Trees down causing a taxi to crash in Manhattan.
Flooding in Ocean City Maryland.
Flooding near the Brooklyn Bridge Park on the East River.
Flooding in the train station in New York.
View of the flooding down 20th Avenue in New York.
Car is submerged in flood waters flowing down 20th Avenue in New York.
Flooding in Battery Park – New York.
Rising water under the Brooklyn Bridge – New York.
Pounding Atlantic City.
Along the Coast.
An apartment building decimated by Sandy.
As last reported by AP, the storm has knocked out power to 1.5 million people along the Eastern Seaboard. Be careful and stay safe if you’re in the path of Sandy.
From the Live Weather Cam, this image looks like a scene from the film, Day After Tomorrow. It’s surreal and I would suggest that people heed the warnings to evacuate.
6th Avenue in New York looks stark and desolate. Service for the buses and subways have been suspended. Businesses and schools are closed. People please, don’t think you’re invincible, use common sense and seek safety. Remember, you aren’t just putting your life in danger but also that of the First Responders, family and friends who may try to rescue you if necessary.
City faces a seawater surge that could reach 11 feet
Updated Monday, Oct. 29, 11:33 a.m.
A woman takes a picture as water washes over the sea wall near high tide at Battery Park in New York on Monday. (AP)
NEW YORK (AP) – Waves splashed over the sea walls at the southern tip of Manhattan, already at Hurricane Irene levels Monday hours before the worst of a mammoth storm was to hit the nation’s largest city with a wall of water that could reach 11 feet.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo closed two key tunnels to downtown Manhattan after the city shut its mass transit system, stock exchanges, schools and Broadway and ordered hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes ahead of Hurricane Sandy’s storm surge. While light rain fell steadily and New Yorkers still bustled on the streets, Cuomo warned residents to get out of the way.
“Don’t be fooled, don’t look out the window and say, it doesn’t look so bad,” Cuomo said. “The worst is still coming.”
Cuomo said emergency boats were being moved downstate and the Brooklyn Battery and Holland Tunnels, both prone to flooding, would close at 2 p.m. The floor of the New York Stock Exchange was deserted in its first unplanned shutdown since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. More than 20,000 customers, mostly in Long Island, has lost power in the area by Monday morning, utility officials. Most of the city’s 3,600 outages were in Brooklyn, officials said.
PHOTOS ON SKYE: Waters Rise as Superstorm Threatens Coast
On Monday, crowds gathered along the South Street Seaport, until police shooed them away. In Battery Park City, a complex of high-rise offices and apartment buildings erected on a landfill in lower Manhattan, holdouts watched as the Hudson rose and began to breach sections of scenic walkways along the river.
Many people were still out jogging, walking their dogs and even taking infants out in strollers amid gusts of wind.
Mark Vial pushed a stroller holding his 2-year-old daughter Maziyar toward the door of a building where they live on 15th floor.
“We’re high up enough, so I’m not worried about flooding,” he said. “There’s plenty of food. We’ll be ok.”
Vial, 35, said his building had several holdouts. “The laundry room was packed last night,” he said.
Some New Yorkers packed grocery stores for water and food and scrambled to get out of flood zones, while others insisted they weren’t going anywhere.
Others heeded warnings. Clutching a white pillow in her left hand and two computers in another, Alyssa Marks rushed to get to the subway before it stopped running Sunday evening. She’d gotten cash but had no time to get toiletries and water.
RELATED ON SKYE: Mapping the Megastorm – Track it Live
“I’m nervous, but I’m also excited,” she said as she left her apartment in a lower Manhattan evacuation zone for a friend’s place on higher ground.
Warnings about the superstorm – a predicted combination of Sandy, a wintry system moving in from the West and cold air streaming down from the Arctic – took on a much more ominous tone Sunday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s environmental protection chief, Louis Uccellini, called the projected storm surge “the worst-case scenario” for New York City, Long Island and northern New Jersey.
It threatened to swamp parts of lower Manhattan, flood subway tunnels and knock out the underground network of power, phone and high-speed Internet lines that are the lifeblood of America’s financial capital.
The major American stock exchanges closed for the day, the first unplanned shutdown since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. The floor of the NYSE, typically bustling with traders on a Monday morning, fell within the city’s mandatory evacuation zone. The United Nations canceled all meetings at its New York headquarters. New York called off school for the city’s 1.1 million students.
RELATED ON SKYE: Tips on Preparing for the Megastorm
The NYSE’s parent company said late Sunday that the shutdown might be extended through Tuesday “pending confirmation,” according to exchange operator NYSE Euronext.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Sunday announced a mandatory evacuation affecting 375,000 people in low-lying areas from the beaches of Queens to Battery Park City. Subways and buses were shut down Sunday night, leaving more than 5 million mostly carless daily riders on their own to get to higher ground.
