Between camera flashes we found Julia Stiles in the V.I.P. section. She was wearing a black sleeveless dress with what seemed to be tiny black feather embellishments. What did she think of Fashion Week so far?

"Um, it's really funny to me," she said, spinning to face us. "Because it's like, I'm sort of relieved that I don't work in fashion! Everybody seems stressed out all the time."

The actress Tatum O'Neal agreed. "The hectic-ness of the whole thing is a little more than I can bear," she said. "Unless I had a job at a magazine and I had to go [to another show], I dont think I could. I have to leave to go to L.A. to work tomorrow. I'm done. This is it. My friend Hunter was trying to get me to go to William Rast, Justin Timberlake's show. But not even that."

Ms. O'Neal continued: "And i think with the economy the way it is, I want to see clothes that are American made. I want to see organic fabric. I don't necessarily want to see us spending money on clothes. I want people to be eating, I think that's my thing this year."

There was 4-year-old Maren Frey, the platinum blond, adorable little daughter of Bright Shiny Morning author James Frey and wife, Maya. Tiny Maren was outfitted in a white dress, silver sandals, and a string of pearls for her Fashion Week debut. Gigi Clementine, a 3-year-old dressed in a tiny floral number, was the daughter of Ms. Rowley and husband, author Bill Powers (wearing silver sneakers), who was seated next to the Freys. The third girl, a brunette in a blue dress, looked to be around the same age and spent much of her time on the lap of actress Tatum O'Neal, who as far as we know has not given birth in the last five years. (Perhaps a niece?)

Mr. Frey's presence at the show was not surprising. When Daily Transom found the author in the front row of Ms. Rowley's show in September 2006, he insisted he was dragged to the show by his wife, who is apparently very into fashion. (When we caught up with the spouses in 2006, Mrs. Frey was in Hermes and Prada, and Mr. Frey was wearing Hanes, Adidas, and J. Crew.) To yesterday's show, Mr. Frey wore an untucked white polo shirt, khakis, and sneakers.

Ms. O'Neal was seated in the front row next to Julia Stiles and several seats away from author Candace Bushnell and actor Alan Cumming, who was (embarrassingly!) wearing the same plaid blazer as Mr. Powers. Across the runway were the Freys seated next to Mr. Powers and his little girl in the front row.

As the bleacher stands at Ms. Rowley's show began to fill up with editors and guests at 3 p.m. (the scheduled time for the show), the girls ran between the adults seated across the runway from each other, bumping into the photographers who were snapping photos of the front row guests. By the time the show began at 3:40, the girls seemed to have worn themselves out and all three settled into the laps of Mr. Frey and Mr. Powers. And once the models began to come down the runway, the girls watched with interest and when inspired, raised their heads to deliver their reviews to the adults.

Allen Garcia, the 33-year-old homeless panhandler who sold her the crack in May, walked out of the prison on Tuesday into the arms of immigration officials, who then began his deportation proceedings.

Ms. O'Neal must've had a better lawyer.

The acrylic and silk-screen portrait, based on a Polaroid of the couple taken by Mr. Warhol himself, was purchased by Mr. McEnroe at a charity auction for approximately $30,000 in 1986. The work is now expected to fetch up to $687,000.

Mr. McEnroe is now a television commentator at major tennis tournaments and Ms. O'Neal was arrested for scoring crack on the Lower East Side earlier this month.

Don't forget! You can still go bid on Tony Soprano's signature short-sleeved button down shirts for $500 at Christie's tomorrow for a better bargain.

