New York City street vendors to accept credit cards

by Mike Barish on

Starting in June, if you’ve got a hankering for some street meat in New York City, you’ll be able to use a credit card to purchase your kebab. As part of a trial program in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx, select street vendors will begin accepting credit card payments for food.

If the initial response to the experiment is positive, it could be rolled out to all New York City street vendors in three or four months. Meaning that stale pretzels and soggy hot dogs may soon be no more than a credit card swipe away.

Beyond those snacks, there are some fantastic food carts in New York City that offer full meals ranging from Jamaican to Lebanese to Korean (and everything in between). So, while you may never have the need to charge $2.00 for a hot dog, being able to pay for a quick and delicious meal-to-go with a credit card may be just the thing to make you consider those food carts that you often just walk past.

Street vendors are wildly popular outside of the States. Here at Gadling we’re always promoting the joys of street food. These carts are only now beginning to catch on with wider audiences domestically as high-end food trucks and more elaborate carts have hit the streets. Here in New York, however, we’ve always been hip to street meat. And now we can charge it.

[Via Gawker via NYP]

Brooklyn Bridge Park: The Best New NYC Park

by Amy Chen on

As the weather warms up, New York City’s parks offer some of the best places to picnic. Central Park’s Sheep Meadow is a no-brainer, but Brooklyn Bridge Park may actually be my new favorite place.

The first section of the park opened in March on Pier 1, but only now has the weather cooperated enough to warrant a visit. I checked out the park on a blustery Saturday. Though the wind thwarted my plan to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge (something I try to do at least once a year), it was warm enough to linger on a bench and admire the skyline.

The Pier 1 section includes a playground and a waterfront walkway that rivals the nearby Brooklyn Heights promenade. Best of all, if you don’t feel like packing your own picnic, the park is close to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory and Grimaldi’s Pizzeria.

Once completed, the waterfront park is expected to cover 85 acres of prime real estate from Atlantic Avenue to Jay Street just north of the Manhattan Bridge. All in all, this addition to the city’s park system serves as yet another pleasant reminder that some of the best things in NYC are still free.

Details: The Brooklyn Bridge Park is a quick walk from the A/C subway station at High Street.

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The Afro-Punk Festival: not your mama’s punk show

by Gadling Staff on

Each week, Gadling is taking a look at our favorite festivals around the world. From music festivals to cultural showcases to the just plain bizarre, we hope to inspire you to do some festival exploring of your own. Come back each Wednesday for our picks or find them all HERE.

You think you know what punk is. But you haven’t seen anything until you’ve joined the thousands of head-bangers who make the pilgrimage once a year in June to Brooklyn’s Afro-Punk Festival.

This two-day celebration of music, skating, and film has become a Mecca for the burgeoning movement of Afro-Punk, a collection of African-American bands, fans, and misfits who are embracing hardcore rock culture and making it their own. Launched in the summer of 2005, the festival was the brainchild of record executive Matthew Morgan and filmmaker James Spooner, who wanted to give voice to the growing popularity of indie and punk rock in traditionally urban communities. It has ever since been a focal point of musical and cultural cross-pollination, fueled by an audience as diverse as the music itself.

Each day of the festival features bands ranging from eclectic rockers like Houston-based American Fangs to genre-bending artists like crooner Janelle Monae, that by turns, awe and electrify the crowd. Afro-Punk is the wild, weird alternate universe where anything is possible (I personally will never forget seeing bass guitarist Ahmed of Brooklyn’s Game Rebellion strut onstage sporting a fan of giant peacock feathers). Want to learn more about the Afro-Punk Festival? Keep reading below…

For first-timers, the Afro-Punk mashup of grunge guitar and streetwise swagger can be overwhelming. But have no fear: punk is a contact sport, and no one can stand still for long. Crowd surfing is encouraged, from the tiniest faux-hawked kindergartener to the heaviest thrasher, so dive away! And if you yearn for the days of good ole-fashioned moshing, you’ll have no trouble finding a scrum for a little full-body ping-pong.

