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Rashida Jones and Rob Lowe Said to Be Leaving ‘Parks and Recreation’

Rashida Jones and Rob Lowe in a scene from Colleen Hayes/NBC Rashida Jones and Rob Lowe in a scene from “Parks and Recreation.”

As the enthusiastic “Parks and Recreation” character Chris Traeger might put it, this could literally be the saddest day in the history of that NBC comedy: the actors Rob Lowe and Rashida Jones are preparing to leave “Parks and Recreation,” according to a report on BuzzFeed.com. They would be the first substantial departures in the run of this show about an office of dysfunctional government employees in a fictional Indiana town.

Press representatives for NBC and for Mr. Lowe and for Ms. Jones did not immediately comment on the BuzzFeed report. But according to the site, Mr. Lowe, who plays the overeager bureaucrat Chris Traeger, and Ms. Jones, who plays the well-intentioned Ann Perkins, will be leaving after the 13th episode of the coming sixth season of “Parks and Recreation,” which makes its debut in September. Two people familiar with plans at “Parks and Recreation” said that Mr. Lowe and Ms. Jones were each signed for only 13 episodes of the show’s coming season. These people declined to speak for attribution because NBC had not made an official announcement.

“Parks and Recreation,” which was created by the “Office” producers Greg Daniels and Michael Schur and stars Amy Poehler as the plucky local politician Leslie Knope, had featured Ms. Jones as a co-star since its 2009 premiere. Mr. Lowe, a veteran of “The West Wing” and numerous film roles, first appeared on the series near the end of its second season. (His entrance helped offset the departure of the actor Paul Schneider, who left midway through that second year.)

The characters of Chris Traeger and Ann Perkins shared a short-lived romance on “Parks and Recreation,” and a recent plot line saw them pursuing the possibility of having a child together while maintaining a platonic friendship. But there was literally no indication, as of Wednesday, about how the characters might exit the series.



Architecture Curator at MoMA to Return to Columbia as Department Chair

Barry Bergdoll is stepping down after six and a half years as chief curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art, he announced in a letter to journalists late Wednesday afternoon.

He will return to Columbia University, where he is going to hold the Meyer Schapiro chair in art history. Mr. Bergdoll has been on an extended leave of absence from the department, where he previously served on the faculty and as chairman.

“The university has now requested that I return to teach full time,” Mr. Bergdoll said in the letter, adding of his new post, “It is for me a great honor that I feel also recognizes the scholarly work that I have continued to pursue most recently in exhibitions and publications here at MoMA.”

Mr. Bergdoll will continue on at the museum as a part-time curator in his department, where he will have a hand in coming exhibitions on Latin American architecture 1955-85 and on Lina Bo Bardi, a Brazilian modernist architect.

He said he was particularly proud of MoMA’s acquisition of the Frank Lloyd Wright archive, together with the Avery Architectual & Fine Arts Library at Columbia University.

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: July 31, 2013

An earlier version of this post referred incorrectly to Barry Bergdoll's new position at Columbia University. He will hold an endowed chair, not be chairman of the art history program.



In Search of Her Romeo, This Juliet Gains a Friar Laurence

William HurtAmy Sussman/Getty Images for Discovery William Hurt

Classic Stage Company’s new production of “Romeo and Juliet” has lost its leading man to a film, but gained a film star and onetime New York theater luminary - William Hurt - in the role of Friar Laurence.

The Off Broadway theater company announced on Tuesday that Finn Wittrock (Happy in the 2012 Broadway revival of “Death of a Salesman”), who had been cast as Romeo opposite Elizabeth Olsen (“Martha Marcy May Marlene”) as Juliet, has dropped out to join the movie production of “The Normal Heart.” A new Romeo will be announced soon.

The theater also confirmed that Mr. Hurt - an Oscar winner for “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and a Tony Award nominee for “Hurlyburly” in 1985 - will play Friar Laurence. Mr. Hurt was a fixture in the much-loved Circle Repertory Theater company in the 1970s and early ’80s, starring in its landmark production of the Lanford Wilson play “Fifth of July,” but hasn’t performed onstage in New York in years.

In additional casting news, Classic Stage said that T.R. Knight (“Grey’s Anatomy”) will play Mercutio and Daphne Rubin-Vega (“Rent”) will play the nurse.

The production, to be directed by Tea Alagic, is scheduled to begin performances on Sept. 27 and open on Oct. 16. A Broadway production of “Romeo and Juliet,” starring Orlando Bloom and Condola Rashad, is set to start performances on Aug. 24.



The Consolations of a Schubert Sonata Surplus

Shai Wosner performing at Symphony Space in New York in 2010.Ari Mintz for The New York Times Shai Wosner performing at Symphony Space in New York in 2010.

SANTA FE, N.M. â€" The world would be a better place if Schubert’s final piano sonata, the B flat (D. 960), were everywhere in it. The first two movements of this majestic piece are its heart and soul, each gorgeous in its own way, and if the slighter third and fourth movements disappoint at all, it can only be in relation to that impossibly beautiful first half, with its heavenly lengths.

Over the last week I’ve had a glimpse of what that blessed world might be like. When I attended Marc-André Hamelin’s recital as part of the International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Mannes College the New School for Music on July 24, I knew I would be hearing Anton Nel play the Schubert B flat at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado the next night, and hearing Shai Wosner play it in the St. Francis Auditorium at the New Mexico Museum of Art here on Tuesday afternoon as part of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. What I didn’t know was that Mr. Hamelin, in a late program change, would also play the B flat, since he had been scheduled to perform Schubert’s late A major Sonata (D. 959).

Marc-André Hamelin performing last week in Manhattan.Karsten Moran for The New York Times Marc-André Hamelin performing last week in Manhattan.

So a veritable feast: three performances of this magnificent work in three cities within seven days. Mr. Hamelin’s performance, already discussed, was a more or less epic tour de force, delivered with ease and sheer mastery.

Mr. Nel, showing the piece’s susceptibility to different conceptions, brought a nervous energy to the start and skipped the repeat of the long exposition but eventually settled into a comfortable flow. This promising start gave way to sensitive reading of the glorious second movement, Andante sostenuto. Unfortunately, Mr. Nel seemed to tire and lose an edge of concentration in the third and fourth movements.

That was understandable, given the demands of the first half of his varied program, which included Debussy’s “Estampes,” three wide-ranging, virtuosic character pieces, and Granados’s colorful “Allegro de Concierto,” all of which he played spectacularly well. Like Mr. Hamelin, Mr. Nel opened with a Haydn minor-key sonata, in this case the B minor (Hob. XVI:32), which he made sound almost like Scarlatti at the outset, with a dry, detached touch, before nudging it toward a more Romantic fluidity in the later movements.

But the prize for clever contextualization went to Mr. Wosner in his shorter program here on Tuesday. He opened with Schubert’s roiling Klavierstück in E flat minor (D. 946, No. 1) and segued directly into Jörg Widmann’s “Idyll and Abyss: Six Schubert Reminiscences,” a 2009 work that surrounds Schubertian riffs with tone clusters, out-of-kilter harmonies and other postmodernist gestures (even a bit of whistling). A passage near the end quotes the opening of the B flat Sonata, which followed after a momentary break.

Mr. Wosner’s interpretation, in the brisk pace of its start and in its overall intimacy, represented yet another fruitful approach to the work. Mr. Wosner tended to understate gestures often stressed or overstated: those deep, rumbling trills that interrupt the opening melody, the startling shift into C sharp minor at the development section. But with a slight delay, he brought just the right emphasis to the otherworldly transformation from brooding C sharp minor to radiant C major in the Andante, which then went on to end like a quiet prayer.

The sense of intimacy was curiously heightened by the young Mr. Wosner’s physical appearance. In profile at the keyboard, with his curly hair and wire-rimmed glasses, he needed only pudgier cheeks to look like the Schubert of contemporary portraits.

Mr. Hamelin, after his masterly performance of the Schubert B flat, politely declined the audience’s clamor for an encore. Mr. Nel said he thought it was probably illegal to perform an encore after that work but offered one anyway, a fluent performance of Mozart’s Rondo in D (K. 485). Mr. Wosner, showing no qualms, simply sat down and played Schubert’s Hungarian Melody (D. 817), a way to decompress after the sonata without deviating from his theme.



‘Bronx Bombers,’ a Yankees Play, Comes to Primary Stages

Eric SimonsonPrimary Stages Eric Simonson

The playwright Eric Simonson has explored the worlds of professional basketball (“Magic/Bird”) and football (“Lombardi”) in recent New York theater seasons. Now it’s baseball’s turn. On Monday the Off Broadway company Primary Stages announced that Mr. Simonson would direct his latest play, “Bronx Bombers,” a drama about the New York Yankees, this fall at the Duke on 42nd Street. The show is to run Sept. 17 through Oct. 19, with opening night to be announced.

The Emmy Award-winning actor Joe Pantoliano (“The Sopranos”) will portray Yogi Berra in a play that also includes as characters Derek Jeter (Christopher Jackson of “In the Heights”), Reggie Jackson (Francois Battiste), Joe DiMaggio (Chris Henry Coffey), Mickey Mantle (Bill Dawes), Billy Martin (Keith Nobbs) and Lou Gehrig (John Wernke). Casting for the roles of Carmen Berra, Yogi Berra’s wife, and Babe Ruth are to be announced.



Anatomy of a Scene Video: ‘The Spectacular Now’

“The Spectacular Now” looks at the budding relationship between two misfit teens, Sutter (Miles Teller) and Aimee (Shailene Woodley). In this video feature, the film’s director James Ponsoldt narrates a scene where the two characters first meet.



Selena Gomez Hits No. 1

Selena Gomez performing on Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters Selena Gomez performing on “Good Morning America.”

After five weeks of rap albums topping the Billboard charts, it’s back to pop. Selena Gomez, who made her name as part of Disney’s fold of singing, smiling teens, has scored her first No. 1 album with “Stars Dance” (Hollywood). The album, her fourth, sold 97,000 copies last week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and Billboard notes that Ms. Gomez, now 21, enjoys a distinction that is getting rarer: each of her last three albums has opened with more sales than the one before it.

Meanwhile, the British boy band One Direction has the biggest-selling new single, “Best Song Ever” â€" a teaser for both a new film and the group’s next album â€" which opened with 322,000 downloads. But it was held at No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, which incorporates streaming and radio play in addition to sales. Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” still huge on the radio and streaming services, holds at No. 1 on the Hot 100 for an eighth week.

The top-selling album for the last two weeks, Jay Z’s “Magna Carta … Holy Grail” (Roc-A-Fella/Universal), fell to No. 2 with 77,000 sales. The soundtrack to “Teen Beach Movie,” another Disney property, rose five spots to No. 3 with 57,000.

Also on the album chart, the 24th installment in the “Kidz Bop” series, released by Razor & Tie, with romper-room-friendly versions of hits by Justin Timberlake, Icona Pop and Pitbull, fell one spot to No. 4 with 39,000. Marc Anthony’s new album in Spanish, “Marc Anthony 3.0” (Sony), opened at No. 5 with slightly fewer than 39,000 sales. (SoundScan’s publicly reported numbers are rounded.)



The Mostly Good Old Days: Boris Kachka Talks About ‘Hothouse’

The consolidation of the book publishing industry continues apace, with the recent merger of the two behemoths Penguin and Random House just the latest development. In this climate, the story of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, the fiercely independent publisher (even after it was no longer privately owned) of authors like T.S. Eliot, Flannery O’Connor and Joan Didion, has particular resonance. In “Hothouse,” Boris Kachka writes about FSG’s star authors, and about the three men â€" Roger Straus, John Farrar and Robert Giroux â€" who made the company a success. In a recent e-mail interview, Mr. Kachka discussed what he learned about literary legends, his approach toward reporting gossip, resisting nostalgia and more. Below are edited excerpts from the conversation:

Q.

You’ve covered publishing as a journalist for years. Why did you choose to write a book-length history of Farrar, Straus & Giroux?

A.

In 2008, I wrote a long piece about the myriad troubles and difficult transitions facing the industry. It meant taking a look back at how publishing used to work, and it came out the very week that, a) Lehman Brothers collapsed, and b) Robert Giroux died. A literary agent called me up and made me aware of that second fact. She thought there was a book in it â€" perhaps a cultural history hinging on FSG. I called a couple of sources, including Lorin Stein, then an editor at FSG and now the editor of The Paris Review. The agent Lynn Nesbit â€" no friend of Roger Straus’s â€" told me Straus had dictated an extensive oral history. I realized that if you were to write the history of one publishing house, you couldn’t do better than FSG.

Q.

Since the book covers midcentury business in New York City, there have been comparisons to “Mad Men.” If cable TV decided to adapt “Hothouse,” who would you cast as Straus and Giroux?

A.

I think, for the older Straus and Giroux, Dustin Hoffman and Anthony Hopkins might be ideal. Al Pacino and Kevin Spacey could do nicely in a more cartoonish version. On the younger, improbably handsome end of the spectrum, I think Josh Brolin has the Straus swagger and Colin Firth, Giroux’s Anglophile repression.

Q.

Did researching and reporting the book change your opinion of any of the major authors in it, who include Susan Sontag, Tom Wolfe and Philip Roth?

A.

I suppose I’m surprised about how clear-eyed they were about their relationships with a publisher who chronically underpaid them. Sontag and Wolfe were always haggling for more â€" not necessarily more money, which they usually didn’t get, but more time, more favors, more backing in public and private.

Q.

Did you have a line in the sand for gossip? Were there any juicy tidbits you didn’t publish for delicacy’s sake?

A.

Sure I had a line, and sure I left things out. I required a firsthand source â€" not necessarily someone who was in the bedroom, but someone who’d spoken to whoever was in the bedroom. Call it credible hearsay. In addition, I held myself to the Hippocratic oath. You’ll notice that many affairs have only one party named. There’s no need for the reader to know the unnamed party; it doesn’t add anything and it will take something away from someone else â€" their privacy, their well-being, their ability to sleep at night. There were other, still more damaging facts that didn’t make it into the book at all. They belong only to the people who suffered through them.

Q.

You write in the introduction that recounting the company’s history “inevitably flirts with nostalgia,” since “the art and the craft of bookmaking seem to be under grave threat.” You then dismiss that as a “simplistic story line” but seem to agree that FSG did something uniquely well, which no one does now. So do you accept the nostalgic view or not?

A.

