Tag: Downtown Magazine

Categories
Culture Outdoor

Help Save The Elizabeth Street Garden

Art by Noel Cuvin for the Elizabeth Street Garden's Call to Artists.
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Art by Noel Cuvin for the Elizabeth Street Garden’s Call to Artists. The video and all quotes below are courtesy of the Elizabeth Street Garden. 

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The Elizabeth Street Garden has been a favorite outdoor spot for so many people in Little Italy and Soho for nearly 200 years. On top of offering a respite from busy city life for the residents of Downtown Manhattan, the garden also offers rentals for video and photo shoots as well as weddings and private events. 

But the garden may not be with us for much longer. The city has proposed the sale of this land to Haven Green (Pennrose Properties, Habitat NYC, and Riseboro) to make way for affordable housing, retail locations, and office space. The Garden states on their website that “the affordability is not permanent,” and that the residence can eventually “turn into market rate housing.” 

The Elizabeth Street Garden has offered numerous alternative sites for affordable housing developments in an effort to save the community’s garden and green space, with these sites providing “more than 10x the amount of affordable units.”

To help save the garden, visit The Elizabeth Street Garden website today!

 

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Categories
Beauty Featured Health Living

Sisley Paris Treats Downtowners to an Evening of Pampering, Showcasing 2022 Skincare and Makeup

Sisley Paris Bleecker Street
Sisley Paris Bleecker Street's boutique.

 

The French luxury brand Sisley Paris recently partnered with DOWNTOWN Magazine NYC to invite some of their dedicated readers, to a private evening of pampering, including mini facials and makeup applications, at their Bleecker Street location.

 

Sisley Skincare 2022

Skincare is essential for anti-aging

Sisley Paris’s esthetician Marcia Bush gives Lana Masor a customized facial. Photos: Mariana Agostini.

60 Minute Bleecker Street Signature Facial

Marcia Bush, Sisley Paris’s expert esthetician, prepared customized mini facials for each guest, based on their skincare needs, whether it’s to hydrate the skin, enjoy aromatherapy, a restorative facial for skin that is stressed or needs brightening. Sisley Paris also offers its busy clients on-the-go a 60 minute Bleecker Street Signature Facial, that includes a relaxing scalp and leg massage. The Lyslait démaquillant au Lys Blanc toutes peaux is a gentle cleansing milk, with White Lily, that is good for all skin types. For reducing redness on sensitive skin, Bush recommends using the Lotion Tonique aux Fleurs, which is alcohol-free, to calm the skin. The instant éclat works as an instant glow primer.

Sisley Paris Black Rose collection
Sisley Paris Black Rose collection soothes and plumps skin.

Sisley Paris is renowned for its Black Rose collection, a series of products uniquely created with Paris-grown black roses, that naturally soothes and plumps the skin.

The evening also included a tutorial discussing Sisley Paris’s simple, three-step evening regimen for skincare that only takes minutes, introducing the Supremÿa La Nuit anti-aging skincare line. This includes a Night Lotion, to prepare skin; Supremÿa at Night, to repair damage; and Supremÿa Eyes at Night, to reduce eye puffiness and diminish the look of dark circles.

Sisley Paris-Spring Makeup 2022

Sisley Paris Makeup
Quentin at Sisley Paris gives Downtowner Aleksandra Lacka a makeup application.

 

All of Sisley Paris’s makeup is plant-based

Our CEO Grace A. Capobianco with Marcia Bush of Sisley Paris.

It’s all about striking a balance between finding the right skincare regimen for your lifestyle, and “légèreté-(lightness in French), makeup that’s a second skin,” says store manager Cecile Dennis. It shouldn’t feel heavy, but give a natural look that might make one wonder if someone is even wearing makeup. For spring 2022, they’ve introduced their Phyto-Teint Nude foundation. All of Sisley Paris’s makeup is plant-based, so it is kind to your skin, without ingredients such as alcohol, that can be drying and cause irritation. It also seals in hydration and optimizes plumpness.

