Trouble at Gino; Artists in the Meat Market

Under destruction? In today's New York Observer:

• The staff of legendary Upper East Side red-saucery Gino (a favorite of Gay Talese, Frank Sinatra, Wes Anderson and Woody Allen) are threatening to walk out over a contract dispute, according to our new guy on the beat, Chris shott--and the owners say they'll shut down before giving in to their demands. Says co-owner Salvatore Doria: "For not much more can you sell a dish of pasta, you know? This is it!" Talese says it's an "unhappy occasion."
• The Slope Opera continues, with Suzy Hansen writing about Stuart and Wright, the first really expensive boutique to open up in Fort Greene. This gives Brooklyn gals more ways (Butter! Bird! Diane T! Do these names mean anything to you?) to dress in $500 outfits while paying $1500 rents on $25,000 salaries. And a way to look like a real original in Manhattan--even if that black flannel dress is its own price tag walking down Smith Street.
• Michael Calderone breaks down the breakdown of the new newsroom being built for The New York Times: "For generations, the layout of the old Times Building has served as the physical manifestation of the organizational culture: From the back-of-the-newsroom clerks to the Sulzberger on the 14th floor, Timesmen have known their place by knowing their places." No more!
• After selling their 63-acre compound in Alpine, N.J. for $58 million about eight months ago, Emily T. Frick and Dr. Henry Clay Frick II, the grandson of the legendary steel magnate, have bought a co-op at the Old Family Names Only, Please address of 3 East 77th Street for $3.9 million.
• Painter Ryan McGinness has bought himself a "sanctuary" in the noisy, dangerous and now completely outre Meatpacking District for a shade under $900,000.
• And Andrew Heiberger, founder of CitiHabitats, solved a difficult political situation with his old firm by kicking back a little work to a dejected would-be partner.
• - Tom McGeveran