As I look at the news reports– clogged highway arteries, slow-moving turnpikes, crowded airports and train stations, I am reminded once again why I stick around these holiday weekends.

If you stay away from Times Square and all the tourisy areas, the city is wonderful on a holiday weekend. As a matter of fact, it’s pretty good the whole summer during the weekends. Once the last Hampton jitney pulls out on Friday night, the city is peaceful. And this weekend, when the NYU students have gone, and the summer session hasn’t yet begun, the area south of Fourteenth Street is almost totally neighborhood-y residents. It’s a rare moment. Savor it.h

With the summery weather and the long weekend, tonight’s a perfect night for a quiet drink outside. A few months ago, I discovered another little gem in Astoria : The Waltz-Astoria.

It’s a bit off the beaten path, on Ditmars on the way to Astoria Park. A wine bar/ coffeehouse, the Waltz-Astoria is a chilled out place with an artsy vibe. With outdoor seating, a wide beverage selection, and a cozy interior, this cafe is a great hangout. The interior has a piano, shelves of books, and paintings by a local artist. The cafe hosts many different events including Stand Up Comedy, Board Game Night, and Live Music. A mellow place to relax and get ready for the long weekend.

So I officially kick started my Memorial Day weekend by heading over to Jones Beach after work. It’s been a long time since I’ve been . . . it’s a nice feeling having the extremely cool ocean breeze go through your hair on a 90 degree day. Not Santa Monica, but it’s still an amazing body of water.

That’s right! Here in New York, high-end shoes are so important that they’re getting their on Zip Code. 10022-SHOE

In September, the Saks Fith Avenue Flagship store is unveiling their new shoe department on the 8th Floor. 8,500 square feet of selling space and 9,000 square feet of storage. Damn that’s a lot of shoes! Oh, and did I mention that the department will have it’s OWN express elevator to go straight there. Apparently this is serious business people. You don’t want anything getting in they way of women and their crazy expensive shoes.

Of course, there’s more to it than just shoes. If you’re doing that much shopping, you’ll need refreshments! That said, they’re renovating the Cafe SFA and adding an all-chocolate cafe, Charbonnel et Walker. Hm, I wonder who they’re catering to with that?

If you’re one of the elite, there’s even something for you – your very own VIP Room for Private Shopping. Outside of the ridiculous and over-the-top, there are a few more practical additions. An on-site repair service and a state-of-the-art inventory system. Yes, I actually used the word practical. I’ll slap myself later for that.

More info here and here if you’re interested.
The only thing that interests me is the decor – modern tables from Eero Saarinen and Warren Platner, vintage furniture pieces and custom designed chairs.

Some old footage taken from the Circle Line back in 1992. We must always remember those who unintentionally gave their lives at the beginning of this very long war.

Last month while riding my motorcycle home one night from work, I encountered a massive traffic jam at the intersection of Canal and Bowery. Usually at 10 pm thats not the case. The cops had stopped all traffic and were lookiing expectedly in the direction of Manhattan Bridge. After about 5 minutes a flatbed tralier with a massive looming shape came into view.

On top of the flat bed was a twisted, torqued piece of steel. One look at it and I knew Serra was in town. About 6-8 such flatbeds lumbered over the bridge and down the Bowery.

Yes Richard Serra is in town.

Richard Serra Sculpture: Forty Years is a new exhibition starting at the Museum of Modern Art from June 3rd, till September 2007.

If you have seen a Serra sculpture, I know you will go again. If you have not, do take the opportunity and go again. It will blow your mind away.

Here is an interactive about Serra from Time.Com

Based on my last experience of seeing a movie on it’s opening night, I was glad that Pirates of the Caribbean has such polite fans. Not once during the entire movie did I hear anyone take a phone call, hear a young child ask questions about the movie, or get a flash in the eye because someone took their picture. In fact, there was nothing annoying about any of the strangers that we saw it with.

Word of advice: Make sure you go to the bathroom before the movie starts. You’ll be in your seat for three hours, and it’s a pirate movie…lots of water!

