A Tribeca Treat Just in Time for the Holidays

While wandering around Tribeca interviewing store owners about the election, I stumbled upon a teeny, inconspicuous boutique on Reade Street called Macki. I was a bit distracted by the neat rows of colorful clothes, but I knew I had to interview the sales associate Paige, so I tore myself away. But when I took a last peek on my way out, I saw some of my favorite clothes labels beckoning me, so I knew I had to go back.

When I finally did, I was even more surprised with what I found. This gem of a store is hidden among Tribeca designer boutiques where one purchase alone could break your bank. At Macki, you can buy a whole outfit and still have money for the subway ride home!

Macki is a spin-off of a popular Park Slope, Brooklyn boutique named Goldy + Mac. Brooklynites Ashley Gold and Susan McInerney said they wanted to open a store that was "both stylish and wallet-friendly". McInerney also designs her own line of affordable jewelry, named SMACK, which is sold at both Macki and Goldy + Mac.

"We have a lot of European and New York women who spend tons of money here," said the sales associate, Paige. "But you get a lot of bang for your buck."

Especially during a time where we are all trying to save money, Macki is a great new place to do some Christmas shopping, or buy a new top for a last minute holiday party.

One of the shoppers there, K.K., confessed that Macki was her “staple” clothing store. “I always walk out of here with something, even if it's just some new idea for an outfit," she said.

Carrying some great labels like Ella Moss, Splendid and Paige Premium Denim, this little store is about to break out big for the holiday season. 

Tribeca's Small Businesses vs. the Economy

In Lower Manhattan, Tribeca is all about appearances. The enticing restaurants, boutiques and stores that line the clean streets exude financial success. But talk to the locals and they are worried — they just don’t want to admit it.

Going into Election Day, Ace Hardware store owner Gordon Mack was leaning towards Sen. John McCain at the time of the election, because “we are a hardware store; we aren’t feeling (the recession) as much.”

However his employee Kristaria Bixon said she felt that her boss has actually been “kind of upset” with his store sales. And given the realities of her job – where she does not get health insurance – she was behind Sen. Barack Obama because of his promise to help Americans with medical care issues.

Shoppers like Mary Thomas want change too. She said, “a lot of people are afraid to spend, because they don’t know what’s going to happen in our economy in the next few years.” She is also an Obama supporter because she liked “his different, newer way of thinking.”

No matter who gets elected, going into the holiday shopping season will be tough. Sales, said Macki boutique employee Paige Lawson, are already “up and down, and there aren’t as many tourists as there used to be.”

"Bright Lights, Big City"

For a newcomer, New York’s Tribeca may seem intimidating. There are too many gleaming steel buildings and too many overpriced designer boutiques. The models and Wall Street transplants seated at the trendy cafes could make any fanny-pack toting, sneaker-wearing visitor to the city steer clear.

But with a new surge of more casual dining spots and stores, Tribeca has evolved from mere icy celebrity enclave to a warm neighborhood. One important place that welcomes people from all credit card classes is The Odeon. The hip crowds have waxed and waned, but The Odeon is still a special restaurant to New Yorkers and tourists alike, and an important part of enticing new people to the neighborhood of Tribeca.

Owned by restaurant magnates Keith McNally and Lynne Wagenknecht, The Odeon is the epitome of old-time glamour. New York Magazine named it “the original Tribeca hangout for the hip and fabulous,” and Frommers.com called it “a symbol of Tribeca sensibility.”

In a city of “reservations only," the hostess won’t stare you down with barely disguised pity if you go to The Odeon on a whim, hoping for a table. Most importantly, the food is delicious, French-American with something for everyone.

The minimalist menu has clear font and concise descriptions of their items. You can actually understand everything that’s on it: no fancy French jargon. There’s spicy chicken dumplings ($12), a three egg omelet with French fries ($15), and a tuna burger with wasabi mayonnaise and fries ($22). In the summer, there's an outdoor ice cream cart: it's homemade and only $4.

The décor is as no-nonsense as the food: the dining room is warm with rich mahogany paneling and pristine white tablecloths. The bar is inviting; full of people who look like they are engaged in fascinating conversations that you want to be a part of. The low ceilings and paneled floor permits conversations to echo off the walls, making the room loud it an exciting, not disruptive way.

