Wal-Mart passes on Virgin Megastore space at Union Square, though are "still interested" in cracking the Big Apple

From the Post today:

Manhattan's retail rent rollback is causing Wal-Mart to give the city another look.

The giant discount chain has shopped for space in Union Square and among the big-box stores along Sixth Avenue in Chelsea, The Post has learned.

Wal-Mart recently passed on a proposal by Related Companies for a two-level store of about 57,000 feet in Union Square where Virgin Megastores and Circuit City are closing, sources said.

The company's real-estate scouts have also been roaming the area around 620 Sixth Ave., said the sources.

Wal-Mart spokesman Steven Restivo said the Union Square sites "were never under consideration." But he said the company is "still interested" in opening stores in New York, despite strong political and union opposition.

Noted

Our old friend Esquared passed along information about the Modern Day Depression-Era Fundraiser at the City Reliquary in Williamsburg...Like everyone else, they're having a tough time paying rent...Anyway, what did we miss from the fundraiser this past Friday? Here's how they described some of the night's activities:

Pie the Landlord! That’s right: the City Reliquary will have our very own cigar-chomping, unshaven, smelly Landlord demanding our rent! Tell him where to shove it with a whipped cream pie in his face!

Hobo Photos a Go-Go: Take your picture in our hand painted carnival sign. Remember the Recession of ’09 with a photographic keepsake!

Oil drum fires: (and more modern propane heaters) to keep you warm while you chill in the cold. All fires will be regulated carefully by official FDNY supervision!

DIY Fingerless Gloves Table! Because nothing says Depression-chic than rockin’ a pair of fingerless gloves!

Prohibition-era Beer provided by the Brooklyn Brewery and Depression-era “Rum” Punch provided by the City Reliquary at contemporary-recession era prices.

What do you think?

A) Hey, we're all fucked, might as well make light of it!
B) As funny as Hugh Jackman's recession opening number at the Oscars! (Not that I watched it.)
C) As insulting as Hugh Jackman's recession opening number at the Oscars! (Not that I watched it.)
D) Stupid
E) All the above

At Coney Island

I've been following the development hell that is Coney Island of late. (If you're not up to speed, on Tuesday, the Times had a decent overview of where things are...and be sure to check out Kinetic Carnival and Gowanus Lounge for as-it-happens news...not to mention coneyisland.com and any others that I'm forgetting...)

Anyway. This past holiday weekend seemed like a good time to visit Coney Island...to see things for myself...



Given everything that I had read to date, I expected a grim scene...



That's what I got. Suitably depressing. And almost unbelievable, really.



[Sigh] Ruby's, I was hoping maybe those reports were...not true.



I don't have much to add to what has already been noted other places...One thing: I was one of about, oh, 50 people walking around taking pictures. At one point, there were nearly 12 people in front of the now-derelict Shoot the Freak taking photos. I felt as if I was at a press conference.



Left 4 Dead? I'll say.



Hmmmm.



See some 50 more photos on my Flickr page.

This week's sign of the apocalypse

[Via Gothamist]

The challenges of making the Sex and the City sequel "recession-friendly"

US Weekly has this press release from Access Hollywood:

Sarah Jessica Parker says it's a challenge making the Sex and the City sequel recession-friendly.

"How do we do that well? And how do we do that in a not lazy way? How do we address these economic times in a franchise that has a lot to do with luxury and labels?" Parker tells Billy Bush for Access Hollywood.

"There is a lot that we have to think about because times are very different. So these are nice challenges, these are good challenges," adds Parker -- who once said her character Carrie Bradshaw would end up "in a hospital" if she couldn't afford her trademark $600 Manolo Blahnik shoes.

And what can we expect in the sequel?

"I think we want this one to be a romp," she says. "The last one, we got to tell a really mature sophisticated story that had real heartbreak in it, and this time, I think we want a romp. We want our audience to have a massive romp."

Hmmm....Romp, eh? I think SJP meant to say...."I think we want something like 'Romper Stomper.' We want our audience to have a massive romp."

