Sorry I’ve been missing for a bit.  This past holiday weekend was jam-packed with fun and excitement and it’s been hard to get back in to the routine of normal life…

First up was Thanksgiving Day with Andrew’s family and our friends, Adina and Steph. The food was delicious and the company, as always, entertaining.  After consuming a rather large dinner, we settled in for a good game of sceneit?.  It was girls versus boys and, for once, I was actually useful.  I’m just awful with names – especially of actors, directors and movies – so, normally this game is not my strong suit.  This time, though, I got into it…

Ultimately, fun and food were had by all, I think; but, it was the next day when the real fun began!!

On Friday, Adina, Steph, Andrew and I set out for New York City for a weekend full of food, fiber and adventure. I just adore mini-vacations!!

Our first stop was the hotel:

We stayed at the new W Hoboken.  As you can probably tell from the photograph above, they had these annoying purple lights.  They were too harsh for the space; my eyes still burn just thinking about them.  They also had some indoor grass…

…and a backup plan.

Ok.  So the hotel is not technically in NYC – or the state of New York for that matter – but they were having a good deal and it is close enough to allow for easy travel into Manhattan by train.  Speaking of, our intrepid group headed out right away into the insanely windy wilds and onto a train where we proceeded to go all meta:

Once we got into the city, we headed directly to Sapporo for some tasty, tasty ramen.  This was the first time Adina and Steph had ramen that wasn’t from an instant package so it was all very exciting.

After eating, we stopped by nearby Rockefeller Center to see the gigantic Christmas tree; unfortunately, it wasn’t lit yet.  There were plenty of people, though.  Some of them were ice skating:

The exorbitant price tag, a gnawing craving to go shopping and a mildly traumatic college ice skating incident prevented me from taking part in the fun.  Oh well…

We headed onward toward Kinokuniya, a great Japanese bookstore located near Bryant Park.  I purchased a crochet pattern dictionary – モチーフ・エジング300―かぎ針編みパターンブック- and some great graph paper.  I cannot wait to play around with some of the motifs in the book and, I have to admit here and now that I absolutely love graph paper!!

After we had our fill of cute Japanese goods for the day, we headed out in search of Dylan’s Candy Bar and we found it:

It was a brightly colored, crowded candy mecca.  They have so, so many kinds of candy that it boggles the mind.  I have to say that it induced stimulus overload.  Nonetheless, I ended up leaving with some nostalgic favorites like Fruit Stripes gum, candy buttons and Warheads.

We checked out Serendipity, down the street from Dylan’s, as a possible dinner location but were discouraged by the wait time of two or more hours.  So, we ended up going to Gyu-Kaku, a Japanese yakiniku restaurant.  Yakiniku is similar to Korean barbecue except the food is cooked on a grill instead of a griddle surface.  The restaurant is a bit pricey but well worth the expense.  Yum!

We rounded out the day by going in search of dessert.  Our first stop was a small ice cream shop called Sundaes & Cones.  They have quite a few unusual ice cream flavors like Wasabi and Corn.  I ended up with a rather more normal sounding milkshake made with their coffee chocolate chip and chocolate ice cream, though.  It was delicious.  This establishment has gotten a great number of rave reviews on sites like Yelp and I heartily add my endorsement to these.  If you like ice cream and you’re in NYC, you should definitely make a point to drop by.

Then, after a bit of uncertainty and searching, we landed at momofuku milk bar.  They have a lot of unusual but tasty treats.  Andrew and I picked up some cookies to bring back to the hotel.  The compost cookie and chocolate-chocolate cookie were delectable.  Next time I’ll have to try some of the crack pie…

Exhausted, we headed back to the hotel with our spoils.

The next morning we headed to Manhattan again, this time to explore Soho and the East Village.  Our first stop was breakfast at Cafe Orlin:

Andrew and I love Cafe Orlin!!  More specifically, we love their millet pancakes:

Served with homemade chicken sausage and roasted beets with goat cheese, we can’t go to NYC without having millet pancakes at least once.  If ever find yourself in NYC for breakfast or brunch, you must have millet pancakes!!

Anyway, after we stuffed ourselves silly, we went on shopping excursions in the nearby neighborhoods.  We visited Kate’s Paperie, UNIQLO, Muji, Purl and Purl Patchwork.  As was to be expected, the crowds were out in full force; however, it was not as bad as I imagined it would be.  I ended up purchasing some awesome hoodies and socks at UNIQLO.  Surprisingly, I purchased nothing at Purl and Purl Patchwork.  Although I absolutely adore their selection, the cramped environment is just not conducive to my shopping style…

After shopping, we went on another eating expedition.  First, an unplanned stop at Beard Papa for some tasty cream puffs.  Then the best hot dogs in NYC at Gray’s Papaya.  And finally, seriously the best pizza I have ever had at Artichoke Pizza.

