Chris Shott

Rival operators appear to be scavaging over what's left of the bankrupt Scores empire.

Robert Gans, owner of Manhattan's Penthouse Executive Club, has applied for a liquor license at the former Scores West strip club at 533-535 West 27th Street.

Meanwhile, proprietors of the Las Vegas-based strip club Sapphire--who earlier caused such an uproar over plans to open a new location on West 23rd Street--are seeking a license at the original Scores location at 333 East 60th Street.

Both applicants are scheduled to appear before the State Liquor Authority (SLA) next week.

State regulators earlier stripped Scores boss Richard Goldring of his license at the West Side location, after employees were arrested on prostitution charges.  read more »

MTV is sponsoring a contest to promote the upcoming action film Max Payne starring Mark Wahlberg--and talk about the perfect setting for a gritty cop-movie gimmick!

"To celebrate the release of this slick new thriller, MTV is giving one lucky winner and a friend an NYPD trip to New York City. You’ll get flights, two-nights accommodation at the luxurious Hotel Pennsylvania..."

What, you were expecting the posh Hotel Carter?

Now, MTV wasn't around during the Swing Era, but has Kurt Loder and company bothered to peek inside the old Glenn Miller hangout recently?

(Read The Observer's extensive coverage here.)

"Save The Hotel" activist Gregory Jones once took issue with my use of the term "fleabag" to describe the dowdy would-be landmark on Seventh Avenue.

But, come on, luxurious?

The city is expecting about 400,000 fewer out-of-town visitors than originally anticipated this year, in light of the recent financial crisis.

Revised projections released today by the city's tourism office, NYC & Company, estimate a total of 47.3 million people traveling to New York in 2008 -- still, about 2.8 percent more than in 2007. The original forecast estimated about 47.7 million tourists.

Nearly 46 million visitors came to New York in 2007, according to the agency.

Prior to the economic downtown, the city had experienced a 10 percent increase in international travelers over the first six months of 2008.

Famous faces have long adorned the walls of New York restaurants, from the caricatures of world leaders at the Palm to the autographed glossies of pro athletes at the Pump. But when the chef Laurent Tourondel opened BLT Market in the Ritz Carlton at Central Park last fall, he decided to decorate the new space with snapshots of a guy cradling a duck; another one wielding a big slab of ribs; and a saintly looking woman sporting a wheel of cheese as if it were a halo.

These hitherto anonymous purveyors—butchers, farmers, fishmongers—are the new stars of a New York food scene consumed with carefully “sourced” ingredients.  read more »

Unpaid workers arranged folding chairs for the Monday evening poetry reading as Prince’s apocalyptical party anthem “1999” played softly in the background.

Viva la revolución!

“This is a place where people can come and engage,” said Travis Morales, 56, a sort of nonobligatory manager at Revolution Books, the all-volunteer, nearly 30-year-old not-for-profit retailer of radical literature, T-shirts and “cute red-star earrings,” which has lately benefited from an uptick in foot traffic in its new location at 146 West 26th Street.

“Obviously, what’s happening in the financial sector is raising big questions for people,” asserted the friendly, bespectacled, ponytailed shopkeeper.  read more »

“So this is what all the fuss is about,” said alluring restaurateur Danae Cappelletto, standing in the plywood doorway at 19 Kenmare Street in Little Italy on Monday morning.

“You’ll have to use your imagination,” she added, as the two-level, roughly 2,800-square-foot space has sat empty for more than a year—and yet, so full of controversy.

Ms. Cappelletto, 27, is the third brave soul to attempt to do something with the site—which formerly housed longtime neighborhood institution Little Charlie’s Clam House—but only the first of them to so far survive the regulatory gauntlet that opening a downtown restaurant, or any business that serves booze, has lately become.  read more »

So much for the hotel boom.

The AP is reporting that shares of hospitality companies are tanking amid a gloomy outlook for travel in 2009.

New York-based companies Morgans Hotel Group and Starwood Hotel & Resorts were among those with the steepest declines during the Dow's overall 777-point freefall on Monday:

Starwood shares dropped $3.39, or 11.2 percent, to $26.88 in afternoon trading, after touching a 5-year low of $25.95 earlier in the session. Morgans Hotel shares lost $1.61, or 12.9 percent, to $10.83.

How will the financial crisis impact the city's ever-higher tourism projections? Will less demand for rooms trigger a drop in skyrocketing hotel rates?

Stay tuned.

