Lizzi Bougatsos is an artist and experimental musician living in New York City. Her band, Gang Gang Dance, has changed and inspired a plethora of musicians past and present. GGD is known for their world-inspired electronic compositions and their raw vocal style, heavy on bass and percussion.
Restaurants
Bacaro, the spaghetti Nero (squid ink pasta) is my favorite. Takahachi is a great local spot in the East Village. The chef is cool and sometimes there are OG sightings of skaters or photographers like Richard Kern. The Peruvian restaurant on Avenue A (fantastic lunch special) and Caviar Kaspia. I love potatoes with caviar. I go to the cheese shop in ESSEX Market for Parmesan and the shrimp quesadilla is my go to. The shrimps are the freshest as they are wild caught, juicy and plump. The Japanese market is authentic Osaka style. Hamachi, miso cod, kinpira, all the staples.
Coffee shops
Doughnut Plant on Grand St. and Porto Rico in Essex Market.
Parks
Central Park. I am romantic about the Dakota as I love Yoko Ono and John Lennon so I like to go there and daydream. The ice-skating rink has hot chocolate and cider. Fort Greene Park is cute. Tompkins is punk but Washington Square Park is always where it’s at.
Movie theaters
Quad Cinema, Nitehawk.
Bars
Funny Bar has a nice ambiance and they have live jazz. Charlie’s Bar in Midtown. Of course, The Carlyle for a martini.
bathhouses
The Russian Baths in FIDI are fab. Their cafe has traditional Russian dishes and infused vodka.
Art VENUES
The Met at night.
NYC FILMS
Oof, that’s a hard one. Fat City (1972) or Fosse/Verdon (2019). Actually the movie Mixed Blood (1984) by Paul Morrissey changed my life. I live in the Lower East Side and it’s my style inspiration for the 1980s about an underground drug dealing enterprise run by a woman. Her image walking down the street with a cane and her army never leaves my brain.
NYC MUSIC
Lou Reed, Coney Island Baby (1976).
NYC LORE
Five Points is always inspiring to me because of the movie Gangs of New York (2002). Plot: In 1862, an Irish immigrant named Amsterdam Vallon (DiCaprio) returns to the lawless Five Points district of lower Manhattan. He seeks revenge against William “Bill the Butcher” Cutting (Day-Lewis), the anti-immigrant gang leader who killed his father during a turbulent era of gang wars and the 1863 New York City draft riots. I walk past the area on my way to the studio every day and can’t help but think about it.
