Buzz

From pastrami palaces to Christmas strongholds, some of New York’s most iconically New York (and not necessarily most fashionable) spots are buzzing.

Easily the strangest thing I did this holiday season was spending a night hanging out in the roped-off front yard of a Dyker Heights, Brooklyn McMansion, waiting for a hot cocoa courtesy of the streetwear brand Kith. This wasn’t a spiked hot cocoa, mind you; just an amped-up, overly-chocolatey take on the classic made by the famed chef Jacques Torres—who was also there, for whatever reason. Swimming on the surface of my drink, next to a piece of white chocolate with the Kith logo on it, were a couple of floating Cocoa Puffs. The lucky few allowed past the bouncers and onto the driveway could snag a box of the streetwear brand’s collab with the cereal, along with some of the clothing made for the drop.

The house wasn’t a particularly notable Brooklyn brownstone. As far as I could tell, nobody famous owned it. (When I asked around, answers ranged from “owned by a friend of Kith owner Ronnie Fieg’s” to “loaned to Fieg by a really good customer.) So why, exactly, had Kith ventured so far afield of the spots that fashion brands typically pop up?The short answer is: because iconically New York spots, the less cool the better, have become some of the hottest locations in fashion.