Low Hanging Fruit

Anyone who wants to get a rise out of people only needs to ask subway riders what upsets them most:

They chew like cows, clip their nails and charge open seats like linebackers.

Meet the rudest of the rude subway riders.

The Daily News asked readers last week for their subway bad manners pet peeves — and our e-mail boxes filled up faster than the No. 7 train at rush hour.

There were daily horror stories about door blockers who refuse to move, and sprawlers who spread their legs far too wide, taking up more than one seat.

. . .

One reader snapped at “GUM SNAPPERS. These people try to make as much noise as possible. They sound like cows and act like pigs.” Others took aim at “pole huggers” who wrap themselves around the floor-to-ceiling poles designed to be used by many standing riders.

I prefer the term “subway pole dancer,” but that’s just me.

Basra Slope

Some Park Slope deli owners have stopped selling alcohol:

At Stop and Fifth deli on Fifth Avenue and Fifth Street, where Mr. Ramirez had often bought beer in the past, he discovered that the Rolling Rocks had been replaced by organic vanilla soy milk. And two blocks south, Mr. Ramirez found that the Salem Deli and Grocery on Fifth Avenue and Seventh Street was also suddenly going dry, with just a few stray bottles of beer and wine coolers left on its shelves.

As it turns out, the Muslim owners of both delis have stopped selling alcoholic drinks, largely for religious reasons. The move has surprised longtime customers like Mr. Ramirez, leaving some to speculate on whether other Muslim merchants might follow suit.

Although both delis sit squarely in a busy, youthful neighborhood with no shortage of potential customers, the owners were firm about their decision.

But without the lucrative income from selling $10 sixpacks of Rolling Rock, how will they make money? On principle:

“The Koran says no alcohol,” said Abraham Saleh, a Yemeni immigrant who is a co-owner of Stop and Fifth. After he and his partners bought the store in the spring, he explained, they began a gradual upgrade of the space. They stopped selling beer as soon as they obtained a license to sell cigarettes, which helped replace the lost beer income.

He’s Depraved Because He’s Deprived!

An interesting defense — we allow underage girls into our clubs because you expect us to:

The club scene in New York City revolves around young, hot girls who, whether or not they’re 21, are invited into parties to line the pockets of club owners and promoters bringing in six-figure salaries, those in the scene say.

“The key demographic is a young, stylish, hip person,” said promoter Eric Soler, 34, who works all over downtown Manhattan.

He and dozens of other promoters create lists of potential patrons and steer them into clubs with promises of discounted cover charges and bottle service or free-drink tickets.

“For the most part, you go after women, because women are going to bring men who are going to spend money,” he said.

. . .

A Post reporter who responded to an online ad recruiting club promoters was met by a college-aged entrepreneur who told her to target underage girls for upcoming events.

“If they’re hot, we’ll get them in,” he said.

. . .

A 19-year-old clubgoer said promoters sometimes go further by gathering underagers at a meeting point and escorting them into a club to help them bypass security.

On Friday, the Post watched just such an arrangement in action, as a promoter swept two young girls past ID scanners and into BED.

“These promoters are my best of friends now, but it’s not like they’re naive about underagers,” the 19-year-old said. “They know it and they like that we’re young.”

No Offense Taken . . .

Uh, dude, it’s an ad:

An irate city councilman is declaring war on a popular storage company over a subway ad he finds “offensive and insulting” to the outer boroughs.
Public Storage ads proclaim, “Finally, a good reason to leave Manhattan.”

Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Queens) fired off a furious letter to the California-based storage company yesterday, demanding that the “narrow-minded and inaccurate” ads be removed from city subways and buses immediately.

“Implying, as your company does, that there is no reason, other than your storage facilities, to visit four of the five boroughs is simply wrong,” Gioia wrote to CEO Ronald Havner Jr.

What, no 7 train service interruptions this weekend? Nothing Con Ed did?

Repaid 88 Times Over

Manhattan’s last free-standing residence is for sale:

A cosmetic surgeon seeking a comfortable space for his patients to convalesce, a national foundation looking to relocate its headquarters, and a house-hunting Modern artist are among the prospective owners of the marble mansion on Riverside Drive at 107th Street.

The free-standing landmark, purchased by a Columbia University law professor for $325,000 in 1979, is on the market for $29 million. If it goes for that asking price, which was recently reduced from $31 million, the townhouse will be far-and-away Manhattan’s most expensive residence to be sold above 96th Street, real estate brokers say.

. . .

The Schinasi mansion, as it is still known, is one of Manhattan’s few remaining non-attached homes, architectural historians say. While the building’s exterior is French Renaissance in style, the interior reflects European and Oriental influences. It boasts wood and plaster wall and door embellishments, stained-glass windows, marble mosaics, and ceiling carvings and murals. One recurring design element is the pineapple, a symbol of hospitality for centuries. Pineapple ornaments adorn the banister of the grand, five-foot-wide sculpted oak staircase, the molding in the front parlor room, and the metal hearth of the ground-floor fireplace.

“It is a rare survivor on Riverside Drive, which was once built up with mansions and townhouses,” an architectural historian, Charles Lockwood, said. “What’s ironic is that these grand houses lasted only a generation, and then they were down.” Mr. Lockwood, the author of “Bricks and Brownstone,” a book about New York City townhouses, said these turn-of-the-century homes, started being demolished in the 1910s and 1920s. They were supplanted by larger, multi-family apartment buildings that are now staples of Riverside Drive.

There are 12 bedrooms, eight bathrooms, five kitchens, a light-infused fourth-floor studio apartment, a 3,500 square-foot garden, and even a closed-off tunnel that provided the Schinasi family access to Riverside Park across the street.

. . .

The 12,000-square-foot home on Riverside Drive retains most of its original details, in addition to more recent accents like frosted-glass interior doors, marquis lights around the bathroom mirror, a ping-pong table, and a framed poster celebrating the rapper Eminem.