Results tagged “thestandard”

After weeks of trying to make it work, Robert Valin has given up on what would have been his annual West Village Leather & Bear Street Fair. The bears were thwarted when the Standard's Andre Balazs said the fair would clash with the image of his precious hotel (even though it's known for baring it all). The Food & Wine Festival is also taking place in the area that weekend, and the executive director said "next year we can all work together and coordinate." That'll be an interesting crowd! [Scoopy's Notebook via Curbed]

Environmental groups are saying that the recently reopened High Line Park has gone too far in bringing nature to the heart of the city's meatpacking district, claiming that wood used for the park's bleachers, benches and decking is coming directly from the rainforests. We had heard similar complaints about wood at the nearby Standard, but now Rainforest Relief and New York Climate Action Group have unveiled a banner blocking the view of 10th Avenue from the bleachers calling out the raw state of the park. The groups say that that Forest Stewardship Council, the organization accrediting wood used by Friends of the High Line, is violating their own principles in approving wood from "ancient primary forests, including the Amazon" for use at the High Line. The entire press release from Rainforests of New York is after the jump.

This just in: people are still showing off their naughty bits at the Standard. Last week a reader spotted some flesh at the hotel, just two minutes in to a walk on the High Line. They ask: "Guy or girl?"

Andre Balazs of the Standard Hotel claims he's not the one behind keeping the West Village Leather & Bear Street Fair off his turf. After reports came in that the hotelier was anti-Bear (despite fully supporting his guests baring it all for visitors of the High Line), he now says it's the mayor's fault! His hotel is actually "headquarters for the big NYC Wine and Food Festival happening that same weekend, so the mayor's office wants the bears to reschedule." Robert Valin, executive director of the Leather Weekend, told the Villager that the "hotel’s managing director, Ian Nicholson, reached out to him, and that a sit-down was set for this week. The hotel people now claim they had no idea the leather fest was being booted off the block—though Valin the previous week had told us the Mayor’s Office clearly said the hotel didn’t want the S&M confab there." Looks like no one wants to be on the bear's bad side! As for staying at the hotel, Valin told the paper: “I think I would request that the bears get higher floors—we are sexual men." [via Curbed]

In honor of Fashion Week, KnittaPlease installed some of their crafty graffiti outside of the Standard Hotel. The knit pieces will remain there until the 17th, but when we first heard about this project we were sort of hoping Magda Sayeg would be knitting coverups for the hotel's naked guests. Perhaps the Standard should make good with the Bears and adorn the entrance with leather and whips for their upcoming (and possibly canceled) street fair.

The Standard Hotel may be able to handle some skin... as long as it's not leather. Following all the attention they've gotten for their exhibitionist guests (and staff), the Villager reports the hotel on the High Line didn't want the West Village Leather and Bear Street Fair coming near their doors, even though it won unanimous approval from Community Board 2.

After a week of hearing all about these exhibitionists at the Standard Hotel, someone has finally sent us an image. See a much larger version here, and try to guess what's actually happening in this hotel room. Or don't. As Vanishing NY points out, city living has always offered glimpses into stranger's lives; two years ago HBO projected this on the side of a LES building, and before that we had films like Rear Window. The site points out that the Standard's management has created the dullest version of a voyeuristic experience, and "In his direction, the luxury hotelier lacks the depth and nuance of Hitchcock." It's true, but what does one expect from André Balazs? Maybe the residents at the Hotel Chelsea should create an artier version of this.

The naked truth about the Standard Hotel originally broke on Curbed in early July, and now it's made it all the way to the desk of Brian Williams after getting daily coverage in the New York papers this week.

High Line photos aren't exactly rare, but, since we happened to be on a nearby roof recently, we took a few.

Truth be told, this past season of America's Next Top Model hasn't been doing it for us, because it pales after Project Runway (and we think most of the wannabe models are not that good-looking). So we're super excited that on Thirteen tonight, there will be a program that goes undercover into the world of cat shows: The Standard of Perfection "Show Cats". It's supposed to show "the training, pampering, bathing, grooming and fussing that go into preparing a 'campaign cat' for the biggest event on the cat calendar" - plus all the backstabbing and dirty tricks! And today's NY Times feature/review says that "The most interesting moment is when one cat freaks out in the middle of a competition and leaps into the audience." Awesome - it's like Moscow Cats Theatre gone mad! And at 9PM, we can watch Veronica Mars back on the UPN, since the Nets game preempted last night's airing.

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