Clover Field (Boerum Hill, Brooklyn)
January 26, 2009 by Matt Stone
Filed under Food & Drink
Note to me: Check out this new bar!!
Back when most of Brooklyn was still farmland, a group of Philadelphia bluebloods, scribblers and general men-about-town formed one of the original exclusive booze clubs, bound together by a favorite spot, a single cocktail and a name: The Clover Club.
You may be a few years late, but the scene is starting up again just in time—minus the frock coats and mustache wax, that is. Welcome to Clover Club, a Victorian Gothic-style cocktail spot opening tonight in Brooklyn.
The mastermind behind the spot is Julie Reiner, who also brought you the Flatiron Lounge, so be grateful. This time around, the cocktails are even older, including the house cocktail The Clover Club (Plymouth gin, dry vermouth, lemon juice and housemade raspberry syrup) and old-school punches served in antique bowls big enough for eight—meaning you can plunk down at a leather booth and engage your whole entourage in some communal high society punch-bowl boozing.
The front bar space sets the mood with paneled mahogany walls and turn-of-the-century chandeliers, but if you’re looking for the real prize, ask the hostess to take you behind the velvet curtain in back. There, you’ll find a private parlor with its own bar, some refurbished Victorian couches and a direct line to fried oysters and caviar deviled eggs coming out of the kitchen.
When caviar’s involved, a direct line is always appreciated.
This great article, and others, can be found at www.UrbanDaddy.com
The Plaza Reopens
January 26, 2009 by Matt Stone
Filed under In The News
The famed New York Plaza hotel recently reopened in an elegant and yet understated ribbon cutting ceremony that marked the end of a three-year, 400 million dollar, renovation project restoring this local treasure to its former grand style.
The Plaza
Included in the opening ceremony, held on the Plaza’s front steps, were approximately four hundred well-wishers, tourists, and media. After the ribbon cutting ceremony, these guests were given the grand tour of the new and improved Plaza Hotel.
The renovations gutted the inside of the 100 year-old landmark and over the next three years the overhaul resulted in the restoration of both the interior and the exterior to incorporate an historic charm and elegance with all the modern conveniences and luxuriousness one would expect from the Plaza.
The 400 million dollar renovation investment resulted in the removal of 500 rooms from the original design and incorporated suites and residences overlooking an equally famous New York City landmark, Central Park.
The last time the public had seen the inside of the Plaza hotel was during the famous Plaza Garage Sale that allowed New York City residents, some who waited in line for hours, a chance to own their very own piece of the Plaza. The sale that ran for about a week and sold everything right down to the moldings off the wall.
The changes to the Plaza hotel include full restoration of the famed Palm Court where afternoon tea will still be served complete with white glove service. The Oak Room and Oak Bar traditions will open in spring 2008. The Plaza is continuing the renovations with a late spring 2008 opening of The Champagne Bar and The Rose Club.
The Plaza’s Grand Ballroom, the setting for more than one famous wedding and reception including the late President Nixon’s daughter, Julie, Peter Lawford and Patricia Kennedy and the famous Black and White Ball hosted by Truman Capote, received a complete make-over restoring the Ballroom to its original detailing and lavish splendor.
The Plaza hotel will offer 282 distinctive guestrooms, including 152 residences, each offering full service amenities; 24/7 room service, health and wellness facilities and a staff who are trained in the art of exquisite care. The attentions to detail by a world renowned team of service experts guarantee that each guest has more than just a stay at the Plaza. They guarantee each guest will experience the Plaza.
The century old landmark has evolved to become a world renowned address known only by its name, The Plaza. Situated on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 59th Street the Plaza is one corner away from Manhattan’s famous four corners, at 57th and Fifth Avenue, the home to Tiffany’s, Harry Winston, Bergdorf’s and Van Cleef & Arpel’s. It is a US Historic Landmark built in 1907 by Henry Hardenbergh and Thomas Hastings.
