Not only does Susan Sarandon have an Oscar, she knows how to be vommed on with grace. The star, who recently parted ways with Tim Robbins and who’s been seen around town with a ping-pong club proprietor some thirty years her junior, was spotted last night at a third anniversary party for The Box burlesque in NoHo. According to the Post Sarandon was seated in a precarious place near the stage when transsexual entertainer Rose Wood threw up directly on her. One witness said she was calm about it and even seemed to be enjoying herself: "She was laughing while a bunch of guys came over to towel her off," said the partygoer. more ›

Purgatorio, the new multi-level erotic haunted house from the people behind exclusive raunch den The Box, is open for business for just a few more days, disappearing permanently into oblivion after Halloween. We've already shown you the necrophilia promo video, but here's a closer look at some of what your $39.99 will get you. A couple weeks ago we were all set to attend the opening party hosted by Perez Hilton, but at the last minute we couldn't make it up to Times Square. Family emergency. NOT because we were scared... of just about everything in that last sentence. more ›

Simon Hammerstein, proprietor of decadent downtown burlesque theater The Box, has been hit with a lawsuit filed by two former employees who accuse him of sexual harassment. You may recall this sordid story; twin sisters from Portland, "famous" for their onstage sex toy routine called "Twincest," quit The Box over the summer amidst allegations that Hammerstein was "forcing" them to perform sexual favors for him, and generally treating The Box as his personal, drug-fueled harem. In a subsequent NY Mag profile called "The Impresario of Smut," Hammerstein denied the accusations, but a number of people associated with The Box seemed to support the twins' debauched depiction of the place. Their lawyer tells the Post, "He felt free to treat them as his porcelain toys to play with at will." But until they can get some payback from the Impresario, they'll be performing their act around Portland, and selling their book, The Porcelain Twinz, Our Life in the Sex Industry, through their website, where you can also purchase their DVD! more ›

If you've been following along with the allegations of sexual harassment and general depravity at The Box—the nightclub where guests pay over $1,000 so that performers like transvestite Miss Rose Wood can pull a Jameson's bottle out of his ass, take a swig and then spit on them—you may be interested in NY Mag's lengthy profile on owner Simon Hammerstein, "The Impresario of Smut." He strongly denies the most scandalous accusations, but unnamed sources say auditions for Simon sometimes climax back at his apartment. Miss Rose Wood has perhaps the best Hammerstein horror story: "Then Simon said to me, ‘So, can you pull a string of Christmas lights out of your ass?’ I said to him, ‘Well, you know, I’m Jewish. And so before the Christmas lights come out, I’ve got to dislodge the menorah.’" That's professionalism, people! more ›

It was rough sledding last night for restaurant and bar owners seeking liquor license approval from Community Board 3, which covers the Lower East Side and the East Village, among other 'hoods. Perhaps the biggest loser was fastidious cocktail impresario Sasha Petraske (Milk and Honey), whose humble request to serve wine at his would-be wine bar Mercury Dime (pictured) on East 5th Street was mercilessly shot down, despite the fact that he's operated Milk and Honey on Eldridge since 2000 without a single noise complaint. more ›

Scandal has once again ensnared The Box, that decadent burlesque nightclub where the elite gather to enjoy diversions like ''toss a ring on rods stuck up the lady’s orifices." Yesterday self-described "fetish-burlesque" performers Amber and Heather Langley, a.k.a. the Porcelain Twinz (pictured), posted a long, 5,085 word jeremiad on their MySpace blog condemning club owner Simon Hammerstein for sexual harassment, unsafe working conditions, debauched drug use, and leaving his Labrador behind to defecate "all over" the filthy, rat-infested green room. (He allegedly blamed that one on one of the performers.) more ›

A Queens resident was arrested for kidnapping, raping and robbing a woman leaving Lower East Side club The Box last September. The Post reports that Harvey Contento was arrested last week in Midtown (it's unclear how the police tied him to the attack). It's believed Contento pushed the victim into his SUV, drove her across the bridge to Queens, where he raped her; then, after making her withdraw $500 from an ATM, he abandoned her in Forest Hills. There was another similar attack on a woman who had left The Box, but police haven't been able to link Contento to that crime. more ›

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The man who attacked two women this weekend after picking them up under the guise of being a legit livery cab driver has been arrested. One of Torkieh Sadagheh's victims, Monica Maneiro of Morningside Heights, hailed his car after getting off work at Scores strip club on Saturday night; the 23-year-old recounts what happened next:

"Out of nowhere he just stopped the cab and jumped in the back seat. He grabbed me and had his hand over my face. When he was trying to restrain me I was just trying to calm him down. I didn't really fight back too much because if I would have he probably would have gotten more upset. So what I did was I was just trying to calm him down. I was trying to open the door at the same time without him seeing."

