Tell Your Fortune...

All Images © Simone Rene 2013

I took this photo at St Marks & 1st Avenue

I wondered what happened to all the fortune teller store fronts??!

Retro Year

Back in the day as a broke art student most of my clothing was "previously loved". I adored garments and accessories from the late 1930s to Mid 1950s. Buying and wearing Retro Clothing was definitely about costume dressing and being seen but as the years passed I found myself becoming more conservative in my dress.

One of this year's resolutions is to revisit the part of my personality that loved to "dress up" and in support the universe walked me right by the newly opened Bettie Page store on the Bowery.

All Images © Simone Rene 2013

http://www.bettiepageclothing.com

The Bettie Page Clothing Store is a chain with outposts in a number of major U.S. cities including L.A., Vegas, N.Y. and Philidelphia to name a few. Though a retro line many of the styles seem to reflect the current trends highlighted in the on-stand fashion magazines.

I must admit I was disappointed that they didn't offer foundations to support the fitted curvy wear but that didn't stop me from picking out a few dresses for the coming spring!

Snapping Fingers For A Good Cause

Dark Matters

The Alternative New Year's Day Spoken Word

Performance Extravaganza - 150 Performers.

New Years Day, January 1, 2011

Bowery Poetry Club & Cafe

Open, 2 p.m.-Midnight, Free

Collecting Books for Books Through Bars and

Canned Goods for Urban Pathways, Inc.  click on title for details

Inside Paradise

All Images © Simone Rene 2010

Spring Scene

All Images © Simone Rene 2010

For a few days this week the temperature in NY was in the 80s (F). It looked like Summer had pushed spring out of the picture. New Yorkers poured into the parks and some even shared the weather with their feathery friends. I took the above picture while walking through the Sara Delano Roosevelt Park at Chrystie Street Park. The Birdies' owner was practicing Tai Chi while they enjoyed the sun. Click on title for details about the park.

Trip to Sugar Hill

click title

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Hill,_Manhattan

Good Food On A Budget

A few days ago while wandering around during lunch time I remembered that Vanessa's Dumpling House isn't too far from the new office so I allowed my feet to lead me there.

Vanessa's Dumpling House is located at 118A Eldridge Street between Grand and Broome Streets.

The cooking station and counter top take up about half of the space but considering the speed in which the women behind the counter need to work inorder to fulfill the constant stream of dumplings, soups and bun orders it's a good thing. There is seating but most patrons take their orders to go.

The hand made dumplings aren't extraordinary but at $1 for 4 large fried dumplings and $2.50 for 8 boiled ones you are guaranteed they are always fresh and filling. Vanessa's also offers soup made to order, a variety of buns, bubble teas and take home frozen goods at extremely economical prices. Nothing on the menu is over $5.00.

But don't go there for the dumplings. Go there for the Sesame Pancake Sandwiches. These adult sized sandwiches are made with a crisp sesame seed encrusted bread that is split in two so that its soft center can be packed with a variety of fillings - egg, veggies, shredded pork, beef or duck. The prices for this item range from $1.50 - $2.50 and are a nice change from the normal deli hero.

Garden 6AB in September

All Images © Simone Rene 2009

East 6th Street Garden

All Images © Simone Rene 2009

Disco Skating Queens Unite

Put on your short shorts and Donna Summer hair and head over to Lola Staar's Dreamland Roller Rink on Coney Island's boardwalk on a Sunday afternoon when the rink turns into a Discotheque.

Admission runs between $10-12.

Skate rental is $5, but you can bring your own.

Forinfo and more fun events to enjoy with family and friends check out

dreamlandrollerrink.com

Brooklyn Pizza At It's Best

Growing up in Brooklyn a hot slice and a soda from the corner Pizzeria was a Saturday afternoon event. It was a cheap delicious meal that satisfied those of us tired and hungry from a day spent trailing mothers or aunts or grandmothers shopping for the weekend and week ahead. If you were lucky and didn't complain about the weight of sacks and the distance of blocks traveled sometimes an Ice might be thrown in as an extra treat. A mumured prayer that you had a free hand to take it along with you could be heard above the heads of every child finishing up their pizza.