Once we were sufficiently stuffed to the point of exploding, Adina and Steph departed for some relaxation at the hotel, while Andrew and I trekked onward to visit a couple of my other favorite NYC LYSs: Annie & Co. Knitting and Knitty City.  These relatively spacious stores are much more conducive to my shopping style, and so, spend money I did.  Let’s just say that I bought enough yarn at Knitty City to get a free tote bag…  As a qualifier, some of it was bought for the purpose of making holiday presents.  Sorry, there are currently no photos of the loot but perhaps I can rectify this over the weekend when I get to see the sun again.

Finally, Andrew and I wound down our day by fighting for seats at the Upper West Side location of the Shake Shack:

The burger and shake were passable.  The fries were tasty-licious!!

Then, on Sunday, we headed home with a small detour to the Japanese hotspot that is Edgewater, New Jersey to go here:

Mitsuwa Marketplace!!

We had a healthy breakfast of sushi, assorted pastry, bread and creamyaki:

Creamyaki consist of a waffle-like dough filled with a wonderful creamy custard.  They are slightly crunchy on the outside and soft and gooey inside.  The are one of my favorite parts of coming to Mitsuwa.

After shopping for some Japanese goodies in the marketplace and the nearby bookstore and gift shop, we settled in to lunch, which for me consisted of tasty hamburger steak and gyoza:

Don’t they look good enough to eat?!  Well, I can tell you, they were!!

Sadly, following lunch, it was back to home and reality, where homework and laundry were calling for my attention…

When you think of the criminal gangs of New York in the 1800s, ruthless young men probably come to mind.

But these gangs had female members as well, some of whom were notorious fighters.

There was Hell-Cat Maggie, a member of the Irish-American Dead Rabbits in the 1850s. Her home base was the Five Points slum, near today’s City Hall. Supposedly her teeth were filed into sharp points and she clawed rivals with brass fingernails.

Another was Sadie Farrell, aka Sadie the Goat. Reportedly she robbed East Siders by first head-butting them in the stomach. In the 1860s she joined the Charlton Street Gang, river pirates on the West Side.

Ida Burger, called Ida the Goose, was a prostitute and Lady Gopher, part of the Gophers of Hell’s Kitchen. In the 1910s she was lured away to the Lower East Side’s Eastman Gang, led by Monk Eastman, but eventually went back to the Gophers after a bloody shootout.

The illustration above, from the New York Public Library, depicts tough chicks rumming it up at a Five Points tavern in the 1870s.

The rent for these big duplex lofts (Spiral staircase! Full kitchen!) sounds pretty cheap today.

But in July 1984, when this ad ran in the East Village Eye, wouldn’t $1150 and $1300 a month be kind of on the pricey side?

I wonder what the location was and if these apartments still exist—or if they’ve been boutique-hotelized.

On Tuesday, November 17, GINA PERFORMA sat down with composer Luciano Chessa for a one-on-one confab about his reconstruction of Luigi Russolo’s Intonarumori, which were played in a concert at New York City’s Town Hall as part of the Performa09 biennial on Thursday, November 12, 2009.

This is what happened.

These 19th century–looking numbers and letters on random buildings give the city such an old-timey vibe. A terra cotta relief on East Ninth Street marks a particularly lovely apartment building:

No. 1 Sylvan Terrace, in Harlem, has a very colonial feel:

This walkup on Weekhawken Street is especially sweet; the entire street name is painted above the door:

Today, on my morning walk, I saw this sign on the steps of a brownstone on East 10th street.

Although, “Please take, kids stuff. Clean!” is only five words it’s not unlike Hemingway’s famous, sometimes even considered best work, six word short story–”For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

In 2008 Smith Magazine put together a piece called Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. Click here to see an excerpt by NPR.

Smith Magazine is an amazingly cool online magazine devoted to storytelling.

GRUB (OR DRINK) 411:

• Double Crown 316 Bowery (@ Bleecker), 212.254.0350
• SEOULDIVA TIPS: Great, laid-back place for after-work drinks.
• SEOULDIVA SAYS:

This is a quick & dirty Grub post, mainly because I’ve never really eaten here.  Even though, I’ve recently attained “Mayor” status of Double Crown on Foursquare, it’s purely because it’s been my choice watering hole over the past few months.

