Category Archives: Hollywood

April 25, 2013 · 9:30 am

A Change of Heart

Part 3 of My Hurricane Sandy Diaries

Saturday November 10:

I did not cry throughout the Hurricane Sandy blackout experience (save a couple moments when my eyes welled up over people’s heartbreaking stories of pain and loss). Not until yesterday that is, when I finally broke down and let it ALL out – a long, heaving sob about everything. I haven’t done that in a long time.

I am aware that it’s rather silly to cry about anything I’m going through right now. People died during the storm, others lost everything. I’m gonna cry because I had no power for a week? Because telecom services are still down in my neighborhood, so I’ve had no Internet access for days and I can’t send text messages? Chock it up to Mercury retrograde. This too shall pass.

Hurricane Sandy really did put life in perspective – what’s worth getting worked up about and what isn’t – which is why I’m acutely aware that these tears are really not about any temporary communication snafus. The truth is, I just can’t do this anymore. I think I’m ready to move back to Los Angeles.

nyc-vs-la.fall

If I’m really being honest with myself, I need to admit that I’m fed up with New York and I have been for a while. I’m sick of the break neck pace of this city. The gritty, dirty, smelliness. The crazy people shouting in the street. The drunks & junkies passed out in the middle of the sidewalk. The young partygoers who step right over them in their short skirts and stilettos without so much as a second thought.  The NYU kids, and bridge & tunnel set, who infiltrate my neighborhood to get wicked drunk and act stupid, then throw up all over the place and go home.

I’m sick of hostile, selfish jerks fighting about meaningless bullshit. I’m sick of people constantly approaching me on the street; always trying to sell me something; disguising their agenda; wanting a hand out. I’m sick of lacking in personal space. I’m sick of jam-packed subway trains; waiting for buses that never come on schedule; navigating through hoards of people everywhere I go. I’m sick of being “a bag lady” that has to carry 20 lbs of crap around all day because it’s not feasible to run home between meetings. I’m sick of buying too many groceries and having to lug them 15 blocks + 5 flights of stairs, when I can’t get a cab. I’m sick of dragging all my dirty laundry 4 blocks to the nearest filthy Laundromat. I’m sick of how expensive it is to live here. I’m sick of busting my ass at multiple jobs just to barely make ends meet. I’m sick of my rude, nosy landlady; tiptoeing around to avoid her; living without hot water and heat at least several days out of every month, even though she just raised my rent. I’m sick of freezing cold winters; all those lost months spent indoors waiting for the return of pleasant weather. I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired. I’m sick of it ALL.

Yep, I’m coming to the realization that the pace and tenor of this city just doesn’t suit me. I’m a California gal, who runs on California time, at California speed. I need more nature than the park can provide. I need sunshine, space, clean streets, some peace and quiet, please! I’m also realizing that I gave up a pretty lovely life back in Los Angeles – a beautiful little home in a picturesque hillside neighborhood; a foxy Volkswagen at the ready in my garage; my family close by.

It’s not that I didn’t appreciate these things before, I DID, but perhaps I have an even greater appreciation now that I’ve lived in Manhattan. I was always aware of, and very grateful for my extremely good fortune, which is probably why I never truly set the wheels in motion to live in another city, even though I thought about it for years. Sure, I daydreamed of giving San Francisco, Seattle, or Hawaii a go, but I never thought I’d actually have the guts to move or the wherewithal to successfully thrive outside of my hometown.

lavsnybandw

I never thought NYC was a place I’d ever live. In fact, I was quite sure it would “chew me up and spit me out.” Yet it called me. Once I began to explore the possibility, events unfolded rather effortlessly to move me cross-country. I needed to get out of my comfort zone, go somewhere completely different, and kick my life up a notch. I had a lot to prove, to myself mostly, about what I’m truly capable of. New York gave me that. She toughened me up and forced me hustle. I needed that swift kick in the pants and she delivered in spades.

But New York has also worn me out. I feel like I’ve aged 2 years for every one I’ve lived here. I’m tired. And lonely. I need some love, not another hard knock lesson. This city can light you up like a firework, make you feel as if you’re living the dream, and are the luckiest person alive just to be a part of it. It can also be harsh and unforgiving. New York doesn’t owe you anything. She’s not going to make it easy on you. She may even kick you while you’re down, if you’re not careful. Sometimes when you’re at your wit’s end, she might cut you some slack, but probably not for long. There are certainly many other friendlier places on Earth to live. New York is great if you: have money (and lots of it); thrive on chaos; require constant stimulation; are a workaholic; have ADD, a thick skin, and a high tolerance for other people’s suffering; don’t need a lot of space; can’t exist outside of epic urban habitats.

Perhaps I’m just too sensitive to live here. Maybe I want an easier life after all. Is that so wrong? I don’t want to struggle anymore. I don’t have to. I’m lucky. I can leave. I have a choice, a Plan B, a really awesome one at that.

It’s true, I let opportunities slip through the cracks. I had an abundance of good ideas that I didn’t follow up on. I chose to prioritize the needs of my clients, for the sake of making money, over the things that I’m really passionate about. I took the safer path and thought small. I lacked faith in my abilities. Often I didn’t have the energy, or the inclination, to compete in this cutthroat game. Maybe I could have taken greater risks, thrown more caution to the wind, but it ultimately goes back to the pace thing. I just didn’t have it in me, to do it all and devote myself 24/7. I want a life that’s about more than work.

