I hope they were serving a lot of booze...this is one dull bash.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
A touch of Blarney
Not sure what to make of the stickers for EV Grieve favorite the Blarney Cove being plastered around the neighborhood. The "I love to party" message seems awfully fraternityish for the Blarney Cove. (ED note: Duh.) Unless they're trying to drum up some more business. Which I understand. That stretch on 14th Street between A and B is up for grabs in spots. Still.
Are you there God? It's me, Carrie
Candace Bushnell, whose mid-’90s New York Observer column was the basis for Sex and the City, has signed a deal with the children’s division at HarperCollins to write a young adult novel about Carrie Bradshaw’s high-school years. Hello! (New York Observer via Gawker)
Our billionaire mayor speaks out on the "I want it now" society
An "I want it now" society that refuses to live within its means is partly responsible for the subprime-mortgage crisis, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday.(New York Post)
"I think you just can't blame the banks," he said, taking borrowers to task.
"They say, 'I want the great American dream. I want it now and I'm not going to wait until I put some money in the bank.' . . That's where we lost the moral compass of saying no to people who did not have the earning capacity to support a mortgage."
Emily Brill weighs in on the Eldridge
On her Essentially Emily: Confessions of a 5th Avenue Misfit site, Emily Brill had this to say about the Eldridge, you know, the hidden lounge/restaurant on Eldridge Street with only 13 tables "manned by chaperones, butlers, table attendants, and a hospitality consultant"...:
The Eldridge is a nice space, but indeed, there’s nothing mind-blowing about it–unless, of course, you wanna talk location (and my friends are as obsessed with this neighborhood right now as I am). I know how stupid this sounds but for an uptown girl like me, stepping out of the cab last night on Eldridge Street was like stepping on to a soundstage. Maybe it’s because they had the sidewalk all glammed up for this party and the collision of flashbulbs and the unassuming nonchalance of East Village streets, graffiti and neon is what got me. I know the west village always used to give me this ‘you’re in a storybook’ feel and it still does from time to time–and the bowery can still feel like that during the day but it’s hard to feel like you’re in little ‘untouched’/unchartered new york by night. It’s an incredible feeling.
So whether or not we’re comin’ back to the eldridge, this is an area, I think, that’s going to see a lot of activity this year. But I hope it holds onto everything I described.
Here's the first comment in response to the post:
Related!: Jeremiah looks at the faux-bookshop facade of The Eldridge. What a kick in the balls.
Leaving Manhattan for Hooterville
For no reason, really. The intro to the long-running sitcom Green Acres from 1966.
Seems as if they could have reached a compromise -- just go to Hooterville on the weekends or something. You have to question how happy their marriage was. Sure is fun to over-analyze old sitcoms!
Seems as if they could have reached a compromise -- just go to Hooterville on the weekends or something. You have to question how happy their marriage was. Sure is fun to over-analyze old sitcoms!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Condo calls
As the Post notes, in a tough real estate market, new buildings are doing whatever it takes to lure these buyers. "In an effort to be competitive, buildings are offering more and more extreme amenities," says Nathaniel Faust, vice president of Citi-Habitats.
Well, let's just have them report all this:
Love the cheesecake photo shoot the Post did for him, by the way.
Well, let's just have them report all this:
"Recently, rental buildings are going more full-service, and a lot of condos are making moves towards hotel amenities. Buildings going up now are gearing up to sell units over the next 24 months - they're counting on the weak dollar attracting foreigners - by providing the services that hotels do."
That's where Dr. Robert Glatter comes in.
Glatter is a board-certified emergency physician who has worked with high-profile clients - in certain circles he's known as the official doctor of the city's "fashion bitches" - such as Elie and Rory Tahari, Diane von Furstenberg, Devi Kroell and the cast of "Gossip Girl."
But when he's not taking the temperatures of the famous creative class or attending to patients at Lenox Hill Hospital, he's running his new business, Dr. 911. In addition to being sort of an old-fashioned house call medical care service, the business, which employs four other doctors, caters to luxury buildings such as 15 Central Park West, The Miraval and 40 Bond.
"And a lot of busy people - especially corporate types who have difficulty getting away from their desks - long for days of traditional house calls."
While the service might seem charmingly quaint and old-fashioned, it's not really for everyone - specifically, it's not for the poor. Prices vary on a case-by-case basis, but this personalized service does not come cheap.
"We have an upscale clientele," he says. "Sometimes we'll get a call from an outlying area, but the price deters them a little bit. I don't take insurance, and it's the patient's responsibility to submit the invoice to their company for partial reimbursement."
Love the cheesecake photo shoot the Post did for him, by the way.
Finally! Some positive financial news for NYC!
Federal homeland security officials are giving $29.5 million to the New York Police Department to develop a system to prevent a radiological or nuclear attack on the city.
Oh.
Tourists on hand to document our nation's economic collapse
Can't wait to show the kids! These photos were taken minutes after the Dow closed down more than 500 points yesterday. With the NYSE and Federal Hall right here, this is a heavily traveled area for tourists. Still, there were a lot more tourists milling about yesterday. Could have been the lure of the media trucks and lights...and blood.
Meanwhile, down the street. A few people in Tiffany's. 
Not so many people shopping for BMWs. Except some dummies.
Dwell95 fiddled after Wall Street burned
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.
