I had no idea when I clicked on the link that this was a clubhouse with squash courts and rooms for you to stay in. What exactly is a clubhouse? Upon seeing the different facilities and services offered, I was reminded of several Seinfeld episodes where Jerry and the gang go and play squash or tennis. So pretty much it’s like a fitness club except much snootier seeming.

Who goes to Clubhouses in a recession? But then I thought about it and realized that people still workout during a recession, so why not be members of clubhouses too? And then I thought about it further and realized clubhouses are frequented by those who aren’t hugely affected by a recession, and even if they are, they are so rich that it won’t really have an impact on their wallet. And that is a good thing because the Clubhouse will employ someone who is most likely not clubhouse attendance caliber, but still benefit.

The exclusivity and House Rules drew me further in and I found it extremely fun to read through their rules. Here’s a sampling, but go to the site if you want to read them all.

Effective September 1, 2008

• Laptops and texting by cellular phone are permitted so long as they are silenced.

• Business Meetings, which require obvious use and display of papers, are disruptive to other members and are not permitted. A quiet business conversation among two or three people is permissible. Club employees have been instructed to call attention to violations and to request that the member conform to the rules. Members who refuse to remedy a violation may be escorted from the Clubhouse.

• No food or drink may be brought in from the outside for consumption inside the Clubhouse with the exception of members and guests consuming food or drink within their bedroom.

• No food may be brought into any Club sponsored events/programs when food is not furnished for the particular event/program.

• The Club’s address or telephone numbers may not be used on business related materials.

• The addresses and telephone numbers of members may not be revealed except with member’s permission.

• Working Press and members of the media are not permitted in the Clubhouse except by permission of management. Photography and audiovisual recordings of any kind are not permitted inside the Clubhouse except by permission of management.

• Club employees are not to be sent out of the Clubhouse by a member.

• Club management is empowered to enforce the House Rules on behalf of the House Committee.

• Dining Policies

  Papers and documents should be handled and displayed discreetly in dining areas, subject to the discretion of management.

Metroblogging New York City contributes to the “Battle of the Bulge” with our fantastic cuisine, unequivocally our #1 Gift To The World.

One of the great things about New York City is cuisine as varied and far reaching as its residents themselves. New York City is home to so many restaurants that it seems you could eat at a different place for every meal of the day for the rest of your life and never go to the same place twice. But above and beyond the sheer enormity of our cuisine choices are the foods that are so distinctly New York; the quintessential New York foods that every visitor should try at least once to get the full NYC experience. Without further ado, our tour of iconic NYC cuisine–make sure to where some baggy pants!

First stop is an authentic NYC bagel for breakfast. I don’t care how many suburban chains of bagel stores and supermarket brands try to pass themselves off as “New York Bagels”–there is only one place to go for the real deal. Some people say the perfect balance between the dense, chewy, doughy interior and the browned, crisp exterior has something to do with the quality of NYC water. Whatever the reason, New Yorkers love there bagels and no trip to the city is complete without a trip to the iconic H&H Bagel Shop on the Upper West Side. Even though this bagels are tasty enough to eat plain, for an NYC specific experience try a seeded bagel with cream cheese and Nova Scotia lox–yummy!

By midmorning you might be a bit peckish and in need of a light snack. How about a $.75 hot dog at Gray’s Papaya to tide you over? Chose from their Hell’s Kitchen, Upper West Side or West Village locations, and experience the grungy storefront, the questionable clientele and one of the most delightfully juicy hot dogs of your life! Say what you want about so-called dirty-water dogs from the street vendors. The ones at Gray’s have the right taste for the perfect price. Hot dogs are also a quintessental NYC food as you can grab one and eat while you are rushing to get where you need to be, stepping over the clueless tourists and crazy hobos in your path!

Right about now you’re probably craving some lunch and nothing says lunch in New York City like pizza. New York style pizza is thinner, larger and generally more flexible than great pizza from other cities, for instance Chicago. The crust is what makes New York style pizza, hand tossed and made from high-gluten bread flour and again that city tap water. While the debate over the best pizza place in NYC continues to rage on, we’ve got two main recommendations for the quintessential pizza experience. First off, you can’t talk about pizza without mentioning the first pizzeria to open in the US, Lombardi’s in Little Italy. Although they have moved from their original location, Lombardi’s new restaurant on Spring Street will give you an excellent taste of NYC pizza history. But if this author had her druthers (and she does) she would venture over to the DUMBO area of Brooklyn to Grimaldi’s, one of the few establishments that can get a resident of Manhattan to trek over the Brooklyn bridge and wait online outside to experience what many consider the best pizza in all of the five boroughs. The choice is yours–but choose wisely.

