By Richard Morgan 1/08 8:26pm

uptown shabby

josh-hivescrop

Greenpoint Luxe: Brooklyn Scruff Invades Bergdorfs

The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel is currently cultivating a new kind of honey for its kitchens and bars. The hotel, where President Obama stays when he is in town, is used to painstaking attention to detail and extravagance, which makes its approach to the honey all the more intriguing.

Rather than relying on what could be called the Masa Imperative of luxury, after the top-dollar sushi joint that ships in fish from the Sea of Japan and the Bay of Spain with the urgency and costliness of helicoptered transplant organs (indeed, some of the fish are carried in organ containers), the Waldorf has gone in a direction more evocative of the Brooklyn Flea Market: its honey comes from beehives it is now keeping on a 20th-floor outdoor patio.

The initiative, brainchild of executive chef David Garcelon, relies on the expertise of the city’s premier beekeeper, Andrew Coté, who sells his own neighborhood-specific honeys at the Union Square farmer’s market. Read More

By Benjamin-Emile Le Hay and Drew Grant 12/21/12 5:00pm

Deluxe Gifts for Me! Me! Me!

10 Photos

Burberry's Britain Diamond-encrusted watch, $4,995

Lavish Self-Gifting for Ungenerous Grinchy Urbanites

Screw gift-giving to others. This season should be all about you! Treat yourself to something extraordinary that, naturally, you’d never consider budgeting for to give to anyone else. Don’t dwell on the stigma of selfishness–you deserve a reward! Sixty-hour work weeks with dreadful colleagues that collide headfirst into a binge of holiday family time; menacing Read More

By Chloë Ashby 9/13/12 3:20pm

Fashion Week Spring 2013

The after party for the special screening of "Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's" in celebration of their 111th Anniversary.

A Storied Turn for Bergdorf’s Window

“I hope I have a job tomorrow.” That was personal shopper Betty Halbreich’s reaction to the Sept. 12 preview of Matthew Miele’s fashion documentary Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s. Ms. Halbreich explained, “I spurt things without thinking!” But to others, her brutal honesty and WASPish sense of humor made her one of the film’s firm favorites. Gossip Girl costume designer Eric Damon spoke for all when he said, “It’s all about Betty.”

Ms. Halbreich, The Observer thinks you’ll be just fine.

As Fashion Week comes to a close, the celebration of Bergdorf Goodman’s 111th anniversary stepped into the spotlight. Swapping Lincoln Center’s front rows for the old-style stadium seating of The Paris Theater, a confluence of fatigued fashionistas enjoyed a show that for the first time in seven days allowed them to remain in their seats for more than 10 minutes. Read More

By Daniel Geiger 12/07/11 2:00pm

ICSC

i-love-new-york

The White Whale of West 57th Street: Nordstrom appears poised for NYC

It’s the great white whale of Manhattan retail.

Aside from Walmart, Nordstrom is the store every retail broker in the city dreams of harpooning and reeling into a new home. One prominent broker familiar with the store, the amount of space it needs and the rents it would probably be willing to pay estimates that the commission for handling its lease would be around $10 million.

But like a leviathan lurking beneath the waves, the department store has offered only fleeting glimpses around the city, most notably at several development sites and a few existing assets with the capacity to accommodate its sprawling footprint.

The scuttlebutt nowadays: Nordstrom is contemplating one of two leases, one at the West Side rail yards with the Related Companies or another at the base of Extell Development’s soaring new residential tower now rising at 157 West 57th Street. Read More

By John Koblin 2/10/09 8:20pm

Gays Love a Depression!

“Gays love a recession!” said Robert Cogan, a 27-year-old patron of the brand-new East Village gay bar the Hose on the night of Feb. 7.

It was a Saturday night, and he was checking out the scene in the bar’s “back room,” which was, well, a room in the back. More Read More