American Express Company | The New York Observer

Change We Can Debit

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:35:18 -0400

There's a new font at the Open, and it might look familiar.

American Express, one of the tournament's major sponsors, seems to be cribbing from the Obama campaign's well-received graphic design, especially its use of Gotham font.

"It’s substantial yet friendly," branding expert Brian Collins said about Gotham to The New York Times. Just what you want from a credit...

No Matter What People Say, Beyoncé Leads a Quiet Life

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:45:24 -0500

There’s no question—Beyoncé Knowles enjoys a truly ridonkulous lifestyle. What with Jay-Z as your man, hotness as your bod, Sirens as your voice and gold buillon as your pennies, it must feel like the sun rises and sets in your gilt bidet. So don’t let this American Express commercial make you think any differently. Nobody—no matter how radical your ways and off-the-hook your style—should be forced to live like the woman in this minute-long...

Zero Memorial On Bumpy Path For Its Millions

Sun, 23 Apr 2006 20:00:00 -0400

Back in the heady days of 2003, no one seemed to want to talk about how much the World Trade Center memorial would cost. No one tried to keep costs down, and the amount to be raised privately was a well-kept secret. People argued over whether to give extra recognition to police officers and firefighters. They said that the Twin Towers’ footprint must be preserved. They crowed about opening up the memorial competition to...

New Yorkers for Santorum

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 07:15:14 -0400

The first quarter fund-raising numbers are beginning to trickle in, and once again Hillary Clinton is the big winner, raising a hefty $2 million a month each month from January through March. In a distant second place: Rick Santorum, whose war chest now holds $10 million, thanks to large GOP cash infusions -- and a little help from some New York friends. A quick Politicker once-over of past Santorum donors turned up lots of...

Don't Change the Channel! When Alone at a Bar, That Is

Sun, 09 Apr 2006 20:00:00 -0400

The victim says that she got up from her seat at Citibar, 1446 First Avenue, at 10:10 p.m. to change the channel, leaving her purse hanging from her barstool. When...

Don’t Change the Channel! When Alone at a Bar, That Is

Sun, 09 Apr 2006 20:00:00 -0400

There are some risks attached to changing the TV channel at your local bar—not all of them involving some drunk cracking a bottle over your head because he objects to your choice of programming—as one 27-year-old First Avenue resident discovered on Feb. 17. The victim says that she got up from her seat at Citibar, 1446 First Avenue, at 10:10 p.m. to change the channel, leaving her purse hanging from her barstool. When she...

"Operation City Lights" Targets McLaughlin

Thu, 02 Mar 2006 12:10:44 -0500

Channel 4's very well-sourced Jonathan Dienst(the same guy who had last fall's terror warning story) laid out the story behind the Central Labor Council raid just now, which appears to have focused on Council president Brian McLaughlin and a set of electrical contractors who -- Diesnt reports -- allegedly conspired with him to rip off the Department of Transportation. The FBI's "Operation City Lights," according to the report (and Dienst had cameras in place at...

Likeable Homeless Perps Get Expensive Sympathy Uptown

Sun, 29 Jan 2006 19:00:00 -0500

You know those pain-in-the-ass (literally) counter stools they have at places like Starbucks and your corner pizzeria? Their lack of comfort is the least of their liabilities, as a man discovered on Jan. 10 when he visited the Bagel Shoppe at 1421 Second Avenue. The victim, a 43-year-old East 69th Street resident, was minding his own business, perched on his high chair and enjoying his bagel at 6:30 p.m., when another man approached him...

Hank Greenberg to the Rescue

Thu, 20 Oct 2005 11:58:00 -0400

The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation announced today that it had surpassed the $100 million mark—the first indication of how much progress it has made towards its $500 million private fundraising goal. Biggest single donor ($25 million): AIG’s Starr Foundation, which is still chaired by Hank Greenberg even though he no longer runs the insurance company. Also, Deutsche Bank ($15 million) and Bank of New York ($10 million) pitched in, but no word yet...

Good News, Bad News

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 11:04:00 -0400

Lately, “good news” at Ground Zero has really just been the undoing of bad news: Goldman Sachs, Freedom Tower. At a lunch before the New York Building Congress today, the Governor delivered the first truly good news in a while: American Express is taking another 200,000 square feet in the World Financial Center. Of course, there is still more than 4 million square feet of office space going up across the street at the World...

Lots of Cooks in the Kitchen: Violence Erupts Uptown

Sun, 21 Aug 2005 20:00:00 -0400

One likes to think of Asian restaurants as oases of almost Zen-like calm amid the sharp-elbowed cacophony of Western life. That may be true in the front of the house, but behind the scenes the staff apparently has no greater monopoly on transcendental peace and understanding than the average unenlightened Manhattan native or Brooklynite. The Crime Blotter recently reported on a July 8 incident at an East 78th Street sushi joint where the chef,...

