Page Six Magazine might have crowned Pinkberry "the leader" in the fro-yo marketing, but Tasti D-Lite isn't exactly sitting on its hands. The New York City addiction has grand plans to expand — and far beyond the boroughs. It wants to bring its reduced calorie goodness to the four points of the globe (South Korea, Israel, Mexico), and Tennessee (16 stores) and Texas (40). It's got the franchise king behind Mail Boxes Etc. behind it, and the hope that, without any increased advertising effort, the whole multi-million dollar plan will go off without a hitch. CONTINUED »
There are treasure troves of art and there are castles full of priceless antiques…and then there’s The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
We’re not telling you anything new, of course. Taking up more than one city block, holding court on 79th street, above Central Park, and featured in countless media, almost everyone in the Western world has caught wind of the Met. We were a little surprised, then, that the venerable institution held an after-hours party exclusively for the gays, complete with top shelf booze, Britney Spears remixes and loads of attractive young gents. And, as the pink icing, they managed to wrangle out City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, around whom a flurry of security and lackeys swooned. So, what gives?
Based on population numbers from 2006, New York City's six Starbucks closures will affect 1,369,071 per shuttered store. In Los Angeles, it's 1,924,689. Careful with your math there: The higher the number, the less it'll impact you.
Poor Orange Grove, Florida, then; three Starbucks are closing in a town of 9,106, or one for every 3,035 people.
So, are you really going to miss your neighborhood latte fix? Slate wants you to write a freakin' testimonial for it. Indeed, Starbucks obituaries.
Oh no! We got some very distressing news from photographer and friend of Queerty Brad Walsh.
The Brooklyn-based homo went on an adventure in SoHo last week when an irate trucker decided to lay the anti-gay smack down. Walsh, who dates Project Runway’s Christian Siriano, summarizes:
So, um, we might've accidentally lied to you (but 'twas not our fault!) and given you reason to feel safe and secure in this town when, in fact, you should be FREAKING OUT! A previous report said that of the 600 stores Starbucks is closing, the only one in NYC would be on Staten Island. Wrong.
In fact, the very Starbucks you hit up every morning for your triple shot latte might be gone by the middle of next year. CONTINUED »
Attracting exactly the type of press it wants, Remy Stern's CityFile.com is quickly becoming known as "that website trying to snap photos of famous New Yorkers leaving their houses." But it turns out that planting a photographer outside the apartment buildings of the elite can be a work hazard: "While [Cityfile's] lenser was outside 740 Park 'trying to get candid shots of Steve Schwarzman, David Koch and Kent Swig, an intimidating chauffeur told him to stop taking pictures 'if you know what's good for you.' The photographer promptly left." [P6]
Of the 600 stores Starbucks announced it would close, only three are in New York State. Two are out on Long Island (one in Central Islip, one in Southold). The third is on Staten Island. Breathe that sigh of relief, NYC. [Newsday]
New York City Transit will not implement an ad campaign to fight subway groping that it already began working on after a study found some 10 percent of women who ride the subway are fondled by strangers.
While this has never happened to us, and we would like our status to remain that way, we've witnessed it, heard about it, and get creeped out by it. More so than the guy who always seems to be peeing at Herald Square.
So if the city was concerned enough to study the matter, how come they're not behind their own public awareness campaign to stop it?
Because of concerns these ads might actually encourage more groping. CONTINUED »
New York's cabaret licenses, an 82-year-old tradition that neighborhoods crack down on noise from the street, have been a tool for authorities to shut down bars and clubs for any excuse. Who needs probable cause for a drug raid when you have a report that a twentysomething was moving her hips too quickly?
Under the law, put on the books in 1926, a venue must have a cabaret license to permit three or more people to dance, even if music and liquor are allowed. Shockingly, only 181 venues carry these licenses.
