42ND STREET

[TRAVEL] Uwern Jong checks out dancing feet of a totally different kind on 42nd street.

The infamous lyrics from that Broadway number have never rung truer...

"In the heart of little old New York, You'll find a thoroughfare. It's the part of little old New York, That runs into Times Square."

There's something new afoot on 42nd Street, particularly on the west end, around 10th Ave - an area that Manhattan natives raise their brow when you mention that you're going there. But redevelopment is taking on the street usually famous for its Broadway-ish shows. Gone are the tired warehouse buildings and sleazy sex shops and rebirthed are glass commercial and residential buildings, edgy, sophisticated - but without forgetting the area's roots.

"Come and meet those dancing feet, On the avenue I'm taking you to, Forty-Second Street."

My journey to 42nd Street and 10th coincides with the launch of XL, a brand new gay super-club. The previous Chelsea venue of the same name has gone through some re-imagining and re-opened, a little later than originally anticipated, but with a mega-dancefloor, theater and event space, underneath what is to be (if it ever opens) New Yorks's first gay hotel The Out NYC.

(In the meantime, if you're looking for a place to stay in the area, you can check into new ultra-futuristic Yotel, literally just across the street from the venue. Don't forget to check out Out There's good friend Patrick Duffy's Sunday event EAT YO BRUNCH at the Yotel and stay tuned for more exciting developments to come as Patrick gets installed as Director of Programming at the hotel).

"Where the underworld can meet the elite, 42nd Street"

Back to XL, its first Friday night party sees Rokit from FornabioVoss taking resident there, with its usual stable of pretty, up for it club-kids. It was busy, with the queue going round the block with revellers waiting in the longest line in the world, some making it past the velvet ropes, others waving their membership cards in the cold New York night outside. John Blair, the man behind the club is after all, notorious for starting a system in the 90s of giving patrons cards which ranked them by attractiveness: white for the average people, gold for the above average, and VIP for the hot.

That's New York hype for you, but I'm not quite sure what the fuss is all about. Yes, the club is super trendy, but I can't help but wonder, with New York gays being such followers of fashion, if it has the legs to stand the years to come. That said, that's what many critics said about Heaven in London when it opened in the seventies and it's still going strong now. I guess only time will tell.

Nevertheless, we had a lot of fun and I wasn't short of subjects wanting to be photographed in celebration of the venue's launch. So heres it is Ladies and Gentlemen (and those in between), check out our photos from the night and don't forget to tag yourself...

ON THE TOWN

PHOTOGRAPH: UWERN JONG

No visit to New York is complete without a few nights out on the town. And it seems like I wasn't the only Brit up for some nightlife. Like something out of a Hollywood musical of old, I ran into a crowd of Her Majesty's finest in full uniform, fratenising with excited tourists and the NYPD alike in Times Square. Our boys were clearly up for a good time and they certainly picked the right city to do it in. So whether you're in shore-leave or just celebrating the end of another week, here's our guide to doing it Big-Apple style.


WHEN THE WORKING WEEK IS DONE

Happy Hour at Vlada. This Hells Kitchen institution serves up a smorgasbord of infused cocktails. Mix and match and top it up, whatever your flavour. My favourite was grapefruit plus ginger. topped up with soda.

Grubs-up at Braai, a South African eatery just next to Vlada, check out unusual menu items like 'Bunny Chow'. - it tastes better than it sounds.

The trendiest gay concept bars are Therapy and Industry, "Are you going to Industry tonight?" feature in many a chat up line. It gets real busy on most nights, but keep and eye on your stuff, they may go walkabout.

Party til sunrise at Rock-it at Quo, where Manhattan trendies shake it on down.

SATURDAY SHENANIGANS

Go casual at Boxers, new york's funky gay sports bar. We're not talking fetish sporty dress-up, well ok, perhaps in some cases, but it's a 'cool place to hang with a bottle of beer and watch the game' or top-less jocks behind the bar.


Dinner at BES, Boutique Eat Shop. Glamour it down with an up-for-it, fashion-oriented, arty crowd - but still rooted in great food.


Kick the partying off at Posh, a friendly Hells Kitchen bar with a sweaty dancefloor. It's small and crammed, but a lot of fun.


End up at Club 57, a gay club on the cusp of Uptown. A Saturday night institution and THE place to dance the night away.

SUNDAY RECOVERY

Go all burb and cross the water to trendy Williamsburg in Brooklyn and check out brunch at Le Comptoir - great food, great music, and unlimited mimosa or bloody marys. Just pace yourself, you're supposed to be recovering.


Browse through the vintage and second hand specials in shops, boutiques and pop-up stores all over Brooklyn. 10ft Single is great for that truly vintage look.


Catch a sundown drink at Ritz in Hells Kitchen, to reminisce about the weekend's goings-on and plan the next one ahead.

MIDTOWN MALAISE

It's much sunnier today in the city, from my window on 44th Street, I can see a Saturday crowd of Time Square tourists, matinee ticket hunters and New Yorkers alike on the sun-lit pavements below. Its a quintessentially NYC street scene, yellow taxis, traffic cops in their iconic NYPD uniforms, delivery trucks, sidewalk-pretzel-hawkers, the Big Apple with the works. There's even a tramp pushing a shopping trolley stuffed full of cardboard boxes.