Another lunch choice is New York style pastrami, and no one smokes and spices beef quite like Katz’s Deli on Houston Street. One bite of their delectable pastrami on rye with mustard will have you faking your orgasms too. For maximum pleasure, get yourself some chicken soup with matzo balls, a potato knish, Dr. Brown’s black cherry soda and plenty of sour pickles to complete your classic New York delicatessen experience. Saucy!

Dinner in New York can only mean one thing and that is steak. And nothing says steak like Peter Luger’s Steak House, voted New York City’s #1 steak house 23 years in a row by Zagat. This barebones, no frill steak house is the place for steak and nothing else, a local landmark for the working man since 1887. Sure, they’ll give you a menu if you ask nicely, but the choices are as follows: Porterhouse steak for two, three or four. That’s it. But that is all you’ll need at this Williamsburg Brooklyn staple where it’s all about the meat. And that meat, well there are just no comparisons. But it you must indulge in anything other than pure, unadulterated beef make sure to check out the German-style fried potato and creamed spinach sides. Delicious! Just save room for meat!

Full yet? I hope to saved room for dessert! We’ve got two outer-borough choices for you. First off, if you just can’t fit another bite down, why not head to the Lemon Ice King of Corona on 108th Street and Corona Avenue in Queens? These light and delicious no-frills Italian ices come in fruit and chocolate flavors and start at just $1 per cup. Make sure to take a stroll around the hood and see the authentic and thriving neighborhood Corona, Queens while you are at it.

But for those seriously dedicated to the NYC food experience (waistlines be damned!) there is no other place for you to be than Junior’s for their fabulous cheesecake. Sure, they now have a location in Times Square and another in Grand Central, but for the real experience head to the Brooklyn location at the extension of Flatbush Ave at Dekalb Ave. Known nationally for their “The World’s Most Fabulous Cheesecake”, this delectable dessert is made from a family recipe that goes back 3 generations since the restaurants inception in 1950. And while they have many flavor choices, a plain Junior’s cheesecake is a time-honored choice that will allow you to fully experience their creamy, cheesy flavor.

Well, there you have it–the quintessential NYC dining choices, NYC Metblogs #1 Gift to the world. I don’t know about you, but I am getting hungry!

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New York has courage. We have to, because we live in a terrorist’s bullseye. In other cities, PTA meetings are about reading scores; here they’re often about evacuation plans. The CDC monitors New York drugstore sales of flu and diarrhea medicine, because a spike in those symptoms could be signs of a biological attack. Our water supply is tested regularly for poison. And yet we go on with everyday life, because to do otherwise is to let the terrorists win.

Not everybody appreciates this. Red Staters call us unpatriotic for being liberal. But our courage and our defiance in the face of danger are a true contribution to America and the world.

Every day, our thoughts turn at least once to the gaping hole at Ground Zero. But here in New York, we only use the word “crater” as a noun. “Crater” as a verb? Not in our vocabulary.

Without further ado, below is today’s gift:

NYC is the land of BIG… No, Sex & The city Fans, I am not referring to Chris Noth. I am referring to the architecture and infrastructure that separates NYC from every other US mega-city and makes it the most easily traversed and interesting destinations in the world. NY does everything large. Big buildings, the broadest and most utilized subway system in the world, our well-designed road system and, of course, some of the largest and most beautiful bridges in the country.

When thinking of the many massive buildings that line the New York sky, it is tough to say which is the most recognizable. Sure, the Empire State Building is key, and of course the World Trade Center will always hold a place in all NYers hearts and minds, and then there is the Chrysler Building, Citicorps, Woolworth Building, etc, etc, etc. Each seems to hold something special, and has an amazing amount of history. But, in a study of what our city has “gifted” to the world, it is also important to remember that these buildings have done so much more than just created a magnificent view from an airplane. NY has served as a sort of guinea pig to other cities for building technology. Some things that came from NY engineering:
- Express elevators, which allow builders to go much higher than ever before.
- Gradient building, not allowing the builders to go straight up, but instead grading the towers to let light in.
- Better water pumping technologies and waste disposal systems to allow big buildings to operate.

