Read more on Fashion Week and the new Lincoln Center from Untapped.

Fashion Week will descend on Lincoln Center for the first time tomorrow, but the buzz is already in the air. Film crews, trailers as press points and an added presence of police were out on the scene this morning. On Saturday, construction crews were still building the spiral walkway and today they were inflating a giant rectangular faux marble balloon, providing an aura of permanency to the very-temporary event. The balloon is supported by steel beams inside,which were still visible on Saturday in the picture below.

Entrance to the Spring ’11 Fashion Week shows, under construction Saturday. The seats were for the Metropolitan Opera Summer HD Festival.
(Photo by Augustin Pasquet)

It’s interesting to me that they chose to put the entrance to the tents offside, not in the center of the Lincoln Center Plaza. In Bryant Park, the tent entrance was just at the top of the central staircase on 6th Avenue, and the whole affair was quite visible to the passerby. As a resident here, I am certainly grateful my morning walk to the subway will not be deluged by fashion week attendees.

However, I used to be one of those attendees. Most people want to know how to get tickets to these events. Well, the answer is that the fashion shows are not intended for the mass audiences not so much to be exclusive but that they are intended for press (and celebrities) of course, before the clothing actually gets produced and shipped to stores six months later. The New York Times today reported on the battle for front row seats this year, but I once finagled my way into first and second row seats (now known as “Siberia”) and even into shows I lacked tickets for by befriending the security guards. Be nice to them! But you will need to get through the front doors first. My highlights getting many pairs of free Havaianas (before they were cool) at the Rosa Cha show where all the top models walked including Naomi Campbell and Carmen Kass, attended by Jay-Z, Beyonce, Cuba Gooding Jr., Russell Simmons and more, and talking to Andre Leon Talley (Vogue) about the Tracy Reese Show.

Carmen Kass and Naomi with designer Amir Slama, Jay-Z and Beyonce in the front row
(Photo by Michelle Young)

After working for IMG/Fashion Week and then as a buyer for Calvin Klein, I (happily) exited the fashion industry. I still help out designer friends for their fashion week shows, so I will be reporting this year on what it is like for designers that do shows outside the tents, which is a much more cost-effective strategy for up and coming designers. IMG/Fashion Week is hoping that the larger Lincoln Center space will provide the opportunity to host exactly those newer designers in the future. Let’s hope they make it financially viable too.

Looking at online comments about this strip club located on Greenwich Street just south of Ground Zero, people love this place precisely because it’s grungy and hasn’t changed since the 1970s. It’s one of the last neighborhood bars in the area, that just happens to have a long stage with dancers. In 2006, I went to the lounge to listen to a friend, DJ Rob Paterson spin on the second floor of the venue. Today, despite rapid construction and controversy over at Ground Zero, this street doesn’t look too affected at all. Despite a luxury condo at 88 Greenwich, the Pussycat Lounge and the next door sex store “Thunder Lingerie” still retain their distinctive facades. The Remy Lounge has closed and is now boarded up with rodent extermination signs but the rare wooden facade and curvilinear engaged column is still visible.

Facade of Pussycat Lounge

Facade of the former Remy Lounge

The 4-story brick row building which houses the Pussycat Lounge was constructed in 1799 by Augustus Hicks Lawrence, a Wall Street financier. Before its life as the Pussycat, it was previously a restaurant and a brothel, not too dissimilar from the history of nearby 103 Washington St, now Moran’s Pub. In a complicated twist of events, hotel developer Sam Chang purchased the building for $3.5 million while the Pussycat Lounge owner was trying to get the building landmarked. Chang threatened to demolish the building but then abruptly sold it to the lounge owner at a $1 million loss. Meanwhile the DOB permit for alterations writes of a one-floor addition but there appears to be even more being added (tip and photo: Curbed).

Next door, I particularly love the door at 94 1/2 Greenwich. Not only is it wooden with vintage doorbells, but it has a decorative concrete archway and still retains the  ”MR.” of a now defunct store sign. When the neighboring business put up a new green awning, they didn’t bother removing the section above the private doorway.

Pussycat Lounge: 96 Greenwich St at Rector St.
Subway: 1 to Rector St., R to Rector St. 4/5 to Wall St.

