Chelsea loft on offer from Halstead.

It’s Springtime in New York again—that short slice of heaven squeezed between the long cold winter and the long hot summer—and the real estate market appears to be sprouting green shoots in celebration.  For real this time. The kind of growth that the professionals seem to think can really last. That’s certainly the take that Diane Ramirez, president and co-founder of Halstead Property, shared in a recent interview. And she has some solid evidence to back that up, unmistakable trends she has spotted that indicate a kind of vigor in the market that is sustainable. The market, she posits, has become unfrozen, people are feeling less stuck, and rather than sitting tight with what they’ve got, they’re upsizing, downsizing, and just generally moving on with their lives. “That,” she insightfully says, “is what real estate is all about.”

And it is just that movement, that loosening up, that could point to a way out of the Manhattan market’s biggest quandary, the shortage of inventory. Sure, there are some developments in the pipeline, but people moving in and out create a more dynamic market. In the meantime, Halstead, the inventor of the storefront real estate office in Manhattan, continues to grow its own green shoots, with new offices sprouting up in Washington Heights and another planned for Southampton.

We chatted with Ms. Ramirez, a 35-year veteran of the business and grandmother of five who has herself dabbled in development, about the state of the market, and why she is feeling bullish this spring.

Diane Ramirez.

Q: What’s your take on Manhattan’s real estate market now? Everyone seems to feel that it is really heating up.

A: The market cannot get any hotter than it has been. The last six months, everyone you speak to is breathless, the agents, the managers. The market is very hot.

Q: Has it flipped from being a buyers’ market back to the sellers?

A: It is a sellers’ market, but you still must be properly priced. The sky is not the limit. We are starting to push the market for sellers more, but if you go out of the realm of reality, you lose your entrée into the market. And then people remember your property as being over-priced.

But if you are well-priced, at most price points, mostly two bedrooms and up, you are going to get multiple bids.

Q:  If buyers are getting priced out of Manhattan, where can they go? Brooklyn?

A:  Brooklyn is very hot. In some instances they are seeing Manhattan-like prices.

We just opened an office in Washington Heights. In Washington Heights and Hudson Heights, prices are very attractive, and it’s beautiful up there. Water views, pre-war buildings.

We picked up Stein-Perry, a very well-respected firm in Washington Heights. Gus Perry, who heads up that firm, knows the area very well. We love growing with someone who is well known in the community. We’re interested in the Upper West Side, all the way up to the Bronx. And we remain committed to Harlem as well.

Q: Do you have any other expansion plans?

A: We have also expanded in the Hamptons. We are in East Hampton and we will open in Southampton.  Our group is very strategic.

Q: What is your advice to buyers right now? 

A:  If you are looking to buy, get in there, and if you see something you like, don’t hesitate. The market is truly back. We are not seeing huge spikes, but it is starting to rise. Go for it aggressively. If you lose one, it will likely be more expensive next time around. The trend is that prices are steadily rising. I think that’s going to continue for a couple of years. Don’t try to time the market. Any area that touches Manhattan and is well served by transportation is bound to rise.

Q: What is your personal approach to real estate?  Where do you live, for instance?

A:  I live on the Upper East Side now. I’ve been back here for five years. I love change and love to try new neighborhoods. It’s nice to live in the 60s. My husband and I and the children are all settled nearby. We take in everything the city has to offer. Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall. Culturally, it can’t be beat. I find New York very healthy. It’s so diverse.

Before this, I was downtown. We tried FiDi. And before that I tried Tribeca. I hadn’t experienced living in a loft, so I wanted to try that. We bought the top floor and the air rights, and then my son and I did a joint venture where we built two apartments. Then we bought a garage on Greenwich and Hubert and put plans together for a seven-story building. We did not end up building it, but we sold the plans. They built it exactly to our specifications. My son bought  a fabulous townhouse in the 30s. And my daughter is not too far away in Connecticut. We’ve got five wonderful grandchildren altogether.