While speaking at a public hearing in Scotland to push his $2 billion golf resort, Donald Trump said, "We have a President in the United States who's terrible. He stinks." [NY Daily News]

Tatum O'Neal sang karaoke last night with Radar's Neel Shah at Broadway East on the Lower East Side. They performed a duet of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together." [Radar]

NBC might pay $2 million for footage of Farrah Fawsett's cancer treatment. [P6]

Sumner Redstone said that his dinner with ex Manuela Herzer was a pure coincidence. Apparently she showed up at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and ended up joining the Viacom chairman. "I'm a happily married man," he said. [P6]

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon will not be throwing a belated wedding party, but they have registered at Bergdorf's in case you want to send them a gift. [P6]

Tory Burch has hired Surface 2 Air designers as creative consultants to appeal to the hipster demographic. [Nylon via The Cut]

Chris Martin, Gwynee's hubby, has a little sleeping pill problem. [P6]

Ethan Hawke and pregnant fiancée Ryan Shawhughes, who used to be the nanny of his two children with Uma Thurman, were seen applying for their marriage license and are getting ready to wed. [P6]

Thom Browne, despite being swooned over by the fashion world at the CFDAs this year, is reportedly having trouble pitching his short-legged suits to consumers. [P6]

Ellen Barkin likes it when bike messengers tell her she looks hot. [P6]

The City is reluctant to approve Robert DeNiro's penthouse atop his new Tribeca hotel because he failed to ask for adequate permission before building it. [Rush & Malloy]

Tatum O'Neal went off to an AA meeting after getting released from jail. [NY Daily News]

No one wants to buy Bill Cosby's sweaters on eBay. [The Cut]

Entertainment Tonight finally retracted the claim that Angelina Jolie's twins were born last week. [NY Daily News]

Tatum O'Neal, who blamed her crack-buying on the death of her dog, emerged from spending a night in prison laughing and offering her drug dealer, legal help. [Daily Intel]

An attendee at Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' housewarming party said, "Everyone he's been having issues with was invited: Sumner Redstone, Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, you name it. Then there were all the gays, which was hilarious because Scientology 'cures' gays . . . There's a tenet in Scientology that basically says, 'After you cut people off, you have to invite them back in.' Especially if your career's in trouble, I guess." [P6]

A gust of wind at Sunday's MTV Movie Awards revealed Lindsay Lohan wearing Spanx. [NY Daily News]

Tatum O'Neal, who wrote a memoir in 2004 about her drug addiction, was arrested for buying crack on the Lower East Side on Sunday morning from a homeless man. [NY Daily News]

Lindsay Lohan reportedly passed on a $1 million offer from OK! magazine to do a cover where she "comes out" about her gay relationship with Samantha Ronson. [P6]

Suze Orman says that with today's economy, Carrie Bradshaw would have to switch from Manolos to Payless. [Intelligencer]

Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard want you to know that they walk to Brooklyn Academy of Music in downtown Brooklyn from their Park Slope home, despite Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz introducing them the other night as "the most glamorous of the stroller derby crew in Park Slope." [P6]

Ashley Olsen continues to date Lydia Hearst's ex, Justin Bartha. [P6]

Along with losing her temper and possibly her freedom, Naomi Campbell is also apparently losing her hair. [NY Daily News]

P. Diddy and Cameron Diaz have been seen going into a lot of rooms together. [NY Daily News]

The terra-cotta-and-brick-clad Neoclassical edifice on East Broadway, facing Seward Park, got its name from the newspaper it was built to house, the Jewish Daily Forward. Portraits of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, carved carefully into the yellow-brown façade, stare out from above the large entryway, now strewn lightly with debris from the building’s almost-complete renovation into apartments.

The 10-story building at 175 East Broadway had been more than a newspaper headquarters: It had been the headquarters of Jewish life on the Lower East Side for much of the 20th century, where immigrants came to find assistance, labor activists held their meetings, and fiery political speech emanated from the several podiums in the lower floors. Now, Ms. O’Neal, who sold a loft on Great Jones Street last October, was there to find a luxury condominium.

About an hour before Ms. O’Neal arrived for her tour, developer and architect Ronald Castellano paced around unit 10AB—the roughly 4,000-square-foot penthouse—and gazed out over the city.

“It’s a very interesting view,” said Mr. Castellano. “To the west is the financial district. To the north is the Empire State Building. Here is the Williamsburg Bridge [and] Triborough Bridge.”

