The 234 Apartment

T wo weeks ago, a Manhattan Supreme Court judge handed down a decision designed to strike fear in the hearts of landlords. Justice James d’Auguste ordered that an independent receiver be appointed to manage two Midtown residential buildings where the landlords allegedly allowed illegal Airbnb rentals to occur. The case, which began when the city sued the landlords in February 2015, has become one of the battlegrounds in a larger war between city enforcement agencies and short- term rental sites like Airbnb. Airbnb, which was recently valued at $31 billion, refuses to release the exact addresses of hosts who break the law by renting their entire apartment for less than 30 days without being present. Without the addresses and names of Airbnb violators , the city mostly targets the owners of buildings that rack up the most illegal hotel complaints from 311 calls and the New York City Department of Buildings. “This entire model—and it was intentional [by the city]—is complaint-drive...

San Francisco is celebrating the Summer of Love’s 50th anniversary. Most of the celebrants are probably dead and buried by now, especially its high priests like Allen Ginsburg who passed into Eternity in the dingy East Village , Timothy Leary, Jerry Garcia, Emmet Grogan of the Diggers (remember them). In truth, there hasn’t been much of a to-do about the historic occasion. Today’s “with it” residents of the Bay Area live in the moment. Vintage refers to their last but one smart phone; antique is their pre-updated software from Microsoft. The “Summer Of Love” – if they can recognize the name at all – belongs to the Neolithic Age or whenever it was that the skies were filled with flying dinosaurs instead of Amazon delivery drones . Only the De Young Museum has done its civic duty in bowing to the past. A mile away from the Haight-Ashby, they have organized a nostalgic exhibition that features the vivid psychedelic posters from Bill Graham’s Fillmore Ballroom concerts and the accoutre...