Hurricane Sandy Exposes New Yorkers' Grit

Only in New York City would a Starbucks stay open and the front of a building would come crashing down as Hurricane Sandy thrashed through The Big Apple. INSIDE EDITION has the latest. 

You can't say you see this every day—the front wall of an apartment building in Manhattan was completely blown away thanks to Hurricane Sandy.

Cell phone video captured the dramatic moment the wall collapsed. All the rooms inside are exposed, giving the building the look of a giant dollhouse. You can see someone's bed, now exposed to the elements. 

When that facade came crashing to the ground, it also revealed something else. It's being reported that the occupants inside were all foreign tourists, and that the building might have been run as an illegal hotel.

And check this out....a Starbucks location in Times Square stayed open as Hurricane Sandy raged, even though the company told all Starbucks' operators to shut down. That meant 1,000 Starbucks in total closed from Maine to Virginia.

Business was booming for the so-called "rogue" Starbucks, whose manager decided on his own to remain open.

One customer said, "I am ecstatic! I can't believe it."

Dave Price from Good Day New York told INSIDE EDITION, "This is a resiliant city and it proves itself over and over again. We're in for a very long road of recovery, but New Yorkers will not be defeated by it."