Seen all over social media and by many considered to be home to some of the best bagels in NYC despite its out-of-the-ordinary business model (more on that later), PopUp Bagels has officially opened its second NYC location, this time invading the Upper West Side at 338 Columbus Avenue near 76th Street by the American Museum of Natural History.

In addition to its address by the West Village at 177 Thompson Street, PopUp Bagels has garnered a local fanbase through a slew of collaborations that it has set up around the city in the past year or so, including one with Dominique Ansel, another involving caviar and a third in association with iconic brand Cup Noodle. 

The sentiment seems to be the same no matter what form PopUp Bagel takes: some people absolutely love the baked goods it sells, even though the business started off as a pandemic project by one Adam Goldberg in his Connecticut backyard, while others consider them too far from what an “authentic” New York bagel should look, taste and feel like.

Those critics aren’t exactly wrong: PopUp Bagels’ creations are smaller than what New Yorkers are used to. They are also crisper and feel more like a French baguette than the sort of more dense local creations that everyone is used to. There’s more, though: the bagels here are sold unsliced and meant to be “ripped and dipped” in whatever schmear you choose to order them with, which sounds like actual blasphemy. 

To make matters even odder, customers here need to abide to a three-bagel order minimum. You read that right: you cannot order a single bagel with cream cheese, but have to grab at least a trio on your way out. 

Although all the particularities would lead average New Yorkers to just wave off PopUp Bagels as a fleeting trend, the lines outside the new Upper West Side location this weekend prove the opposite: the bagel shop clearly knows what it is doing.

That isn’t a surprise for owner Goldberg, who owns up to every business decision he’s come up with.

“We are PopUp Bagels,” Goldberg said to West Side Rag recently. “This is what we think is a great bagel. We make it size appropriate with enough chew and no lead in the belly.” 

To drive the point further, the company is also gearing up for the opening of yet another location, this one on the Upper East Side. PopUp Bagels is here to stay.

* This article was originally published here

Upper West Siders will soon be able to avoid spending over $5 for a coffee at Casa Salvo, a new Italian espresso bar and market that opened today.

All coffee and espresso beverages cost a flat $2.50 per cup. Given today’s world order, that’s pretty cheap. 

RECOMMENDED: This viral bagel company just opened a second NYC location on the Upper West Side

In addition to classic drinks like cappuccini and espresso cups made with Rome-based Dokito coffee beans, the bar serves specials like caffé with pistachio, hazelnut or truffles. Make sure to grab a cornetto with your java before heading to one of the outdoor tables. 

The market portion of the space will be filled with Italian pantry staples, including tomato sauces, cheeses, meats, hand-crafted butter and yogurts, organic pasta, specialty vinegar, Italian Coca-Cola (no, that’s not exactly the same as Coke!), a Parmigiano-Reggiano mousse that we’re dreaming about and much more. 

Basically, a piece of Little Italy has moved uptown.

The new business, the brainchild of chef Salvo Lo Castro, joins a roster of other specialty Italian markets that call New York home, including Via Della Scrofa in the East Village, which actually feels like being in the European country; Travelers, Poets and Friends, a meatless destination that just recently debuted in the West Village; and Eataly, perhaps the most famous concept of this kind across the country. 

Needless to say, there will never be too many authentic Italian businesses in New York. There’s always room for more European delicacies on this side of the Atlantic.

Casa Salvo is open daily at 473 Amsterdam Avenue near 82nd Street, from 8am to 8pm. 

* This article was originally published here

George Clooney will make his Broadway debut next spring in a world-premiere stage adaptation of his own 2005 film Good Night, and Good Luck, a portrait of the storied CBS journalist Edward R. Murrow, who helped turned the tide against McCarthyism in the 1950s. 

In the movie version—which was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director—Clooney played Murrow’s colleague Fred Friendly. This time around, he will step into the lead role originated by David Strathairn. “I am honored, after all these years, to be coming back to the stage and especially to Broadway, the art form and the venue that every actor aspires to,” Clooney said. 

Clooney will cowrite the play with Grant Heslov, his screenwriting partner for the film. He will not, however, be directing the Broadway production; it will be helmed instead by David Cromer (The Band’s Visit), one of the theater world’s most reliably intelligent and insightful directors. “Edward R. Murrow operated from a kind of moral clarity that feels vanishingly rare in today’s media landscape,” Cromer said. “There was an immediacy in those early live television broadcasts that today can only be effectively captured on stage, in front of a live audience.” 

The film was released in black and white. The Broadway production will be in color.

Good Night, and Good Luck will open in Spring 2025 at one of the 17 Broadway theaters owned by the Shubert Organization. Additional details about the production have not yet been announced.

* This article was originally published here

The Black Zine Fair, a free event held at the Powerhouse Arts (PHA) Grand Hall on Saturday, May 11, invited zine makers, educators, collectors, and those interested in zines to gather; trade or sell zines; and exchange knowledge about zine-making, publishing, and do-it-yourself culture.  

