House and Home

New York Botanical Garden's Orchid Show: Beauty in the Bronx

Though snow continues to fall across the city, spring has finally arrived at the Bronx's New York Botanical Garden, where the conservatory's annual Orchid Show is currently in full bloom. To celebrate, we rode the train uptown, took off our jackets, and spoke with Marc Hachadourian, the manager of t ... More >>

Moscow 57 Brings A Taste of Russia To East Harlem

A greenhouse-turned-lounge, tucked under the Metro-North Railroad, sounds like a strange location for a night out on the town, but that's exactly what lures visitors to Moscow 57.Part of a weekly summer pop-up event series, Moscow 57 is the brainchild of Ellen Kaye. If she sounds familiar, it's beca ... More >>

Moscow 57: Has Russia Come to East Harlem?

A greenhouse-turned-lounge, tucked under the Metro-North Railroad, sounds like a strange location for a night out on the town, but that's exactly what lures visitors to Moscow 57.Part of a weekly summer pop-up event series, Moscow 57 is the brainchild of Ellen Kaye. If she sounds familiar, it's ... More >>

Gardening Art Grows into Activism in the Age of Occupy

How green was my alley

Carpet Beetles: Are They The Next Bed Bugs?

Invasion? The Voice recently wrote about bugs' inevitable(?) triumph over humankind. And though it doesn't look like bed bugs are necessarily going to be the creepy, crawly culprits who enslave us, we have recently learned about another species that comes out while you are asleep and defenseless: ... More >>

Bed Bugs: Are They Back?

This just in from the Daily News: a most troubling report suggests that the early onset of warm weather could prompt swarms of stink bugs -- and other creepy crawlies -- to invade America! (Invade!) Of course, Runnin' Scared wondered: What about bed bugs? Indeed, past reports on bed bugs kinda m ... More >>

Bed Bugs Enjoy Sexing Their Brothers and Sisters

​Bed bugs. They live in your mattress. They infest your books. They crawl all over you and suck your blood in the middle of the night, they terrorize you and ruin your life, they make you constantly itchy, or constantly afraid of feeling itchy. Some among us won't even put their bags on the fl ... More >>

Download TriBeCaStan's Gear-Shifting, Omniversal Ode To New York's Favorite Insect, "Bed Bugs"

New York cultural mash-up experiment TriBeCaStan is part of a growing number of local groups like Nation Beat who dive so deep into the melting pot that borders become burned away—even the name "TriBeCaStan" is meant to evoke an imaginary republic defined by New York cool, explorer energy and ... More >>

Queens Elementary School Has the Worst Bedbug Problem In the City

​Astoria's P.S. 70 has been given the dubious honor of being the most bedbuggy school in the city. It's the only school in New York that's been found to have bedbugs that inspectors admit came from inside the building. Usually when bedbugs are found in public schools, officials claim that the ... More >>

Bedbugs Visit Staten Island Jail

​Despite early rumors that this would be the "summer of bedbugs," we've heard relatively little as the doings of those adorable creatures this season, especially compared to prior years. Remember when they took over Victoria's Secret, Hollister, Hachette Filipacchi, the U.N., the Time Warner C ... More >>

New York Is America's Top City for Bedbugs

​According to a survey released by the pest-control people at Terminix, New York is again the number one city for bedbugs in the US of A. Congrats, all. This summer keeps being touted as the "summer of bedbugs," and it's great to know that we're succeeding on that front. Truthfully, it's horri ... More >>

Bedbugs: Now Even More Terrifying

​Bedbugs -- horrible, terrible, repugnant bedbugs -- were bad enough when they were simply infesting our homes and terrorizing our night's sleep. But they've achieved new levels of horror with the news that they may also carry drug-resistant bacteria like MRSA and Staph. Gross. Recent research ... More >>

Bed Bug Complaints Hint at a Hellacious Summer Infestation

DNAInfo.com​We're into a map that DNAinfo has up today, showing which parts of Manhattan have had the largest numbers of bed bug complaints over the first three months of this year.  According to the news site, Manhattan residents made 455 complaints to 311 about bed bugs for the first thre ... More >>

New York City Launches New Bed Bug Website, Rules

​The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene have rolled out a new website to educate locals about bed bugs as the warm months approach and everyone starts to get itchy again. The slick site offers an illustrated Q&A with a streaming voiceover to address issues like "How can I te ... More >>

Odds Are, Your Date Has Bed Bugs. Here's What to Do.

via BedbugsyBlog​Ever helpful Marie Claire magazine just interviewed a bed bug expert, because, you know, it's just not good enough torturing you with advice about men and awful diets and how to do DIY dramatic eyes. Nope, not enough. So they have this nugget to share: DATING BASICALLY DOUBLES ... More >>

Bed Bugs in Gramercy Park Hotel?

