That's odd since you're
a big ol' Pussy.

quote:

Originally posted by S'tan:
http://www.curbed.com/archives/2007/07/10/bouluds_dbgb_...abdicated_throne.php

David Boulud is opening a restaurant on the CBGB site and calling it
DBGB ... for David Boulud's Good Burger.
Which will cost $29


Best comment:

"I am going to puke up Daniel Bouloud's $29.00 burger in front of the place
so at least some of CBGB's spirit will still be alive."

I'll join you. Absolutely fucked...

quote:

Originally posted by Anna Nicole:
I just also noticed yesterday that Dicks bar on 12/2nd is also closed.

It was closed when I was back in July. I guess Johnny must have finally "bought the farm?" I used to love that place. I think Dean Johnson might have dee-j'd there at one time. It also used to be Slugger Ann's, a rough-and-tumble place run by Jackie Curtis's grandma. Jackie used to live upstairs as a child.

quote:

Originally posted by Jacob R Clark:

quote:

Originally posted by Anna Nicole:
I just also noticed yesterday that Dicks bar on 12/2nd is also closed.

It was closed when I was back in July. I guess Johnny must have finally "bought the farm?" I used to love that place. I think Dean Johnson might have dee-j'd there at one time. It also used to be Slugger Ann's, a rough-and-tumble place run by Jackie Curtis's grandma. Jackie used to live upstairs as a child.

I also noted with horror that The Bar has gone straight. I had just seen "Cruising" and did you know one of the most notorious scenes of the film was done there? Couldn't help but note as well that there were a preponderance of tweaked-out twinks at The Phoenix, the closest thing left to the Bar or the Tunnel (where I was a too-regular back in the day).

I found this on a blog called Joe My God. It's a bottle service menu from Lotus:

Wait, that's the drink menu from Slugger Ann's???

No, Hogs & Heifers.
Their biker barmen now go topless.

I know one of the bartenders at Hogs, she says they've been having to cope with the change in the kind of people who frequent the area in a bad way. Too many young suburbanites thinking anyone is welcome to get naked and climb on the bar.

I love the image of the Hogsy people being all "There goes the neighbourhood."

"Living in a fishbowl" ... when I was recently in Manhattan I had a number of conversations about the prevalence of the new glass houses, transparent skyscrapers, people live without curtains and put their entire selves on display... It doesn't matter if you stare into my living room, it's all designer showcase anyhow ... Maybe TV reality shows have inured people to being on display... as no-one remembers the next day what they were looking at, they are on to the next ant-farm.

Michael Bloomberg complaining that NYC was "behind London" in that there were "ONLY" 11,000 video cameras taking surveillance photos on the streets versus London's 400,000... poor things how can you ever leave the house without make-up, not that most of us would anyhow.

and now this

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/fashion/18celebrity.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Everyone getting into the paparazzi act, and actors or other famous types who once could count on New York cool to maintain anonymity in Manhattan now have to deal with the amateur hour.

"...the paparazzi crowd is the reason celebrities like Brad Pitt, Renée Zellweger, Scarlett Johansson and Josh Hartnett have cited for moving, and Ms. Berk and some publicists say the exodus continues. Some actors have chosen the Santa Barbara area, others have gone as far Utah and Montana. For most, though, the only other choice, for work-related reasons, is New York, where traffic and crowds make the chase more daunting for photographers. Yet it may not offer much of a respite.

" 'New York unfortunately is becoming more difficult,' said Natalie Portman, who lives in Manhattan, at the premiere of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. 'I know people hate hearing us complain about it, but New York isn't what it used to be for anonymity, unfortunately.' "

I guess the town can eventually hope to attract the voyeurist/exhibitionist element in society... and the shy ones can repair to Montana or Tesuque.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: S'tan,

"One In Six New Yorkers Cannot Afford Enough Food"

In the news recently, and in time for Thanksgiving, was this bit:

New York hunger levels 'rising'

In a city of plenty, historically too many people have always starved here. But now with the economy allegedly so "strong" it is getting worse.

And even those who can afford enough to eat are paying through the nose here in Manhattan. Every time I go to the supermarket, prices have risen again.

I am reminded now of spending time in Hawaii where every thing not raised on-island was extremely expensive-- and that was just about everything except pineapple, sugar cane and taro. New York City is now just such an island.

I recently was in Westchester County, about 10 or 15 miles from where I live in Lower Manhattan, and prices were fifty cents to a dollar less than they are in my local supermarket. For just about everything.

First they blamed it on bad harvests, then Katrina. And then it was rising real estate prices. However the prices never ebb and flow as you might think they would when those factors do. I have realized that there is only one real cause-- greed. Capitalism run amok.

Take this example: There was a glut of pumpkins this fall in the US. Because the growing conditions this summer were exactly how pumpkins like them. All throughout New England pumpkins were being sold everywhere for record low prices. Here in NYC? $10-20 each! Rather than sell these pumpkins, the stores would rather they rot in the bins than get less than an inflated price.

Greed.

Yes. Buy or starve.

Each day in the USA there are approximately 15 million children who do not know if they will get anything to eat. ....how about some slightly expired pumpkin?

