Letter from New York
Cakes, Wine, Bungee Sex and Prozac Lipstick
After living here for four years, almost anything appears quite normal. And this week, nothing much has seemed to happen at all in Manhattan. There's been a bit of an outcry about the new efforts to enforce the anti-jaywalking laws, but apart from that, even MonicaGate has become a bit ho-hum. So it was with some desperation that I leafed through the weekend papers, hoping for some inspiration for this page.And hidden away, barely noticeable, these were the best I could come up with.
A few weeks ago I mentioned "Masturbakers", a New York bakery specializing in erotic cakes. The February 12th edition of Time Out reports on a number of off-beat cake shops in Manhattan, and it is not just the erotic creations that are turned out of the ovens in NYC. Masturbakers gets a mention, as do a number of other bakeries that feature designer cakes. Amongst the cakes pictured in the article are the blue toilet roll cake (above), a cake in the shape of a Prozac Dista capsule, a Nintendo-inspired desert and an "erotic" cake. You can even get a breast cake at "Masturbakers" with a red or black frosting bra at no extra charge.
And if you are on a diet, you can, instead of gorging yourself on these culinary treasures, try weightless bungee-jumping sex. I'm not sure if this was a Valentine's Day special, but the advertisement urges you to "have sex like the Jetsons!" News to me.
In April you will be able to buy St. John's wort lipstick. St. John's Wort is said by some to be a herbal alternative to Prozac It is to be sold by "Tony & Tina" in the East Village and will be available in nine shades at $10 per stick.
If you are a rich Wall Street worker, you could finish off your cake-eating, bungee-sex-jumping experiences with a glass of good red. They pay big bonuses on Wall Street, and now the wine trade is benefiting, as now the bonus cheques are being handed out. According to the New York Times (Feb. 16th) a big "wine splurge" is taking place all over New York City. Apparently the wine bill for a table of four can run into thousands of dollars. And you can have a three litre bottle of 1989 Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet delivered for $582.
Don't even go there!
Where to stay
Last July I wrote about a Time out feature entitled "Hey, you get offa my couch", about where to put up your "houseguests" in New York. I've had quite a few readers email lately with serious questions re. where to stay in New York. I don't know a lot about finding short term accommodation, but occasionally friends have arrived and our tiny apartment has been already full. So they've found hotels or hostels and with what they've reported back, and from a recent New York Times article, here's what I know.
There are plenty of relatively cheap places to stay here, and all the ones I've heard of are quite safe. As long as you are staying in Manhattan, you are a short subway or cab ride away from most places you'd want to visit.
The cheapest are the backpackers' places. I have a friend (23) who stayed at a hostel on 20th street (between 7th and 8th Avenues), late last year. It is the Chelsea International Hostel (Ph. 212 647 0010) and it was around $18 per night. She shared a room with another traveler and said it was clean and the people were very friendly. There was a common room for watching TV cooking snacks etc.
There are plenty of other hostels around, and there's also the Y, which is a fair bit more expensive, but which probably offers more facilities. Rooms there start at $43. If you want a hotel, rather than a hostel, there are quite a few that you can find for around $100 per night. The more people, the cheaper it is.
One group of friends always stay at the Pickwick Inn. I think it's still about $110 per night for two or three people. It has a website,http://www.travelbook.com/pickwick.asp. I've also heard from friends of friends that the Hotel Wallcott on 31st and 5th is in the same price-range and offers good basic accommodation. And then there are more up-market places like the Paramount. The Paramount has very small rooms but is close to Times Square and is a pretty interesting New Yorkish sort of place.
In last weekend's New York Times (Feb. 15th), Susan Spano wrote about budget accommodation in Manhattan. It's a very good article and she gives a reasonably detailed description of The Gershwin Hotel, Apple Core (chain), The Portland Square Hotel, Broadway Bed and Breakfast and the Cosmopolitan. She also mentions "Quickbook", a discount reservations agent (1800 789 9887). Her article is online at the New York Times site. If this link does not load it, try the New York Times search, using the title words as keys words.
Your Questions and Comments
Ash, an Australian living in Manhattan emailed: I got a real buzz when searching for an ad for Bowlmor Lanes to email back to Aussie that I found your NY letters. It was actually really weird to see these letters as they are so similar to my own! I've been living on Macdougal Street in the Village for about nine months now, and it looks as though I've been sharing some very similar experiences. I think your letters and web pages are fantastic and it's really nice to see an Aussie perspective on this pretty weird place.Thanks Ash. It's good to know that there are other Aussies out there who feel the same about life in the Big Apple! And if you have any observations, feel free to write in about them.
A number of readers asked recently about short-term accommodation in Manhattan, and so I answered them all with a summary of what I know (above). Jill an Australian from Lauderdale/Miami wrote and would like to hear from any readers who can tell her about places to stay. Jill will return the favour with information about accommodation in Miami. I'll pass any messages I get on to Jill.
I also had an email re. the MIS assistant position in NYC, from someone in Adelaide. Unfortunately I somehow lost the email before I could answer it. So if that Adelaider can send the email again, I'd be glad to respond.
February 20th '98
Till next week,
Kate