At the age of 37, Mr. Castellano already has an impressive résumé, beginning his career as an intern architect under architect Peter Eisenman. Later, he worked for four years at Richard Meier and Partners, and—shortly before breaking out on his own—the Frank Stella Studio.

“Working at Richard [Meier’s firm], everything matters,” said Mr. Castellano, who admits that his former boss’ meticulous nature is something he cannot shake in his own projects, down to the smallest bathroom fixture. Mr. Castellano labored over early models for the Perry Street towers in the West Village, where celebrity buyers arrived in droves with three words in mind: location, location and location. At Perry Street, more than anything else—the building, the finishes—the location was the architect’s creation.

In addition to identifying the iconic New York landmarks visible through the penthouse’s oversized windows, Mr. Castellano also pointed out the Garfield Building at 142 Henry Street, which he developed alongside then-partner Christopher Haynes (who has since gotten married and moved to Boston).

On that residential project, things were a bit trickier. Renters already occupied several floors, so the developers had to keep shuffling the building’s tenants during construction.

Despite the obvious headaches, the conversion eventually paid off. After a four-year renovation of the former manufacturing building—which the partners bought for a paltry $2.45 million in 2001—they began selling units to very notable buyers, including the German-born model (and onetime girlfriend of magician David Blaine) Manon Von Gerkan and the actor Josh Lucas (who is best known for wooing Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama).

Although Mr. Castellano briefly joined the beautiful people living on Henry Street, he now plans to move to the Forward Building himself after it is completed this summer. But Mr. Castellano still has one more project in the neighborhood: In September, he plans to open a 4,000-square-foot vegetarian restaurant at 171 East Broadway, just one door down from the Forward. (Everything old is new again: The location was also the site of a vegetarian eatery in the 1920’s.)

Mr. Castellano wasn’t the first to think of turning the Forward into apartments. He was just the first, after decades of efforts, to get it done.

The Lau family purchased the building for $316,000 decades earlier, and had planned to convert it in the late 1990’s. When it was landmarked in 1986, the owners realized that they needed to complete an exhaustive renovation of the exterior as well as the interior. After pouring $10 million into a gut renovation, 39 high-end units were carved out of the former newspaper offices.

Then came Sept. 11 and the downturn in the housing market; the owners eventually decided against marketing the apartments. So, in the summer of 2004, the entire building landed on the market for $22 million. And in April 2005, Mr. Castellano purchased it for $23.5 million, just as the Henry Street conversion was being completed.

“I worked on the Garfield Building for four years,” said Mr. Castellano. “It was a real slow process. This one, we bought it pretty much renovated [and] sort of ripped it all out.”

For the condo’s new configuration, Mr. Castellano did a lot of “shifting around and redoing,” eventually settling on an assortment of 29 residential units and two commercial units.

There were other changes from the previous renovation. For one thing, there was no air conditioning in the building when Mr. Castellano purchased it, meaning that air conditioners would have to protrude from the ornate façade—something that would never fly in a high-end building these days.

Amenities were another obvious concern, and Mr. Castellano is designing the units individually and allowing buyers to select tiles, appliances and fixtures from high-end brands like Dornbracht, Kohler and Miele. “The guy on the fifth floor won’t have the same faucet as the guy on the third floor,” he said. Also, the building features a 24-hour doorman, a refrigerator in the lobby (ideal for Fresh Direct–obsessed buyers) and a bike storage area—a major concern for the developer who prefers riding a bike to driving.

Prices range from $575,000 (for a 625-square-foot studio) to $4.5 million (for the penthouse). Although the sales office officially opened on March 15, several prospective buyers have already signed contracts.

“We started about two weeks ago, and we are about 50 percent sold,” said luxury broker Michael Bolla, who is the building’s director of marketing. “There are people coming from the West Village and Tribeca, but even people coming from Connecticut.”