A nostalgic story would argue that things were better back then in most ways, and I don’t think I do that. That’s one of the reasons I started in part with Roger Straus’s roast-like memorial service. A real tribute to someone’s life has to include his flaws, and a real history has to reveal the bad old days, too. Anchoring the story, I hope, is a view of history not as a straight line â€" up or down â€" but as a series of trade-offs.

Boris KachkaMia Tran Boris Kachka
Q.

What could Straus have usefully learned or borrowed from the corporate publishing model that he didn’t?

A.

There were all kinds of efficiencies that his son tried to bring to FSG, and which Galassi [the current FSG publisher Jonathan Galassi] eventually succeeded in bringing. There were even simple accounting procedures that Straus resisted out of nothing more than stubbornness and old age. There are many benefits to meetings of the sort he despised â€" post-mortems on the publication of a book that didn’t work, for example. And, agree with them or not, auctions are just a part of publishing. He resisted participating in them for far too long out of principled cheapness â€" which is kind of an oxymoron.

Q.

Who is Peggy Miller, and what is her importance to the story you’re telling?

A.

Peggy Miller was Straus’s personal assistant and the one in the office he trusted above all others. She was his constant companion in a highly social business. She knew him almost as well as his wife did, and his family resented her for it. She stood â€" physically â€" between Straus and his son when both worked in the office, a situation that surely contributed to the failure to keep FSG in the family. And in later years she mentored a younger generation, passing on Roger’s values to editors brought up in very different times. She edited his oral history and the company archives, deciding what was left to posterity, and what, as she told me, “I’ll take to the grave.” She’s pretty important!

Q.

I’m curious about some of the FSG books that were widely read and praised at the time of publication but have (mostly) faded from the book world’s collective memory. Did you read some of these books? Any in particular you would recommend people track down and read?

A.

I suppose Jean Stafford isn’t read too much today, and I really enjoyed her novel “The Mountain Lion.” It’s got a lock-jawed, laconic bleakness that’s hard to imagine finding in a contemporary American novel. It’s been reissued by New York Review Books, but I see Stafford having a potentially bigger revival.

I also can’t recommend Marguerite Yourcenar’s “Memoirs of Hadrian” highly enough. It’s quiet and sometimes bone dry, tending to adopt the earnest epic tone of its ancient Roman speaker. There’s little irony in it, just straight-up classical lyrical brilliance powerful enough to draw you into an alien mind and time.

Q.

Mr. Galassi recently wrote a response to your book in New York magazine, where you’re a staff writer. He said, among other things, “maybe the Good Old Days are always more inspiring, more golden, less weighed down by drudgery, because the drudgery is precisely what we let ourselves forget.” How did you feel about all of what he wrote?

A.

I think he’s responding to the elegiac and wistful note on which I end the book, which I know irked him a little. Galassi wrote a good, fair, magnanimous review, given the obvious and clearly stated conflicts, but I think that in citing me for shortchanging the FSG of the present, he shortchanges that very portrayal. The closing chapters highlight several important writers â€" Jeffrey Eugenides, Jonathan Franzen, Roberto Bolaño â€" whose careers have thrived because FSG remains so committed to, and successful at, producing top-notch literature. Perhaps there could have been more of that, but as Galassi himself concedes, the good old days were pretty interesting. And I don’t want to put anyone through more than 350 pages on the history of a publishing house, no matter how unique and fascinating.



‘Death Sticks’ at Rockaway Beach Will Soon Be No More

The city is removing the old wooden groins from Beach 87th to Beach 91st in Rockaway, citing their danger to surfers.Robert Stolarik for The New York Times The city is removing the old wooden groins from Beach 87th to Beach 91st in Rockaway, citing their danger to surfers.

They lurk just below the surface at high tide, ready to scrape or snarl an unsuspecting surfer. They have shattered boards, ripped open skin and wet suits, impaled unsuspecting bathers and caused at least one death in recent years.

But these are not the famed gray creatures of the deep, although they have similar jagged edges. Instead, they’re the long lines of wooden groins that extend from the shore into the surf at Rockaway Beach. Resembling worn down telephone poles and known by locals as the “death sticks,” or simply “sticks,” they were installed decades ago to mimic the effect of rock jetties, prevent beach erosion and, according to some local surfers, protect the shape of incoming waves.

Now, the two wooden groins from a main surfing spot between Beach 87th Street and Beach 91st Street are being removed to make it safer for the growing number of surfers that the beach has attracted.

“I can’t tell you how many people come in here all cut up from those things,” said Steve Stathis, the owner of Boarders Surf Shop and one of the early pioneers of Rockaway surfing.

As surfing has boomed in Rockaway, mostly with D.F.D.-ers (local speak for “down for the day”) who are unfamiliar with the surf, the sticks have been claiming a greater number of surfboards and stitch counts.

The danger they pose is, in part, because they are impediments, but also because of their deteriorating nature: after years of pounding surf and ripping current, each stick has been worn down to a barnacle-covered nub, rendered invisible by the dark blue-green water during high tides.

In 2010, Charles DeVoe, a 28 year-old fashion model, died after a surfboard leash attached to his ankle became tangled in the sticks, leaving him submerged for minutes before rescuers could get to him. Countless other injuries have prompted the city to remove the sticks.

The removal process will take about six weeks, according to the city’s Department of Design and Construction. The surfing beach will be closed during the process, which has angered some residents and the operators of local businesses who question why the city is doing the work during the summer. Surf shops and restaurants that line the beach have seen a dip in business since the closing.

A worker attaches chains from a backhoe to remove part of a groin.Robert Stolarik for The New York Times A worker attaches chains from a backhoe to remove part of a groin.

The department says it had no choice but to do the work now because the sticks had become too dangerous and no longer served any erosion control purpose.

But on a recent morning some surfers didn’t seem to care that beach was closed. A chain-link fence that extended well out into the water meant to keep people off the wave. But local surfers simply paddled past it, turning left at the end of the fence and paddling for the rolling waves breaking off the rock jetty. Out on the water, the conversation among the surfers was about the sticks and the closing of the beach.

“They’re the things I am most cautious about when I’m out surfing,” said Matthew Kiss, a lifelong Rockaway surfer. “Not big waves or currents, not other surfers. It’s the sticks.”

Yet, as is typical in Rockaway, a once-secluded urban beach town still adjusting to the surge of hipsters that have arrived, some locals are leery of any change.

The hesitation rests mainly in the unknown effect removing the sticks will have on their favorite spot. Locals credit the sticks with securing sandbars during storms to allow waves from the Atlantic to heave, barrel and peel far enough from the shore to allow for long, clean rides.

“My feelings are really love-hate for these sticks,” said Ron Schein, 37, a Rockaway surfer who would like to see the sticks preserved, but reinforced and made more prominent so they are always visible. “There is a reason that there is a peak off of each set of sticks. Just the same, I’m very sensitive to the fact that we’ve lost two people to the sticks over the last few years.”

There’s also the sense of character the sticks gave to the break. A few surfers likened it to “Dogtown,” the famous documentary on California surf and skate pioneers who had to navigate a relative maze of clutter when surfing in the 1970s. To some, the sticks gave Rockaway surfing its edge.

“It sounds kind of ridiculous, but it’s kind of a rite of passage to run into them when you’re surfing here,” said Thomas Brookins, a Rockaway filmmaker and surfer. “I’ve got my scrapes.”



‘Death Sticks’ at Rockaway Beach Will Soon Be No More

The city is removing the old wooden groins from Beach 87th to Beach 91st in Rockaway, citing their danger to surfers.Robert Stolarik for The New York Times The city is removing the old wooden groins from Beach 87th to Beach 91st in Rockaway, citing their danger to surfers.

They lurk just below the surface at high tide, ready to scrape or snarl an unsuspecting surfer. They have shattered boards, ripped open skin and wet suits, impaled unsuspecting bathers and caused at least one death in recent years.

But these are not the famed gray creatures of the deep, although they have similar jagged edges. Instead, they’re the long lines of wooden groins that extend from the shore into the surf at Rockaway Beach. Resembling worn down telephone poles and known by locals as the “death sticks,” or simply “sticks,” they were installed decades ago to mimic the effect of rock jetties, prevent beach erosion and, according to some local surfers, protect the shape of incoming waves.

Now, the two wooden groins from a main surfing spot between Beach 87th Street and Beach 91st Street are being removed to make it safer for the growing number of surfers that the beach has attracted.

“I can’t tell you how many people come in here all cut up from those things,” said Steve Stathis, the owner of Boarders Surf Shop and one of the early pioneers of Rockaway surfing.

As surfing has boomed in Rockaway, mostly with D.F.D.-ers (local speak for “down for the day”) who are unfamiliar with the surf, the sticks have been claiming a greater number of surfboards and stitch counts.

The danger they pose is, in part, because they are impediments, but also because of their deteriorating nature: after years of pounding surf and ripping current, each stick has been worn down to a barnacle-covered nub, rendered invisible by the dark blue-green water during high tides.

In 2010, Charles DeVoe, a 28 year-old fashion model, died after a surfboard leash attached to his ankle became tangled in the sticks, leaving him submerged for minutes before rescuers could get to him. Countless other injuries have prompted the city to remove the sticks.

The removal process will take about six weeks, according to the city’s Department of Design and Construction. The surfing beach will be closed during the process, which has angered some residents and the operators of local businesses who question why the city is doing the work during the summer. Surf shops and restaurants that line the beach have seen a dip in business since the closing.

A worker attaches chains from a backhoe to remove part of a groin.Robert Stolarik for The New York Times A worker attaches chains from a backhoe to remove part of a groin.

The department says it had no choice but to do the work now because the sticks had become too dangerous and no longer served any erosion control purpose.

But on a recent morning some surfers didn’t seem to care that beach was closed. A chain-link fence that extended well out into the water meant to keep people off the wave. But local surfers simply paddled past it, turning left at the end of the fence and paddling for the rolling waves breaking off the rock jetty. Out on the water, the conversation among the surfers was about the sticks and the closing of the beach.

“They’re the things I am most cautious about when I’m out surfing,” said Matthew Kiss, a lifelong Rockaway surfer. “Not big waves or currents, not other surfers. It’s the sticks.”

Yet, as is typical in Rockaway, a once-secluded urban beach town still adjusting to the surge of hipsters that have arrived, some locals are leery of any change.

The hesitation rests mainly in the unknown effect removing the sticks will have on their favorite spot. Locals credit the sticks with securing sandbars during storms to allow waves from the Atlantic to heave, barrel and peel far enough from the shore to allow for long, clean rides.

“My feelings are really love-hate for these sticks,” said Ron Schein, 37, a Rockaway surfer who would like to see the sticks preserved, but reinforced and made more prominent so they are always visible. “There is a reason that there is a peak off of each set of sticks. Just the same, I’m very sensitive to the fact that we’ve lost two people to the sticks over the last few years.”

There’s also the sense of character the sticks gave to the break. A few surfers likened it to “Dogtown,” the famous documentary on California surf and skate pioneers who had to navigate a relative maze of clutter when surfing in the 1970s. To some, the sticks gave Rockaway surfing its edge.

“It sounds kind of ridiculous, but it’s kind of a rite of passage to run into them when you’re surfing here,” said Thomas Brookins, a Rockaway filmmaker and surfer. “I’ve got my scrapes.”



July 31: Where the Candidates Are Today

Planned events for the mayoral candidates, according to the campaigns and organizations they are affiliated with. Times are listed as scheduled but frequently change.

Joseph Burgess and Nicholas Wells contributed reporting.

Event information is listed as provided at the time of publication. Details for many of Ms. Quinn events are not released for publication.

Events by candidate

Thompson

Catsimatidis

Carrión

Albanese

De Blasio

Lhota

Liu

McDonald

Quinn

Salgado

Group event


John A. Catsimatidis
Republican

8 a.m.
Attends an invitation-only “friendraiser,” hosted by Michael Finklestein, at the University Club on West 54th Street.

5:30 p.m.
Attends a second invitation-only “friendraiser,” this one at the Four Seasons Restaurant, on East 52nd Street.

Bill de Blasio
Democrat

11 a.m.
Kicks off a “Save Our Hospitals Tour” with a stop at Interfaith Medical Center, on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.

12 p.m.
Next visits Wyckoff Heights Medical, at Stockholm Street in Brooklyn.

1 p.m.
Wraps up his “Save Our Hospitals Tour” with a stop at Brookdale Hospital Medical Center, on Rockaway Parkway in Brooklyn.

5:45 p.m.
Greets commuters during the afternoon rush with his daughter Chiara at the 96th Street subway station on Broadway.

John C. Liu
Democrat

7 a.m.
Greets morning commuters at the Mosholu Parkway subway station, in the Bronx.

11:30 a.m.
Visits the Amico Senior Center, along with Assemblyman Peter Abbate, a Democrat, in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn.

12 p.m.
Visits a second Brooklyn senior center, still accompanied by Assemblyman Peter Abbate, this time, the St. Francis Cabrini Senior Center, in Bath Beach.

12:30 p.m.
Continues to a third senior center with Assemblyman Peter Abbate, the Dyker Senior Center in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn.

2 p.m.
Visits with South Asian Youth Action, a youth development organization, at its offices in Elmhurst, Queens.

5 p.m.
Greets voters during the afternoon rush at the 28th Street subway station, on Park Avenue South.

7:30 p.m.
Attends the New York Downtown Hospital Annual Banquet, at Jing Fong Restaurant in Lower Manhattan.

Joseph J. Lhota
Republican

11 a.m.
Consults privately with Sam Schwartz, a transportation engineer known to many as “Gridlock Sam” because he is credited with coining the term “gridlock” while working under Mayor John Lindsay, at Mr. Schwartz’s offices on Broadway.

Christine C. Quinn
Democrat

7:45 a.m.
Greets morning commuters at the 72nd Street subway station, on Broadway.

11:30 a.m.
Discusses her proposal to expand income thresholds on rent protection programs applicable to seniors, outside the Raices Times Plaza Senior Center, on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.

12 p.m.
Kicks off her “25 Senior Centers in One Day” tour, in which she will visit two senior centers in Brooklyn during the day and will deploy surrogates to call on senior centers in other boroughs to discuss her AffordableNYC plan. Surrogates include the council members Stephen Levin, Maria del Carmen Arroyo and Mark Weprin as well as the Assembly members Deborah Glick and Francisco Moya. Tour begins at the Raices Times Plaza Senior Center, on Atlantic Avenue.