New York City hotels last month benefited from the highest average occupancy rate in four years, according to the latest figures from NYC & Company.

The city's tourism office reported an average occupancy rate of 92.4 percent in August. The average daily rate edged upward about a buck from July to $285.84.

That's $20 higher than in August 2007, but still about $40 less than this past June, when a typical night cost $325.94.

Hotel rates should only increase over the next several months, as the city's various lodges hit peak travel season.

Last September, the average overnight stay cost $340.33. Rates last November and December hovered around $370.

Bartender extraordinaire Sasha Petraske might just be stuck brewing coffee at Mercury Dime on East Fifth Street, after local Community Board 3 again declined to support his aspirations of alcohol service, according to Eater.

Grub Street adds a splash of drama, noting that the Milk & Money maestro "must have assumed his fate, as he didn't show at the meeting."

Still, his pint dreams probably aren't completed crushed by the community board's rejection.

The vote is only advisory, and other bars, notably including the Beatrice Inn, have succeeded in slinging drinks, despite neighborhood protests. That being said, the ruling New York State Liquor Authority (SLA) has tended to lend a more sympathetic ear to the various community boards' whims in recent years.  read more »

Ask anyone around Wall Street these days: Are bankers still buying ties? Inevitably, someone will respond, “What, to hang themselves?”

“Isn’t this a cool tie?” gushed an eager saleswoman at the chic Hermès boutique at 15 Broad Street, conveniently across from the New York Stock Exchange.

It was a lustrous, sky-blue tie, made of 100 percent silk, with undulating aqua-colored oval shapes and tiny gray floral patterns. (And it would just look great with my jacket, she added.)

This tie was something unique, she explained, the only one of its kind across the entire 4,000-square-foot selling floor.

Turned out someone else had returned it earlier that day for a refund.  read more »

Neighbors protesting the trendy Beatrice Inn's effort to renew its liquor license were outraged last week to find out that they were effectively wasting their breath.

By the time the issue had come to local Community Board 2 for a vote on Sept. 18, the hip celebrity hangout's renewal had already been approved by the State Liquor Authority .

"Advise us on how to get rid of this place," pleaded one aghast neighbor.

Raymond Lee, chairman of the board's SLA committee, explained that there was really little that the panel could do because -- despite allegations of the popular hot spot's "coke den" reputation -- the Beatrice on 285 West 12th Street had no record of violations with the SLA (an apparent prerequisite for nixing a renewal).  read more »

"I think we've broken the curse," said Dustin Cappelletto, co-owner of the forthcoming Travertine restaurant at 19 Kenmare Street, after a divided Community Board 2 narrowly voted 17 to 14 to support the eatery's liquor license during a contentious meeting on Thursday night.

"It's a dream come true," added his teary sister and partner, Danae Cappelletto, who hoped to open the two-level, 2,800-square-foot Mediterranean restaurant in January.

The Cappellettos are the fourth proposed operators to take a crack at the embattled former site of Little Charlie's Clam House.

Hollywood impresario Ivan Kane had initially intended to open an East Coast version of his Forty Deuce burlesque club in the space more than a year ago, before  read more »

What a great week to launch a new restaurant in the Financial District!

“We’re all nervous about what’s happening with the economy, but we’ve got to charge through it,” said chef Todd English, dressed like an urban Johnny Cash in all black, as he celebrated the opening of his latest eatery, Libertine, at the Gild Hall hotel on Gold Street on Wednesday night.

“There’s no right time or wrong time to open a place like this,” added hotelier Jason Pomeranc. “It is our duty as hoteliers and restaurateurs to provide the inns and watering holes where people can celebrate their victories and mourn their losses.  read more »

On Sept. 11, Matthew Moinian pulled up outside his sales office on West Street, hopped out of his chauffered Mercedes and was promptly accosted by police.

The sidewalk was off-limits, he was blunty informed, to keep the path clear for presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama, who were in town to mark the seventh anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the nearby World Trade Center.

Little did the cops realize, however, they had another powerful VIP on their hands.

“Hey,” said the fresh-faced, dapper-dressed Mr. Moinian, pointing to his family firm’s new hotel nearby, “I own that building.  read more »

An ongoing dispute with an upstairs neighbor continues to create more legal headaches for David Kaplan, proprietor of the popular yet embattled East Village cocktail lounge Death & Co.

Mr. Kaplan, who is also suing the State Liquor Authority over its decision to not renew his liquor license, has now filed for a court injunction barring landlord P.V.P. Management from evicting his bar, located at 433 East Sixth Street, over alleged noise issues.

