Week in Pictures for Nov. 22

See the slide show

Here is a slide show of photographs from the past week in New York City and the region. Subjects include the real mayors of New York, the whitewashing of 5Pointz in Long Island City and the opening of an ice rink at McCarren Park.

This weekend on “The New York Times Close Up,” an inside look at the most compelling articles in Sunday’s Times, Sam Roberts will speak with The Times’s Jill Abramson, Mark Bittman, Gay Talese, Philip Shenon and Eleanor Randolph. Tune in at 10 p.m. Saturday or 10 a.m. Sunday on NY1 News to watch.

A sampling from the City Room blog is featured daily in the main print news section of The Times. You may also browse highlights from the blog and reader comments, read current New York headlines, like New York Metro | The New York Times on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Big Ticket | Luxury Lodging for $17.3 Million

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times 18 Gramercy Park South

With just a few full-floor units and the distinctive maisonette remaining at the luxury condominium reinvention of a historic Salvation Army lodging house for women at 18 Gramercy Park South, the sale for $17,300,067.50 of the 4,207-square-foot residence that commands the entire eighth floor was the most expensive of the week, according to city records.

The unit, No. 8, has four bedrooms, five and a half baths, and a corner living room with 40 feet of frontage on private Gramercy Park. The monthly carrying costs are $11,225.31, and as a customary closing gift, the sponsors, Zeckendorf Development and Global Holdings, bestowed a key to the park. The condo, with interiors designed by Robert A. M. Stern Architects, who also renovated the Georgian-style brick exterior, sold for its asking price, $16.99 million, plus transfer taxes.

As they did with their previous project, 15 Central Park West, the development team created a prewar ambience enhanced by modern amenities, a combination that proved irresistible to qualified globe-trotters with a fondness for park views. The buyer, identified as the Suyeon Kim Trust, did not use a broker; Zeckendorf Marketing represented the sponsor.

The second-priciest sale also involved park views but required the purchase of two units to create a 5,000-square-foot, 14-room duplex. At the Beresford, an Emery Roth-designed co-op at 211 Central Park West, between 81st and 82nd Streets, Nos. 17/18C and 18B traded for an aggregate $16.1 million, roughly $1 million above their respective asking prices. The buyers, Edward Lavin and Jennifer M. Bruder, were represented by Brad Webb of Douglas Elliman Real Estate. Lorraine Dauber of Stribling & Associates was the listing broker for No. 17/18C, sold by Coke Anne M. Wilcox for $10,196,130, and for No. 18B, sold by Walter S. Tomenson Jr. for $5,903,870.

Big Ticket includes closed sales from the previous week, ending Wednesday.

Silent Fellow Travelers

Dear Diary:

Something small but wonderful happened to me recently.

Around 2 p.m., after a photo shoot near Union Square, I boarded the L train. An older gentleman, clad in khaki and holding a cane, quietly offered me his seat. He had kind eyes. I simply smiled and took the seat. He smiled back.

We rode together and switched trains together, this time to the A express. Again, he caught my eye and saved me a seat. We rode all the way to 181st together, and parted ways with smiles. Never said a word.

Around 9 p.m., as I was walking back from dinner in darkness, I saw a glimmer of light from a building’s basement door, a few blocks from my building. Out of the door stumbled the same older gentleman, still wearing his khakis, leaning on his cane, taking trash to the curb.

We both stopped in our tracks, me holding my takeout bag, him holding his trash bag. Our eyes locked. We both gleamed. And never said a word.

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

New York Today: Losers

Barton Silverman/The New York Times That kind of year: the Knicks guard Iman Shumpert (No. 21) fouling Paul George of the Indiana Pacers en route to an overtime loss on Wednesday.

Even if you don’t follow sports closely, you might have noticed something odd about the local pro teams lately.

They’re not very good. All of them.

The area’s seven pro basketball, football and hockey squads have amassed a collective record of 65 losses and 41 wins.

Not one has a winning record.

The fall highlight reel features blown leads, last-minute interceptions and infuriatingly timed fouls.

There have been a few bright spots.

The Giants lost their first six games, but have now won four straight.

Still, the Knicks, Rangers, Nets, Jets and Islanders are bringing their fans to tears.

Jay Schreiber, a Queens-born deputy sports editor at The Times who has followed local teams for more than 50 years, said he could not recall anything like it.

Whatever the cause, it’s not underfunding.

The Nets’ owner, a Russian tycoon, is “spending an enormous amount of money, and the team right now is a disaster,” Mr. Schreiber said.

Maybe it’s just coincidence, he said.

“Turn the clock back three years, maybe four of the seven teams had good shots at the playoffs.”

This year, not so much.

Here’s what else you need to know for Friday and the weekend.

WEATHER

Kind of blah. Showers this morning, clouds all day, high of 56.

Sunny and cooler tomorrow. Sunday: ice cold, with a chance of snow.

COMMUTE

Subways: Click for latest status.

Rails: Click for L.I.R.R., Metro-North or New Jersey Transit status.

Roads: Click for traffic map or radio report on the 1s.

Alternate-side parking is in effect.

COMING UP TODAY

- Mayor Bloomberg unveils a new Amur leopard habitat at the Staten Island Zoo.

- What do Dick Cheney, Raymond W. Kelly, Tommy Lasorda and Dr. Mehmet Oz have in common? All will be honored at the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation’s annual luncheon.

- You can skirmish over vinyl at the WFMU Record Fair in the Flatiron District. [$7, $25 for early admission to get a chance at the best stuff]

- Or ponder the state of German film at a two-day conference about the Berliner Schule at New York University’s Deutsches Haus. 7 p.m. [Free]

- See the play that landed Mae West in court for obscenity, “Diamond Lil,” performed at the Jefferson Market library in the West Village. 7 p.m. [Free]

- A German piano-cello duo, Sarah Hiller and Lucas Sieber, make their New York recital debut at a New York Chamber Music Festival show at Christ and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on the Upper West Side. 8. p.m [Free]

- Many observances of the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. They include a show of photographs surrounding the event at the International Center of Photography in Midtown. [$14]

- An art and memorabilia exhibition, “‘Dearest Jackie’: On the Death of JFK,” at the main New York Public Library. [Free]

- And a panel of conspiracy theorists at the Cornelia Street Cafe. [$20]

- For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.

Weekend Travel Hassles: Click for subway disruptions or list of street closings.

Joseph Burgess contributed reporting.

New York Today is a morning roundup that stays live from 6 a.m. till about noon.

What would you like to see here to start your day? Post a comment, email us at nytoday@nytimes.com or reach us via Twitter using #NYToday.

Find us on weekdays at nytoday.com.