They say you can’t get in
I believe you can. Plus cut-rate archival clothing, new heat from a slapper mecca, tremendous clog game from a gifted chef & more unbeatable recon
The Natural Fiber Workout Gear Report is here.
We just dropped the smash-hit Spyplane Ultimate Bay Area Guide.
Mach 3+ city tips for traveling the entire planet are here.
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— Jonah & Erin
Blackbird Spyplane back once again. In today’s NYC-centric recon dispatch:
One of the country’s best men’s stores just opened an archive outpost where everything’s half off
3 new labels to watch, as spotted at a revered slapper mecca
A Top 5 NYC Destination that ~no one cool will tell you is popping
A brand-new cocktail bar that people will tell you is so popping you can’t get in, but I believe you can, and it has the wildest interiors I’ve seen in a minute
The city’s buzzingest young chef, the delicious food he cooks, and his tremendous clog game
And more unbeatable recon!
Let’s get to it —
The other day a Spyfriend wrote in with a question on the theme of discovery:
“What do you think is the perfect balance of exploring new things vs. enjoying existing things?” — mlacayo1
Since the Plane is all about exploration and enjoyment, this topic has come up a few times before, in various forms.
Last fall I (Jonah) wrote about engaging with new music versus washedly shutting yourself off to it, and argued that the best m.o. is to proceed with a combination of Curiosity, Confidence & Confusion: You have to keep your curiosity alive, along with your capacity for a kind of productive confusion, which means actively seeking out potentially bewildering s--t you haven’t encountered before. Since your time on earth is limited, however, confidence is key as far as determining which new culture is worth engaging with. The “perfect balance” here can shift, but it’s never bad to err on the side of curiosity.
Relatedly, in January I wrote about how we need to “bring back real obsession” — to actually dig into things, rather than just smashing the fave on an IG clip, declaring “I’m obsessed,” and moving on.
And as far as copping new clothes versus enjoying the clothes you own, I wrote an instant-classic sletter a few years ago about the virtues of “Enjoyment Mode” — actually rocking your clothes — as opposed to getting lost in the itchy, unsatisfied, swag-averse zombie state that is “Acquisition Mode,” where you just keep compulsively amassing new things.
As chance would have it, I’m writing today’s sletter at the tail end of a week spent in NYC, my native soil, where Erin and I have been busy doing recon for you. We’ve amassed a wealth of intel that spans “exploring new things” and “enjoying existing things.”
But here’s the twist! “Existing things,” much like you, are themselves subject to constant flux and renewal, and so the line between new and existing is itself unstable. You can’t step in the same river — or restaurant, or museum, or clothing shop — twice.
Case in point —
Over the weekend we spontaneously hit up a place we had not been in ages and are now ready to name a Top 5 NYC Destination.
Statistically speaking, ~zero “cool” people will tell you this place is “popping.” But damn it if it didn’t make our whole trip: