Waldorf's lost train off-limits, other tunnels offer tours

Rockaways, Frying Pan to get Water Taxi on weekends

BoltBus selling $1 tickets between Boston and NYC

Shakespeare in the Park to give tickets away online

High Line to open in May for sketching classes

Big Apple BBQ's Bubba Fast Pass only for AmExers

Amy at newyorkology.com





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Salvaged JFK stained glass for sale at Olde Good Things

jfkstainedglass.jpg


Sharp-eyed Tropolism points out the exciting news that the lamented JFK stained glass wasn't destroyed, but instead much was salvaged by Olde Good Things.

oldgoodglass.jpgThe company's website has an extensive feature about the salvage effort -- and how to buy sections for yourself.

In Manhattan, Olde Good Things is located at 124 West 24th St. in Chelsea.

Picture credit: (top)Brian Armitage, American Airlines’ Terminal 8 at JFK before the glass was gone.
(right) Olde Good Things website.

May 9, 2008 10:47 AM Comments (1)

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Lifebooker.com for easy spa appointments in NYC

lifebookerlogo.jpgWhat OpenTable.com is to free restaurant reservations, Lifebooker.com now is to easy reservations to spa and fitness appointments.

The site lets you pick a service -- including mani/pedi, bikini wax, massage (with a male- or female- preference option,) accupuncture, cupping and men's shave. You then pick a day, time, and if you want, a neighborhood to narrow your reach. The site then reloads with all your options, including prices at each location, alternate times and types of services within the topic you've selected (such as Brazilian, landing strip, bikini updo, Bermuda Triangle basic, etc.)

You can book on the site for free, but you need to provide a credit card number to hold appointments. (But only the spa itself ends up paying Lifebooker a percentage, which is where the website makes its money.)

The site launched six months ago and currently offers appointments only in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The goal is to offer appointments at about 1,000 spas, salon and fitness providers from the tri-state area by the end of the year, a company spokesman told NewYorkology. Eventually the service will launch in other cities as well.

Companies already offering appointments inlcude Allure, Delluva Day Spa, Rita Hazan, Townhouse Spa, Paul Labrecque, Spa Chinois and White Tea Spa -- and some with special discounts for Lifebooker users.

The site also lets you read reviews written by other members who have actually booked past appointments at the spas. And you can earn reward points for future services.

Lifebooker is independently owned by 26-year-old entrepreneurs Andrew Unger and Dana Reichman.

Earlier: $50 massages, facials during Spa Week, April 14-20

April 28, 2008 01:37 PM Comments (0)

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Murakami's Brooklyn Ball swag attracting eBay bids

monogramouflaugeebay.jpgWhen the Brooklyn Museum threw its posh Kanye West ball to celebrate the opening of its "© MURAKAMI" exhibition, much fuss was made over reports that the wife of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz lifted eight of the limited-edition fiberglass placements that were intended as one-per-guest at the $1,000-per-plate event. ( "You guys really should have acted faster. This is Brooklyn!" she was quoted as telling other guests.)

Four placemats are currently up for auction on e-bay (after the orignal winner of the set of four didn't pay, according to the Jersey City-based seller .) Each of the four has a starting bid of $500 each.

Several other Takashi Murakami items said to be from the Brooklyn Ball are also up for auction on e-bay:

Takashi Murakami Daruma DOB 727 Signed Print 25/300 - 26 bids, now $1,625.

Takashi Murakami Louis Vuitton Monogramouflauge Canvas - buy-it-now price of $10,499.99, (with one pending offer.)

Louis Vuitton Murakami limited edition card holder - 11 bids, now at 169.16

Louis Vuitton momogram multicolor Marilyn bag in white, not in stores - 6 bids, now at $1,425.

April 16, 2008 11:11 AM Comments (0)

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More free Met Opera tix; huge sale at Met Opera shop

metopenhousesept2007.jpgAll the free tickets for Friday's free Met Opera Open House dress rehearsal of Donizetti's "La Fille du Regiment" are spoken for -- but there's a very good chance more will be availble at the box office after 5 p.m. this evening.

That's the cut-off time for people to show up with their confirmation numbers and pick up tickets they ordered last weekend. But if they're not there by 5 p.m. today, those tickets will be back up for grabs at the box office.

A Met Opera ticketing agent advised that you may want to start lining up before 5 p.m. for your best chance to get a pair of freebies. The box office closes at 8 p.m. tonight.