The Plaza has been the setting of choice by Hollywood on numerous occasions with a few of its more famous films being Home Alone 2:Lost in New York, It Could Happen to You, Big Business, They Way We Were and the Alfred Hitchcock thriller, North By NorthWest. The Plaza was once owned by another famous New York icon, famed New York real estate developer, Donald Trump.
The Plaza is open and tours are available. For information on The Plaza Click Here
Toren Condo’s 325 Gold Street
January 26, 2009 by Matt Stone
Filed under Brooklyn Sales, To Be Sorted
Located at 325 Gold Street (at Flatbush Avenue Ext.)
For more information please contact Matt Stone at MStone@Halstead.com
Links to press released:
The Four Hour Workweek
January 26, 2009 by Matt Stone
Filed under Film & TV
Recommended Reading
I recently had the chance to read this book by Tim Ferriss; and for the most part, I really enjoyed it. It’s the kind of book that will have you thinking long after you finish reading it. It is a little drawn out in the earlier stages (as are most self help books), and there is a lot of explaining it’s methods, but none the less, I would recommend this book. Below is an overview of ‘The Four Hour Workweek’. Enjoy – Matt Stone
Whether you’re an overworked employee or an entrepreneur trapped in your own business, The 4-Hour Workweek is the compass for a new and revolutionary world.
You can have it all—really.
Join Tim Ferriss, popular guest lecturer in entrepreneurship at Princeton University, as he teaches you:
- How to outsource your life and do whatever you want for a year, only to return to a bank account 50% larger than before you left
- How blue-chip escape artists travel the world without quitting their jobs
- How to eliminate 50% of your work in 48 hours using the principles of little-known European economists
- How to train your boss to value performance over presence, or kill your job (or company) if it’s beyond repair
- How to trade a long-haul career for short work bursts and frequent “mini-retirements”
- What automated cash-flow “muses” are and how to create one in 2-4 weeks
- How to cultivate selective ignorance—and create time—with a low-information diet
- Management secrets of Remote Control CEO’s
- The crucial difference between absolute and relative income
- How to get free housing worldwide and airfare at 50-80% off
- How to fill the void and creating meaning after removing work and the office
The 4-Hour Workweek also includes the sample e-mails, voicemails, and real-life deals (with dollar figures and all) you will need to master the new world of luxury lifestyle design.
Who is Tim Ferriss?
Serial entrepreneur and ultravagabond Timothy Ferriss has been featured in The New York Times, National Geographic Traveler, MAXIM, and other media. He speaks six languages, runs a multinational firm from wireless locations worldwide, and has been a world-record holder in tango, a national champion in Chinese kickboxing, and an actor on a hit television series in Hong Kong. He is 29 years old.
Fort Greene Brownstone $1,775,000
January 25, 2009 by Matt Stone
Filed under Brooklyn Sales
3 family/4 story brownstone on one of the most sought after blocks in historic Fort Greene. Owners garden duplex and 2 rentals. Needs TLC. Ample conversion possibilities. Make it your dream house! Walking distance to Fort Greene Park, Atlantic Mall, BAM, Pratt Institute and transportation. Delivered vacant.
For more information, please contact Matt Stone at MStone@Halstead.com
Buying A Private Island
January 25, 2009 by Matt Stone
Filed under Featured, Prodigus Life
OK..OK. I know that this probably isn’t the best climate to be posting information on how to buy your own island, but hey, the glass is half full, let’s be prepared for when business improves.
1. Set your price.
It’s stating the obvious to say that the bigger your budget, the better an island you can afford, but some people have very unrealistic expectations of what they can afford. It’s better to spend as much possible to buy the island, even to the extent of waiting until you have funds for development. Saving money in the short term will generally get you a poorer quality island and once you have bought the island and developed, there is no changing your mind. It’s better to have a more attractive island than purchasing a poorer quality island just to save money.
The Future of Housing: Think Small
January 24, 2009 by Matt Stone
Filed under In The News, Real Estate
A year ago, economists predicted 2008 would be a challenging year for the struggling real estate industry. The property market had just come off what seemed then like its worst year ever and signs of a recovery were faint. A year later, after watching property values plummet further, foreclosure rates soar higher, and home sales shrink lower, real estate professionals from Florida to California are now predicting far worse for an industry in ruins.