Cuomo deployed National Guard troops to the city and Long Island. Consolidated Edison weighed the possibility of shutting down power in parts of lower Manhattan to protect equipment. Broadway shows were canceled for Sunday and Monday. One small hospital was being evacuated, while several others were moving patients to higher floors.
It marked the second time in 14 months that New York City has faced a scenario forecasters have long feared: a big hurricane hitting the city or a bit south, such that the cyclone’s counterclockwise winds drive water into miles of densely populated shoreline.
Hurricane Irene ultimately came ashore as a tropical storm in Coney Island, with a 4-foot storm surge that washed over parts of the southern tip of Manhattan but didn’t wreak the havoc that officials had feared, although it caused tremendous damage elsewhere. Some experts have said that a surge 3 feet higher could have caused huge damage.
PHOTOS ON SKYE: Waters Rise as Superstorm Threatens Coast
After a wonderful celebration with family and friends in LA on my actual birthday of October 19th, my friends in New York planned a 2nd birthday celebration. This time it was in New York or Brooklyn to be exact, at the fabulous River Cafe. This place is hands down, one of my favorite places to dine. If you want to have a romantic evening or just gather with your family and friends, this is the place to be.
The River Café draws more New Yorkers and visitors into Brooklyn than just about any entity since Coney Island. It has been the location of many major films, hundreds of commercials and countless television shows. It has hosted many of the most famous – from within government and business to celebrity and royalty from around the world.
The River Cafe has won numerous awards including The 2012 Michelin Guide Award, Distinguished Restaurants of North America Award (DiRoNA), The New York Parks Council Award and The Municipal Arts Society Award.
I would highly recommend if you’re in New York, make a reservation, because if the food doesn’t do it for you (and it would be surprising if it doesn’t), the spectacular views and excellent service will have you hooked!
One Water Street
Brooklyn, New York 11201
718.522.5200
**After 5:00 p.m. each day, jackets are required for gentlemen in the Main Dining Room and the Bar. Ties and collared shirts are always preferred.
Appropriate clothing and footwear is always required in all areas at all times. Men wearing backless sandals are not permitted.
This weekend was the Covenant Service for my niece/god-daughter Mallory. She was given her Hebrew name of Michaela, named for my sister-in-law’s mother Michele. As a surprise for my brother and sister-in-law, I wished Mallory a “Happy Baby Naming” in Times Square – New York.
My girl looks beautiful, appearing on the jumbo screen at the ‘crossroads of the world”. Whoo…Hoo!
I know it’s early in the morning but this story breaks my heart. There’s this wonderful family of 4 living here in Los Angeles. I met the mother briefly in my exercise class. She has stage 4 Lymphedema (which is a terrible debilitating disease of the lymphatic system). It has gotten so bad for the family that they literally have little to no food, money and must vacate their apartment has soon as possible.
The problem is that the system is so backed up and flawed that she doesn’t qualify for food assistance because her disability payment is too high…basically, I’m sorry your family has no food, but we can’t help you. Housing isn’t an option because the wait-list is well over a year. I will do everything I can to help them, but if there’s
anything any of you can do, please contact her family at 310.902-3134 – Evette.. No one in a country like the US should go hungry especially children.
I know I’ve been missing for a couple of weeks with the Weekend Hangout, but I was sick with terrible allergies. Now I’m back in time for my birthday! Today is the date my mom was in labor with me for 15 hours…as I’ve been told over the years, many, many times. I can’t wait for a frozen strawberry margarita and some fun.
But because we are in rather tough times and my REAL favorite affordable Mexican food restaurant, Acapulco, is no longer near where I live, I have rounded up a group of family and friends for Happy Hour at El Torito Grill.
I actually enjoy going there for Happy Hour in the Cantina. You can either sit indoors and enjoy some of the best chips, salsa and guacamole around or go out on the patio to enjoy the cool, mild LA evenings with drinks and friends in tow. Their Happy Hour lasts from 3 – 8 p.m….five hours to get your eat and drink on. Another plus is the staff… they’re so nice, friendly and accommodating. Ask for Lance, he’ll hook you up.
So if you’re ever in the Los Angeles area and looking for a good bang for your buck, stop by…you won’t be disappointed.
9595 Wilshire Blvd.
Beverly Hills, California 90210
Phone: 310-550-1599
Open Daily
Monday-Thursday 11:00am-9:00pm
Friday-Saturday 11:00am-10:00pm
Sunday 12:00am-9:00pm
Cantina Small Bites (7 Days/wk in the Cantina).
Drink Specials (M-F 3-8pm in the Cantina).
It’s official, Hollywood has either run out of ideas or this is some cleverly contrived way of keeping diversity at a minimum. Had to throw that one in for good measure. How many Carrie’s are they going to remake? The original movie with Sissy Spacek is a cult classic but it also had a human interest story behind the central plot. She didn’t go ballistic for the sake of terrorizing people, she lost control of her emotions after being relentlessly teased and harassed. Could you blame her, she was with the hot guy in school and that was interrupted by bullying jerks. I would have put the smack-down on them too.
