Seen & Heard: The Ninja Turtles Are Coming Back This Weekend

••• I asked on Twitter the other day if anyone knew where I could donate old eyeglasses, and JJ said that Moscot takes them. But that’s awfully far away, so I stopped by Revolution Eyes on W. Broadway, and they accept them for charity, too.

••• Terroir is really in the Bastille Day spirit tonight (hat tip to Marjorie Ingall):

Please join us as we:
—all French wines at special Happy Hour pricing all night
—sing La Marseillaise every hour, on the hour
—show Jerry Lewis movies all night (he was one of the 7 prisoners freed during the storming of the infamous prison)
—host a spelling bee of French wine words (and yes, proper use of accents is necessary)
build papier-mache replicas of the greatest mountain stages of the Tour de France

••• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (“Half Shell”) is shooting again on Saturday. The commenter known as Duane Street sent in this pic. In summary: Stunt work, so street closures. But no helicopter. Also: Final day of filming here!

Half Shell••• From Babesta at Brookfield Place: “We are excited to announce that starting on Thursday, July 16, Babesta will debut the Bugaboo Runner Loaner Program. You’ll be able to reserve the stroller for the afternoon and try before you buy down the Hudson River running trail (or wherever else!). This is our launch but we’re taking reservations daily through the fall! We’re taking RSVPs for July 16, so if you want to be the first to run, email us at runner@babesta.com. Loaners go out after 10 a.m. and have to be returned by 7 p.m. (weekdays); 6pm (weekends).”

••• Last night, for the first time in a while, I ordered food using Seamless, and I was surprised to see that we’re now being encouraged to tip a percentage of the bill. (Moreover, the pre-set amount is 15%.) I’m cheap about a lot of things but not tipping delivery people, and even I think this is kind of ridiculous. On the other hand, if the delivery guys really are getting the money, then I’ll get over it. My guess is that in a year, Seamless will announce that tipping is way up as a result and isn’t it a great service for workers. (Restaurant owners might disagree, since Seamless takes a huge cut of every bill.)

Seamless tip••• A reader sends word that the M&M store is open at 434 Broadway, if you find yourself in a certain kind of need. It appears to be a pop-up.

 

6 Comments

  1. Regarding Half Shell: I believe they got the message. Next to the signs were specific details:

    -This will be stunt work
    -No helicopters
    -Intermittent traffic control
    -Specific streets affected
    -Contact number
    -Full address of production company

    It would be nice if they also emailed this info to outlets (such as TC, etc.) for those who normally don’t consume media from lamp posts. But overall, a big improvement.

  2. “Half Shell” notice on Duane Street says they will be shooting driving scenes on Hudson Street between Reade and Franklin on Saturday morning and there will be no helicopters.

  3. Bravo Eric! This unprecedented level of disclosure, 4 days in advance, no less, is largely due to your efforts.

  4. A few observations today:

    Overall, staff was significantly nicer than in previous weeks. I have heard that they have made donations to Duane Park and Tribeca Trust. So kudos to their management. I think they got the message.

    However, a few things that could have been improved, as some buildings (such as ours) have been very inconvenienced over the past few months.

    Observations from today:

    Multiple streets between Greenwich and Hudson, including Duane, Jay, Harrison, and Franklin, were completely closed off to traffic and pedestrians were discouraged. This wasn’t in the notice, as far as I can tell. Numerous people in my building had a hard time accessing. For example, a single mom with kids in a car had really hard time getting to our building.

    The EMT staff and equipment was camped out under our building’s awning. I asked why. They said “because it was raining.” However, it wasn’t raining when I asked, so apparently they were just making themselves comfortable?

    Staple was blocked off, as a crane was parked there.

    A neighbor said that a film camera was on our sidewalk.

    Again, I’m not against filming in the neighborhood. Advance and specific notice (like closing your street to traffic) is the bare minimum.

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