http://www.nypress.com/articles.sec-10-1-features-culture.html April 13, 1988 The first issue of New York Press appears. Russ Smith, formerly of the Baltimore City Paper, is the Press' first editor and part owner. The offices of the Press are located at 530 Broadway at Spring Street. ]]> There are a lot of theories as to why the movie business isnt what it used to be. The financial crisis of 2008 significantly lessened private equitys desire to sink investments into films, independent and otherwise.]]> Paris Parrish and Khayr Pitts trot side by side into the sunset. The two men sit tall and proud in their saddles, backs straight, horses at a steady pace. Parrish is in full cowboy regalia: a long black trench coat that drapes down his horse's flank, an ornate collared shirt, a black cowboy hat. When he turns slightly, his sardine can-sized silver belt buckle glistens in the waning sun. Pitts is in jeans and brown cowboy boots. In their saddles they clop steadily past a Getty gas station, a McDonald's and a construction site marked off by a graffitiridden wooden fence. They turn onto a side street and march proudly past rundown houses and the tall brick buildings of a housing project. This is Brooklyn.]]> Six years ago, Slava Rubin tried to start a charity to raise money for cancer research. As a child Rubin lost his father to cancer, and he wanted to help fight the disease in his fathers memory. But he eventually ran up against the same problem that many in his shoes face: finding the funds.]]> Actress Erin Markey Has Been Thrilling Vanguard Audiences For Years, Now She´s Ready to Annihilate the Big-Time.]]> Hundreds of people filled a synagogue on the Upper West Side last Thursday evening, all eyes fixed on the chuppah in front of them. Under the white canopy ornately decorated with bright floral arrangements, the seven Jewish wedding blessings were read.]]> Late last year, someone began tweeting as Armond White. This impersonator tapped into the imagined id of our infamous film critic, commenting on office politics, other critics and newspapers. Its been a wild read: He dropped #TRUTHBOMBS like no one else, and weve collected some of our favorites for all of you who dont follow Twitter.]]> This past fall, Nakia Alford-Saunders prepared to lead a prayer at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center in the West Village. More than 100 people had gathered to memorialize a gay activist who was supposed to make it out alive. Six days prior, a 26-year-old graduate of Harvey Milk High School killed himself. Joseph DeCosta Jefferson wasn't the only black, gay young person to take his life last year. ]]> It's 4 a.m. on a Saturday morning, and I am smoking nervously outside Mars Bar when Amy Koteles stops me at the door. She tells me that Morgan Maginio, a 24-year-old crust-punk with hair dyed a flaming red (and a white mouse perched on her shoulder), is waiting for me inside.]]> Andrea Reese and Alice Ro have been engaged for just over a year. The Brooklyn residents, both in their forties, had hoped to get married in a civil ceremony in Manhattan City Hall this September and to celebrate with a ceremony in Park Slope. But that possibility remains doubtful as of press time.]]> When this year's Tony Awards are dealt out Sunday night, a curious (unspoken) development will overshadow the entire game: Broadway's desperate, guilty dependence on movies.]]> Dong-Ping Wong calls the East River a tease. Last summer, the 31-year-old architect was hot and sweaty, but he decided against cooling off in a river better known for bodies floating up rather than diving in. Instead, he went with the clear solution: design a pool that can float in the river.]]> “Those folks know everything about killing people,” a friend said while pointing at the Muhlenberg Library on the corner of West 23rd Street and Seventh Avenue. My friend shared my addiction for spine-tingling crime fiction and, supposedly, this library harbored a secret society of experts on all things sinister who organized monthly meetings to indulge in discussions of murder and mayhem. As a Russian-born New Yorker who fell in love with American suspense novels and aspired to write my own, I was hooked.]]> As summer approaches and temperatures rise, hemlines go up and tank tops come out—or off— and our pale skin gets its much-needed contact with the sun. But how do we keep from getting burned on our most sensitive parts? Of course we mean our tattoos. Ink can be a costly investment, and no one wants to sit in a chair for hours being stuck with a needle only to have that bird/Chinese character/set of Black Flag bars fade once the summer comes along. So what is the best tattoo maintenance remedy?]]> Alex Bondarev, lead singer and guitarist of A Moment's Worth, likes to tease restless crowds. And he can, because he's famous—at least to the fans who swoon for his music. They've got A Moment's Worth's name and lyrics tattooed on their forearms, chests, legs and backs.]]> Call it the “slow growth over time” approach. At the age of 53, after years of teaching and theorizing about architecture at Columbia, Princeton and UCLA, Neil Denari has produced his first free-standing building. The iconoclastic HL23, as the highrise apartment building is called, is a free-form postmodern masterpiece that organically embraces the High Line at West 23rd Street and 10th Avenue. Let’s call Denari the new patron saint of late bloomers.]]> The eBay seller known as Alirla sold high-priced electronics at rock bottom prices, shipping laptops, digital cameras and GPS units to eager buyers all over the world.]]> Perhaps it was the miserable persistence of the weeknight rain, but Fu Sushi was near empty. Two waitresses sat under a lightbulb just inside a chipped enclosure of the low-lit Alphabet City sushi joint.]]> A new mode of transportation is muscling its way onto city streets. Politicians, editorial boards, cops and business groups consider it a nuisance and a threat. The public is angry and confused. Suddenly, this popular new urban transportation option is challenging New Yorkers’ longstanding traditions and ideas about what a street is for, who gets to use it and how. Used by a relatively small number of New Yorkers, this new mode of transport makes its presence felt in a big way. Local politicians insist that something needs to be done. Editorial boards vilify it. The cops are cracking down. War? Housing? Education? Poverty? Who cares! Some days, if the local press is any guide, it seems like the No. 1 issue on the civic agenda is this new form of transportation on New York City streets.]]> I discovered biking in New York as a Columbia University student during the late '90s. My bike was my way out of the Upper West Side neighborhood, and far cheaper than paying for subway tokens (yes, there were still tokens) whenever I needed to escape into the big bad city that had drawn me to attend college in New York in the first place. ]]>