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The Midtown Report: Metrosexual Occupational Forces Have Taken Over Downtown
by J. Paul Ghetto 03/10/2006Neighborhood: Letter From Abroad
At the beginning of February, the city was overrun by rabid sports fans. I went downtown about 9 days before the big foosball game. Streets were barricaded and blocked off. Downtown Detroit had a different type of buzz. Metro Detroiters were excited because so many people would be in town. Here in the Midwest, we [...]
Shrugging off the Strike at Columbia
by Patrick W. Gallagher 02/22/2006Neighborhood: Morningside Heights
Alma Mater, the massive, laurel wreath-sporting statue-woman who sits at the heart of the Columbia campus in Morningside Heights, strikes an ambiguous pose: her forearms raised, her palms open to the sky, her face blank. This gesture can be interpreted in all kinds of ways, but, on days like Tuesday, it was a shrug. Many [...]
Mop Her Up: Homeless at the Vertical Club
by Mickey Z. 09/29/2005Neighborhood: Midtown
For six years I worked as a trainer and gym floor manager at the Vertical Club. What Studio 54 was to 1970s New York, the Vertical Club (VC) was to 1980s New York. A warehouse-sized health club, complete with neon lights and blaring dance music, it was where the Big Apple’s social elite came to [...]
Should Have Worn Boots
by Alicia Sanzica 08/07/2005Neighborhood: Uncategorized
I pull on my brand new Calvin Klein white cashmere coat, wrap a cozy hand-knitted scarf around my neck, and then pull the matching mittens over my hands. I glance outside into the snowy night and curse because my hair will frizz in the snow. I scurry out the door of my apartment building and [...]
Exercise Astronauts!
by Naomi Semeniuk 05/10/2005Neighborhood: Upper East Side
On a cold icy Thursday in a duplex on the Upper East Side with high windows: well cared-for plants and a spiral staircase lead to a mirrored room. There stands an erect youthful female figure, reminiscent of Audrey Hepburn, with a dancer’s sillhouette. Her name is Anita Koffler. She awaits her devoted exercise participants and fellow [...]
Fashion Week Frustration
by Matthew Roberts 02/25/2005Neighborhood: Manhattan
This essay appears in the just released book, "Lost and Found: Stories From New York." 1. Rage Reacclimation: Waiting in line for a press credential At the southwest corner of "The Big Tent" in Bryant Park, a snaking, huddled mass of photographers gathers in the cold, waiting for access to the warm, partitioned press cell within. Fashion [...]
The Joseph LaRose Shoe Collection
by Betsy Berne 06/29/2004Neighborhood: West Village
If you are a female who loves shoes (or a male,come to think of it, more specifically of the queenly persuasion), you have not really lived until you’ve seen the Joseph LaRose shoe collection. The collection is showcased at Cherry, a vintage store in the West Village, known for its Fashion Meets Twilight Zone window [...]
Straight Talk on Hair Village
by Rachel Sherman 06/21/2004Neighborhood: Outer Boroughs, Queens
Check out Rachel Sherman’s new book! ** No one who does Japanese hair straightening at Hair Village is Japanese. You can’t have highlights if you want your hair straightened. You can’t touch your hair – even put it behind your ears – for three days afterwards. You can’t wash your hair for three days either. You should probably wear a shower [...]
The Hummer Files
by a variety of people 11/14/2003Neighborhood: All Over
We don’t like them, and they don’t like us. What follows are brief reports on encounters between civilians and Hummers (and their owners) in an urban environment. ANY urban environment. If you want to add your own, please go to the “Tell Mr. Beller A Story” button and send one in. (The most recent additions [...]
Make Clothes, Not War: Notes From Fashion Week
by Pamela Grossman 10/15/2003Neighborhood: All Over, Manhattan
My devotion to fashion shows began with the designer Cynthia Rowley. About six years ago I inherited an invitation to her show when a fashion editor at the magazine where I worked couldn’t attend. I still remember grabbing a cab at the last minute and scrambling in as the show was just beginning. Sly Stone’s “If You [...]
The Politics of Hair Removal
by Alicia Erian 11/24/2002Neighborhood: Manhattan
Last August, when the Russian woman who waxes my legs in Brooklyn went on vacation, I made an appointment at a spa in SoHo. I’d actually been meaning to switch for some time. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Vicki—I did. She was dirt cheap, and we shared an interest in politics. Even though her [...]
The Whiffle Ball Kid
by Thomas Beller 10/25/2002Neighborhood: East Village
The swimming pool was very warm. There were huge trees in the backyard and they swayed in the breeze, and at the local Haymarket–which is sort of a Balducci’s for Connecticans–my friend left the key in the car while we went shopping and it was still there when we came back. I mean, he left [...]