​Bed bugs -- our indestructible nemeses who are biting more New Yorkers than ever -- may be causing issues in the super-swanky Gramercy Park Hotel. A disgruntled employee wrote to Gothamist, telling them that bed bugs had been found in guest rooms, employee lockers, and storage rooms -- and th ... More >>

Roscoe, the World-Famous Bedbug-Sniffing Dog, Is "Just a Regular Guy"

via Roscoe's Facebook page​Today the New York Times chronicles a situation born out of fear, and money, and hope; a situation that we hope none of you ever have to face. That situation is wondering if the ton of cash you've spent on your bedbug-sniffing dog is worth it.

Giant, Inflatable Rat No Longer On-Trend for NYC Union Protests

​You know something has reached a peak of public saturation when it becomes a Halloween costume, and let's just say we ran into a lot of bedbugs this year (maybe we even were one.) And now we find, via Asylum.com, that everybody's favorite giant, inflatable union rat is getting kicked to the c ... More >>

Bedbugs Demand Education, Even If It Is Just the Public Kind

​Bedbugs. We have them. Well, not us, in particular (not yet, fingers crossed), but New York City clearly has them. And New York City schools have them, now more than ever. The Daily News reports a spike in cases in public schools, up to 336 in the first two months of the school year, from 135 ... More >>

Ingrates Sue Waldorf Over Bedbugs, Despite Complimentary Spa Treatments

​If you're still wondering whether bed bugs are "scaring tourists away," this might help: Crain's says a Michigan family will file a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court today, suing the posh Waldorf-Astoria Hotel after finding bedbugs in their room that followed them home in their luggage "and ... More >>

Bedbugs (Back) at the U.N., Where "Diplomatic Immunity" Jokes Are No Longer Funny

​Continuing in their reign of New York City terror, bedbugs have infested the UN. In fact, it seems that bedbugs have been hanging around the UN since at least 2009, causing all sorts of unwanted issues with international diplomacy and feeling itchy.

Bedbug Registry Creator Talks Infestations, Prevention, and the Worst Reported Cases in New York City

​By all accounts, the bedbug front keeps getting scarier. See "Sick Fucks Now Promoting Bedbug-Infestation as a Revenge Tactic." But what, really, is the state of the bedbug? Is all this talk just a bunch of fear-mongering? Or is the city's battle over bedbugs just beginning? We caught up with ... More >>

Sick Fucks Now Promoting Bedbug-Infestation as a Revenge Tactic

No, no, no, no, no.​Things that don't need to be said: You are a very, very, very bad person if you infest someone else with bedbugs, purposely and knowingly. This draws comparisons to STDs that we don't even want to think about -- except, of course, bedbugs can't kill you, they can only drive ... More >>

Bedbugs Continue Campaign of Shock and Ew, Employing Guerrilla Tactics at Google, 311

​Bedbugs have reportedly now encroached upon Google's offices in Chelsea and -- isn't it ironic -- New York City's own 311 offices, right where you're supposed to call if you think you have a bedbug infestation. Meta. Per NY1, the call center in Lower Manhattan was fumigated Tuesday night after a ... More >>

Bedbugs Now Feasting on 1 in 10 New Yorkers

​Well, happy Monday. According to a new Daily News poll, one in 10 (or more than 800,000!) New Yorkers have had bedbugs. Which means, if you have, you're not alone, and if you haven't, well, there's no need to be snooty about it because no one knows where their little sucky mouths will strike ... More >>

Are Bed Bugs Biting at the New York Public Library?

​Aw, bed bugs! Always trying to advance themselves and learn (and feast on the blood of intellectual sorts who enjoy such pursuits as reading and research). According to a WPIX newscast posted on Bedbugger.com this a.m., the nasty little creatures have been found in the New York Public Library ... More >>

Samuel Mark, East Village Bed Bug Artist, Strikes Again and Again (Q&A)

​Bed bugs have been busy populating New York City in droves, their flat ugly little bodies infesting couches, mattresses, and rugs all over. They've also found a home in Samuel Mark's latest street art. He translates the pests into graphic designs on sidewalk-trashed furniture, his canvas for gian ... More >>

Brooklyn Has the Most Bedbugs, and Other Findings From the Mayor's Bed Bug Advisory Board (Q&A)