The Odeon owns an enviable piece of real estate in one of the most real-estate conscious neighborhoods in the city. It has been on the corner between Thomas and Duane streets since 1981.

For the pop-culture buffs, The Odeon has the distinction of being in the credits of the long-running comedy show, “Saturday Night Live," and is featured on the cover of Jay Mcinerney's novel, "Bright Lights, Big City." The Odeon has been around almost as long as SNL.

It ushered in somewhat of a renaissance of the neighborhood, when everyone from painters, writers, politicians, businessmen, and their families moved into the area, (between 1970 and 1980, the population of TriBeCa jumped from 243 to 5,101.)

The Odeon isn’t trendy; it’s a New York establishment. Dining there allows everyone a great piece of the neighborhood of Tribeca, and a little piece of the entire New York experience.

Remembering 9/11

I have to admit, I don't think about the events of Sept. 11, 2001 very often. I didn't lose anyone in the towers, I was in the 8th grade and didn't realize the magnitude of what had happened. I think my age group just missed it; that feeling people got when they were watching the World Trade Center fall. The feeling that today, right now, everything will change.

I am amazed at the strength of New Yorkers to adapt to the continuous change happening around them. I may not like their sports teams, but the pride, strength, and determination that New Yorkers exhibited on that day is remarkable.

This morning my journalism class toured the Tribute World Trade Center Vistitor Center and the site itself. Our tour guide was named John Henderson, who also works in the Graduate Enrollment Office at NYU. I hadn't been there since 2004, when I went on a trip with my high school. The area looks so different than I remember. It seems like so much construction is going on, but at the same time it's hard to imagine how it will look when it's completed.

I listened attentively to John, and was shocked by some of the information he supplied. But I was most moved by the galleries of the Tribute Center, especially the pictures of those who died that day.

Then we spoke with Manny Papir, who was Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's Deputy Chief of Staff on 9/11. Manny helped people evacuate and remembers a "loss of all senses, except for my sight." He had tunnel vision, only focusing on helping others, not truly the devastation that was going on around him.

I am still amazed at the unity and selflessness others showed that day. Although that day realized my worst fears about humankind, they also exceeded any amount of kindness towards others that I could have imagined. Since I wasn't in the city during 9/11, something Pete Hamill wrote in "Downtown," has really put into words what the experience meant to New Yorkers and to so many others across the country as well:

"More millions grieved for the world that existed on September 10th, knowing it was forever behind us. For a while, at least, all felt various degrees of fury. But nobody ran. We knew that at least we had lived once in that world before that fanatics changed it forever. With all its flaws, horrors, disappointments, cruelties, we would remember that lost world all our days and most of our nights." -Pete Hamill

Meeting Pete Hamill

"Don't ever look down on someone unless you are helping them up."- Pete Hamill's mother.

This week in class, the author Pete Hamill came to speak with us. Before he showed up (a bit late, as he was busy finishing his cheese danish), I was actually a little nervous. Hamill was a bit of a celebrity for our journalism class. We had all just finished his book, "Downtown" and talked a lot about the visit and the questions we would ask him. When he came into the classroom, he wasn't anything like I expected...except for the fact that he was wearing the same outfit as he is on the cover of "Downtown"!

When Hamill was speaking to us, I got the same feeling as I have speaking with my grandfather; he has a wealth of life experiences, and was full of interesting anecdotes, but he spoke slowly with no clear focus. We couldn't necessarily get him to talk about what we "wanted" him to talk about; but it was better that way. He was in his own world and we were along for the ride. I really enjoyed "Downtown" and recommend it to anyone who loves New York or who would like to learn more about it; it's a different perspective than a guidebook gives.

Hamill signed my book, (the first book I ever got signed by its author!) and did eventually answer our questions. I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed with his answer to my question. He mentioned in his book that he lives in Tribeca, so I asked him why he decided to move there, as he has lived at 14 other addresses in the city. He had a lot to say about nearly everything, but for my question, he merely said he liked Canal Street and so he enjoyed living close to it in Tribeca. I didn't get any interesting insight from Hamill about the neighborhood of Tribeca itself.

