Cineastes Rejoice as FiDi Date-Night Destination Debuts at 28 Liberty
The Alamo Drafthouse at 28 Liberty offers 14 screens, with seating for 500-plus guests, beneath 20-foot ceilings, where 4K Sony digital projection equipment and a 7.1 Dolby Surround Sound audio system will maximize the movie experience.
Alamo Drafthouse has debuted its long-awaited 37,000-square foot cinema at 28 Liberty Street. The national chain, which aims to make movies fun again by providing fine food and beverages during movies (brought by waiters to cabaret-style tables positioned alongside luxury recliner seats), has created a 14-screen multiplex with seating for 500-plus guests, beneath 20-foot ceilings. The facility also boasts a 4K Sony digital projection equipment, and a 7.1 Dolby Surround Sound audio system.
To celebrate the opening, Alamo Drafthouse is staging a limited series of films drawn from every decade of the past century of movies about (or filmed in) New York, including King Kong, On The Town, Barefoot In The Park, Ghostbusters, and Inside Man.
Originally scheduled to open in 2018, the project was slowed by construction delays and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Alamo Drafthouse at 28 Liberty will compete directly with the iPic Entertainment multiplex, which offers a similarly luxe moviegoing experience, and opened in 2016 in the South Street Seaport.
This new cinema is part of a plan by developer Fosun International to transform the former One Chase Manhattan Plaza (now rebranded as 28 Liberty Street) into a retail destination. This photo shows existing conditions at the complex, looking southwest from the corner of Liberty and Williams Streets
This architectural rendering shows a view from the same perspective, after hundreds of linear feet of black granite cladding have been removed from the street-level facade and replaced with glass walls that will open onto 200,000 square feet of new retail space. This plan has drawn scrutiny from preservationists who wish to maintain the landmarked structure’s original design.
The Alamo Drafthouse is but one phase of a plan by Fosun Interational—the China-based real estate developer that bought the archetypal Modernist skyscraper formerly known as One Chase Manhattan Plaza in 2013, before rebranding it as 28 Liberty—to transform the complex into a premier retail and dining destination.
Another aspect of this program is a partnership with Legends Hospitality to create a new food hall and music venue beneath the landmarked plaza, which will surround the revered “Sunken Garden”—a 60-foot-wide, circular enclosure created by sculptor Isamu Noguchi, that frames a bed of polished stones and a fountain. Preliminary plans call for the 35,000-square-foot food hall (originally slated to open in 2020) to host a sit-down restaurant, a roster of celebrity chefs, and concerts by popular recording artists.
Tickets are priced $18.50 (for general admission) and $20.50 (for 3D shows), with discounts available for matinees ($15.00), as well as for students, seniors, children (aged six to 11), who pay $15.00 for regular shows and $17.00 for 3D titles. Food and drink (which cost extra) include appetizers like Bottomless Popcorn, as well as a broad range of salads, sandwiches, and pizzas. Libations run the gamut from 50-plus different kinds of beer to a dozen wines, and signature cocktails.
Matthew Fenton
Letter
The First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All the Leaf Blowers
To the Editor:
I am writing to express concern with the excessive use of gas powered leaf blowers in the park areas of BPC.
It occurs almost daily, goes on for a long time (more than is necessary in my opinion, adding to the inefficiency and pollution), is aggravating given the loud ongoing noise but also the operators’ habits of pulsing the machine (think, “vroom…vroom… vroom…vroom…” for an extended period), and spews out exhaust that enters my apartment window. Yes, literally. That gas pollution is not what I want us to be breathing at all, but especially not INDOORS!
Furthermore, the environmental impact is serious. Read the article in a recent New York Times edition.
Plus, this is very counter to the goals outlined on the BPC Parks website: “We have been continuously searching for the next “green” solution….BPCPC believes that developing an environmental consciousness is an important public mission….We ask staff and the public to think environmentally before they act….”
The First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All the Leaf Blowers
Many thanks,
Michelle Eliseo
What’s Up, Dock?
Planning Moves Ahead for Elevating Battery Waterfront
With the ongoing design process for the Battery Wharf resiliency project now 50 percent complete (and construction slated to begin in late 2022), Community Board 1 (CB1) is weighing in with concerns and ideas about how to refine the vision for raising the level of the waterfront esplanade in the Battery to protect the historic park against future sea-level rise and extreme-weather events.