I might’ve had it when I first moved here. There was a time when I was willing to do whatever it took to stay in New York. While living in my first apartment, I was suddenly given 25 days to move out and at that time, going back to LA simply was NOT an option. I wasn’t going to leave NY before I was ready. This was my dream. I wanted to build a life here. No one was going to take that away from me. Yeah, I had that drive at one point, but I lost it somewhere along the way. To be fair, I did try especially hard to make this work. I applied for hundreds of jobs. I worked at a vintage clothing boutique on Orchard Street (before it went out of business), as a home/office organizer, a photography assistant,  a stylist, a hand model, an executive assistant for several high-profile CEOs, all the while pursuing my own personal writing and photography projects. I explored lots of avenues, but nothing really stuck. I kept giving it more time, hoping all these irons in the fire would manifest into my “big break” if I could just be patient a little longer.

There was a time in NYC’s history when you could live in Greenwich Village as an artist and not have a job. You could just be an artist. What a revolutionary concept. It’s what people did and there was a community here to support that – in the 1920′s era of Edna St. Vincent Mallay and Dorothy Parker; in the 1950/60′s Beat Generation era of Allen Ginsberg and Bob Dylan; and in the 1980’s “NY 500″ era of Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Keith Haring. It was a profoundly grittier Village then, but you could survive with a little help from your friends. Everyone: paint, write, perform, produce shows, make films, host salons; express yourself, tune in, drop out! But those scenes don’t exist anymore. When millionaire developers buy up nursing homes and low-income tenement buildings to erect glass box condo lofts for the mega-rich, and rent for a 300-square-foot shoebox can easily run you $2000 per month, how does anyone manage to live here without earning a six-figure salary?

can't afford to love ny

I did periodically re-evaluate, but the answer I kept receiving: “Give it another year. It’s not time to pull up stakes yet.” People would always tell me, “It takes at least a year to feel comfortable in NY. It takes at least 3 years to get your bearings. It takes at least 5 years to really establish yourself here.” And in the back of my mind, lingered this nagging question, “Yeah but, at what point do you read the writing on the wall and decide that enough is enough?”

2012 certainly fit that bill, serving as a huge mirror and provoking much reflection. The year kicked off with bang, when the guy I’d been dating unexpectedly had a New Year’s Eve freak out and broke up with me shortly after midnight. This coincided with the equally sudden passing of my landlord in his apartment downstairs and the unbearable stench of death that lingered in our building for months. Spring packed its own punches as I was hired and then subsequently fired from what I thought was my “dream job”. A series of nasty legal disputes, violations of privacy, and abusive threats turned my once comfortable apartment sublet into an intolerable source of stress. Thankfully, summer blessed me with a few desperately needed getaways to Kismet, Fire Island. And fall graced me with a trip to the rolling hills of Burgenland, Austria where the emphasis on fine wine, family, tradition, and luxuriating illuminated life’s paramount importances to me. Then of course, Hurricane Sandy pummeled the East Coast in late October, yielding the biggest lessons of the year.

are you happy?

So, as a result of all this soul-searching, I’m finally clear on a few things: I want to be an entrepreneurial artist, not a corporate career gal. I want to have the time and means to pursue my passions: for food, drink, culture, and travel; research, writing, photography, and cartography. I want to live in a house, ideally close to the ocean, that reflects my personal design sensibilities. I want to travel and see the world. I don’t want to work multiple jobs that I have no vested interest in for some overpriced, cramped apartment that will never belong to me, and doesn’t afford the opportunity to venture much of anywhere else.

I want a creative, collaborative partnership with a compassionate, free-spirited man who values the balance of work and play; who desires true love rather than perpetual bachelorhood. Not too many New York men are looking for this with so many beautiful options at their disposal. (Yes, I chose that word on purpose.) Also, I don’t see myself raising a child here. The idea of walking down the streets of Manhattan with a baby, amidst this swirling chaos, scares the bejeezus out of me. (Not to mention, the schools are so expensive and competitive!)

New York certainly got its hooks in me good though. I definitely bought into the work driven, fast paced, single serving, hustle bustle. I may have even convinced myself that I’d be content building a life here for the long haul. But a part of me will always feel out of alignment with this place. You can take the gal out of California, but you can’t take California out of the gal. It’s where I come from and it’s a huge part of who I am. The Universe planted me there from the beginning for a reason.

There was a time when I equated going back to LA with failure. If that happened, it would mean I wasn’t strong/ambitious/talented enough to hack it in NY and I’d return to being all the things I’d left behind – single, isolated, bored, and complacent, again. But things have changed, I’ve changed. I’m the one who gives meaning to my experiences. I can choose to see this return as a new and exciting, completely different era, a clean slate. I’ve gained a much clearer understanding of who I am and what I want out of life. I’ve got this NY energy coursing through my veins now and I can put it to better use in LA. It’s simply impossible to go back to the way things were in the past.

So, does this mean I don’t love NY anymore? Hell no! Quite the contrary. Much like a love affair, you can love someone deeply and know that they’re not a good match for you, that you’re not long-term material, and your destiny lies elsewhere, impossible as it may feel to walk away. I can’t change the things I don’t love about NY, that’s just who she is, and I need to accept her, worts and all.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid to go back to LA. I am afraid to fall into old patterns and habits. I’m afraid to drive again. I’m afraid I’ll be filled with regret, miss NY, and feel as if I made a terrible mistake. I’m afraid I won’t be able to make my new career dreams come true or meet my ideal romantic partner there either. I’m afraid to go backwards, rather than forward.

