Openings & Closings: Capezio, Calle Ocho, Spectrum, Mobile Barber, More on Tiki Chick
Capezio, a store that sells dance apparel and accessories, closed its location at 201 Amsterdam Avenue between 69th and 70th Streets. “It was a wonderful place with great staff,” a frequent customer named Jessica wrote to us. “My relationship started with dance shoes for myself for my wedding dance in 2012 and I was so excited to bring my daughter back for her ballet class needs. We visited on numerous occasions. They were always patient and knowledgeable. With Lincoln Center nearby and numerous ballet schools in the area….this is a great loss!!! Thanks to Gretchen and Jessica for the tips.
Latin restaurant Calle Ocho will be opening its new location at 2756 Broadway at 106th Street for dinner on January 3, and will start serving brunch on January 18. Calle Ocho moved from 81st. “This time, it will have garden seating, but the menu, which sprawls from Mexico (guacamole) to Cuba (ropa vieja) and beyond, with stops in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela and even Spain (seafood paella), remains pretty much the same in the hands of the executive chef, Giovanni Ventura,” the Times writes. Thanks to Howard for the tip.
There’s a new tenant in the building on Broadway and 61st Street that will house Target, but it’s not quite as exciting as the big box retailer. Spectrum will be opening a new office where people can pick up and drop off cable equipment in the building. Thanks to “Upper West Sider” for tipping us off to the permits.
As we previously reported, Tiki Chick opens tonight (Dec. 31), and Eater got a sneak peek. “The drinks here are a mix of traditional tiki bar creations like the mai tai and the Singapore sling. They’re served alongside original creations like the fish face, a drink made with cachaça (a spirit made from fermented sugarcane juice), guava juice, coffee, lemon, and absinthe; and the rum and cola’d fashioned, a drink made with two kinds of rum, homemade cola syrup, and bitters…The food menu is small but features Jacob’s Pickles favorites like the fried chicken sandwich, albeit with a few twists like the addition of burnt sugar and honey. Another fried chicken sandwich comes with spam and pineapple, and there’s also a breakfast sandwich with spam, pineapple, egg, and cheese.”
A mobile barbershop called New York Barber has been traveling around the neighborhood giving cuts. Barber John Rivera likes to park in the neighborhood, often around 79th Street. He told ABC News that it was too expensive to rent a barbershop in the area, so he decided to become a barber on wheels. His website has GPS info on his current location. Thanks to Zena for the tip.
And if the mobile barber parked outside Tiki Chick then you would have Tiki Barber…
Happy new year!
LOL
Bwahahahaha
Hoo ha! $60.00 for a haircut in thee back of a truck???
John Rivera’s been cutting my hair for years, originally as one of Art of Shaving’s Master Barbers. He is outstanding and while I would follow him to a Quonset hut, the mobile barber shop is kinda cool. High recommend this young man.
Agreed:
Visited him often when he was @ The Art Of Shaving on 75th & Bway.
Glad to see him back in business…
High rents are forcing barbers, hair stylists, etc… to either close or find creative ways of doing business. Many are closing their own shops and renting chairs out of another shop.
exactly.. it is ridiculously high rents and not the minimum wage.
The noise from the pickle place & E’s is nothing compared to back in the days when it was 511 Lounge with live music…
I often see that Dapper truck parked on Amsterdam & 74 but I always assumed it was some catering rental company. They need to change the branding so people know what the heck it is!
A Spectrum office on 61st Street is exciting for those of us who live a stone’s throw away from it and won’t have to schlep to 96th Street anymore!
Interesting about Tiki Chick. Community members and parents indicated dismay over the first sign at CB7’s BICI committee meeting: a hula girl nude from the waist up. The most-panicked owner’s rep assured the board the sign would be changed and that it was taken care of.
What happened? Tiki Chick put a lei on the figure and up it went again. We haven’t come too far folks. Even the old Trader Vics evolved from its original disgusting pr/brand images to an image of a parasol drink to sell its wares, which, like Tiki Chick, were in fact drinks. So now you know Tiki Chick is not selling hula girls.
Are you seriously trying to compare Trader Vic, a brand that has been in business over 70 years and has locations around the world, with Tiki Chick ?
Million Dollar apartments and you live above a Fidelity , Targett and Spectrum store. How lovely.
Welcome to anywhere USA,just more expensive
Interesting about Tiki Chick. Community members and parents indicated dismay over the first sign at CB7’s BICI committee meeting: a hula girl nude from the waist up. The most-panicked owner’s rep assured the board the sign would be changed and that it was taken care of.
What happened? Tiki Chick put a lei on the figure and up it went again. We haven’t come too far folks. Even the old Trader Vics evolved from its original disgusting pr/brand images to an image of a parasol drink to sell its wares, which, like Tiki Chick, were in fact drinks. So now you know Tiki Chick is not selling hula girls.
ST.. the 1950’s called, they are ready for your arrival.
Can someone get this barber shop off the streets please? Isn’t it enough that amazon, freshdirect and all other deliveries are blocking parking spots and streets? There seem to be enough barber shops thriving in the area – this guy just wants to reap bigger profits by cutting the expense for a store and using the tax-paid streets for free. What’s next? Return the streets to the residents and convert at least 50% to resident parking (for the record – I do not own a car).