Long Island Rail Road Company

Our 10 Best and Cheapest Penn Station Eats

​Looking very much like a prison entrance, the door to Penn Station beckons. Let's face it, Penn Station is never going to be a foodie destination. The hallways are too thronged, the smells too rancid, the eateries too narrow, with tables too filthy. Yet in this great dung heap of a railway ... More >>

Central Park Gets 9 Inches of Snow; There's Snow on the Ground in 49 of 50 States

via @DevonGrandy/Twitpic​The snow count is in. We got 9.1 inches last night (according to numbers in Central Park, via NY1). That does not a blizzard make, but it's pretty, for the moment! No major public transport delays, though the MTA has issued a Winter Weather Service Advisory. In related ... More >>

Carolyn McCarthy Preps New Gun Control Bill; Pro-Glockers Up in Arms

LI rep Carolyn McCarthy​There's nothing like knowing there are crazed gunmen out there with elected officials squarely in their sites to focus political attentions. Which is why it will be interesting to see if official Washington has a stronger reaction to a planned political assassination wi ... More >>

The Blizzard of 2010: We'll Be Telling the Grandkids About This One!

Tompkins Square Park, through the snow.​Is there a name for this thing yet? Snowmaggedon? Thundersnow? Blizza-palooza? That day people were trapped outside of New York City, while those (okay, one or two) inside it actually skied to work? And the rest of us hunkered down and tried not to have ... More >>

Snow Blows MTA's Timing on New Subway House Ads

​Late December probably wasn't the best time to roll out those new MTA house ads. Cars on this afternoon's much delayed A trains carried a new credo that made you stop and ponder a bit: "A city is only as good as its transit system," reads one sprawling card, part of the new "Improving, Non-st ... More >>

Skyy Vodka's New Ad Features Woman-on-Bottle Sex; $80 British Navy Rum Now Available in NYC

​Skyy vodka is sexing up its image with a new ad that features a woman in red shiny tights and spike heels appearing to have sex with a giant Skyy vodka bottle. [USA Today] White Dog is all the rage these days, but people aren't just drinking it. They're also making it at home, despite the fa ... More >>

What You Drink, When You're Commuting

​The New York Times has offered up a rather fascinating exploration of what commuters drink while traveling on New York's various booze-serving transport options. And while we can only assume these stats on the $9 million bar car industry pertain to the commute home and not to work, we won't j ... More >>

The New York Post Reads Runnin' Scared!

​We'd like to congratulate our intern, Leslie Minora, whose last today with us is sadly today. You know you've made it when the New York Post is just openly jacking your shit without attribution.

MetroNorth and the LIRR Have Spent $300,000 Repairing People's Pants

Howard Stevens leans on the same type of armrest that snagged his pocket a few months ago.​In 2002, the LIRR installed new train cars. Two years later, MetroNorth installed the same M-7 cars on the Hudson and Harlem lines. Everyone likes a shiny new train car, except...these "new" trains have ... More >>

The LIRR's "Average People" Problems Will Not Bother Hamptons-Goers

​While the electrical fire at an LIRR switching station on Monday has continued to mean delays for commuters, those heading out to the Hamptons will apparently be blissfully impervious to such pedestrian difficulties. The Cannonball trains to Montauk (with stops in the Hamptons) are running as ... More >>

My 10 Favorite Queens Restaurants

​The sel momo at Mustang Thakali Kitchen -- much better than Dunkin' Donuts. This countdown is intended to be a bit different from the other "10 Best" lists, specifically reflecting the places I return to again and again in Queens on my own dime, long after I've critiqued them. The food is co ... More >>

Morning Links: President Obama to Meet Jan Brewer Today, Tony Hayward to Apologize Again, MTA Salaries on the Rise

​• Arizona Governor Jan Brewer will meet President Obama today at the White House. She has said "she will paint a picture of her state as 'under siege' by Mexican drug cartels and illegal immigrants." • Government officials say no to nuking the leaking oil well in the Gulf. Apparently it ... More >>

MTA Fares Up, MTA Service Down, MTA Salaries...Up?

