First Look
On March 4, designer and director Alexander Olch will open Metrograph (7 Ludlow St.), his converted-warehouse art-house cinema with two theaters, a restaurant, and a bookstore.
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(Photo: Illustration by Jason Lee) |
1. Restaurant: The Commissary, inspired by the communal dining of old Hollywood lots, serves roasted carrots and hummus ($16).
2. Bookstore: Out-of-print first editions like filmmaker Bill Gunn’s Black Picture Show ($25).
3. Bar and Lounge: Metrograph Bloody Marys with Zubrówka bison-grass vodka ($11) and a lounge with free Wi-Fi.
4. Theater One: 175 seats with a balcony showing old films like Jean-Luc Godard’s Vivre Sa Vie and new limited-releases.
5. Theater Two: 50 plush red velvet chairs fashioned out of wood salvaged from the old Domino Sugar Factory.
6. Concessions: Australian Tim Tams ($3) and French macarons ($8).
2x2: Oscar-Nominee Impersonators
You know your party needs one.
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendors) |
Identical
Lady Gaga: Athena Reich, $600 for one hour and three songs; ladygagainternational.com.
Sylvester Stallone: Jade Roberts, $2,500 plus travel expenses for eight hours; lookalike.com.
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendors) |
Reminiscent
Lady Gaga: Erika Smith, $500 for one hour and six songs; 917-622-8070.
Sylvester Stallone: Rocky John, $850 for one hour; maecoevents.com.
Moving In
On March 1, Roger Kapsalis will open Brooklyn Drones NYC, the city’s first dedicated drone store (315 Fourth Ave., Gowanus).
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendor) |
"When you go to buy a drone at, like, Best Buy, you just see a box. We’re displaying our drones, from the hobbyist’s DJI Phantom 3 ($499) to the professional Inspire 1 Raw ($5,999), on butcher-block tables, so you can actually see and feel them. I’ll also demonstrate them: We have 12-foot ceilings and a backyard where I’m setting up a flight cage."
How to Tie-Dye a Throw Pillow
Tips from �artwear designer� Starhawk, who just opened an all-tie-dye-everything shop, Starhawk Design Studio (754 Manhattan Ave., Greenpoint).
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(Photo: Illustration by Jason Lee) |
1. �Soak your white pillow cover in washing soda for 20 minutes to activate the bonding fibers. For color, you’ll need four fabric dyes and a squeeze bottle, which you can buy at any local arts store, but we also sell a starter pack ($20).�
2. �Pinch the fabric from the center and keep twisting it counterclockwise until it forms the shape of a cinnamon roll. Dedicate one quadrant of the circle to each color, squeezing until saturated. Flip over, and repeat.�
3. �Put the fabric inside a plastic bag and let it sit for 12 hours. Then wash it twice for the dye to fully settle in: once with cold water, but no detergent; a second time with warm water and detergent.�
She Said She Said
Micaela Durand of independent book publisher Badlands Unlimited teams up with the downstair dollar store to open
Y.oung P.ublishers 99� & Up (24 Rutgers St.).
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendor) |
Micaela Durand: We moved our headquarters to the Lower East Side and were buying all our office supplies at the 99� store downstairs when I realized we should collaborate. So far the best sellers are Selected Writings 2000�2014, by Paul Chan ($26), and I Would Do Anything for Love, by Al Bedell ($13).
Mrs. Yu: People who don’t normally shop here are coming in to look at the books. We’ve sold 42 so far, and once people are inside they’ll look around and realize they need something else � usually it’s toilet-bowl brushes, Lotto tickets, or gum.
Top Five
Tired of selling his bootleg tees through Instagram, Been Trill co-founder Heron Preston opened the online functional-art-objects shop HPC Trading Co. offering NYPD paperweights and reimagined Nikes.
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendor) |
�This coffee table ($1,900) is a crate normally used for shipping sculptures and paintings. I like how it looks with the yellow cargo straps.�
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendor) |
�The Street Sweepers ($850) are a pair of Nike Air Force 1s with the Bape logo cut from vintage Gucci pants, mounted on Ralph Lauren leather scraps.�
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendor) |
�I look at these parking blocks like sculptures. I wanted one in my house, but the real ones are impossible to pick up, so I made a paperweight version ($100).�
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendor) |
�My friend Bowery Bob made four of these for a less-boring take on the dartboard ($350). You can play with it or just frame it, not even use it.�
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendor) |
�My grandma uses medical marijuana; I’m a supporter. I designed this pin ($25) with a red cross and a leaf as a statement that I stand by it.