Travel + Leisure Magazine
The Afternoon Wrap: Monday
- Is Brooklyn a "Class A" kind of place? New York firms are leaving the "skyrocketing rents and scarce space" of Midtown and Downtown Manhattan for the "other" downtown. Thus Brooklyn is no longer "back office"--it's a "forward-thinking, hip, cool place to be," especially for uncool corporate types. [Real Deal]
- In similarly catastrophic-sounding news for the borough, thrift stores have been disappearing from Sunset Park. First there were six, then just a Salvation Army, now nothing. Where, oh where, will the Brooklynites get their hip tees? [Gowanus Lounge]
- Four posh retreats in the Northeast made a master list of 100 Vacation Dream Homes, but only two are in Manhattan. And yet the William Beaver House and Miravel Living [above left] don't strike the eye as "easy going." The scary-named Whiteface Lodge [above right] is more our speed. [Travel + Leisure]
- Tom Cruise Realty Quote of the Day: "The Dakota board loves Cruise, he wowed 'em. Plus, he's a hero to the Wall Street worthies on the board--Top Gun, Jerry McGuire, Mission: Impossible, etc.--they love that crap." [Gawker] - Max Abelson
The Afternoon Wrap: Thursday
- Reading about an overdesigned interior in the Upper East Side ("...built by bending plywood over wooden ribs and lacquering the surface, the finished wrapper creates a calm, cool atmosphere") is only shocking when it's an interior of a dentist's office. Actually, though, it's a teeth-whitening clinic. [See above] [Metropolis]
- The 9/11 memorial is finished! But not the big one. (This Anglophile memorial is the "British Memorial Garden at Hanover Square.") [N.Y.]
- New York City is getting greener by the month (although the city will probably be submerged in the Atlantic before one-half of new condos are environmentally sound.) This March, the USGBC is throwing the first annual Emerging Green Builders NY Career Fair. (Here's our slogan: "Be a LEED leader.") [Interior Design]
- New York has the highest concentration of Travel + Leisure's 2007 Design Award winners (and runners-up) of any metropolis. O Glorious Day! And yet the Gramercy Park Hotel only gets "honorable mention" for best large hotel. [T+L] - Max Abelson
The Afternoon Wrap: Tuesday
- Cobblestoned Front Street is enjoying a "new wave" of hipness. Witness the homemade pasta in airy farmhouses! Ogle at the "up-and-coming design talent"! There's even a "cozy organic beanery" with a cult following. [Travel + Leisure]
- After a lifetime in far-second place, Manhattan's condo listings are finally catching up to the co-ops [see above]. And that's a pity, because it means blue-eyed gentiles in Sperry Topsiders--with fourth-century money and school-taught etiquette--no longer have the upper hand. [Matrix / Crain's]
- Upstate New York's Cheektowaga has taken note of the condo-parasite problem. The town board will vote early next month on banning condo conversions. [Multi-Housing News]
- Two wonderful groups, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America and the International Association of Lighting Designers, will give 210 hours of courses to New Yorkers this summer. Park Avenue/Park Slope mommies in search of that extra-special color for the living room lights are already excited. [Interior Design] - Max Abelson
The Afternoon Wrap: Wednesday
- A brand-new Top 50 New York Restaurants list is an undeniably exciting thing, though phrases like "in-the-know New Yorkers," "culinary thrill-seekers," "casual chowhounds," "the Great Restaurant Boom," "celebrity-driven design showcase," "young culinary alchemist," and "greenmarket guru" may turn you off. [Travel + Leisure]
- Stewart Rahr's $45 million Burnt Point estate in the Hamptons has already been dubbed one of the Most Expensive Homes in the U.S., and now, thankfully, it's also one of Forbes' Millionaires' Green Mansions. That's because the 18,000-square-foot house has a geothermal cooling system in addition to its private dock and swimming pool. [Forbes]
- Be grateful you don't live in Atlanta, where Claude Monet's ghost is the new Donald Trump. [Architectural Record]
- Straight from Deerfield Beach, Fla., "Super Sleek" florescent lighting is oh so back. But you'll have to ditch your "grandpa fluorescents" if you want the very finest in "undercabinet task lighting." [Apartment Therapy]
- If you haven't had your daily fill of useless Manhattan lists, this week's profile of "Top 7 Bars With Fireplaces" is a must-read. Go for the crackling winter cuteness -- stay for the British-obsessed patrons, the mini cupcakes and "librarian's classics." [Resident] - Max Abelson