 

Sisley Phyto Rouge Shine
Sisley Phyto-Rouge Shine

 

For lips, Sisley Paris recently introduced its Phyto-Rouge Shine, hydrating lip color, with Vitamin E, Moringa Oil, and Jojoba oil, available in 12 shades. But also, the applicator is designed to be kind to the environment; the elegant-looking refill clips into the base of the cap. Remove the upper part of the lipstick by pulling it upwards and clipping in the new refill.

Sisley Paris also has its own brand of hair care products, Sisley Hair Rituel, which is the equivalent of medical-grade back in France. Their Revitalizing Fortifying Serum Duo includes two highly concentrated serums infused with plant-based extracts, proteins, vitamins, and minerals to visibly fortify hair and scalp.

For more information on Sisley Paris, to purchase these products, or to make an appointment for a spa treatment at their Bleecker Street boutique, 343 Bleecker Street call and ask for Marcia Bush 212-645-1013 or visit sisleyparis.com

 

Categories
Beauty Health

Pisterzi: Cutting Through the Chaff

Pisterzi Italian Grooming Art changes the way New York men look at grooming with a unique approach to the barbershop experience.

  

An unlikely shelter hides in the heart of downtown. Freezing winds, erratic snows, and city stress fall away in Pisterzi Italian Grooming Art’s latest Atelier, an authentic Italian barbershop in SOHO that brings new levels to the barbershop experience. Italian Master Barber Gian Antonio Pisterzi, the company’s founder, created Pisterzi Italian Grooming Art to make his own mark with an Italian style unique to the city with locations in Milan and NYC. His newest location, at 367 W Broadway, is the first to match with the colors and textures of his brand, a space that he can claim as his own. The new space embraces an intimate boutique feel of a sanctuary, which Pisterzi aims to enhance with the shop’s two private rooms where clients can enjoy one-on-one services and get pampered by the expert hands of Pisterzi barbers. Pisterzi wants to create a bubble that lets both parties focus on the barbershop experience, and to let all else fall to the wayside. 

“The grooming market has grown in the past years” says Gian Antonio Pisterzi. “More men are now taking time for themselves and do not look for a simple haircut anymore. Throughout my experience, I came to know and understand better the desires and needs of customers and I have been trying to translate them into the services we provide at the ateliers. Opening a second location in the Big Apple was a step that I was longing to take, and doing it in the energetic heart of New York, felt like the right choice to make.”

Pisterzi Italian Grooming Art has also launched a new line of high-end products, which includes gels, serums, conditioners for beard and hair, cosmetics with multiple functions, and more specific treatments. The launch will also include three fragrances entirely created and produced in Italy. Born within an elegant and sophisticated Italian lifestyle, the products will also be sustainable: they will use 100% recycled paper, post-consumer aluminum, and will have reusable, refillable containers. 

Pisterzi is a graduate of the prestigious Steiner Academy in London and a beholder of extensive experience as an international Master Barber in luxury brands such as Dolce & Gabbana and Acqua di Parma. Just recently, he added to his board Andrea Pirlo, the Internationally renowned soccer champion. Pirlo, who is a big aficionado of cosmetic products for personal care and well-being, faces this new challenge with enthusiasm: “I had the pleasure of personally meeting Gian Antonio Pisterzi in New York and I was struck by the culture expressed by his know-how and unique care that Barberia Pisterzi offers to its customers. I immediately wished I could be the protagonist of this enterprise which, today, evolves through a range of high-level products and a restyling of the barbershops in a sustainable way.”

Pisterzi’s other NYC atelier is located at Cipriani Club 55 in Wall Street. Check out their website for more.

Categories
Featured

DOWNTOWN’S Valentine’s Day Gift Guide 2022

 
Let us endeavor to make 2022 the year of Love, for there has been no greater time when love is so very needed.
 
“Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments; Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom. 
If this be error and upon me prov’d,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.”
-William Shakespeare, Sonnet 116

 

 
 
 
 
We love Valentine’s Day, especially when we celebrate at Ladurée. This year, book take your sweetheart for a special breakfast for two, consisting of two rose lattes, two pains au chocolat, two boxes of three custom macarons, and a NEW heart-shaped rose croissant. This is the perfect Valentine’s Day gift to share with that special someone.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Fly XO to Aspen and experience world-class skiing while staying at five-star resorts. Use the XO mobile app to book an entire charter or select individual seats on a private jet at a fraction of the cost.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Get you and your sweetheart back on the right track to fitness with a membership at Asphalt Green. Say ‘I love you’ with fitness for 2022. Their memberships offer top-notch fitness centers and pools. Book one of their instructional classes or programs for both children and adults. Throughout the year, winter, spring, summer, and fall, no excuse. Asphalt Green includes everything from infant swim, diving classes, youth basketball leagues, and private Pilates Reformer classes.
 
 
 
 
 
LIPS Embellished Throw by Jonathan Adler. Sexy, seductive, saucy—a kiss of glam in bold red and glittering gold to chic up your comfy spot. Hand-embroidered by artisans, their unbelievably soft and luxurious throws are just the accents your abode deserves.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dr. Amy Lewis  Give the gift she will love you all year, natural lip filler. Big is out, going back to the natural look Expertly done by Dr. Amy Lewis. 
 
 
Tokyo Totepack. This premium leather upgrade to our Tokyo Totepack adapts to your day, with two carry modes and surprisingly sorted storage.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Flex Pro Denim Jacket GOOD MAN BRAND A classic-style denim jacket made from comfortable stretch denim is a surefire staple for your casual wardrobe.
 
 
 
 

 

Our CEO’s favorite everyday brand is PhilanthroBee’s®️ skincare. Bee Body Bar saved her from itchy skin. As a daily swimmer, chlorine eventually got to her angrily inflamed skin. Until she tired, PhilanthroBee’s®️ skincare. The last thing you want is to layer chemically treated thick creams on top of your skin. That’s why the BeeCause Body Bar works with your body heat to melt into your skin, using the power of natural bee products to soothe, replenish moisture, promote skin health, and protect against damage.

Another favorite of hers is the Bee-Ch Facial Clarifying Mask. Every week (sometimes more), she enjoys the BEE-ch facial mask cleanser. It gently draws out toxins and debris that accumulate in our pores throughout the week. Living in New York City, taking care of your skin is extremely important. 

 

 

Maybe a little self-love this year try Ascention, a blend of red currants and strawberries, laced with delicious vanilla and musk. Infused with an authentic, fair-trade Rose Quartz crystal. Ascent to Love with the perfect gift for those in need of some self-love this Valentine’s Day.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Full of Mediterranean character, Corvo is produced with the use of modern technology, to preserve the integrity and naturalness of the ingredients, always ready to offer a simply perfect tasting experience. Corvo Grillo Sicilia DOC and, Corvo Nero d’Avola Sicilia DOC. Both restyled clean, with a harmonious design delivering the freshness and fruity aromas of Sicily to the table. Be sure to give the first wines bottled in Sicily in 1824, and now one of the most appreciated wines.
 
 
 
 
One of our favorite places downtown to relax and take in the views, The Greens invites you to cozy up with your loved ones in your own private and cozy winter cabin. Enjoy a menu of regional delicacies and hand-crafted cocktails, along with a complimentary bottle of Rosé and a Valentine-themed dessert included with your reservation.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Scapegrace Black is the world’s first naturally black, color-changing gin by The New Zealand-based Scapegrace Distillery. Scapegrace Black begins, like all quality gins, with intense juniper and the addition of premium, exotic botanicals. The master distiller used a combination of local sweet potato, aronia berries, pineapple, and saffron, as well as Butterfly pea flower, which they sourced from Southeast Asia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Give her the gift from Christian Lacroix For Swiminista, a sarong in Josephine print, then whisk her away on an impromptu holiday to her favorite sunny locale. 

