BlackBook

“Just turn on with me and you're not alone…” That lyric, from “Rock 'n' Roll Suicide,” might be as close to a manifesto as David Bowie has ever uttered. Indeed, for all the revolutionary tunes and culture-crossing costumes, perhaps his greatest legacy is that he made it okay to be different. Very different. “I suppose that has been Bowie’s most sizable impact,” reckons Victoria Broackes, co-curator of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s spectacular "David Bowie Is" exhibition, which opened March 23. “Kids saw Bowie on Top of the Pops and their lives changed.”

Continuing the curious postmodern trend of nightclubby sports bars--see BlackBook's coverage of the new Heraea in Vegas--Chicago's new two-story American Junkie (no, it's not also a Courtney Love album title) arrives in River North awash in high tech features. To wit, a staggeringly massive high-def screen, a retractable roof, furnishings that electronically adjust from dining height to lounge comfort as the night goes on, and a supersonic sound system--indeed, DJs will entertain once the games have come to a conclusion. A prodigious American flag reminds you what country you're in, just in case a soccer match is on the screen. 

Since that great lady of jazz was honored with the opening of Ella in the East Village in 2008, it's only fitting that the Duke himself gets a similar tribute in the NYC epicurean pantheon. This one is about 105 blocks north, however, at the corner of Amsterdam and 106th Street. The Ellington is another partnership venture between Glenda Sansone and Andrew Breslin, whose Greenwich Village bar Slane has been a runaway success.

Playing well to the nostalgia trend, the new American bistro Fitler Dining Room (named for the nearby square) is regaled with 1920s vintage, such as rawhide banquettes, retro lighting fixtures, and a salvaged marble bar top, without being twee or cloying. It's the latest from the Pub & Kitchen boys Dan Clark and Ed Hackett, which is no surprise since it bears all the recognizable hallmarks of that restaurant's carefully calibrated cozy-chic interior. Even the uniforms are by local raw denim makers Norman Porter.

The buzz has been building since autumn about Michael Shah and Matt Levine's upcoming Meatpacking District lounge the Rowhouse Inn, which will be opening in the basement of 53 Gansevoort. Not one to let such buzz go to waste, the Sons of Essex and Cocktail Bodega honcho is launching a nearby pop-up nightclub starting this weekend, in a 4,000-square-foot residential loft on the third floor of 61 Gansevoort. The intriguingly named #HOOKxNAIL debuts March 15th with DJs Cougarskin and Jacques Renault, and will happen every Friday and Saturday afterwards for two months.

Calling yourself a mixologist these days is like calling your band punk. It's a label without much meaning. But perhaps what a great drinks wizard really does is more akin to alchemy, transforming a selection of spirits and mixers into a magic potion capable of yanking you out of the vodka tonic doldrums. And so comes Alchemist, a new SoMa drinking den whose bartenders have done time at the likes of Comstock Saloon and the Tipsy Pig. Interiors offer a welcome break from all that trendy old-timiness. Rather, it is a surreal and heady mix of gothic and steampunk strangeness (i.e. the bar rails are made from old gears). There's also mezzanine lounge for a good bit of snogging.

Set amidst Hollywood's Guitar Row, the new Moment Hotel is a good bet to be the bed-down of choice for the hipper end of music's touring next-big-things. Sporting almost kitschy, very LA-retro-futuristic architecture, it's an attention-grabbing presence even on frenzied Sunset Boulevard. The wild color schemes continue into the interiors, with thirty-nine super mod rooms done up in bright oranges, purples and greens, with groovy graphic elements.

It's not as if wine geeks weren't well catered to in the realm of Greater Los Angeles. But the new V Wine Room seems intent on offering a particularly contemplative experience amidst the general decadence of West Hollywood. Naturally, all the stock is of Cali origin. But more intriguingly, these are boutique wines only available at V. And for oenophiles traveling with those who've more of a penchant for the suds, there's a selection of handcrafted beers.

A restaurant called Ametsa with Arzak Instruction. Indeed, the name itself is likely to boggle a bit. But to clarify, "ametsa' is the Basque word for "dream," and Arzak refers to the hallowed three-Michelin-starred restaurant from that very same region of Northern Spain. The eponymous proprietors, Elena and Juan Mari Arzak, make their London debut at the chic Belgravia hotel, the Halkin--and they've brought along culinary wizards Mikel Sorazu, Igor Zalakain and Xabier Gutierrez to recreate their magical new Basque cuisine for food-crazy Brits.

A nod to the Greek goddess Hera, for whom the Heraean Games (the first women's Olympic competition) were named, The Palms' new Heraea has a similar revolutionary intent: to give the fairer sex a place of their own to cheer on their favorite teams, with high tech screens for taking in the action. Yet with chic interiors, appropriately, by Seed Design, this latest hotspot from those bringers of unrepentant glamour The One Group forswears the usual dude-appropriate style elements of typical sports bars. Instead, it's all tufted banquettes, warm woods, moody lighting and a prevailing sexy lounge vibe--poolside seating included.