Even within the city there is a crazy disparity. I know people who used to live on W.74th Street on the park who then moved to E.9th Street at 1st Ave. who say the cost of living downtown is on average 40%(!) cheaper just based on things like groceries. Of course, you can now go to Whole Foods on the Bowery and pay uptown prices for food.

Greed.
And passivity.

Howdy folks! Been away for a while and glad to be back. Hope you're having a good solstice eve.

As someone who has already reduced my air travel considerably, the following comes as exceedingly bad news. We all know flying these days is already a major headache, but now the TSA comes with this hideous announcement. The unfriendly skies just got a lot meaner. Good luck trying to book those already-hard-to-get seats!

Gov't to Limit NYC Flights

Dec 19 02:20 PM US/Eastern

By DEVLIN BARRETT
Associated Press Writer

HERNDON, Va. (AP) - Fewer flights will go in and out of New York City airports at the busiest times to try to ease chronic nationwide air travel delays, the government said Wednesday.

To help holiday travelers, military airspace will be opened to commercial traffic on the East and West Coasts, the government said.

Transportation Secretary Mary Peters made the announcement after months of closed-door wrangling with the airlines over how to curb air traffic around New York City's three major airports: John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, and Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey.

Delays often begin in the congested New York area then spread across the nation.

"I had hoped to be able to avoid caps but the truth is for the short term, for the next few years this is the solution that will provide some relief for travelers," Peters said.

Under new rules that take effect in March, JFK will only be allowed 82 or 83 flights per hour at peak times, down significantly from the 90 to 100 that had been scheduled this past summer. Similar caps will go into effect at Newark, but the exact number has yet to be determined. LaGuardia already has limits on flights.

"The American public, the passengers, the customers and consumers want and deserve a much more dependable, much more reliable system, and this is what this plan will do," she said.

The Federal Aviation Administration will also create a "czar" for New York City air travel, hoping to solve some of the confusion and headaches with a new position.

Peters also confirmed the government would be opening military airspace to commercial flights in order to accommodate the holiday season crush. A similar temporary measure was done during Thanksgiving week on the East Coast. A section of West Coast airspace will be added this time to try to smooth travel in and out of southern California, Peters said.

The government described the New York airport caps as a short-term approach lasting two years, at which point officials said they hope new technology and modernized systems will allow for greater capacity in the region.

After that two-year period, Peters said the government would like to auction additional flight slots at JFK to the highest bidder.

In two years, however, the decision will be made by someone else, since the Bush administration will have ended.
___

Associated Press writer David B. Caruso in New York contributed to this report.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Michael Madison,

The governor is already screaming in the media about this. But he isn't using the right phrases. He needs to just say it is the Little Bush Idiocracy that will pile on extra costs for New Yorkers and anyone else using the ports here.

Today I was doing the dishes and nursing a head cold when I heard a rumbling crash, and then the endless sirens. Odd that I didn't even think it was a 9/11-type incident. I instinctively knew exactly what it was. At the much-disputed and VERY unwanted Trump Soho "Hotel" under construction, there was a crane accident, killing at least one and shearing off a corner of the top floor.

A few months ago 18-19 C. human bones were found as they dug the foundations-- shades of "Poltergeist." This has been the third or fourth accident at the site and the company responsible, Bovis Lend Lease, was also in charge of the Deutsche Bank cleanup.

Bovis was reported at the time of the previous calamity where at least two firemen died, to be mob-connected. I know of a major west coast developer who when recently visiting NYC and after casually viewing a number of the construction sites on 6th Avnue in the 20's said he really couldn't believe how incredibly lax the work codes were, cranes taking up traffic lanes, walkways directly beneath scaffold, the 'safety' nets on upper stories, giant wood beams laid on the avenue to reconfigure traffic lanes -all were proceedures wildly illegal according to work rules on the west coast in places like San Francisco.

I just heard that Baird Jones from Webster Hall died. Suddenly.

I can't help get shocked at the many sudden deaths I've heard about of late. People my age just seemingly dropping dead. I saw Baird just a 2wks ago and he didn't seem at all sick or anything... really shocking.

Went by Florent on Friday night; haven't been in ages because...well, who wants to be in the Meat Market anymore? Anyhow, the closing will be June 30. Just before Bastille Day, no less. The absolute kick in the gut (according to staff) is the new tenant moving in: Starbucks. Collect your matchbooks, kids.

Florent is one of the first places I gravitated toward the first time I came to NYC...it was 1991, and my boyfriend at the time (journalist Rob. Walton) escorted me to this oasis of a diner in an otherwise bleak, seemy 'hood. Next to us were two boys, about 16 or 17, on their first date...both were beaming with hope, possibility, unlimited boundaries of love and lust. Florent, in his own way, offered comfort and light in an otherwise daunting probability. I will truly miss this historic landing pad.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mr.joe,

Jesus that is absolutely horrifying. Starbucks??? I mean it is not surprising in a way but some things you think are immune to outside forces. I haven't been to florent in a while (esp since I stopped working the west side aisle) but it has always held a special place in my memories of the Jackie years. R.I.P. VIP!

Starbucks...
It's the end of the world.