It’s clear to me now that my biggest blocks about returning to LA are mental ones. It’s all a matter of perspective that I alone am responsible for. I choose my attitude, thoughts, and actions. YES, it is time to read the writing on the wall. Not just read it, but do something about it. I don’t need to fear this. I need to listen to my heart and let go of the things that are no longer serving my highest good! Life is too damn short. I have faith because, you know what? I trust myself and this change finally feels right…

make the jump

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Have you ever been guided to make a big move? Did you experience a series of AHA! moments that prompted you to change your life’s path? I’d love to hear your story, so please leave a comment below. If this post resonates with you, share with a friend, and be sure to SUBSCRIBE (in the top right hand corner of this page) so you can receive all my freshly pressed posts directly to your inbox when they go live every week!

Coming up next week: Living in New York is a lot like having a love affair…

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January 24, 2012 · 6:34 pm

Introducing: Eye For Style Services

Welcome to Eye For Style Services, a personal concierge service for all your dining, entertainment, shopping, and travel needs! I love turning other savvy souls onto my favorite things, creating memorable moments, and helping people live their best life. I’m a bonafide tastemaker with very high-standards, and lucky for you, I’ve got an arsenal of carefully curated sources and contacts, insider deals and tricks-of-the-trade, right at my fingertips and ready to tap at a moment’s notice. So, you share your vision, and I’ll make it a reality. No dream is too big or small. Imagine the possibilities…

Service #1: Just a Suggestion

Do you need a spot-on recommendation? Where’s the perfect bar for a casual drink, or cool restaurant for a hot date? Where do you take that hard to impress client or out-of-town friend? What’s the quintessential boutique to find that perfect gift? Call me for a quickie phone consult and I’ll help you locate a guaranteed “no fail zone” to get exactly what you’re looking for. Don’t have time to take care of all the particulars? No worries. I’ll do the research, make the arrangements, and message you the deets. You just show up – and take all the credit for your impeccable taste.

From $40/hr.

Service #2: Wanderluster’s Cure

Desperately need a weekend getaway? Fantasizing about your next vacation abroad? Call me for a quick phone consult and tell me what kind of respite you’re craving. Whether it be spa, sports, or sightseeing, I’ll do my homework and provide you with a short list of available destinations, tailored specifically to your interests and budget. Don’t have time to make all the trip arrangements yourself? Fear not! I’ll customize a complete travel itinerary, from transportation to hotel, activities and eateries, for that perfect solo expedition, romantic escapade, or family adventure you’ve been dreaming of. Just pack your bags and prepare to explore new horizons. I’ll handle every tiny detail, you send me a postcard.

From $60/hr

Service #3: Omnivore’s Dilemma

Want to have a few friends over to chill? Host a fancy dinner party? Create a romantic evening in for 2? Call me for a quickie phone consult and share your culinary vision. I’ll head to Eataly, Chelsea Market, Dean & Deluca, Whole Foods, whatever you’re in the mood for, to custom-design a terrific food & drink menu for you and yours. I’ll procure the all the necessary ingredients for you to cook, or devise an easy to assemble, pre-prepared feast. Better yet, hire one of my favorite private chefs and sommeliers to cater every course in style! Let your guests in on the action, or pretend you did all the work yourself. It’s our little secret.

From $80/hr

Service #4: Ready to Wear

Looking for a few new pieces to perk up your closet this season? Does your wardrobe need a complete overhaul? Don’t have time to find that perfect outfit for an event? No sweat! Eye For Style offers personal wardrobe services, with a seasoned commercial stylist, specifically suited to your needs, taste, and budget. We’ll shop together at your favorite shops or I’ll bring a collection of handpicked items right to your home or office. Looking fashionable has never been so fun and easy!

From $80/hr

Service #5: Order From Chaos

For information about my home & office organizing services, please click here.

Can’t wait to get started? Kick off your quickie consult via this request form:

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Testimonials from happy clients provided upon request. Just ask!

Food & wardrobe services available in New York City and Los Angeles only.

Personal concierge & travel services available in the United States.

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Artwork by: freya art and design. Check out her delightful store on etsy.com!

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April 25, 2011 · 5:38 pm

GVSHP Village House Tour Benefit – May 1, 2011

This Sunday is Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation’s 13th Annual House Tour Benefit and it will offer exceptional access into seven of the Village’s finest and most exclusive homes.

This year’s tour highlights include a stately Italianate home with an elaborately-paneled entrance and intricate, original moldings; an artist’s townhouse and studio with an unexpected layout and surprising hidden features, including a backyard treehouse; a 350-square foot apartment with anything but a small sense of style accessed by a splendid shared courtyard; an art collector’s two-floor retreat featuring a life-sized mosaic tile tree; an extra-wide townhouse with Victorian-era details, once the home of Emily Post; and a traditional townhouse featuring a restored stoop and façade and an interior rich with period detail, some salvaged from other Village residences.

Advance tickets may be purchased online before April 30 and will be available for pick up on May 1st after 12:30 pm at Greenwich House Music School. The tour is completely self-guided, rain or shine, from 1 – 5:30 pm, and a cocktail reception will follow the tour at a private townhouse in the neighborhood atop a stunning roof deck.

