Looking at a "stunning hi-def branding production" -- a video on YouTube!

From Dexigner:

Anish Kapoor's huge stainless steel balloon sculpture floats gently out of the Manhattan sky to land on-site at 56 Leonard Street, where it is compressed into final form under the descending weight of architects' Herzog & de Meuron's twisted-glass and steel 57-story hi-rise residential tower.

So opens directing and new media studio Tronic's stunning hi-def branding production, which was designed by partners Jessi Seppi and Vivian Rosenthal, themselves Columbia University trained architects, to conceptually mirror the architects' intent while providing the foundation for the luxury properties' marketing program. Music and sound design was provided by Nylon.

Uh. Huh?

Oh.

Thanksgiving at the Aqueduct, Part 2

On Thanksgiving, we headed out to South Ozone Park, Queens, home to the Aqueduct Racetrack, conveniently located by the long-term parking at JFK. Just a short 2-3 hour A train ride away! Actually, I think it's just 21 stops away from where we live in the neighborhood. So, fuck yeah — we called Delancey Car Service to get us there. High rollers! Post time was 11:25 a.m., an hour earlier than usual for the fall meet, which ends on Dec. 31.

Oh, the real fun begins in January with winter racing. You'll know who the diehards are then. As Mark Jacobson wrote in a Feb. 22, 1999, Aqueduct feature for New York magazine:

It is unlikely that the seventeenth-century English aristocracy had Aqueduct winter racing in mind when they imported those three Arabian, Turk, and Barb stallions -- stock from which all Thoroughbreds are said to be descended. Begun in the mid-1970s to keep gambling tax dollars pumping year-round, winter racing has long provided a handy metaphor for the 50-odd-year decline of the erstwhile Sport of Kings. Indeed, with its slew of six-furlong races, its bowls of clamless clam chowder ladled out from steaming steel vats, and the same daily "faces" -- Rastas, Chinese waiters, Korean War vets on disability, etc. -- serial plunging at the $2-exacta windows, Aqueduct seems a perfect spot to divest one last grubstake before tottering off this mortal coil.

Yeah, well, that's the thing that has always struck me about Aqueduct: So many of the regulars there do seem to be merely killing time before dying. It's like a well of loneliness, even among like-minded individuals there intent on betting and drinking.





According to the Aqueduct Web site: "Aqueduct opened on Sept. 27, 1894. In 1941, a new clubhouse and track offices were built. The track was torn down in 1956 and the new "Big A" opened in 1959. In 1975 the inner track was constructed to facilitate winter racing."

Anyway, back to Thanksgiving. It was suitably depressing, made even more so by the presence of holiday decorations that brought no warmth to the cavernous space. At least they're trying.



There was actually a fair number of families at the track. That's part of the idea of an early post on the holiday. Come out, watch some races, and leave by 3 p.m. for home and turkey and stuff. And get everyone out of the house while the real work gets done.

For food at the track, there's a Nathan's Famous and Sbarro. Not to mention the Hello Deli. There's a cafetria in the Man 'O War Room. And the Big A grill in the second floor clubhouse.



But! For some old-school charm, you have to visit the Equestris, the white-tablecloth restaurant that offers panoramic views of the track. You can buy six beers at a time. They'll put them in a bucket with ice. The betting windows aren't too far away. (But don't stay up here too long — the real action is downstairs alongside the track.)

I appreciate the air of sophistication put on by the tux-clad, well-coiffed maître d' and bell captain. They make you feel as if you're at 21. Given the rather seedy clientele downstairs, the desciption of the Equestris on the Aqueduct Web site is particularly hilarious:

Elegant Attire has long been a Tradition at Aqueduct Racetrack. Ladies and Gentlemen who honor this tradition are always appreciated.
Recommended Attire: Elegant
Gentlemen should wear suits or sport jackets (no shorts or abbreviated wear); Ladies should wear dresses, skirts or pantsuits.
Acceptable Attire: Business Casual
Management reserves the right to use its discretion to determine acceptable attire. Gentlemen: Collared shirts required. Suits or sports jackets optional. No shorts or abbreviated wear.