While the supply of heirloom tomatoes was not as extensive as the Lincoln Center Greenmarket, the rest of the offerings quite offset this miss. The market also carried organic milk, eggs, baked goods, poultry, turkey, duck and many, many organic vegetables.

The award for best visual merchandising goes to Stannard farms, who use wooden crates and barrels exclusively with the vegetables overflowing as if from a plentiful bounty.

The most niche product goes to Wager’s Cider Mill featuring only grapes and grape juice!

Another fun tidbit is that the manager of this greenmarket, Luz Portillo, focused on the use of urban areas for environmental purposes in college and “feels that Greenmarket merges her interest in urban spaces and organic gardening.” A small selection of the farms present:

Samascott Orchards: Apples, cherries, strawberries, peaches and cider from Columbia County, NY. (Sun, Thurs)
DiPaola Turkeys: Turkey from Mercer County, NJ. (Sun)
Milk Thistle Farm: Certified organic milk from Columbia County, NY. (Sun)
Ardith Mae Farm: Goat cheese from Susquihanna County, PA. (Sun)
Stannard Farms: Vegetables, orchard fruit, plant and meat from Washington County, NY. (Sun, Thurs)
New York Food and Wine: Locally grown and produced wines from Long Island (Sun)
Hudson Valley Duck farm: Fresh duck as well as smoked and preserved duck products (Sun)

The market is open year round Thursdays and Sundays from 8am to 5pm.

Subway: 1 train to 116th street.
Bus: M104, M11, M4 or M60

According to the New York City Zoning Map, this lot has the same zoning code as the Aire complex, “R8.” This is defined as a non-contextual moderate and higher-density district “where there is a mixture of building types and no predominant context.” For more detailed information on the allowable floor area ratios (FAR) for this lot, see the New York City Zoning Reference. The building can be up to 8 to 10 stories if it takes up the entire lot, or much taller if it is set back from the street (exactly how the “Aire” got its height).

Today, with residential skyscrapers stretching from Broadway to the West Side Highway, it’s hard to imagine that this was once primarily a low-density neighborhood. I moved to the Upper West Side in 1994 into one of the only two skyscrapers in the vicinity. I had unobstructed views to the Hudson River, the George Washington Bridge, Central Park and a view of Amsterdam Avenue stretching infinitely towards the horizon. Even more drastic than the changing skyline is perhaps the change in use. Back in the early ‘90s, the only major retailer was the now defunct Tower Records at 66th and Broadway, in a building that has since been demolished and rebuilt. Columbus Circle was a dangerous and abandoned marketplace and there was a post office and a burger joint in what is now the 5-floor Barnes & Noble. There were two small movie theaters, Lincoln Plaza Cinemas playing independent and foreign films and a two-screen theater playing the latest hits.

Now there’s the Loews multiplex theater, an Apple store, Best Buy, Pottery Barn, West Elm, and a slew of clothing and makeup retailers. The Empire Hotel is now a pop-culture landmark thanks to Chuck and Blair from Gossip Girl. The forthcoming closure of the Barnes & Noble in January heralds a shift in this neighborhood as it redefines itself once again: A Burberry Brit store opened on Columbus Avenue and Fashion Week will open its tents in Lincoln Center for the first time next week. Lincoln Center itself has just been completely revamped in an urban planning and architectural feat. It’s extremely well-planned, user friendly, modern and shiny. The austere marble and granite architecture is now partially re-clad in glass, silver and even green grass. And as a neighborhood you’ve made it when double-decker tour buses drive by.

Nonetheless, all these changes always seemed organic and almost natural. I saw an old film once, where a character was crossing Broadway in front of what is now the Barnes & Noble and I was reminded that there was really nothing there before. People didn’t live right on Broadway until the old buildings were demolished and rebuilt as high-rise condos. And since the beautiful Beaux-Arts buildings lay further north near 72nd street, there was nothing architecturally missed when many low-rise buildings were knocked down. Only Broadway was changing, while Columbus Avenue’s brownstones and cafes remained practically untouched. Amsterdam Avenue south of 72nd street never had much, but perhaps change is in the “Aire,” so to speak. Gentrification is the wrong word to use here, because not too much was pushed out. But the question is, can Lincoln Center retain is cultural cache if surrounded by an overwhelming presence of capital consumption?

