Jann Paxton is something of an enigma around Manhattan’s most mythical inn, the Chelsea Hotel on West 23rd Street.

“I’ve been told that people call me ‘the ghost of the Chelsea,’” he said, “because I’m never seen. I’m kind of a hermit. … I almost never leave my bedroom—let alone the apartment.”

And yet, he may soon have to: On May 12, the 46-year-old Norfolk, Va., native is expected to pay more than $59,000 that he allegedly owes in back rent, according to a recent court order, or else lose his spacious isolation chamber on the hotel’s fifth floor.  read more »

In a real estate industry that seems to thrive on rise-and-shine breakfast meetings, Alex Picken has long marched to the beat of a different drummer. Or, at least, a drum machine.

“Yeah, I don’t do mornings, actually,” said Mr. Picken, laughing, in a husky, smoker’s tone of voice, as techno beats thumped in the background.

That’s because, for the past 20 years, he has specialized in sales and leasing of New York City nightspots.

Around the time that most brokers were getting up for their usual early-bird powwows, Mr. Picken was just calling it a night.

“I shouldn’t say that, altogether,” the veteran venue broker reconsidered, as he wheeled around Manhattan in his black BMW X5 last Friday evening, The Observer riding shotgun. “We’re part of the Real Estate Board of New York. We network.”  read more »

Michael Perlman should start charging a commission.

On Monday, the 25-year-old from Queens announced that he had just brokered a deal to move midtown’s Cheyenne Diner to the Brooklyn waterfront.

Hey, it was either Red Hook—or the wrecking ball.

Just two weeks ago, the 68-year-old all-night diner on Ninth Avenue near Penn Station had served what appeared to be its final triple-decker burger. Landlord George Papas, who also owns the nearby Skylight Diner, planned to tear down the shiny, chrome-covered, prefab single-story railroad-car-style structure and erect a nine-story apartment building in its place.  read more »

John Varvatos may be bringing live music back to the old CBGB location this week. But don’t get too used to it.

“I’m not going to be a club promoter,” said the 54-year-old fashion designer, who is hosting a charity concert on Thursday to celebrate the grand opening of his new eponymous boutique in the former rock-club space.  read more »

“Everyone thinks that we should make an R.I.P. truffle, which would be really funny,” said Alison Nelson, founder and chief operator of Manhattan’s burgeoning Chocolate Bar chain.

Ms. Nelson, 34, is opening a new location next month at 127 East Seventh Street—right next door to the Peter Jarema Funeral Home.

“We could start doing funeral favors,” quipped Ms. Nelson, whose signature sweets already include a line of chocolates marked with a skull and crossbones, a tasty tribute to the defunct downtown rock club CBGB.

The sugary memorial is quite apropos, as her devil-may-care attitude belies a certain degree of somberness surrounding her new plot in the East Village.  read more »

Robert Prichard hopes to illuminate Long Island City with some emphatic Times Square-style signage.

“I’d like it to be visible from the 59th Street Bridge,” he said. “First, it flashes ‘Queens,’ then ‘Bridge,’ then ‘Theater,’ and then ‘Queensbridge Theater.’ And then maybe an arrow that lights up and points down to our loading dock.”

Mr. Prichard, 52, has long had a flair for the dramatic. This is the same guy, after all, who nearly a decade ago led a conga line up Avenue A in protest of the city’s antiquated cabaret laws.  read more »

Veteran bartender Toby Cecchini is often credited as the creator of the popular cosmopolitan cocktail. On Monday afternoon, the 44-year-old author and bar owner prepared for another pivotal moment in his illustrious career.

“I’ve actually never closed a bar in 21 years of bartending,” he said. “This is going to be a first for me.”  read more »

When Coney Island stalwart Dianna Carlin talks about her “wild roller-coaster ride,” she isn’t referring to the rickety old Cyclone.

Last March, the gingery 34-year-old T-shirt designer from Detroit was facing eviction from her small souvenir shop on the boardwalk.  read more »

Innumerable authors, artists and musicians have inhabited the iconic Chelsea Hotel on West 23rd Street over the years.

But laser hair-removal specialists?

“I did laser hair removal, I did laser acne, I did laser wrinkle work, electrolysis, facials; I’m also a filmmaker,” said 55-year-old Marta Rodriguez, who’s been zapping bohemians’ blemishes and unwanted hair follicles out of a tiny, third-floor studio in the old arty hotel for the past six years.

Yet no longer: “They threw me out!”  read more »

C’est fini for Jean-Paul Mouttet’s ancient tiny French bistro L’Entrecote.

The Sutton Place institution, staffed sparingly by Mr. Mouttet, 70, and two blond waitresses—one of whom is commonly mistaken for his wife—and frequented over the years by such luminaries as the late historian and restaurant buff Arthur Schlesinger, dished out its last plates of steak au poivre on Feb. 29.

“After 35 wonderful years of serving this very special neighborhood, I have decided it is finally the right time to retire,” Mr. Mouttet announced with a hearty “Au revoir” tacked to the eatery’s front door last week.

The timing was right from the landlord’s perspective, as well.

How do you say “I lost my lease” en français?  read more »