On a recent trip to California I stayed in a classic Old Hollywood haunt called the Culver City Hotel, an idiosynchratic red brick wedge of a building that towers over the diminuitive Epcot-esque Art Deco buildings around it. The hotel lobby greets visitors with august, dark-wooded, faux-Patrician charm complete with piano bar, wooden globe, and enormous [...]
Despite thunderstorms earlier that day I found myself seated in the heart of Times Square to attend the premiere of Mad Men season four, an hour ahead of the rest of the country. I was later upgraded from puddle-seat to VIP area (admittedly way comfier than the wet bleachers (thank you V!). The majority of [...]
The Washington Heights barber wraps a young Latino in a cape emblazoned with day-glo palm trees, and nods into the mirror. They’re both silent and serious, the only sound is the boxing match on the wall-mounted television set. The young man is about to get a shape-up, a term referring to the removal of any [...]
The male Hammerhead bird of South Africa has figured out that his girlfriend gets amorous when he presents her with items to spruce up the 300 pound nest the couple share atop a knobby tree in the “open” style bird house at the Bronx Zoo. He goes out again and again to find suitable gifts [...]