Cityscape

Curbed
year in review

Curbed’s 20 Most-Read Stories of 2024

 From feral cats to the squatters of Beverly Hills, these are the stories that readers loved most this year. By Curbed editors
  1. The Look Book Goes to the Double Dutch Holiday Classic Some of the world’s best jumpers gathered at the Apollo Theater for the 33rd annual National Double Dutch League competition.
    By Emily Leibert and Jeremy Rellosa
  2. Architecture Is an Act of Vengeance in The Brutalist The film uses the field as a metaphor within a metaphor about trauma and mediocrity. The result is murk.
    By Justin Davidson
  3. Gigi Hadid Has Terrace Rats She’s addressing the issue.
    By Clio Chang
  4. The Slow Death of Neon Rockefeller Center is proposing to rip out its glowing glass signage in favor of LEDs. It joins a heap of others.
    By Christopher Bonanos
  5. Can Architects Build for Rebuilding? Good planning for the future means thinking about a structure’s long-term flexibility before it goes up.
    By Justin Davidson
  6. The Domme-Sub Roommates in a Downtown Brooklyn One-Bedroom Their dynamic extends to everything except the rent, which they split equally.
    By Kayla Levy
  7. The Met’s Contemporary-Art Wing Will Be Elegant and Tame A first look at Frida Escobedo’s forthcoming addition.
    By Justin Davidson
  8. This Stretch of Atlantic Avenue Can’t Fit Another Tasteful Shop The block where Toast, East Fork, and Outline opened is getting crowded.
    By Rachel Davies
  9. Read Curbed on New York Magazine’s Excellent New App Along with easy access to all the other sites, from the Cut to Vulture.
    By Curbed editors
  10. Can Life in the Financial District Really Be That Good? Truth in advertising or a conspiracy to make lower Manhattan a “thing.”
    By Clio Chang
  11. The Look Book Goes to a Literary Launch Party The Whitney Review of New Writing, Whitney Mallett’s culture periodical, held a packed party at Frog Club to celebrate its fourth issue.
    By Emily Leibert and Jeremy Rellosa
  12. Disney’s New Downtown Headquarters Is All New York There’s nothing goofy about it.
    By Justin Davidson
  13. The Year the Cybertruck Took Manhattan All at once, Elon Musk’s goofy space tanks seemed to be everywhere.
    By Clio Chang
  14. 39 Reasons to Love New York Right Now ‘SNL’ is 50 and 38 other reasons why.
    By The Editors
  15. Will the BQE Survive the Trump Administration? And other burning questions we asked Meera Joshi, New York City’s infrastructure-funding czar.
    By John Surico
  16. The History of the Modern Office in One Building The old MetLife complex on Madison Square, once a hive of paper-pushing clerks, gains a tall addition that’s all light and air.
    By Justin Davidson
  17. Can We Design Our Way Out of the Subway-Surfing Crisis? New trains make it much harder to climb out and up, and that’s yet another reason to upgrade.
    By Nolan Hicks
  18. The Look Book Goes to the New York Scottish Ball Dozens of Scots — and those who love them — gathered in Battery Park for an evening of whiskey and reels in full Highland dress.
    By Emily Leibert and Jeremy Rellosa
  19. We’re Finally Getting Some Real Rain So is the drought warning over?
    By Clio Chang
  20. The Black Hole on Columbia Heights An Italianate mansion mysteriously left to rot on Matt Damon’s Brooklyn Heights block.
    By Bridget Read
  21. My Monster Tenant He moved into our Noho loft — then tore out most of the interior walls. Turns out it wasn’t his first impromptu demolition.
    By Suzanne Seggerman
  22. The Upper West Side’s Zone of Pedestrian Death The area around 96th Street is dangerous. And it’s hardly the worst in town.
    By Justin Davidson
  23. ‘New York City Will Have to Defend a Lot of Programs We Rely On’ What housing here might look like under a second Trump administration.
    By Kim Velsey
  24. Now the Wildfires Are Burning Here That smell in the air is from brush fires in Prospect Park and the Palisades.
    By Christopher Bonanos
  25. The Reddening of New York City How the boroughs voted may surprise you.