Public transportation in many cities is a hassle. Dark, dingy, and not terribly effective or efficient, it is often easier to drive or find another way to go. Not in NY. The combination of busses, taxis, shuttle busses, and of course our beloved subway make moving around the boroughs quick and simple. A trip from the Bronx through Manhattan to Brooklyn can take as little as a half hour. Considering that the tunnels were dug well over 100 years ago makes the system that much more of a wonder.

They say that all roads lead to Rome. That may be true in a historical sense, but when it comes to US roads, NYC is top dog. While Chicago has a rocking grid system and DC boats a nice layout as well, nobody does grids like NY. Baring in mind the sheer size of the city, NY can truly be considered not only the inventor of the traffic grid, but also the master. While not without its shortcomings, traffic in the city moves extremely smoothly, and the two highways that serve Manhattan and the many high-capacity arteries that serve the outer boroughs do a generally fantastic job of dispersing and moving people.

Being a city built upon four land masses (two standalone islands, two boroughs on Long Island, and one mainland borough), moving people and goods between boroughs is imperative. Luckily, we are blessed with over 25 bridges that are not only incredibly functional, but also extremely beautiful. From the majestic masonry of the Brooklyn Bridge, to the slender, clean look of the George Washington Bridge… From the stout and powerful Queensboro Bridge, to the sweeping, sleek Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, New York is a sort of bridge hall of fame. Combined with our four tunnels, we are a haven of well-designed water crossing devices.

New York is not just a model of how architecture and engineering has worked, it is instead a working model of how architects and engineers continue to push the boundaries of human knowledge and ability, and try to do things better. New York has given the world so much in the way of city design. With so many ambitious plans to improve, the city will continue to be a marvel of technology for many years to come.

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Without further ado, below is today’s gift:

I come from Portland, Oregon, a city not really renowned for racial diversity and integration. I moved here late summer, and immediately noticed how many people weren’t white. This wasn’t a bad thing, just something out of my usual frame of reference and therefore noteworthy.

Over the past few months, I’ve come to realize why diversity is such a prized commodity. In a city like where I come from, where the black people are unofficially relegated to the North quadrant of Portland (NoPo, as it’s called–white-folks language for that part of Portland), the rest of the city is mostly white, and when a neighborhood diversifies, the white-controlled media doesn’t really see it as a good thing. But in New York, my new home, I’ve come to appreciate hearing ten different languages just walking down 14th street. I love that I can get pitas in a restaurant owned by the same guy who’s behind the counter (or maybe his nephew) from halfway around the world. I love that I might not be able to understand the guy behind the bodega counter, but he knows me from my nightly dutch-and-candy runs.

But there are whispers: real-estate brokers are chosen on their ability to keep buildings all-white, or all-black. People who can’t afford to live in Manhattan (most, unsurprisingly) have to move into one of the boroughs, and I hear that those are just as segregated. I don’t know much about the outlying areas (dorm living in a neighborhood where I don’t have to walk more than 5 blocks for anything at any hour spoiled me this year) but when I take the 7 out to Flushing-Corona–the best park that I’ve discovered–I can feel the truth of those rumors.

Yes, it’s diverse here. There are more opportunities for people who aren’t white here. I’d love to raise my kids in an environment like this. At the same time, red-lining is alive and well on the sales side of real-estate, and the fact that a brand-new NYC resident knows this suggests that we have a bit of a problem.

Thanks, New York. Thanks for giving me a diverse place to live.

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Without further ado, below is today’s gift: Music and Theater

If you’ve only been to New York as a tourist, you may have a narrow view of music and theater here. Our town is famous for Broadway musicals and Lincoln Center extravaganzas, but most performances don’t involve $100 tickets, elaborate sets, or dancers in cat costumes.

Some of the best shows I’ve seen in New York cost next to nothing:
student productions at Julliard (chock-a-block with future movie stars), the workshop readings at Playwrights Horizons, the hole-in-the-wall nightclub where you hear an unknown jazz singer who, five years later, goes double platinum. (Oh. And when I was a kid, there was that offbeat musical about chorus dancers I saw in a grotty little place downtown called the Public Theater…) The thrill of discovering new talent is what sets New York apart from towns that only get stale Miss Saigon touring companies and arena rock bands.

We also have some of the best classical music in the world, and it’s surprisingly non-elitist. I used to go to the opera every week for just a few dollars by buying standing room tickets. (At Lincoln Center, the etiquette is that you’re supposed to remain standing until the curtain goes up, then you can scramble for any empty chair. The ushers — who themselves are probably ushering so they can see the show for free — usually turn a blind eye.) Or, on a budget of exactly zero, you can go to Rockefeller University’s free Friday noontime concerts, where world-class artists often “warm up” for their performances at Carnegie Hall.