First Lease at Ground Zero

Mon, 25 Jul 2005 03:15:00 -0400

Crain's is reporting that Larry Silverstein has his first lease at 7 World Trade Center. And it's not some wimpy government office, either: "According to sources close to the deal, a unit of the American Express Co. is in the final stages of negotiating a 15-year lease for about 20,000 square feet at the 52-story skyscraper," the magazine reports. Massive incentive packages for renting space in the building have Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver, who calls the incentives...

Park Avenue Ladies Long for 'It' Bag- What Does It All Mean?

Sun, 17 Jul 2005 20:00:00 -0400

The ladies of Park Avenue have a big problem. Yes, they can't help it. They're insatiable (and some might say insufferable, but that's for another piece); most therapists assume it's an addiction. On the Upper East Side, it's an unsurprising kind of moral failing: the state of being a handbag whore. (She's the kind of woman who spends the rent on half of a handbag and then comforts herself with the thought that it...

Park Avenue Ladies Long for ‘It' Bag— What Does It All Mean?

Sun, 17 Jul 2005 20:00:00 -0400

Europeans: Treat New York Like a Giant Bargain Basement!

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 10:23:00 -0400

It's difficult for a hard-working New Yorker not to resent the hordes of British secretaries hogging up tables at restaurants and shouting at each other in Cockney accents from stall to stall in department-store fitting rooms, pockets crammed with fists-full of our weakling dollars. (O.K., that's enough of that: We're supposed to love the Brits this week.) Mayor Michael Bloomberg, however, seemed unperturbed today at the unveiling of a coupon package aimed at international tourists,...

Deputy Mayor for the Olympics

Tue, 01 Feb 2005 11:27:25 -0500

The Village Voice does some more digging on the question we looked at last week: Whether charitable donations to NYC2012, the Olympic bid committee, buy influence with the city. The new information they have comes from Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff's schedule, obtained through the Freedom of Information Law, which show -- surprise! -- "that he frequently finds himself meeting and talking about city business with those who are also being asked to ante up Olympics...

Crime Blotter

Sun, 09 May 2004 20:00:00 -0400

N.Y.'ers Like a Good Laugh,

But This Joke Did Not Ignite There are three kinds of bomb scares-well, at least three. There are those involving innocent objects (such as attaché cases or even paper bags) that in this diabolical age are mistakenly suspected of being explosive devices. Then there are actual bombs packed with real explosives. Somewhere in between are hoax bombs, such as the one the cops encountered on April 17. The device that...

Crime Blotter

Sun, 01 Feb 2004 19:00:00 -0500

Perp Tempts Fate By

Staging Heist at Doughnut Shop Some crooks have ice water running through their veins. But the guy who robbed the Dunkin' Donuts at 1225 First Avenue on Jan. 20 apparently had anti-freeze coursing through his arteries-so cool was he when he unexpectedly crossed paths with a couple of cops, his crime virtually still in progress. At first glance, one would think robbing a doughnut shop wouldn't be a wise move, given...

Crime Blotter

Sun, 10 Aug 2003 20:00:00 -0400

With Helpers Like These,

Who Needs Hinderers? The problem with being able to afford lots of household help is that when your jewelry goes missing, it's hard to sort through all the possible suspects: maids, nannies, drivers, personal assistants, yoga instructors, etc. That's the dilemma Diandra Douglas, gal about town and former wife of movie star Michael Douglas, confronted on July 22 when she discovered $276,000 worth of her valuable knick-knacks stolen. A lesser mortal...

After All These Years, Il Buco Still Packs Them In

Sun, 31 Mar 2002 19:00:00 -0500

Il Buco is like one of those country trattorias where the host does the cooking with products he's grown in his own backyard. But in this restaurant's backyard, instead of olive groves, vineyards and a few chickens, you'd find shops stocked with hardware, kitchen equipment and hundreds of different kinds of light bulbs.

For although the inside of Il Buco may look like an old farmhouse on the outskirts of a hill town in Umbria,...

The Crime Blotter

Sun, 27 Jan 2002 19:00:00 -0500

Negligent Canine Owner Avoids Doghouse by a Hairbreadth

Mayor Bloomberg has made a lot of noise about keeping up the pressure on quality-of-life crimes. But one doubts he has it in him to send out mini–SWAT teams-like the one sent out on Dec. 28 under Mayor Giuliani's reign-to arrest citizens caught with their dogs off their leashes. The perp is a Central Park West resident who prefers to remain anonymous because he's currently job...