 
 
ICON Roland Sands Signature 2254 Chronograph. 43mm 316L Stainless Steel Case and Fixed Bezel with IP Antique Gold Plating, Stainless Steel Push Crown, and Screw-In Caseback. K1 Flat Hardened Mineral Crystal. Japan Quartz (Miyota 6S21) 2 Eye Chronograph with Date Movement.
 
Larroudé Vail Boot is a brand to add to your wardrobe. Marrying the comfort of Montana with the functionality of a lace-up boot to give us the Vail. Ready for the mountains, the faux shearling interior is super soft-to-the-touch while the all-weather exterior is all about function.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Larroudè and Her Highness – Valentine’s Day, customers will be gifted with a “highly orgasmic” pleasure oil as a gift with purchase (while supplies last). We are excited to have our clients treat themselves to the perfect pair (shoes + pleasure oil) this Valentine’s Day! 
 
 
 
 
 
 

For the side sleeper, this Scrumptious Side Sleeper Pillow is unique, with a curve that supports your neck and shoulders whether you are on your side or your back. Their design is meticulously from the degree of its curvature to the height and firmness of the fill inside it.  The perfect give for your side sleeper.

 

Take your sweetheart on one of New York’s historical treasures, with a memorable horse-drawn carriage tour of Central Park. The tour includes a bottle of sparkling wine, a bucket of roses, and photographs.

 
 
 
 
 
Wish your love off to Las Catalinas is a new beach town on the Guanacaste coast of Costa Rica. Its purpose is to create a way of life that is healthy, sustainable, fulfilling, and fun. Las Catalinas consists of houses, shops, restaurants, small hotels and inns, plazas, parks, and recreational facilities. Las Catalinas in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Check out the new outdoor beachfront gym there, CORE by Chakfitness, and sign up for a week of personal training and unlimited gym and class access — including a personalized take-home program designed by owner Chakiris Menafacio.
 

 

Categories
Business Culture Entertainment Music NYC

Making Waves

Blonde Records’ Founder Rebecca Autumn Sansom (first left) Seeks Inclusivity with Wavy Awards.

OCTOBER 23RD, 2021 MARKED THE FIRST EVER WAVY AWARDS SHOW, the name making  a play on digital audio WAV files. The show is  a celebration of “historically excluded talent,”  including musicians that are women, members  of the LGBTQ+ community, and persons with  disabilities. As each presenter took the stage at  Abrons Arts Center, they leaned into the mic and  described themselves — their hair color, outfit, or  personal aesthetic — for blind audience members  and nominees. The awards also featured two  American Sign Language interpreters who  took turns interpreting the speeches and  performances. For the brainchild of Blonde Records Founder Rebecca Autumn Sansom, The  Wavy Awards marked an ending, as well as a new  beginning, in her career.  

Sansom never intended to get into the music  industry. She considers herself a “filmmaker  trapped in an artist’s body.” She was at Stanford  doing performance and theater when she met  “M the Myth,” an artist, collaborator, and then undergrad. “I’m a filmmaker, so I’m drawn to  captivating subjects. So really, I would just film  these people. And then I realized after helping  M with their music video campaign for ‘Let’s Get  Drunk Anyway,’ that cheerleading artists, filming  them, and encouraging their careers is a job  called management.” She formed Blonde Artist  Management in New York City, named after  Marilyn Monroe, with whom she identifies and  felt might have lived with different support and  management.  

For five years, Sansom ran Blonde Artist Management. This past year she also founded  and ran Blonde Records and Blonde Music News, a weekly NYC music podcast. The Wavys were a big step for Blonde and its mission, but  also for Sansom, who is the first to recognize her  own privileges and those whose lack of privilege  often leaves them out of the spotlight.  

The Wavy Awards was always going to be a pivot point for Sansom. “The Wavys was going to be my last grand gesture,” says Sansom, “and then I was going to gather information and see what the next steps were for Blonde.” 

Wavy Awards 2021. Photo by Stephanie Aguello.

