Summertime in New York or How to be a hot child in the city

"September: it was the most beautiful of words, he’d always felt, evoking orange-flowers, swallows, and regret."

— Albert Camus

Welcome Back! 

As reality takes hold and the summer holidays seem like a distant dream that may never even have occurred I decided to share a belated post I started writting about a month ago and  just managed to finish  (I blame being lost in a summer haze and the rough return to reality). A guide to New York (mostly) in the summertime enjoy...hope it makes dream, pack a bag with a bikini and a toothbrush and book a ticket to anywhere where the sun is still shinning!

I just came back from 10 gloriously fun days in The Big City, the city of my dreams, New York. Though I missed a day and a nights' sleep getting back to Europa and hence feel all jet laggy and dazed my head is still in the clouds from all that fun and frolic we had and all the beautiful people I met. My bestest friend now lives in New York and though it was my third visit in the past year and a half, the city always seems new and never ceases to take my breath away. Enjoy some tips on what to do and see and of course some photos from our fantabulous journey, oh yes and a song or two. Big summer love to you all, hope you are dancing somewhere under the sun...

Warming Up at PS1 MoMA 

I can't think of a better way to start our summer tour than the MoMA PS1Warm Up Party, which has become somewhat of a summer tradition for us. EverySaturday, during the summer, MoMA PS1, conveniently (!) located in Queensthrows a daytime party which includes gigs, DJ sets, exhibitions, a largeoutdoor installation (this year it was a fully recyclable, air purifying andvery refreshing meteorite called Wendy!) and last but not least James Turrell's Meeting, a site-specific installation that has been at PS1 since 1986 and consists of a very relaxing room with a subtle orange glow that has a rectangular window/ceiling to the sky,  which is by definition a completely new place every time I visit it and makes me feel want to lie in the middle of the room and let time slip away. Another definite highlight was the projection of Jack Smith's 1963 film "Normal Love" a riotous combination of Dionysian debauchery and horror kitsch to be cherished! 

Yayoi Kusama Exhibition at the Whitney 

A lady that was born to be artist and defied all conventions and stereotypes to be one, a Japanese woman emerging in the Western, male dominated art world of the late 50s early 60s to become Japan's most celebrated living artist. Whether its her signature polka dots, her psychedelic octopus trees, her obsessively phallic furniture pieces, her self-obliteration photos, her intimate mourning collages, or her Body Festivals organized in the fluorescent free love spirit of the late 60s, this lady has left her mark on art and on our public consciousness. Battling with metal problems she voluntary lives in a psychiatric clinic in Japan and continuous working at a manic pace. It was such a real treat to get to see this retrospective exhibition. A useful tip: In case you want to visit "Fireflies on the water" go to the Whitney at opening time as tickets get sold out within the hour. Enjoy some of my favorite pieces. 

Lincoln Center The Clock   

Few things in life are worth over 2 hours of waiting on the sidewalks of New York, "The Clock"by Christian Marclay might just be one of them, a truly hypnotic 24 hour (only during the weekend) video montage of clips taken from thousands of movies, of all genres and periods, that take place in real time, a cinematic memento monti where art and life are fully synchronized I got to enjoy an hour and a half between 1 and 2:30 am, and as we know nighttime is the right time when all the monsters go out and play and when magic happens so my advice is go as late as possible and BE PATIENT, admission is free and you can stay in for as long as you like! 

As you might be more patient than me you might also want to check out Shakespeare in the Park, one of New York's favorite summer traditions, admission is free and people start queuing in Central Park from 8 in the morning to get the precious tickets. 

Definitely visit the Williamsburg flea market, on every Sunday with ample hidden vintage treasures, records, Victorian mourning jewelry and food, pick a sunny day as the river is near and the grass is green! 

La Bonbonniere for lunch

A West Village dinner favored by the likes of Ethan Hawke, the spaghetti with broccoli comes highly recommended. 

P.J. Clarke's for Oyster Happy Hour 

A New York classic. Tip: add a dash of Tabasco to your oysters, it will cause a miniature gastronomic explosion! 

David Burke's Townhouse for a gastronomic real treat on the Upper East Side

American elegance at its best, if you're on a budget they have a pretty awesome set lunch menu. 

