'Tis the Season: New York Hot Dog & Coffee's Singing Santa vs. the NIMBY

A note from a tipster who witnessed some true New York holiday spirit at the West Village's New York Hot Dog & Coffee. Scene: a mostly empty hot dog shop with a life sized singing Santa stationed out front. Enter: the crazy neighborhood type:

"So I was eating my bulgogi dog and minding my own business when a woman cruises in and demands to speak to the manager. The only employees there seemed to be the children of the owner - American teenagers all - but this woman spoke to them like children, as if they didn't speak English. 'You need to get that thing out of here immediately, that just can't be outside there,' she said.

'You're not allowed to have that on Bleecker Street!' she continued. When one of the workers asked why, she said, at the top of her lungs, 'Because it's disgusting, vile, and offensive.'

I couldn't tell whether she was motivated by religious concerns or aesthetic ones - probably some mix of both...Another fierce footsoldier in the War On Christmas, I guess."