Oak Room, Oak Bar finally reopen at The Plaza hotel
Since the storied Plaza reopened its doors in March after a controversial 3-year renovation that made the legendary hotel part condo, its luxury services have been opening its doors one by one.
A hotel official told NewYorkology that both venues opened for business last week.
Fox even has a report that the bar’s already hosted the celebrity-filled after-party for an early screening of Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman upcoming turns in stage to-screen flick “Doubt.”
See Zagat.com for pictures inside the renovated Oak Room and the full menu at Eater.
Abandoned Atlantic Avenue Tunnel tour set for Dec. 7
The Brooklyn Historic Railway Association has announced December 7 as the date for its next tour of the abandoned railway tunnel under Atlantic Avenue.
Be warned that you not only need to wear sturdy shoes and bring your own flashlight, but you have to enter the tunnel through a manhole at the intersection of Court Street and Atlantic Avenue.
Tours are led by Bob Diamond, who rediscovered the long-forgotten tunnel in 1980.
The tunnel was built in 1844 and stretches half a mile down toward the East River.
The Chatwal debuts details for hotel at Lambs Club
The Chatwal, the 88-room luxury hotel preparing to open in the former Lambs Club theater headquarters off Times Square, has launched its website and revealed high-end plans for its rooms - and a slight nod to its past.
The ground floor of the landmark Stanford White building will house a 90-seat restaurant in a club-like setting called The Lambs Club. Helmed by chef Geoffrey Zakarian, they’re aiming for “modern, New York cuisine with seasonal ingredients” and “handcrafted, prohibition era cocktails.”
The hotel itself, designed by Thierry Despont, aims for deco modernism with nickel trim, jewel-toned glass and plans of “elevating the classic travel trunk to objet d’art.” Rooms will feature 42-inch flat screen TV with DVD and on demand video, Internet, Bose stereo with CD and MP3 player connections, multi-line cordless phone, 400-thread count linens, down duvets and pillows, and private butler service upon request. On site spa services will be provided by Chopra Center & Spa.
The Chatwal hopes to open “late 2008,” according to the website. It’s located at 130 West 44th St., map.
The express pass remains $45, which lets you skip the lines. And while it’s still only $15 more to reach the 102nd floor - that higher space has actually been closed for renovations since September 29.
The Empire State Building’s entire admission rates are listed after the jump.
December tour of library's 'stacks' will be last ever
If you’ve ever wanted access to the closed stacks under the New York Public Library, you’ve got only one chance.
The stacks, which cover seven stories below the main Rose Reading Room of the Humanities & Social Sciences Library, open for tours once a year during the Holiday Open House. And this year’s event, on December 7, will be the very last time they’ll offer access to the stacks.
Celebrated British architect Norman Foster has been selected to design a major renovation of the main branch of the New York Public Library that will transform the stacks into a new circulation library with computer work stations, children’s rooms and views of Bryant Park.
So this year’s tour will be the last.
To get a spot on the tour, you’ll first need an invitation to the members-only party, which you can secure with a donation as small as $40. (There’s also free food, drink and entertainment at the party, and you’ll get other member benefits during the year.)
Invitations to the holiday party are going out this week, but even people who join later will get a pair of passes in their welcome kit, Friends of the Library staff told NewYorkology.
In past years, once you get into the party, the tour passes have been given away first come, first served as the event begins. While photography was allowed in 2006, it was prohibited in 2007 - and will be prohibited this year, too.
During the 2006 tours, the shelves were crammed with books and arcana from days long gone, including wooden card catalogs, the library rules from 1921, shelves of newspapers awaiting transfer to microfilm, and the book dumbwaiter.
Among the predictable crowd-pleasers in the Guggenheim’s almost-open theanyspacewhatever exhibition is a book of iron-on decals with images of the landmark building as well as works from the show.
