Events & Things To Do

New renderings for ODA’s archway-filled hotel in Crown Heights

Rendering of the Bedford Hotel via ODA

March 1, 2018

New renderings for ODA’s archway-filled hotel in Crown Heights

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ODA Architects' boutique hotel planned for the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights got fresh renderings this week, revealing more details about its archway-filled, concrete design. Developed by All Year Management, the Bedford Hotel is located at 1550 Bedford Avenue, right by the Prospect Park, Brooklyn Museum and the Botanic Gardens. As designboom learned, the 100-room hotel's archway design stems from the classic Brooklyn architecture found elsewhere in the neighborhood, like the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch at the Grand Army Plaza.
More this way
Local artists will bring 10 public art installations to NYC parks this summer
February 28, 2018

Local artists will bring 10 public art installations to NYC parks this summer

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New York City's parks department will bring art installations to 10 designated parks across the five boroughs this June. As part of "Art in the Parks: UNIQLO Park Expressions Grant Exhibit," public art will be displayed in parks that currently lack cultural programming. Japanese clothing company UNIQLO, as the initiative's sponsor, will give grants worth $10,000 to 10 emerging artists for the installations. The city's Art in the Parks program began in 1967 and is responsible for bringing over 2,000 public pieces of art to the city's parks.
Details this way
‘Store Front’ photographers plan a life-size memorial to lost Lower East Side mom-and-pops
February 27, 2018

‘Store Front’ photographers plan a life-size memorial to lost Lower East Side mom-and-pops

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Photographers James and Karla Murray published their first account of small businesses in NYC a decade ago with their seminal book “Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York,” which captured hundreds of mom-and-pops and their iconic facades, many of them since shuttered, along with interviews with the business owners. They've since published two follow-ups, "New York Nights" and "Store Front II-A History Preserved," winning countless awards and gaining local and national fame for their documentation of a vanishing retail culture. And this summer, they're bringing their work to a larger scale than ever. The Lo-Down reports that the husband-and-wife team has designed an art installation for Seward Park, a wood-frame structure that will feature four nearly life-size images of Lower East Side business that have disappeared--a bodega, a coffee shop/luncheonette (the recently lost Cup & Saucer), a vintage store, and a newsstand.
More details
Highly elegant and highly classified: The history of espionage at the St. Regis

Photo via Wally Gobetz/Flickr

February 26, 2018

Highly elegant and highly classified: The history of espionage at the St. Regis

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You know that Old King Cole had a pipe and bowl, but did you know he also had a cloak and dagger? New York’s hyper-illustrious St. Regis Hotel, home to the famous King Cole Bar, has a clandestine pedigree that goes straight to its core. Founded by a family of spies, the Hotel became headquarters for the nation’s wartime spy service, and in the process helped inspire not only the Bloody Mary cocktail but also the Invasion of North Africa.
Read on for the history of Midtown’s preeminent spy den
Win two tickets to GVSHP’s comedy night at the Village Underground
February 23, 2018

Win two tickets to GVSHP’s comedy night at the Village Underground

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There's probably no neighborhood in NYC more associated with the history and current success of the comedy scene than Greenwich Village, and here's a chance to hear some of today's top comics in one of the neighborhood's most iconic venues. On Monday, March 12, GVSHP's Brokers Partnership will hold their fourth annual Comedy Night at the Village Underground, featuring comics Emmy Blotnick, Matthew Broussard, Phil Hanley, Matteo Lane, Lenny Marcus, Brian Scott McFadden, and more to come. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation is offering one lucky 6sqft reader the chance to win two tickets to the event--worth $90!
Find out how to enter
The Chinese government now owns the Waldorf Astoria

Photo via Wikimedia

February 23, 2018

The Chinese government now owns the Waldorf Astoria

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The Chinese government has taken control over debt-ridden Anbang Insurance Group, a Beijing-based firm known for snatching up prominent properties around the world for billions of dollars. One of those high-profile properties includes New York City's iconic Waldorf Astoria, which the group purchased for $1.95 billion in 2014. According to the New York Times, the government takeover comes after Abang violated regulations, although the exact violations committed are unclear so far. Anbang will be overseen for one year by a group that includes China's central bank, the country's securities and banking regulator, the regular of foreign exchanges and other government agencies.
Find out more
The 8 best places in Times Square that don’t suck

