NYC May 2008 Recap: Mad Mad Mad Weekend
21 May 2008
Je suis revenu de new york lundi soir e.s.s.o.u.f.l.é. de ce blitz Manhatthan. Son p'tit surnom du "city that never sleeps" est loin d'être une exagération et semble être tout à fait adaptable à ses visiteurs.
On commence avec un recap: pour nos mémoires courtes et l'intérêt de partager des choses avec ses amis.
muw = meet up with (friends I knew were going to be in nyc for the weekend)
NYC Day 1
Rainy rainy rainy. Get into Manhattan 4 hours late. Drop stuff @ Jen's (East Village). Hungry:Quick Thai for lunch (98 E 1st). First stop is the New Museum (dedicated to contemporary, nice bulding, too many paintings, not enough installations - 235 Bowery in L.E.S.); muw Francis & Chantale. James needs a new camera. Subway to Adorama (42 W 18th St.); which happens to be closed on Fri PM (wtf?). Well we need new shoes too. Walk to Union Square, then down braodway, then up braodway again, finally get a pair that fits (Converse for me, Ascics for James). Subway to Guggenheim (1071 Fifth Ave.) which is free on Fri PM. Line much too long to wait (so many french!). muw Jen. Go to her place. Then go grab a few beers @ Botanica (Great little local bar - 47 E Houston). Then taxi to latino supper @ Matador (Was Ok Mediterranean food - 57 Greenwich Ave.) muw F, C, Ian, Amina & all. Limousine (our luck!) to @ Pianos (Trendy and packed, nice crowd, good music - 158 Ludlow in L.E.S.). muw Maxime, Julien, Marine & Corinne. Leave Pianos, walk down Ludlow, fall upon Nurse Bettie (un mini mini salon l'Officiel, 50's pinups on the wall - 106 Norfolk) and dance into the night on rock classics. Bed at 5-ish.
NYC Day 2
Sunny and just warm enough, slightly windy. Per-fect. Light shirt, jeans and new Converse's on. Breakfast at Yaffa's terrasse with James & Jen. Off to ICFF @ Javitz Center. Meet Francis, spend the next few hours there. Leave Javitz to Gershwin hotel, drop stuff, get into subway, Francis get's off @ Washington, I get off at Canal street. Find a cell phone charger in Asian market, head over to party @ The Appartment (101 Crosby), muw Harry, meet Bastien, Sabine, Eddie, Tom, Stéphane. Head over to party @ Cite. Meet Laurence which I haven't seen in 4 years (!!!!! - she was studying in Belgium, now touring with some Belgian designers). Go have a Vodka cranberry and use the restrooms @ super-snob en ville BB Italia across the street. Go back to party @ The Appartment, which is finishing. So now what? muw Francis, Chantale & all for supper @ Baluchis (great Indian restaurant - 193 Spring W). Head over alone to secret Ping-Pong Core77 Party in Chinatown, which is also pretty much coming to an end. muw Anne-Marie, Mélanie & Julianna who desperatly want to dance. Ludlow St it is. Get there, nothing seems inspiring. Randomly meet Patrick (college basketball agent), says he is heading to a party not far from there, invite's us to come with him. It happens to be on the roof of Pianos (where we were less than 24h ago). Meet (male model/biologist) Jarrod & friends, leave party with them to dance @ Dark Room. It's now 4am, it closes, we head over to Jarrod's 3000 sq ft apartment in L.E.S., kinda beat down but ridiculously huge. Dance on Sinatra & Michael Jackson, eat eggs over chili, go on roof to watch sun rise over Manhattan. Eventually leave, go to bed around 7-ish.
NYC Day 3
Get up at 11, kinda grey, not sunny. Walk around East Village with J & J to find brunch. Decide to eat @ Momofoku's Ssäm Bar (). Delicious korean degustation menu. Raining now. Back to Jen's. Off with James, walk to and through Soho. Conferance on American Furniture @ Design Within Reach. Have a coffee @ Aroma Cappucino Bar. See some new stuff @ Capellini's. Sun is out now, walk through Cheslea, Greenich Village. Hit the river, walk up to Meat Packing District. Here is were the fun starts. A quick stop @ Theory, talk a bit with uninterested sales lady. Head over to cocktails @ Micheal Angelo's Wonderland. Talk about aromatherapy with a Yoga-teaching cougar and Cambodia with Angelo. Off to Artsee Eyeware. Fake a very bad french accent to the bartender. Talk to a Quebec born, french-raised, now New Yorker sales lady for a while. You can tell she loves the sun. Off to Jean Shop. James starts faking the gay thing, tries on a few pairs while getting comments from the sales guys (—I'm gonna take these off now. — Yeah you can take them anytime!). Hum. Off to Design Withing Reach across the street. Meet Sabine (from MocoLoco fame) & super nice Jamie from Denver. Talk about design blogs and Denver. And John Denver. Off to Hardcore Finnish Design on the other side on the street. Meet up with Jen. Meet Nicole (who's into James), Daniel (who's into Wes Anderson tatoos). Then to another exhibit. James starts flirting older men. Need to move, sick of standing, we all (James, Jen, Daniel, Nicole & myself) leave off to dance on minimalistic electonic music @ Cielo. Which turns out fun. Cougar Aroma-mom is there grinding some older stud. Eventually get out, grab a few slices of pizza at a deli. James gives my money to a foundation/hoax. Hop on subway to Spring Ave, walk up @ Sway (305 Spring). Brit-Pop night in an arabian-ish decor. Packed and smoking (the hell with the law). muw Julien, Marine, Maxime, Corinne, Anne-Marie, Julianna & Mélanie. Québécois in da haus. Lose my voice. Dance till 4ish, slowly walk home, bed at 5ish.
NYC Day 4
Up at 6:15. Run out, cab to bus depot, one gets in line, the other breakfast. Get on bus, try to sleep, get into Montreal at 5. Home sweet home.
Oh my! I knew I should have stuck with you guys on Sunday – you had way more fun in your evenings than me – next time then…perhaps we can even dance to John Denver. Nice meeting both you and James.