Twenty-five years have passed since September 11, 2001. A quarter of a century is long enough for children to become adults, skylines to change and a new generation to know that morning only through photographs, recordings and the stories of those who were there. Yet in New York, there are some absences time does not erase.

On Friday, September 11, Bryant Park and Bank of America will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the attacks with a day of remembrance, beginning with an extraordinary installation across the park’s lawn: 2,753 empty chairs, each representing a life lost at the World Trade Center. The chairs will face south.

It is a simple gesture, and that simplicity may be what makes it so powerful. Rather than attempting to recreate the horror of that morning, the installation represents what remained afterward: the empty chair at the dinner table, the missing person at the birthday party, the parent who never came home, the colleague whose desk remained vacant. Multiply that absence by 2,753 and suddenly a statistic becomes human again.

From 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., visitors will be invited to write a note of remembrance and place a carnation, provided by Bank of America, on one of the chairs. For the first 3,000 carnations placed by the public, Bank of America will donate $25 per flower, with the funds divided among the NYC Police Foundation, FDNY Foundation and Port Authority PBA Widows’ and Children’s Fund.

The remembrance continues that evening when the American Symphony Orchestra takes over the Bryant Park lawn from 7 to 8:15 p.m. for a free memorial concert as part of Bryant Park’s Picnic Performances.

The program could hardly begin with a more appropriate American voice. Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man was written not for kings, presidents or generals, but in honor of ordinary people asked to meet extraordinary times. On September 11, 2001, New York discovered just how extraordinary ordinary people could be.

The concert will also include the Adagio from Gustav Mahler’s Tenth Symphony and George Walker’s Lyric for Strings, along with additional works honoring the resilience of Americans and the courage and sacrifice of those who responded on September 11.

Founded by Leopold Stokowski in 1962, the American Symphony Orchestra has spent more than six decades bringing orchestral music to wider audiences, making its presence here particularly fitting. There will be no tickets and no velvet ropes. New Yorkers can simply bring a blanket, sit on the lawn and listen. For those unable to attend, the concert will also be livestreamed.

There is something particularly poignant about holding this remembrance in Bryant Park. This is not a cemetery or a memorial site. It is one of the most alive places in Manhattan, surrounded by offices, restaurants, tourists, commuters, children, music and the relentless movement of New York City. Life will continue all around those empty chairs. That, too, is part of September 11’s legacy.

New York did not forget its dead in order to continue living. It continued living because they could not.

Twenty-five years later, 2,753 empty chairs will face south across Bryant Park. For one day, in the middle of a city that rarely stops moving, we will be asked to notice who is missing.

New York Fashion Week has always been as much about what happens between the shows as what happens on the runway. This September, one of those moments will smell remarkably like fall.

On September 14 beginning at 10 a.m., NEST New York will take over Chelsea Triangle in the Meatpacking District with a complimentary Cardamom Latte café, turning the launch of its new Cardamom Latte Eau de Parfum into something New Yorkers can both wear and drink.

The concept is wonderfully simple: take the notes of a fragrance and put them into a cup. Visitors can stop by for a free fall-inspired cardamom latte while experiencing the scent that inspired it, transforming what would ordinarily be a perfume launch into a small sensory playground in the middle of Fashion Week.

Cardamom Latte was practically made for September in New York. The fragrance combines cardamom with jasmine petals, coconut milk and vanilla cream, moving between spice, floral notes and something warm and deliciously comforting. It is fragrance borrowing from café culture, then café culture returning the favor.

There is also something distinctly New York about launching it in the Meatpacking District during Fashion Week. For years, the neighborhood has been one of the places where fashion, beauty, nightlife, food and street culture continually collide. A perfume-inspired coffee shop appearing for a day in Chelsea Triangle feels considerably more interesting than another fragrance bottle sitting beneath perfect lighting at a traditional launch party.

It also taps into the increasingly blurred line between beauty and experience. We no longer simply want to smell the perfume or see the dress. We want to enter its world. Here, scent becomes taste, a perfume counter becomes a café, and discovering a new fragrance becomes part of wandering through New York during one of its most stylish weeks.

The pop-up is also conveniently located just steps from Sephora, where the Sephora-exclusive Cardamom Latte Eau de Parfum can be purchased after visitors have had their first smell—and their first sip.

NEST New York’s Cardamom Latte Café takes place September 14 beginning at 10 a.m. at Chelsea Triangle in the Meatpacking District. The lattes are complimentary.

Fashion Week may be concerned with what New York is going to wear next, but for one morning, it will also be concerned with how New York smells—and apparently, how it takes its coffee.