The Transfer Book of iron-ons will be given away free for the first two days of the exhibition, which oens Friday, Guggenheim spokeswoman Betsy Ennis told NewYorkology today. After the first two days, the booklets will be on sale in the gift shop for a reasonable price, possibly $5 she said.
The booklet is filled with the illustrations of Craig Mullins, and is intended to accompany Pierre Huyghe’s “OPENING” events, which will take place October 24, November 17 and December 8.
Each of the 12 iron-ons is in black, white and grey tones, measuring 8 by 9 inches.
“theanyspacewhatever” will be on display at the Guggenheim from October 24 through January 7.
Image source: Scan from Pierre Huyghe’s iron-on Transfer Book of the interior of the Guggenheim New York, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Norman Foster design to open NY Public Library stacks
The New York Public Library has chosen British starchitect Norman Foster to design a $250 million building-within-a-building renovation of its main branch that will convert the basement and seven levels of “the stacks” into publicly accessible space with views of Bryant Park, the New York Times reports.
The stacks — which have only open to the public once a year during its members-only holiday open house — would house a new circulation library with computer work stations and children’s rooms, according to the Times.
The books in the stacks would be moved to the existing three-acre storage area that’s literally under Bryant Park. The park and library occupy the space formerly used by the Croton Rervoir, a section of which can still be seen in the NYPL.
The lionized main branch, formally known as the Humanities & Social Sciences Library, is located at the corner of 42nd Street Fifth Avenue. A $40 “friend” donation gets you a pass for two to the holiday open house if you join before invitations go out.
Picture credits: Amy Langfield/NewYorkology
Note to photographers: Although photos were allowed during the 2006 Open House tour of the stacks, guides prohibited photography during the 2007 tour.
Terminal 5 is outfitted with 26 gates, 20 security lanes, free wi-fi, 22 restaurants and 25 shops, including Muji to Go, Borders, WFAN shop, XpresSpa, CNBC Newsstand, Ron Jon Surf Shop, Jamba Juice, Cheeburger Cheeburger, Dunkin’ Donuts and Deep Blue Sushi.
JetBlue’s Terminal 5 blog, Jetting Comes Home, is documenting the first day like crazy, including pictures of passengers from the Burbank flight collecting their luggage at 5:10 a.m.
A handful of JetBlue flights will continue to arrive at Terminal 4 — planes from Cancún, Puerto Plata, St. Maarten, Santiago and Santo Domingo — so passengers can clear U.S. Customs and Immigration there, according to the advisory on JetBlue’s website.
Domino waterfront briefly opens at Williamsburg Bridge
Ahead of its conversion into condos, the developers of the Domino Sugar Refinery for the first time in more than a hundred years opened up its waterfront for a few hours on Sunday afternoon, in part to seduce would-be-buyers with its East River views taking in skyline as well as the Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges.
The three main buildings of the 1882 refinery, designated as a New York City Landmark, will be preserved. With the remains of the factory fenced off Sunday, the public was treated to free hot chocolate, hot cider, doughnuts, popcorn, cotton candy, face painting and yes, little boxes of dominoes.
If the development, called the New Domino, comes to fruition, it would have 2,200 condo units and a public 1,300-foot long esplanade with lawns, trees and play spaces.
Video and picture credits: Amy Langfield/NewYorkology
Chanel's 'Mobile Art' exhibit to open in Central Park
Chanel’s controversial “Mobile Art” exhibition will open Monday at Central Park’s Rumsey Playfield, encapsulated in its own cinched spaceship designed by architect Zaha Hadid.
The public will have free access via an on-site box office for tickets from October 22 through November 9, according to Chanel’s website, which also has at least two live webcams.
The art on the inside is inspired by Chanel’s “legendary quilted bag” but if you passed by the orb in the past week, you might have confused the scene as a haunted house installation. Situated behind the Naumberg Bandshell, there was broken glass, a giant black wall - and just around the corner, Mother Goose taking flight.
