In Her Own Skin
A longtime leader of New York’s performance art world, Martha Wilson’s photographs exist as proof of her experiments with multiple identities.
newyorknewyork
A collection of 233 issues
Honeymoon Sandy
A Manhattan wedding, a cancer scan, and the largest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded.
The New Town and Gown
As colleges proceed to charge more and more, real-estate developers in the neighborhoods around them look to cash in.
The Downstairs Gays
Social media makes it easy to virtually tour our neighbors’ homes—and really, their entire lives. The hard part: finding the clear divide between entertainment and cyberstalking.
Paper Citizen
America is a proud nation of immigrants—try telling that to everyone on the other side of the door. Life as a white-collar undocumented immigrant in New York.
Cities Don’t ♥ Us
Our urban future is upon us, city planners tell us, but residents’ on-again, off-again relationship with their surroundings makes them want to say goodbye to all that.
New York Fashion Week at My House
A visit to the New York studio/living room of a family’s style director who has a week’s worth of laundry ahead of her.
The Books
A couple’s decision to combine bookshelves supplies a series of revelations.
Dharma Dog
A blind woman and her guide dog share a symbiosis that can become a spiritual bond for both.
Outside
Outsider artists draw outsider patrons, some who smell like horses. Not even the art gallery world’s aura of intimidation will keep them away.
Greetings From Sloane-10b
As New York real estate prices skyrocket, it’s time to head where no gentrifier has gone before.
Wrestling With Andy Kaufman
The hoax at the Andy Kaufman Award show led to speculation the notorious comic faked his death—a joke that wouldn’t have been out of character. When a fresh-faced Glamour editor mingled with him the year before he died, Andy talked about disappearing.
The Cause of All the Commotion
This Saturday, the 2013 hurricane season will end—and with it, possibly, New York City’s final hurricane-less year.
The Cyclist’s Dilemma
Afternoons in the big city are terrible. Sunsets are horrifying, nights are long and anxious. Other people have choices, but not you. Then suddenly, a bicycle.
Where the Himalayan Moss Grows
Going on a five-day cleanse—subsisting on a diet of shots, smoothies, very few actual foods, and no caffeine—leads to visions of apocalypse. From 2013, a quest to find the seven billionth child on Earth.
Cool Colors
This summer in Manhattan, it was important to wait in line for an hour to see light designed by James Turrell. Many bought the hype. Many were angry afterward.
CrazyBike
New York's new bicycle-share program is a big success. Since May, bikers have taken 646,000 trips. But the initiative has also caused many rational people to explode with rage. Why? Because humans are hardwired to hate cheaters.
Existential Pornography
For a hopeful magazine editor stuck in the wrong career, when Playgirl comes a-calling, it looks like the answer to her prayers—but not everything is as it seems. An excerpt from the new memoir “How to Be a Playgirl.”
Token Anxiety
As New York City changes, so do its trains; our worries about life above and below ground move hand in hand. So which came first, the jitters or the subway?
Flood-Tide Below Me
Seeking respite from a life lived in war zones—too many rebel factions, too many gunshots, too many backfiring motorcycles that sounded like gunshots—a family discovers temporary shelter in the outer edges of New York City. And then, the deluge.
Art of the Steal
Western museums aren’t exactly known for possessing sterling records when it comes to acquiring the treasures of foreign countries. So when the Met is pressured to return its valuables, a mea culpa seems due.
New York Elsewhere
New Yorkers don't fade away—they just move. But to where? From Miami to Austin to Berlin, detailed maps of nearly every other significant city's neighborhoods show ex-pats exactly where to emigrate.
I Shall Be Heard
Andy Kaufman performed for more than just laughs—in fact, his goal often seemed to be something entirely different. A budding comic chases Andy’s ineffable comedy.
Clenching the Night Away
A mouth guard can do more than save our enamel from nighttime gnashing. It may also shield us from our daily anxieties.
The Perfect Forecast
Predicting the weather is an incredibly complicated task. Stopping it altogether is even more difficult—but that doesn't mean scientists aren't trying. Obsession, cloud seeding, and very powerful storms.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Apocalypse
When a Frankenstorm arrives from Haiti with destructive powers, the semi-professional student of zombie literature and history has a unique ability to perceive the arrival of end times. Welcome to America's new normal: the nonfictional apocalypse.