​Over the last year or two, we've seen the price of a single ride Metrocard go from $2 to $2.25, and the service on all the places we use that Metrocard to get us go down and thin out. So how're we supposed to react when we hear that MTA salaries are up, and that LIRR conductors are making $10 ... More >>

Erinn Phelan of NYC Civic Corps Identified as Brooklyn Hit-and-Run Victim

​Recent Brown University graduate Erinn Phelan, 22, who was hired in June as a coordinator for Mayor Bloomberg's NYC Civic Corps initiative, has been identified as one of the victims in an early-morning hit-and-run accident in Prospect Heights. Police sources tell the News that Phelan, who was ... More >>

MTA Big Regrets Free New Years' Rides of the 80s

​The New York Times has a reminiscence of the free New Years Eve's rides MTA gave passengers in 1984 and 1985 -- which, we remember, added an especially festive air to the subways those nights. The alleged purpose was to discourage drunk driving, but the chief effect was to make us all hate th ... More >>

More about the snow

Queens in the snow​According to the National Weather Service, the snow is over (until Christmas, when we can expect rain, snow and sleet). After this, it's just going to blow around. Their last official accumulation numbers were 6" at LaGuardia, 11.1" at Kennedy, and 9.1" in Central Park as of ... More >>

Quick hits

The Obama administration is suggesting a voluntary ban on lobbyists serving on 915 Federal Advisory Committees which consult with federal agencies on government policy. The lobbyists, one of whom helped write the legislation which created the Committees when he was a Republican Senate staffer, are n ... More >>

MTA Chief Considers Off-Peak Pricing for Subways, Buses

Ride the whole system, all for the low price of [insert current fare here]! That's been the beauty of New York City transit. But the variable pricing afforded by unlimited-ride cards has blurred that distinction, and new MTA chairman, Jay Walder, may erase it: he is looking at "time-of-day pricing" ... More >>

Old Subway Nudity Story Has Promotional Purpose

​If you were wondering why the New York Post waited till now to tell us about a naked photo shoot on the L train in June, it may be they learned that the Associated Press had the story too and didn't want to get out-tabloided. We welcome nearly all public nudity stories, of course, but the lon ... More >>

Mayor's Transit Plan Highlights, from Free Crosstown Buses to (Horse-Drawn?) Streetcars

​Tired of relying on entropy and black ops to secure his landslide, Mayor Bloomberg today unveiled at his campaign website "Mike's Plan for a Better NYC Transit System." Among the highlights: "Free crosstown buses on select routes in Midtown." And worth every penny! Unmotorized wheelchairs cr ... More >>

IN THE MONEY

Share the joys of gambling with the kids

CRUNCH TIME

Big trucks smash cars. Awesome!

Strange Snacks of the World -- Duck lower jaws

I was hanging out in Flushing with my friend Francis Lam, who writes a weekly column for Gourmet.com. We'd been on the usual run to Golden Shopping Mall, Roosevelt Food Court, and the Peking duck window at Corner 28. We'd gotten a scallion pancake under the LIRR, and copped a lamb kebab ("with spic ... More >>

Subway Fare Going Up To As Much As $3

Falling Trees in Queens Claim First Victim

A Running Diary of Hip-Hop Superfest Rock the Bells

The exquisite joys of a sunny Sunday afternoon on the LIRR, Mos Def's basketball uniform, and De La Soul's late-'80s nostalgia

MTA Bigwig Likes His Perks

What Can You Buy When You're Broke?

A recession-proof guide with free answers for those who aren't afflicted by vulgar wealth

Another Day, Another (Much Different Kind of) Train Jerk

Etiquette Lesson: The LIRR Cellphone Guy

Some of Our Top Street Food Picks for the Vendys

Hellish Commute Part II: The MTA's Evening Update

It's a Good One: Holy Tamale

All Quiet on the Western Yards

A Union Town Loses Patience With the Strike

MTA Strike: Long Treks and ($10) Dollar Vans

Transit Strike: Working Class vs. Working Class

1993

Diablo Inferno

New Latin American thrash venue shreds open in Queens

Skyhole

Artist with green dentist's chair reflects on the old trolley days

Close-Up on the Fashion District

Close-Up on Glendale, Queens

Sports

Noodle Envy

Hold the Bile in Woodside

Close-Up on Forest Hills, Queens

Unforgiven

Close-Up On: Bedford-Stuyvesant

Acid-washed genes

The boys can't help it

Abalone, No Baloney