Sunday, May 18, 2008

Looking at "a cozy downtown watering hole with an uptown look"


In the Sunday Pulse section of the New York Post, we're taken on a cozy tour of the Bowery Wine Company, which Bruce Willis has something to do with:

WHEN this boxy nouveau wine lounge (and the sterile luxury condo complex that houses it) replaced a longtime, unkempt Bowery lot in early April, owners and lifelong New York City residents Chris Sileo and Lenny Linar were befuddled to hear locals complain that their little watering hole would ruin the neighborhood. Now a buzzing after-work hangout for downtown yuppies and longtime locals alike, the 124-person haunt is a cozy downtown watering hole with an uptown look.

This "Making the Scene" feature also points out that the CD jukebox offers classic rock from Springsteen and the Stones. And a bunch actors from The Sopranos -- including James Gandolfini -- "have all but made this their real-life Vesuvio's." And the $9-$13 panini menu is an "after-work hit."

Take your VIP tour here.

Previously:

"We want to show our opposition to right-wing Republicans opening yuppie wine bars in our neighborhood"

Articles that I won't be reading today (unless I'm aiming to get my blood pressure around 210/140)



Page Six Magazine, which is FREE every Sunday in the New York Post (even though you pay $1 for the paper), devotes a good portion of the magazine to this under-the-rader independent film called Sex and the City. (Per usual, none of the content from the magazine is online.) The coverline! "Sex Symbols: How Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte defined a generation." Yessirree!

But that's not all! We get to meet the men of Sex and the City...and "Confessions of the Real Carrie." Ohh! Candace Bushnell! She offers her choices for her faves in NYC. Like: Best place to lounge: The pool on the Soho House roof. (Of course!) The ultimate cosmo: Balthazar. (Wow! Never heard of it! I must go!) Place that makes her smile: Washington Square Park. (Ahhh!) Why? Well! Her current home, a prewar Greenwich Village apartment, is two blocks away from where she lived in the late 1970s -- though the vibe is now very different, the Post notes. (NO!) "When I first walked through Washington Square Park, there was no grass and it was filled with musicians, jugglers and punks with blue hair," Candace recalls. (Ewww! Gross!) "Now it's filled with strollers and it has the best dog run."

Finally, the pièce de résistance! We meet four 21st century Carries! Women who live the Carrie Bradshaw lifestyle no matter what!





Like Erin, a 29-year-old magazine editor who moved here last year! She is "the kind of person who will eat lentils for four weeks to get a pair of Alexander McQueen gladiator boots." Live the dream, Erin! (And you're getting plenty of fiber!)

14th Street dies a little more


The scaffolding went up April 22...and the building started to come down last week.

From an April 22 post of mine:

Meanwhile, came to the corner of 14th Street and Third Avenue. Scaffolding! And that wasn't there when I passed by Sunday. Uh-oh. This doesn't look good. Housing and a bank? [Housing? Ha! That sounds affordable. No, make this overpriced condos.]

They're back!

Last week, the ads with the bikini-clad rum saleswomen were shredded.



Replacement ads went up almost immediately! Someone is hot to sell some rum!

Dumpster of the Day


On 11th Street between First and Second Avenue.

Dancing in the Park

The Dance Parade 2008 started yesterday at 28th and Broadway and winded up at Tompkins Square Park for a DanceFest. Seemed like 500 people were taking pictures and video of these dancers.



Most everyone I know had something negative to say about this Parade and DanceFest, from traffic (and sidewalk) snarls to closed-off streets to drunken fools hours later.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Beautiful day

Even better when there's construction going on in the building next door all morning.



Speaking of which...did anyone see Noise? Curious about it.

LES home of the week



From this week's real estate section in the New York Post. One of the "dream" homes of the week (descriptions are written by Victor Wishna):

$3.475 MILLION

A century ago, you might have found two or three families squeezed into one tenement apartment along this stretch of Norfolk Street. Today, you'll find the 16-story Blue, a sparkling new condo of "pixelated" blue glass, and at its top, this roomy 2,494-square-foot penthouse duplex. It features two bedroom suites, three full bathrooms, a designer kitchen, a large private terrace and "stunning" city, river and bridge views through 40 windows. My how times (and prices) have changed.


Meanwhile, go here to feel a little more Blue.