Marketing tools: Packaging the East Village as a processed, luxury lifestyle

And as we turn our attention today to Columbus, Ohio, let's take a look at a new luxury apartment complex going up near the Ohio State campus. And what might this oasis of student life and luxury be called...?

Welcome to The East Village. It’s not in Manhattan, but it is inspired by the city’s once dilapidated neighborhood transformed by the artists, poets, and writers of the 1960’s. Like the original East Village, our project invites the creatively inclined or aspiring into a modern, urban village in a revitalized neighborhood on OSU’s campus. The East Village is where urban means community, where local meets luxury, and where people define the experience.

What blather. Of course, in reality, the "artists, poets, and writers" are driven out because of escalating rents caused by new luxury housing such as this... (I think you can even draw some parallels to this project to Red Square.)

As The East Village Web site notes, "luxury amenities such as 42-inch flat screen televisions, complimentary cable and wi-fi, fully equipped kitchens, washers and dryers, security and off-street parking distinguish the East Village community from much of the campus living experience."

And, if you happen to be in Columbus on Saturday, you can swing by for the official "ground-breaking" that includes a tailgate party and screening of the Ohio State-Wisconsin football game.

UPDATE:
Thanks to Mike Spence at NYPress for picking up this item... and he has more to say on the topic. "A housing complex near Ohio State University is calling itself the East Village. By the time this blog is posted, NYU plans to own half of it."

Question of the day: "Where is the two ounce 'anti-energy' relaxation shot that the world so desperately requires?"

We get story ideas in the inbox!

Hello!

Great job with E.V. Grieve; I just spent some time thumbing through old posts, and I'm a fan of the site!

I'm contacting you because I have a suggestion for a piece. Do you remember Drank, the purple beverage that is the yang to Red Bull's yin? Drank came out last summer, marketing itself as the 'anti-energy' drink slash legal substitute to the illegal yet hip-hop-popular Sprite plus cough syrup concoction. Hilarious.

And, somewhat related, I'm sure you've noticed with Red Bull, people got tired of all the extra ounces of consumption required, thus the 5 Hour Energy Shot was born.

Which brings one to a very logical question: where is the two ounce 'anti-energy' relaxation shot that the world so desperately requires?

Enter our client, Mini Chill, the answer to not only our question, but our fast-paced modern lifestyles. Mini Chill is a delightful two ounce elixir that promises to not only reduce stress, but also enhance concentration without a drowsy side effect or loss of energy. Basically, chill.

Mini Chill is already in stores in the Village area and more sporadically about Manhattan. Additionally, there will be free giveaways during the next two weeks:

Tuesday, Oct. 6 -- Thursday, Oct. 8
Washington Square 2 pm – 2:45 pm
Outside NYU Campus – 3 pm - 4 pm
Subway-W 4th St/Wash Sq-V – 4:15 pm – 5 pm
Subway-8th St/New York Univ-N,R,W – 5:15 - 6
Subway-Christopher St/Sheridan Sq-1 –TBD

Tuesday, Oct. 13 -- Thursday, Oct. 15
Union Square - 50 E 17th St - 2 pm – 2:45 pm
Subway-14/Union Sq-L,N,Q,R,W,4,5,6- E 14th St –3pm – 4 pm
Subway-23rd St-N,R,W- 2 W 23rd St - 4:15 pm – 5 pm
Subway-23rd St-4,6- 98 E 23rd St – 5:15 pm – 6 pm
Subway-6th Ave-L-531 6th Ave - TBD

We would love to offer you a free sample in exchange for a review of the -- let's face it -- intriguing new beverage.

True, Mini Chill lacks the allure of illegally sippin' on sizzurp, but with claims so bold as to improve focus while simultaneously relieving stress, don't you want (and i apologize in advance for this pun) to give it a shot?

If this sounds like something you would be interested in, please get back to us. You can view some basic product info at http://minichill.com. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Wow and wow: Hotties in tiny new hotel rooms on the Bowery (leave your inhibitions at the front desk!)

