Category: In the Area

Last Minute New Year’s Eve Ideas

Posted on by harryhopbot

fireworksNew Year’s Eve is almost upon us and you simply haven’t made any plans yet. Not to worry. Here is a list of some places where you still might get in, and enjoy yourself for the evening.

  1. The Standard Hotel: They are throwing a glamorous, black-tie NYE party at the Boom Boom Room where Icona Pop will perform. Tickets start at $250.
  2. TAO Downtown: This celebration starts with food and an open Perrier Jouet bar and then continues with a midnight ball drop and Absolute Elyx cocktails. You can stay until 8 in the morning with a breakfast bar.
  3. STandar Highline: They will be having a party at Le Bain with the Tiki Disco. Expect Eli Escobar, Lloydski, and Andy Pry DJing and a special performance from Curses and Tiffany Roth of Midnight Magic.
  4. Gansevoort Park Avenue: Now this is really an offer. Use the “Get Celebrating” package to enjoy a suite with champagne, entry to the rooftop party, breakfast for two in bed and monogrammed robes.
  5. Manon: This restaurant in the Meatpacking District has dinner and tickets to the lounge to enjoy the open bar and a special guest DJ. Tickets start at $125.
  6. The Soho Grand: Now this is a party to behold. They are having their mask-mandatory Black & White NYE party. It’s hosted by Peter Davis, Byrdie Bell, Janine Durham, and Steven Rojas. The DJ lineup includes Harley Viera Newton and Florencia Galarza. Tickets start at $185.
  7. BangOn! NYC: For something in a better price range, check out this grand warehouse party in Brooklyn which will include acts like Deniz Koyu and Bob Moses. Tickets start at only $40.

Talent from Art Curators: Harper Montgomery & Others

Posted on by harryhopbot

If you’re in the New York area and interested in the art world, there are a few up and coming women with talent who are certainly worth watching. While this list only includes a few of them, there are certainly many more.

Harper Montgomery: Dr. Montgomery is current the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Professor of Modern and Contemporary Latin American Art and Distinguished Lecturer at Hunter College. She received her Ph.D. in Art History at the University of Chicago. Harper Montgomery was the curator in the Print Department at the Museum of Modern Art and she has organized a number of exhibits at Hunter College. These include Open Work in Latin America, New York and Beyond: Conceptualism Reconsidered, 1967-1978 (2013) and the Trienal Poli/Gráfica de San Juan (2005), among others. She teaches courses at Hunter College on modern and contemporary art, and global modernism and and conceptualism.

Roxana Marcoci is the Curator in the Department of Photography at The Museum of Modern Art. She receive her PhD in Art History, Theory and Criticism from The Institute of Fine Arts, New York University (1998). She has organized numerous exhibitions including:  The Shaping of New Visions: Photography, Film, Photobook (2012–13); Taryn Simon: A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I-XVIII (2012); Sanja Iveković: Sweet Violence (2011); Projects 96: Haris Epaminonda (2011) and many others. She has been a visiting critic in the graduate school program at Yale University since 2007 and a contributor to Art Journal, Art in America, Art on Paper, Aperture, Index, and Trans.

Lilian Tone is Assistant Curator in the Department of Painting and Sculptures at The Museum of Modern Art. She has a BA from the Law School of The University of São Paulo and a BA from Fine Arts College, Armando Alvares Penteado Foundation, São Paulo. She served as an adjunct curator, 25th Bienal de São Paulo (1999–2000); curatorial consultant, Museu Rodin Bahia (2002–2003); and adjunct faculty, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College (2001–2005). She has organized many exhibitions at MoMA.

Princess Eugenie of York Moves to SoHo

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Princess EugeniePaddle8 auction house has a new worker. And all eyes will certainly be on her. Princess Eugenie of York was recently spotted shopping in SoHo with her mom, Sarah Ferguson. She has started working at Paddle8 and has been seen around SoHo where she rented an apartment. The 23 year old princess and the youngest daughter of Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew, Duke of York, will continue to turn heads as she makes her way around New York.

Having spent the summer in Venice with her sister and her mom, Princess Beatrice is now ready for action in New York.

Achievement First: Part of the NY Charter School Movement

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Achievement First was established in 1998 by a group of individuals from New Haven who wanted to give urban students the same academic opportunities as their affluent suburban counterparts by changing the system. Thus Amistad Academy was born.

Since its establishment, the Academy garnered outstanding Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) results. In addition, these students have beat state averages in both reading and math, proving that wealth has nothing to do with intelligence and success in the educational system, if, as co-founder Dacia Toll – also Achievement First’s co-CEO – realized.

Toll’s priorities today are to develop and expand Achievement First and the success of all their schools. She is responsible for all internal and external operations and relations, as well as planning; coaching; training; recruitment; outreach; fundraising and more. The experience she brings to the helm includes being the leader of Amistad Academy’s founding team and serving as school principal from 1999 to 2005.

Elm City College Preparatory, a second school, was opened in 2004, expanding the original model to elementary grades. The following year it moved over into Brooklyn as well, first, opening two new schools there – Achievement First Crown Heights Charter School and Achievement First East New York Charter School – and then a little while later the Amistad Academy High School and Amistad Academy Elementary School. This encouraged the opening of Connecticut’s first K to 12 public charter school. Two new middle schools and an elementary school in Bridgeport and Hartford, followed. Today, Achievement First boasts 20 academies under 10 charters in 4 cities. In the 2011-12 academic year, it serves 6,210 students in grades K to 12.

