Events &amp; Things To Do

In 1904, the New York Times moved from the City Hall are to the triangular piece of land at the intersection of 7th Avenue, Broadway, and 42nd Street. People thought they were crazy for moving so far uptown, but this was the same year the first subway line opened, passing through what was then called Longacre Square. Not only did their new Times Tower have a printing press in the basement (they loaded the daily papers right onto the train and got the news out faster than other papers), but it was the second-tallest building in the city at the time. To honor this accolade, the company wanted to take over the city's former New Year's Eve celebration at Trinity Church, and since the church elders hated people getting drunk on their property, they gladly obliged. So to ring in 1905, the Times hosted an all-day bash of 200,000 people that culminated in a midnight fireworks display, and thus the first New Year's Eve in Times Square was born. But it wasn't until a few years later that the famous ball drop became tradition.
Get the full history in this video

Where I Work: Artistic duo Strosberg Mandel show off their Soho studio and glam portraits

David Mandel (L) and Serge Strosberg (R) in their studio, photo by James and Karla Murray

December 27, 2017

Where I Work: Artistic duo Strosberg Mandel show off their Soho studio and glam portraits

6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we’re touring artistic duo Strosberg Mandel's Soho studio.Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! Last year, Belgian-American figurative painter Serge Strosberg had an exhibit about feminism in the East Village. The show's curator introduced him to David Mandel, a theatrical stylist, jewelry designer, and former drag queen. Though the two came from very different artistic backgrounds, they immediately hit it off on both a personal and professional level. Fast forward to today, and they've formed the NYC-based artistic duo Strosberg Mandel, creating large-scale assemblage portraits--mostly of rock n' roll icons such as Prince, David Bowie, Elvis, and Cher--using found materials and glamorous add-ons like Swarovski diamonds and luxury fabrics. In anticipation of their upcoming debut solo exhibition "Troubadours of Eternity" at Lichtundfire from January 24th to February 4th, in which they'll unveil the full portrait series as "a celebration of authentic musicianship and timeless spirits," Serge and David invited us into their Soho studio to get an advanced preview of the pieces and learn about their unique work and partnership.
Tour the studio and hear from David and Serge

ODA Architects reveal renderings for Crown Heights hotel with arched patio and floating gardens

Proposed renderings courtesy of ODA Architects

December 27, 2017

ODA Architects reveal renderings for Crown Heights hotel with arched patio and floating gardens

Perhaps piggybacking on the positive reaction to their Rheingold Brewery project, ODA Architects have revealed renderings for another Brooklyn project with a central courtyard, sloping green roof, and stepped terraces. First spotted by CityRealty, the proposed views depict the Bedford Hotel at 1550 Bedford Avenue in Crown Heights, a five-story, 100-key development at 1550 Bedford Avenue. And according to plans submitted to the DOB, there will be a rooftop bar and a banquet hall and retail/restaurant spaces on the ground floor.
More details and renderings ahead

Designer Sarah Magness shares her top tips for New Year’s entertaining

Magness Design’s James Bond-themed lounge at Holiday House, via Costas Picadas

December 26, 2017

Designer Sarah Magness shares her top tips for New Year’s entertaining

'Tis the season for entertaining, but if you're tired of the old standbys like pigs-in-a-blanket and playing Cards Against Humanity, interior designer Sarah Magness has some great tips on how to class things up and "entertain like Bond this holiday season." Sarah and her firm Magness Design recently worked with Italian furniture brand Promemoria on a masculine, Casino Royal- and James Bond-themed lounge at the Holiday House designer show house (more on that here). From investing in some key party pieces to taking the bar to the next level, Sarah's ideas will have you hosting like a pro.
Get the tips here

In the middle of the night, Trump Soho gets rebranded as the Dominick Hotel

Image: Trump Soho; Donald Trump via Wikimedia Commons

December 22, 2017

In the middle of the night, Trump Soho gets rebranded as the Dominick Hotel

After an 11-year economic slump, local protests and multiple lawsuits, the Trump Soho condominium and hotel at 246 Spring Street has officially become the Dominick Hotel and Spa. Last month, the Trump Organization cut ties with the property after making a deal with the building’s owner, CIM Group, to step away from the hotel amid a decline in room prices. Between 11 pm on Wednesday and 3 am on Thursday, workers removed the Trump Soho lettering from the facade of the glitzy 46-story hotel, literally erasing President Trump's association with the building.
Find out more