Apparently, one buyer is also fleeing the Upper East Side: A doctor—and regular patron of French restaurant Les Enfants Terribles on nearby Canal Street—is trading life in the East 70’s for a sleek apartment on the building’s sixth floor.

And at least one celebrity buyer is already moving in too.

Photographer Brigitte Lacombe—who purchased a condo at nearby 7 Essex Street in 2004—has selected a sunlight-filled apartment facing the park.

Historical Blindness

Celebrity cachet notwithstanding, Mr. Bolla estimates that “about a third of the sales” at the Forward occurred because buyers “came specifically for the history of the building.”

The building hasn’t housed a newspaper for a long time. Founded in 1897, the Forward’s circulation grew rapidly to 120,000 in a few short years. So the Forward Association purchased two buildings, located at 173 and 175 East Broadway, to serve as the site of its new and larger headquarters.

Construction on the George Bohm–designed building was completed in 1912, and it quickly became the signature building of the neighborhood, easily standing out amid the comparatively low-lying structures. In 1974, the socialist Forward was smaller again—it has since morphed into the weekly Forward—so it sold the building and moved up to East 33rd Street.

That was 32 years ago. But it is really only now that the building’s past is catching up with it—or rather, that Manhattan’s overheated real-estate speculators are catching up with the building’s past, and the history of the Lower East Side. That Marx and Engels should overlook the façade of the next great luxury development of the Lower East Side seems less an anomaly than an apt metaphor for the peculiar and sought-after brand of luxury the neighborhood now represents.

Promotional materials—which are typically more likely to dwell on ultramodern amenities—actually mention how “the building’s cultural significance parallels the important revolutionary, socialist-democratic values its Yiddish-language newspaper espoused.”

To others, the building’s cultural significance now parallels something else entirely: the move to turn the Lower East Side into a combination tourist trap and playground for the ultra-rich.

Last week, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum announced plans to push for a historic district in the neighborhood, which could comprise 22 square blocks. It seemed community-minded enough. But the Tenement Museum has been having trouble with the neighbors lately.

The main building of the museum, at 97 Orchard Street, features guided tours of re-created tenement-living spaces, as well as a visitors’ center with information about neighborhood events and history.

On March 16, in a first-floor meeting room at a senior-citizen center on East Eighth Street, representatives from the Tenement Museum (along with a few supporters from other organizations) planned to speak at the Community Board 3 committee meeting.

For at least an hour, the first 20 items on the committee’s agenda—mostly regarding summer block-party permits—proceeded without much uproar. But then came Item No. 21, and things became heated.

Several angry attendees called the museum’s proposal for a historic district “disingenuous,” fearing that walking down their streets would make them unwitting participants in some kind of Epcot Center display.

Especially objectionable was the prospect of building a 19th-century-style “saloon.”

“We are in fact doing a historical re-creation of a saloon,” said Alexandra Mann, director of public relations and marketing for the Tenement Museum. Although Ms. Mann couldn’t say at this time whether the saloon would serve alcohol, she insists that “it will not be open in the evening” and would be located in the lower level, in the museum’s theater space.

The museum’s representatives also had a PowerPoint presentation to show: “Existing Historic Buildings in the Proposed Landmark District.” They weren’t allowed to show it, and instead handed out a one-page synopsis and map of the proposed landmark district.

“We went to the community board as a pre-step to let them know this is something we are doing,” said Margaret Hughes, a director of the Tenement Museum, who has two meetings scheduled in the next few weeks with both property owners and advocates of affordable housing.

“The physical Lower East Side will be gone in three years,” said Simeon Bankoff, the executive director of the Historic Districts Council, who also attended the committee meeting at the museum’s request. “I think that the current zoning encourages the decimation of the area, [and] a historic district would help preserve its architectural character.”

If high-end apartment buyers are buying at the Forward because of the building’s cultural significance, at other buildings a sleek design and new construction are significance enough—to say nothing of the neighborhood’s endlessly proliferating nightlife options.