The tenant living directly above the bar, identified in court papers as Joseph Hurley, has claimed that "repeated and forcible closing of the [bar's] front door ... causes a severe and unreasonable amount of vibration" in his apartment.  read more »

Celebrity chef Mario Batali's critically acclaimed Del Posto restaurant earned a more dubious distinction on Sunday, when state Senator Jeff Klein set up outside to announce his second annual round-up of New York City's dirtiest restaurants.

Mr. Batali's three-star eatery on 10th Avenue flunked a city health inspection this past June, racking up a total of 44 violation points for pest problems and spoiled food -- "proving that even world class kitchens cannot afford to scrimp on pest control," according to Senator Klein's office.

If Mr. Batali is interested, this reporter happens to know some good exterminators.

However, Del Posto was far from the city's filthiest eatery.  read more »

After three years of court fights with booze- and noise-wary neighbors over its liquor license and live music program, embattled Lola restaurant at 5-15 Watts Street has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

In addition to mounting unpaid legal bills -- nearly $100,000 and counting -- proprietors Gayle Patrick-Odeen and Tom Patrick-Odeen also owe landlord Vornado Realty more than $100,000 in back rent, "as a result of [their] inability to generate significant income from [the restaurant's] trademark live performances," according to court papers.

On Aug. 20, Vornado threatened to terminate the restaurant's 15-year lease if the money was not paid in full. The restaurant has filed for bankruptcy in order to "preserve its valuable leasehold interest," the court papers show.

The restaurant is now "holding 3 nightly performance sets in hopes of successfully rebounding from their financial setbacks."

When he’s not grilling rocker Jon Bon Jovi, or tooling around Dubai with ruler Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft is often found chatting up the various characters at Café Luxembourg on West 70th Street.

“It’s always been my local,” said Mr. Kroft.

On Sept. 10, owner Lynn Wagenknecht’s longtime celebrity haunt celebrated its 25th anniversary with a bubbly, sliders-and-fries-stuffed party attended by such notable guests as screenwriter Nora Ephron and actresses Kathleen Turner and Aida Turturro.

Mr. Kroft was among the first to arrive—and last to leave.

“It’s halfway between work and home…I know that I can walk home, stop here, have a drink and meet interesting people,” said Mr.  read more »

I have yet to stay a night at The Jane -- Bowery Hotel honchos Eric Goode and Sean MacPherson's trendy makeover of the old downtrodden Hotel Riverview at 113 Jane Street.

But industry blog Hotel Chatter recently checked in and came away with this video-enhanced report on its tiny, 50-square-foot rooms, its "baked-in aroma" of body odors, its noisy A/C units, and its strange interactions between overnight guests and the low-rent SRO tenants that the new guys in charge just can't seem to get rid of:

When you plod down the hallway for a middle-of-the-night pee, The Jane takes on a sort of dorm-like air, except that your neighbor isn't the star of your school's rugby team but some old guy in his boxers watching The Simpsons with his door cracked.

Still, only $99 a night--whatta bargain!

“What do you think of this ceiling?” asked Josh Boyd.

Overhead, a vaulted expanse of freshly coated silver paint was already peeling.

“I think we should all just scratch our initials into it,” he joked in a husky smoker’s voice. “We flew in a specialist from Canada and this is what we got. … You should write a story called ‘Hoodwinked by Canadians.’

“Where was she from, Toronto?” Mr. Boyd asked his partner, a tall, lanky fellow dressed in an untucked pink oxford shirt, jeans, and a pair of flip-flops emblazoned with the Brazilian flag, who was standing beside a nearby piano.  read more »

“It was almost like a first child,” famed hotelier Ian Schrager said of Morgans, his baptismal hotel project, which opened in 1984, at 237 Madison Avenue.

“Morgans was the one that started it all,” Mr. Schrager said, meaning not only his ever-expanding career as a hotel developer but also the revolutionary “boutique” hotel movement, which over the past two decades has increasingly become the industry standard worldwide. “Morgans was the one that broke with tradition, broke the rules, took a new and fresh approach, and everything evolved from that.”

On Sept. 10, Morgans Hotel Group unveils its $10 million “reimagination” of that pioneering vision, with a splashy party in the hotel’s penthouse, hosted by original French designer Andrée Putman.  read more »

Location: You used to work in finance at Merrill Lynch and Wexford Capital. Now you’re in restaurants, as CEO of Pump Energy Food. Which is tougher?

