Very Well Known) Black History An exclusive look at the Tenement Museum’s new walking tour.
    By Valeria Ricciulli
  31. My Toilet Is My Office In April of 2020, about a month into full-time working from home with her husband and two kids, Niamh Sproul decided something had to change.
    By Jenny Xie
  32. Lady Liberty Seems to Want You to Draw Her Like One of Your French Girls She’s ready for hot vaxx summer.
    By Valeria Ricciulli
  33. Mapping a Year of Anti-Asian Violence in New York City Behind the alarming numbers with the city’s commissioner on human rights.
    By Eveline Chao
  34. What If New York Stopped Knocking Down Buildings? A vast amount of captured carbon would stay where it is.
    By Justin Davidson
  35. There’s No One in Charge of New York’s Noisy Helicopters And it’s driving some New Yorkers insane.
    By Valeria Ricciulli
  36. Here’s Everyone Running for New York City Mayor (So Far) Meet the twenty-plus candidates.
    By Caroline Spivack
  37. The UES Battle Over a Blood Lab Is Not About Blood Preservationists and elected officials fear pathogens could escape into the neighborhood.
    By Caroline Spivack
  38. Riverside Park Is Falling Apart All around the park system, decay is setting in and repair bills are mounting.
    By Justin Davidson
  39. A Fairly Exhaustive Oral History of the Still-Wild McKibbin Lofts Four Loko parties, falling maggots, and first-floor strip clubs.
    By Matthew Sedacca
  40. There Are Only 7 Homes in New York City Under $100,000 Despite what a couple of mayoral candidates think the average Brooklyn sales price is.
    By Willy Blackmore
  41. The Look Book Goes to Sami’s Kabab House During the third week of Ramadan, people gathered to break the fast with Qabuli, lamb shanks, and aushak at the Astoria restaurant.
    By Jane Starr Drinkard and Brock Colyar
  42. New York’s First Climate Adaptation Battle Is Here The city wants to bury East River Park to save it.
    By Keith Gessen
  43. Subway Crime Is Still Low, But the MTA Wants More Cops. Why? “Generally, when there’s a uniformed presence, people are more likely to behave.”
    By Caroline Spivack
  44. Everywhere ‘Succession’ Has Been Filming Lately The Plaza, the Mandarin Oriental, the Shed, and a $50 million Beach Lane home.
    By Jenny Xie
  45. How the Oldest Family-Run Business in Chinatown Keeps the Lights On “Throughout the COVID year, we had a half a dozen family members here every day. It’s our family living room.”
    By Diana Budds
  46. Could We Really Get a Good Penn Station? Yet another wisp of hope.
    By Justin Davidson
  47. What’s a Crown Heights Supermarket Worth? It’s a lifeline to local residents. It’s also a valuable development site. You can guess where this story is headed.
    By Caroline Spivack
  48. New York Weed Dealers Face a Choice: Go Corporate or Stay Underground “The black market is still going to be there.”
    By Kevin T. Dugan
  49. We Asked the Bushwick Piano Building’s Architect: Why? “This client likes unique and interesting designs,” he says.
    By Christopher Bonanos and Valeria Ricciulli
  50. What Could Governors Island Be? An aquatic botanical garden, a film-set landscape, and more: Four fanciful transformation plans, commissioned by Curbed.
    By Justin Davidson
Load More