You are getting very itchy.​Yesterday the mayor held a press conference to announce the city's new bed bug plan, a multi-pronged and rather high-minded-seeming (bed bug information portals? bed bug czars?) approach to a completely physical problem: bed bugs feasting on the blood of the city's ... More >>

New York City Will Wage War on Bed Bugs With Special "Bed Bug Academy"

The enemy is here.​Less than 24 hours after Mike Bloomberg issued his "geese or humans" ultimatum, we hear he's also got it out for the bed bugs. Except in this case, we pretty much approve. After all, they've infested valuable shopping haunts like Victoria's Secret and Hollister, not to menti ... More >>

Bedbugs Close Down Abercrombie & Fitch, Continue July 4th Invasion of New York City

Via David Hagen.​Bedbugs (pictured right) -- which closed down Hollister's flagship store in Soho yesterday -- have now made their way down to the tourist haven that is the South Street Seaport, where they've taken over ... Hollister's parent-brand, Abercrombie & Fitch!

Hollister Let the Bedbugs Bite, Leaving Skeeved Would-Be Customers at the Curb

​Your Runnin' Scared Vermin Investigation team took to the streets of Soho today after hearing the news that Hollister (Abercrombie's darker, nakeder, cologne-addled cousin) had been closed due to bedbug infestation. We found a steady stream of unwitting customers from as far away as Ireland a ... More >>

New Tricks Against Bedbugs: Dry Ice Pet Dish, "Bedbug Saunas"

​Despite the founding this year of the city council's Bed Bug Advisory Board, bedbugs are still a problem in New York. WABC proposed yesterday a "less than $20" solution developed by a Rutgers entomology professor Changlu Wang: a fabric-lined, upside-down pet dish with a cooler of dry ice on ... More >>

Now You Can Be a Pest and Track Your Neighborhood's Rats, Mice, and Cockroaches

With the click of a mouse, you can now track the real mice infesting your neighborhood. The city's new Environmental Public Health Tracking Portal also gives you specific facts and figures about rats, cockroaches, air and water quality, and other woes. You may have to tweak your computer's security ... More >>

Yes In My Backyard: Download Pop. 1280's "Bedbugs"

Yes In My Backyard is a semiweekly column showcasing MP3s from new and emerging local talent. ​Pop. 1280 are the post-punky, crust-flicking Booger Dawsons of the new wave of Brooklyn Birthday Party skronkmos--slow, lurching, tribal, skeletal, slightly unhinged. Similar bands like recent Hardl ... More >>

L.A. to Take a Dip in Birdbath

Eater L.A. reports that Maury Rubin, owner of City Bakery and Birdbath, will open another Birdbath branch in West Hollywood later this year. Rubin, who recently closed the L.A. outpost of City Bakery, reportedly plans to open two to three outposts of Birdbath, his so-called "neighborhood green baker ... More >>

How To Deal with NYC Cockroaches

 Before I lived in a luxury high-rise, I had to deal with large, feisty cockroaches who were even grosser than the landlord. And though my mother lined the apartment with Combats--always a bizarre sight when visitors walked in--the little creatures would reappear anyway, detemined to fill my li ... More >>

GARDEN STATE

Martha Stewart, look out!

City Battles Bedbugs with Board

The city is finally confronting its greatest menace: bedbugs. After hearings on the growing pestilence, the city council has called for a Bed Bug Advisory Board. Its sometimes poetic bill finds "that the Cimex lectularius population is ubiquitous and affects the quality of life of residents througho ... More >>

Bedbugs Bills Heard by Council, DDT Myth Spread

The city council yesterday looked into the anti-bedbug legislation that councilmember Gale Brewer has been pushing. Among the considered items was a bill requiring all new mattresses sold in the city to be accompanied by a disposal bag clearly identifying the mattress as used -- though, as we have n ... More >>

Brewer Stomps Bedbugs

The 12 Dirtiest, Cleanest NYC Restaurants

Interview With a Vampire Stalker: Bedbug Registrar Talks

Infested: Bedbugs Stay Strong in NYC

Living in a Bedbug State of Mind at a Midtown Hotel

Shear Madness

Lopping off your plants while speaking Spanish: They’re coming, NY!

'Voice' Spreading Paranoia Every Which Way

Bed Bugs & Beyond

An outbreak of paranoia (and lint) sweeps the city

Rudy Deflowers New York

Across the City, Communities Fight the Mayor's Garden Auction

War of the Gardeners

Bugging Out Over Green Spaces

Rudy Deflowers New York

Across the City, Communities Fight the Mayor's Garden Auction