I can’t think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon in The Village and support a very worthy cause while you’re at it. GVSHP is at the forefront of the fight to protect still un-designated portions of Greenwich Village and a leader against NYU’s massive 2031 expansion plan. While NYU seems determined to take over the Village for their megolithic purposes, GVSHP is thankfully one of the only organizations to continuously hold NYU accountable for the promises they’ve made to the neighborhood, and serve as community watchdog to make sure the university responsibly rehabs its existing properties. They are invested in the push to move NYU’s future expansion plans to the Financial District, so that the spirit and integrity of Greenwich Village may be preserved for future generations. Be sure to take a look at their website to see the all myraid community causes they’re involved in, and if these issues speak to you as well, please buy a tour ticket in support or make a donation. Every little bit helps!

 

The weather promises to be lovely (fingers crossed), so if you’re interested in making a whole weekend of it, consider also attending the OHNY and Fourth Arts Block (FAB) Tour of East 4th Street on 
Saturday, April 30 at 1pm.

FAB is rooted in the Lower East Side’s long history of hosting community and cultural spaces that served marginalized immigrants, artists, and activists. In the 1960s and ‘70s, East 4th Street coalesced as a center for experimental theater and film. Four decades later, the block’s cultural groups founded FAB to preserve and develop these historic arts spaces.

The tour grants you access to many of the East 4th Street theaters, promoting an opportunity for discussion and awareness of how FAB weaves the arts with neighboring small businesses to strengthen a distinctive East Village cultural and community identity. To buy tickets, click here.

 

*Sidenote: The fact that I’m mentioning any of this at all, makes it official. I’m turning into my mother.

I jest, but seriously, I’m such a preservation/architecture/design nerd in my own right that GVSHP made me a docent captain for their House Tour Benefit this year. I’ve volunteered as a docent for the last 3 years running and it’s definitely one of the events I most look forward to every spring. I’m a freelance artist, and tickets aren’t cheap, so volunteering my time is an ideal way to participate. I love meandering through the Village with a map, exploring those yet undiscovered nooks and crannies of my neighborhood, and gaining unprecendented access to the crème de la crème of NYC residences. It is a rare treat to actually enter these homes that I walk by every day, and oogle the impeccable design, art collections, and impressive restorations. The tour always inspires to me to dream big about what I’ll create in my own future West Village rowhouse and secret garden (after I make my first couple of millions!) I also meet the nicest people every year and really look forward to the fascinating conversations I have with other die-hard Village lovers who are always chock full of interesting lore about these buildings and the illustrious residents who’ve inhabited them in the past.

You must understand that I find this passion of mine more than a little ironic because as a child, I was constantly dragged, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, to many a home and urban walking tour by my mother, Christy Johnson McAvoy, an esteemed historic preservation and architectural consultant in Los Angeles. She’s one of the founding members of Hollywood Heritage, multi-term President of the Los Angeles Conservancy and the California Preservation Foundation, among other notable credits.

I was affectionately known in these circles as “the preservation kid” growing up, undoubtedly attending more tours and conferences than many of the adult members of these organizations. I developed a well-earned reputation for being that incredibly well-behaved child who sat quietly in the corner entertaining myself with coloring books during Hollywood Heritage board meetings at Wattles Mansion. And I was probably one of the only people under the age of 30 to witness Cecil B. DeMille’s Barn crawl slowly through the streets of Hollywood on a flatbed truck in the wee hours of the morning as it made it’s 1983 pilgrimage from it’s original location (where it was in danger of succombing to the wrecking ball), to it’s now permanent resting place in the parking lot across from the Hollywood Bowl on Highland Avenue. When my Mom worked on the city surveys of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, I’d accompany her as she drove every block, and call out each home’s architectural style from the back seat, like it was a fun game. “Colonial Revival! Tudor! Craftsman!”

It was clear to me as a young girl, people in the preservation community admired my mother tremendously. She was extremely beloved and a singular wealth of knowledge on topic of historic preservation. Everyone wanted her involvement and advice. She was leagues ahead of her time, crafting her own niche and starting up her own consulting business, in a relatively unpopular field by Los Angeles standards. She was, and remains to this day, a human encyclopedia of architectural information, with a mind-boggling personal library and memorabilia archive to boot, that is virtually impossible to rival.

And while I recollect that it was sometimes fun to check out an infinite array of exclusive Hollywood landmarks and feel privy to rather sophicated circles at such a young age, I also remember wanting to just stay home and play with my toys, and thinking that other kid’s parents didn’t do this weird kind of stuff on the weekends. (“Awww, Mom. Can we go now?”)

As proud as I am of my mother, it became important to me to chart a different course and pursue my own interests as a grew older. Being the Hollywood chick that I am, it seemed a natural path to explore acting and filmmaking. I had an talent agent in my teens, and attended UCLA’s School of Theatre, Film, and TV, though I never quite felt 100% comfortable in front of the camera. As I realized I was more suited to creating behind the lens, I attended Art Center College of Design and majored in Film Directing.

Despite my best laid plans though, my mother’s passion for preservation and architecture did in fact rub off on me, and when presented with the opportunity to photograph a series of landmark buildings for the National Register of Historic Places and CA State Office of Historic Preservation after I graduated from film school, I was happy to oblige. I justified this because A) I needed the work and B) “it was more about photography than architecture”. Surprisingly, I found myself quite enjoying the work of photo documenting historic preservation and rehabilitation projects, and over the course of the next decade, I ended up photographing over 60 historic building projects in Los Angeles and California. (Read more “backstory” here)

So, I have to chuckle a little at myself now, when I attend these type of events – of my own volition and with great enthusiasm. Now that I live here in New York City, it’s actually become a way for me to stay connected to my mother and continue sharing our mutual passions. It’s impossible for me not to think of her during the GVHSP tour and I always end up calling her afterwards and sharing every little detail. I have great hope she’ll make it out one spring and join me for the tour. That will be one full circle moment, to be sure.

