Where Have All the Flowers Gone?Under social distancing, flowers are one of the few mourning rituals that can still be observed. But the coronavirus has also made them hard to find.
The Gray Lady Is Unimpressed With Your AnticsLast night at a memorial service for Norman Mailer, the writer’s son had an out-of-body experience. The ‘Times’ barely batted an eyelash.
today in astor-ia
Live-Blogging Mrs. Astor’s FuneralWe’ve just learned that St. Thomas Church has live audio feeds for many of its major events, which you can tune into here. Which means, you guessed it — death-blogging! We’ll sit here and listen to all of the action at Brooke Astor’s funeral, so you don’t have to. Expected guests include luminaries like Martha Stewart, Walter Cronkite, Annette de la Renta, and various senators and socialites. We’ll do our best to identify them by their muffled coughs (or in Cronkite’s case, his irritated hack).
photo op
Flags (and Hearse), Fifth Avenue
Daily Intel’s roving photographer, Everett Bogue, is back from St. Thomas Church, at Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street, where he reports crowds five or so people deep on all the sidewalks, a phalanx of NYPD, and lots of confused motorists heading down Fifth and wondering what all the commotions is for. For Brooke Astor’s funeral, silly motorists. For Brooke Astor’s funeral. Follow what’s going on inside with Daily Intel’s live-blog.
the morning line
Good Grief
• Hundreds of people, not all of them Muslims, attended the Islamic funeral ceremony for the nine children and a mother who perished in the last week’s fire. Mayor Bloomberg quoted the Koran; strangers offered to rebuild the house and pay for the funerals. [NYT]
• The newly berserk Health Department shut down Union Square’s Coffee Shop after finding 120 violation points. The department’s management, meanwhile, denies a concerted crackdown, saying inspectors are told to “adhere to current policies.” That’s a crackdown. [WNBC]
• The indefatigable Clipper Equity, whose $1.3 billion Starrett City bid was killed to the applause of every authority imaginable, is back with a new offer: same price plus ironclad “proof” it won’t raise rents. How will it make money, then? Why, build more housing on the property. [NYP]
• Here’s a good moral-compass exercise: Try to work up some compassion for Jeannie Kraph, who says she’s being muscled out of her Williamsburg rental. Kraph has been paying $150 a month in rent for the last 50 years. [amNY]
• And Al Sharpton does nothing to disprove his supposed jealousy of Barack Obama (cited in the Post) by fuming to the usually Al-friendlier Daily News about senator’s “nerve.” “I want to know his position on police brutality!” He loves it, Rev. [NYDN]