The project to safeguard the one-third mile stretch of shoreline between Pier A (to the north) and the Staten Island Ferry Terminal (in the south) has three primary aims: to raise the waterfront walkway five feet above its present elevation; to link up with other, similar projects nearby (as part of the broader Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency plan); and to improve drainage. The overall budget is $129 million, and the initiative is being managed by the City’s Economic Development Corporation, along with the Department of Parks and Recreation.
Alliance Aims to Encourage Storefront Startups in Lower Manhattan
The Downtown Alliance is offering a package of free incentives and support services, valued at $10,000, to help new retailers and restaurants seeking to open in Lower Manhattan. The Jump Start program is designed to give small businesses a better chance at success in both the physical and online marketplace, by offering up to 20 eligible applicants a customized strategic launch plan, along with four interactive consultation sessions. Services will include advice on everything from driving foot traffic to creating a successful e-commerce platform.
The annual Dine Around Downtown festival, presented by the Downtown Alliance and hosted by celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito, continues its “Cooking At Home Edition,” broadcast via Zoom, which presents Lower Manhattan chefs as they demonstrate easy-to-replicate dishes from their restaurants, while also raising money for food-security charities. Today’s episode will feature Hegel Hei (founder Chinah), on October 28. Participants can register to participate in free upcoming episodes at: downtownny.com/dinearound
Recalling Five Points
Epicenter of a Notorious Slum Memorialized
The City has decided to dignify a district that was once a source of shame and that it later sought to erase, both from memory and the Lower Manhattan streetscape. In 1831, the City government considered a petition that warned, “that the place known as ‘Five Points’ has long been notorious… as being the nursery where every species of vice is conceived and matured; that it is infested by a class of the most abandoned and desperate character.”
In recorded presentations by two renowned Mexican families, the museum showcases two traditions central to Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos): the art of making figures from sugar and papier-mâché. These two presentations will take place in Spanish. “The Sweet Story of Alfeñique” follows matriarch Margarita Mondragón as she creates skulls and animals, artworks made of sugar (alfeñique). “The Story of Cartonería Tradicional” (The Story of Papier-mâché) follows artisans Ana Miriam Castañeda Montes de Oca and Martín Ramírez as they make compelling figures known as calaveras (laughing skeletons), figures that humorously and poetically continue with their work in the afterlife. The art form dates to at least to the 17th century and were used to adorn religious spaces and represent various historical figures in processions. Evelyn Orantes and Joaquin Newman will demonstrate how to create paper marigolds. Free.
The Food for Thought series continues its pursuit of three goals – to restart, revive, and reconnect. October’s topic is romantic relationships: How do I find love (safely) in a post COVID-19 world? Join the discussion to learn more about online dating etiquette, long distance tips, and keeping romance steady within marriages. Free.
In American Hotel: The Waldorf-Astoria and the Making of a Century, historian David Freeland recounts the history of not just an American hotel, but, arguably, the American hotel. From the opening as the Waldorf at its first location at Fifth Avenue at 33rd Street in 1893, then more than doubling in size in 1897 into the Waldorf-Astoria, the hostelry rose to prominence on the local, national, and international stage. Opening for business on October 1, 1931, the new uptown Waldorf-Astoria struggled through the Depression, but rose to unparalleled prominence in the postwar years. Functioning like an American palace, the Waldorf served as a favored venue for United Nations diplomats and the hotel of choice for American Presidents until its shuttering in 2017. The Waldorf-Astoria’s story, Freeland writes, “is that of America in the twentieth century, and it would be difficult to imagine any hotel bearing the same degree of influence again. Free.
In this lecture, Jinny Berten will consider the relationship between George Washington and William Lee, the last three days of Washington’s life, Washington’s changing views on slavery and the concerns the Mount Vernon enslaved had with Washington’s last will and testament. Free.
All’s Fare
The annual Dine Around Downtown festival, presented by the Downtown Alliance and hosted by celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito, continues its “Cooking At Home Edition,” broadcast via Zoom, which presents Lower Manhattan chefs as they demonstrate easy-to-replicate dishes from their restaurants, while also raising money for food-security charities. Today’s episode will feature Hegel Hei (founder Chinah); Participants can register to participate in free upcoming episodes at: downtownny.com/dinearound
The tall ship Wavertree, the lightship Ambrose, and the tug W.O. Decker are open to the public. Explore Wavertree and Ambrose while they are docked; cruise New York Harbor on W.O. Decker. Wavertree and Ambrose visits are free; Decker prices vary. Check website for times, prices and other details.
Wigwam for Wee Ones
The Battery Park City Authority will present “Campfire Stories & Songs” on Saturday, October 30 (from 2:00pm to 4:00pm) in Teardrop Park. Kids and parents are invited to cozy up beside a campfire for stories and sing-alongs, while enjoying snacks and art projects.
