Kwon is best known for capturing the burgeoning New York hip-hop scene from the late 1980s to the late 2000s, featuring iconic figures such as Notorious B.I.G., Method Man, and De La Soul.
Manhattan
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Tour Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s New York Studio
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1 min read
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© THE ESTATE OF CHRISTO V. JAVACHEFF 
© THE ESTATE OF CHRISTO V. JAVACHEFF View more photos of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s 48 Howard Street art studio in Manhattan at galeriemagazine.com.
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Knopf Doubleday’s editor in chief, Sonny Mehta dies at 77
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2 min read
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Knopf Doubleday has been publishing books for nearly 122 years since its founding in 1897. During that century and a quarter’s time, there have been only 3 editors in chief at the helm, Sonny Mehta was appointed to the position in 1987:
Today, Knopf is one of the most venerable literary publishers in the country. In its 100-year history, the company, which is now part of Penguin Random House, has had only three people at the helm—Knopf himself, Robert Gottlieb, and current editor-in-chief Sonny Mehta.
Sadly, The Washington Post reports, the acclaimed editor passed away from complications of pneumonia:
Sonny Mehta, a literary tastemaker and kingmaker who spent more than three decades at the helm of the Alfred A. Knopf publishing house, where he courted critical acclaim, profits and sometimes both at once with a lineup of books that included works by a stable of Nobel laureates, the memoirs of presidents and prime ministers, and page-turning crime and love stories, died Dec. 30 at a hospital in Manhattan. He was 77.
The cause was complications from pneumonia, according to a statement from Knopf, where Mr. Mehta served as editor in chief and chairman of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
Mehta was a legendary leader, godspeed.
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Maxar’s Incredible Low-angle Photograph of NYC
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1 min read
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The Maxar Worldview-3 satellite is a high-resolution commercial satellite armed with an impressive 31cm panchromatic resolution DSLR camera. Kottke shared this impressive low-angle shot the camera took of NYC:
Here’s a tighter crop which includes the Hudson river, East New Jersey, lower Manhattan, and Brooklyn (Prospect Park is huge!):
The Maxar Worldview-3 satellite is still in service today. It is not to be confused with the Maxar Worldview-4 satellite, which failed and ultimately lost control of the satellite mid-orbit earlier this year.
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The New York City Subway Map as You’ve Never Seen It Before
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1 min read
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I love interactive stories like these. This story, was written by Antonio de Luca and Sasha Portis at the New York Times. It begins here:
In 1979, responding to complaints from riders that the subway map was difficult to use, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority hired the Manhattan design firm Michael Hertz and Associates to create a new map.
That map. The problematic Massimo Vignelli (RIP) subway map designed in 1972, and it was cool-looking but wow, was it unusable:
No wonder Vignelli’s map only lived 7 years. It’s pretty difficult to find these lying around anymore, but you can find them for sale on eBay. You used to be able to even find them at old subway stations, still plastered up on waypoints or platform corkboards.
Portis and de Luca did an outstanding job on this interactive Times story. If you enjoy trains or even New York history, you’ll love this story. Read it here.
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Libraries, all-too-frequently, are sadly neglected. They serve so many wonderful purposes. They are civil centers, repositories of information, waypoints of knowledge and are doorways to other worlds. What should be celebrated is often left to decay. Libraries for many, are their own personal Room of Requirement. In short, libraries are awesome.
The Hunter’s Point Branch of the Queens Public Library almost didn’t happen. Classic New York City problems, time and money:
Over the years, it became a poster child for the perils of public architecture in New York, as if the ambition of its design and not the city’s broken bureaucracy was to blame for the library’s extended timetable and escalating budget.
From the start, pea counters in the city’s Office of Management and Budget didn’t see why Hunters Point needed a big fancy library, notwithstanding all the new apartment towers going up, bringing in droves of young families. The pea counters held the project up. Delays raised costs.Over the years, it became a poster child for the perils of public architecture in New York, as if the ambition of its design and not the city’s broken bureaucracy was to blame for the library’s extended timetable and escalating budget.
Behold this stunning, marvelous, and albeit slightly self-indulgent piece of New York architecture.
Looking upon the library from Manhattan 
The exterior 
The interior is awash in warm sunlight throughout the day and has plenty of cozy corners to curl up into The New York Times has some incredible stunning photography of the library. You can view all the photos here.
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5 True Tales of Manhattan
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1 min read
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Lorri Cramer, is a New Yorker who re-habilitates turtles in her Upper West Side apartment. The last Cuban-Chinese restaurant (La Caridad 78) in Manhattan. The best Jazz in NYC can be heard in Marjorie Eliot’s apartment in Harlem every Sunday. New York can be a tough place for the birds — meet the city’s only bird clinic called the Wild Bird Fund. Lastly, NYC can be lonely, Mr. Jones Supper Club aims to solve that problem.