By Velvet Roper staff 5/31/12 1:21pm

Question of the Week

6 Photos

President Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Bob Dylan

Question of the Week: Alan Alda, Iris Apfel and Rose Hemingway Oblivious of Bob Dylan’s Presidential Medal of Freedom

So, what did we learn this week as we took the pulse of the partygoing public? A surprisingly large number of those we ran into while out and about apparently don’t have a “Bob Dylan” Google Alert, or possibly not even basic cable! Almost no one was aware of the major award bestowed upon Mr. Dylan by President Obama on Tuesday, the Presidential Medal of Freedom–the first rock musician to be given such an honor–an event which set the internet on fire, perhaps partially because of the crazed dictator look Mr. Dylan sported.

Click through our slideshow for expressions of surprise and ambivalence from several notables, plus comments by Patti Smith and Dylan Lauren, who, as Mr. Dylan’s namesake, bubbled over with congratulations. Read More

By Drew Grant 3/21/12 11:48am

Party Reports

The Cinema Society & Calvin Klein Collection host the after party for "The Hunger Games"

Alan Cumming’s Views on The Hunger Games at The Cinema Society Premiere

What happens when you are on the ground with scraped knees, shards of broken glass, and adrenaline coursing through your veins? Well, if you are Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games, you might have to power through the hallucinations of a tracker jacker in order to stay alive. In the Boom Boom Room at the top of The Standard, where Calvin Klein and Grey Goose hosted the after party for The Cinema Society’s premiere of the highly anticipated film, the stakes were much lower. And the celebrities so much shorter in person! Read More

By Delphine Barguirdjian 3/01/12 1:00am

As Seen in SCENE

3 Photos

Chelsea Hotel

Seen in NY: Hotel Chelsea

Hotel Chelsea, New York City’s most renowned artist haven, has harbored the creative minds of Leonard Cohen, Arthur Miller, Dylan Thomas and countless others who wrote or composed many a masterpiece within its walls. Closed for renovation in 2011, the hotel is still home to around 100 permanent residents and many ghosts of rock stars and poets past, some of whom ended their tumultuous lives at the hotel.

Rumors that Andre Balazs was in talks to buy the hotel and turn it into a New York version of Chateau Marmont circulated last year, though it ended up being sold to developer Joseph Chetrit in May 2011 for $80 million. Today the Hotel Chelsea is making headlines as many worry what will become of this New York City staple. Read More