The Open House begins at 10 a.m. Friday, with the curtain rising at 11 a.m.

Also worth noting, the Met Opera's gift shop is having quite the blowout sale in advance of its April 30 closing for a major renovation. All CDs and DVDs are 40 percent off (except for new releases and the season's repretory;) librettos are 40 percent off, jewelry is all 50 percent marked down, and most other merchandise (like the Diva-branded cosmetics bags and shirts,) are also 50 percent off. The online shop has many of the same items on sale as well.

Image source: From the stage of the Met Opera at the end of the Met Opera Open House in September 2007. Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.

April 16, 2008 10:30 AM Comments (0)

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Archived videos: CBGB before Varvatos, old city hall



Before there was John Varvatos on the Bowery, there was CBGB.

NewYorkology just uploaded a bunch of old (cameraphone quality) videos to YouTube, including a clip from inside the nearly empty CBGB just before it closed its doors forever.

Also from the cameraphone archives and now on YouTube, video from the abandoned subway station under City Hall, atop Rockefeller Center on Top of the Rock's opening day in 2005, and from the deck of the Williamsburgh Bank just below the clock in 2006. (Links to to better pictures from those same scenes are below.)

Earlier: Exploring the old City Hall station - new tours on tap
Inside CBGB during the final week on the Bowery
The views from the Williamsburgh Savings Bank

April 13, 2008 11:44 AM Comments (0)

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L’Occitane, Brooklyn Botanic in cherry blossom deal

cherryblossomperfume.jpgBrooklyn Museum has Luis Vuitton, and now the Brooklyn Botanic Garden has L’Occitane en Provence.

The garden, home to the largest collection of cherry trees outside of Japan, has hooked up with the company to launch "its limited-edition line of cherry blossom inspired products, as well as to showcase its permanent line of cherry blossom beauty offerings."

Some of the garden's 220 cherry trees are already in peak bloom, but the annual Sakura Matsuri Cherry Blossom Festival is scheduled for May 3 and 4.

More from the press release:

In addition, L’Occitane U.S. fragrance experts Hollis Hillhouse, vice president of international training, and Anne-Cecile Brilland, senior marketing manager, will enlighten Garden visitors about the mesmerizing olfactory properties of fragrances such as Cherry Blossom Eau de Toilette during a lecture, “Cherry Blossoms and the Art of Perfumery,” during BBG’s Sakura Matsuri.
The lecture's on May 3.

And surprise: "L’Occitane’s Cherry Blossom line will be available for sale in BBG’s newly renovated gift shop."

April 9, 2008 03:38 PM Comments (0)

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In-your-face anime '©Murakami' to open in Brooklyn

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Japanese pop art will take over Brooklyn starting this weekend when "© MURAKAMI" opens at the Brooklyn Museum, showcasing more than 90 anime- and manga-style works by Takashi Murakami.

takashipresser.jpgRanging from a 3D flower ball to a sculpture of a woman with whomping-big milk-shooting breasts, the exhibition is also big on its retail opportunities with a Louis Vuitton gallery right in the middle. (The new Monogramouflage design will debut at the Brooklyn Museum's LV shop on June 1 and then will be sold in "selected Louis Vuitton stores worldwide," according to the museum's news release.)

During this morning's media preview of the exhibition, museum officials defended the decision to showcase the LV shop inside the exhibition gallery itself. "Murakami's designs for Louis Vuitton "are not offshoots of his other works. They are the works itself," said Brooklyn Museum Director Arnold Lehman.

murakami 017.jpg


Normally, admission to the Brooklyn Museum is by a suggested donation of $8 for adults. But access to "© MURAKAMI" will cost $10 per adult, and it's not just a suggestion. (At least it includes access to the rest of the museum.) The museum has charged mandatory admission in the past for exhibitions such as "Sensation" in 1999, a museum spokesman told NewYorkology.
murakami 019.jpg


The exhibition was organized, and originally on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Although one sculpture from that exhibition -- the 18 1/2-foot-tall "Oval Buddha" -- is too big for Brooklyn. Instead, the 6,613-pound work will be on display in Manhattan at the 590 Sculpture Garden concurrent with the Brooklyn show. It's located in the former IBM building at 590 Madison Ave., map.