The ball started rolling in December 2020,  after a year of weekly Blonde Music News episodes. “I told (my team) about this idea and how we have enough people, enough artists to have a pretty robust pool to glean  from.”  There were eleven people at the first meeting. Then the team started expanding, with partnerships with organizations like Rampd  (Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities), local news website Scenes from the Underground, and Shira Gans from the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. By the time the event actually happened, Sansom and partners were staring down a full house. 

The response was overwhelming. The Wavys have gone from a one-off event, into an annual awards show. It helped Sansom find a new direction; she will continue to support her coterie of artists, but the Wavy Awards has become her flagship effort. Blonde Music News, for example, has rebranded as Wavy Music News. “New York is the creative capital of the world and draws a lot of diversity,” says Sansom, “I think creating accessible spaces is the most important thing we can do right now, with the momentum that we have.”

In addition to the Wavys, Sansom has a film, Reckoning with the Primal Wound, coming out in 2022. It has already been accepted into seven film festivals. DT

For more information on The Wavy Awards, visit thewavys.org.

Categories
Culture Living Music

Glow Up

SHINE ON The PAC's translucent marble walls will light up from the inside at night.

SHINE ON The PAC’s translucent marble walls will light up from the inside at night. Photography by Luxigon.

The Perelman Performing Arts Center will bring beauty and closure to downtown.

IN THE WAKE OF THE SEPTEMBER 11TH ATTACKS on the World Trade Center complex, great architectural minds gathered around the devastation to rebuild. Nearly 20 years later, their plan is coming to fruition. The Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center, or PAC, will mark the final construction effort in the decades- long project.

The building, a massive cube wrapped in translucent marble and laminated with insulated glass, will let in sunlight during the day and emit a visible glow from internal lights at night. The inside will feature three modular theater spaces and a rehearsal room, all with movable walls and seating, capable of 11 unique configurations to accommodate audiences of 99 – 1200 people. With the last steel beam placed this summer, the PAC is looking to host its first performance in 2023.

“I think it’s extraordinary,” says PAC Creative Director Bill Rauch, “that there was an impulse to include arts and culture as part of the rebuilding, and we kept that impulse alive and nurtured it.”

The PAC was a cornerstone piece of the original 2003 recovery plan. The project was designed by the Brooklyn-based firm REX, replacing the earlier choice of Frank Ghery, in collaboration with theater designer Charcoalblue and executive architect Davis Brody Bond. Rockwell Group is handling the design of the restaurant and lobby space. The planners hoped that it would be the cultural lynchpin of the World Trade Center, helping to redefine Lower Manhattan as a cultural destination.

“In the planning for the recovery and rebuilding of the World Trade Center,” says PAC president Leslie Koch, “[former] Mayor Bloomberg articulated the importance of integrating the arts into a vision for Lower Manhattan as a dynamic 24/7 neighborhood with workers, residents, and visitors.

“Now,” Koch continues, “18 years after the World Trade Center plan was adopted, Lower Manhattan is thriving, with tens of thousands of residents, media, and technology firms joining the financial anchors of New York City and literally millions of visitors. As the city emerges from the pandemic, the Performing Arts Center, with Mike Bloomberg as our chair, will again be both an icon and a catalyst of New York’s resurgence.”

The PAC is also dedicated to reaching out to the community, both locally and citywide. They hired Jenna Chrisphonte as their Director of Civic Alliances, charged with cultivating relationships with community-based organizations and groups, marginalized populations, and community officials across all five boroughs. They also hope that the building can be a resource to the local community. The first level will be accessible to the public, open until midnight every night. It will feature a cafe and bar, lobby area, dance podium, and performance art space, the latter two of which will periodically have free performances.

Rauch hopes that PAC will be a symbol of its surroundings and of human resilience.“Whether the art is tragic or joyful, all the work that we do is in celebration of humanity,” he says. “There’s a reason why [the PAC] glows from within.” DT

For more information, visit theperelman.org.