Events & Things To Do

Ring in the New Year with these 10 artsy NYC events

Photo via Allison Marchant/Flickr

December 21, 2017

Ring in the New Year with these 10 artsy NYC events

By Lori Zimmer

Close out 2017 with creativity at one of these arty parties or events. Look to Salvador Dali for the 3rd Annual Surrealist Ball, or channel the Great Gatsby at Hudson Terrace. If masquerade is your thing, check out Sleep No More’s sumptuous King’s Feast, the Truman Capote-inspired Black and White Ball, or get weird at the House of Yes. If you’re more laid back, have a classy evening of cocktails at Freemans or Raines Law Room. For the truly bold, brave the crowds to watch the ball drop in Times Square. And if New Year’s Eve isn’t your thing, celebrate New Year’s Day with a Victorian get together at the Merchant House Museum, or take a plunge into the ocean with the Coney Island Polar Bear Club. Whatever you decide to do- have a happy and safe New Year!
Details on these events and more this way

Events & Things To Do

Celebrate New Year’s Eve with free rides and ice skating on Coney Island

Deno’s Wonder Wheel courtesy of kzoop’s Flickr

December 20, 2017

Celebrate New Year’s Eve with free rides and ice skating on Coney Island

Editor's Note: Due to the extreme cold conditions, Deno's Wonder Wheel and Stop the Zombies ride will NOT open on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. The B&B Carousell will be open. Overpriced clubs, surging Ubers, and Manhattan crowds not your thing? Check out the fourth annual New Year's Eve party at Coney Island's historic boardwalk instead. Four rides, including the iconic Wonder Wheel, will be free of charge beginning at 6 pm until 9:30 pm on December 31. Nathan's Famous, Coney Island Brewery, and Tom's Restaurant will also stay open for the festivities. As amNY learned, there will be live entertainment and the countdown to 2018 will feature a digital "burst" of lights from the Parachute jump at midnight.
Details on the event here

Events & Things To Do

Everything you need to know about breaking a lease in NYC

By Cait Etherington

Whether you’ve just been offered a dream job in Austin or decided to ditch New York City for a farmhouse in New Paltz, if you have a lease, you have problem. Leases are generally a good thing: They give tenants the right to stay in an apartment on a year to year or even bi-annual basis. If you need to vacate early, however, a lease can quickly start to feel like vice grip on your future. Fortunately, tenants, at least those living in rental buildings, do have some legal ways to opt out early. This guide outlines the ins and outs of lease breaking, how to find a qualified tenant, and what to do if you are currently renting in a condominium or co-op where lease breaking is a far more complex process.
Everything you need to know, right here

The history of the Rockettes: From St. Louis to Radio City

The Rockettes in 1925, courtesy of The Rockettes

December 18, 2017

The history of the Rockettes: From St. Louis to Radio City

By Emily Nonko

For nearly a century, the Rockettes have been an icon of Christmas in New York. From humble St. Louis origins (no, the troupe was not formed in the Big Apple) to performing when Radio City Music Hall was in disrepair and shuttering for weeks at a time, they've managed to continue dancing throughout the decades. Not only that, they've emerged as America’s best known dance troupe. Here's the incredible history of this small team of female dancers, who have pulled off astounding, razor-sharp choreography while also fighting for higher wages and the landmarks designation of Radio City. The Rockettes are a New York icon, but only after a hard-fought battle to keep performing in the city.
Keep reading to learn more

Calculate holiday tips for your doorman with this helpful ‘tip-o-meter’

Photo courtesy of Steven Pisano on Flickr

December 15, 2017

Calculate holiday tips for your doorman with this helpful ‘tip-o-meter’

By Michelle Sinclair Colman

Not sure how much to tip your doorman this holiday season? Triplemint has released its very own, first-of-its-kind "Holiday Doorman Tip-O-Meter" to dynamically calculate exactly how much tip you should give. With six quick questions (ranging from your building size to how generous a tipper you are), the Tip-O-Meter immediately generates a minimum-maximum tip range suggestion. The program's algorithm is based on data collected from surveys conducted on over 100 NYC doormen in major neighborhoods in Manhattan. NYC doormen were asked: How much do you recommend you give residents this year (based on apartment size Studio, 1-Bedroom, 2-Bedroom, 3-Bedroom +)? Do you expect More/Same/Less than last year? And what is the size of your building?
Tips on tipping this way

JFK’s TWA Flight Center Hotel tops out, on track to open in 2019 with the world’s largest hotel lobby

Image courtesy of MCR and Morse Development; Photo: Max Touhey.

