The Newport. Harry's. Fluties. Indochine. Nell's. Cornell Club. The New York Yacht Club. The regular places.
August 2, 2011 6:59 AM   Subscribe

 
By MeFi's own nycscout. Also on Projects.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:05 AM on August 2, 2011 [3 favorites]


Huh. Thanks, FoB.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:06 AM on August 2, 2011


This is awesome. I, along with every other angry young lit nerd in NYC, used to be a huge Ellis junkie, and no small part of that came from the fact that he was writing about a world that I if not inhabited per se, definitely haunted. I really wish Glamorama would come out as a film just so that they can do a comparitive analyzation of Bateman's New York vs. Victor Ward's New York. Although now that I think of it, even that New York is gone now.

Also, I loved the one they did for Taxi Driver, which takes place pretty much right before the world-change into American Psycho.
posted by griphus at 7:08 AM on August 2, 2011


Tunnel was shut down in 2001 under Giuliani’s quality-of-life campaign, which also partially led to the downfall of Twilo and Limelight.

Seriously, fuck Giuliani.
posted by empath at 7:10 AM on August 2, 2011 [5 favorites]


I'm really glad that this movie percolated and eventually became a thing, somehow -- sort of in the same way that "Pulp Fiction" became a thing, though far less quickly than "Pulp Fiction" did. Although, alas, Mary Harron never got a fraction of the exposure and props that Quentin Tarantino has gotten over the years.
posted by blucevalo at 7:13 AM on August 2, 2011 [2 favorites]


This is seriously one of my favorite movies. And no, it's not because I also happen to be guiltily pleasured by Huey Lewis and the News..
posted by namewithhe1d at 7:15 AM on August 2, 2011


Totally love it, thanks! Going to all these spots in order (while listening to Phil Collins and Huey Lewis) is exactly the sort of bizarre tourism activity I would enjoy if I still visited Manhattan.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:24 AM on August 2, 2011


I always confuse Patrick Bateman with Jason Bateman.
posted by DU at 7:27 AM on August 2, 2011 [5 favorites]


Patrick Bateman wasn't in Teen Wolf Too.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:30 AM on August 2, 2011 [2 favorites]


More's the pity.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:33 AM on August 2, 2011 [3 favorites]


What's with the "How To Secure A Reservation: Haha…" lines? Does that mean it's not needed (walk-in only), or you can't get one for any reason? Or they will laugh and call you names if you try?
posted by Old'n'Busted at 7:35 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


Never seen the movie, but out of personal interest I checked all the establishments. In my 11 years in NYC I only visited three of them: Nell's (once), Smith and Wollensky (once), and the Oyster Bar at Grand Central (once). Reckon I might have gone to more if I hadn't been usually, you know... broke.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:35 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


Exhaustive, but a shame they were all so tangential and the actual locations from the film are all invented.
posted by smackfu at 7:46 AM on August 2, 2011


whoa, nycscout is on MeFi? I'm a *huge* fan of your blog. Thanks for being a periodic highlight of my Google Reader day!
posted by DigDoug at 8:01 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


Ah, man, I turned American Psycho on one day because I was at a friend's and bored while he was cleaning. I was not at all prepared for how hilarious it was. Great movie.
posted by adamdschneider at 8:02 AM on August 2, 2011


Seriously, fuck Giuliani.

Fuck him, yes, but not over this. Have you ever been to any of those places?
posted by Threeway Handshake at 8:10 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


Scouting NY is one of my favorite blogs and American Psycho is one of my favorite movies, so this was a real treat.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 8:11 AM on August 2, 2011


I was not at all prepared for how hilarious it was.

I used to work at a video store where it was kept in the Comedy section.
posted by griphus at 8:11 AM on August 2, 2011


Seriously, fuck Giuliani.

Fuck him, yes, but not over this. Have you ever been to any of those places?


All three, hundreds of times over the years. I'm not sure what point you're trying to make, though?
posted by elizardbits at 8:20 AM on August 2, 2011


and the Oyster Bar at Grand Central (once). Reckon I might have gone to more if I hadn't been usually, you know... broke.

The Oyster Bar at Grand Central Station was one of my favorite places to go in the winter when I was a broke New Yorker. A bowl of their clam chowder (fortified with lots of oyster crackers to help make it a meal) was a cheap and fun way to get out of the cold.
posted by Bookhouse at 8:20 AM on August 2, 2011 [2 favorites]


I'm not sure what point you're trying to make, though?

I guess if your idea of fun is doing coke with a bunch of NYU kids, then more power to you. Especially with Limelight, that place was like a real-life Hamsterdam from The Wire.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 8:27 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


Patrick Bateman's New York, my New York, your New York ...

I think this is the right place to share this. Advance to 16:50 and listen to Alec Baldwin's reading of Colson Whitehead's Lost and Found.
posted by marsha56 at 8:31 AM on August 2, 2011 [3 favorites]


That Colson Whitehead piece is one of my favorites. Maybe it was because it was after 9/11, but it was the first time an essay really touched me.
posted by Mchelly at 8:45 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


What's with the "How To Secure A Reservation: Haha…" lines? Does that mean it's not needed (walk-in only), or you can't get one for any reason? Or they will laugh and call you names if you try?