Just last month, Vanity Fair featured “The Swingin’ Lower East Side,” including an easy-to-use map of galleries, bars and shops. But it was mostly devoted to restaurants.

“The Lower East Side restaurant scene has totally exploded—not just in terms of the number of places, but in the ambition of the restaurants,” said Frank Bruni, the restaurant critic for The New York Times. He mentioned a few notable additions in the past year and a half, including Thor and Falai—which “lifts the Lower East Side up a notch or two.”

Mr. Bruni awarded two stars (a “very good” rating) to three of the last four Lower East Side restaurants he reviewed.

But he sees trouble on the horizon.

“On the restaurant front, there is a real question now about whether the old-time residents of the community are going to be successful in daunting some restaurateurs from expanding down there,” Mr. Bruni said. “They’ve stalled, if not prevented, the Orchard from getting a liquor license.”

Indeed, the Orchard—which remains B.Y.O.B.—has met resistance from Board 3, which has been trying to block liquor licenses on certain streets it feels have already become too congested.

“There are so many already that, regardless of who is coming in, we can’t accommodate one more person, one more taxi,” said Susan Stetzer, district manager of Board 3. “From 12 o’clock on, there are people screaming in the streets.”

And within mere footsteps of Blue! For those of you who haven’t been following the condo-ization of the Lower East Side, Blue is the name for a large, ultrachic tower now going up just off Delancey Street, down the block from the old Ratner’s.

The Bernard Tschumi–designed residential tower will be striking, to say the least, with five different shades of blue glass and two shades of clear glass for its cladding. Nothing like the Forward Building.

“None of us know exactly how it will look, because it will depend on how the sun hits it,” said Barrie Mandel of the Corcoran Group, who is the exclusive sales and marketing agent. “Once this structure gets up there, [because of] the play of the light and sun and shadows, it will look different throughout the day.”

Marketing for Blue began at the end of 2005, and Ms. Mandel believes that at least half the 32 units are under contract. The prices range from $775,000 (for a 759-square-foot apartment) to approximately $3.5 million to $4 million (for the 2,494-square-foot penthouse). Other features include floor-to-ceiling windows, a concierge and an 8,000-square-foot common terrace.

If the insides of Blue looked anything like the insides of the Tenement Museum, you can be sure these buyers wouldn’t be coming. But the streets are another matter. Why not have the best of both worlds—and live in an ultramodern glass tower perched above a burlesque show of fancy restaurants and cute historical artifacts? Where have we seen this appetite before?

“There is something about the attitude of the Lower East Side, and the attitude of this building, which is compelling people to buy here,” said Ms. Mandel of Blue’s buyers so far. “They’re not Sutton Place; they are Greenwich Village, Tribeca [and] Noho buyers.”

“I’m scared of what’s going on in the city,” said Mr. Bankoff. “Everything is going high-end residential. Where the heck do the rest of us live?”

While there are many good things about casual dating, I've always maintained the best thing was that you never had to worry about breaking up-or so I thought. Recently, whether because of newly frayed nerves or an already-decaying infrastructure, I've heard about lots of people breaking up. Many New Yorkers are moving their antibiotics and antidepressants back to their own medicine chests. While some are ending relationships of months and even years, others-including people who came together in the weeks of late September-are calling it quits after only a few weeks. For these people, the delicate business of saying it's over is complicated by the fact that they're not sure anything had ever begun.

For example, although I haven't actually had a relationship since my last boyfriend, I have, it seems, broken up with people, or had them break up with me, even though I never knew we were going out. This is when relationships become like apartments with lead paint: You don't even know you're in one until you realize you need to get out. The end, which in some cases preceded the beginning in my mind, usually involves an unbearable phone conversation. In terms of sheer discomfort, it is, as a friend of mine said, "like being stuck in traffic on a crosstown bus with Mark Green."

"You feel like you're breaking up with someone you've only been on one or two dates with," said a woman who recently stopped dating a man she called a "resentful former nerd." "It's like the first relationship talk is the end of the relationship."

