Author: Site Adminstrator

You may only be expecting food and drinks when heading to a bar or restaurant, but there’s another hot commodity some of these spots are offering and it’s not edible–in fact, it’s not even on the menu at all! We’re talking about the classic matchbook.

They’re an object as old as time, but TikTok (though one step closer to being banned in the U.S.) recently made their popularity surge with users showing off their matchbook collections obtained from various bars and restaurants that they then place in a shadowbox and turn into wall art!

So if you’re looking to hop onto the trend here are some bars, restaurants, and other spots around NYC that have their own personalized matchbooks for you to collect:

NYC Bars With Matchbooks

Manhattan

• Center Bar – 10 Columbus Cir.
• Keys & Heels – 1488 2nd Ave.
• Panorama Room – 22 N. Loop Rd.
• Pony Bar – 1444 1st Ave.
• All & Sundry – 312 W. 58th St.
• Faces and Names Lounge – 159 W. 54th St.
• Pebble Bar – 67 W. 49th St.
• Russian Tea Room – 150 W. 57th St.
• Ophelia – 3 Mitchell Pl.
• Daintree – 25 W. 38th St.
• The Fleur Room –  105 W. 28th St.
• Goldie’s Tavern – 135 W. 30th St.
• Patent Pending – 49 W. 27th St.
• Bar Belly – 14b Orchard St.
• Beyond the Pale – 53 Spring St.
• Employees Only – 510 Hudson St.
• The Horny Ram – 951 2nd Ave.
• Ding-a-ling – 116 Loisaida Ave.

Brooklyn

• Doris – 1088 Fulton St.
• Grand Army – 336 State St.
• The Little Pig – 497 Atlantic Ave.
• The Red Pavilion – 1241 Flushing Ave.
• Congress Bar – 208 Court St.
• King Tai – 1095 Bergen St.
• Sixpoint Brewery – 445 Gold St.
• Sound + Fury Brewery – 141 Lawrence St.
• Common Mollies – 46 Bushwick Ave.
• Bar Americano – 180 Franklin St.
• Eavesdrop – 674 Manhattan Ave.
• Goldie’s – 195 Nassau Ave.
• Lake Street Bar – 706 Manhattan Ave.
• Please Tell Me – 749 Metropolitan Ave.
• Radegast Hall & Biergarten – 113 N. 3rd St.
• Skinny Dennis – 152 Metropolitan Ave.
• Happiest Hour – 121 W. 10th St.
• Pretty Ricky’s – 101 Rivington St.
• Ophelia Lounge – 3 Mitchell Pl.
• Westlight – 111 N 12th St.
• The Richardson – 451 Graham Ave.

NYC Restaurants With Matchbooks

Manhattan

• Bad Roman – 10 Columbus Cir.
• Cafe Luxembourg – 200 W. 70th St.
• Fred’s – Amsterdam Ave.
• Jalao – 2420 Amsterdam Ave.
• P.J. Clarke’s – 44 W. 63 St.
• Emmett’s on Grove – 39 Grove St.
• Le Bilboquet – 20 E. 60th St.
• Philippe Chow – 33 E. 60th St.
• Carmines – 200 W. 44th St.
• Gallagher’s Steakhouse – 228 W. 52nd St.
• Monkey Bar – 60 E. 54th St.
• Isla & Co. – 235 W. 38th St.
• L’Amico – 849 6th Ave.
• Al Pastor – 145 E. 39th St.
• Bar Pitti – 268 6th Ave.
• Bar Primi – 325 Bowery
• Boucherie – 99 7th Ave. S
• Chinese Tuxedo – 5 Doyers St.
• Don Angie – 103 Greenwich Ave.
• Fish Cheeks – 55 Bond St.
• Forsythia – 9 Stanton St.
• Jac’s on Bond – 26 Bond St.
• L’Artusi – 228 W. 10th St.
• Gab’s – 76 Carmine St.
• Rubirosa – 235 Mulberry St.

Brooklyn

• Habibi – 154 Scott Ave.
• Turk’s Inn – 234 Starr St.
• Cafe Spaghetti – 126 Union St.
• Pizza Loves Emily – 919 Fulton St.
• Sisters – 900 Fulton St.
• Chino Grande – 253 Grand St.
• Miss Ada – 184 Dekalb Ave.
• Saraghina Caffe – 195 DeKalb Ave.
• Glasserie – 95 Commercial St.
• Oxomoco – 128 Greenpoint Ave.
• Cafe Colette – 79 Berry St.
• Le Crocodile – 80 Wythe St.
• elNico – 288 N. 8th St.
• Leuca – 111 N. 12th St.
• Lilia – 567 Union Ave.
• Llama Inn – 50 Withers St.
• Maison Premiere – 298 Bedford Ave.
• Misi – 329 Kent Ave.