Professor Thom's and Don Hill's are the cheesiest underage student bars on the list, and possibly in the city. Not only don't you need a reservation, you probably don't need an ID to drink. I was going to both at 18 because of their friendly (ahem) admission policy.
posted by 2bucksplus at 8:46 AM on August 2, 2011 [3 favorites]


I guess if your idea of fun is doing coke with a bunch of NYU kids, then more power to you. Especially with Limelight, that place was like a real-life Hamsterdam from The Wire.

Or, you know, you really liked rave music.
posted by empath at 8:46 AM on August 2, 2011


I guess if your idea of fun is doing coke with a bunch of NYU kids, then more power to you. Especially with Limelight, that place was like a real-life Hamsterdam from The Wire.

A valid complaint, yes. I think my comment came out a bit more confrontational than I'd intended - I was just wondering how hordes of wasted club kids measure up against a loudmouthed racist jackass whose mayoral terms actively enabled 70s levels of police brutality. They're both suboptimal situations.

posted by elizardbits at 8:49 AM on August 2, 2011


The Oyster Bar at Grand Central Station was one of my favorite places to go in the winter when I was a broke New Yorker.

You've probably got a good point there. That was one of the 3 places I listed that didn't necessarily require much cash. Thing is, though, I just wasn't in midtown all that much, so it was a little off my radar.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:51 AM on August 2, 2011


I'm pretty sure Steak Frites closed a few years back. Is Don Hill's still open? Don Hill himself died a few months back. Don Hill's was one of the few bars that made me genuinely uneasy. I kept waiting for them to mention that The Odeon is still there, the realized that was Bright Lights Big City.
posted by Ad hominem at 9:51 AM on August 2, 2011


Steak Frites moved, Don Hill's closed after some other people tried to keep it open after he died.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 11:51 AM on August 2, 2011


I would have loved Texarkana. The current Yelp reviews serve only to mock me with silly Bateman-isms. Good Cajun food is tough to find in NYC, especially after Jacques Imo's left the UWS.
posted by BobbyVan at 12:48 PM on August 2, 2011


I've been to a couple of the places, The Four Seasons was genuinely opulent and very quiet in a strange way. I had cerviche and split a chateaubriand. Harry's is a pretty popular lunch spot but there is no way I am going to pay for it myself. The interesting thing is the building, it is The India House Club. There are a fair amount of corporate events there, but I have never been invited to one, and I don't have the guts to crash.
posted by Ad hominem at 1:26 PM on August 2, 2011


That's a really interesting list, mainly for the reason of seeing how many went from nothing to hip to selling baby carriages in a remarkably short time. It strikes me is that if someone had done a similar run of name-dropping New Orleans restaurants at the same time, today you'd find most of them still exist and are still prominent. And that's despite the intervention of hurricane Katrina, which did drive Emeril away. I wonder if that means restaurant prominence in NOLA is less faddish and more about the craft? There certainly is a fad aspect, as the temporary ascendence of some of Copeland's chain-spore properties has shown, but it seems that restaurants like Brennan's and Bella Luna that were widely respected 10 years ago are mostly still going strong.
posted by localroger at 2:13 PM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


BobbyVan: Good Cajun food is tough to find in NYC

I had the impression it got a lot easier to find just about everywhere in 2006.
posted by localroger at 2:17 PM on August 2, 2011


Well, fad restaurants and here today gone tomorrow hotspots were perfect for a book which was an indcitment of the vain and superficial lifestyle of it's characters. It is a portrait of some of the worst aspects of New York, and our society in general. They were not looking for good food, they simply wanted to see and be seen.

Also interesting how many of the hotspots featured in Sex in the City are now closed. Take Lotus and Bungalow 8. Bungalow 8 was so famous even I knew about it.
posted by Ad hominem at 3:21 PM on August 2, 2011


Good point, Ad hom.
posted by localroger at 4:14 PM on August 2, 2011


The movie was shot in Toronto, so you can kinda visit some places.
posted by emeiji at 4:29 PM on August 2, 2011


I would kill for a reservation at Arcadia.
posted by anothermug at 5:37 PM on August 2, 2011


This was fascinating reading. I have to go to Park Avenue [insert season here] and I'm kind of in love with Colonnade Row.
posted by Put the kettle on at 6:07 PM on August 2, 2011


I read American Psycho when it came out. It's OK, but like all of Ellis' works it's overblown and overwritten. I don't quite understand the bizarre obsession some people have with it.
posted by jonmc at 6:18 PM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


I'm not sure many people are obsessed with the book, people are mainly obsessed with the movie. It is incredibly over the top, and almost campy, like the scenes of Patrick Bateman strutting around wearing a raincoat and holding an axe while delivering his pop music monologs. In the book the monologs were not delivered as dialog, I think it was a stroke of genius to incorporate them that way.
posted by Ad hominem at 6:30 PM on August 2, 2011


I'm not sure many people are obsessed with the book, people are mainly obsessed with the movie.

Well, it referenced a lot here at any rate, and to be frank I think both it and Ellis are overrated.
posted by jonmc at 6:40 PM on August 2, 2011


Really? Every time I've seen someone say that they enjoy his writing, it seems like two or three people say that all his books are the same or that he's a hack or that he's just as shallow as his protagonists.
posted by shakespeherian at 5:17 AM on August 3, 2011


Thanks for this. I had also missed the Taxi Driver before-and-afters which are great too.
posted by defenestration at 11:52 AM on August 7, 2011


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