••• Congratulations to Baron Von Fancy for his foxy Canal Street billboard. (And I just got emailed about an amusing product/artwork of his.)

••• A Gourmet Garage update from P.: “The door on Broadway was open this morning. Floors have been sanded, HVAC installed and walls painted. Otherwise not a huge amount of observable progress.” I wouldn’t hold my breath for a 2015 opening.

••• White Street is playing less hard to get.

••• And Warren 77 is reminding everyone that you can’t live on beer alone.

••• The July 4 firework show will once again be on the East River.

••• Until a very pleasant visit today, I was under the impression that Authentic Pre-Owned on W. Broadway was exclusively about accessories. But it has quirky home decor, vintage cameras, and a lot more (and the inventory is always changing).

••• FiDi resident Lev AC Rosen, who grew up in Tribeca, has a second novel out: Depth. From NPR’s rave:

The United States of the 22nd century is an unrecognizable place: Climate catastrophes have flooded the entire Eastern seaboard, leaving Chicago a coastal town and the surviving flyover states an oppressive stronghold of religious conservatism. The inundated city-state of New York stands alone, tentatively still part of the U.S., but existing as a cluster of half-submerged skyscrapers connected by boats and bridges. […] Rosen has turned his drenched, decimated New York into a haven for private eyes, mysterious blondes, smoking pistols, and criminal plots waiting to be unraveled.

••• A reader who introduced herself yesterday—always a treat—while I was walking Howard mentioned that NestSeekers real estate agency has left its office at 156 Reade. Was the embarrassment of having the building listed with Douglas Elliman too much?