Q: Real estate professionals talk about how little inventory there is in the city. Is there anything in the pipeline that is going to change that?

A:  There is nothing that is going to open the floodgates, but new development is starting to come online.

But more significantly, people are really getting on with their lives, and that is where the break in the inventory is going to happen. People have been holding tight for a while, and staying put. Now they are moving on with their lives, and that is what real estate is all about. People going from having two to three bedrooms, having another child, or downsizing after the kids leave. Getting stuck is not healthy. It’s refreshing what’s going on now. We are seeing more movement in the resale market and we are returning to a much more normal ebb and flow.

We will still have tight inventory. Inventory is going to be a problem, but it’s going to get a little better. This is where I differ from some of my colleagues.

Q: Who is buying these days? 

A:  Everyone is thinking real estate again. First-time buyers, young people coming to the city. People whose children have left home are moving into the city, and families still want to be here. Foreigners still know that New York City is a great place to be.

It is unlike Connecticut and New Jersey, where we also have offices. There you tend to see one kind of buyer. Here it is much more diverse.

Another thing that we are seeing is that people are starting to look again for fixer-uppers, whereas before everyone wanted only finished apartments that needed no work. The fact that people are looking for fixer-uppers, where they can make their own dream home, is another sign of optimism and a healthy market.

jallon@observer.com

Sasha Cohen and Scott Hamilton.

The majority of New Yorkers rejoiced in last week’s burst of balmy weather. Flowers seemed to bloom as city dwellers shed layers of clothing, and Shindigger was kept as busy as a bee with an overloaded printemps social schedule.

Last Monday night, for example, in a three-hour span, we buzzed from cocktails at New York Academy of Art’s Tribeca Ball in honor of Bob Colacello to flamenco dancing at Ballet Hispanico’s 2013 Spring Gala at The Plaza, and then on to a Peggy Siegal-orchestrated premiere for LD Entertainment’s new film Disconnect.

And yet, in spite of our hurried pace that evening, we still found time for a last hibernal hurrah, as we hit the ice at the Skating with the Stars benefit gala for figure skating in Harlem. This year’s event, held in Central Park, honored designer B Michael and sportscaster Andrea Joyce.

Those in attendance represented some of figure skating’s finest, as well as some of the organization’s strongest supporters: Rhonda Ross, Miss America Mallory Hagan, Carson Kressley, Tamara Tunie, Tara Lipinski, Evan Lysacek and Dick Button could all be found enjoying cocktails around a fast-thawing Wollman Rink.

“I’ve been to this event for years—years!” exclaimed fashion maven Vera Wang, who was a formidable figure skater in her time and is now one of the most sought-after costume designers for today’s competitors.

“My favorite move was a double Lutz,” continued Ms. Wang, who was honored at last year’s event. “I really believe in the importance of sports to empower young women. I think these girls are so amazing for figure skating in Harlem. I think this event is a way of not only giving back to them, but the city.”

Shindigger asked Ms. Wang how her blades were coping with the evening’s warm weather and slushy ice.

“I’ve been on already, and I’m going on again,” she laughed, shifting from one of her white skates to the other. “But it is melting,” she allowed in a loud hush.

Grabbing a glass of red wine, Shindigger then made for Olympic champion Scott Hamilton, who had his Harlicks on and insisted that the 70-degree temperature had actually encouraged him to give the ice a go: “I never bring my skates to this,” he confessed. “But when I saw what the weather was gonna be, I packed them.”

Like Ms. Wang, Mr. Hamilton also fancied the Lutz. “When I was competing, it was always the triple Lutz that was my favorite,” he said. “That was the jump I never missed. When I was performing professionally, it was the backflip.”

We weren’t so sure the 54-year-old would attempt any flashy acrobatics on this night. After a lap around the bar and buffet, Shindigger ran into the bubbly 2006 Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen. Had she been on the ice, we wondered?

“It’s better now that the sun is setting. Earlier there were a lot of splashes,” Ms. Cohen warned. “We might need a Zamboni soon.”