December 15, 2017

JFK’s TWA Flight Center Hotel tops out, on track to open in 2019 with the world’s largest hotel lobby

MCR and Morse Development announced this week the topping out of the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport less than a year after breaking ground on the project. Designed by celebrated 20th-century architect Eero Saarinen in 1962, The hotel is set to reopen in early 2019, when it will become JFK's only on-airport hotel. Saarinen’s iconic TWA Flight Center terminal building will serve as the hotel's lobby; at 200,000 square feet, it is thought to be the world's largest hotel lobby. Hotel guests and passengers will be able to access the hotel through the famous Saarinen passenger tubes that connect directly to JFK’s Terminal 5 as well as through via the AirTrain system.
Find out more about the rebirth of this mid-century modern icon

Christmas tree prices rise as competition and soaring expenses threaten small vendors with extinction

A Christmas tree stand at 6th Avenue and 14th Street. Image: 6sqft

December 11, 2017

Christmas tree prices rise as competition and soaring expenses threaten small vendors with extinction

Each year in December, scores of Christmas tree vendors descend on New York City from as far as Quebec to turn the city's sidewalks into a virtual pop-up forest. What makes this seasonal opportunity so appealing? The “coniferous tree” exception, a City Council law dating from 1938, says vendors can sell and display Christmas trees on a sidewalk in December without a permit as long as they get an ok from adjacent building owners and they don't block the sidewalk. Sellers lobby adjacent storefronts for permission, sometimes paying a fee and often in competition with other sellers. This year, as the New York Times reports, competition from chain stores–and other vendors jockeying for prime spots in parks and other public locations that come with high fees–are chopping into the profits for the army of tree sellers that descends on the city at holiday time. Costs get passed to consumers–and prices are soaring.
Why trees are demanding more green this year

‘I Love New York’ design legend Milton Glaser brings new works to NYC subway stations

Milton Glaser’s new subway posters, L-R “Give Help,”” To Dream Is Human,””It’s Not About Me, It’s About We.” Images © Milton Glaser for SVA.

December 7, 2017

‘I Love New York’ design legend Milton Glaser brings new works to NYC subway stations

By Hannah Frishberg and Anjie Cho

"I Love New York" design legend Milton Glaser will debut three new works this week in places that can always use more love: New York City subway stations. The three posters, according to Glaser, are a direct counterpoint to President Trump's attack on humanity and reflect the designer's commitment to justice using art and design to inspire social engagement. Milton's signs join the School of Visual Arts' enduring "Underground Images" ad campaign which has for the past half-century featured the work of a roster of A-list current and former design faculty including Ivan Chermayeff, Edel Rodriguez, Paula Scher and Tom Geismar in NYC subways. The series has challenged millions of New Yorkers to "think big, take chances and never stop learning. "
Find out more about the new posters and their meanings

A holistic holiday gift guide of NYC experiences

Photo via Matthew Henry/Burst

December 5, 2017

A holistic holiday gift guide of NYC experiences

The catharsis of shopping and gift giving does not come without monetary guilt, but in a city as commercially diverse as New York, it's possible to spend locally and come away with products bringing long-term relaxation and mental balance. No one wants to give or receive a gift that feels empty of emotional value and purpose. Here are some ideas for purposeful products and experiences that can be bought within the five boroughs for friends and family (or yourself!) this holiday season.
Check out our top picks

New York City was home to America’s first-ever electrically lit Christmas tree

The first electrically-illuminated Christmas tree in 1882, courtesy of the Thomas Edison Museum

December 4, 2017

New York City was home to America’s first-ever electrically lit Christmas tree

At a townhouse on East 36th Street in 1882, the first Christmas tree to ever be adorned with electrical lights was lit, paving the way for the frenzy surrounding tree lightings around the world today. As an engineer and vice president of the Edison Electric Light Company, as well as Thomas Edison’s business partner, Edward Hibberd Johnson, was quite familiar with light bulbs. While festively decorating his apartment ahead of the holiday that year, Johnson had a very bright idea: wiring 80 red, white and blue light bulbs together around the tree and placing it in his parlor window.
More history this way

