New York City Archives

Firefighters gather up an American Flag after the funeral for New York City firefighter Lieutenant Michael Davidson at St. Patrick's Cathedral on March 27th, 2018, in New York City, New York. Davidson died early last week from smoke inhalation while fighting a fire in the basement of a Harlem building. He leaves behind a wife and four young children.

News in Brief

Viewfinder: Honoring a Fallen Firefighter in New York

Firefighters gather up an American Flag after the funeral for New York City firefighter Lieutenant Michael Davidson at St. Patrick's Cathedral on March 27th, 2018, in New York City, New York.

Pacific Standard Staff

Members of the Chicago Police Department, pictured here in July of 2017.

Social Justice

Gang Databases Are a Life Sentence for Black and Latino Communities

Ending up on a gang database if you're brown or black is easy—you only have to be suspected of association. Getting off a gang database? That's much harder.

Emmanuel Felton

Economics

Airbnb Is Coming for Your Neighborhood

In New York City, Airbnb has raised rents, removed housing from the rental market, and fueled gentrification—and its effects are being felt elsewhere too.

Alastair Boone

A Cal Fire firefighter looks through a car next to a home that was destroyed by a mudslide on January 12th, 2018, in Montecito, California.

News in Brief

The Week in Photos: From a Winter Storm in Connecticut to Mudslides in Montecito

A round-up of images from Viewfinder, Pacific Standard's daily photo feature.

Pacific Standard Staff

Visitors to the One World Observatory look out at a snow covered Manhattan on January 8th, 2018, in New York City.

News in Brief

Viewfinder: Looking Down at a Frigid New York City

Visitors to the One World Observatory look out at a snow covered Manhattan on January 8th, 2018, in New York City.

Pacific Standard Staff

A Polar Bear Club swimmer carries an American flag as the group makes its annual icy plunge into the Atlantic Ocean on January 1st, 2018, on Coney Island in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.

News in Brief

Viewfinder: A New Year’s Plunge in New York City

A Polar Bear Club swimmer carries an American flag as the group makes its annual icy plunge into the Atlantic Ocean on January 1st, 2018, on Coney Island in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.

Pacific Standard Staff

Social Justice

White House Calls for Immigration Reform After New York City Bombing

Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called for Congress to work with President Trump to change immigration laws.

Francie Diep

A woman and child walk down a street in the Fort Greene neighborhood where the director and artist Spike Lee once lived on February 27th, 2014, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.

Social Justice

Spike Lee’s Gentrification Problem

Lee's role in gentrification is complicated, despite his vociferous criticism of the phenomenon, because in some ways he's responsible for the Brooklyn of today.

Brentin Mock