Curbed Cuts: Met Museum sees record attendance, original Penn Station remnants found, and more

Met Museum sees record attendance

The Metropolitan Museum of Art may be experiencing its fair share of setbacks—expenses are up, revenue is down, and the museum has been forced to take action in order to course-correct through a proposed mandatory admission fee and a round of staff layoffs—but one thing keeps looking up for the institution. The Met saw record attendance this fiscal year, with 7 million visitors to its three locations—The Met Fifth Avenue, The Met Cloisters, and The Met Breuer.

The institution pegs its attendance record to the new Met Breuer at the former Whitney Museum of Art, which saw 505,590 visitors in the fiscal year. Of those visiting the Met, 37 percent were international attendees and 30 percent were New Yorkers.

MTA chairman Joe Lhota should never have an advice column

Penn Station’s so-called “summer of hell” got off to a not-so-hellish start this week, which is probably a good thing considering that MTA chairman Joe Lhota’s advice for anxious commuters was, at best, laughable. “Try to come in earlier—or later if your job allows it,” said Lhota, the Post reports. “I know you can always come in earlier ... Instead of taking the 7:05, take the 6:55.” Lhota, the Post notes, lives in Brooklyn Heights.

Commuters took to Twitter to react to Lhota’s comments:

The Post also notes that Lhota “became flustered” after imparting his advice, after noticing that it was in fact not helpful at all. Meanwhile, a survey of 1,200 subway riders by city comptroller Scott Stringer’s office cited by Gothamist found that over the past three months of the subway’s epic meltdown, 74 percent of respondents had been late to work, and 65 percent had been late to pick up a child. Half of those surveyed had resorted to taking private transportation like taxis or using ride-hailing apps like Uber to get to work on time.

Untapped Cities

Original Penn Station remnants show up in a strange place

Intricate sculptures that once adorned the roof of McKim, Mead & White’s beloved and erstwhile Penn Station have appeared in the last place imaginable: a Newark parking lot. Following a tip from a reader, Untapped Cities has found two Adolph Weinman sculpted eagles, designed to flank four clock sculptures, as well as a Day and Night clock sculpture in front of a NJ Transit facility in Newark.

The agency collected the remnants about fifteen years ago, with the intent of installing them on the roof of Newark Penn Station. But alas, that never came to be—shocker, right?—and there the sculptures sit.

Amazon eyes another brick and mortar location in NYC

Online retailer Amazon may be looking to open another New York City brick and mortar store. Sources of The Real Deal say the company is looking to expand into the 7,400-square-foot Soho retail space at 72 Spring Street, between Crosby and Lafayette streets.

Much like their first store at Lincoln Center, which opened in May, and another planned location TRD says will open this summer in Herald Square, the Soho store will hawk what the company was founded to sell: books.