The Millennium New Year's Eve. From Y2K worries about telephone, electric, cable and wastewater service to media pressure to celebrate the "biggest" NYE ever, we approached Dec. 31, 1999 with equal amounts dread and disgust. We woke up on Jan. 1, checked to see if the toaster still worked and went back to sleep. Woo hoo!

Best Examples That Everything Old Is New Again: Greater Cincinnati, particularly the downtown area, has been experiencing a wave of rehabbing and sprucing up (Fountain Square, the Emery Theatre complex, The Shillito Lofts, Jump Cafe, Findlay Market, the hi-tech computer firms on Main Street) in an attempt to stay ahead of the wrecking ball that's flattening the rest of the area (Cincinnati's, Newport's and Covington's riverfronts; Race Street between Fifth and Sixth).

Best Lawn Ornament: The large stone gargoyle at the corner of Beechmont Avenue and Honeysuckle in Mount Washington. It's usually wearing shades and something with a tropical flair (Hawaiian shirt, sometimes a lei).

Best Urban Hostelry: The new Buddhist temple in Clifton, Phuntsok Dechen Ling (pronounced poon-sock deck-en ling), a cloistered Tibetan retreat center honoring the long-standing tradition of Tibetan monasteries that offered bed and meal to travelers. There are four rooms, including the Shambhala Room, as well as a sitting room and solarium. Amenities include fresh "Himalayan air," full spectrum lights, filtered water, a hypo-allergenic environment, and dye- and perfume-free laundry. Organic foods are served. The non-profit retreat center welcomes all faiths. Phuntsok Dechen Ling, 2641 Highland Ave., Clifton, 961-6455.

Best Urban Art Collection You've Never Heard of: The private collection, open to the public, on the 36th floor of the Scripps Center downtown. The Manuel D. and Rhonda Mayerson Foundation Art Gallery exhibits contemporary art from all over the world. Manuel D. and Rhonda Mayerson Foundation Art Gallery, 312 Walnut St., 36th floor, Downtown, 621-7500.

Best Urban Documentation: It took exactly 365 days for Jon C. Hughes to photograph one year in the life of Greater Cincinnati. He began at midnight on Jan. 1 and finished at 11:59 p.m. on the last day of the year. The result? The photo exhibit A Place in Time: Cincinnati at the End of the Century, which displayed at the Tangeman Fine Arts Gallery on UC's campus. Yes, Hughes is a CityBeat contributing photographer in addition to his English Department gig at UC. That doesn't mean we're biased or anything.

Best Street Corner for Ear Plugs: Sycamore and Liberty Streets in Over-the-Rhine, which people have taken to calling "The Loudest Street Corner on Earth." People scream, car tires squeal, busses honk and sirens blare. One time recently even a flock of 50 or so birds joined in on the ruckus.

Best Street Name: Rue de la Paix at the bottom of Ludlow Avenue in Clifton. Close second: 69th Street, Carthage.

Best Street in the Summer: Garrard Street in Covington, where the tree-lined tunnel effect is so beautiful on pleasant summer days.

Best Part of Town Not to Get Pulled Over in: Mariemont. It takes a lot of income from traffic tickets to keep this planned community on the right path. Watch your speed, your right turns on red and your parking meters.

Best Fortress: The new Kroger in Mount Washington, which constructed a big ol' windowless two-story addition on the corner of Beechmont Avenue and Corbly Road. Nothing says "Welcome to our neighborhood" like a brick wall. No reports yet that store employees are pouring hot oil over the side of the fortress at pedestrians below.

Best Eyesore That Replaced an Eyesore: The new Bigg's store at Skytop Pavilion. You just can't beat modern architecture.

Best Crossing Guard: The enthusiastic fellow at Montgomery and Lester roads in Pleasant Ridge. Every passing car gets an animated wave and/or salute. Now this guy has fun at his job.

Best Museum for Dummies: Vent Haven is the place to go to study the history and impact of ventriloquist dummies. Not that there are many other options, but the small museum has been getting more and more attention recently. The ABC Saturday Morning feature Manny the Uncanny highlighted this spot on its national tour of odd, interesting tourist attractions. Vent Haven, 33 W. Maple Ave., Fort Mitchell, 341-0461.

Best Urban House Tour: The all-too-infrequent public tours of the Boulter House in Clifton, one of the few homes in the city designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The current owner, a professor of urban design at UC, preserves the original drapery and furnishings designed by Lloyd in 1954. Boulter House, 1 Rawson Woods Circle, Clifton. Call the Cincinnati Preservation Association about possible future tours: 721-4506.