“The very future of how real estate is bought, sold, and financed is under tremendous pressure,” says veteran Florida real estate economist Lewis Goodkin. “There’s no question that the years ahead will be sharply different from years past.”
One of the biggest questions swirling in property circles these days is how a reeling real estate industry will reshape and redefine itself for the future. Few signs of a quick reversal of fortune exist, but a closer look at the future of the industry reveals important trends and, surprisingly, reasons for optimism.
Falling sales means a dwindling number of brokers. That, experts say, will be good for business. Like mortgage brokers, shrinking rolls of agents will eventually mean brokers are brought in only to do specific parts of a transaction for far less money.
After several years of escalating home prices, construction costs are falling. Lower construction costs will make it easier for developers to adapt to the current market by offering more affordable apartments and condos, rather than aiming for the high end.
The internet will, of course, continue to be a critical and growing part of real estate, as brokers and firms pour more resources into building smarter, more accessible websites. More listings online means more access for consumers. Eighty-four percent of buyers use the internet to search for a new home, and that number is expected grow, according to the 2007 National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.
Home builders, meanwhile, are predicting the continued movement toward smaller homes, with more buyers opting for less square footage as a means of saving more. This is likely to result in cheaper homes on the market in many places.
Finally, tighter credit means some will no longer be able to line up easy financing to buy a home. That will lead more prospective buyers to rent rather than own, thus possibly sparing the industry another quick boom-bust scenario anytime soon.
To be sure, the real estate industry will have to dig itself out of a deep hole. Existing home sales fell last year to levels not seen in years, and the median price of a single-family home was off 13.2 percent in November, to $181,300. That’s the lowest price since February 2004, the biggest year-over-year drop on record going back to 1968 and most likely the biggest drop since the Great Depression, according to the National Association of Realtors. Foreclosures also ballooned, with one in 10 American households with mortgages now overdue on payments or in foreclosure, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The trade group predicts more foreclosed, vacant homes will be added to already bulging inventories this year, sending home prices spiraling down and putting more mortgage borrowers deeper under water.
The widening credit crisis is sure to have the greatest impact on real estate’s future. Big developers will be particularly effected, as banks pull back from a fast-deteriorating market. In New York, where a forest of glossy, new condominiums are in various stages of construction, nearly $5 billion in development projects has already been scrapped or delayed because of the banking crisis, according to the Urban Land Institute. A lack of construction financing forced British developer CPC Group to default on a $365 million loan for prime land it bought in Beverly Hills as part of a plan to build luxury condominiums. In Las Vegas, the $3.9 billion Cosmopolitan Resort went into foreclosure late last year and was taken over by Deutsche Bank.
“Massive projects are in real peril,” says Laurence Hallier, chairman of Hallier Properties in Las Vegas. The firm has built several condos, including Panorama Towers, where Leonardo DiCaprio owns a home. “Banks will no longer lend as freely and that will certainly force big changes on developers and ultimately reshape the way business is done.”
There is no quick fix to the credit problems, say experts. Until frozen markets thaw, banks will simply not be able to fund as many projects. But that, too, can be good, say industry veterans. “A slowdown is creating more time to plan and tempered expectations,” says Richard Green, a professor of real estate at the University of Southern California. He predicts that developers will be forced to downsize the scope of many projects. “Projects that do get funding will be sound, which will ultimately be good for an ailing industry.”
Original by Troy McMullen, for Portfolio.com | See Archive
Stretchable Electronics
January 23, 2009 by Matt Stone
Filed under Extra
Jizhou Song, a professor in the University of Miami’s College of Engineering and his collaborators John Rogers, professor at the University of Illinois and Yonggang Huang, professor at Northwestern University have developed the new design that can be wrapped around complex shapes, without a reduction in electronic function.
“Our design is of great interest because the requirements for complex shapes that can function during stretching, compression, bending, twisting and other types of extreme mechanical deformation are impossible to satisfy with conventional technology,” said Song.
