A part of all New York: WTC

You’ve seen the images so many times that you’re sick of it all. Twisted metal jutting out of smoking rubble, people’s faces disfigured with horror, dusty firemen raising American flags, tearful eagles (?!), twin towers framed by a purple sunrise—this is 9/11 as you know it. Many of us were in middle school or beginning high school when we saw those two planes crash into the World Trade Center towers on TV. The footage probably cut into a commercial for Tom Cruise’s latest action movie where whole cities were being blown up by bad guys, and suddenly the screen flashes to two enormous towers emitting bulbous, black smoke, when a grave Tom Brokaw comes on—not Tom Cruise—and announces that the U.S. has been attacked. Was this reality? For me, it was Hollywood’s latest production.

Being cloistered away in central Massachusetts, and never having been to New York, I felt no particular connection to the tragedy. The images of destruction and anguish were no different from those coming out of the Middle East. I was watching death on television, but I had seen it so many times before that the only thing out of the ordinary was the program’s lack of advertisements. I remember being most affected by seeing my Croatian French teacher crying that afternoon, and wondering why this tragedy was any different from those going on every day around the world.

It wasn’t until I came to New York for college that I began to grasp what happened that day. Living uptown, I would look south to the horizon, and occasionally see the two dominating figures of the Financial District topped with columns of smoke, reaching higher than any architect could envision. When I briefly lived in the FD this past summer, I would jog past the WTC site and look up into the void where the buildings used to stand, and see people jumping to avoid burning to death. But it wasn’t until today, when I visited the Tribute WTC Visitor Center on the south side of Ground Zero, that I cried like my French teacher.

Our journalism class was given a tour of Ground Zero’s southwest perimeter by John Henderson, who on that day watched the towers burn through the arch at Washington Square. We were told of the day’s timeline in minutes, the rescue teams, survivors’ stories, the building itself, and the business of identifying tens of thousands of human remains. It was hard to hear about workers on the top floors of the towers who had to hack away at the stairwell door with an ax, because it was jammed shut by the force of the plane’s impact. Or of the people trapped in their offices, sending confused emails to loved ones, not knowing those were their last words. Or of the firefighter in the north tower’s stairwell, buried under the wreckage of the entire building, angry because it would now take him days to die instead of only a painless instant.

But what really got me was a piece of scrap metal behind a glass case in the museum. It was salvaged from the ruined mass of glass, concrete, metal, and people: a ripped piece of sheet metal with the outline of an airplane window. Looking through the hollow oval, I caught my reflection in the glass, and wondered if the passenger sitting next to this window did the same before their plane smashed into the side of the north or south tower.

Kitchen Table Round-Up

The Meatpacking District’s cobblestones were thoroughly polished with foot traffic from the highly anticipated New York City Wine and Food Festival, which kicked off Thursday, October 9^th, and ran through Sunday the 12^th. Highlights included Friday’s "Midnight Music & Munchies," where chefs like Scott Conant of Scarpetta and Anne Burrell of Centro Vinoteca made late night treats and bartenders like Jim Meehan of PDT and Jason Kosmas of Employees Only whipped up creative concoctions. Saturday saw wine tasting seminars at Del Posto, and a dinner at Adour hosted by Alain Ducasse. The big wrap up party Sunday evening was held at the Hotel Gansevoort’s rooftop lounge, where guests mingled with celebrity chef Todd English and enjoyed cocktails and hors d’oeuvres while watching the sun set over the Hudson.

The Hotel Gansevoort was also the place to be the night of Friday the 10^th , when Prince held a rare private concert in the rooftop’s loft. One hundred tickets went for $1,000 a pop, and money went to Love 4 One Another Charities and Urban Farming. The two back-to-back shows were celebrated by the celebrated, namely Dave Chappelle, Howard Stern, Spike Lee and Anderson Cooper.

There will be more glamour amongst MePa’s grit this Wednesday evening, when the stars come out to celebrate the opening of Hugo Boss’s first ever concept store on 401 W. 14^th St. Five hundred guests will savor creations by caterer Olivier Cheng while grooving to tunes spun by Alexandra and Theodora Richards. Among those expected to attend are Maggie Gyllenhaal, Brooke Shields, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Alan Cumming.

Says Philipp Wolff, Director of Communication at Hugo Boss AG, “This special, globally unique store concept is a tribute to New York and the Meatpacking District. When collaborating with Matteo Thun [the Italian architect], our goal was to create something exceptionally distinctive that both reflected the character of its surroundings and forged a symbiosis with our collections.”

The store features a diamond wooden framework that cocoons the interior of the store, with special lighting that reacts to the weather and time of day. This will be the first time that Hugo Boss sells both their women’s and men’s lines together.

In other opening news, chef April Bloomfield of the West Village’s stylish Spotted Pig plans to debut a new restaurant on 85 10^th Ave in early November. Slated to be called the John Dory, the restaurant will feature seafood and other traditional English dishes from the chef’s home country.