Yes!



[And I'm late to all this...Esquared had this important SATC news last night -- check out his 40% off photo....Daily Intel also had the goods...)

However, the impact it could have on the lines for brunch at Prune has yet to be determined

A little something to take your mind off the recession. From the City Room: "A report released on Tuesday concluded that the city’s average annual temperatures could rise by 4 to 7.5 degrees, annual rainfall will increase by 5 to 10 inches and sea rise could rise by 12 to 23 inches, or even 41 to 55 inches if the rate of ice melt in Greenland and Antarctica continues to accelerate."

Noted

From the Post:

As season two of Bravo's guilty pleasure launches [tonight], housewife Jill Zarin warns, "You're gonna see some [expensive] toys come out, unfortunately. We filmed the show before the recession happened."

The recession that has put millions of New Yorkers out of work threatens to make New York's real housewives appear even more self-indulgent and childishly pampered than last season. Back then, they were merely cougars of conspicuous consumption, spending perversely amusing bundles on themselves. This season, when housewife Alex McCord and husband (some say honorary housewife) Simon van Kampen drop $8,000 on clothing at a Hamptons boutique, their extravagance will likely strike viewers as prodigal in the extreme.

Van Kampen, manager of Murray Hill's Hotel Chandler, hopes the economy doesn't turn off viewers to the cast's wasteful spending habits. "This is escapist television for a lot of people," he says. "I don't think there'll be much negative reaction. Honestly, I think there is less conspicuous consumption in season two."

Noted

Page Six has a photo feature today of everyone's favorite, SJP....for reasons unknown she'll be featured in the March Harper's Bazaar....I'll let you read the rest...



... particularly that part about how Carrie Bradshaw would handle this recession....

The recession reaches Madison Avenue

Last Nov. 6, I did a post after walking on Madison Avenue in the 70s and 60s where all the really nice shops are.

Flashback!

And you know we didn't see one person shopping in any of these stores. Seriously. Post-election hangover perhaps? Or maybe the richies just don't shop in a light rain on weekday afternoons? Or maybe the economy is really fucked. Anyway, every store was the same: A handful of well-dressed employees standing around looking expectantly out the store windows.

So I wasn't surprised to read this in the Times today:

New York’s most elegant shopping corridor, the Gold Coast of Madison Avenue, from 57th Street to 72nd Street, is pockmarked with vacancies as retailers flee sky-high rents. More than two dozen retail spaces are on the market and are either empty now or about to be. Windows that once showcased hand-tooled leather suitcases are now plastered with for-rent signs.

“This is as bad as I’ve ever seen it,” said Alan Victor, a broker who has worked the street for more than four decades and who is an executive vice president of the Lansco Corporation.

Oh HENRY

Item: "Wall Street bonuses were more than $18 billion last year — roughly what they were in the fatty, solvent days of 2004."

“My bonus is ‘shameful’ — but I worked hard to get it,” said John Konstantinidis, a wholesale insurance broker, lunching Friday at Harry’s at Hanover Square.

“I’m a HENRY,” Mr. Konstantinidis added. “High Earner but Not Rich Yet.”

This week's sign of the apocalypse

Daniel Boulud's new beer and burger joint opening on the Bowery is tentatively titled DBGB. (New York Post, via Grub Street)

Updated: For further reading:

Boulud on Bowery #03: DBGB Shall Be the New CBGB (Eater)
It's Official: Nothing is Sacred! (Flaming Pablum)

[CBGB photo via UrbanImage]

Martha Stewart to help drive up rents on East 10th Street

First Anthony Bourdain, now this....The New York Post brings us this item today:

FORGET 46th Street - Martha Stewart has crowned a new Restaurant Row.

In a four-part restaurant tour kicking off Monday on "The Martha Stewart Show" (11 a.m., Ch. 4), the domestic diva is visiting a quartet of tiny downtown eateries on E. 10th Street.

"I have never been on a street anywhere in New York where restaurant after restaurant is just so, so good," says Stewart, citing "diverse" menus and "fantastic" prices as reasons for her latest foodie obsession.