Did that mean she wouldn’t be performing one of her signature spins that involve lifting a leg straight overhead?

“I was the first one that did it, so I gravitate toward that,” she said with a big smile—but probably not tonight.

After refilling our wine, Shindigger asked Ms. Cohen how she felt about the event’s mix of booze and skating, especially with so many amateurs slipping and sliding across the ice.

“I think it makes everyone a little more friendly, a little less apprehensive,” she said. “It’s a casual cocktail hour for a great cause. Everyone’s having a good time.”

Off the ice, Ms. Cohen divulged that she was a busy gal, designing a line of custom figure skates for Klingbeil (her preferred brand for competition) and attending classes at Columbia. “I also started a line of socks, and I have a boyfriend, which takes up most of my time. I have to show you his picture,” she giggled, slipping out her iPhone. “I get so excited.”

But can he skate, we wondered?

“No,” Ms. Cohen sighed. “He did buy a skating lesson with me, though, at a charity auction. He hasn’t used it yet.”

The poor guy is probably intimidated to skate with a former U.S. champion.

Before heading off into the night, Shindigger had to say just one more hello. Armed with another glass of wine, we approached Johnny Weir, the popular theatrical skater, who was surrounded by a gaggle of young fans and was sporting some sort of gravity-defying hairdo. Mr. Weir was clearly having a blast, posing and primping for whoever would engage.

When a passing attendee tottered on her toe-pick and nearly splattered—vodka soda and all—into a rink-side table, we asked Mr. Weir for his thoughts on the mixture of booze and skating. He said, “The only people who show up here know how to skate, or at least can hold the wall really well.”

Shindigger could hold back no longer.

“Tell us about your ’do tonight,” we prodded, needing to understand exactly how or why Mr. Weir had styled his hair in such a voluminous coiffure, which resembled a pile of snuggling otter pups.

“I wanted to be something really bold and forward, like Harlem,” Mr. Weir explained with a limber swing of his lemon-hued Céline bag. “So I did balls of Halloween wig underneath a weave. My guy knows to keep balls on standby for me.”

Halloween? we thought. How very out of season.

Carlin the kid. (WFMU)

George Carlin, passed on in 2008—he would prefer died—but the celebrated, foul-mouthed comic will live around the corner from where he grew up in the 1940s, the 500 block of 121stStreet in Morningside Heights. After months of disagreement, Community Board 9 voted last week to rename the 400 block of 121st Street after the controversial comedian.

The vote, 25-4 with 3 abstentions, comes after months of disagreement. Perhaps fitting for a man with an album called Class Clown, Carlin is still riling up his Catholic grade school, Corpus Christi, which is attached to Corpus Christi Church on the block between Broadway and Amsterdam that was almost renamed. Rev. Raymond Rafferty, the pastor at the church, had protested naming the street where the school is located after a well-known atheist and opponent of religion.

Speaking with The Observer after the board’s decision, Rev. Rafferty said that the church would not take any action to challenge the renaming of the street at the City Council level, where the community boards’ decisions are almost always honored. The curt Rev. Rafferty said the church is “not actively involved” in the process after compromising with the community board to move the sign to a different block.

Kevin Bartini, a warm-up comedian for The Daily Show, championed the cause of renaming the street and collected 9,000 signatures in support on the Internet. He was quoted in the Coulumbia Spectator as stressing the importance of the neighborhood to Carlin, saying, “He would not be who we know and love today had he grown up somewhere else.” Carlin, forever carrying the stamp of his Catholic upbringing like the red marks on a bad student’s knuckles from whacks with a nun’s ruler, also repeatedly referenced growing up at religious school, though almost always negatively.

Rev. Rafferty had originally rejected a proposal for the street sign to be on the 500 block but on Amsterdam Avenue, which is farther away from the church. He is particularly focused on not having school children see the sign as an approval of their wayward predecessor who found secular success. Noting Carlin’s endorsement of drug use he said, “If I had my own way, I would name nothing after him.”

