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Newbies Guide to Hanging Outside on Pier 63

Pier 63 is a cool place to hang in the summer -- literally -- as the wind will take about 10 degrees off your skin. After a workout at Chelsea Piers or flying up and down the Hudson River path, a cool one on the pier is the perfect ending.

To get there, you go north past Chelsea Piers and immediately after the Basketball City building turn left. You'll see a giant Frying Pan at the ramp. The place is littered with historic boats and gorgeous old maritime machinery. It's all public so you can just go and hang, eat and drink, or play a round of ping pong or foosball. Weekends are more crowded, but weeknights after work there's plenty of room.

For food or drink, you can sit at the cafe for table service...

...or you can order and pay at the bar.

Pick up the food at the kitchen. You can hang there and wait, or they'll call your number on the bullhorn.

The food is surprisingly good for a temporary setup on a pier. It's not going to win any awards, but the herb mayonaise with the "Mezze Sampler" was yummy, and a big ol' cheeseburger for $6 was a great deal.

The Big Brickness Coming to Sixth and 18th

Curbed tracks down photos from the architect and editorial from a tipster... "Booooooring 10-story red brick condo. First 2 floors are retail with extra-high ceilings. Top 8 floors are residential. Retail being shopped around now to big box retailers. Don't know when they are going to market the condos."

When it's a glass box, it's too modern and cold. And when it's traditional red brick it's boring. I'd hate to be an architect in this town.

Flyer Fight on 15th!

Arthur Emil, creator of such tourist traps as Windows on the World and the Rainbow Room, is working on a high-end kosher steakhouse in the old Man Ray space on 15th St. And residents there are not amused, seeing this as their opportunity to rid themselves of the late-night noise (incidentally, it's funny how we're pissed when nightlife closes on the avenues, then pissed when it opens on the side streets... 'fuck you avenue people!'). The Villager covered the original eruption, but Kellen reports on the flyer fight happening since...

e.g. once the posting went up that they were applying for a liquor license there, residents responded by taping up signs saying things like "the last thing this neighborhood needs is drunken hordes of people honking and hanging out into the late hours every night... call this number xxx-xxxx to voice your disapproval." ... the signs were posted 2-3 separate times, taken down (presumably by the owners) and replaced with one's saying "we're trying to open a very nice respectable restaurant here, etc..."

Happy Birthday to the Hotel Chelsea Blog

The young blog is already a year old today. Blushing and faklempt, the blog blew out her candles saying, "I’m curious as to why anyone would think that Stanley Bard would pay me to write about junkies shooting up in the bathroom."

Here's Lisa Chamberlain's report from the birthday party, in which I managed to dodge the camera.

Balducci's Investors Go Back to Basics

Realizing there's more than throwing money at a business, Bear Stearns pulls on the reins at Balducci's. Senior-managing director for Bear, Dick King, told The Post, "operations and execution is the challenging side of the business. Whole Foods got the execution right and then they grew it."

It's hard to believe in 2006, after all the operational advances we've seen from Fairway to Fresh Direct that this lesson is still being learned.

Writers Fill the House at 192 Books

It looks like the events at 192 Books have become higher profile and subsequently more popular to the point where reservations are required. For example, as part of the 2006 PEN World Voices celebration in New York, six distinguished writers from around the world will be reading short passages from their recent works. Call 212.255.4022 for reservations.