Queens

• M. Wells Steakhouse – 43-15 Crescent St.
• Rolo’s – 853 Onderdonk Ave.

Other NYC Spots With Matchbooks

Brooklyn

• Behind the Circle Tattoo Studio – 1009 Broadway
• High Hopes Tattoo – 406 Himrod St.
• Harlequin Vintage – 1033 Flushing Ave.
• Friends – 56 Bogart St.
• Bedford Vintage – 207 Bedford Ave.

The post Here’s Where To Get Matchbooks In NYC appeared first on Secret NYC.

* This article was originally published here

Nearly two decades ago, Justin Peck moved from San Diego to New York to dance with the prestigious New York City Ballet and ended up, somewhat unexpectedly, establishing himself as one of the world’s top ballet choreographers. He now serves as the company’s associate artistic director and resident choreographer, celebrated for infusing ballet with youthful, virtuosic vitality. In recent years, he has brought his elegant, protean style to Broadway, winning a Tony Award for his choreography in Carousel, and to Hollywood, where he reimagined Jerome Robbins’s iconic moves for Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story. All along, Sufjan Steven’s seminal 2005 concept album Illinois remained a source of inspiration, and Peck dreamed of bringing it to life on stage. Last month, Illinoise (now spelled with a final e) arrived on Broadway under his direction, and shortly thereafter received Tony nominations for Best Musical and for Peck’s choreography. We talked with Peck by phone about the “beautiful vomiting” of Illinoise’s first iteration, what he learned from Spielberg about directing, and how the show has helped him process a recent tragedy: the death, in a train accident, of the show’s production stage manager, Thom Gates.

First, I want to acknowledge that it’s been a difficult time for the whole Illinoise community. How are you doing with the sudden passing of Thom Gates?

It’s a bit of whiplash emotionally for everyone. It followed our celebratory opening. Waking up to that news was just so devastating for everyone. There’s a lot to navigate for the show, emotionally and logistically—trying to check in with all the sides of ourselves as we move forward. But the company has been handling it with such grace and beauty. I’m really proud of them.

I saw Illinoise last summer at the Fisher Center at Bard College, but seeing it again, in light of what happened to Thom, I was newly attuned to how poignantly the show illustrates and processes grief. I’m curious what that element of the show meant to you before and if it registers differently now.

The beauty of this show is that it can be taken in through a wide array of lenses. For me to watch the show a couple of days after Thom’s passing, it was really through a lens of grief. There is so much in the show about coping with death and loss. It can be amplified depending on what you’re going through—and also, hopefully, it can act as a kind of catharsis for dealing with that. The process of making it was very much about going directly into that, in a way that sort of terrified me. So much of my work, whether I’ve wanted it to or not, possesses a lot of joy; with this, I had to really push to go head-on into storytelling that scared me very much. Sufjan wanted to be very hands-off about the storytelling, but one thing he said to me was that this album has a lot of darkness to it. When you listen to it, it first comes across as a bright, spirited album—and it has that, too. But peeling back the layers, there’s quite a bit running through it that deals with grief and loss and darkness. For me, the show is very personal and explores a lot of early and unexpected and sometimes expected deaths that came my way as a young person. It’s really focused on this late-adolescence coming of age, and what happens to us when we lose people that are close to us.

You’ve called the album a kind of soundtrack to your adolescence. What’s it like to revisit that time and that version of yourself? 

I think it always helps to have a little bit of perspective when tackling storytelling. I thought a lot about what year this show is set in, and I kind of loosely tried to keep it in 2005, which is the year the album came out. I guess that helped maintain my own distance, and gave me a little more perspective to look back on certain things that I had gone through as a young person—and sort through a lot of stuff that still felt sort of blocked for me. That’s the beauty of storytelling and theater: Just the act of making it can actually be a way to sort through some deeper emotions for the artist and hopefully others can find their way to relate to it. What I’ve been finding with Illinoise, from strangers and friends, is that there are people who seem to be connecting with that aspect of it. And that’s the greatest gift. But it’s not something that can really be calculated. 