Drinks on the rooftop of the Standard Hotel, especially on a Thursday for Le Bain, the view is breathtaking, the people are beautiful and be warned there is a serious chance that some young stranger or some good friend might end up dragging you in the hot tub after-hours. 

The Beauty Bar

Cause for 10 dollars you get a cocktail and a manicure, also the music is fine and you might catch a stand up comedy show.

The Back Room 

A real blast from the past located in the Lower East Side. A speakeasy tucked away behind the faux facade of a toy store. The music is rocking and booze is served in teacups as a reference to clandestine drinking during the Prohibition era. 

St. Jerome's 

A Lower East Side divebar, the music is good and the beer is 2 dollars before  midnight! Random useless piece of information: the bars owner is Lady Gaga's ex-lover!

Home Sweet Home Totally awesome smoky basement bar with goth barmen, different parties every night and live music, beware of dancing all night, drinking 16 beers and starting up a fight, things can get messy in there! Tip: every Wednesday Weird Records throw a party with 5 dollar entrance and guaranteed fun! 

PRAVDA 

A Russian speakeasy located on the edge of Soho, for its over 70 different tastes of vodka and its delicious borscht.

Bergdorf and Goodman 

Definitely worth passing by if only to admire the gorgeously opulent store windows. 

Big Gay Ice Cream Shop

For a real treat, I definitely recommend trying a "Salty Pimp" delish! 

A summer must: Get HIGH on The High Line, a perfect specimen of organized urban gardening (preferably during sunset as the view is breathtaking!) 

Patricia Field

All things camp, glam and fabulous hand picked by the Patricia Field, the lady that styled Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw and Meryl Streep in the Devil Wears Prada in her store at NoHo. Warning: you might have to dig a bit under all the studs to find a real gem!

Beacon's Closet for vintage shopping

You can find some really under priced  gems!

 Reunited 

Pedo Glasses
 

 MoMA PS1 and a bit of Wendy

Wendy

 Loved this movie, a riotous combination of Dionysian debauchery and horror kitsch, a must see for any self-respecting cinephile

Club Kids

Warming Up at PS1

Park Life 

Giant Bubble Snake at Central Park

 The High Line Zoo

Highline

Guggenheim

Love

Loving Yves Kleins' International Blue

HEAT aka Melting Salty Pimp 

ACE Hotel 

When in doubt spray paint it gold!

At PS1

How at the Standard Hotel the night ended in here!

Sexy pool table

Colours in Brooklyn 

The art of coffee making in Brooklyn

Surf Bar

Surf Bar 2

Bergdorf and Goodman

Dressing Up Guess Who?

Kusama for LV

Kusama 2

Kusama's Body Festival

At the Whitney

How we ran away to Paris on a whim, met John Galliano and discovered that love is a laser quest!

Sorry for the radio silence but a lot has happened recently and life seems to be a bit of whirlwind  at the moment, full of instabilities, turbulence and unpredictable twists and turns! Yet last weekend was one of the best weekends I had in a while so I wanted to share with you how I ended up going to Paris on a whim and feeling utterly alive again! It was Friday and me and a colleague and dear friend, we were both suffering from a broken heart you see, decided to escape to gay Paris for a weekend of fun and frolic, after going through a brief list of fun activities to distract ourselves. A few hours later and after recruiting another friend, we were on the road! Battling through snowy Brussels (yes, the first snow this winter season found us on the highway trying to escape our often a bit too gloomy city) with an excellent soundtrack to go along with our elevated spirits we embarked on a sweet adventure! On the road this became our song....

  

Do you still feel younger than you thought you would by now
Or, darling, have you started feeling old yet
Don't worry, I'm sure that you're still breaking hearts
With the efficiency that only youth can harness...
 And do you look into the mirror to remind yourself you're there
Or have somebody's good-night kisses got that covered

Le Marais (my favorite neighborhood in Paris! also known as the neighborhood of the gay Jew) opened its arms and embraced us by offering ample nourishment, alcohol and lovely people to mark our arrival! We wondered and got lost and saw Diane Arbus's amazingly haunting photos and met John Galliano and tasted the greenest of teas and Paris was a dream and it made us smile!  

