Archive by Author
Small Business Survival Act Will Wait Until 2010
Posted on 14. Dec, 2009 by Nadia Sussman.
New York City Council Member Robert Jackson of Harlem decided last week not to seek a vote on the Small Business Survival Act, a series of protections which he said small businesses badly need. Mayor Bloomberg and real estate leaders opposed the measure. New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said the legislation would be [...]
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Trash into Treasures at Grand Central
Posted on 14. Dec, 2009 by Nadia Sussman.
Several vendors at this year’s Grand Central Station holiday market are offering goods discreetly fashioned from recycled materials, such as necklaces that were once piles of old magazines and smiling Christmas angels made from cans of bug spray. Some holiday vendors, like handbag company Engage Green, make environmentalism their mission. Others market the crafts of [...]
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Double Life: Lenny de Jesus
Posted on 03. Dec, 2009 by Nadia Sussman.
Lenny de Jesus became the Bronx borough boxing champion at age 16. At 20, he married and embarked on a new career as a locksmith. More than 40 years later Lenny still cuts keys and opens locks in Jackson Heights, Queens, and trains world champion fighters at John’s Boxing Gym near his childhood home in [...]
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In the Bronx, In the Ring
Posted on 12. Nov, 2009 by Nadia Sussman.
At John’s Boxing Gym, on Westchester Avenue in the Bronx, world champions and children sweat for glory in the ring, to the rhythmic background thud of gloves on a punching bag. Hear for yourself. [Audio clip: view full post to listen] Seasoned fighters spar, jump rope, work out with their trainers, hoping every next fight [...]
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Baking for the Dead
Posted on 30. Oct, 2009 by Nadia Sussman.
For Day of the Dead, Mexican bakeries in Queens prepare traditional breads called pan de muertos. At Beky Bakery on 103rd Street in North Corona, owners Jose Gonzales and his sons Jesus and Fernando prepare dough flavored with cinnamon, orange peel, walnuts, brandy, and vanilla. They make round breads called hojaldras that have a raised [...]
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Tibetan culture on display in Times Square
Posted on 19. Oct, 2009 by Nadia Sussman.
At nine years old, Lhamo Dongtotsang of Astoria, Queens fled her homeland in eastern Tibet on foot. “My father and uncles were involved in guerrilla warfare against the Chinese,” she said. “It was really hard,” she said of the journey. “We were hiding in the daytime and try to walk in the early morning and [...]
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Update: Cavalry of Jackson Heights
Posted on 02. Oct, 2009 by Nadia Sussman.
This is a follow-up to my previous post. On October 1, I spoke with Mark Goldberg of The Vending Company, Inc. who explained that he has a profit-sharing arrangement with store owners on 37th Avenue. They each get 50 percent of the profits from the horse rides. Goldberg has worked in children’s rides for the [...]
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Cavalry of Jackson Heights
Posted on 01. Oct, 2009 by Nadia Sussman.
They line up on 37th Avenue as if a carousel unraveled, offering a ride and a song for fifty cents. Toddlers scream “Caballo!” (“Horse!”), run to fit little shoes into metal stirrups and swing on. Hurried parents pull them off the saddle from the other side. Those with a little more time drop two quarters [...]
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Edible Garden Opens in Chelsea
Posted on 18. Sep, 2009 by Nadia Sussman.
Landscape architect Fritz Haeg has turned concrete into corn in an edible garden in front of a Chelsea public housing project. The garden, which officially opened on September 14 in front of the Elliot-Chelsea Houses on 26th street, grows 20 food plants that were native to Manhattan 400 years ago. The plants, said Haeg, would [...]