Photo via Richard BURGER/Flickr

February 20, 2018

The 8 best places in Times Square that don’t suck

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One of the true marks of a New Yorker is an aversion to Times Square, where slow-walking out-of-towners clog sidewalks, costumed characters try to hug you for tips, and overpriced suburban chains like Olive Garden and Applebees abound. But a few bright spots exist amid the touristy madness and Broadway shows, and they’re worth a visit if you happen to be in the area, if not a specific trip (seriously, avoid Times Square at all costs if you can).
Here are a few of our favorites
The Panorama Challenge is back! See if you can answer past years’ toughest trivia questions
February 16, 2018

The Panorama Challenge is back! See if you can answer past years’ toughest trivia questions

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For the 11th year, the City Reliquary, Queens Museum, and The Levys’ Unique New York! have partnered for the Panorama Challenge, considered the ultimate NYC trivia. On Friday, March 2, using the Panorama of the City of New York at the Queens Museum – a room-sized scale model of the entire city, a relic from the 1964 World's Fair – teams will answer questions in categories that may include McKim, Mead, & White sites; the Grammys; the movie Wonderstruck; and the Museum's Never Built New York exhibit. In anticipation of the event, quizmaster Jonathan Turer is testing 6sqft readers with five (one for each borough!) of past years' toughest clues.
Test your knowledge!
Fearless Girl and Charging Bull statues might relocate from Wall Street

Fearless Girl and Charging Bull statues on Wall Street; via Anthony Quintano’s Flickr

February 15, 2018

Fearless Girl and Charging Bull statues might relocate from Wall Street

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The temporary bronze sculpture that has attracted millions of tourists and locals could become a permanent fixture in New York City, according to Adweek. Commissioned by State Street Global Advisors, the Fearless Girl statue was installed last March, a day before International Women's Day, sending a message to Wall Street for the need of gender equality in the financial world. With her chin up and hands firmly on her hips, the 250-pound statue defiantly faces the iconic Charging Bull statue, which has stood in the same spot since 1989. And now the city might relocate the pair of statues from Bowling Green Park in lower Manhattan to another, more pedestrian-friendly home to ease safety concerns.
Find out more
Collection of antique Valentines explores expressions of love over three centuries

Fold-open Valentine card, German (1900); courtesy of The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens

February 14, 2018

Collection of antique Valentines explores expressions of love over three centuries

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While a simple and perhaps less swanky gesture than diamonds and roses, a Valentine's Day card remains one of the most popular ways to say "I love you" every February 14. This year Americans will exchange about 190 million greeting cards during the holiday, spending nearly $1 billion on them. A collection of antique paper Valentines from The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens proves this is not a 21st-century phenomenon. The museum, located in San Marino, CA, acquired a collection of about 12,300 romantic greeting cards, sentimental notes and drawings made in Europe and North America from 1684 to 1970 (h/t NY Times). A historian from New Jersey, Nancy Rosin, put together the impressive collection of cards over four decades and her family recently donated them to the museum.
More this way
Designer Sebastian Errazuriz opens up his South Bronx studio full of functional art and furniture
February 14, 2018

Designer Sebastian Errazuriz opens up his South Bronx studio full of functional art and furniture

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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 the South Bronx design studio of Sebastian Errazuriz. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! Sebastian Errazuriz is a Chilean-born artist, designer, and activist but over the years, he's grown his multidisciplinary studio to incorporate everything from virtual reality to activism. But nothing he does is cookie-cutter. His cabinets undulate and mimic kaleidoscopes; his public art makes social commentary on issues from Wall Street and capitalism to Chile's politicide; and he's created sculptures that mix a boat with a coffin and a crystal chandelier with taxidermy birds. Sebastian likens his ability to work in these mediums separately but together to how he can speak both English and Spanish but also Spanglish. "It's the freedom to incorporate words that do not exist in one particular language but that enrich communication with someone else that I really enjoy within the boundaries of art and design," he explains. Now, Sebastian is at the forefront of yet another new frontier. Though he has a 5,000-square-foot space at the uber-hip Industry City, he opened his second location last summer in Mott Haven, one of the city's newest artist enclaves due to its affordable warehouse spaces and non-residential nature that sets it apart from the more gentrifying parts of the area. 6sqft recently paid Sebastian a visit here to learn how his firm is growing, the process behind his "functional art," and why he moved to the South Bronx.
Tour the studio and meet Sebastian
The Urban Lens: ‘Impossible Landscapes’ bend the reality of life in NYC
February 13, 2018

