Private clubs are resurrecting dead malls, life in New York’s post-snowstorm maze, and inside the homes of Team USA. All that and more in this week’s Five on Friday.
Where the Olympians live
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The only thing more fun than seeing your favorite Olympian win a medal is stalking their social media to judge their interior design tastes. Architectural Digest agrees, and my former high school classmate Mike Gioia has us covered with a glimpse into the homes of a few U.S. Olympians vying for gold. Not only are ice hockey players Laila Edwards and Caroline Harvey teammates but they also share a two-bedroom apartment near the University of Wisconsin that’s modestly outfitted with classic collegiate minimalism. On the other end of the spectrum, cross-country skier Ben Ogden boasts a covetable timber getaway exuding Old World charms upon 50 acres of rural splendor in Vermont. Married figure skaters Evan Bates and Madison Chock show off their second home, a two-bedroom Montreal condo with all the fixings of urban comfort—including a home gym—but some athletes like 19-year-old snowboarder Bea Kim, however, have it much simpler. She still lives with her parents in Palos Verdes, but her house looks plenty comfortable to us.
Is the hottest club your local shopping mall?
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The shopping mall apocalypse burdened seemingly every community in the U.S., with abandoned behemoths serving as a monument to consumerist hubris. After years of despair and inertia from developers, the members club boom may be here to save the day. Clubs are snatching up long-vacant real estate and enticing affluent Americans to come along. Data on the new commercial real estate trend is scarce, but CNBC reports that experts expect the members club model to attract double the traffic of a typical retail tenant and serve as new anchors for coastal cities with a greater abundance of clubs. Not only does the model naturally lend itself to larger footprints, but their amenities necessitate longer stays and more frequent visits. Congrats to whoever had this on their bingo card!
The new geography—and choreography—of being buried in snow
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It’s cold outside. Like, really cold. To make matters worse, New York is still buried in feet of snow leftover from last month’s walloping storm. We had high enough temps this week to yield some melt, but another freeze is upon us yet again. So, we continue to adapt to the new geography of our city. Gone are Brooklyn’s spacious residential sidewalks or the sinewy paths of your favorite park. Instead, we fall in line like ants along a narrow strip of sidewalk excavated from the snow and ice to shuffle single-file to the subway. Our trashbags are heaved atop piles of snow several feet high, awaiting a dumptruck that may never come. Walls of dense, frozen snow along the curbs are all that remain of a snowplow’s single visit to our block. That one neighbor, too, still has their car encased in ice, and it’s anybody’s guess when it will be liberated. Enjoy some commentary and photos from Curbed this week as a loving reminder that you are not enduring this alone.
Dinner is delivered (with a side of guilt)!
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It bears repeating: it’s cold outside. On these winter nights when I settle in for some therapeutic cooking only to discover one critical ingredient missing from my pantry, my mental health can only be saved with an order from Let’s Go Ya Souvlaki on Flatbush Avenue in Park Slope. I tip my delivery drivers handsomely in these horrid winter conditions, but even in warmer seasons, acquiescing to Grubhub or DoorDash for a meal doesn’t come without some leftover regret. The New York Times reports that one-third of Americans order food for delivery at least once a week. While a Times poll also indicates readers see this practice as a benefit endowing them extra time and freedom, they also express guilt about delivery costs, environmental tolls, and the labor of today’s delivery drivers. Some restaurants have leaned more heavily on delivery than dine-in since COVID, and with exorbitant inflation curbing interests in shopping or going out, an automated life at home seems more convenient than ever—even as many perceive a correlation between prices increasing and quality decreasing. I definitely had this one on my bingo card…
Deadline approaching: Three days left to submit to the HD Awards!
Ji Yun Yao Resort in Guangzhou, China, the 2025 HD Awards winner in the Resort category
Submissions for the 22nd annual HD Awards close February 9th—that’s this Monday! The hospitality industry’s most prestigious awards program will again recognize excellence in 32 project categories and 15 products categories on May 5th in Las Vegas. Entries must have debuted between December 1st, 2024 and February 28th, 2026 for consideration. Don’t miss out on your chance in the spotlight! Find out more here.