Finally! The hotel the Bowery so desperately needed!



According to a post on Arch Daily, these are the plans for the new Lower East Side Hotel on the Bowery (where?? Is that the New Museum to the left?), which is/was designed by the Office for Design and Architecture. Apparently, the rooms will be very small. And what does this mean? (Hope that you have an architectpreter!) The rooms...

...will feature minimalistic interiors to allow the “guests to use their personal aesthetic as an impromptu installation.” By designing tempered and laminated interior cylinders for the shower, toilet and closet, and using stark colors teamed with expansive city views, the small rooms seem larger than their dimensions.

The concept for entire building grew from the inside out as the architects’ primary concern was how to make a 10 foot 6 inch wide room feel larger than its tight confinement. In such a small space, the “typical bathroom encasement” had to be re-thought, for the room just did not have the capacity to provide adequate space for a standard bathroom.

In other words, you have to shit and shower in front of anyone who happens to be in the room. Such as these hotties, who have nothing better to do than lounge around in tanks tops and undies! (And look down at the commoners below!)




Oh, and also:

“With the skin of the bathroom removed, the guts of the fixtures were exposed and celebrated. The guest could now experience the entire room from the door threshold,” explained the architects.

Just like my studio apartment!

Arch Daily also has the following hotel data:

90,000 Square Feet

220 Guest rooms

Banquet hall

2 Restaurants

4,000SF plaza

P.S.

Why is the one dude in the renderings fully clothed? Why isn't he sitting there in boxers? Or is he just experiencing the entire room from the threshold?



For more on some of the other 1,323 hotels coming to the LES:
The pit at 250 Bowery (BoweryBoogie)

Noted

ON a recent evening, an unusual experiment took place at a lounge in downtown Manhattan. Nine blindfolded women were asked to determine, by smell alone, whether any among a group of nine men was worth pursuing. (The New York Times)

(Hope that she wasn't here...)

Speaking of pigs

Noted

Third Avenue and 10th Street.

The Michael Jackson Pub Crawl has started

Previously.

Because a $450 keg of Stella rolled over to your table is low-key and NOT over-the-top

The Times dips its toe into the Superdive pool today with a hefty piece on NYC's new, low-key nightlife mantra. The article begins at a new bar called Superdive. Shall we?

Superdive is pretty much nothing. And nothing is as hot as anything these days.

Superdive, which opened in late June, is a much blogged-about bar on Avenue A in the East Village that has deconstructed nearly every imaginable pillar of the over-the-top New York night life scene.

The bathrooms have plywood stalls, a scrawny doorman checks IDs but little else, and instead of bottle service, Superdive offers keg service — tableside.

“Since everything else is so chi-chi,” the manager, Keith Okada, said while pushing a plastic cup of beer toward a young woman at the bar last Monday night, “we thought, ‘Why not offer keg service?’ ”

At a table, a group of men in their 20s and 30s shared a 5-liter keg of EKU Pils beer to celebrate what they call “Manday,” a semiregular male-bonding night out.

Superdive suited them more than a noisy club with menacing velvet ropes and $400 bottles of vodka, said David Sitt, 32, a Manday regular and psychology professor at Baruch College.

“When you watch the Flintstones and they are at the Water Buffalo Lodge,” he said, referring to the homey clubhouse where Fred Flintstone, Barney Rubble and pals partied, “they don’t have bottle service there.”

“We’re in a period where a snotty attitude is not helping people feel better about themselves,” he added.

Super fancy is out. Revenues are down 20 to 40 percent in the last year at those throbbing Manhattan nightclubs that flourished by catering to Wall Street guys who casually swiped their credit cards for four figures, club owners said. Many once-hopping clubs, like Lotus, Mansion and Room Service, have closed or are being remodeled.

