NEW york
Brief encounter. Love at first sight. Much remains to be seen. This I’ve seen already and enjoyed tremendously. Thought you might too.
Columbia Law School, Harlem | Architecture
You know the moments where something goes wrong but actually goes right? I call it universe at work and it means you sometimes get kidnapped by an underground train not stopping where you thought it would so it takes you way all the way up north where you discover an unexpected brutalist beauty (1960, Wallace Harrison, Max Abramowitz - who actually happen to be architects of the United Nation HQ or Metropolitan Opera, too). Wait for some student to get in and sneak in behind him/her to discover its 8 stores of dark wood paneled interiors exuding proper lawful Ivy league dignity.
New Museum, Bowery | Art, Architecture
Sheer purist perfection by SANAA (2007). Thoughtful stack of boxes has this thing I love about great museums: the building itself is just as pleasing and challenging to explore as the art it encases. Oh, and beautifully simple visual identity.
Ten Bells Wine Bar, Lower East Side | Wine
Come sit in the dark and experience things: this dim-lit natural wine and cocktail bar, run by the omnipresent natural wine ambassador Severine Perru is always busy with some food specials (oysters!) or winemaker takeovers. Another reason to love this place: we had a pop-up there, too. Photo by Stepan Klima
Whitney Museum of American Art, Chelsea | Art, Architecture
Another great “I have it all” contemporary art museum: Whitney. Complex, industrial-like white structure by Renzo Piano (2008 - 15) offers multiple terraces with great views of the Meatpacking District, the Hudson or the generous modernist wings of the Standard Hotel next door. You’ll be higher than the High Line.
Center for Architecture, Greenwich Village | Architecture
Can’t leave a city without visiting its urban planning presentation, you know. Free entry, closed on Sundays.
Bonnie Slotnick Cookbook Shop, East Village | Shopping
Tiny, cosy, cute bookstore with incredible selection of vintage food literature and tableware. The eponymous owner is a sweet lady, making you even more prone to do all the souvenir shopping here.
Google, Chelsea | Architecture
If you’re lucky to know somebody who offers to smuggle you in, accept - the tech giant knows very well how to make visitors envious of its employees. Lunch canteen with Empire State view, rooftop chill, Chelsea Market with all its foodie treats, impressive art-deco monumentality of the former Port Authority building (1932, Lusby Simpson) - the everyday regular office life, you know.
Tribeca synagogue | Architecture
Marble-clad exterior floating over small plaza named after its architect (William N. Breger, 1967) wooden/brick interior flooded by light from above, pot-belly working as an amplifier for the chanting rabbis: intricate piece of architecture combining raw material expression, simple forms and physics.
Momofuku NOODLE Bar, East Village | Food
I know, it’s an empire everybody knows about. But hey, when a girl’s dream comes true, some rave is due. (And some accidental poetry, apparently. Oops.) Have the shiitake buns, you’ll fall in love with David Chang even more. (Way more than in its somehow underachieving Ma Peche sibling in Midtown - no wonder it has already closed.)
Roberta’s Pizza, Bushwick | Food, Drinks
I’m not a pizza fan but here, I’d become one. And not only because we had one of our Druzstvo wine pop-ups in their pretty courtyard; Roberta’s is just one of those places where you like it all. The pizzas, the laid back vibe, the natural wine list (with Czech and Slovak names on it, #stayproud), the unassuming Michelin-starred restaurant in the back…
Honey’s, Bushwick | Drinks, Clubbing, Food
This space blew our minds off. Mead isn’t usually perceived as something hip (if you have ever visited the “traditional” Czech markets with people in “Middle-age" rugged costumes selling heavily sweet questionable liquid of that name, you know what I’m talking about), but just you wait. Great drinks (not just mead but also kvass or absinthe with fermented carrots, yeah), minimalist industrial design, parties with live DJs in the adjacent cask maturing room (there was a lady playing my favorite Helena Hauff record when we came in, speechless). Plus there’s very good Asian place just next door (Bunker) and a cemetery to visit nearby, what more can a girl ask for? Thx to Petr for this gem.
North Brooklyn Farms, Williamsburg | Relax, Food
Beautiful chillout spot with DIY esthetics on the riverbank between Williamsburg Bridge (take the ferry from Manhattan to get here) and wonderfully tarnished Domino Sugar refinery building (1882, now being restructured into megalomaniac residential and office projects). Markets, yoga classes, dinners or performances; or just sitting in the sun and looking at the Mondrianesque greenhouse or Manhattan skyline across the river. Photo via North Brooklyn Farms as my phone went down with all the beauty.