It Happened This Year

Introduction

The Republicans Picked Our Pockets

A Gay American Was Born

The Meatpacking District Got So Popular That Nobody Goes There Anymore

The Internet’s Bust Became a Boom (Who Ever Doubted It?)

The War Came Home

The Average Apartment Cost a Million Bucks

New York Got Malled

A Nice Plate of Pike Quenelles Got a Little Harder to Find

Carrie Bradshaw Went Off the Market

‘It’ Girls Lost It

Martha Brought Homemaking to the Big House

The iPod People Invaded

Arugula Made House Calls

Baby Banks Ate New York

Howard Stern Blasted Into Outer Space

The Little Abandoned Train Line That Could, Did

Firefighters Lost Their Halos

Grandstanding Architects Were Everywhere—But Only Some Could Build What They Grandstanded About

Protesters Spun Their Wheels

Brooklyn Got a New Bogeyman

New York Became the Capital of Blue

The Yankees Got Spooked

Hockey Ceased to Matter

Poker Became the New Pogo Stick

We Got Upstaged in Our Own City

Merely Setting Foot on the Street Induced Panic and Dread

One Generation of Style Icons Made Way for the Next

The Next Generation of Designers Started Down the Runway

The Waist Returned

A Daring ’Do Cost a Ton of Dough

Pizza Got a New Upper Crust

New York Porked Out

Sushi Became the New Luxury Fetish

Museums Got Gigantic

Rothko Trumped Renoir

Liberals Learned to Scream as Loudly as Conservatives

Documentaries Turned Into Agitprop—and Minted Cash

’Avenue Q’ Took the Tony and Ran

DVDs Saved the Comedy Star

Crystal Meth Went Underground

New York Tried to Make a Happening—But It Didn’t Happen

Jon Stewart Became Bigger Than That Anchor … You Know, That One From Canada

It Happened This Year