The New York Observer

Chipotle founder, chairman and chief executive Steven M. Ells is bringing the heat to Greenwich Village. The "gourmet" taco and burrito czar recently bought the $11 million penthouse at 40 Fifth Avenue . Mr. Ells bought the 10-room co-op in Greenwich Village from psychologist Edwin Fancher , a co-founder and part owner of the The Village Voice from the 1950s to the 1970s. Built in 1929, the 15 ... Full Story »

Add another big name to the New York Times buyout list: Paul Tough, an eight year veteran of the Times magazine, has taken a severance package. His last day was yesterday. "I am taking the buyout because I want to write," said Mr. Tough, a story editor for the Magazine . "Over the last few years I've been writing and editing at the same time. I enjoy them both. Writing is more exciting and ... Full Story »

A pair of Oscar-winning directors debut new films this weekend, but all anyone really wants to talk about is the King of the World. Thanks to some embargo-breaking reviews, the first (and second and third) word on James Cameron's Avatar has finally reached the masses. And, apparently, it's better than it looks! (Be honest, the ad campaign for this thing has been terrible.) In fact, some critics ... Full Story »

He remains so radioactive that a candidate in the Democratic primary for Manhattan district attorney was forced to cancel a fundraiser with him this summer. So, naturally, Eliot Spitzer is thinking … political comeback. Well, at least according to Thursday's New York Post , which has Spitzer—who lasted half as long as a governor as Sarah Palin did—mulling a bid for state comptroller next year ... Full Story »

Mixed emotions flew around the publishing industry today as word spread that the hard-to-please pre-publication blurb machine known as Kirkus Reviews would be shutting down after 76 years. The biweekly trade pub, which reviewed something like 5,000 books every year and competed directly with Publishers Weekly , was read mainly by booksellers and book review editors who used it as a guide to ... Full Story »

How might the multibillion-dollar Comcast-NBC deal impact the network’s traditional summer social scene in the Hamptons? For years, a great diaspora of NBC talent— Jerry Seinfeld , Jeff Zucker , Alec Baldwin , Matt Lauer , Ben Silverman and so on—would spread along the stretch of the planet that runs between Southampton and Amagansett between June and September. But the Comcast guys, according ... Full Story »

Two years ago, the Port Authority was viewed by many in government as a plump cash cow—the riches of which could be spread to projects around New York and New Jersey. And today? Not so much. Facing an ever-rising tab at the World Trade Center site and a substantial drop in expected cash from tolls, the New York/New Jersey agency announced Thursday at its board meeting that its 10-year capital ... Full Story »

On the frosty evening of Dec. 5, the line outside Webster Hall snaked its way along 11th Street, shivering in the season's first snowfall. It proceeded, caterpillar-like, into the cavernous music venue, coalescing in front of the stage in anticipation of London's the xx, the most scrutinized indie rock band of the past four months. Just after 8 p.m., the stage lights dropped dramatically and the ... Full Story »

Thomas Hoving—controversial former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art—died today of cancer, reports author Michael Gross. Hoving first worked at the Met in 1959, and though he left for a brief stint as parks commissioner, he returned to the museum to become its director in 1967. During his 10 years there, he acquired attractions like the Euphronios krater and the Temple of Dendur, and is ... Full Story »

ALBANY—At the end of his remarks at a holiday fund-raiser last night, David Paterson made a simple declaration: "I am running for governor in 2010." "If it doesn't work out, I'm going to go on The View . They need a little affirmative action on The View ," Paterson said to laughs, according to one attendee. Sherri Shepherd, one of the morning talk-show's co-hosts was at the 24 Fifth Avenue event ... Full Story »

Tired of clicking around YouTube and iTunes for online videos of substance? Search no more! The Observer has your weekly handy guide to what's worth watching on the Web. A Charlie Brown Christmas on Hulu — Apparently there is a "War on Charlie Brown Christmas Specials!" Last week, President Obama's speech on Afghanistan bumped A Charlie Brown Christmas from CBS' scheduling, which some people ... Full Story »

All year, the biggest fault line in the health care debate has been the public option—a proposed government-run insurance plan that Americans without access to group coverage would be eligible to sign up for. To liberals, it has been the reason for doing health care reform, an innovative tool that will break up private insurers’ monopolies and improve the cost and quality of care for everyone ... Full Story »

