In the News: Searching for Quiet

••• Some “No Standing” signs in Lower Manhattan also say “AWM, which “doesn’t stand for anything at all. The letters are a figment of the imagination of Samuel I. Schwartz, a former traffic commissioner, now a private traffic engineer known as Gridlock Sam. In the 1980s, he was asked to reserve spaces for certain secretive federal agencies, which did not want to advertise their presence or have their unmarked vehicles identified.” —New York Times

••• A New York Times feature on reader-submitted places to find quiet in the city included Cosmopolitan Café, along with a soothing video. If I had gotten around to adding my two cents, I’d have offered up Poets House and the western end of Pier 40 as two of the quietest spots downtown.

madeline-lanciani-by-tribeca-citizen••• “Madeline Lanciani, baker extraordinaire and proprietor of Duane Park Patisserie in Tribeca, competes on Food Network’s ‘Chopped’ tomorrow night. The episode is titled ‘Sweet Surprises’ and begins at 10pm.” —Broadsheet

••• “A workplace Lothario was allegedly so persistent courting his married underling in the mailroom of a Financial District”—Battery Park City, actually—”law firm that he wrote her an illustrated, laminated, erotic poem describing his fantasies, according to a new sexual-harassment lawsuit.” You know it’s love when lamination is involved. —New York Post

••• “A fire broke out on the roof of the five-story Fulton Center transit station on Monday afternoon, fire officials and witnesses said. […] ‘It was a small fire, quickly extinguished by FDNY,’ at 2:52 p.m., said MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz and the FDNY. ‘Obviously [there was] no impact to service, as the transit center is not yet open.'” —DNAinfo

••• “On Friday, Bleecker-born cupcake chain Magnolia Bakery opened a new pop-up storefront in the South Street Seaport.” —Eater

••• “On May 5, Joan Waltemath met with Raphael Rubinstein at his loft in Tribeca, where he lives with his wife, artist Elena Berriolo, and their two daughters, to talk about Reinventing Abstraction: New York Painting in the 1980s, a show he curated at Cheim & Read.” —Brooklyn Rail

 

5 Comments

  1. Also Re-opened on Friday were the Seaport locations of Superdry and Abercrombie & Fitch! Of course, there were the requisite barely clothed young men at the door of A&F. Business was BRISK!

  2. Is this a good time to complain about Duane Park Patisserie?

    Although they have lovely pastries, the service is beyond horrendous. I have stood there for minutes waiting for the 4 people working in the front part of the store to even notice that someone wanted to buy something.

    This is why Laughing Man went from zero to superbusy in a few months, right across the street, and under Duane Park Patesserie’s nose

  3. I couldn’t disagree more with SweetTooth.
    DPP has been around for years and the staff is nice. Madeline is at the top of her game. Not being a coffee drinker, going into Laughing Man is a bit weird – they have the buzz of a new Mac employee.

    DPP has great cakes and sweets. I’ve been a satisfied customer for 20 yrs.
    They have an especially nice young man working the front counter for quite some time now.

    Don’t listen people! SweetToothSam is cranky even after his morning coffee!

  4. Since the day DPP opened, I have never, ever had a problem with service! Luv that place!

  5. I have never encountered bad service from the staff behind the counter. Madeline is usually in the back or if in the front is usually getting an order ready to go. Don’t know her personally. The quality of the cakes, pastries, cookies, etc. is by far the best I have ever come across.