FIRST IMPRESSIONS: WHITE & CHURCH
So what’s the reincarnated Il Matto like? Yes, those are insects (right).
NOSY NEIGHBOR
“Tom Shales’s history of ‘Saturday Night Live’ mentions the Blues Bar, a ‘seedy joint’ rented (or bought) by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi to hold post-post-show parties. The most precise location information I can come up with is that it was somewhere near Canal St.” —Paul C. A reader has disagreed with my answer, so I’m investigating. If anyone out there has more info (or a way to contact Dan Aykroyd), please get in touch.
NEW KID ON THE BLOCK: GOODIE GIRL CAFÉ
Shira Berk loves cooking healthily as much as she loves making sweets, so she’s doing both in the tiny kitchen at Goodie Girl Café—it’s inside JCP Downtown, but open to everyone.
SEEN & HEARD
••• 6/27: Egg by Susan Lazar sample sale. Plus: Sarabeth’s update (and signage); La Lumia sale; Potbelly Sandwich Shop opening tomorrow; FiDi dog run open.
••• 6/28: Brazilian muralist. Plus: Denise Richards; July 4 barbecue; Sarah Mlynowski’s new novel; Tamarind Tribeca.
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN’T DANCE?
Not only is dancing out-and-out fun, it’s a great way for kids to be active. With its four-studio complex, Downtown Dance Factory has classes in all sorts of styles, for ages two through teen. It even offers classes for adults—when was the last time you shook your groove thing? Plus: Photos from DDF’s recent recital.
IN THE NEWS
••• 6/27: J&R Way. Plus: 3,000 flags in Battery Park for the 9/11 anniversary; checking in with Nirvana International, Poets House, and Bogardus Garden; Terroir to open in Murray Hill; mixed martial arts.
••• 6/28: East River Waterfront park opens (two blocks of it, anyway). Plus: Mike Piazza finally sells his apartment; more on the revamp of the WFC mall; kindergarten crunch; sketch artist draws Ray Kelly for charity.
••• 6/29: Potbelly Sandwich Shop, open and mobbed. Plus: Acquittals in Deutsche Bank building fire case; how rent-stabilization changes affect Lower Manhattan; dissing Tracy Anderson; White & Church.
ON THE EAST RIVER WATERFRONT
The first section to open is only two blocks long, but there’s a lot to admire—including catwalks, carnivalesque art, and a rather large bone.
The Ackroyd Belushi bar was called Mickeys’ they took it over for a time as they assembled the site and then sold it to the developer of Musem Tower who built the Greenwich Court Condominums in the early 80’s. What a time !