Items tagged with 'albany'
Call it a comeback
A renovated spot on the renovated Delaware Ave
Or a rebirth. Or what's old is new again. Or, just... lunch.
A few favorites from around town recently came back in a new form:
Lou-Bea's
We've eaten some very fine slices of pizza over the years at this shop on Delaware Ave in Albany (a street which has gone through its own recent rebirth). So we were very sorry to see a fire shut down the pizzeria last year.
It's now back open -- Silvia has the scoop. We walked by the other day and the place looks great. (And Lou-Bea's is up for a spot in this year's Tournament of Pizza -- vote now!) [TU] [DelSo]
The Illium Cafe
This nice spot on Troy's Monument Square closed during last year's Tosca financial meltdown. The cafe re-opened with new owners Tuesday -- they even had big scissors for the ribbon cutting.
The new Illium menu looks good. We're already planning for some "Irresistible Banana-Macadamia nut Flap Jacks". [Upstate NY Restaurant Examiner] [@jpirro1]
Bonus Monument Square area rebirth: the former Paper Sparrow space has been reborn as Anchor No. 5 Boutique -- run by Albany designer Petra Jancovicova. [Revel In Art]
Tess is at McGeary's
Tess Collins -- you know, Lark Tavern Tess -- is now managing the renovated McGeary's Pub in downtown Albany and she's along brought along some of the Lark Tavern crew. Steve was at the re-opening and it looks like he enjoyed some "excellent" sliders.
(Thanks, Jessica R!)
We'll drink to that
The City of Albany's drinking water took the spot in the New York State Drinking Water Taste Test at this year's state fair. Albany's water was up against supplies from nine other municipalities, all winners of regional competitions.
So where does Albany get this great-tasting water? The answer is... Coeymans. The city has two reservoirs near there -- the Alcove Reservoir and the Basic Creek Reservoir (which is in Westerlo). The Alcove Reservoir was created in 1928 by damming the Hannacroix Creek, which flooded the village of Indian Fields. (They did, apparently, move the village cemetery.)
While we're on the subject We recently heard about a project -- called "Tap" -- aimed at getting local people to switch from bottled water to tap:
"Tap" is an organized effort to educate and persuade Albanites to reduce their carbon footprint by refusing bottled water and utilizing the city's municipal water supply. We aim to teach people ways to be healthy, save money, save the environment and support the local community by using tap water for hydrating needs.
Running on Albany time
The first Dudley Observatory, in north Albany.
In our global civilization, we're accustomed to dealing with time zones and standard definitions -- Greenwich Time, Eastern Time, Daylight Savings Time.
If one plan from before the Civil War had succeeded, the Northeast might have been on Albany Time.
It started in 1851, with the founding of the Dudley Observatory.
Albany bashing has a long history
Was Pearl Street dead back in the day?
The recent item proclaiming Albany to be one of America's 10 dead cities was just the latest in a long tradition of bashing our capital city.
Who knows when Albany-bashing began, but I found evidence of it that dates back to 1789, and is a kind of reminder that in all criticism, you have to consider the source.
The Radix Ecological Sustainability Center
Scott Kellogg and his daughter on the site of the future Radix Center.
Scott Kellogg wants to teach you to live greener and be more self-sustaining -- you know, grow your own food, raise a little livestock.
Hey, city dwellers -- this means you.
Kellogg and Stacy Pettigrew are the founders of the Rhizome Collective, a center for community organizing and urban sustainability in Austin Texas, and the authors of The Toolbox for Sustainable City Living.
Now they live in Albany, and they're building a space called The Radix Center to teach city dwellers and suburbanites alike to do everything from compost with worms and grow porch mushrooms, to collect rainwater and raise their own fish.
Scott says not only is this possible, you're actually going to enjoy it.
Madison Ave row house collapse
The side wall of a row house at 600 Madison Ave in Albany collapsed Friday afternoon. There had been excavation going on in the empty lot next door when the wall came down. All the tenants were reportedly out of the building when it collapsed. [TU] [WNYT]
The street was closed from Robin to New Scotland.
Friday evening crews were on the scene preparing to demolish the building, which is across the street from Washington Park. The lot next door was vacant because the building that had been there burned down in 2007. Here's Google StreetView of what the row had looked like. The excavation was for construction of a new building. [CBS6]
A bunch of photos are after the jump.
