The Brooklyn art scene is getting another retro infusion — this time from Crown Heights. The throwback references here depict a simpler time, when families were large and lived in the Old World shtetls of Eastern Europe. It’s not quite Soho, but on Empire Blvd. and Kingston Ave., situated next to a laundromat, The Betzalel Gallery is expected to officially open on Thursday.

What the annual Cherry Blossom festival at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden lacked in flowers, it made up for in colorful characters. The cherry blossoms bloomed two weeks ago, but that didn’t stop hundreds of Japanese subculture fans from dressing like manga and comic book heroes, and gothic Little Bo Peeps.

PHOTOS. Enterprise zoomed around the city, riding piggyback on top of a modified jumbo jet. Its trip included flyovers over parts of the city and landmarks including the Statue of Liberty and the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum before landing at Kennedy Airport.

The South Street Seaport Museum has been missing a key piece of its maritime collection since January: the Ambrose lightship. The vessel, built in 1908, was sent over to Staten Island for repairs. Flanked by an FDNY water boat salute — streams of water announcing her return — the Ambrose docked at home on Monday.

Cuban bandleader and musician Arsenio Rodriguez lies in an unmarked grave at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale. But that's about to change thanks to a few Rodriguez enthusiasts and a generous donation from a musician and Latin music producer.

The Cuban bandleader and musician Arsenio Rodriguez, born 100 years ago, was a heavy man, who wore sharp suits, big round glasses and is often credited as the godfather of salsa music. Yet, there is nary a street commemorating his contributions, nor a marker at his grave in Ferncliff Cemetery.

Joan Didion's latest book, "Blue Nights," explores the death of her 39-year old adopted daughter Quintana. It's an event, “I hadn't dealt with it at any level, and I needed to,” she told WNYC's Leonard Lopate on Wednesday.

China watchers and writers Ian Buruma, Yan Lianke, Linda Polman, David Rieff, and Zha Jianying spoke at the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature to discuss human rights in China at the Great Hall at Cooper Union.

The artists in our essential Manhattan mixtape were not necessarily born in the borough, but like so many residents, they came here to make it.

Public displays of unbridled smooching are now being encouraged in Times Square. Standing beneath a 26-foot sculpture modeled on the iconic photo of the American sailor kissing a nurse on the day known as V-J Day in 1945, visitors are already practicing the art of the kiss.

On the longest day of the year, there were over 1,000 performances in every borough and in every genre. From professionals to amateurs, electronic musicians to classical music aficianados, New York's latest and most cacophonous celebration, Make Music New York, filled the streets.