Other thrill-seekers can get their kicks on the festival’s custom-built skate park. The dizzying array of jumps, ramps and rails is also the battleground for the annual URBANX skate and BMX competitions, where pro-skaters and bikers defy gravity and common sense for a coveted $5,000 prize.

Listen for the distinctive clink and hiss of spray cans and you’ll also find a one-of-a-kind outdoor art exhibit. At Afro-Punk, graffiti is king, and true to form, the artists work at lightning speed, to the delight of onlookers, tagging a rich tableaux of original pieces along a 30-foot wall of wooden panels.

On Sunday, the festival closes with a block party featuring live DJ’s, fashion, and food. But before you go, take a moment to enjoy the greatest spectacle on display: the crowd itself. Revel in being someplace where piercings outnumber iPhones two-to-one, and ‘business casual’ means keeping your shirt on. There are few places on Earth where dreadlocks and leather chokers so seamlessly co-exist. Afro-Punk is the center of a movement that defies definition. In the end, what could be more punk than that?

The 2010 Afro-Punk Festival hits New York June 26th and 27th, and will this year open in two new cities: Chicago and Atlanta. Check out afropunk.com for dates and updated details.

Porn star rights Customs’ wrong

by Tom Johansmeyer on

A Brooklyn guy was faced with the worst of scenarios. Coming through customs on a return trip from Puerto Rico, he was cuffed in San Juan. He was accused of transporting child pornography, because a copy of the DVD “Little Lupe the Innocent” was found in his bags. Of course, Carlos Simon-Timmerman claimed his innocence, so in his mind at least, he was staring down two decades in prison for something he didn’t do.

At times like this, you cross your fingers and hope for a knight in shining armor to rescue you. Carlos got his knight … in the form of porn star Lupe Fuentes. He was freed from the can when Lupe flew down to Puerto Rico earlier this month to prove in court that she was 19 when the movie was made. The fact that she produced her passport and photo identification was much more compelling than the pediatrician called by the feds who insisted that the actress was underage.

So, if you’re taking porn through customs, you may want to do a little research. Get the stars’ cell numbers, or keep copies of their documents on file. You never know when you’ll need it.

And, just for fun, do you know what Carlos does for a living?

Ding dong … you’re pizza’s here.

GadlingTV’s Travel Talk 006: New York City, Engadget Show, Strikes & Protests!

by Stephen Greenwood on

GadlingTV’s Travel Talk, episode 6 – Click above to watch video after the jump

Ready for the City that Never Sleeps? This week we’re hitting the streets of Manhattan for a jam-packed episode that will take you through the Big Apple, behind the scenes of the Engadget Show, and show you how to get away from it all in a city like NYC.

This week we discuss the ongoing red-shirt protests in Thailand, the long awaited British Airways strike, significant new routes from Virgin America, a bus journey from D.C to Antarctica, and how NYC’s metro matches up against one of the most modern metros in the world.

Of course, there’s more Travel Tips with Bruce! and an epic Adventure that only left one of us curled up in a bathroom…

If you have any questions or comments about Travel Talk, you can email us at talk AT gadling DOT com.

Subscribe via iTunes:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V).
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Hosts: Stephen Greenwood, Aaron Murphy-Crews, Drew Mylrea
Special guests: Mike Barish, Joshua Topolsky, and Bruce!
Produced, Edited, and Directed by: Stephen Greenwood, Aaron Murphy-Crews, Drew Mylrea
Special thanks: Chad Mumm & the Engadget Team

Music:

Camping with Mike
“Camp Walk”
Derek K Miller

Travel Tips with Bruce
“Sonata in E-flat Major, Hob. XVI:49, III. Tempo di Minuet”
Mario Ajero

Engadget Show
“Le Conseil Militair pour la Justice”
Adhesion

Adventure of the Week
“New York City Heat”
Dead Heart Bloom

“Indian Funk”
Bloingo

all songs courtesy of Musicalley.com