In the meantime, I hope you’ll think about taking your son or daughter on the tour with you! They might protest, want to touch stuff, and intermittenly act bored, but you might just plant a seed about the value of preserving the places of the past, for the future kids of Greenwich Village, and that IS actually pretty cool…

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. I love you!

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March 24, 2011 · 3:12 pm

Eat & Booze For a Good Cause

Times are tough, no question. The world is changing rapidly. Millions of people are in the midst of a daily struggle to survive. We are facing an overwhelming amount of devastating crises, both at home and abroad. We want to help, but don’t know where to start sometimes.

Food is one of the only common denominators in this world, across every culture, country, language, and religion, that truly brings people together. Breaking bread is a sacred experience. Sharing a meal creates lasting bonds. We demonstrate our love and respect through the food we serve to others. We can be of service to others by making wise choices about where and what we consume.

Luckily, there are an abundance of terrific opportunities to put your money where your mouth is this month. I’ve compiled a short list of the tastiest happenings, from coast to coast, so you can eat well for a good cause. If you know of other simpatico events, please feel free to comment with info and links, so we can all contribute to uplifting our global community.

 

Dine Out for Japan Relief: March 23 – 30, 2011

APA @NBC Universal is proud to partner with AZIX, Japanese American Association, New York State Restaurant Association, FEED and the restaurant industry for “Dine out for Japan Relief”.  For one week, participating restaurants will donate a portion of their profits to the Red Cross. A donation of 5%* from every breakfast, lunch and dinner meal will go toward disaster relief efforts to help those affected by the earthquake in Japan and tsunami through the Pacific.

@ PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS:

ABC Kitchen • Aburiya Kinnosuke • Alice’s Tea Cups • Asia de Cuba • Bar Basque

Bar Italia • Bogota Bistro 
• Brasserie Ruhlmann • Captain Bill’s • Carte Blanche

Cha-An • China Grill • Choshi • Crabtree’s Kittle House 
• Curry-Ya • Decibel

Ed’s Chowder House • The Empire Hotel Rooftop • FoodParc • Hakata Tonton

Havana Central • Hasaki 
• Ippudo NY • Jack the Horse Tavern • Jojo • Ko Sushi

Le Colonial Restaurant • Madison • The Mark Restaurant 
• The Mercer Kitchen

North Square Restaurant Orsay • Otafuku PDT • Perry St • Plunge
• Rai Rai Ken

Robataya • Sakagura • SD26 • Shabu-tatsu • Shimizu • Sobaya • Soba Totto

Sugar Bun Bakery 
• Tanuki Tavern • Telepan • Totto Ramen • Yakitori Totto

For more details, please visit:
www.nysra.org/DineOutforJapan

 

Fry for Life: March 16, 2011 –

@ Terroir Tribeca, 24 Harrison St. (at Greenwich St.); 212-625-9463.

& Terroir East Village, 413 E. 12th St. (at First Ave.)

Both Terroir wine bars are raising money for Japan relief one $6 plate of ginger-garlic-soy fried chicken at a time. All proceeds from the chicken go toward Doctors Without Borders in Japan. The recipe for these super crisp and juicy boneless chicken thighs is the same one that Yoshi Nonaka, a line cook at Hearth, uses for staff meals.


NY Vintners: March 24 – 30, 2011

@ 21 Warren Street, New York; 212.812.3999

100% of sales proceeds on all sake wine bottles will be donated to Japanese Earthquake Relief. For store hours and more information: http://www.newyorkvintners.com/


Brewers for Brewers Benefit: March 28, 2011; 7 – 10 pm

@ Brooklyn Brewery, 79 N. 11th St., Brooklyn; 718-486-7422 or goodbeerseal.com

New York-area brewers Sixpoint Craft Ales, Brooklyn Brewery, Heartland and Empire Brewing Co., team up with The Meat Hook for food, suds and a silent auction to raise money to aid their Japanese counterparts, the Kiuchi Brewery (makers of Hitachino), and other earthquake-damaged sake and beer breweries

Click here to purchase tickets.

 

The Village Voice’s Choice Eats: March 29, 2011; 6:30 – 9:30 pm

@ 69th Armory on Lexington Avenue, 68 Lexington Ave @ 26th Street, NYC


 

The Village Voice proudly presents their fourth annual curated Choice Eats tasting event. Handpicked restaurants and food trucks from all five boroughs featured in The Village Voice reviews are represented, along with complimentary craft beer pairings, wine and liquor-laced cocktails. A portion of the Choice Eats ticket sales will be donated to this year’s charitable partner, Slow Food NYC, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to achieving a good, clean, and fair food system.

For the complete list of participating restaurants and to purchase tickets, click here.

 

Punch Party for Japan: Monday April 11, 2011; 7 pm -

@ Summit Bar, 133 Ave C, New York

Show your support for Japan and enjoy some top-shelf punches in the process at this benefit going down at East Village’s best cocktail haunt, Summit Bar. Spirit brands like Pernod Absinthe, Beefeater and Belvedere have teamed up with mixologist, Greg Seider, to create six concoctions featuring Japan-inspired ingredients. Your $20 ticket (pay at the door) goes straight to the Japan Society Earthquake Relief Fund, and it scores you bottomless glasses of punch all evening. Whiskey lovers can also support the Yamazaki whiskey distillery by purchasing neat pours ($10) and whiskey cocktails ($12) while jamming to tunes from DJ Kimiko Masuda.