Then there was that made-for-TV stinker with Angela Bettis…Hello, please, that thing should have never seen the light of day. Now we have this one with the newest young “it” girl, Chloe Moretz. I think the 1 sheet (movie poster) pretty much says it all. And the trailer puts the period at the end of the sentence. This is another CGI gore fest that’s short on narrative and long on death and destruction. Just another day in brain-cell deficient Hollywood.
They recycle the same actors and the same characters over and over again…ad nauseam. Then when there are great films, with fantastic acting and thought-provoking narratives, those will barely see the light of day. For example, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and even some of the soon to be released ones like Zero Dark Thirty and Hitchcock…tons of people won’t see these films because the public has been indoctrinated to want gratuitous sex, spectacular explosions, very little dialogue and hot young things (men and women) prancing around with bulging muscles, ripped six packs, big breasts and skin-tight costumes. Some people don’t necessarily want to think (short attention spans), they want to fantasize and be entertained. It’s as if Hollywood wants the viewing audience to lose additional brain-cells right along with them.
But here’s the trailer in all its bloody glory.
This cracks me up! The residents of Beverly Hills and surrounding affluent neighborhoods, are the same people who have tried endlessly to stop the subway to the sea because they’re afraid that the “wrong people” will invade their bastion of wealth and entitlement, though they won’t publicly admit it. Now the 99 Cent Store wants to further encroach on the mecca of conspicuous consumption by opening a store on Rodeo Drive…my how times have changed. For some strange reason, I’m pulling for the 99 Cent Store. I would love to see the faces of the old money elite shivering in their designer duds when they see different people, not of the Beverly Hills/Bel Air set, marching proudly into the store, feeling that a store they’re familiar with, is reason enough to take a trip to Rodeo Drive. If this comes to fruition, I too will drive down there and do my shopping right beside all the other working class people rubbing the wealthy’s noses in the mere fact of us being there. Sorry 1%-ers, it just may be open season on your playground.
If your Rodeo Drive shopping stops include Versace, Armani, Chanel and Tiffany & Co., perhaps you’d be interested in a store where you could drop a real bundle, of $1 bills that is.
The 99 Cents Only Stores chain announced that it’s searching for a retail space on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Calif., one of the toniest shopping strips in the world.
“We think our store will do well. Our highest amounts of sales are happening in our branch on Wilshire Boulevard. We know for a fact a lot of customers there are coming from Beverly Hills. This store will be here to stay. The major reason for its success will be the challenging economy which came as the final impetus to open the store,” Eric Schiffer, The 99 Cents Only Store CEO, told ABC News.
The 99 Cents Only Store is confident that opening on Rodeo Drive be a winning move. “We’ve had many success stories that are similar to this scenario. After we opened our store in West Hollywood on West Lincoln Boulevard, a Whole Foods came right next to us. As soon as it did, our business went up dramatically,” he said.
“Oh my God! How will it work in the middle of all the fancy-shmantsy?” Beverly Hills resident since 1977 Ann Garry told ABC News when she heard the news.
“If there’s a 99 Cent Only Store on Rodeo Drive, I will definitely shop there. I wouldn’t dream of shopping on Rodeo Drive. Instead of just looking at the windows I can now shop there,” said Garry.
Mikael Choukroun, manager of 208 Rodeo restaurant located on the Rodeo Drive, he is concerned about the street losing its high-class identity.
“Hearing news of The 99 Cents Store opening is very disappointing. I worked for 20 years at Les Champs Elysees [in Paris] and I have seen what such stores have done to it. After McDonalds and similar places opened many of the high-end brands left Les Champs Elysees and it’s now full of cheap stores. I can see this happening to Rodeo Drive if they start opening such stores,” said Choukroun.
Making ends meet as far as rent will be a challenging task, said Schiffer. “We’re hoping to find a landlord who will understand that with opening such a store we will increase traffic on Rodeo Drive, which has been slow due to the bad economy,” said Schiffer.
“By putting our news release out on Tuesday we hope to attract the interest of landlords and perhaps cut the middle-man process, and by that, cut some extra costs,” he said.
The store hopes to appeal to locals and to tourists. “Shops on Rodeo make most of their sales from tourists. When tourists get their basic needs from our store, as opposed to paying a lot more for the same items at their hotels, they will have saved enough to shop on Rodeo,” said Schiffer.
The 99 Cent Stores operates 303 outlets in California, Texas, Arizona, and Nevada. “We were the first store to sell in 99 cent or a buck items. We are an LA iconic business. We started in LA 30 years ago and grew to 300 stores and we want it to be the home of our flagship store… the city where we started. Also, what’s wrong with having an exception, and we would be that exception,” said Schiffer.
The Scoodie 