Once upon a time there was a group of six girls all living in New York City who spent countless hours asking each other for recommendations, such as “Where should I go to get my Marc Jacobs shoes re-heeled?” or “Does anyone know the best place to get a really great haircut?” After all, it only makes sense: a hip gal is totally going to trust her besties’ advice over Google. That’s when two of these girls got the idea to create an online rolodex of the top people, places, and things in New York that would help girls like them fulfill their most basic needs, from furnishing their apartments, to finding an eye doctor, to getting those perfect arches. After one of the girls coined the phrase “urbanista”–an urban fashionista–the two soon-to-be webpreneurs crafted their business plan.
In March 2006, the two girls emailed a questionnaire to all of their chicest friends, and suddenly they had over 1,000 recommendations from New York City trendsetters and tastemakers. You need to get the sole of you shoe replaced? A shoe designer told them where to go. You want to be blonde? They got hair-coloring advice from a beauty editor. You’ve got to get your jeans hemmed or your Theory suit dry cleaned? A fashion assistant let them in on her secrets. The two urbanistas then narrowed down their list and went on a scouting trip–they wanted to be super picky as to what places made the final cut. After visiting what felt like millions of spots all over their tiny little island, the girls gave their thumbs up to hundreds of shops, spas, services, restaurants, bars, and more (and none of the recommendations made the list by paying to be there).
But their Urbanista’s rolodex doesn’t stop there. Because New York changes in, well, a New York-minute, the girls continue to add more recommendations and categories all the time (so check back often, hint hint!). In 2007, they added a Lust List, which is a list of items that every urbanista “needs,” and also a diary, which lists goings on around the town. They are hoping to expand to other cities by the end of the year.
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