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 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
  2. The Grand Hotels of the Eric Adams Indictment The mayor really seemed to like the Istanbul St. Regis.
    By Clio Chang
  3. The Look Book Goes to the Armory Show Opening Party Ahead of the art fair at the Javits Center, artists, gallerists, and collectors gathered at the National Arts Club to celebrate.
    By Emily Leibert
  4. Jonquel Jones Showed Up at the Wrong Brooklyn Apartment on Moving Day The New York Liberty power forward on adjusting to high-rise living and getting recognized in Fort Greene Park.
    By Clio Chang
  5. Rumaan Alam Moved to New York With a Bottle of Acqua di Giò and $300 The novelist on his early years scrimping in New York, even after getting a job at Condé Nast.
    By Clio Chang
  6. The Look Book Goes to a White-Coat Ceremony Newly minted students at Weill Cornell Medical College recently gathered for a rite of passage: receiving their white coats from the faculty.
    By Kelsie Schrader and Jenna Milliner-Waddell
  7. East Hampton’s Zero Bond Outpost Has Closed After a summer of 911 calls and controversy, the restaurant’s one-season lease at the Hedges Inn was not extended
    By Stephanie Krikorian
  8. Larry Silverstein Outlasted Everyone There’s a lot of see-I-was-right-ness in his new memoir about rebuilding the World Trade Center — and often he was.
    By Justin Davidson
  9. In the Shack With Robert Caro The Power Broker is turning 50. His final LBJ book is almost — well, he won’t say exactly, but he’s trying for 900 words a day.
    By Christopher Bonanos
  10. Pete Davidson and Colin Jost’s Ferry Goes to Fashion Week Its first gig is for Tommy Hilfiger.
    By Clio Chang
  11. Some Chump Drilled a Hole Through the Top of the Queens-Midtown Tunnel It was closed all afternoon.
    By Christopher Bonanos
  12. Listening In at Columbia’s First Day Back A heavy police presence and a lot of grumbling about the lines.
    By Adriane Quinlan
  13. How to Make Six Figures By Reporting Idling Trucks New York created a program that let citizens earn money by reporting polluters. Then it went to war with them.
    By Rafil Kroll-Zaidi
  14. The Hoopla Over Ho-Hum A neighboring town challenged Bellport Village residents’ exclusive access to a Fire Island beach. The villagers aren’t having it.
    By Bridget Read
  15. Park Avenue’s Park Is Coming Back. Partially. Eventually. Restoring part of a gracious streetscape that we once ceded to cars.
    By Christopher Bonanos
  16. Richard Kind Used to Sublet to Jon Stewart The actor, joining ‘Only Murders in the Building’ this season, talks about his early years in New York as a singing waiter and struggling actor.
    By Clio Chang
  17. Nothing But Balloons at the Park Avenue Armory The experience is weird, garish, imperfect, and somehow still fun.
    By Ian Volner
  18. The End of Our Decrepit Streetery Era New rules may have scared away many restaurants, but this may be the beginning of better outdoor dining.
    By Justin Davidson
  19. A Catskills Camp by a Bed-Stuy Queer Bar Singers’s new space has donkeys, a cedar-lined hot tub, and six tastefully renovated rooms.
    By Zach Schiffman
  20. A Housing Expert on Kamala Harris’s New Proposals Turns out the presidential candidate has some YIMBY tendencies.
    By Bridget Read
  21. The Rockaways Chief Lifeguard Who’s Been Rescuing Swimmers for Decades Janet Fash on her early days in the male-dominated lifeguard force and its hard-partying culture.
    By Clio Chang
  22. Dog Parks Are Holding This City Together — For Now A pressure release valve for the city works with lots of money.
    By Christopher Robbins
  23. The Look Book Goes to the ‘For the Girls’ Closet Sale Model Paloma Elsesser, stylist Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, and friends cleared their coveted closets for a rare designer sale featuring sizes up to 4XL.
    By Kelsie Schrader and Jenna Milliner-Waddell
  24. How a Floating Pool in the East River Would Actually Work A scientist explains how the Plus Pool would make the East River clean enough to swim in.
    By Clio Chang
  25. Why Are We Still Making Unshaded Playgrounds? The city’s newest park at Pier 42 is leaving kids scorching in the sun.
    By Yessenia Funes
  26. Charlotte Shane Had an Aesthetic Crisis in a Midtown Old Navy The author on getting tricked into renting in Tribeca and her early days in New York City.
