Throughout the day, a Ramones- and Bowie-filled soundtrack supports Barton's notion that his swanky $5 million gym will reflect the East Village's trademark punk and glam-rock spirit.
Indeed, the whole city's suddenly a nightclub. Not to be outdone, a huge trilevel Crunch half a block south of Barton's new gym offers an ear-splitting Tuesday-night deejay party and has a counter serving protein shakes and $4-plus iced coffees. There's also a Midtown Equinox, housing a deli-style takeout kitchen, and Rockefeller Center's Sports Club/LA, which has a sit-down restaurant, a bar and a sidewalk café.
"The mainstream offering doesn't cut it for some people anymore," says Barton.
And it isn't just gyms. Local entrepreneurs are giving Manhattan what it wants -- and Manhattan apparently wants everything in one place.
So what's the deal with this town? Is it an addiction to luxury -- or just ADD? According to Barton, it's all about choices.
"There are a lot of different people around and different gyms to service them," he says. Locals who complained about the closing of the enormous Barnes & Noble formerly occupying this space might note: While a bookstore is very East Village in theory, a 700-plus-store national chain that displaces ma and pa bookstores is not.
"You don't even shop in stores anymore," says Barton, suggesting online retailers that are hurting bookstores have made gyms "the new town square."
The downside for old-school New Yorkers is that such things tend to come off a little more new Times Square. Perhaps those of us wishing to exercise to the beat of our own drum, or bowl with the lights on, should consider moving to Arkansas? Fat chance. The sushi there sucks -- and just try getting it delivered after midnight.
Almost anyone who has written about New York has pointed out how it lives in a perpetual state of renewal: built, torn down, and rebuilt in an endless cycle. This is not a process exclusive to New York: it has occurred on the South Side of Chicago, in the area surrounding Memphis’s Beale Street, in Miami, and in other cities throughout the United States. But in New York — and particularly Manhattan — the rate of change seems intensified.
Manhattanites have often seemed remorseful at having ignored their physical history, having treated it so callously. At the same time they have sought to accept change as an inescapable element of life in the metropolis. "In Downtown: My Manhattan" (2004), Pete Hamill writes poignantly of this experience:
The New York version of nostalgia is not simply about lost buildings or their presence in the youth of the individuals who lived with them. It involves an almost fatalistic acceptance of the permanent presence of loss. Nothing will ever stay the same . . . Irreversible change happens so often in New York that the experience affects character itself.
But we never make total peace with the destruction of architecture. As evidenced by the popularity of Web sites such as forgotten-ny.com and vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com, our anxiety has grown in recent years, as more and more of the city we know has been replaced with new construction. The elegiac posts on these sites indicate that the process of coming to terms with architectural loss occurs in stages: first shock that something beautiful could have been destroyed; then resignation; and, finally, determination to appreciate the treasures that remain. If, as Hamill suggests, we approach loss with a fatalistic perspective, it is because we understand the irreversibility of destruction. Once a building is gone, it is gone forever.
Backpacks showed up on several of the men’s Spring ‘10 runways — a good harbinger of trends to come, alongside the fact that I’ve been seeing hipster kids on the Lower East Side toting middle school-style all summer.
Singer John Legend has signed a contract for an apartment listed at $2.3 million, in New York’s East Village neighborhood.
“I didn’t want a cookie-cutter place,” says the 30-year-old singer, who decided to buy the one-bedroom, two-bath apartment before a tour that began in June. The floor-through Lower Manhattan apartment of more than 1,300 square feet, in a new glass-and-steel residential tower on the Bowery and East Fourth Street, has 14-foot-ceilings and views in every direction. The price Mr. Legend agreed to pay couldn’t be learned. A similarly sized unit in the building sold for $2.59 million last month and another for $2.5 million in June. The 15-story tower, completed this year, has a doorman, an outdoor pool and indoor parking.
For immediate release ˆ September 2008 - Carleton Varney, one of America's most innovative and respected interior decorators, brings his Dorothy Draper touch downtown to Avenue A. This fall, Varney and the young architect Robert Stansel III (GalleryBar), will showcase their designs of the new cocktail/piano lounge, Ella. Mr. Varney, best known for his work on Joan Crawford's homes and the Waldorf Towers, has proudly lent his flair and vision to his nephew Josh Boyd's next venture. Nightlife entrepreneurs Darin Rubell (cousin to Steve Rubell), Josh Boyd and Jordan Boyd have made what they call the LEV (Lower East Village) their place of business and community for the past eight years. Ella will be their third nightlife venture following the successes of New York City staple, Plan B and alternative art-space, GalleryBar.
"Ella is our spin on Hollywood glamour and the roaring 20's. We want to capture the energy and flair of the time by bringing it back with our music, design and staff", says owner Josh Boyd.
The dynamics of music at Ella will range from solo musicians to small bands. Emerging and established pianists and eclectic New York City DJ's will host nightly shows in the intimate piano bar. This downstairs room will seat 40 people for performances and exclusive private events. Musicians such as Regina Spektor, G Love, Alexa Ray (daughter of Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley) are slated to perform. The 1700 square foot top floor of the space will have a combined feeling of the décor of Hampshire House, The Carlyle and Hollywood's Lake Arrowhead Springs Hotel as well. Door designs from the original Camellia House in Chicago's Drake Hotel, will enhance Varney's decorations in the Dorothy Draper style ˆ a style Varney used this year at the 80th Academy Awards Architectural Digest Green Room design.
A list of $12 specialty cocktails, such as the Plum Gin Fizz (Muddled sour plum, 2oz Gin, splash of simple syrup, splash of lemon juice, shaken in a Collins glass) will be served nightly. Bottles of beer are $7 and glasses of wine will range from $10 to $20. Rotating selections of bar snacks, such as prosciutto, olives, and Gus' Pickles, from neighboring stores and the farmer's market, will be offered daily. The Ella staff will fit the theme dressed in classic sexy and sophisticated 1920's attire.
