Good morning. It’s looking like one of those days where we listen in to Governor Cuomo’s daily briefings with bated breath. When the CDC director warns that, if the delta variant continues to spread at a high rate, the world may be ‘just a few mutations away’ from a variant that renders the vaccines useless — you pay attention.
We spent yesterday afternoon speaking to contacts to try and make sense of the situation. One medic we spoke to stressed that the Delta is not causing mild illness in vaccinated folks, it’s actually causing moderate illness. One Broadway insider felt that at the moment although there were daily meetings about the issue, people were hoping it will just go away.
This morning, we publish the research of Ann Choi at THE CITY NYC on the low vaccination rates of New York City’s public employees — including police officers and firefighters. However, the data also shows that the NYC Delta COVID wave is sending relatively few to hospitals so far.
Our change of scenery upstate has some connectivity challenges — but this meant last night digging into the DVD connection at our vacation digs.
Watching the 1980s movie Fame was a treat and when reconnected to the internet again, we checked out the locations. Times Square was easily recognizable, the exterior of the school was hard to place.
“The High School of Performing Arts situated at 120 W46th Street refused to let the filmmakers use the school or even photograph the exterior due to the graphic content in the film. So instead the filmmakers were forced to look for an alternative venue, which turned out to be the disused church on the opposite side of W46th Street. The church doorway was used as the school’s main entrance,” reports On the Set of New York.
The school interiors were shot at the Haaren High School on 10th Avenue between W58/59th Street — now the Haaren Hall Building at John Jay College.
Is there a New Yorker who doesn’t love an iconic high rise? Are you a Chrysler or an Empire State person? Learn all about the global race to the skies with free admission at the reopened Skyscraper Museum.
What we’ve been reading
NYC Unions invite Mayor De Blasio to “mandatory bargaining” if he wants mandatory testing and vaccination for city workers. (Business Insider)
Dirt bikes and ATVs continue to get seized in Times Square. (Eyewitness News)
Missing Ample Hills at Gotham West Market? Maybe Social will expand from Brooklyn soon… (Brooklyn Magazine)
Half a million New Yorkers owe back rent — what happens when evictions start again? (New York Times)
A New York City date with Lorde (did you know she wrote much of her second album at The Flame Diner in HK!?). (Vulture)
Freeze Frame
Over on Reddit, a user posted this image of an iPhone lost on W52nd Street between 8/9th Avenue. We were surprised by the number of suggestions as to how to get the phone back to the owner.
“If you hold the side button of an iPhone to summon Siri and ask “who do you belong to?” It will bring up the owner’s info. You also don’t have to unlock a phone to text with Siri so you can ask Siri to ‘text mom’ or the last person they texted with your contact info. I’ve helped reunite 2 iPhones with their owners,” said one user.
Another said: “Just keep it charged and on so they can call it.”
What sent me down a rabbit hole was the suggestion to “use an emergency contact on the phone that you have access to via the lock screen.” I’ve now added an emergency contact to my iPhone (it’s in the Health settings).
The phone is now with NYPD at Midtown North Precinct on W54th Street. LMK if you hear that the owner got reunited with it.
Happy birthday to Tom Fervoy and Arianna Sinclair.