 

 GAY JEW

 Our Parisian door

 What bread looks like in the Marais

 

Our pet for a night 

Athens: I was born and raised in your summer haze!

So being from Greeceland at the moment is interesting to say the least. In our modern times of fast travel and mingled nationalities one of the first questions to ask when you meet someone is "where are you from?", and the reply "I am a Greek girl living in Brussels" usually elicits reactions such as "AAWW you poor people", "How is it over there at the moment?", "Do you still have family there? Is your family ok?" Or a forced long discussion over the future of the euro, the eminent collapse of capitalism and the demonization of Goldman Sachs, the great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money! :) So I decided to give you another taste of Greeceland, and specifically Athens, the city where I was born and raised and the city that will always break my heart. This is the 8th year that I have been living abroad and every time I visit Athens it keeps getting harder and harder to say goodbye. Athens is a massive metropolitan city full of traffic, air pollution, garbage and hideous Soviet style apartment buildings yet it's beauty is beyond words! The center of Athens has a certain je ne sais quoi, a certain magic if you will. There are a million little hidden treasures around every corner, whether it is a cool little Berlin style bar (after all Athens is the new Berlin for those of you that haven't noticed yet!), a family run restaurant where tomatoes are delicious and you basically eat your grandmothers food for a meager price, or the gorgeous graffiti that has started covering and transforming all those Soviet style buildings into works of art. Our streets are alive and so are our people, something revolutionary is bubbling away from the politics and the violence and some of the most interesting and avant-garde works of art have started coming from our little country. In times of crisis art blossoms and let us not forget that chaos breeds creation. So this is a love letter to Athens and a little tour of my favourite things to see and do in our blessed little piece of land.

For drinks and midnight fun:

HOXTON Bar and Gallery
Voutadon 42, Gazi, Athens
If I ever opened a bar it would look like this, an industrial space with big worn out Chesterfield sofas, library lamps, a rotating art exhibition, rock&roll music, a bunch of old clocks and great Bloody Marys during happy hour!



SIX D.O.G.S.
6-8 Avramiotou, Monastiraki, Athens
For the coolest hidden garden in all of Athens, home-made little treats, late night dancing, concerts and really delicious dinners on special occasions





BOOZE COOPERATIVA 
Kolokotroni 57, Athens
Located in a beautiful neoclassical building BOOZE is the perfect place to enjoy a smoke (the owner has a strict smoking policy! Smoking is to be encouraged and enjoyed in this bar), a game of chess, lovely lady DJs, art exhibitions, video projections, performances and the occassional random party on the second floor after the witching hour!

BIOS
Peireos 84, Athens
For pretty much everything! The best view of Athens and the Acropolis during the summer when the terrace is open, gigs, exhibitions, screenings, workshops, performances, the quirky decor! 






NIXON

Agisilaou 61 B , Keramikos, Athens

For great cocktails, a bite to eat and film screenings

POP
Kleitiou 10B
A tiny favourite little bar with great indie music and amazing cocktails, try the Zombie, sweet but lethal!

TΩΡΑ Κ44
Konstantinoupoleos 44, Gazi, Athens
Easily the coolest interior in any bar in Athens! Great cocktails and parties ansd a lot of local bands have gigs there.

TAF- The art foundation
Nomarxou 5, Monastiraki, Athens
A hidden gem, one of the most interesting spaces for exhibiting art. Behind a tiny wooden door lies a yard surrounded by a decrepid two story building that dates back to 1870 and serves as a gallery for experimental art! ENJOY!


So just a tour of my favourite bars has taken longer than expected so restaurants, galleries and fun things to do will follow, I leave you with a quote from a really accurate article on Athens that was recently published in the New York Times

"Athens is an anarchic, overcaffeinated mess of a city, filled with oleander and concrete, jasmine and car exhaust: part Milan and part Karachi, a strange combination of European sophistication and third world chaos." AND THAT'S WHY I LOVE IT!

New York Times Article: In Athens art blossoms amid debt crisis

Me in front of work by the French artist Matthieu Laurette at the Kunsthalle Athena.



Our city is praying (right next to Omonia square where the heroin junkies hang out). My favourite graffiti at the moment.