12:30 p.m.
Visits with seniors, along with Councilman Stephen Levin, at her second senior center of the day, the St. Charles Jubilee Senior Center in Brooklyn.

6 p.m.
Attends a candlelight vigil for Trayvon Martin, organized by Harlem Mothers S.A.V.E., at Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem.

Some of Ms. Quinn’s events may not be shown because the campaign declines to release her advance schedule for publication.

William C. Thompson Jr.
Democrat

10 a.m.
Announces endorsement from group of clergy in news conference, outside City Hall.

7:30 p.m.
Attends a news conference convened by the Jamaican Consulate in anticipation of the coming 50th anniversary of Jamaican independence from Britain on Aug. 6, in Turtle Bay.

Anthony D. Weiner
Democrat

7:30 p.m.
Addresses residents at a town hall meeting in Rockaway Park, hosted by the Friends of Rockaway Beach, at the Knights of Columbus 2672, on Beach 90th Street.

Sal F. Albanese
Democrat

7:30 a.m.
Greets morning commuters with his wife, Lorraine, at the 30th Avenue subway station on 31st Street in Queens.

3:30 p.m.
Greets Staten Island Ferry riders at the Whitehall Terminal, in Lower Manhattan.

5:30 p.m.
Departs on the Staten Island Ferry, where he will meet riders and share his vision for Staten Island, aboard the vessel.

6:15 p.m.
Greets concertgoers at Staten Island’s Tappan Park, where the Persuasions and Felix Hernandez’s Rhythm Revue will play as part of the City Parks Foundation’s Summerstage series, at Bay and Canal Streets.

8 p.m.
Addresses residents at a town hall meeting in Rockaway Park, hosted by the Friends of Rockaway Beach, at the Knights of Columbus 2672, on Beach 90th Street.

Adolfo Carrión Jr.
Independent

11:30 a.m.
Visits Casabe Houses for the Elderly, becoming the fifth mayoral candidate to call on this privately managed facility this season, in East Harlem. The Rev. Erick Salgado visited in May, while Anthony Weiner, Bill Thompson and John Liu paid their respects earlier this month.

George T. McDonald
Republican

6:15 p.m.
Attends the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual summer picnic in Central Park.

Erick J. Salgado
Democrat

9 a.m.
Greets commuters during the morning rush at the 96th Street subway station on Lexington Avenue.

4 p.m.
Joins State Senator Rubén Díaz Sr. in a tour of the Bronx aboard the back of a pick-up truck, greeting voters along the way.

7 p.m.
Joins supporters for a fund-raiser, in Kew Gardens.

Readers with information about events involving the mayoral candidates are invited to send details and suggestions for coverage to cowan@nytimes.com. You can also follow us on Twitter @cowannyt.



The Ad Campaign: Catsimatidis Takes Aim at Quinn on Issue of Public Safety

First aired: July 30, 2013
Produced by: The Victory Group
for: John A. Catsimatidis

Law and order has been a prevailing theme for John A. Catsimatidis, the billionaire Republican candidate who has repeatedly pledged to keep “hoodlums” off the streets. In a 30-second spot, “Safe,” Mr. Catsimatidis warns that one rival in particular, Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, could fall short in this arena.

Fact-Check
0:13
“Christine Quinn and the City Council are so out of touch. They want to silence our police.”

The reference is to recent legislation passed by the City Council that expands New Yorkers’ ability to sue police officers for bias-based profiling. In asserting that the Council would “silence” the police, Mr. Catsimatidis is echoing a common complaint from critics of the bill, who charge that with the threat of litigation, officers would feel less comfortable describing suspects. Supporters of the legislation say the bill’s language allows officers to stop any suspect, regardless of race or gender, when they have a compelling reason to do so.

Although Ms. Quinn, as speaker, allowed the bill to come to a vote, she voted against it. (The bill passed by a wide margin, but was later vetoed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.) Ms. Quinn’s ‘no’ vote has not stopped rivals from attacking her for supporting a separate policing-related bill, which would create an inspector general to monitor and review policy at the Police Department.

0:20
“As Mayor, I will put more police on the street and would love to keep Ray Kelly on the job. I want to keep you and your family safe.”

Mr. Catsimatidis’s pledge in the ad to retain the police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, is a reiteration of a promise he, like several Democratic and Republican mayoral candidates, has made on the campaign trail. Mr. Kelly, whose image appears in the ad, has not yet endorsed a candidate in the race.

Scorecard

With its ominous emergency lights and scenes of police cruisers, the commercial suggests that Mayor Catsimatidis would take public safety seriously â€" while warning viewers, somewhat misleadingly, that Ms. Quinn would not.


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Free Legal Advice

Dear Diary:

Over several years on the Upper East Side, I became friendly with the owner of a tailor shop I patronized. He had emigrated from Eastern Europe, and his English and savvy were somewhat limited. So, being an attorney, I suggested that if he ever needed legal advice, I would provide it free.