But I still really enjoyed listening to Hamill muse about New York City. In "Downtown," he puts into words all the reasons I love the city and why I feel so lucky to go to school and live here:

"The New Yorker learns to settle for glimpses. There are simply too many people to ever know them all, to unravel all of their secrets. Nobody in such a vast and various place can absorb everything. You know the people you love and the people with whom you work. The rest is glimpses. And on certain days, yes, you want to live forever."

Sean Basinski and the Street Vendor Project

Your morning coffee is a lot more complicated than you may have thought. Every day the same street vendor stands at the same cart on the same patch of sidewalk, like the most reliable and consistent friend in your life. But did you ever think about how your favorite vendor ended up there? Or if giving you your daily caffeine fix is as easy a process for him as it is for you?

Probably not. But Sean Basinski has put a lot of thought into it. The 36-year-old founder of the Street Vendor Project has devoted his career to helping street vendors fight against big businesses that are trying to push vendors out of whatever little space they have managed to hold onto.

In New York City, there are about 10,000 people who sell different types of goods on the street. The Street Vendor Project is an unofficial union that seeks to defend these people against “those with the power in New York City.” According to Sean Basinski, the power belongs to the big real estate and retail companies.

Basinski’s brainchild seeks to open up blocked off streets to vendors, obtain more permits and licenses, reduce the price of vending fines, and educate vendors on their rights, and the intricacies and loopholes of the rules they live with everyday.

According to Basinski, many vendors are male immigrants, who support families and pay taxes. It is nearly impossible to obtain a required merchandising license, because there are so few available. According to the street vending rules and regulations available on nyc.gov, the city’s website, “Unfortunately, with a legislative cap of only 853 licenses, and a waiting list of thousands, the chance of obtaining a license at this time is unlikely.” A cap of only 853 licenses makes it next to impossible for the other 9,000 people to obtain the needed paperwork. Vendors who sell merchandise are swiftly arrested if they lack a license and given fines that can add up to $1000, an amount they simply cannot afford.

Basinski believes street vendors are essential to the city. They are part of the “fabric of different communities” that make up New York. Without our street vendors, our sidewalks will look different, sound different, even smell and taste different. New York is a great fusion of people from all social classes, ethnicities, and backgrounds. If street vendors continue to be pushed off our sidewalks, New York may become a lot less of an interesting place.

Street Vendor Aspasia Kathehis

I pass Aspasia Kathehis on every stroll around Tribeca that I take when I am looking for things to blog about. After learning about the Street Vendor Project, I started noticing vendors everywhere around the city. I decided to speak with Kathehis and find out her story.

Kathehis stands on the same stretch of sidewalk every afternoon in front of the Citigroup building on Greenwich Street. From this spot, she makes cheeseburgers, lamb gyros, and cheese steaks for her customers. A 53-year-old woman who emigrated 30 years ago from her native Greece, she struggles somewhat with to express herself in English, because she says, “I never had English schooling.”

Kathehis is patient and warm to her customers. Small in stature, with olive skin and deep brown hair, she offers a small smile while cooking. Kathehis takes time to wrap her sandwiches meticulously, as if she is swaddling a small child in its blanket. Surrounded by louder, more outgoing men on the same city sidewalk, Kathehis says business hasn’t been very good. But she is still quite pleased with the spot she works at daily. Right down the street from a playground teeming with public school children and a view around the corner of the Hudson River, Kathethis thinks the area is, “beautiful, but very different from my home.”

Kathethis says she doesn’t miss Greece too much. She traveled back there in July when her father died, but says that these days “everyone” is in New York: her family, her friends, and her job. She never had a career in Greece, so she is quite proud to be making money herself to help out her husband. Her daughter and two sons are in their 30s and have moved away from her Queens apartment to take advantage of the opportunities the United States offers. So every day, she stands there making the same food for the same few businessmen and neighborhood regulars. But don’t feel sorry for her, because as she says, still smiling, “somebody has to feed the neighborhood and I like doing it.”