Across the street from the über-popular Gemma & DBGB is the ever-so-dimly lit Double Crown.  Since it’s walking distance from my Soho office, it’s a great place to go for drinks after work.  Seating at the bar is pretty attainable.  And it’s always just tastefully packed.

Crowd: intellectually beautiful.  Which – in this case – isn’t code for ugly.  The folks who frequent Double Crown look like the types who have both beauty & brains.  Think black thick-rimmed glasses, tweet blazers with Converse & artistic stubble.  All very friendly, unassuming and personable. There’s a very easy-going energy to this place, which is why I keep returning.

On any given night, you can probably see Iza manning the bar.  A charming Aussie, he is a great drink wizard.  Here’s just one of the things he whipped up:

CLICK FOR A DESCRIPTION!

I’m intrigued to try the food.  But from an Angry Asian Girl standpoint, I don’t WANT to like it.  Their website description: Double Crown explores the aesthetic and culinary dualities arising from the British Empire’s foray into India and Southeast Asia.

TRANSLATION:  This is the kind of fusion food that arises when the British Empire rapes, pillages & colonizes third world countries.

OK, maybe I’m being a little harsh.  :/ Clearly it’s Asian fusion cuisine.  Full food review to come someday.  

Vintage Sale!! 25% Off All Clothing & 15% Off All Shoes!!

We’ve got a sale for all you shoppers out during Thanksgiving Weekend and Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. We hope you come check out our shop. Again, we have an amazing selection of vintage clothes and rows and rows of beautiful shoes & boots. Hope to see you there! Have fun shopping this weekend and Happy Thanksgiving from Metropolis.

I just want to say that I love my friends and I like hamburgers. So if you’ve got a hankering for one (a hamburger, not friend – although you could perhaps find one of those there too), I suggest you get yourself to Paul’s Burgers on 2nd avenue. They’ve got a million different burgers you can order (all super healthy, of course) and you get a giant bowl of pickle chips at your table, which gets automatic points from me.

It’s quite the spot; lots of kitsch, with checkered table cloths and road signs like “Trailer Trash Avenue” and the like. They also have TVs so you can watch your college football team get killed (ahem) or you can sit on one of the bar stools and watch the cooks in action. The burgers are deeelicious, as are their shakes. My little sister even got a shake there once when she visited me and she’s not a shake person by any means. It’s just good, people.

Ok, that is all. Eat a hamburger. And get ready for City Mitten: Detroit Edition, as I’m on my way to Thanksgiving weekend back home.

I guess the developer of this residential high-rise at 931 First Avenue and 51st Street deserves praise.

He could have bulldozed the entire circa-1892 Romanesque revival elementary school building located on this corner and put up his high-rise at street level. 

Instead, he kept the beautiful facade in place and built a condo tower inside it.

It’s kind of the same story with this new New York University dorm, a sleek, 26-story tower in the East Village.

It was constructed behind what’s left of St. Ann’s, on East 12th Street near Fourth Avenue, which spent most of its life as a Catholic church. Put up in 1847, it started out as a Baptist church and even housed a synagogue in the 19th century.

When NYU made its plans for the dorm a few years back, they decided to preserve a portion of the church’s facade and the gothic tower.

I decided to make a trip to NYC straight from Chicago. I just wanted to get away for a little. I stayed with my buds Adel and Rajib at there place in the financial district. It was crazy, its a block away from Wall St. Monday morning was crazy outside. Its so lively. Well here is a summary of my trip.

]]> http://biancamagdaleno.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/it-smells-like-roasted-nuts/ Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:02:43 +0000 bmagdaleno http://biancamagdaleno.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/it-smells-like-roasted-nuts/

*uploading video is in the works.

If you’ve been to New York you KNOW the aroma of warm,cinnamon, roasted nuts that remind you of the Holidays. You can’t escape the scented trail that graces the corners and attacks your senses. I was sucked in by these little carts emitting such wonderful aromas my first visit to New York and I was determined to track one of those carts down before my trip was over. Surely enough I smelled one two blocks away and didn’t hold back ordering cashews covered in goodness. My partner in crime ordered roasted chestnuts. Unfamiliar with this peculiar nut I had to try a bite! The chestnut is stubborn on the outside, but it’s insides literally, melt away once they hit your lips. It was an interesting texture, tasty, but I do have to admit they did smell a little weird.

Having the biggest sweet tooth only hurts you in a place covered in bakeries and coffee shops.

