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New York

Photo Essay: Unknown Brooklyn

By Dave Mandl on

Brooklyn is so well known, and so well traveled, that you might think it has no secrets left to be uncovered. But it has plenty; it’s just a matter of knowing where to look, or having the time for the long walk or bus ride required to get there. There’s also the fact that some of these sites are in places your unconscious self-defense mechanisms might warn you to stay away from. Some are in locations that are so inaccessible you’d never just find yourself there — they’re not on the way to anywhere most people would ever go. Some are in places that only a small, privileged group are allowed into. And, to be completely honest, some are spots that no sane person would be drawn to. But, of course, all this just makes them that much more enticing, at least to people who are intrigued by a good urban adventure. Anyone can find something breathtaking and new in the Grand Canyon, but at the edge of Canarsie? Here’s a handful of pictures that were taken at ten of these locations. … Read More

New York

The Flavorpill Guide to This Week's Top 10 New York Events

By Judy Berman on

For our (unconscionably high) rent money, the best thing about living in New York City is its endless supply of fun, odd, and inspired cultural events. But with so many options, it can be hard to know where to even begin planning your week. To help you make sense of it all, Flavorpill has launched a new social discovery engine where users can create and share events with friends, as well as follow Flavorpill editors’ and plugged-in local curators’ picks. Below, you’ll find the very best of what’s on offer this week, recommended by Flavorpill NYC’s very own Managing Editor, Leah Taylor. It’s just a taste of what you can find on the new Flavorpill, so if you like what you see, be sure to sign up. … Read More

New York

A Virtual Tour of New York's Real Speakeasies of the 1920s and '30s

By Lori Zimmer on

Old-timey, speakeasy-style bars have become just as popular and cliché in New York as sports bars in Middle America. But real speakeasies were nothing like today’s incarnations, with quaintly luxe interiors and bow-tied men using their powers of mixology to charge $15 for drinks. In fact, by the 1930s, they were sometimes just a hidden room with a bottle of barely drinkable booze made in a bathtub. Among the hundreds of speakeasies in New York alone, most were run by gangsters — and some made legendary marks that transformed the social strata of New York nightlife in the 1920s. … Read More

New York

Martin Amis on Reading, Writing, and What It’s Like Inside Nabokov’s House

By Emily Temple on

Last night, Martin Amis — the recent Brooklyn transplant, notorious firebrand, and king of “the new unpleasantness” — came to the Brooklyn Academy of Music for the season’s first installment of the great reading and conversation program Eat, Drink and Be Literary. The controversial Amis showed up in a surprisingly cheery tie, and, while being interviewed by New Yorker fiction editor Deborah Treisman, spoke eloquently about his work and the state of fiction, constantly evoking as many of the gods of literature as he could, from Dickens to Nabokov to Sebald. After the jump, we’ve reproduced a few of Amis’ best literary invocations and ideas about the state of writing and reading from the event. Click through to hear a little wisdom from a modern master. … Read More

New York

Martin Amis on Reading, Writing, and What It's Like Inside Nabokov's House

By Emily Temple on

Last night, Martin Amis — the recent Brooklyn transplant, notorious firebrand, and king of “the new unpleasantness” — came to the Brooklyn Academy of Music for the season’s first installment of the great reading and conversation program Eat, Drink and Be Literary. The controversial Amis showed up in a surprisingly cheery tie, and, while being interviewed by New Yorker fiction editor Deborah Treisman, spoke eloquently about his work and the state of fiction, constantly evoking as many of the gods of literature as he could, from Dickens to Nabokov to Sebald. After the jump, we’ve reproduced a few of Amis’ best literary invocations and ideas about the state of writing and reading from the event. Click through to hear a little wisdom from a modern master. … Read More

New York

Photo Essay: Meet New York’s Loyal Public Library Patrons

By Paul Hiebert on

You know those places with all the books? Those storehouses of archived newspapers, art magazines, academic journals, and fiction written for young adults? Libraries? Well, they’re still here, and according to a new study New York’s public libraries are “serving more people in more ways than ever before.” To get a better sense of who these people are and why they’re still trudging to their local edifice of knowledge in a stay-at-home age of smartphones, Kindles, and the World Wide Web, we visited a few branches throughout the city. Meet the people we met inside. … Read More

New York

10 Inspired New York Museum and Restaurant Pairings

By Adee Braun on

There are over 100 museums in New York City and a staggering 24,000 restaurants. Yet how often have you found yourself wandering around after some quality cultural time looking for a decent place to eat? Even in the more culinarily blessed parts of town, finding a spot for a late lunch after a long day of viewing art can be daunting. Your brain is fried from all the contemplating over the profound creativity of man. Lunch is so quotidian. But life should not be so difficult. The least we can do here at Flavorwire is help you find some post-art eats. Ergo, we present you with museum and restaurant pairings to make your next museum visit a little more convenient and a lot more delicious. … Read More

New York

The Flavorpill Guide to This Week’s Top 10 New York Events

By Judy Berman on

For our (unconscionably high) rent money, the best thing about living in New York City is its endless supply of fun, odd, and inspired cultural events. But with so many options, it can be hard to know where to even begin planning your week. To help you make sense of it all, Flavorpill has launched a new social discovery engine where users can create and share events with friends, as well as follow Flavorpill editors’ and plugged-in local curators’ picks. Below, you’ll find the very best of what’s on offer this week, recommended by Flavorpill NYC’s very own Managing Editor, Leah Taylor. It’s just a taste of what you can find on the new Flavorpill, so if you like what you see, be sure to sign up. … Read More

New York

The Velvet Underground Members’ Top 10 Post-VU Albums

By Jason Diamond on

[Ed. note: In honor of John Cale's mini-residency at BAM this week -- including an all-star tribute to Nico on Wednesday and performances of his 1973 solo album, Paris 1919 on Friday and Saturday -- Flavorwire New York has embarked upon a week-long celebration of all things Velvet Underground.]

While there is no dearth of books, magazine articles, blog posts, and record store conversations as to just how important the LPs put out by The Velvet Underground were and continue to be to modern music, the various members of the group have also amassed a pretty remarkable string of albums since the band’s first record came out in 1967. Below, we rank the band members’ top ten most essential post-VU releases. … Read More

New York

John Cale Restores Nico’s Musical Legacy in All-Star Tribute

By Judy Berman on

[Ed. note: In honor of John Cale's mini-residency at BAM this week -- including an all-star tribute to Nico on Wednesday and performances of his 1973 solo album, Paris 1919 on Friday and Saturday -- Flavorwire New York has embarked upon a week-long celebration of all things Velvet Underground.]

With all the tribute albums and concerts (and art shows and dance parties, etc.) on offer these days, it’s easy forget that they can be more than just shallow attempts on the part of their organizers to cash in on a name more famous than their own. Last night at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the consistently thoughtful, uncompromising John Cale reminded me. Not only did he amass an appropriate and diverse set of musicians for Life Along the Borderline: A Tribute to Nico, but his clear-eyed and unsentimental celebration of his one-time Velvet Underground bandmate did what any worthwhile tribute should do — broadened and deepened our understanding of its subject. … Read More