Tranquility in the big city might sound like an oxymoron, but we decided to suspend our disbelief long enough to check out The Chopra Center & Spa, located in a gold and saffron-hued subterranean space at The Dream Hotel. The primary draw? The facility was co-created by renowned wellness guru and self-help specialist Deepak Chopra, an endorsement that actually gave us some hope we'd be walking away feeling healthier--if not less stressed.
We went for a balancing facial based on the principals of Ayurveda, an ancient Indian science that attempts to harmonize one's mind-body type, or dosha. As our therapist did the assessment of our type, we asked so many questions that she had to gently remind us that Ayurvedic healing is something best experienced--not understood through the mind. So we settled in on the table and completely relinquished control for the next 80 minutes as she steamed, massaged and moisturized our congested skin. We surrendered so much that we actually drifted off.
In addition to facials, the Chopra Center has bodywork treatments and other spa services. Guests can also sign up for yoga classes or join in on complimentary guided meditation sessions. We would have stayed on to explore the pathway to enlightenment, but you know, we had to hightail it back downtown before our dry cleaner closed.
They could have models and bottles, but all they want are Madonna and "Friends in Low Places." Hip hop stars flocked last week to Spotlight Live, the Times Square karaoke bar which is just a more expensive version of those divey party rooms. The extra price gets you back-up singers and a band, which apparently was enough to entice Naughty By Nature to perform at the spot during a Bad Boy entertainment party last week.
Mya, Ne-Yo and Beyonce have all reportedly stopped by Spotlight Live to belt out bad karaoke tracks. Unfortunately none of these performers were stupid enough to get caught on camera, but Tyra Banks was not so lucky when she decided to perform "Proud Mary" last year; Best Week Ever has the video.
Oh, and since every performance at the bar is broadcast to the street below, you could see someone famous, too!
New York's Museum of Modern Art is gearing up for a new outdoor show of prefabricated housing. After inviting roughly 400 architects to submit plans for pre-made dwellings, MoMA has picked five to erect in a vacant lot next to the museum on 53rd Street.
While the show doesn't officially open until July 20, the process of turning the empty lot into a mini neighborhood is part of the fun. Foundations will be laid in February and the homes will arrive in late May, popping up in next to no time. Design geeks who can't make it to NYC can follow the progress of the installation online, as the architects blog at MoMA.org.
If you can't wait for spring, the museum has a couple design-focused exhibits indoors. The text-focused collection 50 Years of Helvetica continues until March, showing off the typeface you'd recognize from American Apparel's advertising. Starting February 24, Design and the Elastic Mind promises to explore "the relationship between design and science and the approach to scale," which probably means something to you if you're into design.
We went down to the Time Warner Center today to check out the Illy Coffee Push Button House we've heard so much about. Basically, it's a shipping container-turned-coffee bar that hypes Illy espresso. Even though it's a living commercial, we like the idea because there's nothing better than free coffee while you're shopping.
Except it looks like Illy is taking a page from the playbook of nearby Six Columbus. We didn't find the house in the big vacant spot it's supposed to fill on the second floor, though the mall says it should be there from November 26-December 29. Further digging reveals they've pushed the opening date back to November 29.
No free coffee? That's definitely not in the holiday spirit...
What museum might someday feature your father's collection of toenail clippings?
Our best guess is the American Folk Art Museum in Midtown New York, whose permanent 4,000-piece collection includes a five-foot tower of TV dinner chicken bones all eaten and glued together by the same man, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein.
What is folk art? Well, a lot of it is weird. But it's also endearing. Cobbled together by people with little or no academic artistic training (Von Bruenchenhein didn't graduate high school), nor a desire to emulate fine art (he made paint brushes from his wife's hair), folk art is to high art what Buffalo is to New York City (sorry we can't help it).
Free for children all the time and for everyone on Fridays from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., it's $9 the rest of the time. Like most New York museums, it's closed Mondays.
You don't have to stay at home just because the leaves are changing. Follow along on our Fall Culture Map to discover what's happening this autumn.
We ducked into the Museum of Modern Art on Sunday to check out opening day of Georges Seurat: The Drawings. The show is about how Seurat turned his formal training and his experiences in and around Paris into now-famous paintings like A Sunday on La Grande Jatte. (You'll remember it as the painting that Cameron wants to see in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.)
We picked up the little audio guide, which was free, but it didn't really add anything we couldn't figure out by looking at the drawings. Because most of the drawings are done with the same media (Conte crayon and handmade paper), you can really focus on how Seurat created his figures and scenes rather than the materials he used. There were lots of art lovers drawing in sketchbooks while we walked through.
Near the back of the exhibit hall, we discovered some drawn and painted studies for La Grande Jatte. After the drawings, we weren't too keen on the paintings, but if you're not gonna see the renowned work at The Art Institute of Chicago anytime soon, these are great substitutes.
If you get the itch to do some drawing after the show, don't buy your art supplies at the museum gift store. Just a few blocks away, Lee's Art Shop has multiple floors of goodies. Pencils in hand, head for Columbus Circle, where an always interesting cast should provide some inspiration.
After hearing about Delta's new pop-up "experience" in Midtown Manhattan, we had to go check it out. Basically, it's a living, breathing ad for Delta. (Seems to be working, given this post!) But the airline's doing some good besides hyping its flights. Free, clean bathrooms and free drinks and snacks make it a welcome stop in the tourist neighborhood. Bonus points for handing out umbrellas on a rainy day.
In the back, actual airplane seats are set up, so you can relax in biz-class comfort for once in your life. We gotta admit, on a flight to Shanghai or Mumbai--the routes on which the new seats will debut--it'd be pretty nice to stretch out on a lay-flat bed and have access to both 110V and USB power.
They also have WiFi set up, and plenty of couches and tables where you can log on. You can even write blog posts, if that's your thing.
Have you worn out all your usual Midtown standbys? Then head to the just-opened Grayz, the latest outpost of chef/restaurateur Gray Kunz. Grayz offers a bar and lounge as well as a lower level dining room with lots of private nooks for parties and rendezvous. A spot that combines "the glamour and gaiety of an era gone by" with more modern attributes tossed in, we hear it lives up to the hype.
The menu offers bites like salt stone-grilled prawns and applewood smoked salmon, as well as main dishes like chestnut cavatelli and braised short ribs. Presentation is everything here--think individual portions served on small spoons and other creative flatware.
To really go nuts, rent out the entire townhouse for your next party. But be prepped to shell out $150 a head for dinner, or $180 if you'd like your friends to have menu choices. For the cooking of a chef who's earned a lifetime achievement award from the James Beard House, that's not a bad deal.