The Boulevard of Broken Bones
Even through the prism of life in the tumultuous Middle East, the U.S. in an election year looks divided, fractious, frustrating. But there’s still a ray of hope—in Queens.
The Wolf Is Waiting
Imperceptibly and without warning, your pulse accelerates, your mind races, and panic grips your body—for anxiety attack sufferers, every day is a case in survival. A journey to the wild to confront the fear.
Entertainment for Women
When it launched, Playboy was a literary power, nude photos or not. Its offices also happened to be an interesting place to work—for women.
The City of Right Angles
When your daily commute to the office means speeding on two wheels up busy avenues, a meeting with a crosstown taxi cab can change your life. But sometimes being a New Yorker requires taking the city head on.
Big Blue Nights
Victory has many faces—some of them just happen to be painted. A story of violence, true love, the road from New York to Lexington, and the religion that is college basketball.
Bagels, Toasted
Risen from the streets of Eastern Europe and squalid New York City, bagels now hold a seat at middle- and upper-class breakfast tables everywhere. A look back from a baker with 50,000 “golden visions” under his belt.
Address Unknown
In New York’s St. John the Divine Cathedral, a letter to a dead man, tucked under a plaque near his ashes, offers the first and only clue in a mystery about faith.
The Luxe Love Life of Veronica van der Vöorhies
When hard times hit a notable—and note-taking—member of Manhattan's 1%, she seeks out comfort in warm arms, big and strong, at New York's Zuccotti Park.
Rising Up at Ground Zero
Construction continues at the new World Trade Center—as does criticism of the approved designs. But a look deep inside the new structure shows the progress so far has proven to be in exactly the right direction.
The Lost Pondshiners
New York’s Hudson Valley has long been haunted—by headless horsemen, and living terrors, too. In the hills between Poughkeepsie and Albany existed a clan of artisans known for their semi-wild existence—and for being a real-life connection to the region’s supernatural past.
The Hand That Feeds You
Though you can still count on it for antibiotic-free cheese, the farmers' market has become a macrocosm of first-world food neuroses. True stories from behind the rustic wax-paper-lined baskets.
Drawn to Dogs
Pet people and non-pet people are different breeds for whom inter-species communication can be impossible. Then along comes the ugliest dog in the world. A study of one heart’s redoing.
Here Is Everything I Learned in New York City
Five years in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Several violent attacks—in other cities. A daily attempt to be the best, which is never a good idea. Nine lessons from a mini-lifetime in the Big Apple.
From the Mixed-Up Files of the New York Public Library
As some Christians prepared for the Apocalypse, 500 questers spent Friday night locked inside the New York Public Library with game designer Jane McGonigal.
Watching for the Buffleheads
New Yorkers may think they are surrounded by skyscrapers, but what’s really around is ducks. Identifying the waterbirds of Manhattan.
About Ready to Hang It Up
Three years into World War II, people thought they’d seen it all, including neighbors with concentration camp tattoos.
Still a Terrifically Bad Idea
A morning, a bicycle, a macchiato. Or five? This time, a sensible coffee shop tour. But in the end, it still may be described in only one way.
Impresario Seaman
Norman Seaman was one of New York’s great avant-garde supporters. In his biography, he said, John and Yoko would only get a chapter.
What Lies (Horribly) Beneath
It's no surprise people are afraid of the ocean. Some are scared their ships will wreck; others are terrified of the wreckage. To confront his phobia of shipwrecks, our correspondent borrows a rowboat to face New York's dreadnoughts.
Sunshine for a Brother
Elliott Smith died seven years ago today in Los Angeles. Though he’s remembered mythically in the East Village, it was in Brooklyn where he was happy.
And While It Lasted, It Was Wonderful
For nearly a century, a summer enclave on the edge of Staten Island offered restoration to a small group of city-weary New Yorkers. A look back after last summer’s close of Cedar Grove.
