Seen & Heard: More on the Mehtaphor Reboot

••• Great news for us early risers: The music at the Django jazz bar inside the Roxy Hotel is now starting at 8 p.m. (Wednesday through Saturday). If you’ve never been, you really should check it out—it’s a terrific addition to the neighborhood.

••• “They seem to be expanding onto the sidewalk along Church Street as of this morning,” commented JVZ about the restaurant previously known as Mehtaphor in the Duane Street Hotel. “Does anyone know what that structure will be?” The Department of Buildings paperwork says “INTERIOR RENOVATION OF HOTEL LOBBY AND MINOR EXTERIOR WORK,” so I’d assume the framework you see below is just to hide whatever is happening inside and to the windows. The PR rep for the hotel said that the new restaurant will be called Graffiti Earth, that Mehtaphor’s Jehangir Mehta will indeed be at the helm, and that they’re shooting for an April opening. UPDATE: I hadn’t realized that the building was in a historic district, but of course James knew better. Here’s what he found in the Landmarks Preservation Commission permit: “The proposed work, as approved, consists of painting the piers at the ground floor of the Duane and Church Street facades, black; installing black-painted perforated metal cladding at the piers at the Church Street façade, and applying granite at the base of the piers, matching the existing material at the base and closely aligning with the projection of the new metal cladding; painting the existing marquee at the front entrance on Duane Street black, with white-painted letters “DUANE STREET HOTEL”; replacing a fixed display window at the fifth northernmost bay at the Church Street façade with tan-painted metal bi-folding windows;and installing ten black-painted steel awnings with steel tensor supports at each bay at the Church Street façade, laser cut letters “DUANE STREET HOTEL” at the skirts, and black-painted light-emitting diode (LED) lighting at the underside of the awnings.”

Mehtaphor Graffiti Earth Duane Street Hotel••• According to this listing for the basement, ground floor, and second floor of 75 Murray (a.k.a. the Bogardus Mansion), Caviateria has closed. I suspect it might have closed a while ago.

••• I don’t know how long it’s up for, but Maria de Los Angeles’s “Les Flâneurs” installation at Front Art Space on Chambers is a delight. As with most everything at the gallery, you don’t have to step inside to enjoy it.

Maria de Los Angeles Flaneurs at Front Art Space••• Raccoon Lodge is throwing a 34th anniversary party on March 26. There’s been no word about whether it has found a new home; the phrase “one last stand” on the poster implies otherwise. Anyone know anything? Every time I go inside, I leave vowing never to drink again. So obviously I’ve stopped going in.

Raccoon Lodge••• There are samples of various concrete treatments at 100 Franklin. There’s nothing in the renderings that relates to the concrete patterns, unless they’re also redoing the sidewalk…? Or this is for the “park” between Sixth and Church, which developer DDG is planning to redo…?

100 Franklin samples100 Franklin concrete

 

1 Comment

  1. From the LPC permit:

    “The proposed work, as approved, consists of painting the piers at the ground floor of the Duane and Church Street facades, black; installing black-painted perforated metal cladding at the piers at the Church Street façade, and applying granite at the base of the piers, matching the existing material at the base and closely aligning with the projection of the new metal cladding; painting the existing marquee at the front entrance on
    Duane Street black, with white-painted letters “DUANE STREET HOTEL”; replacing a fixed display
    window at the fifth northernmost bay at the Church Street façade with tan-painted metal bi-folding windows;and installing ten black-painted steel awnings with steel tensor supports at each bay at the Church Street façade, laser cut letters “DUANE STREET HOTEL” at the skirts, and black-painted light-emitting diode (LED) lighting at the underside of the awnings. The work was shown in a presentation titled “Façade Alteration @ 1st Floor, Duane Street Hotel,” consisting of 20 digital slides, prepared by TarLan Design-Build, LLC, and presented at the Public Hearing and Meeting.”

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