Remember all the hype around mega-dance-club Crobar opening an L.A. outpost in early 2008? It seems DJ-driven venues Vanguard and Avalon no longer have to worry about the competition. I have it on good authority that it’s "never going to open" and that the Crobar owners have been shopping it around on the DL for $4 million. According to my source, no one’s biting because it's harder to pack a large venue in Hollywood, where there are so many venues. Repeated calls and emails to owner Robert Vinokur were not returned, but Brad Altman in marketing and promotions at Crobar in Chicago was kind enough to email back: "I'm hearing that Crobar L.A. is officially not happening." The pending status of its liquor license is also a pretty good indication.


Here's a shot from Crobar in Chicago, which is celebrating 16 years of keeping the party hottt—and not very dressed.

On the same note, the Edison's Marc Smith has put his next project, Mercury Liquors, on ice because he lost the space he wanted to have it in. But fear not. I’ve been assured that the bar’s still in the works.]

UPDATE: I just got word from Robert Vinokur. Click here for the update.

—Alexandra Le Tellier

Androgynous style isn't anything new—it's been around since biblical times—still, as a girly boy who is literally one missed haircut away from looking like Joyce DeWitt, I never thought I'd see the day it was used as a marketing tool. Leave it to American Apparel to coin the term "Unisexy," a label that is guaranteed to catch on as the "Metrosexual" of 2008. With androgynous style icons like Marlene Dietrich, Katherine Hepburn, Diane Keaton, David Bowie, Grace Jones, and Kurt Cobain, it's a wonder the epithet didn't catch on sooner.

Not all androgynous looks are winning; remember when Dynasty and Murphy Brown popularized shoulder pads? Still, I think what's so appealing about clothing that both men and women can wear is that it's usually well fitted, basic, inexpensive, and made in a gender neutral color. It makes sense that American Apparel—a company known for producing such garments—would take the initiative in championing this style archetype. It does make me wonder if the L.A. based clothing company is giving their customers what they want, or if it's simply a marketing tool to sell twice as many clothes. I just hope I don't someday regret wearing hats, racer back vests and skinny jeans as much as my mom regrets wearing two pieces of synthetic foam, used to level the playing field between men and women once upon a time in the eighties.

—Marcos Luevanos