Can new and old business thrive in Harlem? (MAS)

Gentrification has taken hold in every corner of the city over the past decade or two, but few places have felt it as acutely as Harlem. Demographics, tastes and prices are all shifting and skewing, for better and worse, often all at once. Last week at Harlem's Studio Museum, a confab of the neighborhood's business owners and power brokers came together to try and figure out what comes next for their community.

Hosted by the Harlem Park to Park Initiative, a self-styled community improvement association and business alliance, the conference brought together city officials, real estate developers and noted executives from the dining, hospitality and entertainment worlds. Among them were the CEO of the country’s largest African-American real estate development company, R. Donahue Peebles, and Tren’ness Woods Black, the third-generation owner of Sylvia’s Restaurant.

They had come together to imagine, and to strategize, a future for Harlem as the city's new chic location. It’s a tantalizing identity, one that has often been talked about but never quite achieved, for the historic neighborhood.

The conference, by chance, was held in some of the same rooms currently housing the "Expanding the Walls" exhibition, a collection of new photographs by Harlem-area teenagers mixed with historic shots from the James VanDerZee archive like Dinner Party w/ Boxer Harry Willis. The photos were a startling reminder of the area's cultural bonds both past and present—bonds that many of the speakers, for various reasons, hoped would endure.

“Harlem has a niche appeal. It’s the center of culture,” said Ilya Braz, vice president of GFI Capital Resources, the group behind the boutique Ace and Nomad hotels (both downtown).  “If you just focus on music like jazz and blues, and art and all the things surrounding that. If you create that in a hotel, you create a certain vibe. That’s what attracts people to a neighborhood. They’ll hear from their friends, ‘Hey I was at this spot the other day, and it was really fun. The ambiance was there. It was happening.’ That’s what will drive the demand. Especially among the young people.”

Whenever the renaissance of a neighborhood is discussed, there seem to be unavoidable comparisons to the transformations of Williamsburg and the Lower East Side, transformations that changed those communities from tight-knit residential districts into vibrant nightlife destinations. Each has its own advantages, though balancing them can be a serious challenge. It’s a comparison that carries with it a certain amount of hope and envy, as well as warning.

Tren’ness Woods Black of Sylvia's wondered if growing nightlife in the area was not in conflict, or at odds, with the resurgence of residential development in Harlem.

“It’s not a conflict, but it’s a challenge,” responded Robert Bookman, senior partner at the Pesetsky and Bookman law firm and a registered NYC lobbyist. “It’s a challenge that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. When done properly, hospitality will add vibrancy and will drastically increase value to an area, including real-estate value.” He then went on to reference Soho as an example of just this kind of resurgence, an area where the rise in real estate value has been undeniable, though, some would argue, so too has the accompanying decline in cultural and artistic identity over the last 30 years.

R. Donahue Peebles closed out the event with a well-versed keynote about the trials and tribulations of his many years in real estate markets like Miami, Las Vegas and Washington, D.C. It was a speech that also marked New York and Harlem as the next big opportunity in commercial development, noting, “My business is real estate, and I believe that Harlem is now poised to provide a platform for a new generation of black and female entrepreneurs. I’m convinced that there’s a great opportunity to build transformational projects here.”

The Observer asked Mr. Peebles about Harlem’s ability to avoid the pitfalls experienced by other transformed neighborhoods in the city as it moved into its own now-promised renaissance. “I think you have long-term property owners and long-term business owners here, and it’s got a cultural history,” he said. “You look at areas like Tribeca and Soho, they didn’t have the same kind of deep cultural story.” It’s a history that he hopes he and others can support and do justice, adding, “That’s one of the reasons why I was speaking here today. To try and encourage and excite entrepreneurs as to what can happen here. I think people coming to Harlem are definitely coming for a different vibe.”

At the end of August, Danforth Development announced that it had found a partner to move forward with its plans to develop two 26-story towers above the century-old Victoria Theater. The project has been in the works for years now, a pet project of local politician Keith Wright. A new hotel and apartment building are meant to sustain a clutch of cultural institutions on the first few buildings of the complex, and things were well underway until the recession hit.