The Broccoli That Fell From the Sky
October’s bounty includes apples, blackberries, and something half brain, half vegetable. On a New York City sidewalk, discovering a fruit for a mastodon.
Going Postal
This summer, record highs turned the city into a pressure cooker—and its inhabitants didn’t suffer it mildly. Braving the brimstone to mail a package.
The Noble Garden
Prisoners garden. Spies garden. Gardening is good for every soul. But a desire to garden doesn't a gardner make. A story of slaughtering plants.
American Peril
An ode to drunk shopping in New York City, regretted investments, and the transformative powers of faux-snakeskin leggings.
Brawl Between the Boxwoods
Marigolds wither, periwinkles rot, and a tree mysteriously dribbles cat urine. Our writer is in over her head, once more, with plants.
Bus Bus Riddim
Bus lines across New York are being rerouted this summer, if not cancelled--and where buses go, so goes the city.
Remember the General Slocum
The morning of June 15, 1904, promised a day of fun for more than a thousand residents of the Lower East Side. In an instant, it turned deadly.
David Remnick
Our man in Boston goes the distance with author and New Yorker editor David Remnick in a conversation about President Obama, magazine publishing, and American Idol.
Losing Paradise
For centuries, New Yorkers have looked for relief to the trees of Governors Island--nearby, but a forbidden world away. A new plan to make it more accessible won't make them feel any better.
At the Night Market
On a moonlit street in Brooklyn, merchants open the doors of their trucks and welcome an audience armed with curiosity and cupcakes.
Room for a View
New York's empty balconies need filling. Our writer inaugurates a new series about urban-gardening warfare and southeastern-facing frustration.
Meeting Joe Franklin
Joe Franklin is a New York institution, having interviewed untold celebrities and been (jokingly) accused of rape by Sarah Silverman.
Get Hyphenated
Branding a Brooklyn subway station is greater than a typographic concern. Weaving a brief history of the dash in America, the Czech Republic, and John Wayne's poetry.
Persephone in the Park
Spring is popping up all around New York City, but those crocuses have a dark history. Explaining the Pagan past of what's growing on 87th Street.
The Higher Line
When the new High Line Park opened last summer, New Yorkers lined up to be disappointed. A recent transplant finds it full of miracles.
Hello to All That
Joan Didion once called New York "a city only for the very young." Moving back to the city at age 33, our writer considers her complaints and comes up optimistic.
Field Notes From 89th Street
Native New Yorkers live a traditional village life: of multiple generations, friends from kindergarten, and ghosts. Taking a naturalist’s eye to a corner of the city.
Happy Challah-days
For its holiday promotion, a retailer enlisted hundreds of dancers to dress up like elves in Union Square. A break dancer and former Orthodox Jew was among their ranks.
Joan Didion Crosses the Street
For a generation of young writers, Joan Didion is more than an icon: She tells them how the world was when their parents were young.
Window Shopping
Never mind all that gloomy talk of falling real-estate prices. For many renters, even a heavily mortgaged apartment is the stuff of daydreams.
Same as It Ever Was
Following up with targets of the infamous Rock Critical List, an anonymous, highly personal screed that sparked a firestorm.
Goodbye to All Them
The life of a poet in New York means recognizing the important appellations and knowing when to take the (grant) money and run.
Still a Moron After All These Years
New York City schools operate in a ferocious caste system. What’s to be done when your school is viewed as subpar, and you along with it?
Pieces of the World
For people who lived near the World Trade Center, 9/11 can still be traced to debris that lingers around the neighborhood. A map of what the tourists don't see.
A Terrifically Bad Idea
The plan: 10 cafés, 10 macchiatos, one morning, by bike. Embarking on an adventure that can be described in only one way.
Out of the Old Hotel
As the New York Times kills its City section this month, New York loses a fine way of knowing itself. Paying tribute to all the Joseph Mitchells and Joe Goulds.
An Evening With the Twelve Colonies
On Tuesday, post-apocalyptic refugees from Battlestar Galactica--which airs its final episode tonight--spent an evening at the U.N. swapping war stories with rights activists. It was a convincing trailer, even for the uninitiated.