I have heard nothing but great things about Magnolia Bakery and I had to find out what all the rage consisted of. It was most certainly on my to do list. But before we get to that let me tell you about this quirky little hot dog chain called, “Papaya Dog.”

Hitting the streets around lunch time only makes you more hungry, but instead of having pizza again we opted to try an authentic New York hot dog. We checked into recommended Papaya Dog and ordered. I ordered a chilly dog while my other explorers chose chili-cheese dogs. Walking in I couldn’t help but ask myself why it was called Papaya Dog?!?

Well, I came to the conclusion that these little closets have an assortment of tropical drinks, one of them being Papaya. That’s as good as I could get.

We took our lunch to a sidewalk bench and had our feast at the foot of the Empire State building. It was in fact an amazing way to admire such a historical  building. Afterall it is King Kongs building of choice!

Energized and ready we continued to treck and take over New York. We headed to the Rockefeller Center, but on the way we stopped at the New York Library. The New York Library was by far the largest library I had ever seen!! Spanning over one entire block and flushed with greenery and marble. Walking into the library I had to remind myself that I was in a library and not in a marble castle. I walked up flights of stairs to the second level where just as tall murals graced the walls. The murals told the story of the printed word. First beginning with the monks followed by Guttenberg and eventually ending with the printing press. The New York library hosts one of the original Guttenberg bibles and I had to see it for myself. Being the only explorerer enveloping myself in the library, I agreed to continue our journey. There are parts of the library I missed and I would definitely go back to check out.

Willingly being led by the streets we ended up in Bryant Park, known for hosting New York’s fashion week and a winter ice skating rink. Sprinkled through the park are little shops filled with unique treasures and tasty treats. The skating rink was cheery and made you want to do nothing, but skate under the sky.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral was next on the list and was absolutely breathtaking. The cathedral was enormous in height and emitted an astonishing aura. Walking in I was overwhelmed by grand arches and I like the others walked with my head turning in every direction. I could have easily spent a few hours in there and as I said good-bye I lit a candle for my family’s celebrated saint, Saint Anthony of Padua.

Not only was the cathedral an amazing place to see, but the buildings lining up the streets were works of art bearing great history and I’m sure great stories.

Have I convinced you to buy your ticket yet?

Rockefeller Center popped up on our path and it was already under construction for christmas decorations. Ladders surrounded the soon to be completed tree as skaters danced across the famous rink. Just across the way was the famous NBC studios and we had to go into the network’s store. Tons of NBC show stuff as well as a complete candy heaven was stocked inside. We covered midtown and now it was time to venture back to East Village. Now it was time to find the subway. Walking to the subway we ran into yummy Magnolia Bakery! I was soo excited!

Stepping into the bakery was like a dream and it smelled so delicious. Small personal cheescakes were all lined up in the first case followed by cakes, cupcakes and cookies. Unfortunately I was disappointed with everything, but the cheesecake. (I’ve had better) We all dove in and placed our orders. I took pumpkin cheesecake with me as the others ordered chocolate vanilla swirl and key  lime. We found a spot near a fountain across the street where we attacked and savored every morsel.

On to the subway we headed to east village. Upon arriving we walked blocks and blocks of streets and dipped into a cozy bar for a bit. The bar served popcorn with every drink and it was filled with locals and international accents. We talked until our feet were ready to  hit the streets again and hungry as usual we were directed to the famous Katz Deli. I had no idea why it was famous or what to expect so I went with the flow. We arrived at Katz Deli, which was old-fashioned and the menu looked as if it hadn’t changed in years!

Besides the endless photos of celebrities and people of interest covering the walls from the ceiling to the floor, Katz Deli is well-known for being in the movie where Harry Met Sally. We of course had to sit and eat dinner here and a small sign helped us pick our spot in the restaurant.

Diving Into My Turkey Sandy

Lookin' up at "The Sign"

Katz clever way of the "bill"

Our feast

With the night just beginning we were ready to listen to some music and checked out east village radio. The home to the online radio station. We were shocked when we spotted the place because we all were expecting a place to sit and listen to music. Instead it was a tiny closet of a place and six people inside of it equaled a crowd. Nonetheless I went because it was on my fellow travelers list of must see’s. Having enough of the crowded spot we headed down the streets and ended at a small apartment where we met some ”locals” that shared their favorite club spots and advice on getting a cab.

When Hailing a Cab:

1) Look for the cabs with their light on top turned on.

2) If a random car pulls up it’s probably a Gypsy cab. It’s cheaper, but they can’t get in trouble for kidnapping you.

