It’s time for another update in the ongoing saga of the Vintage-​to-​ASC conversion (previously here). The new venue has put its signage up, and it is nothing more than paint on paint:

For reference, here’s what it replaced:

The new bar will be a “cross between a gay speakeasy and a retro athletic club”, apparently. It’ll be interesting to see what that actually means. The inside will be decorated with classic boxing, bodybuilding and wrestling and bodybuilding memorabilia. Hopefully they put a little more effort into the interior decoration than they did with the exterior.

Get ready: the Million Second Quiz is coming. The stage for this new TV show has been set up on the roof of the still-​vacant former Mercedes dealership on W 41^st St:

The show will be filming pretty much every night throughout the first half of September, with host Ryan Seacrest (!!). NBC has gone all out with the setup for the stage, with the full high-​tech lighting structure and grandstands. They’ve even got billboards up for it across the road:

As if that wasn’t exciting enough, you can even be part of the audience for the show. Tickets are still available for most of the nights, so get in quick. SEE YOU THERE.

Tomorrow night is the night: The Karate Kid (the original 1984 version, not the Jaden Smith one) will be playing at the Intrepid for the final movie of the Summer Movies Series.

The details, for the last time: doors open at 7:30pm, get there early to make sure you get a spot, bring chairs/​blankets.

The series has had a good run, with big turnouts for all the screenings, and amazing luck with the weather, with tomorrow night looking ready to keep that going.

Summer is ending too quickly.

This Thursday night, Futures in Education are holding a charity night at the Hudson Terrace to raise funds for providing education to underprivileged children. Per the event:

Enjoy a one-​hour open bar against panoramic views of NYC and the Hudson River from a stunning rooftop, while supporting a life-​changing education for thousands of underprivileged children in our own backyard.

Some more info about the charity:

The mission of Futures In Education is to ensure that the gift of an excellent education continues to be a viable option for current and future generations of deserving students in Brooklyn and Queens.

Early registration for the night is $25 and closes tomorrow, otherwise walk-​ins are $35 at the door.

The signage had been up for a while now, but just over a week ago the new Thai restaurant and bar “@NINE” opened between 42^nd & 43^rd, surprisingly enough on 9^th Ave. The bright glowing “9” at the entrance is pretty interesting:

They’ve been incoming for a while now, with the storefront signage being up for several weeks:

You can check out the menu to see their offerings. They’re joining the dozen or so other Thai restaurants along the avenue. Still not 100% sure on the spelling of the name (@Nine? @9? At Nine?), but that massive “9” alone is sure to draw in crowds.

Here we go. The next installment of the Summer Movies Series at the Intrepid is on tomorrow night, and it’s the one we’ve been waiting for: Top Gun, on the flight deck of the Intrepid. Gonna be huge.

As usual, doors open at 7:30pm, but you’ll want to be there well in advance – it fills up quickly.

Just one more to go after this one – the Karate Kid next week. Is summer over already?

Right next door to the new Mamasita, another new spot is opening up. Named “White Oak”, we don’t know too much about it yet, other than that it’ll have a rear garden.

The spot was formerly “Fusion”, which closed around May of last year.

That block along 10^th Ave is changing rapidly. First Mamasita, and now there’s White Oak coming shortly. The paint store a few stores up has closed, and the building next to that is being rebuilt. Exciting times.

The new Mexican bar and restaurant on 10^th Ave – Mamasita – has now opened, and they’re running a bunch of cheap drink specials to celebrate. We’ve got more information about it in our post from earlier this week.

Back in June, we covered a new gay bar coming soon to 9^th Ave. The bar is taking over the location previously occupied by Vintage, which has been closed since April.

The signature Vintage sign is gone:

The same storefront two months ago:

Now that construction is fully ramping up, we should be seeing a lot of progress in the coming weeks.

Mamasita, a new Mexican bar and grill, is gearing up to open on 10^th Ave. Taking over the store of the former Manhattan Marketplace, the spot between 54^th & 55^th claims to be “the home of the original 60oz margarita”.

Their menu is online, and has all the staple Mexican dishes. They’re just one block over from the neighborhood favorite El Centro, as well as a handful of other Mexican restaurants and bars, but there’s not really any on 10^th Ave near them.

A close-​up on that “unique” sign:

Their website is currently blank, so expect to see that come to life as they get closer to launching. And of course, they’re on Seamless.

Here’s the same storefront just over a month ago:

We’ll check back again when they’re open and churning out burritos.

Another quick reminder – the free Summer Movie Series at the Intrepid continues tonight, with a screening of Harry Potter.

Every movie so far has seen lines stretching far around the neighboring pier, so if you want to get a spot make sure you arrive well in advance of the 7:30pm opening.

To quickly recap, the series kicked off with National Treasure back in June, following up with Jaws, then last week continued with Star Trek during SpaceFest, with two more still to go after tonight’s screening.

At the community board meeting two weeks ago, a number of residents showed up to voice their concerns about noise from Traffic at night, with one person apparently going as far as calling 311 to complain over 90 times.

Nobody from the bar attended the meeting to defend themselves, so because of the overwhelming amount of complains, and the allegations that the bar kept the doors and windows open much later than their license allowed, the board agreed to hold back on their pending license renewal.

With the construction and roadworks still going on right outside the bar, and now this, it hasn’t been a good month for the venue. Unless the bar can address the many complaints from the community, there’s a chance they might be getting shuttered in the near future.

Just a quick notice, the first of the free Summer Movies Series at the Intrepid starts tonight. Doors open at 7:30pm, and the weather’s looking like it’s going to be perfect for it.

Tonight’s screening is National Treasure. Try to contain your excitement. We’re all just holding out until the August 15^th screening of Top Gun.

Looks like 9^th Ave is set to welcome another gay bar:

Ben Maisani, whose partner is CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, is set to open a third trendy New York City gay bar in Hell’s Kitchen, The Real Deal has learned.

The space used to be the wine bar Vintage, which closed down in April.

A bit more on the new bar, from The Real Deal:

The new space is comprised of 2,500 square feet of space on the street level and 2,500 feet on the lower level, according to a listing for the property on Buz​zTar​get​.com. The term of Maisani’s lease is 15 years, sources said. Retail rents in the area range from $150 to $200 a square foot, they said.