Eventually, he asked me to review a new lease for his shop that his landlord had asked him to sign. Among other things, I pointed out that the proposed lease named him individually as the lessee, and so he might incur personal liability to his landlord and others in the operation of his business. I suggested that he form a corporation to be named as the tenant under the lease.

Sometime later, I brought a jacket to him for alteration. Before I had a chance to pick it up, the store had a serious fire and was closed for several weeks. When it reopened, I learned that my jacket had not survived the fire. When I suggested to the owner that he might consider compensating me for the loss, he responded that the old business was gone and that he had no personal responsibility.

After a long silence, he added, “Remember the corporation?”

Read all recent entries and our updated submissions guidelines. Reach us via e-mail diary@nytimes.com or follow @NYTMetro on Twitter using the hashtag #MetDiary.



New York Today: Eyes in the Storm

The Museum of the City of New York needs more Hurricane Sandy photos for an upcoming exhibition. This one was taken along Avenue C.Michael Appleton for The New York Times The Museum of the City of New York needs more Hurricane Sandy photos for an upcoming exhibition. This one was taken along Avenue C.

Shattered houses, sand-caked cars, felled trees.

Hurricane Sandy printed indelible images on the city’s collective memory.

This fall, an exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York will display many such scenes, captured by both average New Yorkers and professional photographers. The show will be entirely crowd-sourced.

“It’s easy for a lot of people to put this in the back of their mind,” said Sean Corcoran, curator of prints and photographs at the museum.

The show’s intent, he said, was to remind.

Curators are combing through more than 5,000 pictures â€" some snapped with iPhones, others with professional cameras â€" but they want more.

The deadline to submit has been extended to midnight on Thursday.

WEATHER

Another perfect day. The high will be around 84 degrees, and the skies will be blue. Click for current forecast.

TRANSIT & TRAFFIC

- Mass Transit Subways are O.K. Click for the latest status.

- Roads Inbound delays of 20 minutes on the George Washington Bridge following an earlier accident. Click for the latest status.

- Alternate side parking is in effect.

COMING UP TODAY

- On the mayoral trail: John C. Liu hits four boroughs (sorry Staten Island), visiting senior centers and youth groups. William C. Thompson Jr. receives the endorsement of clergy citywide, Bill de Blasio tours hospitals under threat of closure. Scott M. Stringer, in his bid for comptroller, meets voters at a Flatbush subway stop.

- Occupy Sandy is organizing a rally outside City Hall at noon to keep the spotlight on Hurricane Sandy victims.

- Fire Fighter Grill-Off: Brooklyn units compete to see who cooks up the best BBQ at the Fairway in Red Hook at the from 12p.m. to 3 p.m. [Free]

- Meet a 13-year-old app developer, Jordan Casey, chief executive of Casey Games, at the Apple Store in SoHo at 6:30 p.m. [Free]

- Google is putting on a street fair in the Meatpacking District at noon. Expect gizmos, not gyros. [Free]

- The Brooklyn Public Library and the Norman Mailer Center present a discussion about that literary icon (and Brooklynite). At the Central Library at Grand Army Plaza at 7 p.m. [Free]

- You don’t have to be a rich man to see the 1971 musical film classic “Fiddler on the Roof” alfresco in Riverside Park. It’s free on Pier 1 at 8:30 p.m. [Free]

- Just downstream, Wes Anderson’s 2012 quirky and magical “Moonrise Kingdom” is playing in Hudson River Park. On Pier 61 at dusk. [Free]

IN THE NEWS

- Anthony D. Weiner released a video rejecting calls for him to drop out of the mayoral race. “’Quit’ isn’t the way we roll in New York City,” he says. [New York Times]

- An appeals court upholds a decision preventing the city from limiting the sale of super-sized sodas, derailing the mayor’s push for smaller drink sizes. [New York Times]

- Aaron Greene, who was arrested for possession of explosives and accused of plotting to blow up the Washington Arch, gets seven years in prison. [Daily News]

- Some skyscrapers, including Rockefeller Center, cool off the old fashioned way: giant blocks of ice. [CNN]

- Fishermen and others on Long Island are battling what would be the first delivery port for liquefied natural gas in New York State. It would be 20 miles off the shore of Jones Beach. [New York Times]

- There is a giant sand castle in downtown Manhattan. [DNA Info]

- A series of “selfie” photos taken by a man accused of attacking a woman in Carroll Gardens implicated him in the crime, the police said. [DNA Info]

AND FINALLY

On July 31, 1964, the lunar probe Ranger took the first close-up shots of the moon’s surface. The 4,000 photos revealed that the face of the moon was likely navigable by a manned craft, paving the way for the first moonwalk five years later.

With Rover’s photos, The New York Times wrote, “man’s path to the moon, had been measurably cleared.”

Mona el Naggar,  E.C. Gogolak and Nicole Higgins DeSmet contributed reporting.

We’re testing New York Today, which we put together just before dawn and update until around noon.

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