The Aftermath: Hard Work, No Tears

Sun, 23 Sep 2001 20:00:00 -0400

Nine firefighters began digging around the narrow gulch

formed between a fallen pipe and a steel plank. They moved through the debris, exhuming rocks, insulation, metal casings and a sheaf of dot-matrix paper. After five minutes of silence came the cry: "We've got a body!" They shined a light into the hole, scooping faster now, the dust thickening around them. A sulfurous odor of decaying flesh had begun to waft through the air. "Work it out with your fingers,"...

When Not in Rome, Sandro's Is the Next Best Thing

Sun, 08 Apr 2001 20:00:00 -0400

Sandro's is the sort of trattoria you stumble upon in Rome or Naples, having run the gauntlet of Vespas and gotten lost several times. It has a jovial, outsize chef and waiters who hectically weave their way among the tables, wielding Parmesan and pepper mills and setting down free glasses of grappa after dinner. I was recently in both cities, in time for new artichokes, wild strawberries, the first squash blossoms of the season...

The Urge to Merge: Nothing Succeeds Like Excess

Sun, 10 Dec 2000 19:00:00 -0500

Who can resist a bargain? Even though it was the last night of Thanksgiving weekend (a holiday we'd celebrated twice in one day) and we'd sworn off food, we headed straight to Merge for "Gino's Soprano Style Dinner." This four-course, family-style Italian feast, served only on Sunday nights, takes its name from the HBO series, which airs on Sundays and stars a very well-fed mobster. At $25–with as much wine as you can drink...

Escape Pretension Island at Pomp-Free Papillon

Sun, 12 Nov 2000 19:00:00 -0500

Papillon is named after the Steve McQueen movie about a prisoner desperate to escape from Devil's Island. The owners, four Irishmen, hit upon it one night while tossing around ideas at the White Horse Tavern next door. But its name no more describes this small, polished restaurant on Hudson Street in the West Village than, say, Bullitt or The Great Escape. Framed film stills near the bar depict McQueen as the convict with rotting...

Fussy Roulades, Creamy Marble And a View of Central Park South

Sun, 28 Nov 1999 19:00:00 -0500

The item on the menu sounded intriguing: grilled portabello "shawarma" with feta cheese. "That's our vegetarian dish," explained the waiter. "It has all the essential amino acids and carbohydrates," he added, before he went on to describe each of the ingredients. The sommelier brought over the wine and poured a droplet into each glass. "That's to take up any lint or impurities or soap that might not have been completely cleaned out in the...

Schimmel's Shtick … Amercan Express' Black Op

Sun, 14 Nov 1999 19:00:00 -0500

Schimmel's Shtick

Robert Schimmel remembered the day that Barry Diller resigned from 20th-Century Fox in 1992. "That night, I did a big industry showcase in L.A. where you go on in front of everybody–ABC, CBS, NBC, Disney, Sony, Warner, Fox," he said. "And my opening line was, 'I have such bad timing in this business. I blew Barry Diller last night.'" Mr. Schimmel waited a beat. "Well, my agent came over to me and he...

Merrill Lynch's Move to Discount Service? Good for Its Clients!

Sun, 13 Jun 1999 20:00:00 -0400

It was a long time coming–24 years to be exact. But from the

beginning a bite-the-bullet decision by Merrill Lynch & Company was clearly inevitable. Yet as we'll see in a minute, what happened on June 1 may not in fact turn out to be the bad news for Merrill that many on Wall Street seem to fear. We speak of the news that the firm–its hand finally forced by the onrushing growth of Internet day trading–at last announced...

Casimir Is a True Find-And 'Very Much Happening'

Sun, 25 Apr 1999 20:00:00 -0400

We could have been in Montmartre, circa 1950. The restaurant had exactly the right patina, from the pressed-tin ceiling to the yellow walls hung with faded mirrors, the brown leather banquettes and the small wooden tables. There were just two things wrong with the picture. Instead of wine, there were rows of Perrier bottles lined up along the wall. And no one was smoking.

In fact, this was Avenue B in the East Village, just...

Scenes From an Assignation at SoHo's Nicest New Bistro

Sun, 15 Feb 1998 19:00:00 -0500

How long should you wait for someone in a restaurant before you decide you've been stood up? I was early for dinner the other night at Bistro les Amis in SoHo and as I settled into my seat, I noticed an attractive middle-aged woman sitting alone at the next table. Every time the front door opened, she began to quiver with expectation. But always it was just the owner again, oblivious of the effect...

Yes, the Devil Is an East Sider,And He Has a Cute New Bistro

Sun, 08 Feb 1998 19:00:00 -0500

"Turning the clock back 100 years to conjure the essence of Parisian society, Belzebù serves a bedeviling menu of French and Italian cuisine," said the press release about the restaurant that opened in December on the Upper East Side. Despite the intriguing prospect of a bedeviling meal "amid the models, artists and businessmen of today's end-of-century cafe society" (as the release went on to say), I might never have gone to Belzebù at all...