December 4, 2017

15 alternative Christmas trees that fit your decorating style (and your apartment)

For traditionalists who relish the ritual of bringing home the perfect evergreen, the idea of any man-made alternative has little appeal. But just as many tree-seekers are happy to anchor their December decor with a Christmas tree that doesn't shed and doesn't need to be sent to the curb when the season's over. The options are as varied as the reasons we love them: Some literally take up no space, perfect for tiny apartments. Others are perfectly modern, rustic, retro or Nordic to reflect the style of their owners. Below are 15 fun, festive, sustainable and re-usable alternatives to pine and fir.
deck the halls, this way

Photo via NYBG

November 30, 2017

Win a pair of tickets to the New York Botanical Garden’s Bar Car Nights

By 6sqft

For the past 26 years, the New York Botanical Garden has been putting on their annual Holiday Train Show, set against a backdrop of 150 NYC landmarks, each re-created with bark, leaves, and other natural materials. In addition to classics like the Brooklyn Bridge and Statue of Liberty, this year's exhibition showcases new replicas of iconic Midtown skyscrapers, including the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, General Electric Building, and St. Bartholomew’s Church. And while this is certainly a magical treat for children, NYBG puts on something special for adults, too. The 21-and-over Bar Car Nights are after-dark viewings of the Train Show, complete with seasonal bars, the all-new Visitor Center Fire Pit, live dueling piano performances in the cafe, and illuminated Snow Globe Dancers that will guide your through the grounds. Sound like fun? The Garden is offering three lucky 6sqft readers a pair of tickets to these special evenings.
Find out how to enter

Events & Things To Do

Artists plan to install eight life-size sculptures of powerful women across New York

Rendering courtesy of Gillie and Marc

November 29, 2017

Artists plan to install eight life-size sculptures of powerful women across New York

By Emily Nonko

The husband-and-wife sculpture team Gillie and Marc have an ambitious plan to install bronze sculptures of powerful women throughout New York City beginning next year. Over 25 years, Gillie and Marc have completed over 100 commissions for sculptures in public places and businesses in more than 40 cities. (In New York, their work has been everywhere from Rockefeller Center to the Fulton Center, and they plan to install the world's largest rhino sculpture in Manhattan next year.) But in all their commissions, they were shocked to find that only one was to celebrate a woman. To help narrow the glaring gender gap in public monuments, the artists plan to install eight life-size bronze sculptures of powerful women across New York City as a public art exhibition. It's set to debut in 2018, and until the public has a chance to vote on which women should be featured.
Learn more about the art project

Sky lounge floating high above the Lincoln Tunnel entrance at AC Hudson Yards Hotel (Credit: Danny Forster Design Studio).

November 29, 2017

New renderings by ‘Build It Bigger’ host Danny Forster show 220-room AC Hudson Yards hotel

Last year, 6sqft reported that demolition permits were filed by developer Arisa Realty to make way for a hotel that will rise amidst the rapidly-growing Hudson Yards development in far west Midtown, with Epstein Global listed as the architect of record. Now, CityRealty reports that preliminary renderings have appeared on the website of Danny Forster, host of the Discovery Channel show "Build It Bigger," who is working with the architects on the project's design. Plans have beens submitted for a 220-key, 120,000-square-foot hotel at 432 West 31st Street, and the the unconfirmed renderings refer to the AC Hotel Hudson Yards (Marriott AC is a subsidiary of Marriott Hotels for which the Hudson Yards hotel would represent one of the first forays into the U.S. market).
Renderings this way

November 29, 2017

The 10 best holiday events and activities for NYC history buffs

The holidays turn New York City into a bright, illuminated wonderland that even the biggest Scrooge among us can enjoy. While there are plenty of events to choose from, like alternative holiday markets and glittering art installations, many of these activities can be jampacked with tourists. For those looking to learn more about their own holiday traditions, or understand others, there are lots of low-key, educational events perfect for history buffs looking for a quieter holiday experience. Ahead, check out 6sqft’s guide to the best holiday events in New York City that come with a historical twist, from Christmas to Hanukkah to Kwanzaa.
This way for our top-10 picks

Events & Things To Do

Trump dumps Soho hotel after glitzy launch and 11-year slump

Image: Trump Soho; Donald Trump via Wikimedia Commons.

November 27, 2017

Trump dumps Soho hotel after glitzy launch and 11-year slump