 

Taste of the Lower East Side – April 28, 2011;   7 – 10:30 pm

@ 82 Mercer @ Spring Street, New York; 917.639.5850

This year’s 11th annual Taste of the Lower East Side will proudly feature the signature dishes from over 50 neighborhood restaurants and an all-night open bar of specialty cocktails. Benefiting the Grand Street Settlement, proceeds will be used to fund programs and services for Lower East Side community residents of all ages – from toddlers to teens, senior citizens and families.

This event was born in 2000 when a pioneering group of young professionals saw the neighborhood’s burgeoning restaurant scene as a terrific cultural resource and rallied the culinary community to help raise sorely needed funds to support the Grand Street Settlement’s various programs. The now yearly event has since enabled local restaurants, food lovers, and corporate sponsors alike to give back to the neighborhood and celebrate its diversity on an ongoing basis.  Despite the increasing business development and gentrification, the community continues to face serious social-economic issues and a great need for social services, so your support is greatly appreciated!

The event has grown in size every year since and is now thought of as a premier culinary event, drawing a crowd of 1000+ food lovers. This year’s event will feature music by Nick Pattakos, as well as a silent auction and raffle prizes – including a new iPad2, courtesy of Tekserve.

Participating restaurants include:

A Casa Fox – Alias – barrio chino – Beauty & Essex

Café Coradito – The Clerkenwell – Clinton St. Baking Co.

DBGB Kitchen & Bar – Double Crown – Edi & the Wolf

Falai Panetteria – The Fat Radish – Gemma

Hecho en Dumbo – Hotel on Rivington – ‘inoteca

Il Laboratorio Del Gelato – Kuma Inn – La Esquina

Little Giant – Loreley Restaurant & Biergarten – Macando

The Meatball Shop – Mercadito – Mercat – Mulberry Project

Northern Spy Food Co. – Olivia – Osteria Morini

Peels – Porchetta – Public – Pulino’s – Rayuela

Rice – Roni Sue’s Chocolates – Russ & Daughters – Salt Bar

San Marzano – Schiller’s Liquor Bar – The Stanton Social

Sugar Sweet Sunshine Bakery – Think Coffee – Tre

Vandaag – Veselka – wd50 – Yerba Buena

With beverages by:

Anheuser-Busch – Barcardi Rum – Barefoot Wine & Bubbly

Bombay Sapphire – Grey Goose Vodka – Izze Sparkling Juice

For a complete list of participating restaurants and sponsors, please visit: www.grandstreet.org/taste

To purchase tickets, click here. This is a 21+ event.


Global Street Food – May 1, 2011; 11 am – 1 pm

@ The Broad Stage, 1310 11th St., Santa Monica, CA

Join Evan Kleiman, host of KCRW’s Good Food, for an exploration of street food from around the globe. The OC Weekly’s Gustavo Arellano will join Evan and other special guests for a discussion on how street food can shape the culture of a city and influence what we eat.  Then, sample international street food flavors from some of L.A.’s best food trucks, including Mariscos Jalisco, Let’s Be Frank, India Jones, Piaggio Gourmet on Wheels and the Nom Nom Truck alongside the warm Latin/African grooves of the Masanga Marimba Ensemble. Proceeds will benefit KCRW. With NPR and public radio funding under attack, they need your help more than ever!

For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

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May 24, 2010 · 3:04 pm

Shepard Fairey’s May Day

@ Deitch Projects
May 1 – 29, 2010
18 Wooster Street, between Grand & Canal

Being the native Los Angelino that I am, it’s difficult to remember a time when you didn’t see the now iconic image of Andre the GIANT’s face or the all-caps prompt to OBEY, on some street corner in the city. Since the beginning, this form of delightful, modern propaganda has resonated with me and I’ve always kept an eye out for those quintessential Shepard Fairey urban marks: a sticker slapped high on a lamp post, a stencil sprayed on the sidewalk, and of course, the wheatpaste posters that pop up in a host of eye-catching locations, seemingly overnight. It was always exciting to drive around and see the latest incarnation of Fairey’s guerrilla art sweep the streets with a new message for the masses. Somewhere along the lines, I began collecting the stuff, snapping photos of stickers in their often ironic locations, and squirreling away abandoned Fairey art that had been left on the walls of the buildings I photographed for my architectural clients.

Well, Shepard Fairey’s come along way since his early beginnings in LA circa 1989, crossing over from humble yet visionary street art and clothing lines, to some now big time, mainstream art venues. ICA Boston hosted a full-scale solo retrospective last year entitled, Supply & Demand, which then traveled to the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, and has now landed at CCA in Cincinnati for the majority of Summer 2010.

Luckily for New Yorkers, he also scored the final exhibition at Deitch Projects, which will run for the entire month of May until Jeffrey Deitch officially pulls up his New York stakes and heads to Los Angeles, for good. God only knows why Deitch would leave this incredible space, an enormously beautiful gallery, straddling the borders of Chinatown and SoHo, with 20 foot tall x 60 feet long gleeming white walls, and 5 skylights overhead that create an abundance of natural light. A long wood bench bisects the main space and serves as a fantastic spot to sit and linger, take notes and discuss, marvel in all the little details and eavesdrop on highly interesting conversations about the art world. But, if Deitch is going to leave gritty New York for sunny Los Angeles, he’s certainly opted to go out with a timely and current bang, featuring the brand spankin’ newest works of Shepard Fairey, and I can’t think of a more perfect artist to select as segway between these two worlds.