Now, Exact Capital is pitching in $100 million to get the project off the ground. Way off the ground.

Designed by Ariel Aufgang of Augang + Subotovsky, the project features a glassy hotel along 125th Street and a brick apartment building behind, forming an L-shaped complex between Harlem's main street and 126th Street. The former features 210 rooms, the latter 230 apartments. When first approved by the state, the project was was going to have the first new hotel in the neighborhood in decades, but in the meantime, the Aloft Harlem around the corner on Frederick Douglass Boulevard and 123rd Street opened.

The architects have shared their vision for the project with The Observer, including renderings of the classy-looking entrances on 126th Street—the facade of the old Victoria Theater, once a Vaudeville stage, and some of its interior spaces will be preserved as part of the project. Among the cultural tenants will be two theaters and the Classical Theater of Harlem, JazzMobile, the Apollo Theater Foundation and the Harlem Arts Alliance occupying 25,000-square-feet of space.

The project may seem big for Harlem, but 125th Street has seen its fair share of tall towers over the years. Across the street is the historic 15-story Hotel Theresa and further down 125th Street is the Adam Clayton Powell Federal Building. A rezoning a few years ago paved the way for bigger buildings on the strip, as well, and another long-stalled development at Park Avenue, where Major League Baseball once considered moving in, is still on the boards.

Some Occupy the Corners supporters with Jayson Williams, Al Sharpton and Tamika Mallory, NAN's national executive director.

Last Friday night, huddled together at the corner of 111th street and 5th Avenue in Harlem, a circle of about thirty individuals held hands. Their eyes were closed in prayer. The orange glow of the headlamps formed neon smudges against the black night sky. Two NYPD officers stood nearby, arms crossed, waiting. Opposite a church on the corner of 129th Street and 7th Avenue, a similar crowd looped around a stage, surrounded by blue lights and peace signs painted gold. Some youths lined up to perform raps and songs, which they had written themselves.

This was the last weekend of Occupy the Corners, an initiative created in response to the recent wave of shootings and organized by National Action Network (NAN), a not-for-profit civil rights organization. For the past four weekends, community activists, politicians, church leaders and local civilians have stood in solidarity at the most dangerous corners in New York, watching for any signs of violence.

On Friday, NAN founder and president, Reverend Al Sharpton, joined the campaigners.

“It’s important that our presence establishes that we are not going to give our corners to the hoodlums and the thugs,” Mr. Sharpton told the hushed crowd. “I’m glad to see the response. We had no idea we’d get to sixteen corners every weekend from 11 PM to 1 AM, but we’ve done it… Tomorrow night we're going to spread national.”

“Amen!” chorused the locals.

“This is our last week of Occupy the Corners but this is not our last week of working together,” assured Tamika D. Mallory, the national executive director for NAN.

“Young people don’t have to live the way that they are living, ducking bullets,” chipped in Iesha Sekou, the executive director of Street Corner Resources.

Reverend and anti-violence activist Vernon Williams told The Observer why he was supporting Occupy the Corners.

“I know that people in this particular area say, why are you standing in that corner right there, and I say, because I know what goes down on this corner,” he declared. “When we leave here, like last week when we left here, there was a shooting. The week before that there was a fight. We know that our presence makes a difference.

“Unfortunately, I’ve done a hundred-plus funerals of young people in the community,” Mr. Williams added, his voice shaking with anger. “This is my nephew’s mother, Reggie Andrews. He was murdered right here, in front of his house on his birthday, and that’s why I’m on this corner.”

A number of parents were present whose children had been killed in shootings. Nathan D. Allsbrooks’s mother and father set up a charity, the Nathan D. Allsbrooks Foundation, in memory of their son, whose life was cut short at fifteen. They were wearing T-shirts with a photograph of Nathan printed on them.

