Gawker
Remember when we speculated that the next secret celebrity hotspot would be the upstairs of Barnes and Nobles on Thursday evenings? We weren't too far off. As the Observer observes, the new "it" spot is that bench in front of American Apparel at Houston and Orchard. "The Bench," as the bench is called, was founded by DJ Big Black Matt Goias, a sneaker "impresario" named Ari Forman and Moby's best friend, a guy named Fancy.
DJ Goias explains
"One night [earlier in the summer] we were sitting on that bench together and I said, 'Yo, this is the best club in New York...you know, because you have to go to a stupid club party, like, 'Oh, it's Jessica's birthday party tonight, I promised I would say hi,' or 'So-and-so is D.J.-ing, I told them I would swing by.' But then it was like, sitting on this corner, we see all of the people that we would've seen if we went to those stupid places that we hate, and we could talk and smoke and fuck this, this is the shit right here. We were like, 'Yo, wouldn't it be funny if we made a flyer?...It's almost like an art project/marketing thing...Like, I can make nothing at all the hot shit. We can take nothing at all and look like, 'Ah-ha, we made you come to a street corner!'The kid is like the new Ionesco.
[Photo: Emily Byran/NYO]
Comments
Is Moby's best friend also a pick up artist?
Dear New York:
You may never make fun of us again.
Namaste,
Boston and D.C.
I almost missed that this is a huge joke. Looking at huge spreadsheets has my "mind playing tricks on me".
Oh no. Now, I am thinking of the midget from the video.
I'm pretty sure I'd rather be upstairs at Barnes & Noble.
Add Sonic Douchebag Deterrent to the list of necessary inventions.
Whenever I walk by there on my way to the Parkside to hear bluegrass, I slow down and squeeze out as many noxious farts as I can manage without actually shitting myself. With all the Galoises being smoked, no one notices.
There have been terrible, terrible hipsters hanging out there for quite some time now- pretty much since that AA opened. These particular guys are just self-aggrandizing enough to get press. I blame the deliciousness that is the Cheesesteak Factory for really ramping up the corner's cachet.
only in new york.
Man, my now ex-boyfriend and I sat for a few hours during a long break-up process on that bench just a month ago on a busy Thursday night. No party was-a-happenin' except our messy deep-conversation break-up fiesta and a couple of bums looking for cigarettes and left-over Bereket....and then I read a week later in Time Out or New York or one of those mags that there's this "crazy LES phenomenon called 'The Bench.'" Um.....really? I haven't seen those kids out there ever...maybe they've all just relocated to the newest hot shit: "my ass."
This entire scene could be taken out by one car making a poorly turned corner.
is that the same Fancy that djs with Fannypack?
OMG!! I totally sat on that bench once when I was waiting to meet a realtor. I felt really cool for one second and then I burst into tears and realized my life had been measured not in coffee spoons, but in the fleeting tingle of cultural cache.
The apartment I rented sucked, too.
I've been saving this line for when it is most appropriate, as it could get overused (it comes to my mind five times daily), so now I'll let it loose:
This is the stupidest fucking thing I've ever seen.
@BrianVan:
Sorry BV, but my dad coined that line in the mid-80s when I gave him a Father's Day card I had made myself.
And now I sleep with men who smile at me.
If those hiptards were latino or black they would all get ticketed for loitering.
@YourDoctrinaire: amen.
And I'm suppose to feel bad for playing Mario Kart DS at Athens Cafe?
@IBentMyWookie: *grin*
(wait, you're a chick, right?)
(On second thought, maybe I don't care, it's been that type of week. I'm easy too.)
Founding a bench. That's one for the resumé.
And here I thought the spot was the bench outside Pianos. I'm so hors circuit.
This is why we hate us.
The Bench won a Pulitzer Prize in investigative journalism for its work in uncovering early CIA funding for the Janjaweed militia.
@b4nt4:
yes same guy that dj's with fannypack.
My friend invited me to The Bench last friday and I thought she was joking. Now that it's so widely publicized, the people that go there this week are going to be even worse than the week before... I am definitely going, and with a camera.
that bench is so played already. The real hot shit is poppin off at the AA on North 6th in W'burg.
What, you don't know??
this reminds me of when i went to high school downtown and whenever there were school dances all the cool kids would go and hang out on the north side of the building and drink and smoke pot. we thought we were party central. but really, we were in HIGH SCHOOL.
I'm so pissed because the doorman wouldn't let me sit on the bench. Same thing happened at the Williamsburg AA.
@IBentMyWookie: As long as we can still make fun of Philadelphia, you've got a deal!
Funny, last August it was the bench outside of Oliva at Houston & Allen. They had Mojitos to go and rumba dancing on the street.
So now anytime I sit on a bench I'm a douchebag? And where is the "VIP" section in this mess?
The Beach in Las Vegas, The Bench in NY, The Shitter at my place.... fuck yeah it's hyphey.
Someone alert Gladwell: New York just tipped.
What? No mention of the most frequent guest to The Bench, that big fat guy with the stubble and the "tips" jar hanging around his neck? I'm offended!
my cock is the new "the bench."
Have a seat.
@HeyThereKiller: @b4nt4: Yes and Yes.
The Fannypack dj is known to pick up middle-aged women in hotel lobbies for cunnilingus. My source is an L Magazine from 2003, which is exactly where this story belongs...
Making it a big deal of this is completely lame, and it's kind of an indictment that this is so, but really, it's a good thing not to have to go into someplace and buy overpriced drinks, and be bombarded by music, when all you want to do is talk to your friends about the issues of the day, hang out, smoke whatever's going around, maybe play a little hacky sack.
Italians have their piazzi, Montreal has Bongos, I guess New York needs The Bench.
Everytime one of you says "AA" in reference to American Apparel, dead Bill W. cries one tear.
If we're lucky, though, the bench will soon host AA meetings.
@IBentMyWookie: ha! i was so annoyed by this whole post/idea/club/city, that i wanted to leave the country (i don't even live in NY, so i couldn't leave the city), but you singlehandedly saved me from having to follow through w/my passport application (which i've heard is currently a bitch). thanks a mil.
The Bench has gotten soo B&T.
Does anyone else see Jay, Proj Run Season 1 winner a la bench with a formidable posse? New York Mag tricked me into feeling sorry for him.
@flipper baby: Don't EVER eat at the Cheesesteak Factory. I have ordered from them three times, and while their vinegar fries are indeed delicious, I have become VIOLENTLY ill twice. Like, not just a little indigestion, but full-on sick for several hours. Not worth the risk.
Oh yeah, and hipsters suck.
I think it was implied that New York hasn't been able to make fun of philadelphia for sometime.
Coincidentally, when I passed by the bench last night it was getting power-washed. I guess City Hall realized the public health risk this bench posed.
@Clevertrousers:
I always ran into people I knew as I passed that bench.
do they take turns going inside and buying shimmery lyrca spandex?
@IBentMyWookie: P.S: us too.
-
Des Moines
@phil_anderson: Well the man does have a honker that is worthy of snorting for truffles.
The afterparty at the bench is where it's at: Nothing beats getting shook down for cigarettes from losers oggling straggling honnies...
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