The New York Times have been running a weekly series called "1 in 8 Million" where the portray a New Yorker through a series of photographs (which are really great) with a voice over narration. The most recent installment is Jesse Villanueva who works just around the corner at A.R.C. (Alife Rivington Club).
"Mr. Villanueva lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with his wife, Jennifer, a business analyst at Scholastic Books. His longtime sneaker habit has mellowed over the past year - he sold about 200 pairs from his personal collection of 350. Among the sneakers aficionados who frequent Alife are the rappers Nas and Q-Tip, the singer John Mayer and the actor Robin Williams. But Mr. Villanueva most devoted followers are "a lot of regular 15 - 25 -year-old-dudes," he said. When he is not coveting sneakers, Mr. Villanueva performs hip-hop music under the name Holy Smokes.