This event is free to attend. No reservation required.
CLASSIFIEDS & PERSONALS
Swaps & Trades, Respectable Employment, Lost and Found
Providing Companion and Home Health Aide Care to clients with dementia.Help with grooming, dressing and wheelchair assistance. Able to escort client to parks and engage in conversations of desired topics and interests of client. Reliable & Honest
Reliable, trustworthy and caring Nanny looking for full time position preferably with newborns, infants and toddlers. I have experience in the Battery Park City area for 8 years. I will provide a loving, safe and nurturing environment for your child. Refs available upon request. Beverly 347 882 6612
HOUSEKEEPING/ NANNY/ BABYSITTER
Available for PT/FT. Wonderful person, who is a great worker.
Refs avail.
Worked in BPC. Call Tenzin
347-803-9523
SEEKING LIVE-IN ELDER CARE
12 years experience, refs avail. I am a loving caring hardworking certified home health aide
Samascott Orchard Orchard fruit, strawberries from Columbia County, New York
Francesa’s Bakery Breads and baked goods from Middlesex County, New Jersey
Meredith’s Bakery Baked goods from Ulster County, New York
Riverine Ranch Water Buffalo meat and cheeses from Warren County, New Jersey
1857 Spirits Handcrafted potato vodka from Schoharie County, New York
SNAP/EBT/P-EBT, Debit/Credit, and Farmers Market Nutrition Program checks accepted
‘No!’
Exhibit at Museum of Jewish Heritage Showcases Work of Holocaust Survivor Inspired by Trauma
“I would have liked to make pretty pictures, but something always stopped me,” artist Boris Lurie once reflected on his work, a searing collection of which is now on display at the Museum of Jewish Heritage on Battery Place. The exhibit, “Nothing to Do But Try,” brings together Lurie’s “War Series,” which recalls his experiences in a succession of Nazi ghettoes and concentration camps. His self portrait is at right.
The “Nothing to Do But Try” exhibit is now open at the Museum of Jewish Heritage (36 Battery Place, near First Place) and will run through April 29. Tickets are priced at $18 for adults; $12 for seniors, students, veterans, and handicapped visitors; and admission is free to children under 12 years of age and New York City public school students. For more information, please call 646-437-4202, or browse mjhnyc.org/. To read more…
New Jersey Gets A Head
Garden State Shushes Gotham
Lower Manhattan residents have a new reason to gaze westward, after the Thursday opening and dedication of a new monumental public art piece in Jersey City. “Water’s Soul” is an 80-foot-tall white simulacrum of a woman’s head, with a hand raised to her face, and a single finger poised in front of her lips, as if beckoning the tableau before her to be silent. To read more…
TODAY IN HISTORY
October 28
1956 – Elvis Presley receives a polio vaccination on national TV.
312 – Constantine I defeats Maxentius, becoming the sole Roman emperor in the West.
969 – The Byzantine Empire recovers Antioch from Arab rule.
1492 – Christopher Columbus lands in Cuba on his first voyage to the New World.
1726 – The novel Gulliver’s Travels is published.
1864 – American Civil War: A Union attack on the Confederate capital is repulsed.
1886 – President Cleveland dedicates the Statue of Liberty.
1893 – Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Pathétique receives its première performance only nine days before the composer’s death.
1922 – Italian fascists led by Benito Mussolini march on Rome and take over the Italian government.
1942 – The Alaska Highway first connects Alaska to the North American railway network at Dawson Creek in Canada.
1956 – Elvis Presley receives a polio vaccination on national TV.
1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis: Premier Nikita Khrushchev orders the removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba.
William Dobson was one of the first significant English painters, praised by his contemporary John Aubrey as “the most excellent painter that England has yet bred”. ( Wikipedia )
Births
1017 – Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1056)
1793 – Eliphalet Remington, American businessman, founded Remington Arms (d. 1861)
1794 – Robert Liston, Scottish surgeon (d. 1847)
1903 – Evelyn Waugh, English journalist, author, and critic (d. 1966)
1909 – Francis Bacon, Irish painter and illustrator (d. 1992)
1914 – Jonas Salk, American biologist and physician (d. 1995)
Deaths
312 – Maxentius, Roman emperor (b. 278)
1646 – William Dobson, English painter (b. 1610)
1818 – Abigail Adams, writer and second First Lady of the United States (b. 1744)
1929 – Bernhard von Bülow, German soldier and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1849)