    By Clio Chang
  26. Watching New York Watch the Election From Trump Tower to a Chelsea art gallery, here’s where the city gathered and waited.
    By Curbed Staff
  27. What Am I Supposed to Do During This Drought Watch? Your dry-spell questions, answered.
    By Clio Chang
  28. Concrete Behemoths in the Morning Light Owen Davies’s photographs of beige brutalism find beauty in these divisive landmarks.
    By Christopher Bonanos and Owen Davies
  29. The Look Book Goes to the Grindr Pleasure Ball The theme was “Flirts, Follies, and Finery,” and a Georgian-era dress code was strictly enforced by hosts Billy Porter and Frankie Sharp.
    By Emily Leibert
  30. I Am Already in Couch Hell Amazon’s $20 sofa will make it worse.
    By Bridget Read
  31. Feral Cats Have Taken Over Donald Trump’s Childhood Home Neighbors say the house looks abandoned, and the yard smells like a litter box.
    By Nick Fraccaro
  32. Mary Norris Eavesdropped on Ella Fitzgerald at the Algonquin The grande dame of The New Yorker’s copy desk about her early days in the city and trying to get her cabbie’s license to make rent.
    By Clio Chang
  33. The Look Book Goes to a College Fair At the NYPL’s annual event, local high-schoolers met with representatives from Sarah Lawrence, Barnard, Fordham, and more to explore their options.
    By Emily Leibert
  34. The Bed-Stuy Aquarium Dried Up And all the fish are dead.
    By Clio Chang
  35. The Vessel, Newly Closed-In, Is Open Again Safer, surely, but still as dumb an attraction as ever.
    By Justin Davidson
  36. Trying to Get Mom and Dad to Move Out of Florida The New Yorkers fighting their retiree parents about leaving hurricane zones behind for good.
    By Will Peischel
  37. It’ll Be a Whole New Fifth Avenue More trees, wider sidewalks, and fewer cars.
    By Christopher Bonanos
  38. When You Can’t Escape ‘Empire State of Mind’ The Jay-Z and Alicia Keys track is 15 years old — and playing on a continuous, maddening loop for people who work in Times Square.
    By Max Cea
  39. Why Do Concert Halls Still Matter? An antique architectural form that continues to resonate.
    By Justin Davidson
  40. The Look Book Goes to ¡VAYA! Dance Night at Lincoln Center Regulars flooded into the monthly Latin-music night for the return of charanga band Orquesta Broadway.
    By Emily Leibert
  41. New Jersey Sells Itself to the World The Garden State is trying to attract tourists from Dublin to Munich. What do they think once they arrive?
    By Will Peischel
  42. The World’s Largest Plumbing Repair New York City’s principal water-supply aqueduct gets a bypass operation.
    By Christopher Bonanos
  43. Joby the Electric Helicopter Wants to Take You to JFK At some point in the future. If it can get FAA certification.
    By Clio Chang
  44. Do I Need to Panic About the Longshoremen Strike? We talked to an expert about supply chains, consumer behavior, and bananas.
    By Kim Velsey
  45. Mapping the Many Raids of Adams World Federal agents have spent a lot of time searching the homes and offices of our mayor and his administration. Let’s take a tour.
    By Clio Chang
  46. The Two Paul Rudolphs The Met’s retrospective reveals the architect’s vision and optimism — and his supreme arrogance.
    By Justin Davidson
  47. Rat Birth Control Is Happening The City Council voted in favor of a pilot to try to control the rodent population with contraceptives.
    By Clio Chang
  48. E-Scooters Have Divided Suburban Queens Some residents and politicians call them “woke transport.” Others are happily riding them to the 7 train.
    By Clio Chang
  49. The Eavesdropper Goes to City Hall on Indictment Day We hustled downtown — stopping by the City Council and the offices of federal prosecutors, too — to hear what people are saying about the mayor.
    By Adriane Quinlan
  50. The Turkish Consulate at the Center of the Eric Adams Investigation Prosecutors say the mayor used his influence to speed up the opening of the building for Erdogan’s visit.
    By Kim Velsey
Load More