Looking at some of those buildings that are for sale

In recent months, I've noticed several buildings for sale in the neighborhood...nothing unique about that, of course. Except! It's just that each of these signs are hanging on buildings that house bars. (Bars that I happen to like.) Maybe this doesn't mean a thing. The signs are for other buildings that are for sale. The bars all have long leases. It will all be business as usual. New landlords, no rent increases! You know, all is well! (I'm trying...)

Oh, and in the case of the "space available" along 14th Street in the (blurry, sorry) third photo, I don't even know if that includes the beloved Blarney Cove. Still, given some of the reports (via Jeremiah, Curbed and The Villager) about that ripe-for-development eastern stretch of 14th Street between Avenues A and C, I'm not very hopeful. About anything.

Fulton Street construction update

Hmm. We'll check back around 2010.

Flier of the day

At Starbucks, Park Row and Beekman.

Drug store celebrity exit wars

Duade Reade has Mario Lopez gracing its exits (and disguising the store's security system). Not to be outdone, Rite Aid (at least the one on 14th Street between Avenues A and B) wants us to smell like David Beckham.

Nassau Street, 4:54 p.m., July 8

How condos are named

The Times has a dandy piece today on why every new condo name these days seems to have something to do with the sky.

. . .the floor-to-ceiling glass towers popping up in record numbers across New York City are starting to sound an awful lot alike.

Two new high-rises, one on the Upper East Side, the other in Brooklyn, a have the same name: Azure, a deep shade of blue. Seem familiar? It should. On the Lower East Side, another new building is called Blue.

Sky House, under construction on East 29th Street, is not to be confused with the Cielo (Italian for “sky”), on East 83rd Street. And then there are Star Tower, in Long Island City, and Solaria, in the Bronx.

It is an unintended consequence of the city’s historic building boom: a traffic jam of similar sounding names. To showcase the sweeping views from buildings with huge, wrap-around windows, real estate developers are flocking to a set of words that evoke the sky, clouds and stars.

Builders say there are only so many ways to describe a glass box, the undisputed architectural aesthetic of the moment. Similar names, they argue, are inevitable.

Classic!

(And what, no My Blue Heaven as a name for a condo?)



Meanwhile!

Trends in New York building names are not new. Builders seized on the American West around 1900, producing the Wyoming, on West 55th Street, a block away from the Oregon, on West 54th, and across the park from the Idaho, on East 48th. And, of course, there is the Dakota, on West 72nd Street.

Soon after, a wave of Francophilia yielded the Bordeaux, the Cherbourg and the Paris. Native American motifs were enshrined in the Iroquois, the Seminole and the Waumbek.

Trees (Laurel), Greek mythology (Helena) and Spanish cities (Madrid) have all woven their way into the city’s skyline.

And mailing addresses are often used as building names, especially when the street is considered prestigious, like Park Avenue or Perry Street, in the West Village.

Occasionally, names flop. When developers converted the Stanhope Hotel, across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue, into luxury apartments two years ago, they called the project the Stanhope. Few takers emerged, and the name was discarded in favor of the street address, 995 Fifth Avenue.

What is striking about the latest wave is just how closely — or haphazardly — some of the names overlap.

The goal, after all, in a crowded real estate market like New York, is to stand out, not to blend in, said Mr. Wine, of Related. Most of the units in the new towers go for $1 million or more.

“You need to be distinctive,” he said, “and a good name can do that.”

Oh, lordy, there's more. But my head is going to explode.

The grocery stores of Saint James Place

There's one stretch of the city downtown refreshingly free of Whole Foods...or Gardens of Edens...or Gourmet Garages...or...

The C Town at 5 St. James Place has a 1970s suburban feel to the exterior. Meanwhile, about 100 yards north, there's Peter's grocery store at 25 Madison Street on the corner of St. James Place.



A great sign.



And I love the corner angle.

"Pure poo"

We were talking about the Holiday Cocktail Lounge on St. Mark's in a post yesterday. I later spotted this user review of the Holiday at Zagat.

Understandable...he probably wants to buy a place at the Theatre Condominiums...

"I’d lower the rent for stores so all of the cool, small shops could afford to stay afloat"

That's Albert Hammond Jr.. who was a good sport and did the "Six Seconds With" feature in Page Six the Magazine (the content is finally available online) on June 29. The second solo record -- ¿Cómo Te Llama? -- from the guitarist for the Strokes comes out today.



The East Village resident was asked:

What’s your favorite place to people watch? The Gracefully deli on Avenue A between Second and Third. You can see the whole spectrum, from crazies to beauties, walk by.

Where’s your favorite bar in the city? In the 10 years I’ve been here, I haven’t found one. I’d like someone to build a nice one that’s not behind velvet ropes and filled with pretentious people. [EV Grieve note: Safe answer. Do you really want to tell people where you like to drink?]

If you were mayor of Gotham, what would you change? I’d lower the rent for stores so all of the cool, small shops could afford to stay afloat. The huge chains are making the city start to lose its personality.

He also said: “On the weekends, the East Village can be overrun with undesirables,” says Albert. “But I love Manhattan. I’ve been around the world and it’s my favorite city.”

Sidebar: Why is this feature titled "Six Seconds With..." It takes more than six seconds to read.

Uh, meanwhile, here's the video to "Back to the 101," a song from his debut record, Yours to Keep, one of my favorites from 2006:

Bonus: Hammond keeps a food diary for Grub Street!

The Financial District continues to attract interesting new businesses

At Maiden Lane and Gold Street. (This was a Burger King at one point, though the storefront has been vacant for four-plus years.)

At Water Street and Maiden Lane.

All this will go perfectly with the other businesses on Maiden, such as Duane Reade, Subway, Papa John's, Chipotle, Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts...