I'm now in midtown, spitting distance away from Times Square and all the hustle and bustle below is muted by my digs in the opulent Chatwal hotel. A relatively new property on the scene, having just opened for business in September last year after a 4 year building project. But you'll understand why this hotel project took 4 long years to get right - as everything is just right at the Chatwal, in the now restored former Lambs Club, the turn of the century (20th) haunt of cultural glitterati - the second home of Broadway stars, the New York stomping ground of Hollywood A-list - think Fred Astaire and Irving Berlin. The building is a national treasure and has been lovingly restored with no stone unturned (quite literally in fact, because the restorers even tracked down the same, original marble from the now closed, underwater quarry in Italy) and the interiors updated to a high gloss, albeit slightly kitsch Art Deco splendour. The bell-hops wear full 30's inspired uniforms and the hotel lobby is complete with cocktail bar and a bartender in a white tux. The design philosophy is all about the art of travel, and its 83 very large rooms feature decor inspired by steamer cabin trunks - it's hard to describe - you'll just have to see for yourself. But its old world charm includes all mod cons and then some - I'm talking Japanese toilet technology that makes it glow in the dark, floor to ceiling bathroom mirrors with built-in TVs (an on the subject of TVs, my room has 3!), the biggest rain shower that I've ever seen and a fully stocked, 'not-so-mini' bar! It's quite a room, one you'll certainly feel inclined to spend a lot of time in, but I've managed to shake my jet lag and I'm keen to go out and explore.

And I have to tell you how I lost my jet lag. There's a special lady I need to thank - the infamous Norma Kamali. I visited her store today and had an audience with the beautiful and charming Norma herself. But what was I doing in a womanswear boutique? Well the Norma Kamali store on 56th street hides midtown's best kept secret - her Wellness Cafe. Besides being a talented designer, Norma travels the world to bring back the very best concepts in health and fitness and she gave me a shot of a special Japanese green tea that she guaranteed would energise my mid-afternoon lag, and she was absolutely right... leaving me powered up and ready to go for a night out with friends, the plan is to have a truly local NYC Friday night out. A keen host, my friend Rafael has created a surprise itinerary. All I know is that we're to meet at Vlada in Hell's Kitchen for Happy Hour... I'll give you all the gossip in tomorrow's post!

ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF ME

VIEW FROM THE PENTHOUSE TERRACE AT THE COOPER SQUARE HOTEL

BY UWERN JONG

They say never to start any narative with an apology. But I feel I have to, as my first cultural reference for this blog about NYC comes from Sex and the City, but there's something a little bit 'Carrie Bradshaw' about lying in bed, typing today's thoughts out on my mac, whilst watching the sun rise over the misty Manhattan skyline. Jet lag has kicked in like a badly-timed can of red-bull and whilst I continue to experience the comforts of my hotel room at the Cooper Square Hotel, sleep is certainly out of the equation.

I'm hardly suprised to be awake, really. My body clock is totally topsy-turvy. Yesterday started with an airport run at the ungodly hour of 5am GMT - a scheduling time usually only reserved for those no-frills package-holiday flights. However, mine was the contrary - I was up to catch the 6am Swiss International Airlines business schedule from London City airport to Zurich, with a guaranteed connect to a JFK flight within 40 minutes, aiming get you into New York before 1.30pm.

For an East Londoner like me, there's nothing better than flying via London City airport. You may think it strange that I've chosen to connect with a hub in the opposite direction of travel, given the hundreds of direct daily flights leaving London, but going via London City for me means a 10 minute cab ride, a 35 minute check-in and best of all, no gormless package holiday tourists! (#traveleditorpethatenumberone). Set up as a purely business airport for the City, fellow passengers are smart, suited, booted, suitcase-less and focussed on getting to their meeting in some European city on time – the airport is proud of their unrivalled on-time departure record. Plus, for a business-class product, Swiss's 10 hour total travel time to JFK from London is actually, on a quality-time-cost comparison basis the most efficient and cost-effective routing at the time of writing - and their new inflight business class service - the seat layout, workstations, working-lunch meal service and flat-beds will leave you refreshed to do business when you arrive in NYC. Not to mention that a lunchtime arrival into Terminal 4 means you clear the 'thoroughly welcoming' US Immigration and Customs much quicker than usual and your yellow taxi by-passes rush hour and has you in Manhattan before 2.30pm.

The Cooper Square Hotel is in Noho/Bowery area of the city - you couldn't really ask for a more happening location (and if you love Japanese food, you're in for a treat - little Japan is literally just around the corner with its calls of Happy Hour Sushi - so very me!). There's plenty on your doorstep, albeit a little noisy with the traffic and sirens whizzing by what seems like every 10 minutes - but hey, you're in NYC, you've got to expect some hustle and bustle. With rooms set on 21 floors, most with fantastic floor to ceiling windows looking out over the rooftops and characteristic water towers of the area, this chic hotel, that clearly has a love for books (they're everywhere, from antique to contemporary) is one of those properties that, in my opinion, has solved the "in and out" challenge that city style hotels always have - perfectly addressing the balance of a cosy bolt-hole that you'd want to spend time in, but without making you feel guilty that you're forking out for a design-hotel when you want to be out exploring the city, or be at meetings, or both, or perhaps go a book-signing, on a whim.

PHOTOGRAPH: TIM HAILAND

Mind not to trip on that last deliberate and unsubtle lead-in (hey, I'm jet-lagged), as the NYC darling of the arts Rufus Wainwright was just up the road signing copies of his collaboration with portrait photographer Tim Hailand, "One Day in the Life of Rufus Wainwright". Captured back in August last year, this visual diary opens to find Rufus in his bed at his New York City apartment. Starting with coffee (of course), Rufus begins his day by playing piano (in his underwear no less), dashing off to Boston via train, where he connects with his sister Martha and performs to an adoring crowd. A real clever mix of black and white photography and colour, accentuating the highs of the day, it offers a voyeuristic insight into his world. If you're a Rufus fan, then this is certainly for you.