Holly Van Voast—AKA everyone's favorite mustachioed, court-stripping, topless subway-riding Bill Cosby-flashing "paparazzo" Harvey Van Voast—is at it again. On Monday Van Voast showed up at the SoHo Apple store for a Q&A with White Collar star Matt Bomer and naturally the geek press got very excited. "NSFW: Crazy Stoned Woman Goes Topless at Apple Store" was how Gizmodo put it. But was it that bad? We now present you with the scene from Van Voast's very shaky videocamera's perspective: more ›

New York lost one of home grown greats on Monday when pop artist James Rizzi died in his SoHo studio. He was 61. Though he found his biggest successes in Germany and Asia, Rizzi was a Brooklyn-born artist and sculpter whose unique sensibilities you might remember from such things as the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta (where he was the official artist) or the video for the Tom Tom Club's Genius of Love (and the cover of their first album). Not to mention his Cows on Parade cow, or his personalized VW Beetle. more ›

And suddenly we feel very, very, very poor. There is currently a three-bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom apartment available for rent off of SoHo for $20,000 a night, $50,000 a week or $100,000 a month fully furnished. Sure, unlike our apartment this doozy of a listing is in Manhattan, has a terrace, a patio, a private roof, washer/dryer, working fireplace, retractable movie screen, an elevator, a pool, and had a Beyonce video shot in it...but still! more ›

A year and a half in the making, REI finally opened its SoHo store today in the Puck Building and we dropped by to check the space out. The 35,000 square foot, three-level store is the company's first in New York City. The new location has a ground-level service center for quick fixes for bikes and skis, areas that showcase the history of the Puck Building and items recovered/restored during the renovation, and a gear rental shop. There's also a community room for classes, and a meeting space for the store's non-profit partners. One major thing missing, however, is the climbing wall that is a fixture at many REI locations. more ›

Since the world learned of Steve Jobs' death yesterday at the age of 56, mourners have flocked to Apple stores worldwide to memorialize the innovator's life. While some have questioned whether the outpouring of grief over Jobs death has been over-the-top, New Yorkers have made no secret of their affection for Jobs and his Apple products, creating unavoidable makeshift homages filled with flowers, candles, and fruit at Apple stores around the city. more ›

Fashion’s Night Out descended upon the city last night, turning the streets of Soho (and the Meatpacking District, and 5th Avenue) into a veritable circus of models, scenesters, and the shoppers who love them. We stopped by the Helmut Lang party in Soho to check out some of the action and chat with some of the well-heeled revelers—click through for their fabulous words of wisdom. more ›

Yesterday morning, a dramatic 3-alarm fire broke out in a seven story building on Thompson Street in Soho. It took 150 firefighters more than two and a half hours to get the blaze under control. And afterwards, one person was taken away in handcuffs...but not for anything having to do with the fire. more ›

The Red Cross is still at the site of a dramatic 3-alarm fire on Thompson Street in Soho, providing relief to residents who were evacuated after fire tore through a seven story building around 2 a.m. today. Streets were closed off this morning as firefighters grappled with the blaze, which took two and a half hours to get under control. 10 firefighters were injured, and one female civilian, but we're told most the injuries are considered minor. (Update: FDNY spokesman Frank Dwyer just told us two of the firefighters were hurt more seriously, but the injuries "do not appear to be life threatening.") more ›

Welcome to our weekly column, "Staff Picks," in which we ask the staffers at our favorite book, music, and movie stores around to town to share with us what they're reading, listening to, and watching this week. We figure they're good people to ask. Today we're checking in with the staff at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe to find out what they've been dog-earing lately. Eddie (former punk, now owner of a bear coat complete with fur and ears on the hood, also an AIDS activist of the old school and an Inventory Specialist):
• The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman
: Twins. One named Jesus one named Christ. 'Nuff said.

• Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov: 
I reread this book every few years - now is one of those times.  One of my favorites.  Do not want to give any hints about this except that it should be read all the way through - including the index!


• Vathek by William Beckford
: A very hypnotic and bizarre story of an all-powerful medieval ruler who tries to acquire super powers by sleeping with his mother.  Claimed to have been written in a sleepless three days, Beckford, a British aristocrat with a devilish imagination, must have had a lot of fun with gazillions of dollars.

• Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World by Mark Pendergrast: Follows the history of the coffee from bean to cup - from it’s discovery to contemporary coffee culture, Pendergrast explores the good and bad and how coffee has shaped the world we live in.

• Confessions of a Conjurer, the amazing memoir by
• Derren Brown, one of the greatest magicians yet living.  His brilliance on stage is only heightened by reading the book.  He is every bit as smart and strange as I hoped, and even when he reveals the core of a trick, it still seems like magic because it is so difficult for a mere mortal to master.



• Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum and Wicked by Gregory Maguire. 
  Having only seen the Judy Garland movie before I had to read the original book before seeing where Maguire went with it.  If you haven’t, check it out for the Tin Man’s heartbreaking back story, if nothing else.  And Wicked!  The Wizard as despot, the Witch(es, of West, East, and North) college coeds swept into the politics of a divided nation.  Not my usual fare, but I’m enjoying it.

• Dune by Frank Herbert.  Said to be the greatest Science Fiction work of all time. Politics, adventure, blue eyed people and giant worms.

French graffiti artist JR and the Bronx's Hunts Point Alliance for Children have teamed up to present "Through A Mother's Eyes," a community art project that involves members of the neighborhood, through images taken by and of Hunts Point residents themselves. With the areas physical structures being plastered with the people who live amongst them, the focus of the project is "community art" in its truest sense. more ›

Well, that's a relief. The Shophound reports that the beefcakey greeters outside of the (presumably now bedbug-free) SoHo Hollister are once again welcoming shoppers with their naked chests. A truer mark of summer is nowhere to be found. more ›

The party's over! Will Smith's mobile mansion (called The Heat) has been taken off the streets, and is now sitting empty in a parking lot half a mile from where Men In Black III is shooting on Broome Street. His personal gym, housed in a separate 55-foot trailer, is parked right next to it. For now, Smith has been forced into a 35-foot trailer (that's a whole 18 feet smaller than The Heat), which reportedly has features any ol' commoner could get. In fact, The NY Post calls it "a bland, generic movie trailer," and a source on set told them, "Will has to live like normal people—at least for today. It's like going from a BMW to a Toyota." It's unclear why Smith can't just walk over to his mega-trailer, or his $25,000-a-month Bond Street apartment, which are both nearby. more ›

After getting some bad press yesterday, Will Smith's trailer (named The Heat) has been banished from the streets of SoHo! The 1,150 square-foot luxury trailer (housing everything from a movie room to a bar) had been parked at Broome and Greene streets, but after neighbors complained, the city stepped in. The Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting issued a statement saying, “To balance the interests of the production and the neighborhood, we have instructed Men in Black III to relocate the trailer to a private lot." more ›

How can you tell if Men In Black III is shooting in your neighborhood? Check for the massive, invasive, double-decker trailers that Will Smith is rolling around town with him. One made the front page of the NY Post today, after being parked in SoHo, about a block from the luxury apartment he's renting for $9,000/week. Maybe he's just giving free stress tests inside! more ›