I had not seen this. Thank you, Lou!!!!! That was fun.

I used to park my car in the lot next to Neary's - right by Regis HS - best daily rate in midtown

Small city and world (or, so they say).

Also - for those who haven't seen the movie version of "Sweet Smell of Success" mentioned in the article...see it, STAT.

Howe* did a ton of NYC location shots, including the real 21 Club. It's a fabulous "NYC" movie.

*Howe was the director of cinematography.

 

West 52nd was one of the stars of the film

I worked for years @ 650 5th (the Piaget Watch Bldg) which is directly across the street from 21. My old boss is a member @ 21 and I was an associate member for most of the 90's. I only mention it because the story really focused on the way 21 was part of the local power structure of NYC.

There's an interesting backstory to 650: she was built and owned by the government of Iran.

Just recently, the building was seized to pay off multiple civil awards relating to numerous terrorist acts dating all the way back to Beruit Embassy bombing in 1983. It's probably one of the most prime locations in all of NYC but that building was always KOOK central. I could list countless examples including the fact that my old office belonged to Marc Rich. Supposedly, each door in our office cost $500,000 and that was in 1990 money lulzzxxx. He insisted on using some rare walnut from some country I never heard of. Anyway, sorry to digress...

http://m.nydailynews.com/new-york/t...wn-office-tower-linked-iran-article-1.1742724