Some of their schools in NY include:

  • Achievement First Apollo Elementary School
  • Achievement First Brooklyn High School
  • Achievement First Brownsville Elementary School
  • Achievement First Brownsville Middle School
  • Achievement First Bushwick Elementary School
  • Achievement First Bushwick Middle School
  • Achievement First Crown Heights Elementary School
  • Achievement First Crows Heights Middle School
  • Achievement First East New York Elementary School
  • Achievement First East New York Middle School
  • Achievement First Endeavor Middle School
  • Achievement First Endeavor Elementary School

Delta Pop-Up Shop Comes to SoHo

Posted on by harryhopbot

DeltaIn a bit of a strange move, Delta has a pop-up shop coming to a store near you. They have recently converted a cast-iron building on West Broadway and Broome Street into a mini-airport for a three week promotion they are conducted. The company wants to show off their $1.4 billion Terminal 4 that will open on May 24 at JFK, and they are created a simulation of the terminal in SoHo.

As Gail Grimmett, Delta’s senior vice president in New York explains about the new terminal, “We have a Shake Shack and Blue Smoke plus two entries from Marcus Samuelsson. Our lounges are equipped with showers and full media offering. Travelers will want for nothing.”

The replica terminal opened on Wednesday at 11 am. It’s being dubbed “T4X” and it will have all of the amenities of the real JFK portal. As an extra perk, visitors can enjoy a $4 lunch box served on a conveyor belt that will stimulate baggage pick-up.

Grimmett explained why they created the replica, “We wanted to give New Yorkers something they can touch.”

Wednesday night there was a gala bash with football stars Victor Cruz and Justin Tuck. T4X then became open Tuesday to Sunday from 11 am until 3 pm until May 22.

Pas de Calais Opens in SoHo

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paisSoHo is abuzz with the arrival of the Japanese-based brand Pas de Calais. Their American flagship store has just arrived on the corner of Wooster and Broome, marking the brand’s first international location.

The retail space is bathed in white, representing the Japanese minimalistic look they are trying to achieve, while also mixing in some Gallic romance. At the recent opening, the brand’s designer Yukari Suda and president Tsukasa Kobayashi were joined by Alexa Chung. As Chung told Style.com, “I like French things and Japanese things, so a hybrid is pretty much my dream. It’s so simple, and I love the tomboyish way they’ve styled the outfits. Everything’s very loose and easy to wear.”

Pas de Calais is located at 482 Broome Street and is certainly worth a browse.

Not To Be Missed Leather Pop-Up Shop

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Libra LeatherIf you love leather, you should definitely check out Mitch Alfus‘ pop-up shop at 91 Grand Street in SoHo. The owner of the Libra Leathers store and the self-appointed “Leather King” has a client list that includes Ralph Lauren and Donna Karan. He made over $50 million selling leather last year.

As Alfus told WWD, “I live and breathe leather.”

The pop-up will offer you the chance to own a pair of leather pants (for the low price of $495-$695), leather poufs, python chairs, white kangaroo fur, and even a $20,000 king size coyote bedspread. The store will only be there for six weeks…so go and enjoy now!

picture by WWD

 

The Soho Grand Creates Elegant Dog Park

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Soho GrandIf you’re one of those people who just doesn’t want to travel without her dog – you’re in luck. The Soho Grand not only welcomes guests with their pooches, but they are now creating an outdoor area especially for dogs. As explained in Luxury Travel Magazine,

“This deluxe lifestyle will be reflected in the beautiful design of the space, which will have an old Soho charm to it, incorporating the wall of St. Alphonsus Liguori Church into the landscape, which stood long before the Soho Grand. Cherry trees, boxwoods and ornamental kale will provide foliage for a verdant and natural environment, while overhead string lights, bespoke benches and fire hydrants will be a witty reminder to visitors that they are in one of the chicest establishments of the world’s most cosmopolitan city.”

Watch for this addition in May and enjoy taking your dog to New York with you. Now, if only they would let them into the Broadway shows…

Enjoy the Beat in the South Village

Posted on by harryhopbot

If you love unusual music and off-the-beaten-path fun, then the concert this Saturday night at the radio station WQXR’s Jerome L. Greene Space in the South Village may be just the thing for you. The program is called “Vocal Electrofolk: Africa to New York” and includes Zimbabwean singer Netsayi and her group, Black Pressure.

After their opening act, Helga Davis will close the evening. She recently starred in a revival of the Robert Wilson and Philip Glass opera “Einstein on the Beach.” The concert was organized by the composer Paola Prestini and is being presented as part of the Original Music Workshop’s “virtual season.”

Admission is $15 and the show will take place at 7pm at 44 Charlton Street.

Vanessa Bruno’s Pop-Up Shop

Posted on by harryhopbot
Vanessa Bruno Pop-Up Store
Vanessa Bruno Pop-Up Store

Just as Fashion Week hit New York, Vanessa Bruno opened her pop-up shop at 131 Greene Street in Soho. In November, Bruno had already given the heads-up that she would be opening a pop-up shop as a first step towards having a permanent residents in New York.

NY.racked.com recently interviewed Bruno about her new venture. Asking her why she wants a location in New York when she already has one in LA, Bruno replied, “We’ve been open two years in LA and it’s been doing well. Of course, a lot of people have said, “You should open in New York,” but then I opened in London and different places in Europe and I didn’t have [a New York store] in my mind yet. Then I thought, “Lets do a pop-up store. New York has this energy of a lot of stuff going on, it like, needs to move, there’s great people, great music, let’s do something.”

When asked why she chose Soho, Bruno replied, “I didn’t think about it, to be honest. I decided to do this project two months ago. Everyone is asking me about my plans. I’m a free person in my company, I own my own company.”

In conclusion, she explained that,  “I wanted to do something spontaneous with good energy.”