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."
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."
Looking at the unintended victims of yesterday's stock market meltdown
How about the US Women’s Soccer team? They visited the NYSE yesterday to celebrate their Gold Medal victory in Beijing and ring The Closing Bell.
Monday, September 15, 2008
One argument for not mourning the destruction of Yankee Stadium
"The Yankees are pretending that, with a final, unimportant game this Sunday, they’re leaving the house that Ruth built: the majestic stadium that opened back when Harding was president. Wrong. That park died in 1973. In its place is a typical seventies improvisation, gritty, rickety, and ugly, something not built for the ages but just good enough to get us through the bad times." (New York)
Those who grease the wheels in Manhattan without (shudder) alcohol; and what's the booziest borough of them all?
Page Six Magazine covers an alarming trend: People who don't drink to wretched excess! No!
Meet the Wagonistas
There was a time when the fashion and media industries were known for their bacchanalian ways. Not anymore: The truly ambitious are giving up booze to boost their careers.
But while tastemakers often justify getting loaded as a way to grease the networking wheels, a growing number of ambitious New Yorkers in creative fields like fashion, media and entertainment say they are passing on the cocktails this year. It's not to lose weight and it's not a post-rehab regime. Instead, the impetus is much more mercenary: They're hoping that not nursing a hangover at work will give them a competitive edge in a tight job market.
And here's a stat from the piece:
According to the city's health department, about 16.8 percent of New Yorkers drink excessively, which is defined as imbibing more than two drinks a day for men and more than one drink a day for women, or consuming more than five drinks on any one occasion. Manhattan is the booziest borough of all, with about 23 percent of the population drinking excessively.
More than two drinks a day for a man is excessive? Good lord. What does three drinks an hour for, say, most of Thursday night and the weekend translate to?
Uh, any help here? Someone? Anyone? Jay McInerney?
"These people are probably giving themselves an unfair advantage by not drinking," says Bright Lights, Big City author Jay McInerney. "My friends still drink happily and copiously—except for the ones who went to rehab. These [ambitious teetotalers] are probably missing out on a certain amount of fun."
The last frontier on the LES?
Million dollar condos abound, of course, on the fringes of the Lower East Side, with River Ridge setting up shop on the wilds of Ridge Street and Karl Fischer soon to follow on Ridge and Stanton. Not to mention 32 Clinton at Clinton and Stanton. Still, for better or worse, there's still at least one stretch of the area where you can enjoy what the neighborhood used to look like -- the empty lot and few dilipidated buildings on Attorney Street between Rivington and Delancey. (Seems like the perfect place for a secret club!)
I have a few more shots from earlier this summer on my Flickr page.
Wishful thinking...?
For some reason I was looking at the CBGB Web site...Guess it hasn't been updated in a few years...And whatever became of the Vegas dream?
Going Nightclubbing
Speaking of CBGB...thanks to Stupefaction for telling us about the new Go Nightclubbing Web site.
NIGHTCLUBBING
THE ORIGINAL PUNK ROCK MUSIC VIDEO SERIES
by PAT IVERS and EMILY ARMSTRONG
Live videotaped performances from 1975-80
Described by the New York Times as, “The Lewis and Clark of rock video”, video artists Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong spent their nights from 1975-80 documenting the burgeoning punk scene in nightclubs around New York City. Ivers and Armstrong were acutely aware of the significance of that era and their material captures the sprit of the time. The edited results were shown on their weekly cable TV show NIGHTCLUBBING. These performances have been compiled and presented as the ultimate wish-I-was-there document of the groundbreaking punk, new wave, no wave and hardcore movement.
Lehman Brothers at night
Sunday, September 14, 2008
A Nick Zedd retrospective
A little late on this...there's a Nick Zedd retrospective tonight and Sept. 28 at the Gene Frankel Theatre on Bond Street between Lafayette and the Bowery. (Here's more on Zedd's Cinema of Transgression.)
What follows is Thrust in Me, a short Zedd did in 1985 with Richard Kern in the East Village. (Zedd has both lead roles.) The song is "John Coltrane Stereo Blues" by The Dream Syndicate.
Oh, please be warned if you're new to this. It's graphic. Very, very NSFW. Oh, and nice panoramic shot of the neighborhood at the 7:26 mark.
The 57-story condo coming to 56 Leonard
From the Daily News on 56 Leonard Street:
The Swiss architects of the iconic Bird's Nest stadium at the Beijing Olympics are bringing their innovative style to New York City with a translucent glass skyscraper designed to look like houses stacked in the sky.
Architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron's $650 million, 57-story condominium featuring dramatic, cantilevered terraces is slated to begin going up in mid-October in the trendy Tribeca district in lower Manhattan.
Curbed has been following the story.
Anyway, this building won't look out of place at all! A fine addition to our city of glass.
"Giuliani will lock my ass up"
The Post reports: "Squeegee men -- the window-washing bane of city streets who became a symbol of Big Apple blight and a top target in former Mayor Rudy Giuliani's crusade to crack down on quality-of-life nuisances in the 1990s -- are making a comeback."
Noted from the article:
One press-shy squeegee guy, apparently still thinking it was Rudy's reign, asked The Post not to write about him.
"Giuliani will lock my ass up," he said. "There will be 30 cops up and down this street."
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