As such, both the for-profit and non-profit industries have taken note. Gas, oil and wind-energy tycoon, T. Boone Pickens once controlled the largest independent oil exploration company in the United States. More recently known for his alternative energy policy known as the Pickens Plan, he has invested $100 million into the water industry and now owns more water than any individual in the U.S.

On the other side of the spectrum, charity:  water is a unique non-profit: it’s a grassroots operation with full transparency. 100% of your donations go into the field because operational costs are funded by private donors and sponsors. They even refund credit card and Paypal fees on donations made online. They’re involved in 16 countries around the world and in just four years have funded nearly 3000 projects.

On September 9th, 2010, join Untapped New York and charity:  water for an evening of music and art at Gallery Bar (120 Orchard Street). DJ Jamieson Hill is flying in from Tokyo to spin the event and there will be raffles for the MOMA membership, TOMS shoes and more. To get on the list, donate $20 (or more!) here.

$20 can provide someone with clean, safe drinking water for 20 years. Here’s a video on where your donations will go this September:

Started in San Francisco in 2006 (inspired by New York’s Transportation Alternatives 2005 parking squat in Brooklyn), the event now takes place in 100 cities around the world. I see it as a personalized version of the pedestrian only streets introduced in New York City last year.

For more information: http://parkingdaynyc.org/

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The surfing Meetup group that our friend Stefan runs was getting Skudin Surf to give a free surf lesson to newbie surfers at Long Beach, Long Island. I was a little nervous about going by myself but I finally RSVP’ed. Luckily I was one of the 20 (out of 72) that made the cut for the lesson, so last Saturday, I headed to Long Beach.

I convinced my friend Kellan to go, and we took the 9:45 am train from Penn Station. If you go to the ticket window, you can buy a discounted joint beach/rail pass for $19. The surf lesson wasn’t until the afternoon but I figured I’d enjoy the beach since I was heading out there.

The trip is about an hour long, and once we got off, we bought some stuff at the Rite Aid on the way to the beach. When you get to the beach, they take the paper beach pass you get at Penn Station and trade it for a plastic one and punch a hole in it for the appropriate day.

Kellan and I hung out on the beach, going into the water once. I would have gone in more but it was “only” in the low 80s that day (it’s been quite hot in New York over the past month or so), so the water felt a little cool. While we were at the beach, Kellan spotted dolphins near the horizon. She got really excited, but I was more concerned with what bit my foot when I was in the water. It turned out to be a crab. I must have gotten bitten by crabs about 5 times while I was at Long Beach — no one ever told me about this hazard. It was actually pretty painful and I ended up having to go to the lifeguard to get a bandaid for one of the cuts under my big toe.

Kellan playing with her portable speakers

Janet enjoying the beach (not posed at all)

At around 2pm, Kellan headed back to the city and I headed down the beach towards Lincoln Blvd for the surf lesson after changing from my bikini into a one-piece. I wasn’t about to lose my top or bottom during surfing! I found this black tent which is the headquarters for Skudin Surf, run by the Skudin brothers.

In addition to giving lessons, they also do board rentals. And stand-up paddling.

As I waited for my lesson, I snapped a shot of another group lesson already in progress:

Some of their surfboards (the old looking photos were taken with the ToyCamera app on my iPhone):

At the tent, we were met by Chris, one of the Meetup organizers, and we started filling out waivers and getting to know each other. Stefan showed up soon after (he had been preparing for the fun house party that would follow the lesson). They distributed rash guards to those of us who didn’t have one.

Then, the lesson started. Will, one of the Skudin brothers, made us stand in front of the boards on the sand, and we practiced laying on the boards and then popping up. Will and the other instructors critiqued us, instructing us to stay in line with the spine of the board.