Gandhi’s Return
Last week at a Manhattan auction house, five of Mahatma Gandhi’s personal items were on the block when second thoughts crept in. From the back offices, observing an auction in suspense.
Curb Your Dog's Enthusiasm
New York City is a wonderland for dogs--to defecate on, and for their owners to look the other way. An argument for a more civilized scenario, where dogs aren't encouraged to kill plants.
The Out-of-Towners
They arrive on airplanes, in cars with colorful license plates, bearing camera equipment and unseasonable clothing. Welcoming our friends beyond the Hudson.
The Night New York Avoided a Riot
In the days following Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, more than 100 cities experienced significant civil disturbance. In New York, everyone expected riots. What happened next.
My Killer Apartment
Stories of slammed doors and sad spirits aside, the man who committed suicide in your apartment probably isn’t there anymore. Probably.
A View Across the Bay
The Sept. 11 attacks bonded Staten Island, the city’s most ambivalent borough, more closely than ever before to the rest of New York. A look at the ripple effects.
The 11:11 to Penn Station, or Exodus
The Long Island Railroad is New York’s lifeline in the summer—a fleet of rescue vehicles destined for the beach. For some, though, it’s also a means to find freedom. Reporting from every station down the line.
Kingsbridge Road, 4 Train
Once clear of Yankee Stadium, the 4 train runs north toward Van Cortlandt Park along a thoroughfare named by a society matron in a fit of pique.
Memorare
While AIDS is still a major killer around the world, it has become a manageable condition for most HIV-positive Americans. Bearing witness to a time when the mortal threat was closer to home.
Cypress Hills, J Train
Turning an elevated corner, in the crook of which stands a decaying apartment, shades drawn to half-mast, darkness inside where life is shared with a world not paying attention, our writer does light research.
My Man Mac
When the talking heads won't stop drubbing McCain for his supposed crimes against conservative principles, what's a supporter supposed to do?
Known for Her Crumb Cake
Staten Islanders are an insular crowd; but once the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge connected them to the rest of New York, everything changed. Well, maybe not everything.
Dog Crazy
Ogling New Yorkers cavorting with their dogs, a new resident longs for the creep-targeted, mother-terrifying, media-maligned best friend she left behind.
The Rules
The laws of the playground aren't just for children. New York City parents have to keep an eye out for garbage, syringes, and disturbed men bearing toys.
Our Champion
When the New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp died recently from lung cancer, America lost one of its most riveting writers--one of the best critics we've ever had, and quite possibly among the worst.
Secret Gardens
Now a New Yorker, our resident green essayist brings her yardwork series to the big city, even if it means breaking into private plots.
The Long Goodbye
For 45 years, the weekend after Labor Day has closed out the season for Astroland Park. This year, with the fate of Coney Island in the balance, the weekend passed without resolution.
Miracle on 33rd Street
What do you get when you marry Rodriguez to Rodriguez, double it, parcel it out, deliver it from evil and send it back to church?
Waiting for the Sirens' Call
Coney Island's annual Siren Festival is billed as the largest free outdoor indie music festival in New York. This year's lineup included 14 bands--all of which were free, outdoor, and apparently, indie.
Independence Day
Coney Island celebrated the Fourth by crowning the first American hot-dog eating champion in seven years.
A Mermaid's Tale
Celebrating a quarter-century, Coney Island's Mermaid Parade is a reminder that for some, changing times should be ignored.
Burlesque on the Beach
As Coney Island gears up for its annual fancy-dress bacchanalia, the mermaids on parade contemplate the legendary funpark's mortality. Part three of "Astroland's Last Summer" by ELIZABETH KIEM.
The Bowery
Coney Island's Bowery was once lined with attractions for six straight blocks. Today it is largely shuttered, pending a new wave of development.
Sacrifice
From choosing a mousetrap to moving across the country, parenting requires tough decisions.
The Talented Dr. Rosnick
At the New York State Psychiatric Institute, a darkened room of psychologists gaze upon Matt Damon—trying to decide when a bust is really a penis. Watching the analysis unfold.
Northern Belle
New York is supposedly the home of the willful and headstrong, the forthright and brassy--but when a cousin from Nashville rolls into town, everyone else seems meek.