At Marquee, the West Chelsea club and gossip-page fixture, revenues are down 22 percent so far this year compared with last, said Noah Tepperberg, one of the owners.

“Three or four years ago it seemed like every bar in New York had a rope and some imposing looking guy,” said David Rabin, an owner of Lotus and the president of the New York Nightlife Association.

Now, he said, haughtiness is as stylish as a balloon payment.

Club owners are searching for a new night-life formula, something that jibes with the culture’s low-key mood and yet shakes free whatever is left of the city’s disposable income.

Ideas differ, but the owners agree on one thing: the word “club” has about as much cultural relevance as the Macarena. And they go to lengths to avoid the word. Mr. Tepperberg, for instance, is calling Avenue, his newest endeavor that opened last month, a “gastro-lounge.”

Today's sign of apocalypse: Michael Jackson East Village pub crawl

Ohhh! A warning shot by Village Pourhouse reminding Superdive that they are, in fact, the tackiest bar in the neighborhood.

Starting tomorrow at 11 a.m.:

King of Pop Pub Crawl:
Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough

Moonwalk your way up 2nd and 3rd Ave of NYC in memory of the legendary Michael Jackson. We begin at Village Pourhouse at 11am where your free white glove awaits and we will start living life OFF THE WALL. Let your style SCREAM by dressing up as Michael and look as BAD as you can. Each bar will celebrate musical genius by showcasing our favorite MJ albums in order of release date.

You will feel like a SMOOTH CRIMINAL with a full day of drink specials. Toast Mikey with $1 Bud Lite Drafts, $2 Well Drinks, and 2 for 1 BLACK OR WHITE cocktails (Black and Tans)

You will truly BEAT IT with our final stop at SideBAR at 5pm with 2 for 1 Margarita “King of Pop-sicles.” It is here that we will pay a final tribute with an organized THRILLER dance scene with every Michael in attendance.

If this is too tacky for you, then there's always the Michael Jackson wine pairing.

Noted

"East Village nightlife needed something like Superdive to come along." (L Magazine)

N. Korea accuses U.S. of trying to start war

Oops. I may have my headlines mixed up. Sorry! Anyway, please handle sparklers and all other illegal fireworks carefully this July 4. Also, please do not try this at home.

[Lady Gaga via]

Yes, yes and yes

Susan Dominus on the mallification of Times Square in the Times today:

But right now, the pedestrian mall, it must be said, looks a little unworthy of New York.

And!

Or maybe the problem is not the quality of the seats. Maybe the problem is all the people sitting in them. New York is a city of walkers, not sitters; a city of motion, not repose.

And!

Sitting beside Ms. Mia, I was starting to rethink my impression of the pedestrian mall, appreciating some of its merits, messy though they may be. But only for a minute.

“I just really like it here,” she said. “I find it strangely peaceful.”

We’ve come to accept the multitudes of adjectives that rotate in and out of use for Times Square depending on the era: gritty, dangerous, commercial, touristy, kitschy, overpriced, overcrowded, flashy, tacky, corporate. But peaceful?

That’s just wrong.

But is R-Pattz OK??????????

Yes! He's OK, as, uh, OK! reports:

On an intersection in downtown Manhattan, the ever-present hordes of teenage fans are mingling with firefighters and the film crew — all less than 100 feet from a building that is dangerously close to falling down!

But while R-Pattz and co. bravely soldier on amid the flashing lights of the emergency services, on-set sources admit the melee is a nightmare for the crew.

"It's causing a hold-up for the shoot. We can't get anything in or out of here," said one gaffer-tape wielding worker.

Onlookers tell OK! that R-Pattz himself is taking the most recent near-disaster to strike his movie, following last week's near-miss with a taxi cab, in stride.

"Robert is concentrating on his scene," said one observant fan. "But most of the crew are staring nervously at the crack in the building and talking about whether it will fall down or not."

But if, heaven forbid, the building were to fall down, the top would land a couple of feet from Rob's dressing room trailer.