First Prize Center photos
That sign.
Sebastien and B's Urban Decay Tour of the Capital Region™ continues with the First Prize Center, that huge complex near Everett Road in Albany/Colonie. As Sebastien wrote on his site, "it's a story of pipes, broken catwalks, vats, giant letters, zombies in barrels, 80's toys & Bugs Bunny." (B thought it might be their white whale.)
Earlier on AOA: Jess looked at the backstory of the First Prize Center last year -- and peopled followed up with some interesting comments.
photo: Sebastien B
Not dead yet
Going on more than three centuries.
This whole "Albany is a dead city" thing just seems silly to us. Albany isn't dead. Unless this is some sort of Sixth Sense situation. Or maybe we're all zombies -- and Albany is actually an undead city. (What's for lunch? Braiiinnns...)
But, whatever... let's kick this around a little bit.
Shuffle of Indian restaurants on Lark
One's out, one's in?
Update: MattW checks back in to say that Tandoor Palace was back open when he went by Thursday evening.
___
MattW sends along word that it appears Tandoor Palace at Lark and Madison in Albany has been seized by the state Department of Taxation and Finance for "nonpayment of taxes." (more photos after the jump)
At the other end of Lark, it's look like another Indian place is sprouting: a sign in one of the spaces by the still-closed Al Baraki says a restaurant called Jewel of Indian is coming soon. There's a website mentioned, but the domain is currently parked.
Of course, that neighborhood is still not without Indian options: LaZeez is at 35 Central and Aashiana is at 31 Central and Gandhi is at 1 Central.
Also: As of earlier this month, a Taste of Greece was for sale -- $55,000 was the asking price.
Household hazardous waste and electronics drop-off days
Chances are you have stuff around the house that you'd like to get rid of -- but shouldn't put in the garbage. Stuff like all-but-empty cans of paint, old compact fluorescent light bulbs (they contain mercury), a hasn't-been-used-since-2002 TV (those cathode ray tube sets have lead in them), and so on.
Well, here's your chance. The City of Albany has four "Household Hazardous Waste & Electronic Drop-off Days" coming up: September 2, October 7, November 4, December 9.
On those days you can drop of these items at the city landfill from 4-7 pm. It's free, but you have to pre-register (call 800-494-2273) and provide proof of residency. Here's a pdf of the informational flyer.
We dropped off an old CRT monitor at one of these days a few years back and were impressed by how smoothly it all went. We pulled into the line, gave the guy our name, waited for the car ahead of us, pulled up, popped the trunk and handed the monitor to a guy waiting to take it. The whole process lasted all of three minutes.
These drop-off days are only open to Albany residents.
Don't live in Albany? A lot of towns around here have these days. Give the town a call -- or check with your garbage hauler -- and someone should be able to tell about the next one. And if you're just looking to get rid of old computer equipment, Goodwill has a free recycling program.
photo: D'Arcy Norman (Flickr user D'Arcy Norman)
The Street Academy
Check out this 1977 documentary Chuck reconstructed about the former Street Academy, an alternative high school in Albany. The former slide-and-cassette show (beep!) has quite the funky musical intro:
Chuck's an alumnus of the school. He's been collecting documents and memorabilia related to its history. It opened in 1970 and was eventually renamed Harriet Gibbons High School. The Albany school board recently voted to close the program.
The Normanskill's Norman
Delaware Ave above, the Normanskill below.
Around Albany, many of our most familiar place and street names come from notable local figures.
Louis Menand was a noted horticulturist of his time; Daniel Manning published the Albany Argus and became US Secretary of the Treasury. Slingerlands was named for farmer Teunis Slingerland.
So, who was the "Norman" of the Normanskill?
What about The Other Guys?
A shot from the opening scene of The Other Guys -- the sequence was filmed in downtown Albany.
The Other Guys, the Will Ferrell-Mark Wahlberg cop comedy that shot a scene in Albany, is in theaters today.
Is it any good? Metacritic gives it a score of 64 (generally favorable reviews). And Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 79 percent (certified fresh).
Here are a few clips from reviews...
