BY PUMA PERL | The first time I saw Joey Paulina, he was clad in a tight royal blue dress and stilettos, executing perfect backflips down the center aisle of the Bowery Poetry Club. Once onstage, he hit more octaves than I could count and managed to be both operatic and hilarious. Whether at his West […]
BY RANIA RICHARDSON | Small businesses are vital to the economy and a mark of healthy communities. Knowing that so many are struggling during this pandemic is disheartening, to say the least. Taking action by putting dollars back into the neighborhood is one way to lift spirits and contribute to the revitalization of the local […]
BY SCOTT STIFFLER | News about the neighborhood losing a longtime mom-and-pop shop is nothing new—and we’re as tired of writing those stories as you are of reading them. But in the absence of bold action at the city, state, and federal level, the combined burdens of COVID-19 are poised to shutter more small businesses […]
“Restaurants across the city are struggling to recover from the unprecedented impact of the pandemic,” said James Mettham, Executive Director of the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership BID, in an empathetic understatement that announced the launch of All in Flatiron Dining Deals, a new campaign featuring special online and in-person discounts from nearly 30 restaurants around Flatiron […]
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY DONATHAN SALKALN | If you live in Chelsea or are just there for a visit, you don’t need a plane ticket, a backpack full of masks, and 14 spare days for quarantine to experience other parts of the world. Chelsea is home to extensive culinary options for the domestic and international […]
Graphic Artist/Entrepreneur seems a fitting encore, when your resume already includes Broadway actor (Cabaret), musician (musical director for Charles Busch), composer (Whit Stillman’s Metropolitan), house flipper, political activist, author (Laid Bare) and, for a couple of years, adult film star “Gus Mattox.” It was during the building of Gus’ fan website that Tom Judson—the man […]
BY HIBA SOHAIL | Business Improvement Districts are tasked with funding projects within their boundaries—and more often than not, these are projects that merchants and community members deem inadequately performed by the City. With the advent of COVID-19, many BIDs saw their public programming halted due to the necessities of social distancing. BIDs in Manhattan […]
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY SCOTT STIFFLER | Add to the now-familiar sounds of sirens, helicopters, and the righteously angry chants of protesters marching down Seventh Avenue, the sounds of broken glass swept off sidewalks and nails driven into plywood. That was the new aural normal on Tuesday, June 2, 2020, when Chelsea merchants boarded up […]
BY SCOTT STIFFLER | The COVID-19 precautions of sheltering in place and social distancing bring with them both the burdens of entropy and the opportunity for evolution. Either way, it’s not business as usual—and once we return to the days when sit-down trumps take-out, and browsing in a store is a viable choice to rival […]
BY DONATHAN SALKALN | In an effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus/COVID-19, New York State bars and restaurants closed their doors to all but takeout and delivery as of 8pm, Monday, March 16—turning lives, and livelihoods, upside down. “I sell fish to over 400 restaurants, and they’re all closed,” said Louis Rozzo, a fourth […]