The Rainbow is long gone, the Hammersmith Palais now lingers only in the memory and even that good old grubby beer stained shit-hole that is the loveable Astoria is under threat. Gigs are selling out in minutes, replacing restaurants and cinemas as the preferred venue for gormless gobblers to converse after work, and yet the property developers keep their beady eyes focused on every venue lease going. How are we going to find the......

The cold weather - and holiday festivities - descended upon Gothamist. The Rockefeller Christmas tree was lit, Broadway stagehand finally ended their strike, and NASCAR decided to run their victory lap through Times Square. There were disturbing photographs revealing the working conditions in which many city manholes are produced and ninjas were also a hot topic, either robbing homes or entering into alibis. But the city was really rocked by how Rudy Giuliani's visits......

Well, the sugar people are actually living up to their somewhat irritating catchphrase at the moment, as they are being incredibly good eco-bunnies. They are to install an awfully costly new biomass boiler (£20 million - in Londonist’s book that’s expensive: mind you, you shouldn’t get us going on the subject of the cost of plumbing…) at their East London plant which will burn on something called ‘wheat feed’ (a bi-product of the flour industry).......

Heathrow Airport: to expand or not to expand, that is the question. The debate can begin in earnest, as today Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly laid out options for consultation, including a potential third runway and sixth terminal. With Terminal 5 not even finished yet, it may seem premature to be discussing more construction work, but the Government stressed that it would take until 2020 for a new runway and terminal to be operational. Kelly......

Harumph. Last night saw a wee splash of rain and a whole load of inconvenience in London. And this rather disgruntled Londonista was caught up in it. It’s not that we are spoiled brats and can’t cope without our PCs and tellies for an evening. By all accounts a snuggly, fire-lit night in, cooking pancakes over candles and making conversation with each other, never did anyone any harm – why the thrice weekly power cut......

Hello Jeff! But don't bother opening your mouth to reply, because I haven't got the time to listen; I'm too busy celebrating! No no, don't worry, you haven't missed St. Satan's Day. I'm celebrating because it's been a year since I started doing stand-up! You'll have to forgive me, as this may be quite a self-indulgent post. But I can scarcely believe I've managed to persevere for this long! You see, I'm a notoriously......

The United States remains tops in London’s tourism market, according to stats released by Visit London, as leaders of the tourism industry convene this week at London’s annual World Travel Market. This, despite the dollar’s worst performance against the pound in 26 years. That whimper you hear every morning? A collective sigh from your American coworkers, mates, and visitors, as they monitor the daily exchange rate. The American market, though continuing to send forth......

Here’s what we’ve learned this weekend: Today is Remembrance Sunday which actually falls on 11th November - Armistice Day. The Queen and other Royals attended the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall last night. The Ceremony of Remembrance and Cenotaph Parade take place on Whitehall from 10.30am with Two Minute Silence at 11:00am. There was some pomp, circumstance and kids with strawberries on their heads at the Lord Mayor's Show yesterday. The......

Londonist got the big scoop of the week with what may be the first images of notorious street artist Banksy in action. They also got on a runaway train without an operator provoking a response from the transport authorities. Elsewhere, London's answer to Central Station is about to open for business, and Londonist got a sneak preview. Meanwhile, spooky goings-on beneath London Bridge, where a cache of skeletons provided an apt story for Hallowe'en.......

Okay, first of all, the bad news: both the opening and closing previews at the Barbican's London Korea Film Festival are already sold out. Boo! If you were hoping to check out Park Chan-wook's latest I'm A Cyborg, But That's Okay, or the Cannes-pleasing Breath (pictured left) by Kim Ki-Duk, then you're out of luck. The sell-out is testament to the reputation for excellence that Korean cinema has gathered in the last decade, and......

Attention, sufferers of controller-thumb and Wii-wrist: the London Games Festival is here to make your condition even worse. From the 22nd of October to the 2nd of November organisers will be laying on talks, music and exhibitions celebrating the culture of gaming. Many of the events are geared towards those in the industry, but there’s also plenty to please the civilian gamer, especially in the festival fringe. And we can’t help but approve of......

Once again the artists are out in front of the eggheads and politicians. Earlier we covered tonight’s experiment in direct economic democracy at The Albany – effectively, attendees pay a £10 tax to join The Albany’s mini-society, and they all get a say on how the pot will be spent. Just imagine if council tax operated on the same basis! If that weren’t enough financial excitement, tomorrow the new Radiohead download comes out – priced......

The judicial system never ceases to astonish us. We learned this week of the tale of a South London boy of twelve who has been slapped with a rap for Grievous Bodily Harm following improper use of an elastic band during some class-time high jinx. This follows another recent episode when a Lancashire lass was fined £40 and threatened with an ASBO for crayoning a single letter on a neighbour’s wall. Anyway, the poor little......

Naomi Klein, in conversation with Madeleine Bunting Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, 13th September 2007 "I am not a conspiracy theorist", insists Naomi Klein. Twice, in quick succession. Followed each time by a nervous laugh; a telling laugh. We are in the spacious surroundings of the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank, where Canadian journalist and activist Klein, whose 2000 book No Logo became a minor phenomenon in the halcyon days between the Seattle riots......

Just in case you haven't yet turned on the tv, a radio, glanced at a newspaper and this is the first internet page you've opened since yesterday, it's true. The might Led Zeppelin are reforming for a one off benefit show in aid of Ahmet Ertegun, the founder of Atlantic records who signed them way back at a time when dinosaurs really did rule the earth and died last year. Tickets to the November......