Glitter Gulp continues prepping for grand opening Thursday or Friday, the 26th or the 27th

Previously.

And: An update from Eater. An Eater reader responds: "I wouldn't quibble with 'dingy,' and would point out that's part of the allure of a dive called 'Superdive.' Nor would I leap to the conclusion that the yet-to-open bar is a 'con job.'...Without question, the vibe is raw and anything goes, and in prissy, high touch, please-call-for-a-reservation Manhattan, that nuttiness was more than welcome for stressed out us. Their approach to serving drinks is certainly novel, i.e. a D.I.Y. bar and keg, but then people thought D.I.Y. checkout looked strange at Home Depot too."

Superdive: "a total shitshow" and "impressively chaotic"

From the Eater tipline:

"I was there on Saturday night for about fifteen minutes getting change...it was a total shitshow. People couldn't figure out who worked there and who didn't. The mixed drink area was packed but no one could figure out how they were being charged for drinks. At one point I saw two pitchers of the same beer go for totally different prices. It was impressively chaotic."

Previously.

Superdive is opening Thursday or Friday, the 25th or the 26th

Thursday is the 25th. Friday is the 26th. So is the bar opening Thursday, June 25, or Friday, June 26?

Previously on EV Grieve:
East Village, please meet your new nightmare

Noted

"Ralph Lauren, Tory Burch and Marc Jacobs have applied their creative savvy to a new kind of line: Local 138's summer cocktail menu. Fashionistas will be flocking to the LES bar this summer to sip Lauren’s Ralph Raspberry Rum Punch, made with crushed raspberries, rum, lemon and lime juice, and Tory Burch’s Tory Tikki Tini, made with grapefruit, mango, strawberry and pineapple. Jacobs — ever the classic — created a modern spin on the timeless mint julep: the Marc Mint Martini." (Gatecrasher via The Cut)

Noted

"Rob Pattinson ... was hit by a taxi cab on Thursday while running away from hysterical fans. RadarOnline.com witnessed the Twilight star get clipped by a cab around noon in front of the Strand Bookstore on Broadway and 12th Street."

East Village, please meet your new nightmare

Somehow I missed this... Thanks to Eater for reporting on this... they linked to an UrbanDaddy article on the bar that's opening at the former site of Rapture on Avenue A between 12th Street and 13th Street.

The following is from UrbanDaddy.

This story is a warning.

You are about to enter a world of crazy—an all-out, raucous, beautiful disaster of a bar that will eat you alive if you let it.

Let's get right to it: meet Superdive, now taking keg service (yes, seriously) reservations for their grand East Village opening next week. Enter at your own risk…

Now, the first rule of Superdive is that there are no rules. You can mix your own cocktail behind the bar if you like. There's no door policy — anyone can come in. You can order a round of beers or a keg of beer, and a cocktail waitress will deliver the keg to your table in a rolling kegerator. You can even sit down and play their Steinway piano underneath a large applause sign.

It's total lawlessness in bar form. You'll know you're in the right place when you walk into quite possibly one of the least adorned bars you'll ever see—the walls are maroon, the banquettes have floral patterns and there's even a row of protected seats for ladies who don't want to deal with gentlemanly advances, delicately dubbed the "f*ck off seats."

Just drop in with a few (or more) friends, carve out one of the booths along the wall, order up a keg (more exotic orders, like Hitachino or Chimay, take 48 hours, but they have regular kegs in stock), take over the iPod and walk out eight hours later not recalling much of what just happened.

In other words, just like a good dive bar experience, only supersized.

Noted

Beginning this weekend, Axe is trying to appeal to New York area pick-up artists with a new venture: it is sponsoring a Hamptons nightclub for the entire summer. “Axe is all about the mating game, and the best place for a mating game is at a nightclub,” said Michael Heller, the founder and chief executive of Talent Resources, which is advising Axe on the project. (The New York Times)