••• Daytonian in Manhattan looks back at the Pulitzer Building once at 53-63 Park Row; it was demolished to make was for Brooklyn Bridge ramps. A marvelous bit of history:

The summer of 1900 brought a suffocating heat wave. The Evening World sought the help of Professor G. R. Bishop of Tucson, Arizona, “one of the most noted rainmakers in the United States.” Bishop went to the dome of the Pulitzer Building on July 17 and, according to the newspaper the following day, “exploded two dozen rain bombs in an endeavor to bring about a downpour which would cool off the parched earth and bring relief to the unfortunates whose strength has been slowly sapped away by the heat and awful humidity which have continued in New York for the past week.”

Professor Bishop’s “rain bombs” were, in fact, dynamite charges. After six bombs were exploded over lower Manhattan without creating a rainstorm, “the Professor decided to make longer intervals between fires, and for the next hour discharged them once every five minutes.”

While the experiment did not produce rain, it did produce other results. “The noise of the explosions of these dynamite bombs—they are the largest made by the Pain Fireworks Company—could be heard for miles around, and created intense interest and even excitement… City Hall Park was thronged with persons, all looking skyward. The roofs of all the office buildings and the windows were filled with curious persons, while the Brooklyn Bridge was lined with thousands, all eyes focused on the scene of the experiment.”

••• “The Fulton Center location of Shake Shack is slated to open this Friday with a menu that will include breakfast sandwiches from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. daily, plus three new concretes.” —Eater

••• Also opening Friday: BlackTail, the new bar at Pier A from the Dead Rabbit guys. Long article about it in the New York Times.

••• Ten questions for the incoming Community Board 1 chair, Anthony Notaro. —Broadsheet

••• “The death of a cyclist last month, struck by a pickup truck at West and Chambers, is prompting the city to consider changes to what is now a dangerous confluence of bikes, pedestrians and turning cars.” That could mean a right-turn lane and/or “signal phasing upgrades.” —Tribeca Trib

••• One Kings Lane visits the Tribeca loft of jewelry designer Mignonne Gavigan Smith. Not quite enough photos for a Loft Peeping post, but here’s a nice one; it’s by Cheng Lin.