The Urban Lens: ‘Impossible Landscapes’ bend the reality of life in NYC

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6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Juan Jose Egusquiza shares his "Impossible Landscapes" series. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Juan Jose Egusquiza describes himself as a "visual storyteller, image maker, and reality bender." In his latest photo manipulation series titled "Impossible Landscapes," he bends the reality of New York, a city that lent itself perfectly to the project since it's constantly changing and being reimaged. From plopping Downtown's skyscraper in the middle of the desert to adding a rushing river through Chinatown to inverting the entire skyline, Juan has created a view of NYC that inspires endless curiosity and stories. Ahead, see all of the images and learn a bit more from Juan about his process and inspiration.
Everything, this way
A Queens festival will reimagine the World’s Fair with 100+ food vendors representing over 100 cultures

Photo courtesy of Bill Cotter/worldsfairphotos

February 8, 2018

A Queens festival will reimagine the World’s Fair with 100+ food vendors representing over 100 cultures

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Experience "diversity through cuisine" at CitiField this spring at an event paying homage to the iconic 1964 New York World's Fair. Dubbed the World's Fare, the event will feature over 100 food vendors from more than 100 cultures, as well as live music and art (h/t QNS). Highlights include an international beer garden that will offer tastings of 80 craft beers from 45 breweries and exhibits of LEGO Art and 4-D drawings.
Get the details
Put your NYC history knowledge to the test at Urban Archive’s trivia night
February 8, 2018

Put your NYC history knowledge to the test at Urban Archive’s trivia night

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You may know Urban Archive as the fun app that brings together the digital collections of New York City’s museums, archives, and libraries, but did you know they also host equally fun history-themed events? After three successful scavenger hunts, they're now holding their first trivia night later this month. Hosted by Andrew Gustafson of Turnstile Tours, the event will take place at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe in Soho, where staff mixologists will provide libations to accompany the competition.
Find out how to sign up
Treat your sweetie (or yourself) to a chocolate tour of Brooklyn this Valentine’s Day
February 7, 2018

Treat your sweetie (or yourself) to a chocolate tour of Brooklyn this Valentine’s Day

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This Valentine's Day, leave the heart-shaped candy box at Duane Reade and enjoy locally-made chocolate instead. Explore Brooklyn released their "Brooklyn Chocolate Trail Map" this month with 12 must-eat delicious destinations in the borough. The list includes chocolatiers, factories and tasting rooms. Follow the chocolate trail and taste-test your way through Greenpoint, DUMBO, Williamsburg and Downtown Brooklyn. What could be sweeter?
Learn more
West Side art center The Shed plans a pre-opening exhibit this spring

Rendering by NLÉ Works

February 6, 2018

West Side art center The Shed plans a pre-opening exhibit this spring

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About one year before opening in the spring of 2019, The Shed, the art center rising near Hudson Yards, will present a free event on an undeveloped lot at 10th Avenue and 30th Street. The multi-arts exhibit will happen between May 1st to May 13th, just one block away from the center's future home. "We are temporarily transforming an empty lot into a flexible public space for new work, collaboration, and dialogue," Alex Poots, CEO of The Shed said in a press release. That means a cool temporary space, designed by the architect Kunlé Adeyemi of NLÉ Works and artist Tino Sehgal, to host a variety of music, dance and performance.
Read more about the upcoming shows
12 artsy and offbeat things to do in New York City for Valentine’s Day
February 5, 2018

12 artsy and offbeat things to do in New York City for Valentine’s Day

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Whether you’re loved up or flying solo, Valentine’s Day brings a bevy of creative events and exhibitions to New York, with a soiree for every taste. Architecture buffs can spend an exclusive evening at One Barclay with the Art Deco Society; art lovers can go back in time with jazz master Michael Arenella at the art-filled Norwood Club; and urban explorers can tour the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant's digester eggs.
Details on these events and more this way
A pavilion made of metal grain bins will debut this summer on Governors Island