MoCA LA has its own YouTube channel, including a chat with the artist about the Oval Buddha.

"© MURAKAMI" will be on display at the Brooklyn Museum through July 13.

After the jump, see pictures of the LV shop and the Murakami offerings in the Brooklyn Museum.

Read the rest of this entry

April 2, 2008 01:37 PM Comments (0)

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Brooklyn confirms Vuitton/Murakami shop, exclusives

The Brooklyn Museum this morning is officially confirming it will open a "fully operational Louis Vuitton store" as part of its "© MURAKAMI" exhibition set to open April 5.

The 550-square-foot fifth-floor LV shop will feature "several Monogram Multicolor products as well as limited 'Editioned Canvasses' of the Monogramouflage design: a new print issued from the latest collaboration between Takashi Murakami and Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton Artistic Director," according to the statement issued by the museum.

"The shop project is not a part of the exhibition; rather it is the heart of the exhibition itself," artist Takashi Murakami said. "It holds at once the aspects that fuse, reunite, and then recombine the concept of the readymade. The Louis Vuitton project brings to life a wonderful new world."

miniflowercushion.jpgMore than 90 of Murakami's pop art works will be on display at the Brooklyn Museum through July 13.

Online, the Brooklyn Museum shop is offering a preview of "© MURAKAMI" items that will go on sale April 4.

For the handbag obsessed, see more Louis Vuitton/Murakami details after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry

March 24, 2008 09:38 AM Comments (0)

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Anime dress-up at Murakami's Brooklyn Museum debut

Castle Tin Tin.jpgThe Brooklyn Museum's upcoming "©MURAKAMI" exhibition will get a big crazy kickoff during it's next free Target First Saturday -- with Japanese DJ Muro aka King of Diggin, and museum guests asked to dress as anime or manga characters.

First Saturday events will also include anime movie screenings, a dance party, music from Taikoza, and a gallery talk from curator Laura Mueller, and a cash bar serving beer and wine.

"©MURAKAMI" -- featuring more then 90 works from Japanese artist Takashi Murakami -- will be open to the public from April 5 through July 13. The First Saturday events, which include free museum admission, will take place April 5 from 5 to 11 p.m.

Museum officials have not yet confirmed whether the exhibition will be accompanied by a pop-up shop from Louis Vuitton, which Murakami has designed for in the past.

Image credit: Takashi Murakami, The Castle of Tin Tin, 1998
Acrylic on canvas mounted on board, 118 1/8 x 118 1/8 in., Collection of Ruth and Jake Bloom, Marina del Rey, CA, Courtesy of Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, ©1998 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Provided to NewYorkology by the Brooklyn Museum.

Earlier: Murakami in Brooklyn: no Oval Buddha, but new LV
Big Takashi Murakami show coming to Brooklyn in April

March 5, 2008 11:35 AM Comments (0)

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Murakami in Brooklyn: no Oval Buddha, but new LV

The Takashi Murakami show will arrive at the Brooklyn Museum in April without its "Oval Buddha" which was part of the original L.A. Museum of Contemporary Art exhibition, "because he is too big to bring into the building," Brooklyn Museum officials told CultureGrrl.

LA MOCA describes the show this way:

Of particular importance will be the premiere of a new animated film, kaikai & kiki, and the debut of Oval Buddha, an enormous self-portrait sculpture in the guise of a Buddha.
The exhibition, called "© MURAKAMI," will be at the Brooklyn Museum from April 5 through July 13. It will feature more then 90 works from Japanese artist Murakami. Admission to the show, which includes general museum admission, will be $10 (compared with the regular $8 suggested entrance price for the Brooklyn Museum.)

Elsewhere, Fashion Week Daily reports there will be a Louis Vuitton pop-up shop and an April 3 pre-opening gala.

lvmurakami.jpgMore from FashionWeek:
Murakami revealed that his friend Kanye West, who performed at the MOCA gala, will reprise his role with a mini-concert, while Jay-Z has signed on as a co-chair. What's more, the Louis Vuitton brand, which made retail history with its first-ever pop-up shop within MOCA to herald the exhibit, plans on installing a similar concept at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. "I will be introducing new characters," Murakami promised.
Image source: Murakami's Aurelia MM bag for Louis Vuitton.

Earlier: Big Takashi Murakami show coming to Brooklyn in April

February 27, 2008 03:56 PM Comments (0)

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