The secret of the design is in the silicon (Si) islands on which the active devices or circuits are fabricated. The islands form a chemically bonded, pre-strained elastomeric substrate. Releasing the pre-strain causes the metal interconnects of the circuits to buckle and form arc-shaped structures, which accommodate the deformation and make the semiconductor materials much more stretchable, without inducing significant changes in their electrical properties. The design is called noncoplanar mesh design.
In related news, engineers at Purdue and Stanford universities have created stretchable electrodes to study how cardiac muscle cells, neurons and other cells react to mechanical stresses from heart attacks, traumatic brain injuries and other diseases.
Best Travel Blogs Of 2008 / 2009
January 20, 2009 by Matt Stone
Filed under Travel
With so many travel blogs out there, which one’s do you choose. Well, I have decided to post some potential "Best Travel Blogs" below, I want you to decide, which you would agree on, and also, to let me know which ones I have missed. Enjoy
Top 10 Travel Blogs As Ranked By Alexa. Categorized as ‘Travelogues’
1. Virtual Tourist www.virtualtourist.com
Site info for virtualtourist.com
2. TravelBlog www.travelblog.org
Site info for travelblog.org
3. TravelPod www.travelpod.com
Site info for travelpod.com
4. IgoUgo www.igougo.com
Site info for igougo.com
5. Travel Library www.travel-library.com
Site info for travel-library.com
6. Traveljournals.net www.traveljournals.net
Site info for traveljournals.net
7. Around the World in 80 Clicks www.traveladventures.org
Site info for traveladventures.org
8. GetJealous.com www.getjealous.com
Site info for getjealous.com
9. The World in Focus www.the-world-in-focus.com
Site info for the-world-in-focus.com
10. A View on Cities www.aviewoncities.com
Site info for aviewoncities.com
Top 5 Travel Blogs According to Forbes.com
oops.. After doing this entry, it came to my attention that this Forbes list was done in 2003. I could have deleted it, but figured what the heck!!
5. HoboTraveler.com/blogger.html
Top 10 Travel Blogs As Voted in the "Blogger’s Choice Awards"
Hostelbuenosaires.Blogspot.com
This blog exceeds what normally he is blog of hostel. This blog is a mini tourism portal. Great information from Argentina, Buenos Aires, Tango, Hostel and related topics. High tech, more, more information, videos, photos, music, radio and brillant posts.
http://hostelbuenosaires.blogspot.com
Thelongestwayhome.com
Great travel blog and advise from a guy traveling around the world looking for home. Well laid out with amazing photographs and his own facts on where he’s been.
http://www.thelongestwayhome.com
Charcotrip.com
The experiences of living, studying and loving abroad, travel journals… and the experiences coming back home. From Mexico to Europe…
Everything-everywhere.com
Gary Arndt is on a mutli-year round the world trip to see everything and go everywhere. This website is the journal of his adventures.
http://everything-everywhere.com
Contemporarynomad.com/blog
We quit, we packed, we left! Follow along with us and explore the world as we take the plunge and go nomadic.
http://www.contemporarynomad.com/blog
Neilduckett.com
A Gaijin in Japan – Discovering and Loving Japan, One Day at a Time
London-underground.Blogspot.com
Annie Mole’s, webmaster of Going Underground, daily web log (blog) Ably assisted by Neil n Chris.
http://london-underground.blogspot.com
Questingforadventure.com
A great travel blog with stories of other people’s adventures, ambitious ideas for epic adventures, and regular useful tips.
http://questingforadventure.com
Travelturtle.net
Travel blog and hand made things, very creative and fun.
Tysonandjulia.com
"A newlywed couple figuring married life out! They hand-coded the site themselves – no dreamweaver, blogger, wordpress, etc!"
ABC News: Housing Crisis Upside: Bargains for Everyone
January 12, 2009 by Matt Stone
Filed under To Be Sorted
ABC News: Housing Crisis Upside: Bargains for Everyone
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