Hmm-mmm.

While E. 10th Street seems to be edgier territory than Stewart's usual four-star stomping grounds, this funky strip popular with college kids and night crawlers isn't such a big departure for Stewart.

"She's just as game to be in the East Village as she is uptown," says [Stewart supervising producer Lisa] Wagner. "She has her favorite places - it's not always Nobu."

Noted

From The Superficial:

Sarah Jessica Parker wants to cast Britney Spears in the new Sex and the City movie, according to MTV UK:

It seems Britney who made her cameo on US TV show How I Met Your Mother last year would play a young relative of SJP's character Carrie Bradshaw. Sarah Jessica told friends: "My idea is to have someone like Britney Spears move to New York as my cousin or niece and Carrie would show her the ropes."

Atlantic City now apparently just as soulless as the Bowery

Page Six Magazine this week has a feature on New Jersey, which they bill as the new New York. Seriously. So:



According to the article:

Atlantic City became the place for pasty hipsters this summer. "It is the new post-ironic destination," says Alexis Swerdloff, managing editor of Papermag.com. She has seen plenty of the flannel shirt–wearing, Parliaments-smoking contingency head for the revitalized seaside resort town since the July opening of the Chelsea Hotel. Paul Sevigny and Matt Abramcyk, the duo behind Manhattan hot spot the Beatrice Inn, consulted on the hotel's fifth-floor nightclub and literally moved their scene down to AC in July with a free party bus, to hype the modern, chic space. "Once it was announced that these guys were involved, it gave AC more cred," Alexis says. And since then, Sean Avery, Chloë Sevigny, John Mayer, members of Maroon Five and James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem have all visited — and changed the notion that Atlantic City is for pensioners carrying social security checks, oxygen tanks and crab legs they stole from the buffet.

Ohhh! Maroon Five! Later in the piece:

Still, the boardwalk is not quite gentrified, thanks to a Hooters to Go restaurant and various cheap sundry stands. "The thing to do is to buy a cheesy Atlantic City loose tank top from one of them," Alexis suggests. "Hipsters wear them with their cut-off jeans shorts and boots."

Reminds me that I need to get back down to Atlantic City before it's completely ruined. Will head to Tony's Baltimore Grill on Atlantic Avenue near the Tropicana...

Ruin of the Bowery nearly complete: Last season for the Amato Opera

After 60 years the Amato Opera will close its doors after this season. Anthony Amato, the company’s 88-year-old founder, gave the news to his company before Saturday night’s performance of “The Merry Widow.” Mr. Amato said he had sold the opera’s building on the Bowery in the East Village. (New York Times)

Founded in 1948 by Tony and Sally Amato (she passed away in 2000), the Opera has called 319 Bowery home since 1964. Here's an excerpt on the Amato Opera that appears on its Web site. From an article written by Sondra Zuckerman Diaz:

Amato Opera opened originally with two goals in mind: to present entertaining opera at popular prices, and to give singers a stage on which to gain much-needed experience in full-length productions. The early company utilized students from Tony Amato's opera classes. ... Early performances were free because union regulations would not allow them to charge admission. Contributions were requested during intermission. Tony Amato had invested his own money to get the company started. At 319 Bowery, when admission could be charged, tickets were $1.20 an reserved seats, $1.80. In 1975, 15 years later, ticket prices were only $3-4 a performances. Today, at only $23 for an orchestra seat, ticket prices are still a fraction of what is charged at other opera houses. Amato is believed to be the only self-sustaining opera house in the United States. ... The Amato Opera is often referred to as a "mom and pop" operation.

Here's a video created by Columbia Graduate School of Journalism students on the Bowery Poetry Club and the Amato Opera.(The Opera portion begins around the one-minute mark.)



Jeremiah has more on the Amato from last January.

Two Saturdays, two pub crawls

Remember in Night of the Living Dead, when Ben boards up the farmhouse to protect himself and that useless Barbara from the zombies outside? Oh, no reason that I bring this up...just that during the last two Saturday afternoons, the East Village was host to several particularly larger-than-usual pub crawls.