Back then all the Pizza shops were run by families from Sicily or Naples and they took personal pride in keeping it authentic while adding the Italian American traditions that had developed along the way. Gradually these shops began to close up, replaced by high end chains and frozen section selections or were purchased by new owners that made pizza not art. The slice suffered and those of us who remembered real New York pizza spend our adulthoods searching for authenticity that seems unobtainable and even when we experience a good slice it still isn't the same.

Last week I read an article in the New Times annoucing the arrival of the $5 slice of pizza to Brooklyn, not a personal pan pizza, but a slice, the same sized slice I grew up with. DiFara's in Brooklyn, the featured shop, makes good pies, uses authentic imported Italian ingredients and has lines around the block but I am sorry I will never pay $5 for a slice of pizza. There is just something wrong with accepting this cost. A part of me, the disgruntled New Yorker and Brooklynite, wants to stand on the corner were the shop is located and take a poll to see how many of his patrons are true New Yorkers and true born and bred Brooklynites and then make everyone that owns up to it feel ashamed for accepting this cost because surely this acceptance means other shops are going to feel justified in raising their prices to match.

Instead I will just head over to the corner of 5th Avenue and Prospect Avenue (Brooklyn) and buy a hot slice from Lenny's Pizza. Does he shred fresh basil or import his ingredients? No, but paying $2.50 for a thin, crispy, cheesey slice that brings me back to a the Brooklyn of my childhood is an even better reward. And if I want to have a slice that rivals DiFara's I will head further up 5th Avenue (Brooklyn) to Luigi's Pizza at 686 5th Ave, between 21st and 2nd streets. Gio grows the basil he uses to make the infused oil. If you strike up a conversation and mention it he may top off your slice with a dash or two. Just don't try to pick up the quarter coin on the front step, it's part of the cement!

Doctor's Orders

The new trend in cocktails is absinthe, an anise flavored liquer made from herbs, including Artemisia Absinthium, from which it gets its name. For more details refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinthe.

Hidden on the Bowery, 9 Doyers Street, is a bar that will bring you back in time. This 19th Century Style Opium Den-Turned Apothecary-Style drink spot featurs more than 250 house cocktails and more than 1,000 varieties of liquor, including the owner's own absinthe made from a 200 year old recipt. Many of the cocktails are suppose to have currative side affects and are broken down into catagories like health and beauty, stress relievers and stimulants to name a few. Curious or in search of a treatment find out more information at the website -

http://www.apothekebar.com/index2abar.html

Cape Cod of Da Bronx

Most people who have never spent time in the Bronx or lower Westchester have never heard of the small fishing community called City Island.

A summer day at Orchard Beach wasn't complete without a drive to the "island" or c.i. for seafood and drinks.

Check out the NY Time's slide show on the area and consider venturing there this summer.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/05/29/nyregion/053109-Cityisland_index.html

Drinking In Style

As much as I adore Chanel I also adore Elsa Schiaparelli . Her creativity astounds me and her signature color, Fuschia pink, is one of my favorites. So I found myself extremely intrigued when invited to go to the Elsa Bar at 217 East 3rd Street. Of course I mixed it up with Ella Bar at 9 Avenue A, which has a 1920's piano bar feel, and went there first.

The Elsa Bar is where the old dive Hanger use to be and the transformation is amazing. Named after Elsa Schiaparelli, this cocktail bar is suppose to be retro and even offers up a drink named after its patron. The Elsa is a mix of applejack, gruet, Blanc de ment, lemon and orange bitters served in a Champagne glass. A brown sugar cube is dropped in when served for that extra fizz. The prices are geared towards the new "not so new anymore" East Villager as is the music played.

To be honest I wanted to make my way back to the Ella Bar...