    By Clio Chang
  27. The City Wants to Demolish a West Village Recreation Center The historic Tony Dapolito center with a Keith Haring mural is landmarked but the city says it’s too expensive to preserve.
    By Clio Chang
  28. I Rented a Very Popular Backyard Pool It’s in Staten Island, and it’s the most-booked listing on the rent-by-the-hour app Swimply.
    By Clio Chang
  29. The Look Book Goes to Gunnison Beach We spent a recent Saturday at the clothing-optional section of Sandy Hook Beach in New Jersey.
    By Kelsie Schrader and Jenna Milliner-Waddell
  30. A Sixteen-Foot-Tall Pigeon Comes to Nest on the High Line Please don’t feed Iván Argote’s monumental Dinosaur.
    By Carl Swanson
  31. How to Grow Weed in Your Apartment As of late June, New Yorkers 21 and older can legally grow cannabis at home. Here’s exactly how to do it.
    By Chala June
  32. Pour a Little Frappuccino Out for the Astor Place Starbucks It’s closed after nearly 30 years.
    By Christopher Bonanos
  33. Walking Along the Seine Is Now ‘Worse Than the Eras Tour’ Olympics security rules have made it nearly impossible to get around without hitting a checkpoint or barricade.
    By John Surico
  34. Printemps Is Coming to One Wall Street The Parisian luxury department store has a long history of operating in landmarks.
    By Ian Volner
  35. The Queen Bunk-Bed Influencers Despite living in a tiny West Village studio, this couple will never go back to sharing a bed.
    By Clio Chang
  36. The MTA’s Oldest Computer Controls Kept Going During the Global Tech Outage Most of the Cuomo-era countdown clocks on the lettered subway lines failed; the old ones on the numbered lines did not.
    By Nolan Hicks
  37. Kareem Rahma Wore Wool Suits in the Summer Because of Mad Men The host of Subway Takes on moving to New York the year of Hurricane Sandy and the Alphabet City apartment where everyone came to crash.
    By Zach Schiffman
  38. Shigeru Ban’s Dazzling Architecture of Time The architect’s approach (and choice of materials) embraces simplicity and change.
    By Philip Jodidio and Introduction by Justin Davidson
  39. The Look Book Goes to the Campus Galleries Upstate For the opening of Bortolami, James Cohan, kaufmann repetto, Anton Kern, Andrew Kreps, and kurimanzutto’s shared art space in Claverack.
    By Kelsie Schrader and Jenna Milliner-Waddell
  40. The City’s Quiet Crackdown on Kava Bars The businesses selling kava and kratom drinks have found themselves in a legal limbo.
    By Chris Crowley
  41. Why the Third Avenue Bridge Got Stuck Aging infrastructure? Global warming? Not exactly.
    By Christopher Bonanos
  42. The City’s Crawling With Feral Cats Obsessed volunteers are the only thing standing between the city and a stream of disease-ridden cats. They’re barely making a dent.
    By Molly Osberg
  43. Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor Power Supply Is Ancient and Failing Those hot-weather slowdowns and stoppages are largely the fault of one outdated piece of infrastructure.
    By Nolan Hicks
  44. Crest Hardware Is Closing Owner Joe Franquinha confirmed the news in a letter to customers.
    By Sukjong Hong and Clio Chang
  45. The Look Book Goes to Brooklyn Prep’s Prom The high school’s senior class (and one precious junior) celebrated at Russo’s on the Bay in Queens with steak dinners and dancing.
    By Kelsie Schrader and Jenna Milliner-Waddell
  46. What Did Brooklyn Bridge Park Get So Right? Nearly 20 years after we broke ground, it’s more impressive than ever.
    By Justin Davidson
  47. Ikea Will Try (for the Third Time) to Open a Manhattan Store Three previous mini-stores, like your Lack coffee table, fell apart after only a couple of years.
    By Christopher Bonanos
  48. The Citi Bike Battery Crew Racing to Keep 15,000 Bikes Online Most docks don’t charge e-bikes (yet). These folks do.
    By John Surico
  49. The West Village ‘Pink House’ Where the Naked Angels Play Developer Mark O’Brien bought a 185-year-old townhouse. Then he let actors take over.
    By Kate Brennan
  50. Ryan Serhant Was a Hand Model for AT&T The broker and Owning Manhattan reality star on his earliest days in the city.
    By Clio Chang
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