In this incredible collection, entitled May Day, Fairey explores the multiple meanings of the term, coined as a reference to International Workers or Labor Day; signaling an SOS or distress call; and serving as a revolutionary call to action. The work clearly illuminates themes of today’s consumer obsessed America, our culture of corporate and political greed, and is craftily intermingled with imagery of Eastern European facism, socialism, and worldwide tactics of propaganda. Images of raised fists, megaphones, tabloid newspapers, national flags, and subversive symbolism are artfully integrated with printing presses, roses in guns, wind turbines, doves of peace, and somehow made rather sexy by all the dark, sultry feminine eyes and pouty red, kitten lips he employs.

I absolutely love getting right up on these canvases and examining Fairey’s process of layering. He’s applied mid-century era, yellowing newspaper ads, maps and comics, next to beautiful Asian and Indian-inspired floral wallpapers, and kaleidoscopic mandalas of sorts. Some of the papering appears to be stuff he’s found from old newspapers and magazines, other pieces seem to have been designed and printed by the artist himself, and made to look like classic advertisements. These papered layers are then layered with more layers of spray paint, stenciling, and brush strokes. The attention to detail is simply mindboggling!

Despite the somewhat intense, activist subject matter, the work surprisingly leaves you feeling awed and perhaps even optimistic about our future. As much as this exhibition addresses the dangers of propaganda and advocates for the “quality manufacturing of dissent”, it equally espouses the ideals of freedom of speech and the press, green energy, peace, love and hope.

To Fairey’s credit, this exhibition is also a celebration of revolutionaries who affected mainsteam change, including portraits of musicians and artists such as: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Woody Guthrie, Nico, Patti Smith, and Debbie Harry. There’s also beautiful portraits of political activists, including the Dalai Lama, and the faces of those fighting for justice in Burma, Cambodia, and Uganda. These portraits are individual works on large canvases, but are again integrated into wall clusters of smaller framed works that mix brilliantly with punk, rock, skate, and street culture imagery. Interestingly, Fairey sticks primarily to utilizing one specific color palette for all of the pieces in the collection – strictly black, cream, and reddish burgundy. Only the artists’ portraits integrate a bit of yellow. The handmade LP record covers, hanging behind the reception desk, are also not to be missed.

Unfortunately, there’s only a few days left to catch this show and I highly recommend the trip over there, whether you are familiar with Fairey’s work or not. You’ll surely be a fan when you leave and no doubt, you’ll be spotting Obey Giant stars all over town and sending away for your own personal “urban renewal kit” in no time.

For a full-fledged day of street art appreciation, I’d start out at Deitch Projects on Wooster, then head Northeast to check out Fairey’s May Day mural on the corner of Houston and Bowery. (Sidenote: I just passed by it again the other day and to my horror, found that it’d been largely taken over with this horribly ugly graffiti tag. I had to pause and wonder whether Fairey would be angry or might approve, as such is the nature of street art after all?!) Continue east on Houston to Landmark Sunshine Cinemas for a showing of Exit Through the Giftshop, a documentary and self-proclaimed “street art disaster movie” by and about the equally legendary street artist, Banksy.

To view more of my street art photography, please visit my website, www.eyeforstyle.net.

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November 1, 2009 · 6:43 pm

My intention for this blog

Firstly, I’m a photographer/stylist, specializing in architecture and interiors. I love historic buildings, eclectic décor & modern design. I’m also an art, music, and food lover. I revel in all things that create “culture” – experiencing and documenting it, both locally and in my world travels, through the medium of photography and the written word.

It’s also worth noting that, without fail, no matter where I am, people always ask me for recommendations. If I’m on vacation, I’m often mistaken for a local and asked my opinion about where to go for fun activiities, amazing food, picturesque photo opts, etc. Perhaps it’s because I love to do research about the places I visit beforehand, so that by the time I get there, I’m already an “expert” of sorts. I much prefer to go “incognito”, doing as the locals do instead of hitting up tourist destinations. Doing my homework ahead of time, enables me to venture further off the beaten path, deepen the quality of my travels, and maximize my time in a destination.

And when I discover something that I absolutely love, I always want to turn other savvy folks onto it too. I really delight in sharing suggestions about my favorite places and it fills me with joy when people report back and tell me what a great experience they had based on my tips. So, I’m currently combining all of my interests: photography & digital cartography, style & design, food & art + lists & maps, musings & recommendations = my photo website and wordpress blog, which I happily share with all of YOU, the people who love this stuff as much as I do!

Welcome to my EYE FOR STYLE BLOG!

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· 6:24 pm

From Hollywood to New York City

Hello World! I’m Carly. I spent the first 33 years of my life “cutting my teeth” in Hollywood, California. After a whirlwind trip to the Big Apple in November 2007, I suddenly and quite unexpectedly knew, with every fiber of my being, that I needed to make a huge life change and move to New York City.  NYC is honestly never, EVER a city I thought I’d live in. I always thought that New York would “chew me up and spit me out” and that my laid back, California vibe would probably not mesh so well with the 24/7 hustle & bustle of loud & dirty, show no pity, New York City.