The track holds 40,000 specators. On Thanksgiving, they drew 3,200. So there were definitely places where it seemed like it was a little full.



I love the barber shop at the track. Wasn't a lot going on Thanksgiving, though. In fact, I stopped by three different times. The door was open, but the barber wasn't around. Not that I really wanted a haircut. I just like the idea of it. I got my hair cut there once. It's $7. Despite his grandfatherly appearance, the barber was rather miserable and in no mood for track history chitchat. He scolded me a few times. And he smelled like talcum powder. My hair is simple to cut. Yet he still made me look like Fred Gwynne. Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster.



Topeka John always says to bet on horses with Cat in their name. (I forget why — I just do it.)



As I noted yesterday, Aqueduct is becoming a racino, a racetrack that will include a casino (slots only), conference center and big hotel. It promises to be fancy — a business destination for yuk-yuk doofsters in pleated khakis in town for business. This place will never be the same. I understand the need to generate revenue, etc., etc. — just don't have to be happy about it.

Sorry, but I have to quote that Joe Bob Briggs article one more time:

Aqueduct is the kind of urban race track that doesn't really exist anymore in the rest of the country.

I love this place.

State of independence -- and where you can find the East Village of the 1980s today

New York magazine has a handy guide to independent record stores, book shops, galleries, etc., in this week's issue. Of particular interest to me: the record stores, a list that includes Academy Records, Other Music, Second Hand Rose and Hospital Productions. Fine, fine. I still really like Etherea on Avenue A, so let's give them a little love, huh?

Of note is the galleries section. Bushwick gets the following ID by noted art critic Jerry Saltz: "It's the closest thing to the eighties East Village."

Do you mind if we dance with your dates?

From the Times today: the fourth and final article in a series examining the workings of New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission. Today's title: Preservation and Development, Engaged in a Delicate Dance

[S]ome preservationists and politicians assert that, under a mayoral administration that has emphasized new construction — from behemoth stadiums to architecturally bold condo towers — big developers have too often been allowed to lead on the dance floor. Some accuse the landmarks commission, charged with guarding the city’s architectural heritage, of backing off too readily when important developers’ interests are at stake.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

The lost music venues of Manhattan (Perfect Sound Forever, via Stupefaction)

A look at MePa's coming Habitrail (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

The always fascinationg shift shots and reflections (NYC Taxi Photo)

Leaving NYC behind (What I Saw)

Visiting the Dublin House Tap Room (Greenwich Village Daily Photo)

Important trends: More men are dying their pubic hairs (Page Six)

Bret Easton Ellis writing screenplay about tragic EV couple (Page Six Magazine)

Saints fans gather at Bar None for games (New York Times)

Bonus that has nothing to do with the Times article or the Saints fans: Screenshot from the Bar None Web site.

A bouquet for Five Rose's Pizza

Hunter-Gatherer pays tribute to Five Rose's Pizza on First Avenue. The neighborhood fixture closed Saturday. Rent hike, of course. As H-G writes:

Truth be told, as I would walk by the location I often wondered how long they could survive in the Nouvelle Village Est. With a place like Momofuko next door, I’m sure other local landlords are salivating over rent hikes as well.

Thanksgiving at Aqueduct

As you probably know, the Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, Queens, will become a racino, an entertainment megaplex that will include a casino (slots only), conference center and huge-ass hotel. It's one of those phased-in projects that should take forever to complete. Groundbreaking is expected in early 2009.

Well, as you can see from the Aqueduct parking lot Thanksgiving morning, there's plenty of room for such things.




So all that will become this:



I imagine the junky, three-times-weekly flea market held in this space will have to find a new home.