Featuring 30 to 50 exhibitors, the Black Zine Fair presented in-person programs, including an all-day zine trading station and workshops featuring zine-making, screen printing, and generative writing.

Siyaka Taylor-Lewis photos

The fair was organized by Sojourners for Justice Press (SJP), a micro press that opens its platform to people working experimentally with print-based media that engages do-it-yourself, Black feminist, and abolitionist philosophies or visions. SJP was founded by Mariame Kaba and is co-directed by Neta Bomani. Co-sponsors included the Barnard Zine Library, the Free Black Women’s Library, “Logic(s)” Magazine, Orange Tangent Study, and Powerhouse Arts.

The post Black zine community comes together to share and learn appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.

* This article was originally published here

No one really comes to New York City to relax. If you find yourself here on vacation here, expect chaos, rats and lots and lots of noise. Because of all of these factors, it should not come as a surprise that a recent survey found that the most chaotic tourist trap in the world is located in New York and, yes, it’s Times Square.

The survey was conducted by the language learning platform Preply, which analyzed more than 81 popular tourist attractions and surveyed thousands of people about which they thought were overrated, overcrowded and just generally not worth the time.

RECOMMENDED: Limited-edition Ice Spice MetroCards are now available at four subway stations

We get it, Times Square is loud, stinky, and the Frozen characters posing for pictures are a little bit scary.

In the Preply survey, 1,761 people called the area “overrated,” “underwhelming” or “a tourist trap.” One reviewer wrote that they had “high hopes and expectations and high disappointment. Times Square to us was crowded, grimy and overrated.” Tell us something we don’t know.

Even though they’re absolutely right about the area, we must admit that it’s hard not to get defensive. New Yorkers don’t step foot in Times Square unless they absolutely have to it’s different when we’re our own haters.

Besides, if you have such a big problem with Times Square, there’s so many things to do in the city that are relaxing and decidedly not tourist traps. For example, you can take a Tiki Boat ride at Jamaica Wildlife Refuge, enjoy a series of free meditative experiences throughout the city or spend all day at a spa on an island that is about to get some major upgrades. 

The other attractions that were considered major tourist traps by those surveyed was (in order from worst to best) Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin; the Eiffel Tower; The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen; Las Ramblas in Barcelona; Manneken Pis in Brussels; The Blue Lagoon in Iceland; the Hollywood Walk of Fame in L.A.; the London Eye; and the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin.

You can check out the full list of the top 20 most stressful tourist traps here. 

Preply also looked at the least stressful tourist hotspots in the world, and Switzerland’s Lake Caumasee took the number one spot, followed by Uluru in Australia and Monastiraki Market in Athens. 

Again, there’s nothing surprising about us making the top of the list, so there’s no use in trying to defend Times Square. All we’re saying is there are many other things to do if you’re not the type who likes crowds, so please be respectful of this great city of ours.

* This article was originally published here

Looking to spice up your morning commute? Then shake your jelly to the underground jetty, because the people’s princess has taken over public transit. Grrraaah! 

If you’re not chronically online, here is what we mean: the MTA just released limited-edition MetroCards featuring Ice Spice that you can get at select vending machines starting today. 

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The sure-to-become iconic passes were created in collaboration with Capitol Records in anticipation of the rapper’s debut album Y2K, which Ice Spice confirmed she has finished recording even though no official release date for it has yet been announced. 

The MetroCards will cost the same as a regular MetroCard ($1) but they will only be available at these four subway stations—which take cash or a credit card—across Manhattan and the Bronx:

• Fordham Rd (4 train)
• Fordham Rd (B/D trains)
• 34 St-Penn Station (A/C/E trans)
• Times Square-42 St (N/Q/R/W/S/1/2/3/7 trans)

For the uninitiated: Ice Spice first rose to prominence in 2021, when she started making music with producer and friend RiotUSA while she was in college.

In 2022, her song “Munch (Feelin’ U)” went viral on TikTok and, after that, the artist released a series of singles including “Bikini Bottom” and “Deli,” which also exploded online.

In subsequent years, the Bronx native released an EP and collaborated with artists like Taylor Swift, PinkPantheress and Nicki Minaj (the latter as part of the Barbie movie). Last week, the rapper dropped “Gimme a Light,” which samples Sean Paul’s “Gimme the Light” and supposedly shows off the sort of musical style that will define her upcoming, much-anticipated new album.

Ice Spice also likes to bring on the drama: she recently made headlines after her former friend Baby Storme leaked alleged series of texts including ones in which Ice Spice had some damning words against Nicki Minaj and other celebrity pals.

Clearly, the latest MTA collab feels timely and on the pulse. Fair warning, though: the transportation authority is only releasing 50,000 copies of the special edition MetroCards—so go get yours ASAP.

* This article was originally published here