On Dec. 6, I ran into a group (40 to 50?) around 1:30 p.m. who were on some golf drinking game. They started at 7B, then to Manitoba's. According to the "required behavior" on a sheet one of the pub crawlers showed me, you had to "speak with Canadian accent re: ice fishing, hockey, Inuit culture, donuts. French Canadian is acceptable" while at Manitoba's. Maybe this is funny in the pub crawler's universe.

Then, it was Zum Schneider, where pub crawlers had to "talk like a Nazi. Every other sentence must be 'Zat's what she said.' Or. 'Zat's what he said." The tomfoolery continued at Kate's Joint, Croxley Ale House, The Library, Essex Ale House, Arlene's, Motor City (where they were to sing Bob Seeger songs and curse the automakers and bailout) and, finally, Mason Dixon. Oh, and everyone was dressed in doctor's scrubs, golf duds or pajamas.

Last Saturday afternoon, there was a Santa pub crawl (not part of Santacon, which is a whole other story) nearly 100 strong that I encountered on Avenue A. Two of the participants, women roughly 25 years old, asked me where Sophie's was. They were nice enough for being so drunk (already) and oblivious to their surroundings. They were coming from the Double Down. After Sophie's, Niagra was the next stop. I asked them some questions. Where else were they going? Well, hard to say. The one had the list written in pen on her arm and the ink was starting to smudge. They lived in Hoboken. This crawl was some officewide thing that grew. They did it because "it was a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon."

Except if you live here.

"maybe MOMOFUCKO can open a flavored milk stand?"

As always, many thanks for the comments....Wanted to share one from the Wolfgang-Puck-setting-up-shop-at-the-Fillmore post. From Hunter-Gatherer:

Uhhhh, as someone who has attended and worked shows there. Where are they planning on setting up operations?
does anybody actually think about eating when they got to a show there?
Or, perhaps this will be one of "lifestyle marketing" attempts at sucking off what money is left with the music buying public. $7 budweiser and a $15 puck personal pan cardboard pizza. AWESOME!!!! maybe MOMOFUCKO can open a flavored milk stand? this AINT rock n'roll.

This week's sign of the apocalypse

Eater reports that Wolfgang Puck will be catering the food at the Fillmore thingee that should really just be called the Irving Plaza.
"Tellers at the venue tell us that Puck has taken over the bar areas and will introduce food sometime in the next two months. And finally, your chance to watch Spoon while eating a pre-wrapped turkey sandwich has arrived."

Tipstering with good intentions: Versace to the Bowery?

I always appreciate any tips... So! A tipster just e-mailed claiming that a Versace store was opening on First Street at the Bowery. The tipster said the item was in Luxury Briefing. Which does me no good since the thing is subscription only. Anyway, it's a former Versace designer opening the store, as Racked reported in October. He has done work for Sarah Jessica Parker, which means this may become a stop on the Sex and the City tour. (OK, sorry. Because I made this joke, it'll probably really happen now.)

Entire East Village practically for sale

Jill mentioned this Wednesday at Blah Blog Blah. Now Curbed has all the gory details:

Brokerage giant Massey Knakal has announced, in an e-mailed press release and on its blog, that the firm has been retained to arrange the sale of 17 walk-up apartment buildings in the East Village. But not just any 17! The mix of buildings—sprinkled throughout the 'hood in many shapes and sizes and with widely varying numbers of rent-stabilized apartments per building—make up the "East Village Portfolio," purchased by megadeveloper Extell for $72 million in 2006 before the company spun if off to former cohort Westbrook Partners for $97.5 million in the summer of '07

The portfolio is going for $120 million.

According to Massey Knakal, "The rent regulated units are renting for as low as 20% of market creating a tremendous opportunity to increase revenue in the future. All of the free market units have been recently renovated featuring new hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances and granite countertops."

Curbed has photos of the 17 properties on the block.