All articles by Dana Schulz

Dana is a writer and preservationist with a passion for all things New York.  After graduating from New York University with a BA in Urban Design & Architecture Studies, she worked at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, where she planned the organization's public programs and wrote for their blog Off the Grid. In her free time, she leads walking tours about the social and cultural history of city neighborhoods. Follow her on Twitter @danaschulzNYC.
August 5, 2015

POLL: Do You Still Shop at Your Local Bodega?

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Yesterday we asked the question, “Are the city’s bodegas becoming a thing of the past?” As we noted, “many of these tiny shops have been scrambling to stay in business. The city’s roughly 12,000 bodegas are losing customers.” According to the Times, 75 have already shuttered this year. Typically, we pin this on rising rents […]

Want to Enter an Affordable Housing Lottery? You’ll Be up Against 696 Other Applicants

Photo via Wiki Commons

August 4, 2015

Want to Enter an Affordable Housing Lottery? You’ll Be up Against 696 Other Applicants

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Photo via Wiki Commons According to a new report from the Daily News, for every affordable apartment offered through the city's housing lotteries since 2013, there were 696 applicants, leaving you with a measly 0.14 percent chance of being selected. "All told, there were 2.9 million applications for 4,174 affordable units available from 72 lotteries run by the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD)," says the News, yet another signifier that average New Yorkers are struggling to pay ever-increasing rents.
Find out more here
VIDEO: Travel Back to Coney Island’s Summer Heyday in the 1940s
August 3, 2015

VIDEO: Travel Back to Coney Island’s Summer Heyday in the 1940s

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"Coney Island, the world's greatest fun frolic, with its beach miles long, all peppered with people. The place where merriment is king." That's the opening line in this fun video that offers a tour of 1940s Coney Island during its heyday as the go-to summer destination. The narrator describes the millions of people on the boardwalk and beach, and while this might seem like an exaggeration at first, the footage clearly shows hordes of revelers sunbathing, swimming, lining up for the freakshow, and enjoying the rides (many of which probably wouldn't be deemed safe today). There's also great scenes of the Miss Coney Island contest (a swimsuit beauty pageant where the judge takes out the tape measurer for the contestants' waists), the famous Cyclone, and Luna Park lit up at night.
Watch the nostalgic video here
Last Music Row Shop Closes; The Mansions of Mill Basin
August 3, 2015

Last Music Row Shop Closes; The Mansions of Mill Basin

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Home-furnishings chain Restoration Hardware is opening a boutique hotel and restaurant around the corner from its flagship store in the Meatpacking District. [Crain’s] The last store of Music Row, the stretch of 48th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues that was once filled with guitar sellers, studios and repair shops, has closed. [NYP] Residents are staying […]

July’s 10 Most-Read Stories and This Week’s Features
August 1, 2015

July’s 10 Most-Read Stories and This Week’s Features

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July’s 10 Most-Read Stories My 425sqft: Tour a Bubbly Packaging Designer’s Boerum Hill Studio Filled with Eclectic Finds Julia Roberts Lists Greenwich Village Apartment for $4.5M New York’s First-Ever Penthouse: A 54-Room Upper East Side Mansion Built for a Cereal Heiress Day vs. Night: What NYC’s Population Looks Like Tetra-Shed: A Portable Wooden Home Office […]

NYC Entering Biggest Building Boom in 50 Years; New Rendering of 220 Central Park South
July 30, 2015

NYC Entering Biggest Building Boom in 50 Years; New Rendering of 220 Central Park South

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New residential construction permits are at the highest since 1963, likely attributed to the expiration of the 421-a tax break. [WSJ] Two Billionaires’ Row condos, 111 West 57th Street and 1 Park Lane, only subsidized 23 affordable housing units. [DNAinfo] Jeopardy host Alex Trebek bought a $1.92 million fixer-upper Harlem townhouse for his 25-year-old son. [NYP] […]

NYC aka New Netherland: Mapping the 11 Different Cultural ‘Nations’ Within the U.S.

Map via Colin Woodward and Tufts/Brian Stauffer

July 30, 2015

NYC aka New Netherland: Mapping the 11 Different Cultural ‘Nations’ Within the U.S.

