NYC Apartments

If you're a New Yorker, you've probably already penciled-in "ride the subway pants-less during rush hour" on your To Do list - somewhere between impersonating a Best Buy employee in slow motion and actually obeying the voice in your head - ever since you finally moved into your perfect downtown apartment and your best thinking can be accomplished without the constant interruption of calls from your genius real estate broker.

Don't forget, New York City is a big, big town, so if you're having these thoughts, chances are you're not alone. And - especially if you are new to NYC - what better way to meet your like-minded Gothamites than by employing a no pants buddy system as you zip un-zipped from Manhattan to Brooklyn with only your skivvies on?

But if sitting on a Queens-bound subway with nothing but your undies between you and, well, maybe the spot where a bottom with even less coverage than yours just sat isn't your thing, then your friendly neighborhood urban pranksters at Improve Everywhere will probably have other "missions" planned that will help you cross a few more items from your deranged To-Do list, such as:

#39 - Try out for the Olympic Synchronized Swimming Team in a Greenwich Village public fountain.

#158 - Dream Job for a Day: Times Square McDonald's Restaurant Bathroom Attendant

#17 - Being flash frozen like a Bird's Eye brussel sprout in the middle of Grand Central Station

#78 - Play first Nokia in a symphony of ringing cell phones performing near Union Square Park

So who exactly is this person who can see inside your head and is realizing items on your To-Do list? Improv Everywhere is the brainchild of New York City comedian/actor/writer, Charlie Todd, and you are welcome to play, too.

If the items on your To Do list are a bit less surreal - or even much, much, more so - NYC is a big, big town and your perfect brand of fun to be had and friendly Gothamites to have it with are out there, you just have to know where to look!

Labels: CULTURE, EVENTS, NEWS

For the first time in decades, this year’s must-have accessory for the most deeply committed avant-garde may not be creative angst or even the highly coveted—but more often affected than genuine—vainglorious self-loathing of true artistic genius (I don’t mean you, of course). Nope, this year’s earlobe flesh tunnels might just be Brooklyn condos or Queens coops.

Now, the NYC real estate market might sound perfectly suited to members of a subculture who routinely pierce their most tender flesh with sharp metal objects, but that natural affinity has yet to be embraced, Eve Levine tells The Brooklyn Paper, by hipsters who pride them selves on being “the opposite of Wall Street.”

As a NYC real estate broker, Ms. Levine is fluent in the un-hip “realities” of such things as the housing market and repairing bad credit. But as an artist and musician, Ms. Levine also has the hipster street cred to effectively communicate her knowledge to the type of people who believe that “hipster street cred” actually exists because it's so ironic it's not, but so un-ironic it is.

Ms. Levine recently founded an informational series that meets in trendy bars called “Hipster Mortgage Night.” Her goal is to bring the good news of equity building, home ownership to the righteously inked tribes of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and anywhere else they may be found, paying rent with tip money.

For some “Hipster Mortgage Night” attendees, however, the news isn’t always good. For one couple who envisioned their first purchase would be an entire house, the reality check was as painfully brutal as it was painfully necessary:

“Now we know a one-bedroom is best […] It was a really informative experience, but it kind of crushed my dreams.”

Don't worry, they'll get there. So will you.

Click here for or more information about upcoming "Hipster Mortgage Nights."

Labels: EVENTS, NEWS