The observed nature in Green-Wood Cemetery ranges from hefty slinking woodchucks to blue herons wading in the koi ponds, and, depending on who you ask, that giant bronze bear straddling William Holbrook Beard’s gravestone. But what about the less-observed nature that comes out after dark? It wasn’t until bat expert and bioacoustic specialist Nic Comparato requested to set up sonar […]

A pony walks into a bar … no, wait, a pony owns the bar. Pony’s, a new cocktail bar and café from couple and co-owners Elana Shvalbe and Michael Furac, opened on Aug. 22 at 424 Van Brunt St. Visiting Pony’s, one might expect a bar with obvious swings at horse-isms. Maybe some sort of polo mallet leaning lazily in […]

What happens when three good friends open a bar together for the first time? During my first visit to 317 3rd Ave., the up-and-coming Atlantic City-themed bar, Shania’s Max Bet, is still largely under construction. A massive disco ball sits in a gargantuan cardboard box. The bar seats are wrapped in tidy plastic wrap and sidled next to a tower […]

I have a confession: I cannot wake up before sunrise. So when I ask Bob Blankemeier (known online as Bob Aquatic) what time I should meet him at Valentino Pier for a morning of fishing the East River’s brackish water, and I’m not met with a concrete time, but rather the cool idea of early hour (“sunrise”), my stomach sinks […]