Governor's Island, NYC

The blogosphere is abuzz with comments on the disaster that was the Parked Food Truck Festival at Governor's Island, NYC, September 5th, 2010. My job, however, is to comment on the sincerity or lack thereof of the experience. Until that fateful Labor Day weekend, I had never been to Governor's Island but had heard a lot about the events there and how nice they all were, though from whom I can't quite remember. So Jon and I, in the interest of having a new adventure and not sitting on our butts all weekend, decided to check it out. My assessment is as follows:
The ferry ride to Governor's Island at approximately 3:30 p.m. was spectacular and we didn't wait long to board though there were tons of people (which should have given us a clue as to what awaited us). I love a good boat ride, so I was a happy camper. It takes about 10 minutes to get there from South Ferry - there's also a Brooklyn Ferry. Evaluation of the ferry: Very sincere

Once we arrived on the island, we discovered that The Parked Food Truck Festival we'd come to enjoy was a horror-show: hundreds of people in each line, the vendors and promoters, MeanRed, obviously overwhelmed, and many visitors ending up not eating at all - including us. Evaluation of the festival: Not even in the ballpark
Governor's Island as a whole was not as lovely as I'd expected - just kind of a big park with lots of official-type buildings and...tons of people. We did end up going to an art fair there, a kind-of multi-tiered gallery with some rather good art displayed, but in general, I felt my Sunday afternoon was wasted. That and the lack of food made me way crankier than I like to be on a beautiful long weekend. It made me wonder: when is a good time to go to Governor's Island? When would it not be crowded? On a weekday? It's only open Fri-Sun. When the weather's bad? Why bother? My overall evaluation of the Governor's Island experience so heavily promoted by our fair city: Not sincere at all

Beacon's Closet - Williamsburg, Brooklyn

I love it, I need it; I resent it, I denounce it. Such is the schizo relationship I have with Beacon's Closet, a hipper-than-thou used/vintage clothing store in Williamsburg. Williamsburg is having a more and more difficult time remaining sincere and it knows it and doesn't care. Don't dare walk down the street in Williamsburg unless you are dressed to impress the hipster elite. That said, Beacon's Closet is situated in the perfect locale, though there's one in Park Slope I understand. I've not been to that one, but several times a year I hie over to the store in Williamsburg, huge and garishly pink, and subject myself to the unlistenable music they blast, in order to revel in the racks and racks of great finds, all color coded. It is there I found a brown, wool, vintage dress, empire waist and form-fitting, Like It Was Made For Me - $18.00. A pair of mahogany-colored boots, so beautiful a woman once actually stopped me in Union Square and said, "those are the most beautiful boots I've ever seen, where did you get them?" to which I replied with an attitude that made me loathe myself, "they're vintage"  - $30.00. Cashmere sweaters, one of a kind skirts and vintage sun-dresses, usually for well under $20.00.

Pants are sometimes more, but it doesn't matter because you won't fit into the pants. Even if they're marked size  6, they are really size 0, which makes me think that the hipsters that sell their clothing to Beacon's Closet are normal-sized on top, with little, teeny, tiny bottoms. And that brings me to the subject of selling clothes. They'll make you feel like crap for deigning to bring your hideous clothing, which they'll paw over and ultimately reject. And if they do  buy something, for store credit or cash, it's for way less than you expected. They'll take the stuff they don't buy and "donate it to charity;" so save the humiliation and just take it to the Goodwill bin yourself.

The dressing room staff is snooty, the cashiers don't know the meaning of the word, "smile" and no matter what you wear or buy there, you'll never be good enough for them. And yet, I adore it with all my heart.

Evaluation: Not sincere at all (but you should definitely check it out)


 

williamsburg
88 n 11th street
brooklyn, ny 11211
(718) 486-0816

park slope
92 5th avenue
brooklyn, ny 11217
(718) 230-1630

http://www.beaconscloset.com/

Bra Smythe - Manhattan

This one is for the ladies. You know how hard it is to find the perfect bra? Well, some of us do, for our own particular reasons. A friend of mine registered for her bridal shower at an upscale little shop in Manhattan called Bra Smyth and, inspired by her faith in them, I went there in search of that perfect brassiere. I was prepared to spend money – whatever it took to find the garment that would be the answer to all my prayers.

I was a little intimidated going in – after all, this is where rich women shopped for their lingerie. The snooty French saleswoman snagged me a few items to try on, and I finally settled on one that seemed to fit well and was pretty. I laid out 75 bucks for it – twice as much as I’ve ever paid for a bra, but I figured, you've got to pay for quality. Once I got it home and wore it a couple of times, I realized that it was uncomfortable under the arms, so I brought it back, and they, not entirely cheerfully, offered to alter it. I left it for a couple of weeks and came back, tried it on, it seemed okay, and I left with it. It wasn’t okay, though I kept thinking I could break it in like a pair of shoes. No. So, after a few days, I trudged back to the Upper East Side in the cold, wanting an exchange or refund. Oh no, it was lingerie and I had worn it. Well, of course I’d worn it; it was a bra, stupid. No. No refund. They could try to fix it again. I sighed, brought it home and managed to alter the damn thing myself. But I never loved the way it looked under clothes and eventually when it lost its elasticity, I tossed it in disgust. Never again will I pay that much for a bra. Instead, I recently went to a Macy’s clearance sale (a store I am not in the least condoning for its sincerity) and bought two lovely bras for a total of 20 smackers. As much as I want to support the local business over the chain, Bra Smyth can bite me.

Evaluation: Not Sincere At All



905 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10021
212-772-9400

There's another location in Manhattan and one in N.J.
apparently you can get stuff off their website too:
I'm sure they have some nice crap:
www.BraSmyth.com