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Locale: American Sugar Refinery, Formerly Havemeyers & Elder Sugar Refinery (1869 ff); also called Domino Sugar Refinery.Kent Avenue, between South 5th and Grand Streets.
The 11 plus acres are making way (under bated breath) for the unveiling of the new 1500 + residents along the Williamsburg waterfront. Construction commences in 2011 with the blueprints of the “New Domino” on view here.
Before and after/now and then. What have you; there’s no stopping now. The Waterfront Preservation Alliance of Williamsburg stamps its blessing, “Adant House and Power House are preserved as part of the redevelopment. We believe that a comprehensive preservation program, combined with high-quality new design and affordable housing will best serve the Williamsburg community.”
Would Brando’s Terry Malloy be cool with the project?
This is another skid-row landmark one won’t forget– especially during my four years in Hells Kitchen. Ah, the Playpen which seemed to be spared of the Times Square clean-up. The New York Times wrote a nice farewell to the eighth avenue establishment which certainly lived a long life until 2007. It’s the gallery of photos is most impressive; shows off the theatre’s structure and history. Certainly to all be part of another grand commercial scheme by Tisch. This old New Yorker won’t forget walking by many days with iced coffee or on her way home from work.
(images: New York Times)
Big THEN + NOW with Phase Two lined up.
Curbed releases some great renderings of what’s to come during phase two of The High Line (wow, what a great time to be a landscape architect).
Via Vanishing New York, you can now own your own slice of old school Manhattan store fronts. Novel idea. Check out Randy Hage’s Mini Models.
if you are still looking for gifts; i have a few more suggestions this week. Since they were released, City Secrets ($16.45 on Amazon) has compiled a great list of New Yorkers (neurologist Oliver Sacks, architects Richard Meier and Philip Johnson, MoMA director Glenn Lowry) and their secret picks (some not so secret to the already inside NY’er). London, Rome, Venice & The Towns of Italy have already been released. Paris is forthcoming. These are great gifts for those who think they know everything about a city. It’s not a guidebook but something to read slowly and savour. Like the cup of black French Press I’m about to drink.
A favorite except by Philip Johnson reads: “I still love the Fours Seasons restaurant in the Seagram Building. At first, MIes I weren’t sure what would in those spaces. At one point we considered a care show room. Fortunately, that final decision was for a restaurant. I got to do the interiors since Mies was eager to get back to Chicago. The Grill Room and the Pool Room are different in feel, but they are two of the prettiest rooms in New York. More than 40 years later, these designs still please me greatly.”
The City Out My Window by Matteo Pericoli
I’m a HUGE fan of Matteo Pericoli. I see my copies of Manhattan Unfurled and Manhattan Within (both great feats which make super gifts). I purchased both my copies at The Strand. And, of COURSE, The Beastie Boys disc cover, To The Five Burroughs, on display in the media room. Another classic (cover + album).
Behold, The City Out My Window. Pericoli’s gone inside the City collecting views and a quote or two about that lucky resident’s particular view. 63 views. What a terrific project…and the simple black and white etchings picking up grey. The views lack shadow but provide edge. A few New Yorker’s include: Tom Wolfe, Tony Kushner, Nora Ephron, Stephen Colbert, Richard Meier.Hitchcock would be proud of this rear window glimpse. We too are voyeurs. Royally.
The City Out My Window: 63 Views on New York “It’s one of New York’s most beautiful buildings, but it looks better at night... like a woman.” Mikhail Baryshnikov.
on this rainy morning, i can think of nothing better than sitting at Grand Central Station’s Oyster Bar. My my day trip to the United Nations brought me over to the Oyster Bar where i sat down at the counter under the glowing domed ceiling. The architecture is spectacular. I attempt to read a book but instead stare at the raw bar in front of me. I order a half dozen Prince Edwards and a bowl of New England Clam Chowder (the cream). Perfect. Trust me, I toy with the Maine Lobster Roll but know I still need to walk.
the UN from Hitchcock's "North by Northwest" image CAU faculty.
