Virginia K. Smith

In restaurants, apartment buildings and seemingly every stop on the way in between the two, the etiquette of tipping is an increasingly elaborate, fraught social dance. This is especially true in NYC, and in their latest issue, New York Magazine waded into the debate: should we keep the current tipping culture as is, or switch over to a system where servers net higher salaries, and "service" charges are automatically added to the bill? 

Your beloved local dive turns into a J. Crew, and more signs your neighborhood's been gentrified (Curbed NY)

Design tricks to liven up a drab hallway (Apartment Therapy)

You may not be on board with the nickname "Quooklyn," but with or without a silly new moniker, Ridgewood is getting a lot of attention as a relatively affordable outer-borough option. So is this three-bedroom, one-bathroom duplex in the Bushwick-bordering Queens nabe right for you?

Besides fall colors, autumn in New York means one very specific thing for the city's tenants: falling rents. While apartments aren't exactly renting out at bargain basement prices, DNAinfo has a reminder today that you're more likely to hit on a deal with a landlord between the middle of October and December than at any other part of the year.

Down with break dancers, up with flimsy decor? A cardboard "apartment" made its way onto the subway (Gothamist)

And over in Sunset Park, $525/month studios may be coming to a redeveloped library branch (DNAinfo)