Best Urban Tour (in Miniature): The fantastic "Cincinnati in Motion," a massive model of the city of Cincinnati. The miniature city comes complete with working trains, inclines and trolleys - hence the "in Motion" moniker. Carew Tower, the city's tallest skyscraper, is 7 feet tall in this diminutive display, and hundreds of actual downtown buildings, past and present, are represented in what's being touted as the largest urban model layout in the United States. If you want a gander at the late, lamented Albee Theater, St. Peter in Chains Cathedral or the West End railyards, they're all here. "Cincinnati in Motion" is definitely a work in progress, with models of vintage Coney Island, Lunken Airport and other sites still to come this year. Museum Center at Union Terminal, 1301 Western Ave., Queensgate, 287-7000.

Best Urban Hospital News: Christ Hospital announced its new $77-million construction project to double the size of the emergency department and add a multi-story "heart tower" for cardiac care. All this with private money. Private money. Hear that, Bengals? Hear that, Reds? Christ Hospital, 2139 Auburn Ave., Mount Auburn, 369-2000.

Best Urban Hospital News We Could Do Without: Bethesda Hospital announced the closure of its primary hospital in the city proper, Bethesda Oak. Now correct us if we're wrong, but doesn't Bethesda earn its tax-exempt status because its mission is (or was) to serve the homeless and indigent in the urban core? Not too many homeless in those ritzy suburbs, where Bethesda still operates hospitals and care centers.

Best Urban Anarchy: The confusion we're all gonna face this year when Northern Kentucky is assigned a new area code. Some numbers will remain with a 606 prefix, while others will get tagged with an 859. Blame the proliferation of fax machines, cell phones, pagers and home computers. More fun: Sometime next year, the 513 area code in Cincinnati runs out of available phone numbers and gets stuck with a second area code, too. Pretty soon, we're going to have to write down area codes in our personal phone directories just to keep it all straight.

Best Zoo News: The Cincinnati Zoo's plans for a brand-new koala bear exhibit, a new Vanishing Giants elephant exhibit and a new Lords of Arctic polar bear exhibit (where, for the first time, you can view the polar bears under the water as well as above). All coming this summer. Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, 3400 Vine St., Avondale, 281-4700.

Best Zoo News We Could Do Without: The Cincinnati Zoo quietly upping its admission price (on the same day as the above announcement) to $11 for adults, $5.50 for children 2 to 12 and $8.50 for seniors 62 and older. The only silver lining is, as a gift to Hamilton County residents for passing a zoo levy, county residents get in for half-price on selected summer days. Call to find out which days.

Best Street Parade (Cincinnati Division): "The World's Largest Chicken Dance and Kazoo Band" at last fall's Oktoberfest-Zinzinnati downtown. Where else could you perform in the world's largest chicken dance, hum along with 30,000 kazoo players and meet Weird Al Yankovic all in the same place? The Bavarian blowout featured free kazoos, yodeling contests, accordion players, everything but the beer stein and lederhosen.

Best Street Parade (Covington Division): The MainStrasse bar association's Mardi Gras festivities got a little out of hand this year - women flashing body parts to garner additional beads; patrons peeing in backyards, alleys and even on police cars; and a few jolly souls tipping over port-o-lets. Neighbors complained, of course, and MainStrasse promptly canceled next year's party. Two questions: It's Mardi Gras, what do you expect? And exactly what fun is derived from tipping over port-o-lets?

Best Museum You've Never Heard of: William Howard Taft's birthplace is a small (and, we'll quickly add, free) museum that's operated by the National Park Service and covers 160 years of the Taft family's political dynasty. Who knew, for instance, that Mrs. William Howard Taft had the brainstorm of planting all those famous cherry blossom trees in Washington, D.C.? Democrats are welcome. William Howard Taft National Historic Site, 2038 Auburn Ave., Mount Auburn, 684-3262.

Best House Sale: The high-priced auction of Laurel Court, the College Hill mansion that's been home to two Catholic archbishops as well as, more recently, pizza man Buddy LaRosa. In a sight to see, an unidentified Cincinnati couple won the 10-minute auction with their $1.95 million bid. Worth it? The comfy 43-room mansion includes marble floors, two-story atrium with volcanic rock, 12 bathrooms and 7 acres of Japanese gardens. The down side: Pizza stains on the curtain fabric. (Kidding on that.)