“My son was killed in 2008, just walking by. Someone senselessly came by and…” Cherise Smith trailed off, her eyes glistening with tears. “I see a lot of stuff on the news… It’s all in close proximity, you don’t know until it hits home, how horrific it can be. It ran on the news the whole week.”

Professional basketball player, Jayson Williams, who served an 18-month prison sentence for the manslaughter of Costas Christofi, offered a few words of comfort to Nathan’s father as he made a speech to the crowd.

“Dad, I can feel your pain, I’ve caused a lot of pain in my life and I’m here to try to make as much amends as I can,” Mr. Williams said softly. “I don’t pretend to have all the answers here, I’m still learning as I go, but I can assure you that I want to be a part of this, and anything I can do to reach the young people, and not-so-young people, to help stop the violence in our community, please call on me on me whenever.”

Basketball coach, Chez Williams, was present on behalf Taylonn Murphy, the father of Tayshana “Chicken” Murphy, who was murdered last September.

“She played basketball for me,” Mr. Williams explained. “Apparently, she was out late. Her brother got into a fight with another kid… and they came back after the fight to retaliate, and instead they shot Chicken, because she was outside. Chicken was eighteen. She had offers from all types of colleges.”

Over the weekend, NAN campaigners gathered together all over Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island, lighting up the darkest corners of New York City.

Hue-Man Bookstore and Cafe. (nycgo.com)

Wading through the humidity and past a row of street vendors selling tchochkes and foot massages, The Observer arrived at Hue-Man Bookstore and Café on Sunday, greeted rather unceremoniously by a door smattered in closing notices. Once in, sparse shelves offered brand-new paperbacks like Cheetah Girls, randomly interspersed with time-worn hard covers such as The Ethiopian Famine and The History of Calvinism Volume III. Final sale flyers were scattered throughout. Once considered a part of the most recent Harlem renaissance, the cultural Mecca was on the last legs of its 10-year run—officially closing its doors at the end of the month—and looked as much.

"The closing is a confluence of things," CEO and Hue-Man partner  Marva Allen would later tell us. "It's the publishing industry that's gone into a free fall. It's the fact that our lease is up after ten years and—with the new rent in Harlem—we would not have been able to sustain it. But most importantly I believe that any bookstore that wants to move into the future needs to address the [conflicting] dynamics of technology and the analog bookstore. So we decided why not step out now and take that opportunity to learn?"

But tonight they celebrated what had become a gathering ground for the neighborhood's literary community. We looked around. Only a few customers sat in small groups at tables up front—the store was otherwise empty—had the celebration come and gone? We approached the front desk and asked for Ms. Allen, who had invited us.

"Marva's at the party." The cashier gestured towards the back of the store.

Bookshelves were pushed aside, leaving a large open space in the middle where old friends laughed and chatted while their grandchildren chased each other.  Fold-up chairs and parked strollers with shiny plastic balloons tied to their handles traced a circle in the middle of the room. The smell of fried chicken and plantains wafted over from the buffet. It was a stark contrast from what had welcomed us.

A man erupted with laughter. "Hey, since we're closing, how about finishing the wine?"

Ms. Allen, the matriarch of the community gathering just north of 124^th street on Frederick Douglass Boulevard, was busy tending to a bevy of garrulous guests but we were able to take a turn find ourselves in a warm hug. "I'm so happy your here! Please grab a drink!" The evening was set to begin, so we let her take her place in front of the small but coming crowd.

We, ourselves, made our way through the buffet line where two young women told us this was only their third time at Hue-Man, but that they had come all the way from Brooklyn to say goodbye. Our plate piled high with fried plantains, we pushed up against a wall of children’s picture books.

Ms. Allen called for quiet and twenty or so guests took a seat in the fold-up chairs. The remaining guests stood behind, holding plates, books, and in some cases, the hands of young children or grandchildren they brought to share the occasion.