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Those of us who live in the tri-state area tend to get accused of thinking the country is made up of the northeast, the west coast, and maybe Florida, and then forgetting about the entire rest of the country. A new map that is part funny, part culturally realistic takes a look at the "11 distinct cultures that have historically divided the U.S.," according to Business Insider. The spot-on map comes from award-winning author and journalist Colin Woodward's newest book American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures in North America. In Woodward's map, New York City and northern New Jersey is renamed New Netherland, as it was settled by the Dutch and is a very commercial area. The author describes this nation as "materialistic, with a profound tolerance for ethnic and religious diversity and an unflinching commitment to the freedom of inquiry and conscience."
Find out about the other nations of our nation
Endangered Species Will Be Projected on the Empire State Building; Mapping the Hottest Subway Stations
July 30, 2015

Endangered Species Will Be Projected on the Empire State Building; Mapping the Hottest Subway Stations

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Soho is getting a cat camp pop-up this weekend. It will offer a series of educational “cativities.” [NYDN] New dating app Cheekd will let you search missed connections on the subway without any internet. [DNAinfo] New Yorkers think everyone else works less and is lazier than them. [Daily Intelligencer] On Saturday night, digital light images of endangered […]

My 1,000sqft: Tour an Interior Designer’s Classic Greenwich Village Apartment and Terrace

Our ongoing series “My sqft” checks out the homes of 6sqft’s friends, family and fellow New Yorkers across all the boroughs. Our latest interior adventure brings us to the heart of Greenwich Village. Want your home to be featured here? Get in touch!

July 29, 2015

My 1,000sqft: Tour an Interior Designer’s Classic Greenwich Village Apartment and Terrace

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Sylvia Jacobson used to walk around Greenwich Village's winding, leafy streets, admiring the old buildings and dreaming that one day she'd live in the picturesque neighborhood. And 38 years ago, she did just that. When she and her husband moved into their fifth-floor walkup they had a lot of work to do–from putting up shelves and drawers in the little kitchen, to creating a multi-purpose room that could serve as a den as well as a studio for Sylvia's writing and interior design careers, to creating a usable terrace on an empty rooftop space. Now, almost four decades later, the apartment has withstood the test of time, bringing together clever design ideas and classic decor. We were lucky enough to get a tour of this 1,000-square-foot home and its stunning 500-square-foot terrace, complete with views of neighboring buildings and even One World Trade Center. Join us to see how elegant, tasteful design never goes out of style.
Step inside Sylvia's home here
Bringing Back Drinking Fountains in NYC; Run Your Gadgets on Solar Energy with a Simple Outlet Adapter
July 29, 2015

Bringing Back Drinking Fountains in NYC; Run Your Gadgets on Solar Energy with a Simple Outlet Adapter

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Can drinking fountains make a comeback in NYC? [CityLab] There’s a tiny island called Tinian, 8,000 miles from New York in the Pacific Ocean, where you’ll find NYC locations like Broadway, Central Park, Greenwich Village, and Riverside Drive. [Gothamist] A table lamp designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for his 1911 Taliesin house in Wisconsin is now available […]

July 29, 2015

POLL: Should the MTA Get Money from the State Before LaGuardia Airport?

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Yesterday, we learned of Governor Cuomo’s plans for a major, $4 billion overhaul of LaGuardia Airport. The project includes consolidating the four terminals, moving the entire facility south, introducing a 24-hour ferry service, and launching AirTrain service that’ll connect travelers to the 7 line in Willet’s Point. Today, however, the revelry took a turn when it […]

Airbnb Is Gobbling Up 20 Percent of Apartments in Popular Manhattan and Brooklyn Neighborhoods

Photo courtesy of Airbnb via Facebook

July 29, 2015

Airbnb Is Gobbling Up 20 Percent of Apartments in Popular Manhattan and Brooklyn Neighborhoods

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As if it wasn't challenging enough to find a reasonable apartment in New York City, Airbnb is now taking up 20 percent of available units in popular Manhattan and Brooklyn zip codes, reports the Daily News. According to a study from New York Communities for Change and Real Affordability For All, the East Village is the most affected, with 28 percent of its apartments being rented as illegal hotel rooms on Airbnb. Additionally, the 20 most popular neighborhoods on the room sharing site "have lost 10% of their available housing units to Airbnb."
Find out more here
Governor Cuomo Reveals Renderings for $4 Billion LaGuardia Airport Overhaul
July 28, 2015

Governor Cuomo Reveals Renderings for $4 Billion LaGuardia Airport Overhaul

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After much anticipation, Governor Cuomo unveiled his plan yesterday to overhaul LaGuardia Airport, which he called "un-New York" in its current state. The $4 billion project includes consolidating the four terminals into one hub and moving the entire facility south the length of two football fields, according to Crain's. Additionally, Cuomo's controversial AirTrain, which will connect travelers to the 7 line in Willet's Point, will be put into effect, as will a 24-hour ferry service that will operate out of the landmarked Art Deco Marine Air Terminal. The development will be handled by LaGuardia Gateway Partners, a new public-private partnership formed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who will oversee the construction, financing, and operation of the new terminal under a 35-year lease.
Lots more details and renderings this way
Renderings Revealed for Bjarke Ingels’ Curved Harlem Apartment Building
July 28, 2015