Mr. Eskin: [laughing] Finance is a joke. You just kind of sit in an office and you tell people what to do and send e-mails, and you’re like, ‘Why aren’t these numbers the way they should be?’ Now, I’m on the other end, getting barked at about why our numbers aren’t where they should be, and now I get it.

Most Pump locations are pretty tiny.

They average about 500 to 600 square feet.  read more »

Back in March, this reporter was dismayed to discover that charming restaurateur Toney Edwards had finally lost his long, drawn-out legal fight to protect his beloved French bistro Le Madeleine from the wrecking ball.

Landlord Mark Scharfman was reportedly planning to tear down the single-story structure on West 43rd Street and replace it with a multi-story residential building.

Now, adding insult to injury, I come to find out, via the blog Lost City, that Mr. Scharfman has installed a new tenant in Le Madeleine's place -- specifically, another French bistro called Le Petit Un Deux Trois. Incroyable!

"...it has to make you wonder by the landlord insisted on kicking Le Madeleine to the curb. Was it personal between the landlord and the restaurant owner, Tony Edwards, who always insisted Scharfman couldn't legally tear the building down. Did the economy foil Scharfman's plans? Or maybe Un Deux Trois just offered more money."

After working security at the exclusive Studio 54 and later reigning over his own unruly crowd at the legendarily lawless dive bar Siberia, Tracy Westmoreland isn’t the kind of guy to be intimidated by a few little raindrops.

And he expects the same waterproof attitude from his real estate partners.

“Right now, I’m dealing with this friend of mine who’s a very serious motherfucker,” said the imposing 6-foot, 250-pound nightlife impresario, as he headed out from his midtown apartment one stormy Friday afternoon last month. “The guy’s hard-core. He’s like me. So we’re going walking. In the rain, we’re going to go walking around Brooklyn.  read more »

Residents of the illustrious-yet-embattled Chelsea Hotel will get some face time with new manager Andrew Tilley over drinks at El Quijote tonight -- including some of the tenants that Mr. Tilley and the hotel's owners have been trying to evict in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, tonight, in the hotel's grand ballroom, calling hours are scheduled for Chelsea inhabitant Angela O'Conner, 46, who was found dead late last week in a room on the ninth floor, after neighbors complained of a nasty odor.

Welcome to the Chelsea, Mr. Tilley!

It's a precarious position to be in: Since taking the daunting job several weeks ago, the former Hard Rock Hotel frontman has publicly sought to smooth over lingering tensions between longtime Chelsea tenants and the new regime, recently issuing a friendly introduction letter and  read more »

Michael Lockard hustled around Arthur Ashe Stadium on Thursday afternoon, discussing strategy on his cell phone and checking off a “hit list” of final preparations for what he called “probably the most extreme event” in his especially cutthroat field of competition.

The big event was still four days away, but after a whole year of training, he could already see the finish line: “I feel like I’m sliding into home plate.”

“Plate” being the operative word: Mr. Lockard, 35, is the top-ranked chef at this year’s U.S. Open tennis tournament.

And if you thought the action on the courts was intense, check out what goes on in the kitchens, where scores of cooks from around the country scramble to feed some 650,000 people in just two weeks.  read more »

Gay-rights activist Storme DeLarverie -- who famously punched a cop during the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion -- will be honored tonight during an exhibit of artworks at the famously arty Chelsea Hotel, where Ms. DeLarverie also resides.

"The Stonewall Veterans Association is bringing the blue Cadillac for Storme," said event organizer and abstract painter Susan Olmetti, referring to the convertible Ms. DeLarverie often commandeers for the city's annual Gay Pride Parade.

The event, which begins at 6 p.m. at the famous hotel, located at 222 W. 23rd St., will also feature live portraiture by noted artist Antony Zito.

Full details are as follows:

MEDIA AVAILABLE: Aug.  read more »

It's potty time at the embattled Chelsea Hotel, where Arnold Tamasar has been hired as the new director of operations, replacing the much maligned former manager, Glennon Travis.

Chelsea Hotel gossip site Living With Legends notes that Mr. Tamasar is the former assistant director of housekeeping and style at the W New York Times Square Hotel, where he earned accolades from toilet tissue giant Kimberly-Clark for maintaining restrooms with the highest standards of cleanliness and ambiance:

The restrooms overflow with greenery. There are three tiers of wheat grass, Egyptian green limestone and white oak doors with gingko leaves embedded in the frosted glass. For special occasions such as weddings or wine tastings, the hotel adds an extra touch by providing a restroom attendant to hand out towels.