Renderings courtesy of Austin+Mergold in collaboration with Maria Park, and consulting engineers Chris Earls (Cornell) and Scott Hughes (Silman)

February 2, 2018

A pavilion made of metal grain bins will debut this summer on Governors Island

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"Oculi" is the latest winner of FIGMENT’s City of Dreams competition, an annual design contest challenging architecture and design firms to build a pavilion out of recycled materials to be assembled and displayed on Governor's Island. Last summer, visitors to the island were graced with a pavilion made out of more than 300,000 aluminum cans (the number of cans used in NYC in an hour), melted down and cast into cracked clay. This year, the competition is highlighting metal grain bins. A design by the firm Austin+Mergold, in collaboration with Maria Park (of Cornell University) and consulting engineers Chris Earls and Scott Hughes, will reuse old metal grain bins for a pavilion that establishes a visual connection between urban and rural ways of life.
Read more on the winning proposal
Rental fraud 101: How to keep yourself and your money safe

Photo via Pixabay

January 17, 2018

Rental fraud 101: How to keep yourself and your money safe

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January is a busy month for renters across the U.S., described by one broker as the "oasis month" in an otherwise dead stretch between October and the spring. People make big life-changing decisions at the New Year, which often means moving – plus there’s the backlog of renters who put off sorting their living situation over the holiday season who are all entering the market at once in the first week of January. New York’s rental market is estimated to be worth over $700 million in rent and over $44 million in deposits in January alone. With so much money changing hands, it means renters are an attractive target for scammers and fraudsters. Thankfully, rental fraud is rare, but a little knowledge goes a long way. So if you’re entering the rental market after the holidays, here are three things you can do to keep yourself (and your money) safe.
READ MORE
Win a pair of tickets to the 92Y’s starchitect-studded ‘City of Tomorrow’ Summit

Image via Clouds Architecture Office, Analemma, 2017

January 16, 2018

Win a pair of tickets to the 92Y’s starchitect-studded ‘City of Tomorrow’ Summit

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After a highly successful inaugural year, the 92nd Y and Hundred Stories PR has announced the return of "City of Tomorrow: Real Estate, Architecture & Design Summit." The two-day conference brings together today's foremost architects, real estate developers, and design innovators to "explore new departures, trends, and initiatives for the NYC landscape." This year's 50+ speaker lineup includes architects such as Robert A.M. Stern, Daniel Libeskind, and Billie Tsien, interior designers Anthony Baratta, Ken Fulk, and Ghislaine Viñas, and developers Ziel Feldman of HFZ Capital Group and Ken Horn of Alchemy Properties. The group will discuss everything from adaptive reuse to the future of Penn Station and will provide a first-hand account of some of NYC's most anticipated projects, including Hudson Yards' sculpture The Vessel, the Lowline, and Pier 17. 6sqft has teamed up with the 92nd Y and Hundred Stories to offer one lucky reader a pair of tickets to the conference--worth $200!
Find out how to enter
The 12 best specialty bookshops in NYC

Albertine book store, via Wiki Commons

January 9, 2018

The 12 best specialty bookshops in NYC

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Independent bookstores are still going strong in NYC, with standouts like BookCulture, WORD Bookstore, McNally Jackson, and, of course, The Strand Bookstore, continuing to provide literary New Yorkers with the written word despite the specter of Amazon. But while the aforementioned shops are great places to find new and used literature, if you’re looking for a more curated collection, look no further than some of the city’s finest specialty bookstores, where mystery fiends, activists, artists, Francophiles, and others can find works tailored to their interests, as well as rub shoulders with like-minded readers. Here are some of our favorites.
NYC's 12 best specialty bookshops
VIDEO: Travel back to 1904 for the first New Year’s Eve in Times Square

A crowd in Times Square; screenshot via TheLazyCowOnUTube

December 28, 2017

VIDEO: Travel back to 1904 for the first New Year’s Eve in Times Square

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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

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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

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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

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'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
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