Mark Grossich

The Empire State Building's Chic New Bar / Lounge

Last week my colleague Deirdre Woollard reported on the Empire State Building's swanky new lobby, part of a $550 million building-wide renovation project. Now comes word that the New York architectural icon is also getting a great new cocktail lounge from nightlife entrepreneur Mark Grossich, known for elegant boîtes like the Campbell Apartment in Grand Central Station. He's turning a 3,500-sq.-ft. former post office on the skyscraper's ground floor into the Art Deco-style Empire Room, slated to open at the end of November. Design firm Goodman Charlton has cooked up an elegant scheme employing plush mohair, intricate cut velvets, macassar ebony, silver leaf, embossed leather, marble and polished stainless steel in tones of rich brandy, deep cognac, icy silver, and golden cream for the interior (rendering above), meant to evoke a more glamorous era of supper clubs and gentlemanly drinking establishments.

[via Duncan Quinn]

Tags: architecture, Art Deco, ArtDeco, bar, cocktails, Empire State Building, EmpireStateBuilding, lounge, Manhattan, Mark Grossich, MarkGrossich, New York, NewYork

Carnegie Club Selects "Cigars of Summer"

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Cigars, Spirits

The Carnegie Club, one of Manhattan's only cigar/cocktail lounges to survive the draconian smoking ban in style, is celebrating the onset of warmer weather with a "Cigars of Summer" selection specifically tailored to New York fat cats who head out of town on the weekends. The club's "Summer Beach Pack," for $45, includes three light, creamy robusto cigars, an Avo Classic Robusto, Fonseca Vintage Robusto, and Romeo y Julieta Exhibition #3, all of which are specially chosen to suit strolling the sands. The "Hamptons Weekend Pack," for $125, consists of a Montecristo #2, Greycliff Château Grand Cru Pirate, and a Davidoff Anniversario #3, all high-end smokes suited to the pricey vacation spot. The Carnegie Club is part of Mark Grossich's sophisticated cocktail lounge empire, which includes the amazing Campbell Apartment in Grand Central Station, one of our favorite spaces in all of New York.

Gallery: Carnegie Club & Summer Smokes