Planning meeting to occupy Wall Street in Tompkins Square Park tomorrow

The planning to occupy Wall Street continues tomorrow at 5 p.m. with a meeting in Tompkins Square Park...

More details here.

Wall Street, 4:30 p.m., Aug. 8

Looking for the pot of gold

In front of the New York Stock Exchange yesterday.

Seems like 2009 on Wall Street

Yesterday evening near the Stock Exchange.

Kiss Alive on Wall Street

At the New York Stock Exchange today, Kiss rang the closing bell... And I got there about 30 seconds too late to see the gang emerge from inside for a photo opp... So I stood there like a dork with a few other dorks who were trying to coax Gene Simmons out from the luxury limo liner...to no avail.



...the door closed and the band was off...




Here's some NYSE video from the Closing Bell.

Looking at the Wall Street hotel that "will set a new tone of style and optimism in Lower Manhattan"

I saw this banner in front of the Stock Exchange yesterday ...



...Had to find out more about Andaz, the hotel/condo combo at the former JP Morgan Chase HQ on Wall and Pearl Street... been reading a little bit about this for the last three years .... now to some excerpts from the surefire candidate for the News Release Hall of Fame...

Andaz Wall Street, the only hotel situated on Wall Street, will set a new tone of style and optimism in Lower Manhattan when it officially opens on January 18, 2010. Andaz, Hyatt’s newest brand, is devoted to providing simplified, spot-on service and indulgent amenities for its guests.

And!

The 253 guestrooms start at a generous 345 square feet, making them some of the largest hotel rooms in New York City. A celebration of light and reflectivity, they feature loft-like ceilings and seven-foot windows. The rooms have a simple aesthetic of contemporary luxury, boasting dark stained oak floors, buttery brown leather headboards and benches, and lavender and camel sitting chairs. Other modern details include textured walls, bleached wood accents, and locally crafted, stenciled metal artwork designed by a Brussels-based artist.

And!

Set in a room that stretches the full-length of the hotel, the restaurant, Wall & Water, which opens for breakfast, lunch and dinner on January 25, features seasonal cuisine with ingredients sourced from the Hudson Valley. Large windows open onto striking views of the East River. The main dining area is furnished with live-edge wooden tables and beautiful glass and iron lighting fixtures. At one end, a 12-guest chef’s table is sheltered behind the open kitchen, and at the opposite end a private dining and meeting room, with views of the garden below, is ideal for entertaining. Bar Seven Five, named for its 75 Wall Street address, will serve classic American cocktails and artisanal appetizers prepared and served in glass jars.

And!

At all Andaz properties, the check-in and service are simplified. Without the doorman, bellhop, and concierge staff at the desk, there is one “host” for each incoming guest. Hosts are steeped in traditional hospitality training as well as a less conventional approach. Andaz understands that the staff at a hotel must be able to field questions and scenarios that one cannot always anticipate, and improvisational skills come in handy. Design house Theory has designed chic separates for the staff uniforms.

Let's just hope the market doesn't tumble 500 points on Tuesday ... that can be so awkward on a grand opening...

Bull session

Just going through my camera and finding photos that I took toward the end of the summer... Perhaps the city should charge thrillseekers such as these for a ride.... will give new meaning to bull market....




I liked it when this fellow started to pretend as if he was humping the horn...



(And not quite as wonderful as the shot Dealbreaker last summer...)

Flashback: Fiddling away those financial blues!

In honor of every media outlet revisiting Wall Street nearly COLLAPSING last Sept. 15, 2008, here's a look back at arguably one of my personal favorite posts hereabouts. From Sept. 15, 2008!:


About 90 minutes after the Dow closed yesterday, the big doings began at Wall and Water Streets. As Curbed reported yesterday, the Moinian Group, in some unfortunate timing, had scheduled the launch party for their Philippe Starck-designed luxury rental conversion at 95 Wall St. last night. Uh, oops? No matter! Despite a 500-point tumble (collapse?) on the NYSE, the mood was festive at the location known as Dwell95! A tux-clad musician with an electronic fiddle was on the red carpet delighting all who walked by, mostly confused tourists at the onset.

To hold space for the incoming town cars, Dwell95 planners implemented those festive "do not slip" signs indigenous to maintenance crews.

Meanwhile, here's a snippet of the energetic fiddle player's performance. (Oh, yes -- it's "La Bamba.")



I didn't stick around long enough to hear if he did "The Devil Went Down to Georgia."

Wall Street gets a new street

Eurocobble, I presume,

The road to Wall Street and the Stock Exchange is getting...Eurocobble?

On Nassau Street yesterday...





...and the street will now feature Italy's finest Eurocobble.



Can't wait to see when the Eurotrash takes a walk on the Eurocobble.

(And the crowd boos!)

The Times on why NYC corporate law firms are becoming an endangered species

"As the apocalypse on Wall Street ripples out into the larger economy, a thick red tide is lapping at the once-impregnable foundations of New York’s corporate law firms, threatening to turn the industry — and with it, some iconic city characters — into an endangered species." (The New York Times)

Posts that I never got around to posting: The phone booth on Second Street and Avenue A

"Without the fancy job or the big nut, it gets harder to hang around"

In The New Yorker this week, Nick Paumgarten writes a piece titled "The Death of Kings -- Notes from a meltdown." The story is online, though you need to be a registered New Yorker user for access.

An excerpt:

"As for the co-op classes, the Wall Street set, it can seem that the loss they fear most is the loss of face. No one seems to want anyone to know. In one sense, there is less shame in failure now, because it is widespread and undiscerning. Still, it smarts. There are successful circles in which success (to say nothing of money) isn't everything, but without it you'd better bring something else. Charm, wit, talent, kindness and generosity certainly help, but only if they complement characteristics that could be more readily converted into social or professional capital. Without the fancy job or the big nut, it gets harder to hang around."

Reliving the 1980s in the Financial District

There's a fairly nondescript frame shop at the corner of John Street and Pearl Street that I never paid any attention to....Until now. What chestnuts!

Steamed hot dogs?

Near the New York Stock Exchange.

Wall Street afterlife: "Because even sad clowns are a hoot at a birthday party"

From the Times today:

This week’s news that the city plans to spend $45 million to retrain jobless Wall Street executives may, understandably, have been met with less than sobs of gratitude in that demographic. After all, as the happily divorced like to say, stick a fork in a toaster once, it’s an accident. But a second time?

We're with you. And so writer Michael Wilson suggests some heh-heh suggestions for former Wall Street executives. Such as!

-- Lead walking tours amid the ruins of your past life

-- Become a butler

-- Sell cigars

-- Shred documents

-- Entertain small children

Because even sad clowns are a hoot at a birthday party, said Gary Pincus, owner of the Send In the Clowns Entertainment Corporation, which plans parties in the metropolitan region.

“We get a lot of calls from Wall Street guys who are looking to work with us,” he said. “They want to change their careers. I told them to call me when our season gets going in March.”

The party racket is more than just balloon animals and squirting flowers. “Selling parties, running parties, everything that goes with the party,” he said. “A Wall Street guy could come over and do magic shows for the kids, play musical games with the kids, do face painting with the kids.” There are positions for disc jockeys, stilt-walkers and mechanical bull servicemen. And, of course, the marquee job.

“We’ll hire clowns from Wall Street,” he said. “No problem.”

Why getting around the Financial District is so fun!

Need to get somewhere in a jiffy? You'll be better off, oh, crawling.

Pearl Street!



Liberty Street!



Maiden Lane!



Wall Street!



Fulton Street! (Still!)



Fulton Street is really ugly



Broad Street!



And last summer, Beekman was torn up...back to normal now...