••• UPDATE: Just came across this on Examiner: “The public taping of the [‘Project Runway’] will take place on Friday June 24 at The Esplanade Plaza at Battery Park, where Liberty Street and South End cross, in New York City the longtime home city of ‘Project Runway’. This public taping is free to attend but spaces are very limited. ‘Project Runway’ fans are asked to secure their place before hand by RSVP’ing to RSVPOUTDOOR@gmail.com. Check in will be promptly at 8:00 a.m. that morning and any late check-ins are expected to be promptly replaced by those on the waiting list. Taping will begin at 9:00 a.m. sharp. Heidi Klum, Michael Kors, and Nina Garcia are confirmed for the taping. It is expected that Tim Gunn will accompany the new slate of designers as well. This will be the first glimpse fans will have at the designers who will make up the contestants for ‘Project Runway: Season Nine’.” No clue if tickets are still available.

••• Thalassa opened a “meze lounge” in the front of the restaurant, but it sounds sort of like just a bar menu (with seven items on it). If I’m wrong, let me know. (Grub Street)

••• The Wall Street Journal attended the opening of an envelope a party at the Wooly about starting an art collection: “several young women (the type who exclusively wear vintage) and a few young men (the type who carry ironic tote bags) ventured to the Wooly in Tribeca (a perfect location for vintage frocks and ironic tote bags) on Thursday for a panel on ‘How to Start an Art Collection.’ They also came for the free rum by Zacapa.” I only include this because who knew the Wooly—inside the Woolworth Building—was still open? Haven’t heard about it since last July.

••• The MacDougal Street Synagogue in New York City doesn’t have a sanctuary or a rabbi. It doesn’t run prayer services or perform weddings. And it doesn’t have a congregation. It does, however, operate budget hostels in six buildings in Manhattan [including one at 139 Fulton]. Or it did, until the New York City Department of Buildings closed four of them, calling the hostels “illegal” and citing fire safety and zoning violations. The synagogue claims that the hostels are part of a program designed to teach tolerance to visitors to New York City. But legal documents filed by the city’s attorneys call those claims a ‘sham.'” (The Jewish Daily Forward)

Save the Staircase founder Justine Cuccia (by Julie Shapiro, courtesy DNAinfo)

••• The founder of Save the Staircase and volunteers take a victory lap in (on?) DNAinfo: “Justine Cuccia devoted dozens of hours and hundreds of emails to fighting the demolition of the Winter Garden’s Grand Staircase—but she never quite expected to succeed. ‘I didn’t think Brookfield [Properties] would be swayed,’ Cuccia said […]. So Cuccia was just as surprised as anyone else when Brookfield quietly announced last Thursday that the beloved marble stairs, which were rebuilt after 9/11 and became a monument to resilience, would emerge unscathed from the company’s $250 million overhaul of the office complex. While Brookfield may make some changes to the back of the staircase, the 40 curving steps will stay exactly as they are, a Brookfield spokesman confirmed Friday.”

••• “Wall Street tipster reports that Duane Reade is nearly ready to begin its 20-year-reign at 40 Wall Street. The chain signed on for a massive two-story space inside The Trump Building last August, taking over what used to be a bank hall. […] Writes our tipster, […] ‘The interior looks like a high-end department store…pretty impressive. I guess they made a special effort for the new high end condos and stores in this neighborhood.'” (Racked)