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Do You Wanna Have Fun? Fun? Fun?

Sweet charity's back in town – and other big-city pleasures

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Only in New York

New York is always evolving, especially through its neighborhoods. SoHo was once abandoned factory buildings. Clinton was once Hell's Kitchen. The Meatpacking District was once, well, the meatpacking district.

Here, through eight of its great neighborhoods, is an eclectic roundup of the best reasons to loiter in glamorous Gotham this December during StoreXpo – or any time, at all.


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East Village
(the other village)

Stanton Social is the new it-resto whose whole menu is multi-culti hors d'oeuvres – from French onion soup dumplings to micro-lobster roll sliders to scallop – and foie gras satay. Stunning interior designed by AvroKO.

GomiNYC: a store where everything is literally junk. Who knew that recycled materials could become this fab and gift-worthy?!

John Derian: The maestro of decoupage has recently expanded his East Village fiefdom to include an annex for art and antique furniture.

Jutta Neumann, the woman responsible for giving sandals a new sole, has been laboring for years on the Lower East Side creating her fab shoes, wallets, belts and wristbands with her chic-crude minimalist take in stand-out colors.


Upper East Side
(still the fashion, darling)

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Jonathan Adler's new home store brings hipness to the northern regions of Madison Avenue, complete with metallic bamboo wallpaper as backdrop for his latest interpretations of ceramics, furniture, pillows, bags, gifts, lacquer, textiles and other appealing tchochkes.

Ito En, an uber-elegant Japanese tea shop (“Best Tea Shop” in the 2005 Zagat Gourmet Marketplace) selling Asian teas, delicate porcelain and glassware in the groundfloor boutique; lunch, tea and dinner are served upstairs, with staggering ikebana-esque, in the mezzanine KAI restaurant (4 stars from Mobile and Forbes magazine) .


Greenwich Village
(the Village, for traditionalists)

Otto addresses the top craving groups with unique sizzle: pizza (thin crust with unusual toppings like asparagus, anchovies, chiles and clams), ice cream (olive oil!) which can all be washed down with a bottle of reasonably-priced-but-hard-to-find Italian wine or beer. Check out the Italian train station departure board for specials.

• The legendary Waverly Theater newly reopened as the 3-screen IFC (Independent Film Channel) Center. Originally an 1831 church, later known for hosting “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” it was remodeled by veteran architect Larry Bogdanow. It's not your regular multiplex, with its organic popcorn with truffle butter and one theater filled with love seats.

• Jean-George Vongerichten's eighth restaurant, Perry Street, is the ground-floor resident in one of the three Richard Meier towers in the West Village.


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Columbus Circle/Hell's Kitchen
(the wild, wild west side)

• Though New Yorkers hate to admit it, The Shops at Columbus Circle is an excellent mall with a convenient agglomeration of ritzy chains (Pink, Coach, Tourneau, Sephora, etc.). But the avant garde of the (stratospherically high-end) restaurants (Per Se, Asiate, Café Gray, Masa, Steak V House and more) make it a destination for epicurean pilgrims.

Fluff, the “Hospitality Design” award-winning bakery conceived by Lewis Tsurumaki – old-fashioned jumbo cookies and obscene topping-heavy German chocolate cupcakes that will make grandma hang up her apron – also makes its own real-butter-and-fine-chocolate versions of snack-cake classics like Yodels, Twinkies, Sno-Balls and the ultimate Fluff – homemade pink marshmallows.


Midtown
(the center of it all)

• The first New York City De Beers store recently opened, the ultimate bling-bling bauble purveyor of the year.

MoMA has reopened. Danny Meyer, one of New York's favorite restaurateurs, presides over The Modern, a bar and restaurant.

• The glammy Lever House restaurant in the historic Meis skyscraper continues to draw the Etro/Blahnik crowd.

• And Philip Johnson's beaded curtain Four Seasons restaurant reigns emeritus, as enduringly appealing as Frank Sinatra.

KOI, in the Bryant Park Hotel, casts you in its sculptural net (literally) over the whole dining area, a sea of bamboo and beautiful – even for a drink, the dramatic setting will have you hooked.


Meatpacking District/Chelsea
(shabby chic)

• The Biltmore Room boasts some of the most inventive food and most stunning interiors in the city. The Beaux-Arts fantasia begins at the front gates and the dining room is clad in extravagant marble paneling salvaged from the 1913 Biltmore Hotel.

• Diane Von Furstenburg's sexy Little West 12th boîte twinkles with mirrored polkadots on the walls. It's where women source their wardrobe lifesavers – professional, date-friendly, packable and shelf-life proof, so multifunctional they're actually economical.

auto. is not intimidated by its fancy neighbors (Jeffrey, Stella McCartney, et al.). It remains unpretentious, with wonderfully wacky yoga bags, bedding, bohemian jewels and more handcrafted wonders.


SoHo & NoLIta
(downtown, where all the lights are bright)

• Selima Saloun is Gotham's queen of quirky downtown retail with her decadent stores: Selima Optique (eyeglasses), Lunettes et Chocolat, Bond 07 (girlie clothes and accessories) and Le Corset (racy Euro lingerie).

HERE Arts Center has been showcasing the next big dramatic ideas on its three intimate stages for over 12 years. Where you might catch the next “Vagina Monologues” or “Symphony Fantastique.”


Upper West Side
(Rosemary's, baby)

Maya Schaper Cheese & Antiques Shop. Why did no one think of this before? Served as Meg Ryan's The Little Shop Around the Corner in “You've Got Mail,” but that hasn't ruined it. 106 West 69th St.

Really Great Things is one of the best-edited boutiques in the city, stocked with unusual couture, ready-to-wear and unusual shoes shown off in an appealingly minimalist decor.

Calle Ocho lounge and restaurant dishes up inventive pan-Latin American fare – beware the killer mojitos – making every meal feel like a fiesta.

Experience New York yourself. Attend StoreXpo in December. For more information, visit www.storexpo.info.


Victoria C. Rowan is VM+SD's New York editor. Her tours through the shops, museums, windows, offices and streets of the city will be a regular feature of the magazine.

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