Ms. Allen spoke a few words of introduction for Fela cast members Gelan Lambert and Melanie Marshall, who described their experiences as part of Broadway's hit show and the importance of black history: "Not just in America," said Ms. Marshall, "but the whole thing." Ms. Marshall continued with the importance of educating the next generation, and the role both musicals and books play in realizing those aspirations for the present youth. "Our children are our future and if we don't teach them now the greatness of the people that they came from, they will never know. So it is your responsibility to pass this information on through our children." Flyers were then passed around that provided codes for online ticket discounts. Mr. Lambert and Ms. Marshall, as well as several seated guests who had already seen Fela, urged their fellow party-goers to attend the show before it’s due to close in two weeks.

Ms. Allen introduced the next attraction: the six-year-old son of one long-time Hue-Man affiliate, who coolly took to the stage in the center of the circle for a drum performance. As he played a drum almost as big as himself, his younger sister danced while encouraging cheers and spontaneous applause broke out from members of the audience. Despite the approving clamor, the kid professional only cracked a smile a few beats after he stopped drumming. Amidst the cheering, Ms. Allen could be heard: "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is our future."

Conversation grew among the still seated guests, some of whom knew each other intimately, and some not at all, as Ms. Allen urged one after another to tell their memories of Hue-Man.

One elder woman, a local English teacher, recounted the story of how she became involved with Hue-Man. "My mother taught me to be perfectly frank, so I approached Marva one day and gave her my critique of the spelling and grammar of the store's news letter, and as I look back I think it was a bit insulting. However, she didn't take offense—she said if you think you can do a better job, then you come in here and do it yourself!" As the topic turned to the impending close she added, "I just hope that sometime next week I hit the lotto so I can say 'We're not going, everyone! We're not going yet!' I've played lotto every single day since I heard."

Ever the supporter of this small community, Ms. Allen took gracious note of the sentiment, but pressed on. "I don't want you to think this is your fault.” Instead she thanked them for their support and friendship. While she later confided that she believed their closing would leave a "huge, huge hole," she was confident that they would be around in some iteration or another.

The evening carried on, as Ms. Allen and Hue-Man hoped their influence would.

What was once Barack Obama's crash pad in his Columbia University days is back on the market for $2,400/ month. Not a bad deal for an Upper West Side two-bedroom but back in 1981 Obama and his roommate paid a monthly grand total of just $360. Oh, the days.

The Citi Habitiats who are brokering the 142 West 109th St. apartment encourage renters on their website to "Be a part of history... Who knows? You might end up in the White House one day."

Is there more to the digs then having the easiest was to get a date to come home with you? ("Wanna come see where the President used to live?")

Zac Kneider of Citi Habitats admits to The Observer, "There is nothing too special about the place besides the fact that Obama used to live here.  It has a bit of charm but it's no different than the typical apartments that thousands of New Yorkers occupy."

This morning, The Observer published a column by culinary bon vivant, chef, restaurant-owner, and writer Eddie Huang on the matter of Red Rooster, the Harlem fine-dining restaurant serving the nu-soul food of culinary darling Marcus Samuelsson, whose memoir Yes, Chef comes out this week. The reaction has been—to say the least—fiery.

Now, Marcus Samuelsson himself has weighed in.

In an interview with Paper magazine's website pegged to the book, the site got a question in about today's column—which was none too kind to Mr. Samuelsson's book (which earned a comparison to Rudyard Kipling) or restaurant (and what it means to the neighborhood)—in which Mr. Huang had a Harlem native, rapper-producer Shiest Bubz, accompany him to dinner.

Via PaperMag.com (emphasis ours):

How did you feel about Eddie Huang's piece in the Observer today, in which he basically calls you out as an outsider in Harlem?

I feel that the more you try to be positive, the more you try to make change, and the more people are going to have a point of view on it. It's not like he's a relevant person in this place, but we live in a diverse environment where people have every freedom to comment. I can live with the fact that we have created jobs and that we make people happy. I stand by our work every single day regardless of who has a comment.

We would dare argue: On the contrary, Mr. Samuelsson!*

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

[*Who, of course, would have to have some idea of Eddie's 'relevance,' having co-signed at least one of the same massive undertakings as he.]