Now, Mayor Bloomberg is looking for cabaret reform, so a little salsa, merengue, or simple grinding crotches cannot be cause for a bar to be shut down. CONTINUED »
Many of you are very close friends with nightlife kings and queens. Some of you are the royalty of New York and Los Angeles nightlife. So you're probably familiar with Mark Baker, who sits among the Richie Akivas and John McDonalds of the world. Baker is behind spaces like Double Seven and Mansion, where in the former Crobar he has, um, repeated the Crobar mentality: models and bottles. Now, he's got a new haunt: the Cougar Lounge. Opening this fall, Cougar will be an all-girls venue where the ladies can get their hands on sex toys while the all-male serving workforce will be adorned in leather lederhosen serving champagne. And the women will get whips to hit them. Baker reveals autumn's nightspot plans in a new UrbanDaddy interview, which he wraps up by admonishing the "good old days" of New York nightlife, you know, because these are the good old days of nightlife … in 20 years. [Keys to the City/UrbanDaddy]
Former firefighter — in real life and on Saturday Night Live — and NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams just happened to be yearning for a chance to bask in some summer sunshine when a "call come in over the fire scanner" (that, uh, sits on his desk?) about "a basement fire at TGI Friday's at 50th and 7th, a block away from our building." So what'd BriWi do? He grabbed his pick ax, oxygen tank, and water hose and shuffled on down the 30 Rock elevator to save the world! [Daily Nightly]
Continuing its tradition of reporting on celebrities by reporting on some other aspect of culture that celebrities are involved in, the Times chronicles the tribulations involved in being famous while having a court date.
How to get inside without being accosted by a local news reporter? How to make your exit and slip into your waiting black window-tinted SUV when there's a scrum of paparazzi blocking your way?
When Rip Torn left the courthouse on a DUI matter, he found himself hiding under an 18-wheeler; Courtney Love had a different tactic, namely turning the courthouse sidewalk into a step-and-repeat.
There's a fun gallery where you can relive your favorite celebrity court moments, from Naomi Campbell to Boy George. Collect them all.
After many months and months in development, former Radar editor and up-and-coming new media titan Remy Stern today launches Cityfile, a database of who's who in Manhattan industry circles. Artists, media types, socialites, designers, and foodies are all on board, with Stern's crack team of writer-researches having already compiled 2,109 names. The site promises to add new profiles all the time — but also, more excitingly, to drop names, too, because sometimes important people are suddenly no longer important, and this distinction MUST BE MADE.
So what's a site like this good for? For blogs like ours, the answer is obvious: Free research tool! For others, however, Cityfile as a resource might be less clear. Allow us to help. CONTINUED »
We recently took the torches to Equinox, the upscale fitness club that costs about 20 percent of your apartment rent, for kicking members out of their New York facilities so staffers could attend a company picnic last month. And while it turned out that the closure didn't affect us, which made us pretty much stop caring about the matter, the bad taste in our mouth returned when this notice appeared in our inbox:
Why get upset about gym celebrating America's independence? Because four days prior, they sent this: CONTINUED »
If legislation passes requiring New York's chain restaurants to post calorie counts on their menu, will the city's residents actually change their eating habits?
According to Men's Fitness, NYC is the 19th fattest city in America. So makes for the PERFECT NEWSPEG to have Slate send out Christopher Flavelle for some man-on-the-street interviews to see whether anyone thinks having this information available while ordering will change what we feast on.
The only problem with Slate's methodology? It's unclear whether they asked actual New Yorkers. They went to Times Square, after all, and the people eating at chain restaurants there are, uh, often tourists. Like the guy, pictured here, wearing the ridiculous vest. (If he's a New Yorker, we're moving.) CONTINUED »
Because there’s no such thing as too much pride - except for hubris - here are some shots from yesterday’s march here in New York City. We’re absolutely in love with the snap of Mayor Michael Bloomberg waving his rainbow flag. So cute!
Amy Sacco, the nightlife queen unsuccessfully trying to export her brand internationally, is closing her over-hyped and mostly terrible restaurant Bette. [Eater]
Copyright is a tricky thing. On the one hand, big guys like the Associated Press has absolutely no concept of it. On the other, little guys like the Naked Cowboy have totally learned how to use it to their advantage. Having sued Mars Inc. over a M&M's billboard in Times Square that showed a blue M&M dressed in his trademark boots and briefs, a federal judge just ruled that the case can move forward, leaving the city's most famous underwear strummer, real name Robert Burck, thinking, "I've got $4 million coming my way." And he could very well be right. But throughout this whole ordeal we can't help but thinking Burck, who has auditioned for everything from American Idol to Star Search, has based his entire business model on this very opportunity: Get so quirky famous that a brand would pay him for an endorsement deal (actually, he's appeared in Chevrolet and Guinness ads), or they'd try to rip him off so bad he could sue. Brava.
"Why do real estate agents put their photo everywhere?" It's a good question, and one we sometimes ask ourselves when an unsolicited "EXCITING NEW OFFER!!" or "EXCLUSIVE CONDO LISTING!!" finds its way into our 8-square-inch mailbox. There are certain classes of people, we understand, that need to have their picture out there: News anchors, for one, and Ben Silverman. But real estate agents? CONTINUED »
Editorial Director