The Observer has learned that David Friedman will be replacing Zev Shalev as executive producer of CBS' The Early Show . Mr. Friedman most recently worked as the executive producer on NBC's Last Call With Carson Daily. He has also had stints producing on Rosie O'Donnell's show and on NBC's Today . He is the son of CBS News executive vice president Paul Friedman. Sean McManus, the president of ... Full Story »

Times metro reporter Jennifer 8. Lee is taking a buyout. She's a book author, and has been a fixation of many in media circles for the eight years she's been at the paper. She has the biggest name of any of those revealed to be taking buyouts from the Times . One hundred will lose jobs by the end of the year. Here is a list of others taking... Full Story »

When publisher Peter Olson stepped down from his position as chief executive of Random House in May of 2008, few were surprised by the news. More recently, Mr. Olson stepped down from another perch: 799 Park Avenue . However, unlike his step-down from Random House, this switch was less predictable. According to a deed filed Tuesday in city records, Mr. Olson and his wife, Candice Carpenter Olson ... Full Story »

In a group email this morning, Sean McManus, the president of CBS sports and news, informed staff members that CBS Early Show executive producer Zev Shalev would be leaving the network in part to develop a new content project, called NewsTsar, which would launch "in the second quarter of next year." What's the idea behind NewsTsar? "My hope is to marry news content with all the social media ... Full Story »

Mention Joe Lieberman's name to a Democratic activist these days and you'll probably hear some variation of the question: This is what we get for letting him keep his chairmanship? It was last November, you'll remember, that Senate Democrats opted to hand Lieberman—who had just spent nearly a year championing John McCain's White House bid and savaging Barack Obama—the Homeland Security Committee ... Full Story »

"I have the strangest allergy I’ve only discovered in the last couple years,” revealed petite wealth manager and socialite Alexandra Lebenthal, arriving Monday, Dec. 7, for the 12th annual Food Allergy Ball at the Waldorf. “I’m allergic to tomatoes. But not in the way other people are, where they get hives. I actually get a sore throat, strep throat, fevers, cold, and I’ll be sick for two weeks ... Full Story »

The fashionable thing to say, especially among those who haven’t been around long enough to know what they’re missing, is that New York has lost all its old charm. The wondrous character-driven businesses that once populated the magical, uneven checkerboard that was Old New York have all been snuffed out, along with the myriad of wondrous personalities that guarded them. But the children of the ... Full Story »

"It's just a building when it comes right down to it,” 91-year-old George Doty, the former Goldman Sachs managing partner, said last month. His firm had just started moving out of 85 Broad Street, its headquarters for the past three decades, and into a shiny new West Street tower. “Buildings, to me, don’t have a particular feeling. They’re just there. Like a car.” More like the Metropolitan ... Full Story »

To anyone closely watching the recent City Council elections, a small set of races took an interesting turn in the summer. The Independence Party of New York, typically something of a passive player in city politics, suddenly became actively involved in outer-borough contests, pushing hard for four or five candidates in the Democratic primary that had opponents supported by the labor-backed ... Full Story »

For a while there, it seemed as though every time you turned on a Toyota commercial or ate vegan food downtown, you couldn’t help but hear an atmospheric synthesizer and processed vocals telling you “we rock the party” or whatever. This was thanks to Moby. Love him or hate him, the bespectacled, very bald musician made techno mainstream. And then he went from being unlikely superstar ... Full Story »

ALBANY-Tom DiNapoli is in a bad place. It's not the fact that, as state comptroller, he's forced to preside over a state pension fund spiraling down with the overall stock market. Or that a recent poll showed that voters are inclined to pick "someone else" over him for a full term. Worse than any of that is the fact that he happens to be standing in Andrew Cuomo's way. As Mr. Cuomo moves closer... Full Story »

Want to know what the scene was like at Art Basel Miami Beach this year? The answer can be summed up in one word: bloated. The fair has been running for seven years, and its success has paralleled the contemporary art boom. The fair allows foreign dealers from all over the world to show art in the U.S., still the global art-buying sweet spot, and gives collectors a shopping mall of options ... Full Story »

Last week, Josh Cohen, Google News' senior business project manager, was in Washington, D.C., at a Federal Trade Commission-organized workshop titled "How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age?" He appeared onstage before a crowd of journalists, entrepreneurs and F.T.C. policy lawmakers in a slate-colored jacket, white shirt and black patterned tie. Heavy navy cur-tains and an American flag ... Full Story »