But during that short visit, New York spoke to me. LOUDLY. It said, “You must be HERE!” It was intoxicating. The skyscrapers, bright lights, yellow taxi cabs, crushes of people, the deafening pulse and non-stop electricity flowing through the streets – it got inside me. I was energized in a way that I hadn’t been in a long, long time. It was like, flipping on a light switch and turning up the volume full blast! I felt so ALIVE.

And I’d been feeling rather stagnant in Los Angeles. I’d sort of plateued in my LA career and I had been looking for the next big thing to sink my teeth into for some time. So, I returned to LA and spent months researching and making plans. I went to NY for one steamy hot July to catsit for a vacationing friend (and to make sure I could really hang and “wasn’t romanticizing everything”). After I got over my first day jitters, I immediately felt at home – and happy. Plans fell effortlessly into place, I secured an apartment, and on my 34th birthday (9/5/08), I made the big cross country move to Greenwich Village.

I’ve been living here in NYC for just over a year now and so much has happened in such a short time, it feels like my life in LA was a million years ago. In hindsight, I wish I’d started a blog right when I moved here. It would’ve been so great to have documented my first year here right from the get go. All the brand spanking new lessons and revelations, trials and tribulations. I arrived in the city, and hit the ground running, exploring all the little nooks and crannies of NYC, with so many still to discover. Each neighborhood truly has a different architectural flavor, food culture, ethnic diversity, art and music scene. Every day I chose different area to explore, on “photo missions” with my camera, to build my NYC photography portfolio and website from square one.

Being the perfectionist that I am, I’ve been contemplating how best to start this blog for the past 6 months. “But where do I start the story? I’m right in the middle of it! Do I start from the beginning and post the photography I’ve already shot? Or do I just start right now and focus on my most current work?!”  Ultimately, I’ve chosen to embrace a “JUST DO IT!” and “no time like the present!” attitude, so I will start TODAY. I will start where I’m at, in the present moment, as I enter into my second year in NYC, and I will figure out how to fill in the blanks as I go along. This perfect moment I’ve been waiting for, does not exist. It’s become more important to me to do it, and officially set the creative process in motion, than for it to be perfect. So, let the experiment begin!

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October 27, 2009 · 9:49 pm

Some backstory:

I’m Carly Caryn, a photographer and stylist, based out of my two favorite historic neighborhoods, New York City’s Greenwich Village and the Hollywood Knolls in Los Angeles, CA.

I’m a rare breed of Hollywood, California native whose love of architecture first began at the age of five, though I didn’t know it yet. My mother would drag me along on the historic walking tours of Los Angeles that she lead in the early 1980’s. I was known affectionately as “the preservation kid”, and grew up attending open house tours, boarding meetings, and community outreach events sponsored by organizations such as Hollywood Heritage, The Los Angeles Conservancy, California Preservation Foundation, and National Trust for Historic Preservation. Despite my perceived adolescent boredom with these subjects at the time, something resonated deep within…

I went on to attend UCLA’s School of Theatre, Film, and TV and later, Art Center College of Design, where I graduated with a BFA in Film, a music video reel, and delusions of grandeur about becoming the next hot MV director, a la Spike Jonze. Shortly thereafter, Historic Resources Group, one of LA’s top architectural and historic preservation firms, offered me the opportunity to photograph the Hall of Justice in Downtown Los Angeles for its CA State Office of Historic Preservation Tax Credit application.

One photography assignment lead to another, and over the last 10 years, I’ve since become a fairly accomplished architectural photographer, working on over 60 high profile renovation and rehabilitation projects with such notable credits as: The Standard Hotel, SoCal Institute of Architecture (SCIARC), Yamashiro Restaurant, 4 major Hollywood Studios, and over a dozen historic loft buildings in the newly redeveloped Artist & Old Bank Districts of Downtown LA, in addition to many exclusive residences designed by such esteemed architects as Frank Lloyd Wright, John Lautner, RM Schindler, Ray Kappe, Charles and Ray Eames. Needless to say, Julius Shulman is my idol, and I should be so fortunate to follow in his footsteps.

Out of my architectural work, sparked an idea for a personal photography project and labor of love – documenting LA’s retro “googie” signage and iconic historic landmarks, which I later applied the same concept to in my travels to San Francisco and New York City. I was initially attracted to capturing hyper-colorful old signage and their neon fonts, graphic shapes and construction for fun and use in my artwork, but as the project progressed, I started to feel a sense of duty and purpose in photographing these old buildings and cityscapes. After witnessing many architectural landmarks go by way of the wrecking ball time and time again, it became a personal mission of mine to document these gems while they are still in existence and ideally, play a part in their preservation.

This idea has more recently evolved into a new labor of love project, “geo-tagging” my archive of photographs with GPS coordinates and other such metadata to pinpoint their exact location on a web-based virtual map. I’m currently geeking out with all the latest technology, utilizing Google Earth/Maps to create downloadable maps and walking tours. I firmly believe that utilizing this revolutionary technology has the potential to become an invaluable cultural resource for the historic preservation and architectural communities around the world, and I would love to play a part in photo documenting and mapping historic districts, building by building, block by block. It is my hope that, through the medium of photography, I can play a vital role in the rehabilation process of historic buildings, document our city’s most beloved cultural landmarks, creating a library legacy of photographic images and urban mapping surveys, for future generation’s use.

Carly Caryn Self-Portrait

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