Watching Illinoise, I wondered whether you keep a journal. It’s such a prominent prop and symbol in the show, and I was curious if that’s a personal practice you have a long connection to, or if it just ended up being a storytelling device that allows you to structure the show.

Oh, I love that question. I haven’t really thought about that. I definitely used to keep a journal when I was that age, and it acted in the same way that it does for the characters—particularly for the protagonist, Henry. I’ve done it less and less because my life has gotten crazier and busier, especially with having a family now. But I do like it. And that question makes me think that maybe subconsciously that was something I included. But in a more practical sense, it was a way to unlock the notion of storytelling and how we deliver that in this show. And it was inspired by some of the lyrics: the poetry of what Sufjan wrote that feels like a unique hybrid of poetry and storytelling and feels like something that could find its way into a journal. The lyric “are you writing from the heart?” was one of those tentpole lyrics that guided us in how we were going to deliver this whole concept in a theatrical way. So the notebook became very important in how it relates to the inner psyche of the characters and how that comes out in the context of the campfire: the exhilaration and fears and anxieties, the insecurities and the confidence that can come from that moment of opening yourself up to the community around you. I always thought of it conceptually as well, almost visually, like the words on the pages evaporating up into the air and filling the space and manifesting themselves in the form of the lyrics sung by the singers.

There were three productions of Illinoise in the year before it came to Broadway. I noticed that Henry’s story has been reframed as a kind of bookend, which emphasizes its importance as the show’s emotional core while also making it the storytelling’s structural spine. How did that change come about?

The version we did at Bard was the first iteration of the show and the point was to execute this kind of beautiful vomiting onto the stage so that the team of collaborators could understand it better, because so much of it was inside my head. And the main thing we all felt was that we weren’t guiding the audience properly in the first 30 minutes—we weren’t helping them know where to focus or who to focus on, even though it was always about arriving at Henry’s story and he was the central protagonist. So we did a lot of work to pull him to the front and not lose him in the first act, which is the short story section. It was a very tricky balance because I think the first act is essential for teaching the audience how the show works so that they’re adjusted for the moment when Henry finally steps forward and they’re ready to experience his emotional arc. The breakthrough I had was actually watching the film Past Lives. It starts in a bar, and you see the three main characters, and there’s that voiceover asking, “Who do you think they are? And how do they relate to each other?” And then it goes back in time and catches us up to that point. That was an inspiration for shaping the new opening and giving the audience little clues about this character but maintaining an air of mystery about him.

You’ve talked about how Illinoise references a lot of dance-centric musicals of the past. How do you see it in conversation with those shows and also taking musical theater in a new direction?

Specific moments in the show are in conversation with those other shows and those influences and early inspirations. The tap choreography in the song “Jacksonville” is really a tribute to Bring in ’da Noise. And the structure of the show feels like very much in conversation with A Chorus Line; here they’re in more of a circle, but it becomes that same framing device for the characters and their stories. And even Contact—how that was a musical and yet it really was expressed through movement and body language. And I think that’s what we’re doing with Illinoise. At the same time, I think what we’re exploring is very different in terms of the emotion and the stories. This deals more with the mental health struggles that a lot of young people feel today, and that feels unique to this show and within the canon of dance-powered musicals. In terms of how it’s contributing to widening the fabric of what a musical can be, you know, it has all the elements of a musical: staging, movement, acting, storytelling, lyrics, songs, and a really interesting 11-o’clock number. It’s sort of taking what a musical is and shattering it and finding all the pieces and then putting it back together in a new way. But it comes from a genuine love of musical theater that inspired me so much as a young person and was really my entry point into art and culture and storytelling and dance. It set me up on this path to devote my life to all those things.

Would you also consider Illinoise a ballet? Or is there a line where they really feel like two separate things?

I think there’s a line, personally. The fun thing about the show is how people categorize what it is: what a musical is, and what any other form is. You could call it many things, and people have. I’ve heard it called “a play through the language of dance.” I’ve heard it called a kind of opera hybrid. Personally, I wouldn’t call it a ballet because if it were, I would have just done it at New York City Ballet or for a ballet company, which would have been an easier route; because of the institutional support, the process is a little more straightforward. But I really felt like this falls into the category of musical theater and that it should exist in that realm. I had no idea where this was going to go, but my dream was always for it to have the potential of a Broadway run. And I’ve always been really inspired by outlier musicals—not the conventional ones, but shows like Bring in ’da Noise or Hedwig and the Angry Inch or even Rent.