Once the land lesson was done, Will divided us by gender, and the girls got to go into the water first. Stefan managed to take a decent amount of photos, including the ones of me on my board:

I got a very long foam board, which was great for getting up on. We got into the water and waited our turn until one of the instructors would grab the board and watch for the waves. My instructor was Ryan. When the wave was coming, he would instruct me when to start paddling, and give me a push. Once the board started gathering momentum, he would shout to stand up. The first couple of times I kept falling over, mainly because I wasn’t balanced along the center. However, eventually I was able to get up a few times. It was so much fun, and the water temperature was perfect for surfing.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end, and it was time to hand over the board to one of the guys. Through the lesson, I made some new buddies, and Stefan snapped a picture:

After the guys were done with their lesson, we took this group picture:

I also managed to get a photo with Ryan, my instructor:

Stefan and Chris, the Meetup group organizers:

Just in case you didn’t catch it earlier, here is the link for the Meetup group: http://www.meetup.com/surfnyc

Everyone I met from the Meetup group was nice and it was fun to hang out and surf together. If you’re part of the Meetup group, you get some deals with Skudin Surf, and they have events during the week at bars in the city to socialize outside of surfing. We all went to the house party down the beach afterward which was a good time.

Here is the link for Skudin Surf: http://www.skudinsurf.com/

- Janet

]]> http://untappednewyork.com/2010/08/09/free-surf-lessons-at-long-beach/feed/ 0 Michelle http://untappednewyork.com/2010/07/27/the-ghost-bikes-of-nyc/ http://untappednewyork.com/2010/07/27/the-ghost-bikes-of-nyc/#comments Tue, 27 Jul 2010 07:41:59 +0000 Michelle Young http://untappednewyork.com/?p=850 Read more]]> Photo by Amanda Chatel

Since I accidentally started a trend of finding real and ghost planes in Google Maps last week, I figured I would follow that up with a post on ghost bikes. These bikes are real (although upon investigation, many ARE missing). The bikes, painted white and chained to street furniture, serve as a memorial to those that have died in cycling accidents in those locations. In June, the city’s Sanitation Department announced a plan to remove bikes deemed “derelict” (with missing parts), and even went as far to call them “eyesores.” This led to an expected public outcry, causing the city to back out of its plan, relieving countless family members and the community group, Street Memorial Project, that installs the bikes.

I pass the ghost bike on the cross-park section of 66th street several times a week and it never fails to strike a chord. When I heard of the city’s removal plan, I sent photographer Christoffer Delsinger (responsible for the tip on the Bushwick plane) and writer Amanda Chatel to investigate the ghost bike situation. Armed with the map from ghostbikes.org (which has ghostbike maps of not only NYC but all over the world), they went on a mission. If the city hadn’t conceded to public outcry, I was going to do a photographic documentation of all the bikes remaining. Amanda reported that she “found it quite sad that most of them are no longer up” (at least around Soho). Here are some additional snapshots that Amanda got:

New York City’s transportation commissioner, Janet Sadik-Khan proclaimed this year that New York City is the “bicycling capital of the United States.” There has been some debate as to the validity of that claim, and I would personally like to see a public bike system like Paris’s Velib (already in Denver, and now Chicago!) and streets that are more friendly towards mass transportation and cyclists. It IS possible and here’s a great recent article on how Paris has reclaimed its streets, regardless of width. “The street is ours,” goes a French saying.

There appear to be wooden pathways leading from the building to the tail of the plane, as well as circling the building.  The buildings are part of Bushwick Houses, a 16-acre housing development between Bushwick Avenue, Flushing Avenue, Moore Street and Humboldt Street by the New York City Housing Authority from 1960 and has a great swimming pool open to the public that I’ve frequented on hot summer days. With nearly 3000 residents in 1,221 apartments and eight buildings, whatever was going on June 18th would have been pretty conspicuous to both residents and people walking by on the street. Maybe a film set?

Normally, there is a junglegym and playground where the plane is, here’s a street view from 2009

Okay, just kidding. A summer April Fool’s…The images are real but obviously a plane just flying overhead. But check out the pool in Bushwick Houses though! It’s fun! In this extreme Google Earth closeup, you can see that the plane is above the trees and the psychedelic colors are probably just from the plane moving faster than the satellite shutter speed.

For a real recent discovery, read about the ship that was discovered underneath the World Trade Center!

How to Get to Bushwick Houses:
Subway: L to Montrose or J/M to Flushing Avenue