Like any big city, New York has its fair share of high street shops. But if you go south of 14th street, tons of hip, independent stores are waiting to be discovered. Here are some of the cool places that I saw:

Uniqlo

The “Japanese American Apparel”, Uniqlo has made New York home to its flagship store – a towering repository of colourful, mass-produced items. The design of the retail space is quite impressive, but I wish I could say the same about the T-shirts.

Sure, Terry Richardson, one of the world’s most coveted photographers, “designed” a whole T-shirt line for them, but it seems to me that the work was a result of a long 10 seconds of reflection: How about if I just stick a random photo on a tee? Maybe that’s what makes him a genius, but I just don’t get it.

Reed Space

The way I see it, Reed Space is what you get if Colette listened to hip-hop. A minimalist decor seeps through this Lower East Side Shop with streetwear magazines carefully arranged along the corridor and Graniph T-shirts neatly folded at the back.

Groupe 16 sur 20

With a Lotus Turbo Esprit parked at the entrance, this urban chic store is hard to miss. They didn’t carry many T-shirts (if any, can’t remember) but that car inside a shop thing was just too cool.

Roasting Plant

This was the coolest thing that I saw in NYC. Yup it’s a coffee shop but with one kick – the coffee beans are stored in tubes and, à la Willly Wonka, get sucked through the pipes all the way to the counter to give you that much needed caffeine jolt.

Addresses:
Groupe 16 sur 20: 267 Elizabeth St., NoLIta, website
Reed Space: 151 Orchard St., Lower East Side, website
Roasting Plant: 81 Orchard St., Lower East Side, website
Uniqlo: 546 Broadway, SoHo, website

Photo credit: Reed Space and me

Unfortunately for me, the title is to be taken literally. Hampered by a debilitating cold, I only got a glimpse of the exuberant NYC nightlife. But since all the good places in Manhattan are overrun by B&T folks at the weekend (like in London), that wasn’t a bad thing after all.

On Friday night, I probably had one of my swiftest night ever at a club. I arrived in the Lower East Side at about 1am and had the option to go to either Element or the Vault, two separate clubs housed in the same building.

I went with Vault, figuring that since it was located in the basement and the entrance was on a side street, it might be a bit more underground. Boy was I wrong. I left after 5 minutes, after seeing a group of a very young, college revellers dancing to uplifting progressive house. They seemed to have a good time, but it was too sappy and jolly for me.

On Saturday, I tried to stay in and get some much needed sleep. But after lying awake in bed for a good two hours, I decided to take a peek at the Sullivan Room in Greenwich Village. Fifteen minutes later (love the cabs in NYC – cheap, quick and easy to catch), I stood in front of the bouncer, exchanging the following words:

Bouncer: Who are you here with?
Me: No, I’m not on the guestlist.
Bouncer: Why are you here?
Me: For Mark Knight.
Bounce: You know who he is?
Me: Yes.
Bouncer: Ok

He was cool all along, but I thought him asking me “Why I was there” a bit unusual.

The Sullivan Room has the elements I like when I go out – a good atmosphere, people my age, not over-crowded, and best of all great tech house music by Mark Knight. Why do I like the dark, sensual beats? Because stuff like this happens (lots of dudes wearing T-shirts, ie: potential clients, in case you were distracted):

Lastly on Sunday evening, I decided to do the touristy thing and hopped on a boat cruise. But this “tour” was different from most others: Layo and Bushwacka, founders of The End, were at the decks for some cutting edge house music. A good way to end the weekend, and to get back to bed at a reasonable time.

ps: Although NYC is years behind London, Berlin, Madrid and even Montreal, for some serious underground action, I was told that Minimoo nights are by far the best ones in New York.

Photo credit: Sullivan Room and me.

Off to NYC until Monday night. Haven’t been there in three years. We’ll see after this weekend, whether I’ll still agree with New York Magazine that London has taken over New York’s reign as THE world’s capital.

Photo credit: Tcritic.