In summer, music and theater are everywhere – from al fresco string quartets, to Shakespeare in the Park, to major outdoor concerts. And the list goes on…

The music and theater events on an average Tuesday night here could fill a year’s worth of cultural programming somewhere else. Yet despite the absurd number of competing performances, most plays, concerts, indie bands, experimental dance troupes, stand-up routines, Gershwin chanteuses, Hungarian operas and folk song cafes draw a near-capacity, appreciative crowd.

And that’s why New York has so many great performers – because we have the world’s greatest audience.

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[Photo 1 courtesy saycheese.vivilastminute.it > New York]
[Photo 2 courtesy Central Park Conservancy]

Without further ado, below is today’s gift:

Chutzpah, balls, cojones, moxie – there are lots of ways to say it but only one way to do it, and that’s the New York way of Attitude, with a capital Type A.

Visitors may find us pushy, loud, rude, and opinionated, but we have to be in order to survive this rat-infested race. How else to get yourself onto an already packed subway, or grab that last cab during a shift change, or get some decent service around here. “I’m walkin’ here!” Dustin Hoffman’s character shouts in Midnight Cowboy as he almost gets run over, something I want to holler about every other day.

But you know it’s nothing personal. When you actually stop to talk to one of us, we’re pretty friendly and cool, especially when you need directions, or a recommendation for a restaurant, or to be told, “Hey, buddy, you’ve got some schmutz on your pants,” because part of that attitude is know-it-all-ness.

Where else can you find folks who’ll jostle you out of the way one minute, and the next argue with others about how you can get from the Upper West Side to the Lower East Side in the fewest number of subway changes?

The chicken or the egg? Does the city attract the attitude or does it build it? Maybe a little of both. When I first arrived 16 years ago, I was only a little bitchy, but that baby bitchiness thrived and grew in the lap of the Mama Bitch of the world. Aw, my little girl is growing up.

Perhaps we have bit too much attitude, at least enough so that we can give some away. So how about it, Boston? Maybe a side of chutzpah to go along with the inferiority complex? And you Tokyo, express yourself already! And hey, L.A., stop looking in the mirror and watch where you’re going! I’m walkin’ here!

In exchange we’ll take some clean cobblestoned streets, cool vending machines, and fab weather. See? It’s all good. Fuhgeddaboutit.

Photo courtesy of me.

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Without further ado, below is today’s gift:

Starting with the birth of film, New York has always been an ideal location for movie settings. From the famous sweaty, impatient jurors in Twelve Angry Men, to Meg Ryan’s famous orgasm at Katz’s Deli in the Lower East Side, to Michael Corleone slaying Sallozzo and Officer McCluskey in a NY Italian restaurant, to Josh Baskin (Tom Hanks) playing the piano atFAO Schwartz in Big, to little Kevin McCallister staying at the Plaza Hotel, to the Men In Black finally defeating the aliens at Flushing Meadow Park, NYC is the home of so many famous movie scenes. When you factor in the many scenes from Ghostbusters, Goodfellas, and other well-known classics, NY’s role becomes that much more respectable.

As a result of its sheer mass and cultural importance, certain filmmakers shoot almost exclusively in Gotham. From sophisticated comedy director Woody Allen’s Manhattan and Annie Hall to the violent, society-driven Scorcese films like Raging Bull and Gangs of New York, our city has served as the vital backdrop of so many films that depict New York life from virtually every imaginable viewpoint.

Additionally, New York has also been a regular setting for some of the most enjoyed and significant television shows over the last five decades. The Honeymooners, The Odd Couple, Cojak, Taxi, The Cosby Show, Seinfeld, NYPD Blue, Everybody Loves Raymond, Sex & The City, and, of course, all of the Law & Order franchises (kung kung) have all called NY home, and have also all shot at least some scenes (if not all) in town. Live format shows have also favored NY as a location, including the Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Saturday Night Live, and Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

What makes our little burg so appealing to these shows and movies? It is the result of many things. First, our city offers many different scenery backdrops that are both recognizable and aesthetically pleasing. Also, NY is a great choice for a setting because virtually everyone in the world has some desire to live here, at least for a short time. But most importantly, it is a testament to the fact that New York has it all… great people, interesting scenery, rich culture, varied seasons, history, and mystique all make for a fantastic place to shoot film and set stories.

So, as our first gift (gift #7), New York gives the world a prime location for film and movies!

[Photo courtesy of Maduraikaaran Travels]

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