Before I left New York, I went uptown (yes…I ventured about and above 14th Street). The United Nations (completed in 1952) where I visited with my family on my first trip to New York in the 1980′s (bad jeans shorts and bangs). I’ve always been struck by the sleek, modern design of (Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer, Sir Howard Robertson, et al. with Harrison and Abramovitz) which quietly lays along the urban East Riverfront. The inside remains the same. Times stands still.
It’s often been the backdrop of great film scenes from The Interpreter, Live and Let Die, U.S. Marshals, Batman: The Movie, The Glass Wall, The Second Renaissance, The Peacemaker, Thirteen Days and Disney’s 1975 animated film The Rescuers. Arguably the best of these comes from Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest where Cary Grant is caught in a web of mistaken identity. A trip to the United Nations is a must.
Cary Grant exits cab infront of the UN.
Establishing shot; Cary Grant arrives inside the UN.
the Noguchi garden
the Noguchi Museum is a great spot to visit and one often forgotten. It’s a quick ride to Long Island City via the subway (plot your own route here)
The scuplture garden is a chill place to meditate or take it the large organic sculptures. Isama Noguchi was a master of sculpture, furniture and interiors, drawings, gardens and playgrounds and monuments. PBS/American Masters draws up a nice biography; read here.
akari floor laterns. image by designboom
you can always support the museum (individual memberships start $75) or purchase one of the Akari lanterns which create a soft yellow glow with age. Visit the store here i’m the proud owner of two and would love to expand my collection. (wink wink)
Isamu Noguchi working on an Akari frame at the Ozeki & Company, Gifu, Japan. January 1978. Photo: Michio Noguchi.
Because the late night diner crowd seems to be fading…or just because it cannot sustain itself anymore. Lease a piece of Art Deco history; the Empire Diner seems to be going the way of Jerry\’s Cafe. Hopefully, one of those noteworthy or celeb chefs will take pity on the “hippest diner on earth” and let New York keep a faded landmark or two alive.
Hear ye! Hear ye! Hot off the press. “More Jane Jacobs, Less Marc Jacobs”
My second post on I♥dNewYork was over my fury (and sadness) about the Biography Bookstop closing after a long run to of all people…Marc Jacobs (again, I’m a chick who digs on Marc but please don’t take the Biography!) Tree Hugger composes an interesting article about graphic designer Mike Joyce’s “More Jane Jacobs, Less Marc Jacobs.”
One cannot help but look at Jacob’s 1961 book, the Life and Death of Great American Cities. The New York Times critic Lloyd Rodwin writes…
Mrs. Jacobs’ view is that people like to live, not just be, in such lively neighborhoods. Youngsters and elders alike need such surroundings. But she scoffs at our understanding of these requirements; for we continue to put up civic centers, low density residential areas and housing “projects” segregated by income…Worse still, the new buildings with high rents squeeze out the marginal activities, the small business man just getting a start, the colorful shop with strange and exotic waves, the little restaurants and bars, almost everything deviant, bohemian, intellectual or bizarre– in other words, all that the author believes lends spice, charm and vigor to an area. (read the full review here)
Also, Project for Public Spaces puts together a terrific piece together on her historical & biographical perspectives.
Related piece: Hit Me Over the Head, Marc Jacobs.
MJJ/LMJ : Graphic designer Mike Joyce
On Sundays, I always feel a bit of nostalgia about New York, especially after my ritualistic Sunday New York Times read. Today, I’m reminded of Ric Burns’ (see his Steeplechase Films site) terrific film series, New York; A Documentary which through various DVD’s covers 1609 to the present covering industrialization, commerce, media (the New York Herald), P. T. Barnum, Abraham Lincoln, The Brooklyn Bridge, the Great Depression, war on crime, Robert Moses, the Harlem Riots, 1939 Worlds Fair, the end of World War II and finally up to the day of sadness on 9.11.
Lower Manhattan.
This reminds me New York is a survival city. Images below are from the film footage found on the PBS sight.
brooklyn bridge.
world trade center images.