Late last year a cabbie (or rather, fake livery cab driver) had been targeting young women outside of The Box on Chrystie Street. After two reported rapes, those heading to and from the club were on guard. Finally, now a suspect has been caught and confessed...and the ladies of New York have a Scores stripper to thank for it. more ›

Anyone trying to plot the best subway route to serve their departure and destination points has long since given up on the MTA website, which for years has mostly confined itself to below-ground mapping and shown a remarkable disregard for how the subway actually corresponds with the street level. Sites such as Hopstop and OnNYturf have sprung up to fill the void with integrated mapping, but now they’ve got competition from some new improvements on the NYC Transit website. more ›

Cordell Lochin is a bit of an enigma. The well-connected scenester, subject of an indulgent profile in the Observer last spring, presented himself as a partner in the obnoxiously affected nightspots La Esquina and The Box. Now the other entitled owners are distancing themselves from Lochin and the enigma will soon be wrapped inside a prison cell; Guest of a Guest has news that Lochin’s gotten sent up on a 3-year bid for involvement in a cross-border marijuana smuggling ring. more ›

Fans of the neo-Gilded Age New York fantasy show Gossip Girl are so going to love this news: the fictional grilled fontina cheese sandwich with truffle oil ordered by Serena van der Woodsen in the show’s pilot is now a real sandwich! Zagat’s website reports that the item is now permanently part of the bar menu at Gilt – the very location where cameras filmed actress Blake Lively being served the sandwich. Once just a... more ›

News that the same man may have raped women he stalked outside the downtown club The Box is alarming New Yorkers who regularly hang out on the Lower East Side. The police released a sketch of the suspect, a white man between the ages of 25 and 40, up to 200 pounds, and taller than 5'8". more ›

If you're a woman and are heading to exclusive Chrystie Street club The Box, be very careful! According to WNBC, the NYPD is saying there were two rape-and-kidnapping incidents that originated outside the venue. more ›

Mr. Nicosia told the Sun that he was subject to a "blacklist" and "censorship," which he believes are in part a response to his having supported a lawsuit in 1994 by Kerouac's daughter, Jan Kerouac, who had sued the relatives of Jack Kerouac's third wife and widow, Stella Sampas, including her brother, the estate's executor, Mr. Sampas. more ›

Some venues close and reopen in lower rent areas (like Luna Lounge) and some shut their doors forever (CBGB). Most recently, the Roxy called it quits and Sin-e and Tonic have announced their closings as well. Tonic was saved two years ago (we interviewed one of the owners at the time), and they have not yet announced why they're closing for good this time (they'll shut down in two weeks). As far as smaller downtown venues go, we're left with some less than ideal spaces: the Annex, the Delancey and Fat Baby - none of which have ever been a favorite to see a show at. Seems if Pianos, Cake Shop and the recently made-over Knitting Factory can manage to keep their doors open, they'll be the places to go (though the Todd P shows and their ever-changing venues are probably the best option in town). more ›

Last Friday The Wrens headlined a benefit show for Planned Parenthood, celebrating the 34th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. The band played their usual Meadowlands-heavy mix of old songs, and made an announcement that it would more than likely be their final show supporting their now nearly 4 year old album. They will be working on putting together something new this summer. It's always a treat to see the Wrens live, who for our money is one of the best straight-up rock acts around these days, but even more so in an intimate club such as the Knitting Factory. Speaking of which, perhaps nudged along by the Bowery Presents recent power play to control the live music scene in NYC, The Knit gave a serious makeover to their main room, significantly upgrading their sound system and adding a fancy new array of animated stage lights for the performers. As if it wasn't already one of our favorite local venues, (um, 2 years of Movable Hype?) it now has even further separated itself from the midsize club pack by creating an environment that has the bands looking and sounding that much better than ever before. The ball is now back in Bowery's court to see if any of their many new venues will step up to match this level of quality, or will they rest on their laurels as being the go-to venue empire. We'll have to wait and see. (More pics like the one above here.) more ›

It seems that alcohol and theater started off hand in hand. Just picture Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors being performed in the 1500's, audience slugging down pints (and probably chewing on drumsticks and meat pies!) - seems accurate, right? Never has a want for alcohol overcome us mid-play, but it's probably not a bad idea in some cases. Apparently there are theaters in London that serve alcohol, a growing trend of mixing pub culture with playhouse art across the pond. more ›

With 2006 coming to a close, there's a lot to look forward to in the new year. Some expected highlights: more ›

Last night, Microsoft Zune threw another launch party to celebrate the release of the portable mp3 player (Gothamist reviewed the device earlier this week). The location was secret up until yesterday morning, but once it was announced, we got a whole lot more interested in checking the party out. Why? It was also the official opening of the brand new LES venue, The Box. We were supercurious to see what this place was gonna be like, so we headed down last night to scout out the scene. more ›

There's a new venue in town. As previously reported in the New York Times article, now more information comes to us via BrooklynVegan, who reports that the first show will be there tonight (a Zune-sponsored event featuring Queens of the Stone Age). more ›

Gothamist can't so much drive (well, this part of Gothamist) and yet even we know that one of the basic principles of driving in the city is "Don't Block The Box." It's a simple rule for a complicated city and it can make all the difference in keeping traffic flowing, especially in the grids of Manhattan. But in order for a rule to be effective, we've always thought, it is a good idea to actually enforce it. more ›

So get your dancin' flip flops on, avoid anyone with a video camera and mark these shows on your calender: more ›