Mark your calendar for June 09

Darren Rowse the Aussie behind the Problogger.net dropped a quick line in our “send us a tip” section. He is in town and is coordinating a blog meet. Here is his email.

Hi there NYC bloggers (and a few others too). You’re receiving this email as you have expressed interest in attending a ProBlogger meet up in New York (at some point in the last few months).

I’m happy to invite you to come have a great night with me and other fellow bloggers on Saturday 9 June. We had previously planned to run a full day training event in conjunction with b5media – but due to a few circumstances outside of our control and a short lead up time we needed to postpone that version of the meet up and scale things back to a simple evening party.

The night is purely about meeting other bloggers, having some fun over a few drinks and perhaps giving a few prizes away to those in attendance.

The Details:
Date – Saturday 9th June Time – 7pm – 10pm (we might go on somewhere afterwards)
Venue – The Speakeasy (a party room at 442 Amsterdam Ave between 81st and 82nd st – ).

We have the whole room to ourselves.

Cost – Free – thanks to our generous sponsors Chitika (they are providing some snacks and a free drink to the first 100 people to arrive).
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Monday night I went to the Beacon to catch Steely Dan and I have to say it was one of the more fun concerts I’ve been too recently. The ages of the audience members ranged from probably 70 all the way down to possibly 12, and SD played a nice mix of older stuff and more recent stuff, plus they messed around with the arrangement a bit which is always nice since you get to hear tunes in a slightly different way. I’m not sure what it is, but I love the Beacon. There’s something a little magical when more than 2,000 people collectively answer the question, “Is there gas in the car?”

The Beacon is an old-style theater from the 1920’s that was built to be a vaudeville and movie theater by the same designer as the much larger Radio City Music Hall. One of the great things about the Beacon is it’s intimacy, even though it holds more than 2,500 people. Even the last row of the balcony affords a view of the performers that are enjoyed by only a lucky few at larger venues. In addition, the Beacon has excellent acoustics because it’s large enough for the different frequencies to dissipate and not crash into each other, but small enough that the theater does a good job of reverberating those sounds without making them echo.

One of the best features the Beacon has is it’s ability to make New Yorkers “take a time-out” from being New Yorkers and come together for the enjoyment of a common pleasure. Unless someone is being a real ass — that definition fluctuates based on the performer everyone is there to see — people in a concert have a higher threshold than those same people probably do when walking around outside. Case in point…about two-thirds of the way through the performance some dude, who was really enjoying the music, stood up and started dancing wildly — limbs flailing, arms akimbo — in front of his seat, but he managed to do it without hitting those next to or in front of him. With the lights in the mezzanine off, and the stage lights on, he was silhouetted and looked like a bad iPod commercial, except that he was about two seconds behind the music (my date mentioned that he was probably responsible for the strong smell of a controlled substance that permeated the area earlier in the evening). Yet those people who were seated behind him did nothing when he blocked their view of the stage except to tip their heads to the side to try and peer around his gyrations. Had it been on the sidewalk during rush hour, I’m sure there would have been a few choice words exchanged, but in that setting, everyone was relaxed enough to let it slide as long as no physical contact was made.

Yes, it may have more to do with the fact that everyone is going to see a performer that everyone is interested in, but I also think that the intimacy of the Beacon makes it more difficult to get angry with your fellow show-goers. Or maybe it’s just the nice padded seats?

Its been nearly a year since our office moved from Cooper Square to 6th Avenue and 20th street. And I must say that this section of Chelsea sucks when it comes to lunch options. The Lower East Side was so much better. With a lot of effort and experimenting, Ive found some OK replacements for most cuisines but one. I cannot find any place that delivers vietnamese sandwiches.

Nickys Sandwich Place on 2nd St at Ave A, used to deliver in Cooper Square and it was a big favorite of everyone at work. But now that we moved here, we all reminisce about their classic sandwich.

Does anyone know of any place I can get my fill of these sandwiches delivered to my office. If you do, please leave me a comment and I will buy you a sandwich delivered to your work/home.