By the way, if you find youself at the rather lonely front gate on Rockaway Boulevard, treat yourself and take the free shuttle bus to the racetrack entrance.





Nothing like reliving painful memories from elementary school before drinking and gambling!







I hope to get back out there before the construction begins, closing a seedy era that I so enjoyed.



NY politicos have been kicking around the idea of adding slots here for years. In the fall of 2001, Joe Bob Briggs wrote a column on the Aqueduct and remarked on the potential for slots:

It's hard to believe that the New York tracks haunted by the Vanderbilts and Whitneys and Morrises and Du Ponts would resort to slot machines to keep up with the times. Aqueduct, after all, is where Man o' War ran his most famous race, defeating John P. Grier in the Dwyer Stakes in 1920. When the new track opened in 1959, Bill Shoemaker rode both winners of the first Daily Double, and Eddie Arcaro won the first turf race. It's the track of Kelso, the only five-time Horse of the Year, from 1960 to 1964. And Aqueduct is steeped in lore that would only be known to horse people--for example, the race in 1944 that was the first, last and only triple dead heat in a stakes race (Brownie, Bossuet and Wait a Bit in the Carter Handicap). Buckpasser won 12 of his 17 races at Aqueduct. It was the track where Steve Cauthen won 23 races in a single week and where Angel Cordero won two straight Eclipse Awards.

Previous attempts at turning racetracks into gambling/entertainment meccas haven't go so well. As Ray Kerrison noted in the Post Saturday:

Magna Entertainment Corp., Frank Stronach's public racing arm, which bought a flock of tracks and set out to transform the game with bold new ideas, only to stumble into an ocean of red ink.

Stronach bought Gulfstream Park for $95 million, spent $130 million to renovate it - and essentially ruined it as a horse venue. Magna has lost $400 million in the past four years through similar erratic, scatter-shot planning and management. It is now fighting for survival.

I'll spare you the boohooing about the end of this track as we know it. I'll end with another graph from Briggs:

The winter season at Aqueduct is not really for tourists or day-trippers. Of the three great New York tracks -- Belmont, Saratoga and Aqueduct --Aqueduct is the least glamorous. It's a working man's track, the only track in America that has its own subway stop. In fact, you can stand on the subway side of the clubhouse and see the skyscrapers of Wall Street in the distance. Aqueduct is the kind of urban race track that doesn't really exist anymore in the rest of the country.

I love this place.

I'll write more later on the rest of Thanksgiving Day at the racetrack.

The plot thickens at reported vegan ice cream shop

Just a mere three weeks ago, a mysterious Stogo sign appeared at the former A. Fontana Shoe Repair at 159 Second Ave. and 10th Street. As we reported in a worldwide exclusive, the beloved shop was becoming a vegan ice cream joint. And now? Another Stogo sign has appeared! This one over the front door.



So much progress at this location the past month! But! We still are searching for answers. Could this be the Stogo as in consultant Malcolm Stogo of the Ice Cream University, whose team lost a heartbreaker Saturday versus Milk and Cookies Community College? We don't really have any idea. But we promise to continue to take this matter very seriously!

Dare to Daydream! -- and eat Fro-Yo

As we previously noted, the glassy condo at 110 Third Ave. between 13th Street and 14th Street is getting a Fro-Yo shoppe to go along with its Bank of America branch. That Fro-Yo shoppe is now open as of Saturday. [UPDATED: It actually hasn't opened just yet...Grub Street reports that it will open later this week, pending delivery of equipment.]




The sign at this space originally said (warned?) that a Double Fraiche Fro-Yo was opening. Instead, it's a Daydream. Update: Oops part duh! Didn't realize Daydream was the winning pick from a Grub Street reader....Read about it here.

For further Fro-Yo reading on EV Grieve.

The Times continues to pummel, er, examine the work of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission

And now, part three in the paper's series: churches.