Part of the problem is that no one can agree on what constitutes a relationship. It isn't necessarily time spent together, or even whether or not you've had sex. So no one can agree on how-or even if-things need ending.

"If you've made out with the person, it would be excellent if you actually called to end things, but you never want to assume they're crazy about you and have them be like, 'Are you nuts?'" said a former model who played a cad on a soap opera. "If you've slept together, you should probably talk to them, but you can just do the attrition route and play phone tag until they forget you."

A man who told me he often meets women at shoe stores had a different take. "If you've only made out, or had exposed breasts, it's still O.K. to stop calling. It's not a comment on the degree of intimacy. If there was genital contact, I would say in person is much more appropriate, but it's one big judgment call."

Many women did not agree.

"If you made out, you should at least get a call," said a woman who raises money for underprivileged children. "If you've exchanged any major body fluids, you deserve to be dumped in person."

Although I'm not kosher, I do prefer the kosher method of killing a "not quite" relationship, namely with one swift stroke and as little suffering as possible. I much preferred the "I've met someone else" note I received on monogrammed, biscuit-colored stationery days after we'd last spoke to the guy who called me--after not calling for a month-to tell me he wasn't going to call again.

For the people who are not sure there's anything to end, there are many different options. When a friend asked me how to tell a woman that he didn't want to see her anymore, I asked what his other friends had advised. "You ask 10 guys, 'If you take out a girl a few times, make out with her a little, do you need to call?', 10 guys would say 'No call.' Eight women would say 'Call.'" He chuckled. "Actually, guys wouldn't even be interested enough to give their opinion." He lamented about a woman, whom he'd taken out five times, "who thinks we're going out now. I take her on a bunch of dates, spend hundreds of dollars on her, then I have to figure out the nicest way to break up with her."

Some don't call their former date directly, but instead call the person who fixed them up. "If friends set you up, then you can decimate the relationship through them," said the former daytime rake. "They're the recruiter, and you can tell the recruiter you're not taking the job."

The shoe-store Romeo had a different method: lying.

"It's perfectly acceptable to make stuff up. I've actually used my emotional dysfunction, even though I'm a lot better now," he said. "The more fertile your imagination, the better off you are."

For many, the nicest way to break up is to somehow convince the other person that they're breaking up with you. A man who said he's "really good at breaking up" said, "What I do is try to be a jerk and not be responsive. If she still doesn't break up with me, then I have to say 'I don't like the way I am around you.' You're saying there's something wrong with them, but you need to make up an excuse to soften the blow."

An animated brunette called this technique the "passive one, where they're so cold they make you do it."

The children's advocate said she believed that "often, guys will say that they take you and your relationship seriously- as a reason for ending it. That way you can't say, 'But it's only been a few weeks.'" I refer to this method as the Gaslight technique, based on the movie where Charles Boyer slowly drives Ingrid Bergman crazy by denying he rearranged the furniture. The Gaslight, true to its insidious nature, leads you to doubt your sanity by causing you to ask such questions as, "How could he have thought we were so serious? I didn't think we were. And he was the one calling all the time. Wasn't he?"

In thinking about how I'd like to be dumped, I decided on a heartfelt, tear-stained note with a generous Yves Saint Laurent gift certificate attached. Like many people, I struggle with ways to say, "You're perfect-just not for me." I went out with a man who told me, within the first hour of meeting him, how he'd like to get the slip. He said, "Don't tell me you want to be my friend. I don't have time for that. Just be honest. I don't like every woman I go out with, either." When he asked me out a few days later, I followed his guidelines exactly, leaving a message on his answering machine. He called me back to thank me.

It was so straightforward, it made me wish all first dates went something like this:

"O.K., waiter, I'm going with the chicken. And I want him to call to say he's not interested, but not to go on too long."

"And I'm going to have the lamb, not too pink. And I'd prefer she breaks up via e-mail. Just make sure she writes 'Subject: Goodbye.'"