Russian Tea Room is advertising on the Lower East Side

At Clinton and Houston. Is this a good buy?

Flier of the day

At St. Mark's and Avenue A.

I looked up Guns&Mattresses after reading this. Given the slumping economy, I guess Sleepy's had to diversify their business.

That woman in line at the Regal Battery Park 11

We're at the Regal Battery Park 11. Something seems to be amiss -- nearly 50 people are in line for the first screenings of the day. Still, things are moving well enough even though only one person is selling tickets. (And the Fandango machine things are down.) Anyway, we're all just fine. Except for one agitated woman in her early 40s. She seems to be dressing down the rather doofy fellow she's with. She moves from the middle of the line to the front and asks, not really politely, if she could cut -- her movie has already started! The first fellow she asks was having none of it. "It's not my fault you're late." She tries the next woman in line, who was sympathetic, but firm, "I'm cutting it close myself." The agitated woman sighs and returns to her place in line. Finally, she gets her turn at the window. And what is she there to see?

Sex and the City.

Of course. And why hasn't she already seen this?

How good places are ruined: One perspective (aka, Sex and the City II: Carrie's Abortion)

[New York magazine/Photo by Ben Rosenzweig]

Gawker's Sheila McClear has a nice anecdote about her evening at the Holiday last night.

To which commenter Rod Townsend responded:

There are places about which you aren't supposed to write . . . Remember, if you write about it, some editwat at TONY or the Post or Hello! will write about it too. Then some location manager for Sex and the City II: Carrie's Abortion will see it and boom, it's a stop on a tour bus.

Meanwhile. Let's dance.

Student union

Ah, young, Ivy League love in the city. Gothamist had this Craigslist link yesterday:

Hi! We were on the RED local line, I got on at 14th Street, you were already on the train. I got off at Columbia University 116th. Around 5PM. It was very crowded and you were behind me. We talked awkardly while you were still behind my back, pushed into each other. I told you I hate being an undergrad, we connected. You eneded up fingering me while no one else was noticing. I didn't get your full e-mail. If you see this, let me know. I hope you do! I miss you.

Wow.

Well, I think this is just a viral campaign for next season's How I Met Your Mother. That Ted!

Lady Liberty is attracting true New York sports fans!

As Gothamist reported June 5, Major League Baseball put 42 8 1/2 feet tall Statues of Liberty around New York City in preparation for this year's All-Star Game, which will be played at Yankee Stadium on July 15. Each mini-liberty is adorned with the colors of a Major League baseball team, such as the one below for the Chicago White Sox that's on 14th Street and 4th Avenue.

It's a great way for us to show the world what great sports we are!




By the way, look at the size of Lady Liberty's feet! Wish I had put something next to the foot for scale, something like a midsized car.



[OOPS! East Village Podcasts had a good piece on the baseball statues last Thursday. Sorry fellas! And yes -- Walgreens is still selling that post-Halloween candy corn...]

Meanwhile, just stop putting baseball stuff on her. We get it.


I don't get this ad, though. The best in NY? OK, David Wright. Mets. 50 Cent. Born in Queens. OK. David Ortiz? He plays for Boston. Tell me what he has to do with New York. (Aside from being a Yankee killer through the years...)

Looking at 377 E. 10 Street -- then and now

I've been admiring the work of amg2000 on Flickr. There's a nice collection of then-and-now shots of downtown NYC...as well as 59 black-and-white photos from the 1980s.

I can't stop looking at this one, though -- 377 E. 10th St., the squat that got legal rights to the building a few years ago:


Here's what it looks like today:

[Note: I took the shot of 377 today...this one wasn't part of his then-and-now series.]

So what's all this about?

At 92 E. 7th Street, just east of First Avenue. Tearing up what used to be the garden dining space of Imagine and, before that, the Miracle Grill.

"You see, I have this little problem with my apartment..."

One of my favorites, The Apartment, was on earlier today on TCM. As you know, it's November 1959 in the film. Jack Lemmon's character, C.C. Baxter -- C. for Calvin, C. for Clifford -- lives 0n West 67th Street in a one bedroom place just a half block from Central Park. His take-home pay is $94.70 a week. As he says, "My rent is $84 a month. It used to be $80 until last July when Mrs. Lieberman, the landlady, put in a second-hand air conditioning unit."

Hmm, a quick look at just one West 67th Street price today...

Because "overrun by people who are considered to be sexually promiscuous, junkies and pushers" just didn't have the same ring to it

The Post has this report today:

Drug dens, homeless shantytowns and prostitution are rampant in New York City's parks, a Post investigation found.
Comparing the manicured lawns of Manhattan's Central Park to the barren, rat-infested eyesore of Spring Creek Park in Brooklyn, the disparity is shocking.
While the Bloomberg administration boasts that parks are in better shape than they've been in four decades, an investigation of 70 parks over the last nine months found:
* Clusters of homeless living in tents and small shantytowns in 10 parks, including Riverside Park near 148th Street in Manhattan.
* Hookers brazenly plying their 24-hour trade, including at Printers Park on Hoe Street [EV Grieve note: !] in The Bronx.
* Areas where junkies shoot up and crack dealers set up shop, including at Fort George Playground in Washington Heights.
* An illegal chop shop where stolen vehicles, including a stripped US Defense Dept. sedan, are harvested is thriving in Fresh Creek Nature Preserve in Brooklyn.
* And many barren parks covered in weeds up to 12 feet high that are used as illegal dumps for items like abandoned boats and cars, construction debris, containers of hazardous material, opened steel safes, Vegas-style slot machines - and even a discarded tombstone in Dreier-Offerman Park in Brooklyn.

Interesting, but:




Um, hos?