As for more sweet and sour news, last week saw four robberies, four burglaries and two assaults in the West Greenwich Village area, which encompasses MePa. There were 19 reports of grand larceny (property exceeding $1,000). According to a community affairs agent at NYPD’s 6^th Precinct, the items taken were generally purses and wallets. Surprisingly, this number is down from last year’s report of 32 grand larcenies. Overall, crime is down five percent from last year and significantly lower than 1990’s stats, which included seven murders, 10 rapes, and 3,835 reports of grand larceny.

Pete Hamill on Downtown, jazz and Gabo

If you’ve never read the book Downtown by Pete Hamill, then you’re definitely missing something. The author eloquently expresses his love for New York, and sketches the history behind this great city. The narrative covers the transformation of Bowling Green to 42^nd Street from the settlement of the Dutch in the 17^th century, and explains how Times Square became a New Year’s Eve tradition, the graveyard past of Washington Square, the emergence of Fifth Ave and the recent birth of the department store, among other things.

After polishing off a cheese Danish, 73-year-old Hamill dropped in on our class today. Looking exactly like he does in the book cover’s picture with a black crew collar shirt and tan striped blazer, Hamill sat at the head of the classroom nursing his coffee and spoke about the process of writing “Downtown.”

When asked why he undertook such an immense project, he explains, “I have a grandson who’s 10, and I wanted him to be able to understand why this weird old guy with a beard had such a passion for a place without cows.”

Hamill goes on to explain his writing routine: he will turn on jazz music—nothing with words—and settle down in an oversize, plush chair, then write three or four pages longhand on yellow paper. He will then go to the computer and retype his material.

Jazz, he reveals, is one of his passions. When writing he probes, “What’s the music of this piece? What’s the beat?” Often when listening to a musical phrase he will improvise words to match.

“Jazz is something I can connect to. It’s one of the great triggers,” he says.

When asked what he remembers of the Meatpacking District before gentrification struck, he chuckles and tells the story of his black Labrador, Gabo, with lively animation.

“The creature who loved MePa was our dog, Gabo. He loved the odors of MePa. Big sides of beef hanging around…chunks of fat thrown into piles…he wanted to live there.”

After an engaging hour and a half of Hamill’s personal stories, he finished with a reading from the last chapter of Downtown, and signed my book, twice.

On the Menu

Day by day, night after night, the Meatpacking District is full of life. You can witness the neighborhood’s rapid gentrification, as construction is in full swing even though the area appears already defined. Following is a list of things to do, see, and talk about like a native:

Ø Check out the recently opened Moschino flagship store at 401 W. 14^th St.

Ø Hugo Boss plans to open a concept store in the same building as Moschino coming late fall

Ø Ports 1961 is building a store on 3 Ninth Ave for a late 2008 opening

Ø British designer Matthew Williamson is opening his first New York store in January 2009 next to Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney on West 14^th Street

Ø Watch construction go up on the new Barneys downtown flagship, which has finally settled on a space on West 13^th Street

Ø Scrape up enough cash to rent at the Caledonia, a new residential building on the fringes of MePa on West 17^th Street where studios start at almost $4,000

Ø Welcome to the neighborhood Ralph Fiennes, who back in July plunked down $2 million for a loft on West 13^th Street

Ø Book a room at Andre Balaz’s Standard Hotel, between West Street and West 13^th Street, slated for a soft opening in late fall

Ø Visit the High Line, a one and a half mile long elevated rail structure being transformed into a park, whose first section, from Gansevoort Street to 20^th Street, is expected to open by the end of the year

Ø Watch a $435 million satellite of the Whitney Museum begin construction on Gansevoort Street between Washington and West Streets in spring 2009

Ø An office building straddling the High Line is being constructed on top of a former meatpacking plant at 450 W. 14^th St., scheduled to finish 14 months from now

Ø An 80,000 square foot office building is being erected behind restaurant Pastis, with ground floor retail space available

Ø In honor of the first ever Food Network New York City Wine and Food Festival, many Meatpacking District restaurants will be offering a special “Meatpacking Eats Menu,” created exclusively for the weekend of October 9-12. Check out the website and book now: http://www.nycwineandfoodfestival.com/2008/view_events.php?event=140

Ø Also part of the New York City Wine and Food Festival is “Meatpacking Uncorked” on October 10^th, which features a wine tasting tour. Read all about the event here and be sure to get tickets early: http://www.nycwineandfoodfestival.com/2008/view_events.php?event=153

Ø Another mentionable event from the food festival is the “Meatpacking Local” tour on October 11, which features talks by some of New York’s top chefs (like Sue Torres of Los Dados). See if you can still sign up at: http://www.nycwineandfoodfestival.com/2008/view_events.php?event=183

Ø See the latest comedy shows at Comix on 353 W. 14 St., named “One of the top six comedy clubs in the U.S.” by the Hollywood Reporter: http://comixny.com/calendar.aspx

Ø See the exhibition “Stepmothers, Stepsisters, Witches and Virgins” at the edgy 7 Eleven Gallery on Washington Street, which runs till October 16: http://www.7elevengallery.com/exhibitions/

Ø A little north of the Meatpacking District, at the Highline Ballroom on West 16^th Street, is a lineup of performers like The Pretenders, Puddle of Mud, and T.I. Check out the Highline’s schedule at: http://www.highlineballroom.com/calendar.php?month=10&year=2008