party lines

Theory Comes to the Meatpacking, Bearing Gifts

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Meatpacking icons”: Theory’s Andrew Rosen, meatpacker John Jobbagy, and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.Photos: Ruth Ro


It’s always so hard to move to a new place: Will your neighbors like you? So it was good news for Theory CEO Andrew Rosen, who just opened a sprawling boutique at the center of the meatpacking district, when he discovered that local artist Ruth Ro was working a series of Photoshopped portraits of the area’s “icons” — he used them to decorate the opening-night party at his new store last night. (The portraits will hang there through mid-March.) Most of the subjects — a few old-school meatpackers, lots of apparently iconic public officials and developers — showed up for the party, some with their children or parents. Council Speaker Christine Quinn and her predecessor Gifford Miller (now a board member of Friends of the High Line) made the rounds, as did Landmarks Commissioner Robert Tierney. Rosen said he seized on the portraits because they showcased the district’s authentic neighborliness. “You get a warm vibe here,” he explained. Well, yes. It’s amazing how warm people are when you depict them as icons. —Alec Appelbaum

Theory Comes to the Meatpacking, Bearing Gifts