Renderings Revealed for Bjarke Ingels’ Curved Harlem Apartment Building

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Now that the hoopla surrounding his design for Two World Trade Center has simmered down, we've got a fresh set of renderings from Danish starchitect Bjarke Ingels. NY Yimby revealed the preliminary designs for his firm's 11-story East Harlem apartment building at 146 East 126th Street, which show a T-shaped structure that cantilevers over the Gotham Plaza retail center on 125th Street. The real fun is on the 126th Street side, though, where Bjarke employs a play on the conventional street wall with an undulating facade that seems to be a modern interpretation of the surrounding brick buildings. The project is being developed by none other than Extell, along with the Blumenfeld Group.
More details and renderings here
Photographing Street Art on NYC Doorways; The Last Remnant of the Original Penn Station
July 28, 2015

Photographing Street Art on NYC Doorways; The Last Remnant of the Original Penn Station

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Photo series “Doorway Galleries” documents the spray-painted, stenciled, and stickered doorways of NYC buildings. [BK Mag] Active uses, street furniture, and first-floor windows–are these the three traits shared by the city’s most walkable streets? [CityLab] A mysterious building on West 31st Street is the last remnant of the original Penn Station. [Scouting NY] This device […]

Donald Trump Gets $21M for Trump Park Avenue Penthouse
July 28, 2015

Donald Trump Gets $21M for Trump Park Avenue Penthouse

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When you have $1.4 billion in assets, $21 million is a drop in the bucket, but the Wall Street Journal reports that's what Donald Trump just got for the sale of his penthouse in his namesake building Trump Park Avenue. The apartment is not too exciting, but it does boast 6,200 square feet, ten-foot ceilings, five bedrooms, seven-and-a-half bathrooms, and a private elevator. Trump bought the full-floor penthouse in 2002, when his company converted the Upper East Side building to condos, but never lived there. It first hit the market back in 2013 for $35 million and most recently got a price chop to $24.99 million.
Look around the whole place here
Should NYC Implement San Francisco’s ‘Pee-Proof’ Paint to Deter Public Urination?

Image via YouTube/St. Pauli Peeback

July 27, 2015

Should NYC Implement San Francisco’s ‘Pee-Proof’ Paint to Deter Public Urination?

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Normally, urinating in public comes with a hefty fine, but in San Francisco, offenders might be spending their money instead on a new pair of clothes and shoes. The problem has apparently gotten so out of hand in the city that the Public Works Department is implementing "pee-proof" paint on walls that are hot spots for people to relieve themselves. The special superhydrophobic coating called Ultra-Ever Dry is liquid repellent, and therefore splashes the urine right back on the person.
More details and a video on the technology
Flushing and the Upper East Side Top the List of Most Traffic Accidents in NYC
July 27, 2015

Flushing and the Upper East Side Top the List of Most Traffic Accidents in NYC

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Between March 2014 and April 2015, the city reported 223,141 motor vehicle accidents, almost 25 percent of which resulted in injury or death. The Auto Insurance Center used this open-source data, which includes geographical coordinates for the accidents, to create maps and graphs examining where and when the collisions happened (h/t Brokelyn). Queens accounted for 29.5 percent of the total collisions, with Brooklyn coming in right behind at 28 percent. In terms of neighborhoods (broken down by police precincts), Flushing, Queens takes the top spot, followed by Queens Village, the Upper East Side, Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, and Long Island City, respectively.
More data and maps right here
Bernheimer Architecture’s Lightbox House Is Made of Stacked Boxes to Capture Upstate Views
July 26, 2015

Bernheimer Architecture’s Lightbox House Is Made of Stacked Boxes to Capture Upstate Views

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When Bernheimer Architecture was commissioned to build a house and studio in the Hamptons for a photographer and his family, the firm knew the views needed to take center stage. The result is the Lightbox House, a series of spaces that are arranged around cropped views of the surrounding landscape. There's the main house, a pair of stacked boxes, and the photography studio, which takes advantage of natural daylight with strategically placed windows and skylights. The two structures are separated by a large pool that seems to float on the lush lawn.
See the whole house here
Weekly Highlights: Top Picks from the 6sqft Staff
July 25, 2015

Weekly Highlights: Top Picks from the 6sqft Staff

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Here’s How You Can Live in a Billionaire’s Row Condo for Free AND Make Six Figures Julia Roberts Lists Greenwich Village Apartment for $4.5M What Does Your Zip Code Say About You? This Map Tells All The History of Brooklyn Blackout Cake: German Bakeries and WWII Drills BIG Ideas: Bjarke Ingels Talks 2 WTC and […]

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