December 21, 2024
A Tiffany’s Christmas
November 20, 2024
Modern-Day Mayflower
September 29, 2024
Sweet Transvestite
December 21, 2024
A Tiffany’s Christmas
November 20, 2024
Modern-Day Mayflower
September 29, 2024
Sweet Transvestite
The Erskine Press building at 17 East 13th Street is currently the home of the Singaporean cocktail bar Singlish. But the Village Preservation plaque to the left of the doorway yields a clue to a rich literary history. Butterick Publishing Company I love that in the 1890s, Butterick printed their women’s dress patterns at this […]
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The way that businesses open and close in New York, hearts are broken and new love affairs begin. It can be hard to keep track. Is it S&P? Is it Eisenberg’s? Answer = All of the Above. A Little History I’m sure many of you know and love the venerable Fifth Avenue lunch counter directly […]
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This month, I went with my crew to another iconic New York literary destination, which also claims to be NYC’s oldest original bar and restaurant, Pete’s Tavern. This combined many of my favorite things: New York history, literature, yummy cocktails and food, and gorgeous quirky fashion. Pete’s is located at 129 East 18th Street at […]
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Toad Hall is a charming neighborhood pub in SoHo, named after the famous manor in The Wind in the Willows. Drinks prices are pre-pandemic, and there’s a gorgeous pool table in the back. Phil happened upon this little-known spot on a mid-afternoon meander and stayed for a beer. The bar is over 100 years old, […]
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My first memory of Elton John’s music is listening to “The Bitch Is Back” at my Aunty Lynne’s house in Penticton, BC. I was playing with my sister Kim and cousins Denise and Sherry, while my aunt and Uncle Dwayne were enjoying a few beers, listening to Elton John on a sunny summer afternoon in […]
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With the passing of Tina Turner on May 24 to a place that surely awaits the world’s most beloved entertainers, this month’s column is brimming with celebration and sadness. How to reconcile losing the ones we love? The heart cries out: Let’s Stay Together. An Inspiring Role Model Tina has always been there, an inspirational […]
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Do you remember the heartbreaking final scene in And Just Like That, Season 1, when Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) scattered Big’s ashes into the River Seine? Just as Season 1, Episode 1, made us cry when Big died, Episode 10 closed off the first year of Carrie’s grief with a call-back to the music playing […]
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Candace Bushnell, Carrie Bradshaw, Sarah Jessica Parker… Fabulous women, both real and fictional! Sex and the City (SATC) turned twenty-five on June 6, and Season 2 of the SATC reboot, And Just Like That, premieres on June 22. For my 50th Karen’s Quirky Style column, I want to celebrate the gorgeous, glamorous, talented women of […]
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Back to the Future at the Bonnet Bash. West Village model Karen Rempel and her pal Jeff Reid duel it out while joined at the hip at the National Arts Club’s 2023 Bonnet Bash, with props from Denny Daniels’s Museum of Interesting Things. Photo by Denny Daniels. This year’s Bonnet Bash at the National Arts […]
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The sheer pleasure of summer bliss in a sea of winter men at Fanelli’s Café in Soho. A dear friend from Jersey City took me to the beloved Fanelli Café on an early trip to New York. It was nighttime and glowing spots of candlelight lit the winter-dark café. Mike told me stories about the […]
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Digging it! Phil just had to take a photo of me standing in this digger on our way to Little Island. He’s such a guy! Jutting into the Hudson River, Little Island is a bite-sized, low-commitment park. You can follow the path to the peak in less than 10 minutes, enjoying stunning views of Manhattan, […]
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Love for sale? Last August, I learned the sad news that the Meatpacking District’s last remaining “short stay” hotel, the Liberty Inn was up for sale. I hadn’t been aware of the inn, though I’d walked past it many times, but I was devastated that Manhattan was losing another tree in the garden that gave […]
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Karen Rempel’s artistic rendering of a Philip Maier photo, capturing the alienation of Edward Hopper’s Automat. Hector’s Café and Diner, at the corner of Little West 12th Street and Washington, has been serving meatpackers three squares a day since 1949. Open at 3 a.m., it’s always a beacon in the shadow of the High Line […]
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