Liberty City's Architectural Inspiration

Restaurants and bars in Liberty City are like other landmarks based on places in New York, the real-world city on which the universe of the latest Grand Theft Auto game is based. The names, locations and designs are all slightly off, like a riddle made for trivia-night nerds. Ed Levine has risen to the challenge. Liberty City's rowdy Steinway (here's the video) is pretty clearly based on Astoria's Bohemian Beer Garden. But Levine, a food blogger, has identified possible models for half a dozen virtual eateries and drinking holes—even this bland and Starbucks-like coffee shop which he places in a gamer's version of Midtown's Rockefeller Center. [Serious Eats via Kottke]

We know you can't get enough of today's burning taxi photos, so here are some incredible shots from the folks at WNBC, who rushed down to Rockefeller Center from, you know, upstairs, and eventually decided to put them online. [WNBC]

From the mailbag: "Holy crap. I was having lunch at Rock Center with pasta on my lap when this car explodes right outside of Anthropologie about 20 min ago. I'm back at my desk now having a diet coke— wishing it was scotch. People rushed towards the scene to take cell phone pics. A second boom. Not funny stuff. People were saying it was a taxi." And: "There was some car fire coming out of 5th Avenue near Rockefeller Center. The fire guy is saying at was on 50th St." And: "A cab blew up on 51st between 6th and 7th. At first the rumor was that 30 rock blew up. It didn't. and now nobody here cares."

The New Guy: Rockefeller Center

A recent transplant to the city, Dashiell continues his quest to discover the "real New York." Tell him where to find it at newguy@gawker.com. More »

Rockefeller Center's Tough Love

Slate has a luverly little piece praising the genius of Rockefeller Center — how its simple, smart planning makes for the perfect urban center, its beautiful architecture lending itself to the "glory" of Christmas and whatnot. More »