WEEKLY NEWS BULLETIN: COLD SHADOWS, ANCIENT OBELISKS, A MASSIVE MENORAH, & CHRISTOPHER WALKEN

Photo by Eric K. Gross.

Check out what’s been making news in the neighborhood over the past week in other outlets. This week, there are even some feel-good stories for you sappy types.

Two guys picked up Christopher Walken on Amsterdam Avenue last week and gave him a ride. And he was totally cool about it. “He got in the car and we went on talking about stories from growing up in the city. He is an incredibly nice person, the conversation was great and Mr. Walken thanked us again for the ride.” (Gothamist)

Here’s a long column on the shadows cast by those massive towers going up just South of Central Park. “An old man with a white beard sat on a smooth glacial rock in the sun. I watched him as he removed his jacket and lay down, now using the jacket as a blanket. He scratched himself and seemed to fall asleep. Ten minutes later, the shadow took him in. He sat up and looked around with an attitude of, ‘What the hell just happened?'” (Capital NY)

The world’s largest menorah is in Central Park by Fifth Avenue. (press release)

Warning: this story may make you feel good about life and the world. Renowned chef Andrea Bergquist-Zamir took over the cooking program at the West Side Campaign Against Hunger. “Though offered for 10 years, the class became a rigorous job training program after Ms. Bergquist-Zamir took the reins in late May, staff at WSCAH said…Ms. Bergquist-Zamir’s first graduating class, in August, included Russell Brown, 52, a recovering alcoholic who was referred by the Bowery Mission, where he was living at the time. With Ms. Bergquist-Zamir’s help, he is now a line cook at the Upper West Side Shake Shack.” (Wall Street Journal)

Central Park is rehabilitating its 3,700-year-old obelisk. (A Walk in the Park)

Local officials want the new school planned for the Riverside Center development at 61st street and West End Avenue to be named for community activist Madeline Polayes, who died in February. (DNAinfo)

Omar Hoist, the homeless man accused of raping a 28-year-old woman in Central Park a little over a week ago, has a history of sexual offenses. (Daily News)