His expertise should come in handy at the old Chelsea, where plumbing issues are quite prevalent.

 

Scarpetta chef Scott Conant may be "too modest" to say it, but here's proof that Italian is the new French.

Literally, in this case: beloved former French bistro Cocotte in Park Slope is being converted into some type of red-sauce joint, described simply as an "Italian restaurant," according to some new signage posted on the premises.

Cocotte, one of this author's favorites in the neighborhood, was suddenly shuttered back in February, with chef and co-owner Bill Snell blaming stiff competition along Fifth Avenue, the Slope's premier restaurant row.

Metro today reports on residents' backlash against the ever-popular Apple Store on Prince and Greene Streets:

“We’ve been suffering ever since they moved in [six years ago],” said Sean Sweeney, director of the SoHo Alliance and Greene Street resident, who ticked off a litany of complaints ranging from noise from steam cleaning the façade in the middle of the night or from the HVAC equipment on the roof to the hordes of people who line up for new gadgets — and allegedly leave behind heaps of trash.

The final straw — which prompted Sweeney to fire off a letter this week to elected officials — was last Tuesday’s Jonas Brothers concert held at the store, attracting thousands of screaming tweeners for several hours to Sweeney’s block “like it was Shea Stadium and the Beatles.

 read more »

Self-described "die-hard rock fan" Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined music legends Billy Joel and Clive Davis today in announcing the development of a new 25,000-square-foot annex to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, located at 76 Mercer Street in Soho.

The new annex, opening in November, will include such priceless artifacts as Johnny Ramone's Mosrite guitar and the graffiti-clad phone booth from defunct legendary rock club CBGB.

"We're in a landmarked area of great cast-iron buildings," Joel Peresman, president and CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, said of the location, which was picked "for a variety of reasons," he added.  read more »

The chef Scott Conant has a tiny statue of the Hindu deity Ganesh hanging around his neck. “Ganesh is the remover of obstacles from your path,” he said.

Apparently, it’s working. After a nasty split with partners in two uptown restaurants last year, Mr. Conant, 37, has returned with a vengeance, opening his own Italian restaurant, Scarpetta, to rave reviews on May 13. On July 30, he received an enthusiastic three stars from The New York Times’ Frank Bruni, causing an immediate uptick in business. “Fuggedaboutit,” Mr. Conant said the other day over a lunch of his best dishes. “It’s awesome.  read more »

It was a scene straight out of an American Apparel ad: A half-dozen or so good-looking guys and gals in their 20s, sporting beachy garb and body piercings, lounging around on an unmade bed, while two skinny dudes made out on a leopard chair in the corner.

It was almost sunrise and there was no more beer. Empty bottles lay scattered around the room, along with some glasses full of cigarette butts.

On the nightstand, beside a white lamp shaped like a cockatoo, a shiny new iPod docking station blasted out an eclectic mix of dance hits, ranging from the contemporary (the Killers’ “Somebody Told Me”) to the classic (Neneh Cherry’s 1989 smash “Buffalo Stance”).  read more »

New data from the city's tourism agency, NYC & Company, indicates that nightly hotel rates shot up to $350 on average in May. That's an increase of $50 from the same time last year.

Suddenly, the current minimum $249 nightly rate at the dumpy Hotel Pennsylvania (pictured right) doesn't seem quite so steep.

Tonight, according to Expedia.com, you can also stay at the Paramount, Hilton, New Yorker and Roosevelt hotels for less than $300.

Book now!

Brooklyn Paper senior reporter Mike McLaughlin just got dumped -- now he needs a new girlfriend and, more importantly, a new apartment.

Cue the cameras! Mr. McLaughlin will be chronicling his search for love and shelter in a new weekly video segment called "The Search."

"It's a classic New York story," said his boss, Gersh Kuntzman.

Note the comments:

"All my lady friends are going to be beating down his door... granted he needs to get a door first."

Celebrity hotelier Robert De Niro's notoriously secretive Greenwich Hotel has finally allowed another media outlet, besides Vanity Fair, to peak inside its exclusive chambers. Sort of.

Hotel Chatter - which had its own reservation revoked in April - directs us to this recent Newsweek review of Bobby D.'s lodge, which briefly discusses the rooms, the food, and the decor of this supposed "below-the-radar" hotel.

What, no mention of that posh illegal penthouse?