*Everyday Chatter

A MUST READ: Many parents continue to be shocked to discover that their children are not, in fact, modern decor. Rather than give in to "ugly" decor, they let their kids crack their skulls all over the place. [NY Times] And only permit toys like this one: Kiddie Condo. (I love when the Times proves me right.)

What we've all been waiting for--the giant office park/shopping mall that will soon land on Astor Place. Prepare to scream in pain. [Curbed]

From one unpublished novelist to another: Hey Matthew Thomas, who just won a $14,000 Manhattan apartment, you better be writing something phenomenal. [NY Times]

A tipster worries: "Some of us in the neighborhood think that the Jefferson Market may be on its way out--the bags no longer seem to have the name printed on them, shelves can be sparse, and the always-present in-the-back bad smell is now smellable in the front." When bad in-the-back smells migrate to the front, it's time to worry!

Another Barnes & Noble bites the dust--the retail giant can't afford the rent. Guess they'll all have to move to the outer boroughs. Or Philadelphia. [Racked]

Who says rents are high? The Florent space is being offered up at a pittance of $700,000 per year. [Eater]

Reed "New York Lost" Korach sent in this photo in which Chase spells it out for us, in case we didn't already know their evil plans:


We've been looking at photos lately of the lost New York. It wasn't all burned out buildings, there also used to be fantastically interesting people--as evidenced in a new book of photographs by Arlene Gottfried, interviewed this week. [NY Mag]

Another thing that was better in 1970s New York--we looked at 3,000 fewer ads per day back then. [Butler Bros]

A tipster wonders: Where can you get a $665 martini? The East Village, that's where. [Bloomberg]

The stroller wars rage on in Park Slope with some funny signage. [Gothamist]

Cintra Wilson reams out Victoria's Secret and it's quite a brilliant ream, I mean read. [NY Times]