Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Central Park by Phone | A bunch of celebrities are now offering guided cell phone tours to Central Park. Anne Hathaway will introduce you to the Delacorte Theater, Matthew Broderick will show you around Sheep Meadow, Isabella Rossellini will escort you through the gay hookup zone of the Ramble, and Jerry Seinfeld will describe the stunning view of Central Park he has from his apartment at the Beresford. (Okay, fine, we made the last one up.) It's a free service. You call 646-862-0997 and then punch in a code that corresponds to each celebrity tour. We haven't tried it, so we can't weigh in on what it's like to hear John Stossel share his thoughts on the Balto statue, but if you feel like calling and letting us know what it's like, you're more than welcome to. [Central Park Audio Guide]

Land Grab on the West Side? | So you know how PETA is trying to get rid of horse-drawn carriages in Central Park and replace them with electric vehicles? It turns out that the initiative isn't just ridiculous, it's pretty fishy, too. Michael Gross points out today that the "prime mover behind the latest anti-horse gambit" is none other than parking garage tycoon Steve Nislick, the CEO of Edison Properties, who produced a brochure last year touting the Model T plan and projecting "a windfall for the carriage industry from the sale of its multi-million-dollar stables." Team up with PETA to get rid of the horses, force the stables to sell their property, and then convert the decrepit buildings into gleaming garages. This Nislick is clever! [Gripebox]

Animal rights activists have been trying to ban horse-drawn carriages in Central Park for several months now. (For some reason, they think the practice amounts to animal cruelty.) But now they've come up with an alternative: They're proposing that the city replace the horse-drawn buggies with replica of Model Ts. Tourists visiting from Iowa will still get to feel like they're stepping back in time, and because the vehicles will be powered by electricity, it'll be entirely eco-friendly, too! Aside from the grim aesthetic implications—"the sound of clopping hooves is one of the only aural pleasures available on the edge of the oasis that is Central Park," Michael Gross points out today—and the fact the proposal would put hundreds of carriage drivers out of work, PETA has managed to line up support from attention-loving City Councilmember Daniel Garodnick, who now says he plans to put the matter before the City Council this spring. More

Free WiFi Gets Axed | Say goodbye to free WiFi in Central Park. The service has become the latest casualty of the recession, now that city officials say they can no longer afford the expense of maintaining the network without any a sponsor willing to foot the bill. On the upside, you probably won't notice its absence for a while, since there aren't too many people sitting in Central Park with their laptops out in the middle of winter. [Crain's]

Well, we suppose it's more innovative as a marketing strategy than giving freebies to Kate Moss and Ashley Olsen: To celebrate its quilted chain purse, which has been around since 1955, Chanel is dropping a huge spaceship-like gallery in the middle of Central Park beginning in October.More