A chat with the producer of the mysterious Albany movie
On location for Sister Spirit.
OK, so as it turns out, the current working title of the movie currently filming in Albany is, in fact Sister Spirit -- though you'll have more luck finding info online searching for Ass Backwards, the original title.
Molly Conners, a Capital District native is one of the producers of Sister Spirit (she also co-produced the Oscar-nominated Frozen River, filmed in Plattsburgh, starring Melissa Leo). Conners took a few minutes from the set today to answer what she could about the movie, working in Albany, and yesterday's unfortunate Hamilton Street towing incident.
Inside the movie house on Hamilton Street
What, your dining living room doesn't look like this?
Yesterday, while we were on Hamilton Street checking out the set of that movie (whatever it's going to be called) we got a quick look inside the house where they're filming.
Turns out the 140 year old brownstone is kind of interesting on its own, even without a movie crew hanging around.
Details on the mysterious Albany movie shoot
The scene on Hamilton Street this morning.
Updated August 8: a casting email that went out on Friday included more details about who's staring (Alicia Silverstone, Vincent D'Onofrio)
Updated August 4 -- we talked with one of the movie's producers.
The movie that's been filming in various locations around Albany in the last week landed on Hamilton Street in Center Square today.
We checked out the scene and picked up a few details (and photos) about the very hush-hush production.
Lauren's House of Dogs
Wiener.
The fact of the matter is that if a place is called "Lauren's House of Dogs," we're going to stop in eventually -- whether they have dog dogs or hot dogs.
In Lauren's case, it's hot dogs. So we stopped in for lunch today.
Here's a quick take...
Bike thefts in Delaware/Whitehall neighborhoods
Jason emails:
There appears to have been a string of bicycle thefts over the weekend in the Whitehall/Delaware neighborhood in Albany. My bicycle was stolen out of my open garage while I was home on Sunday in broad daylight (between 6:30-7:30PM). The officer who came and took the incident report said he had just come from another home where two bicycles were stolen out of an open garage. I went on Craigslist this morning to look to see if my bike was on there and found that five bikes were stolen on Delaware Ave on Sunday around 12:30PM off of a porch (a few blocks away - I live on Whitehall).
It's a serious drag to think that you might have to lock up your bike in your own garage.
The Albany police department has a bike registration program aimed at making it easier to recover stolen bikes. If you call 438-4000, you'll be directed to a number for more info (it varies by your location). There's also a "National Bike Registry" that says it includes the Troy, Colonie and Rensselaer police departments, as well as UAlbany and RPI security. We don't know much about this service -- and it costs $10 -- so caveat bike rider.
Another option: ride a tall, pink bike.
(That's Jason's bike in the photo -- click for a better view.)
The Wishi Project
Wishi Project founder, Elizabeth Gray
When Elizabeth Gray went to UAlbany to get a Masters in philosophy, people asked the usual question: "What are you going to do with a philosophy degree?" (You know you thought it.)
And Elizabeth didn't really know, herself.
But what she's doing now was certainly not on the list.
Gray finished her thesis in January and set out for Ecuador with no plan. At all. A few weeks later she was living in the rain forest with a tribe of indigenous people in the Wishicommunity. Fast forward a few more weeks and she was making a plan to build a school for their children.
The plan became The Wishi Project, and she's come back to Albany to make it work.
Why Albany? Elizabeth's answer to that and other questions -- plus some fantastic pictures from her trip, after the jump.
We want you to review Salt
The U-Haul building, serving as an extra with Angelina.
Update: Lou will be reviewing Salt!
Update: The deadline has passed. We'll contact the winner tonight. Thanks to everyone who entered!
As you know, Salt -- the Angelina Jolie movie -- was partially shot here in Albany (the director would like to thank the citizens). And it opens this Friday.
So, we're looking for someone to review the movie. And that person could be you. Here's the deal:
+ Post a comment telling us what your favorite movie is, and explain why. It doesn't have to be anything long. A few sentences will do.
+ Based on the posted comments, we'll pick a winner to review Salt.
+ That person will get two free tickets to see Salt at the Spectrum this weekend -- so you can bring a friend (it's always good to talk about a movie with someone afterward).