3) The taxi cabs with a lot of advertising on them are more expensive.

4) Taxi’s aren’t alowed to share their rides…that means no picking up “Driving Ms. Daisy’s” and dropping them off…on the way to your destination. (This happened to us earlier in the day and we almost missed our train!)

Sitting at the apartment with good conversation and listening to old one hit onders we missed our train giving us no choice, but to take the next one. We headed to the subway and now this time the subway didn’t run as often so we missed our train again! Frustrated with the night we quietly rode to Penn station and purchased our tickets for the next train, which was to arrive at 2AM.

Drenched from the drizzle we went back outside and walked the lonely streets. We went back to Papaya Dog and also made a stop at White Castle.  I had never tried the burger joint before and had to try the famous “White Castle.” Dissapointed! Let’s just say if you like mini burgers with paper thin meat and soggy bread this is YOUR joint! As time passed we headed back to Penn Station where tons of drunk stragglers were meandering around waiting for their next. Finally our train had arrived and we ran to it ready to go home and sleep.

On the train there was constant noise of drunken conversation that eventually drowned out as we took off toward Farmingdale. But why when I looked over two girls who were sprawled on their seats covered in shopping and sleeping both woke up crying as if they had a nightmare or something. Weird! I just kept to myself and  hoped to get home soon.

Exhausted from a long day I couldn’t help, but be happy with all the amazing sights and food I had experienced over two days.

I’m stoked that one of my fave Japanese bakeries,Panya has re-opened again!  Panya has an even larger space now & in addition, they serve hot Japanese style breakfasts & lunch as well as cold foods from Sunrise Market! Their pastries,bread,& crustless style Japanese sandwiches are off the chain! I really thought that Panya closed up shop for good & were down for the eternal count especially when their next door neighbor, the great late night diner style haunt, “Around the Clock” shuttered it’s door. This is great, now I can really enjoy my cold & hot drinks from St. Alps & walk across the street to Panya for dessert or a bento box!  Now, if they can bring back Around the Clock, The Continental, Chick Pea, Underground Kim’s, & Coney Island High, the East village might resemble a shadow of what they once were! In the meantime, enjoy your Strawberry shortcakes & other Shinjuku delicacies in the east village!

Panya @ 8 Stuyvesant St
(between 11th St & 12th St)
New York, NY 10003
(212) 777-1930

20.
東村。

天氣好的時候, 總是會忍不住抓著相機然後到處拍拍走走。

三十件事裡, 如果沒有東村就不會完整了。

那你眼裡的東村呢？

If you look really close, you will see that this is the nexus of the universe.

Seinfeld: Well, what street are you on?

Kramer: I’m at 1st and 1st… wait a minute, how can a street intersect with itself?.. I must be at the nexus of the universe.

Seinfeld: Just wait there, I’ll pick you up. And Kramer, stay alive no matter what occurs, I will find you.

Danceabilly People Unite!!

Rico, our loved Metropolis music man has a show tomorrow and we thought you should know! The Other Men is playing tomorrow night in Brooklyn at Public Assembly. Make sure you stop by and say hello! See you Friday night…

Check out their show at Bowery Electric ::

courtesy of chikalicious.com

I had assumed that everyone had been to Chikalicious, but I was wrong. Whoops! So here it goes:

Chikalicious is, I am guessing, named after Chika, the chef and one of the owners. And you will be sure to see her husband Don faithfully there every night it seems. Don is a part owner, manager, sommelier and first rate host! Seriously, the man is so good at customer service.

It’s a tiny, tiny, tiny dessert bar. The best time to go is right after work, otherwise you will be waiting on a long line, for a long time. The main part of the room is a bar where they make the desserts right in front of you and then a few tables to the side. It’s a lot of fun there because they are making art right in front of your eyes. So you get to eat and you get entertained at the same time. Don’t feel bad about watching, they seem very use to it!

I can’t describe how to categorize the desserts. The restaurant themselves describe their plates as “American desserts, French Presentation and Japanese tasting portions.” Without fail I always order the prix fixe of an amuse, main dessert and petite fours. You can add on a wine pairing to this, but I am a huge fan of their specialty cocktails, and because the menu is constantly changing, whenever I go they have a new one to try that night. The amuses are wonderful, full of fruits and gelees or sorbets, yummy. The main desserts are so hard to choose! While the only mainstays seem to be the Fromage Blanc Island “Cheese Cake” (this is not your typical cheesecake, see above) and the Warm Chocolate Tart with Pink Peppercorn Ice Cream and Red Wine Sauce, everything else is constantly changing. And you want to pick right because you know when you come back you aren’t going to see it again.

