NYC NOW - Midday News: Code Blue Activated for Cold Weather, RSV Cases Spike, Hanukkah Latke Recipes, and NYC Jeweler’s Pieces at AMNH

Episode Date: December 26, 2024

New York City has activated a Code Blue as temperatures drop, opening shelters to anyone in need. Meanwhile, the city’s health department is also warning of a rise in RSV cases and urging vaccinations for vulnerable groups. Plus, WNYC’s Samantha Max highlights the best places for Hanukkah latkes. Finally, we revisit Janae Pierre’s feature on Pristine Jewelers, the go-to jeweler for hip-hop icons like Fat Joe and Cardi B, and their rise to cultural prominence.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Jared Marcel. We hope you're enjoying this holiday week. We sure are. But the news doesn't stop. Here's your headlines from Veronica de Valle. New York City is activating a code blue this afternoon because of dropping temperatures. That means city shelters will be open to anyone without a roof over their head brought in by outreach teams canvassing the five boroughs.

Accommodations are also available for walk-ins. The alert goes into effect at 4 in the afternoon. New York City's Health Department is warning of a spike in cases of the RSV respiratory virus, and it's encouraging vulnerable groups to get vaccinated. The virus can cause mild, cold-like symptoms, but some people can become seriously ill. Health officials say infants, young children, older adults, and pregnant people are all good candidates for vaccination. They also say New Yorkers should wear face masks in crowded settings and wash their hands often to avoid spreading R-SV. Hanukkah started last night, and that means the time for potato pancakes is underway.

If you're looking for LACA's in New York City, WNYC's Samantha Max has some recommendations. You can find LACA's year-round at classic delis and kosher lunch counters like Katz's on the Lower East Side, B&H Dairy in the Ukrainian Village, and Ben's Deli in Bayside. That's where they're served in the traditional style, with applesauce and sour cream. But if you're looking for something more inventive, several Middle Eastern restaurants are serving up gourmet lacquess. At Cuba and Greenwich Village, you can get lacquas with sea bass and harissa or eggplant, walnuts, and mint. And at Miriam, you can order root vegetable lacquess with labna and quince marmalade. You can find our lacca list on our news site, Gothamist. This week, we're looking back at some of the exciting stories we covered over 2024.

After the break, we revisit a story about a jeweler in New York City's Diamond District who has iced out some of hip-hop's biggest names. A few of his pieces are part of an exhibit that's still running at the American Museum of Natural History. Stick around for more. On West 47th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues, you'll find what's called the Diamond District in New York City. If you're a New Yorker and you need to get some diamonds or an engagement ring, you probably know the neighborhood.

Some jewelers there flood the sidewalks to entice people into their shops. If you want to come in, you're welcome to come in. You want to shop around and you're welcome to do that. Whatever you feel like doing. I'm just asking me. But one shop, pristine jewelers, is the go-to spot for hip-hop stars like Fat Joe, Cardi B, and DJ Khalid. The two partners behind it have become celebrities in their own right. Today, some of their works are on display at the American Museum of Natural History's exhibit, ice cold, and exhibition of hip-hop jewelry.

Earlier this year, WNYC's Jenae Pierre visited their store to find out about their unlikely journey to becoming part of hip-hop history. If you have the money and enough status to visit pristine jewelers in the Diamond District, be sure to dress to impress because the jewelers there are fresh. I'm Avi Davidov, one of the owners of pristine jewelers, Louis Vuitton, head to toe. Avi owns Pristine with his close friend Ophir bin Shimon. They dress in luxury brands, and they describe pristine as a lifestyle. But it wasn't always this way. Avi grew up in Queens. His parents migrated to the U.S. from Uzbekistan, and they worked in the jewelry industry for more than 30 years.

When his parents opened their shop on Fordham Road in the Bronx, he'd worked there most days after school. as we were growing older, my sister and I, we saw their hardships, so we decided to help them out. And while we were helping them out, we learned more of the trade, more of the business, and I liked it. By the age of 18, Avi had become a sponge to the business and community he was surrounded by. From computer-aided designs to sorting and picking up diamonds, he absorbed it all. He recalls sneaking into parties where he didn't belong just to float design ideas to potential clients. For his clients, he was even willing to do drop-offs of completed pieces and pickups of diamonds, which can sometimes be dangerous. I pull myself out there. I took life risks. You know, I was shot at. I was kidnapped.

Reminiscing on the early years of his career, Avi says he's seen his life flash before his eyes at least five times. 18, 19, 20, every year was something. But you know what? When you were trying to go and get it and when you're young, you don't even think it. We could have all been here and not even become a jeweler today and lost our lives. Avi says he and his partner O'Fair both grew up from nothing. The two became friends while attending Cardoza High School. Avi's success isn't just in the merchandise, but in the relationships they continue to build to this day. So how did a guy with no connections in the hip-hop world become one of its star jewelers? Avi says the secret is humility.

His big break happened in the early 2000s at a party where, where he was introduced to Puerto Rican rapper Don Omar. We started doing custom-made pieces for him in Diamond Watchers. And once the Latin error of Puerto Rico saw that, they all started finding me and started hitting me up and, hey, we want you to create our custom pieces. And just like that, Avi was in. He says he was never the average jeweler,

standing and waiting for clients behind a display case. He'd always go out of his way for his clients, even if out of the way is out of town. there is a video shoot, can you be there for them or not, or if there's a birthday and they want you to fly into Russia, for instance, or anywhere in the world, are you available? After his first gig with Don Omar, Avi began receiving celebrity requests for various pieces, from custom necklaces to bust down watches. That's when you take a high-end watch, like a Rolex or a Cartier, and the jeweler disassembles it, sprinkles diamonds all over it, and customizes the watch to fulfill the client's desired look. It's another trend born in hip-hop, but during the early aughts, most fashion houses weren't accepting of the look or the genre in general. However, the bust-down watches with baguette cut diamonds would become the claim to fame for pristine jewelers.

They associated hip-hop with different kind of taste. It wasn't, you know, high class. It wasn't of a certain caliber. That's Vicki Choback, author of Ice Cold, a hip-hop jewelry history. When hip-hop artists started going to jewelers, asking them to, like, highly, highly customize or, like, remix things, only certain jewelers would do that for them. And so the trust level between the artist and the jeweler had to be really high.

Tobak says Avi's hustle and maneuvering of work relationships mirrors that of many early jewelers in hip-hop, most of whom are immigrants or children of immigrants. You're kind of ingrained with this, like, hustle mentality in a good way, right? Like, you will figure it out. You will find a way. And that's very much hip-hop, and that's very much the mentality of these jewelers. Aside from pristine jewelers, Avi Davidoff and Ophir Ben-Shimon,

names of immigrant jewelers ring loudly in hip-hop, like Ben Baller and Alex Moss, or Jacob the jeweler and Tito Kaisito, who some say was the first hip-hop jeweler. Tito was so important that Biggie rapped about him. And you can hear him a lot and a lot of lyrics too. He made the first Rockefeller pendants. He made Biggie's Jesus piece.

He made Naz's early QB pendant, which we also... All those pieces are now on display at the American Museum of Natural History, as part of its new exhibit, ice cold, an exhibition of hip-hop jewelry. Tobek is the guest curator. She recently gave me a tour of the exhibit, which is on display until the end of the year in the Hall of Gems and Minerals. It features pieces belonging to Slick Rick, Ghostface Killer, Nikki Minaj, and Aesap Rocky, just to name a few. A couple of the pieces in the exhibit were designed by pristine jewelers, like Naz's Queens Bridge pendant.

And as you can see, it's on a Cuban link, but it has a couple Gucci pieces in it as well. A Cuban link is a thick chain, and the Gucci pieces are puffy interlocking links with diamonds all around. On the back, it's inscribed Queens Bridge, which of course. course, is a love letter to where he's from. Very, very, you know, high craftsmanship, a lot of diamonds. Avi remembers first meeting Nas at a video shoot for his Elmatic album. He says, for Nas, that QB pendant is like a trophy. A lot of the artists, they grew up from nothing from poverty like we did. So their trophies is their pieces that they make. They're flashy watches or their flashy pieces. That's to show them that they made it. Every time my album comes out, they want to

a piece to celebrate or maybe for even the whole team. Avi and his partner Ofeer launched their watchline pristine timepieces four years ago. When I visited Avi, he was wearing one with black and white diamonds. There are only 18 of these watches in the world, priced at over a million dollars. Now it's all about preserving what you've earned and just building a legacy for your family and your kids. You know, we just keep pushing ourselves, and that's the most beautiful part about it. The ice cold exhibit is on now through January 5th, 2025, at the American Museum of Natural History. Jene Pierre, WNYC News.

That story first aired back in June. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. I'm Jared Marcell. We'll be back with one episode tomorrow.