There are aspects of Illinoise that reminded me of some of your ballet work, like The Times Are Racing. It made me wonder whether an excerpted version of it could find its way onto a ballet stage, like Jerome Robbins’s West Side Story Suite.

You never know. At this point, we’re really focused on this production. The great thing about doing it for theater is that we can get very specific and precise with the casting and the musicians. That was important to me. One of the downsides of doing a show in an institution like a ballet company is that it’s just like, “Here are your 50 dancers, and here’s the orchestra.” And they’re all good, don’t get me wrong, they’re all super talented. But there’s so much in this story where the characters are very specific, and the music has to be performed in a very specific way. It’s not impossible to do it for a dance company one day, and you’re right, they do it well with West Side Story Suite. I’ve been asked to take my work for Carousel and turn that into a dance suite version. So who knows? But what excites me is getting to dig into this process in the theater context.

You’ve spoken about how much you learned from Spielberg while working on West Side Story. I’m curious if there were any directorial lessons or advice from that experience that you applied to Illinoise. 

Yeah, that was a massive influence for me, and the greatest masterclass I could ever hope for: this extraordinary opportunity to just go through the process of making an entire musical film with maybe the greatest filmmaker alive. I learned and absorbed so much from him about how to lead a huge company and crew with grace and patience and support. I was also able to pick up on certain techniques of directing actors, and a lot of lessons about storytelling in general because he’s such a great storyteller. I think that’s what really sets him apart from a lot of other directors: Every shot has storytelling motivation behind it. The story always comes first. And that was a guiding principle for me as I was working on Illinoise. And just seeing who Steven was, his authenticity—witnessing that gave me the confidence to trust myself and feel like whatever I make is going to be unique because it’s coming from my own voice and no one else has that voice. He was always very generous with me, which I’m very grateful for. He’s still someone I consider to be a good friend, who I can pick up the phone and call and ask a question—and I do, and that’s been invaluable. Also, almost half of the cast of Illinoise was in the West Side Story film. There’s something really beautiful about all of us sharing that experience then getting to carry it forward and apply it in a new way. A lot of the approach to how I directed the acting was inspired by screen acting. There’s a lot of the show that feels almost like you’re watching a silent film, which is stylistically a little different for a live stage musical. That was fun to experiment with—to see how we could present an acting style that was unique to this show.

Does Illinoise feel like a stepping stone to more directing? What kind of projects are you attracted to right now? 

I’m very excited about continuing to work as a director, both for theater and for film in the near future. Most of the work I do uses dance as a language, so there is that consistent thread for me as I move forward. I’d love to do more musicals—potentially a book musical next. We’ll see. I mean, it always has to be a project that hits the heart in a very personal way. It’s usually, like, one in a hundred in terms of finding that right project. I’m really excited for what the future holds, but I’m also just trying to savor every moment right now with Illinoise, because it’s been such a long, thorough, focused journey. And now we’re finally getting to share these performances in a consistent way with audiences. On Broadway. And that’s a gift in its own right.

Illinoise is playing at the St. James Theatre through August 10. You can buy tickets here.

* This article was originally published here

East Village staple, Streecha, serving up Ukrainian classics on 7th Street took to Instagram last month to announce their permanent closure. According to the post, “[The priest (owner) is] planning to do some renovation to that location and then use it as a church kitchen with his people in charge…[the Streecha] team is searching for a new partner and location to keep a traditional Ukrainian restaurant alive.”

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A post shared by Dmytro Kovalenko (Chef at Streecha 2016-2024) (@streecha)

The restaurant has been operating in the same location attached to St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church for around half a century. It’s famously known for it’s no fluff atmosphere and nostalgic dishes using the help of volunteers to prepare their delicious pierogis.

And though everyone was disheartened to hear the news about the closure, it turns out it will just be chef Dima Kovalenko leaving, not the restaurant itself, according to EV Grieve. Apparently, Streecha will still be operational in the same space, just helmed by a new team of parish volunteers.

EV Grieve verified with the church’s Rev. Father Johan Lubiv that the name of Streecha, which means “people’s meeting place,” belongs to the church. And though Chef Kovalenko, who had worked at Streecha for the last nine years, will be leaving, the restaurant will remain. However, Chef Kovalenko plans to open a pop-up of his own serving similar dishes.