+ The winner then sends us a short review of Salt by Monday at 9 am. The review should be no more than 500 words. And we hope you'll pay special attention to Albany's cameos in the movie (787 apparently makes quite an appearance).
+ We post the review later that day.
So, that's the deal. We think this could be fun.
Important: One entry person. You must answer the question to be considered. Your comment must be posted by 5 pm Wednesday July 21. You must include a working email address (that you check regularly) with your comment. The winner will be notified by 11:59 pm on Wednesday and must respond by noon on Thursday July 22.
Earlier on AOA:
+ Lining up for Salt
+ More Angelina and more Albany
+ That's Angelina and that's Albany
+ Angelina Jolie to stop traffic in downtown Albany
screengrab: Sony
The director of Salt would like to thank you
So, a supporting actor nod for 787?
Said Salt director Phillip Noyce of the action scenes shot in Albany, to NBC:
"Due to excessive pork barreling over the years, the capital of New York has built up the most elaborate freeway system you have ever seen," Noyce said at a screening of the film on Monday night.
There was even "one overpass to nowhere which just stopped," he added with a little surprise. While clearly a symbol of taxpayer waste, Noyce had to admit: "It was really convenient to one (movie) sequence," he said. "It's a tragedy (for taxpayers) but great for filming."
The article goes on to mention that Salt "is impressive in its use of the freeway as a supporting character in one memorable action scene."
The movie opens this Friday.
Earlier on AOA:
+ More Angelina and more Albany
+ That's Angelina and that's Albany
screengrab: Sony
Man on a wire -- sort of.
Well balanced.
So we were walking through the Washington Park neighborhood yesterday when we saw this long rope tied between two trees. It kind of looked like a makeshift dog run or something.
But when we came back a while later, we got this picture of its real purpose. Filmmaker and musician T'Chaka Sikelianos says tightrope walking is something he learned to do when he lived in Portland. Oregon. "People do it a lot there -- just for fun. To pass the time."
He's gotten pretty good at it too.
A few more pictures after the jump.
A tomato plant grows in Albany
Will it have tomatoes before the budget's finished?
Eileen sent along this pic this afternoon:
Found this tomato plant today growing in a crack of the sidewalk next to The Capitol on Washington Ave. Good to know something is thriving in Albany.
Maybe a tomato seed from a lunch truck vendor's sandwich found a good place to grow.
I'm trying to figure out what I can do to help keep it from getting cut/stepped on/destroyed. Maybe tomorrow I'll go over and try and protect it somehow with a gardening stake.
How great would it be if that plant bore tomatoes? There's just something hopeful about it.
It reminds us of the corn growing in the sidewalk in Watervliet spotted by Renee last summer.
(Thanks, Eileen!)
Intense Albany police video from fatal Quail Street encounter
The Albany Police Department released video from the February traffic stop at Quail and Spring Streets that involved the driving pinning an officer under a bumper and the officers fatally shooting the driver, Howard Tucker. The TU has posted the video online and it's embedded above.
The video is intense. As Tucker pulls away, the officers yell at him to stop. Tucker swings the car around, almost hits a telephone pole and then plows ahead into officer Kevin Moynihan. The officers then fire on Tucker as the car drives out of frame.
The clip gives you a sense of the extreme pressure the officers must have felt as Tucker careened around the snowy street. It's scary to watch.
The two officers involved in the incident, Moynihan and Christopher Pageau, were cleared by a grand jury in June. The APD said Tucker had tried to speed away when the officers noticed a gun in his car during a traffic stop. The TU reports that Moynihan is back at work and Pageau is out on leave. [YNN] [TU] [TU]
Lining up for Salt
They really want to see Angelina on 787.
Mike sent along this picture of people camped out this morning around 9 am for the last 300 tickets for the Salt premiere at the Palace Theatre.
The tickets were released at 10 am, but the line had formed long before that. Shelley Thomas, the box office manager at the Palace, told us that people started lining up at 6 am this morning. At 10 am, she says they gave out all the remaining tickets to people in the line.
The Albany Salt premiere is July 22. It opens July 23.
Earlier on AOA:
+ More Angelina and more Albany
+ That's Angelina and that's Albany
photo: Mike Wren
... said Kaitlin about Viva Kaitlin!