Houses of worship are among the most sensitive issues facing the landmarks commission. Mandating that a church be preserved can not only impose a heavy financial burden on a congregation, it also raises the specter of state interference with religious freedom. So the commission has been especially loath to take on churches or synagogues that don’t want to be designated.

According to the article, one of the most striking cases that the commission declined to hear was that of St. Brigid’s on Avenue B at Eighth Street.

Previous Landmark Commission articles here.

Eliza Dushku's nipples continue to show up all over the East Village

Posters for Nobel Son -- the dark-comic crime thriller that opens Friday with Alan Rickman, Eliza Dushku and Danny DeVito, anong others -- seem to be everywhere in the neighborhood. These were on Houston just a few hundred feet from each other.




However, for the full-on effect, you need to see the poster draped on the side of a building, such as here on Third Avenue and 12th Street.




For some reason I'm reminded of this scene from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation:

Bike lanes on Avenue A

I had the same reaction to this as East Village Idiot: Where did these things come from -- seemingly overnight. I walked across Avenue A yesterday and there were...bike lanes...Went back for a few photos this morning.

More sap!

Christmas trees are now for sale on Second Avenue at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery. Also: Trees spotted for sale at the Stuyvesant Supermarket at 14th Street and Avenue A.

And now on First Avenue and Fifth Street.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Being Sappy

"This is the time to think about the importance of old buildings in New York's urban fabric -- and how to preserve those worth keeping"

Julia Vitullo-Martin, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, has an op-ed in the Post today on why it's time to save the city's imperiled landmarks:

The pause in New York City's building boom may have one side benefit: It gives everyone a chance to think. As projects skid to a halt and buildings get stopped in mid-construction, developers - and their neighbors -- have an opportunity to reassess their plans and consider different options for the future. Can that gorgeous but crumbling church on the corner be saved with neighborhood support? Is an old industrial warehouse a candidate for rehabilitation rather than demolition? Could a clever architect renovate that empty commercial skyscraper for residential? This is the time to think about the importance of old buildings in New York's urban fabric -- and how to preserve those worth keeping.

The Post also offers up a listicle of the 10 endangered buildings in the city worth saving, such as the Corn Exchange Bank in Harlem (pictured above) on the northwest corner of 125th Street and Park Avenue. You can view the slideshow here.

Noted

Buffalo Exchange opened last week on 11th Street. I remarked at the time that the old Cinema Classics sign was still up. I wondered if the BE folks may keep it...



Uh, no.

A rush to destroy history

The Times continues to take it to the Landmarks Preservation Commission:

The strategy has become wearyingly familiar to preservationists. A property owner ... is notified by the landmarks commission that its building or the neighborhood is being considered for landmark status. The owner then rushes to obtain a demolition or stripping permit from the city’s Department of Buildings so that notable qualities can be removed, rendering the structure unworthy of protection.

And later:

The number of pre-emptive demolitions across the city may be relatively small, but preservationists say the phenomenon is only one sign of problems with the city’s mechanism for protecting historic buildings. “This administration is so excited about the new that it overlooks its obligation to protect the old,” said Anthony C. Wood, author of “Preserving New York: Winning the Right to Protect a City’s Landmarks.”

Previously on EV Grieve:
A Landmark article

Screamin' Jay Hawkins with the Fuzztones

From Irving Plaza. 1984.

A little window shopping

On Fifth Avenue....



...and Avenue B.



Or is it the other way around?

A non-buyer's market

Celebrate "Buy Nothing Day" at Union Square today with Reverend Billy. At 3 p.m.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

East Village preservation group gets a nice check (The Villager)

The most-ticketed block in New York City is 14th Street, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. (The New York Times)

Commercial mortgage crisis looms (AP)

New Yorkers spent less on Thanksgiving this year (Runnin' Scared)

How to get legs like the Rockettes (Time Out)

Wal-Mart employee trampled to death by shoppers in Long Island (New York Post)