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“It’s really all Chinatown now,” said John A. Zaccaro Sr., owner of the Little Italy real estate company, founded by his father in 1935…The New York Times Little Italy, Littler by the Year.
Yes, it’s true, the exciting crammed feeling of strolling down Little Italy while channeling a young Michael Corleone is long long gone. Intermixed and mingled in the old Italian family storefronts are foot massage joints, the latest faux purses, Chinese outdoor markets with exotic herbs and old ladies who spit as far as the eye can see. It’s all true.
Any Italian romance gone except for the guys trying to lure you in with prix fix meals and watery tomatoe sauce. I still like Da Nico’s. But remember Little Charlies? Umberto’s? A goner. Wait until the Noltians close in on the Chinese. Oh, that will be the day.
No surprises here; the only vacant block of Kenmare is now getting a pizza joint. Grub Street confirms that Jay Z’s favorite pizza Lucali’s is on the hunt.
My loyalty is straight up Lombardi’s; I don’t care who reps it or loves it. Paul, you can order carry out, bru. One must ask themselves if they are Spring Street or Kenmare. It’s that kind of divide. For real.
Fondly in red and white stripe. Dapper.
The Nolitan pieces produced by Marque Creative Design promise to bring a certain flare to the hood. Oh, when can I get my bag?
Is that of basement lounges.
And, doormen rule the world? Again?
Let’s kick it off this way. You know the history of the faded, colourful booze New York past. All those hidden agendas. The underground. The really neat time in America. If you don’t, read the book Last Call, The Rise and Fall of Prohibition (for those of the “scene” still able to read). The old speakeasy back in the old ass New York day (sorry, Paul you were still living with Mom in Connecticut…wait were you born yet?) giving way to places a la Double Happiness with the white brick walls and the warm glow of red and orange. Yes, New York was still dirty and sketchy and fun. Don Hills was really dirty, sketchy and fun. Mott Street was still like the demilitarized zone. Don’t you remember? Or were you still rocking Wall Street?
Doesn’t matter. All the cool new scene on scene-ers and their money backers insist on slick interior and yes, food for the druggies, just in case the night doesn’t work out…you can always blame food poisoning.
Now you have Kenmare and the black box special Travertine‘s new lounge XIX (original title, no?) which could make Paul a shade less pale. It might be the next Kenmare to the Don Hills. It exhausts me to think of the possibility. Yes, Kenmare is the block of cool. The place where an ex-B/8 doorman can get top billing for his ex-Stephen Dorff types knocking on heavens door. Now, all the basement space looks the same, generic red booths, white booths, clean, sprawling, pricey. Nah-nah-ne-nah. Why bother to report? It’s super boring. It’s putting me to sleep now.
Good night.
Kitty Bawler wants to open Kenmare at Disney Land. Oh what fun.
Chef Jimmy Bradley (of Red Cat fame) via the New York Post: “Kenmare Street is a similar neighborhood to what Chelsea was when I built there,” says Bradley. “We’re excited about a new neighborhood that’s in a growth period. It sure beats the hell out of working in a neighborhood that’s in decline.” -J&S Food Hall (the initials are after the chef and his partner)
Sweet dude. Yes, a new neighborhood of more boutique hotels, red rope Paul Sev-like private (read: gen-ah-ric) clubs and gentrification out the yin yang. A bevy of more hipsters who will line up like cattle. Wait until the Chinese are booted out of Chinatown for another white-people vanilla speakeasy. I remember my old pal saying TEN YEARS AGO (that’s a decade folks) that Kenmare would easily be home run. Perhaps someone listened or in fact narced his idea.