Moreover, additional changes can be expected for Streecha diners with an updated interior, including new paint, lights and seating arrangements. The renovations took three days and 20 volunteers to accomplish, reports EV Grieve.

Operating hours will be from Friday to Sunday, 11am to 5pm. To clear any future confusion, customers can follow the restaurant’s new Instagram for the latest updates here.

The post Ukrainian Staple, Streecha, Reopens After Announcing Closure Last Month appeared first on Secret NYC.

* This article was originally published here

Summer roadtrips are on our mind, and with all the swimming holes, waterfalls, and small towns near NYC there are endless opportunities to explore. But nothing quite beats spending a sunny summer day at the lake–especially since this is going to be one of the hottest summers of our lifetime–and lucky for us one of the most picturesque lakes in all of North America is only 2 hours from NYC!

Vacation rental platform Lake.com analyzed Instagram posts containing hashtags relating to each lake for every major lake in North America, because obviously if it’s gram-worthy you just know it’s got to be good.

The total number of posts found containing each lake was then tallied up to determine which are the most picturesque, and Lake Superior came in third place, with 1,187,896 Instagram posts featuring the #LakeSuperior hashtag.

Straddling the US-Canada border and touching the coasts of Ontario, Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin, Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake not only in North America but in the entire world by surface area!

According to Britannica its name comes from the French Lac Supérieur, meaning “Upper Lake,” and it’s apparently so massive that if it were to be emptied it would take 191 years to do so.

Beyond its size though its coastline is certainly picturesque, particularly its north shore, which Britannica writes is indented by deep bays backed by high cliffs. And because it’s surrounded by extensive forests seasonal hunting, sportfishing, and tourism are popular here.

David Ciccarelli, CEO of Lake.com, commented on the findings, stating:

The data reveal some fascinating insights into the continent’s natural beauty. It’s remarkable to see how social media platforms like Instagram can showcase the captivating allure of these lakes, drawing attention from people far and wide. These findings underscore the profound impact of these scenic spots, not only on local communities but also on a global scale, as they inspire countless individuals to explore and appreciate the wonders of nature.

The top ten most picturesque lakes in all of North America are as follows:

1. Lake Tahoe

2. Lake Michigan

3. Lake Superior

4. Lake Ontario

5. Lake Erie

6. Lake Norman

7. Lake George

8. Lake Geneva

9. Lake Havasu

10. Lake Huron

The post One Of The Most Picturesque Lakes In All Of North America Is Only 2 Hours From NYC appeared first on Secret NYC.

* This article was originally published here

New Yorkers are used to inventive new takes on the bagel form: our boiled-and-baked rounds can come rainbow-colored, crowned with escargot, infused with Fireball and schmeared with ramen cream cheese. (Really.) And now you can have that beloved breakfast classic for, of all things, dessert, thanks to a new collaboration between the Museum of Ice Cream and Ess-A-Bagel.

RECOMMENDED: The 17 best bagels in NYC are delicious any way you fill them

The two fan-favorite establishments have joined forces to create the “Ice-A-Bagel”: available starting Wednesday, June 5 through the end of the year, bagel fans will be able to get a mini pink bagel stuffed with sweet Philadelphia cream gelato and topped with everything-bagel seasoning. (You know how people love their everything-bagel seasoning.) The breakfast-meets-dessert delights will be baked and delivered fresh every morning from Ess-A-Bagel‘s 32nd Street shop—which has been turning out crusty-yet-pillowy bagels in NYC for nearly five decades—and will be served exclusively at the Museum of Ice Cream at 558 Broadway in Soho. 

It’s not the first time that Ess-A-Bagel has given a sweet, spirited riff on the classic bagel: just last summer, the bagel shop partnered with a fellow local favorite, Magnolia Bakery, on yet another breakfast-dessert hybrid, the banana pudding bagel. That creation saw a dyed-yellow bagel (to look like a banana, obviously) generously spread with banana pudding cream cheese and rolled in Nilla wafers, obviously inspired by Magnolia’s world-famous banana pudding dessert. 

And the Museum of Ice Cream, an art installation and experiential museum that opened permanently in downtown Manhattan in 2018, is known for its frequent sweet-treat collaborations, which have included the likes of rapper Cardi B, jewelry designer Kendra Scott and makeup retailer Sephora over the years. 

* This article was originally published here