Construction Maison

Samira Samii attended high school in the Rockaways, but she never thought she’d return to the seaside neighborhood to live. Then circumstances—and a love of all things surf and sand—propelled her back there this month. At the time she signed the lease on her rental in Rockaway Park, she knew that her commute to her job on the Upper West Side would be long, but nothing could prepare her for what that meant in practice. The route she settled on involves taking a shuttle bus to a ferry, then walking to the subway, and making one last transfer before arriving at her work. Read on for Samira's walkthrough of the gorgeous but extreme trip. Living in Rockaway is a little bit like coming back home . See, I heard about the apartment I’m renting—it’s the upstairs apartment in a two-family house—through my high school friend who has lived here all of her life. It’s a block and a half from the ocean. I’m a little bit of a sun worshipper and love the ocean, so I knew I’d love it here. Then th...

Do you remember the first friend you made? The first person I consciously remember calling my “friend” (and later, “best friend”) was someone I met in preschool. I was probably four years old. We had similar interests, and complementary personalities (he was the big picture idea guy , I was the detail-oriented do-er). As I’ve continued through life, my friendships have shifted . I’ve made new friends along the way, deepened my relationship with existing friend s, and fallen out of touch with others. When you look at it this way, it seems like friendship is something that just “happens. ” You can’t control it, it would seem, and maybe it’s better not to. After all, you can’t force friendship. Yet, what I’ve come to realize in the past couple years is that while you can’t force or manufacture friendship, you can   seek and cultivate it . It isn’t completely out of your control. In fact, since it’s such an important part of living a happy life, it’s something that you put on autopilot a...

Making his way along the press circuit for HBO limited series  Big Little Lies —which earned eight Emmy nominations last month—director Jean-Marc Vallée has repeatedly been asked one question: “What was your transition to television?” An Oscar nominee known for  Dallas Buyers Club ,  Wild  and  Demolition , the auteur has a simple answer: There isn’t one. Making another major splash with his first television series , Vallée treats all of his projects as films—whether they arrive in theaters or on HBO, the process and the goal are the same. Speaking with Deadline, the first- time Emmy nominee gives an in-depth look into his creative process, expressing his passion for female-driven projects and his desire to be involved with every aspect of the projects he creates. You came to Big Little Lies thinking about directing the first two episodes and departing. What initially attracted you to the project, and what was it that kept you around? Reese Witherspoon changed my life, made me a tir...

The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club .  I'm sitting in the lobby of the Players Club, in Manhattan's Gramercy Park, waiting to meet my interview subject. She is a longtime celebrity assistant , a profession that is both hard to find and incredibly difficult to convince to talk to you about. I'm in the lobby because in order to walk past the entrance of the Players Club you have to be escorted by a member, and I'm waiting because her principal, which I will later learn is a fancy word that celebrity assistants use to describe their bosses, landed after a long flight with a laundry list of things he needed to talk about immediately.  It's during this time that my mind starts to wander to that classic and brutal  Brad Pitt movie.  The Players Club reminds me of Fight Club, if Fight Club took place in a Gothic revival mansion facing the only Manhattan park so exclusive that one needs a key to enter. And replace the barren cement walks with...

Klrcow r People are never in office, and their computer bay hasnt been working for the past month … more » People are never in office, and their computer bay hasnt been working for the past month Jamie Young Needs code or lock on both pools. There are a lot of visitors who take up the whole pool that do not live there and leave trash on the residents hallways. Not a safe place to live and office staff are … unpredictable and very difficult to get answers from. more » Needs code or lock on both pools. There are a lot of visitors who take up the whole pool that do not live there and leave trash on the residents hallways. Not a safe place to live and office staff are unpredictable and very difficult to get answers from. Leonard Morales Agreed with comment below. Upper management has done a disastrous move with its recent change. Willow Springs has fallen behind and now us tenants must pay the price and wait for everything to get re- … organized. Lock on pool has yet to be remove...