So, since I’ve been to Chikalicious so many times, and I’ve never had the same main dish, the general consensus is that, well, if it were bad, I wouldn’t have kept going back. Their desserts are never sugary sweet. Everything is about balance. Something doesn’t have to have a ton of sugar to be considered a dessert.

Oh, and it’s so lovely when you are done with your main course and they present you with a dainty plate of petite fours, usually a homemade marshmallow coated in toasted coconut, a type of cookie and a rich chocolate truffle. Without alcohol, the prix fixe is only $14. That’s freaking amazing for NYC! That’s freaking why the lines are so long. It’s a perfect place to bring your date too. I’ve eaten there alone before and was literally the only one there without a pair. Whatever, I had melon sorbet in my mouth and a glass of raspberry sparkling wine in my hand, what did I care?

8.5 out of 10

203 East 10th Street,
New York, NY 10003
212-995-9511
Note: They have a take out place across the street, do not confuse the two. The dessert bar has no big sign, you will just see a large glass window and door.

17.
dieci在East Village。

東村裡的小街暗巷, 有家很不起眼的店叫dieci。用分類來說的話, dieci大概應該是在”每次都經過每次都想去每次都沒機會”的那一類, 於是今天好不容易終於找到機會（其實是因為課被cancel, 得到難得悠閒的週四夜晚）。

dieci的風格, 像是義大利的tapas小酒館混了日本風。裡面的侍者和廚師清一色是日本人, 在百分之九十充滿葡萄酒的酒單裡也默默出現sake和日本啤酒（日本風的堅持？！）。硬要比喻的話, 差不多就像是‘inoteca被日本人接手的感覺, 感覺很neat。

這天晚上其實我們都沒很餓, 於是只點了兩道tapas share。圖為Yellowtail Tataki。

週四晚上人其實不多（也可能是因為我們很早去的關係）, 店裡有個從廚房延伸出來的長吧台, 有種又chic又cozy的感覺。就今晚的感想, dieci還蠻適合四人左右的朋友聚會聊天。有機會下次再去！

[FYI]
dieci
228 E 10th St # A (btw 1 & 2 Ave.)
New York, NY 10003-7743
- (212) 387-9545

NYmag

Calling all sports fans and collectors!

We’ve got amazing vintage Starter Jackets and vintage Sports T-shirts from a variety of years, teams, and sports.  From NY Giants to Chicago Bears we’ve got great quality pieces.  Here are a few for a sneak peak. Stop in and check them all out!

One of Downes' projects: Basic Urban Kitchen in East Village

Because of the space limitations of print, I was able to devote only 550-or-so words to my piece in this week’s CityBeat about architect/developer Graham Downes‘ thoughts about a Chargers’ stadium in East Village. As Downes put it, “It will be the death of the area.” It was a great conversation (note to KPBS’ These Days: if you do a segment about the stadium, invite Downes) and Downes’ brought up some very salient points that I haven’t seen discussed anywhere else since Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani mention at an Oct. 30 Rotary Club meeting that the team was eying East Village.

Downes on why Petco isn’t a good reference point for a football stadium’s impact:

Petco is a smaller-format stadium. It is used four times as many occasions and has half as much of a traffic impact for each occasion. People are forgetting that a football game is less drawn-out. Everybody arrives at pretty much the same time and everybody leaves at the same time, whereas at a baseball game, people sort of come late, leave early. There are twice as many people at a football game, there are half as many games each year. It’s a totally self-serving thing; it doesn’t really serve the city. It serves the football fans and it keeps the Chargers in town. There’s other ways to keep the Chargers in town—the chargers should stay in Mission Valley. That is their home.

As I touched on in the article, Downes has a vision for East Village. “I don’t think development should be pushed down anyone’s throat. It should be very incremental and happen in a very natural way,” he said. I asked why he thinks East Village has been slow to redevelop. His response:

A lot of it has to do with big towers taking over whole blocks. Really, what would be very cool is if that all happened sort of in mid East Village, upper East Village, and then lower East Village it would be great if it was lots of little projects. Lots of architects, developers, land owners, creative types took over smaller parcels and did their thing and had a whole village of funky, creative—I call it ‘free zone.’ I’d really like to see it less impacted by bureacracy and be self-governong and self-policing. I see that as a possibility for something really unique—a little edgy, but safe, but not all historic lamps and all that nonsense.