Good morning on this Good Friday. Many New Yorkers will don their Sunday best this weekend for Easter. That means bonnets. Not so much those traditional ones with a strap pulled under one’s chin, but creative, fashion-forward Easter hats, which we found at Harlem’s Heaven Hats this week. The shop, which has been in the neighborhood for 26 years, specializes in so-called church hats: from small and simple pieces to hats with brims so wide “you can barely get through the doorway,” said Evetta Petty, the owner and milliner. “Here in New York, people are wearing whatever is high-fashion to church now,” she told us. “It’s not really just what would traditionally be a church hat. It has definitely evolved.” Hundreds of hats covered the walls, like colorful pieces of candy. One hat resembled a multilayered cake. Another, a floppy gramophone or oversize seashell. Some were decked with Swarovski crystals or a mohawk of peacock feathers. Others were more elegant and subtle, draped with silky pink roses or veils of ethereal chiffon. Read More, and See Today’s Weather and Commute »

Dear Diary: A woman entered the elevator in my apartment building, and my friend Frank and I greeted her with a smile. She smiled back. She was carrying an official-looking clipboard and wearing a navy jacket in a heavy utilitarian material and appeared as though she were definitely there as part of her job. I don’t know why — perhaps it was the lateness of the hour — but I was curious what she was doing there. “Are you with a utility company?” I asked politely. “No,” she said with a broad smile, and without another word she showed us an ornate gold-and-blue badge hanging around her neck that she pulled out from under her jacket. Well, that certainly got our attention. Read More, and See Today’s Weather and Commute »