Don't you love it when the fair comes to town? The lights, the candy floss, the 'hook a duck', the grenades, the rocket launchers, the assault rifles! Ahh, takes you back to childhood! Your father lifting you onto his shoulders, getting so full of sweets that you throw up after going on the dodgems, examining the latest in targeting technology, watching footage of fuel-air explosive destroying an Afghan town, feeling the reassuring weight of......

Apparently London’s motorists are in a state of ‘panic’ as they are having trouble finding petrol stations near them…. A new report out today by petrol industry boffins Catalist reveals that a third of London’s forecourts have shut down since 2002, and that England as a whole has 617 cars per petrol station, which sounds quite a lot really. But hang on a minute. This is London. If there is no longer a garage in......

Londonist likes enterprise. The idea of making money in a creative and unusual way. The bob-a-job scout, the travelling tinker, the wandering minstrel, these are fun and hard-working figures who deserve their honest crust. The other part of this poorly contrived syllogism is that Londonist hates sitting in traffic jams. Especially in London. All those fumes and all that rage all concentrated into one urban corridor. Bad news all round, really. So therefore Londonist......

It looks like summer might actually have arrived in London this week, but if you're determined to stay inside, here are a few things to help you bide the time. On TV, Londonist likes: Monday, 3 September – Wednesday, 5 September Dumped (Channel 4, 21:00-22:00) We’ve already told you about this interesting concept involving contestants living on a rubbish dump, and since you’re no doubt looking to fill the Big Brother void in your......

Londonist is very very worried. Standards are slipping. Things ain’t what they used to be (actually they ain’t been that way for quite a long time, but hey). We have learnt this very evening of a new product made in Weybridge which attempts to undermine all of Londonist’s attempts at refinement, and indeed chip away at the very fabric of society. We are talking about the ready-filled, disposable wine glass. With a sticky foil seal......

Clouds were billowing over Park Royal yesterday afternoon when a blaze broke out in a warehouse. The fire took hold quickly and spread to two neighbouring companies, triggering the widespread evacuation of the area. It took 20 fire engines and over 100 firefighters to bring matters under control, and the area was still smouldering and pretty much sealed off this morning. The cause of the fire is still being investigated, but it is believed to......

Worrying news for one of our country’s top gourmet icons. Gordon Ramsay’s flagship restaurant in Chelsea, called simply Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, has lost some of its brownie points, according to the latest edition of ‘Harden’s London Restaurants’. Love-him-or-hate-him-Ramsay has been undisputed king of the London restaurant scene for nearly ten years. Take a large measure of chefly talent, whisk it with lashings of colourful personality, and then cook up with a generous helping of......

Now I'm the king of the swingers Oh, the jungle VIP I've reached the top and had to stop And that's what botherin' me I wanna be a man, mancub And stroll right into town And be just like the other men I'm tired of monkeyin' around! Theatre producers The Steam Industry may not have designed their live stage version of Disney's The Jungle Book to turn in to a singalong event but once......

Actually Scotch is not so common in Ealing at the moment. It seems that picnickers in Walpole Park, W5, had a bit of a shock last week when they had their Pimms/lager and lime/whatever confiscated by pernickety Police Community Support Officers (PCSO's). We know not whether the jobsworths in question were thirsty, just plain bored, or the ultimate in over-zealous – complaints have been made, and the ensuing investigation will surely reveal all. Now......

. It's over. Our love affair with Free Range must sadly come to an end. Before we go, here's one more artist you really should check out before it's all packed away until next year. Claire Fitch is from renowned Nottingham Trent University. You can see her textiles and fashion accessories as part of their 'play!' exhibition until Monday 23rd July. Tell us more about what inspires you. We live in a culture that advocates......

This weekend column is brought to you by the founders of Niceties Tokens, Liz and Pete of Team Nice. 9. Corporate Social Responsibility? I reckon the Tories were on to a goodun when they began their social responsibility gubbins which, throbbing away, is “the heart of modern conservatism”. Not sure who started it first but all the big corporate have been lapping it up too for a while now. As Mr Google will show......

When was the last time you had a nice refreshing glass of London tap water? If the answer was 'Ew, never because tap water is gross and unsafe', then you're lucky Londonist is here, because we can tell you that there's nothing wrong with London's water. In fact, according to a report from the Drinking Water Inspectorate, London's water is improving. Last year, 99.98% of tap water samples met industry standards, which improved on......

Ahhh, it's finally summer (try and ignore the rain for a moment). Summer in London means many things: picnics in Green Park, staying out late on a school night and students all over the capital stressing out about their exams and final year exhibitions. Enter Free Range 2007. A show of some of the most prestigious universities' design work, all in the heart of Brick Lane: The Old Truman Brewery. Londonist caught up with......

With all that went down this week, we thought we thought we'd cheer everyone up by giving everyone a double dose of dogs. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotions this week at DCist. Like the rest of country, we were floored by the news of so many dead coming out of Virginia Tech, and with so many of the victims and their relatives from the D.C. area, we felt it important to pay......

As the fair weather of Spring tentatively approaches, any attempt by the pretty blue sky and sunshine to wean us all off our incessant computer based social networking by dragging us outside is made more difficult by the advent of Trig.com. Based in Sweden, it's designed to be a "new social networking site for an urban and sophisticated web community of dynamic, inspired and creative individuals, who are primarily fuelled by their own dreams,......