This morning my telephone began ringing. It didn’t ring once. It rang approximately 11 times. Eventually I answered. Then came two text messages, supposedly from Chase Bank Fraud Prevention. What made them disturbing wasn’t simply that someone was pretending to be my bank. The sender had information about me.

The message addressed me by name and not the one I normally use. They asked whether I had used my debit card ending in the exact last four numbers at Smiles Dentistry for $1,286.87. If I recognized the transaction, I was instructed to reply YES. If I didn’t, I was to reply NO.

Now think about that for a moment.

I am currently undergoing extensive dental work. The sender knew the last four digits of my debit card. Dentistry is not some random subject pulled out of the air in my life right now. Put those things together with the name Chase Bank, a specific dollar amount and a supposed fraud warning, and you have something considerably more sophisticated than the badly spelled emails from foreign princes we learned to laugh at years ago.

This is what modern fraud looks like and it is frighteningly easy to understand how somebody falls for it. I didn’t.

Instead, I contacted Chase and reported what had happened. I also forwarded the message to 7726 (SPAM) and reported the incident to the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC specifically recommends forwarding unwanted scam texts to 7726 and reporting suspected fraud to the agency.

Then I did something scammers probably don’t expect everyone to do. I started investigating. The telephone number displayed on my phone was 585-404-6029, a 585 area-code number. My search led me to the name Yeishaly Santiago, age 26. But there is an important distinction here: finding a name associated with a telephone number on the internet does not prove that the person owns the number, made the call or committed a crime. Telephone numbers can be spoofed and identities can be impersonated.

So I tested what I had found. I texted the sender that I had reported the attempted scam to 7726, Chase and the Federal Trade Commission. I cursed him out, called him a scammer and told him that I now knew his name. I gave him the name I had found and his purported age.

His response was a smiley face. Then came: “Yeah, that’s my name, silly lady.”

That does not constitute an independent verification of the real-world identity of the person holding the phone. It does establish something I can report firsthand: the person communicating with me claimed that the name I had discovered was his.

There was another rather spectacular moment in our exchange. When I initially told the supposed Chase representative that he had been reported, his professional banking demeanor disappeared remarkably quickly. His response? “Suck a dick.”

I have dealt with Chase for years. I don’t remember that particular phrase appearing in its customer-service manual. The humor, however, shouldn’t obscure what happened. Someone contacted me pretending to represent my bank while apparently possessing enough accurate personal financial information to make the contact initially plausible.

Chase itself warns that suspicious texts should not be answered. The bank says its legitimate text messages use five- or six-digit short codes, and lists 28107, 36640 and 72166 among the codes used for fraud and account-security messages. Chase advises customers who receive suspicious messages to contact the bank independently using the telephone number on the back of their card or account statement.

The message I received came from an ordinary ten-digit telephone number. That is something I now know to look for immediately.

The Scam Has Changed

For years we were taught to recognize scams by their stupidity. Look for misspellings. Look for ridiculous promises. Don’t send money to somebody claiming you’ve won a lottery you never entered. That advice is no longer enough.

Today’s scammer doesn’t necessarily need you to believe an outrageous story. They need to know just enough truth about you to make the lie believable.

Your bank. Four digits from your card. A business you actually use—or, in my case, a type of business very much connected to something currently happening in my life.  Then comes urgency. Your card has supposedly been charged $1,286.87. Did you authorize it? YES or NO?

The instinct is to respond immediately because you think somebody is stealing your money. The moment you respond, the scammer knows several things. The telephone number is active. You are reading the messages. You are concerned and, most importantly, you are now engaged in the conversation.

That is why verification has to happen outside the conversation the stranger initiated.

The scale of the problem is enormous. According to new FTC figures released this summer, consumers reported losing $3.5 billion to imposter scams in 2025, nearly triple the reported losses in 2020. Nearly one in three fraud reports involved an imposter scam, and among people reporting losses to business impersonators, bank impersonators accounted for the highest reported losses.

Even more disturbing, Americans reported nearly $16 billion in total fraud losses during 2025, a record and roughly 25 percent higher than the previous year.

On the very day I am writing this, an Associated Press and FRONTLINE investigation reports that 98 percent of Americans surveyed suspect they have been targeted by scam messages, while reported U.S. scam losses reached $15.9 billion last year.

This isn’t happening to a handful of gullible people. It is happening to virtually everybody.

One of the reasons scams continue to flourish is embarrassment. People don’t want to admit that they were fooled. That gives the criminal another advantage. We need to stop treating scam victims as stupid.

A convincing fraud is specifically engineered not to look like fraud. Its entire purpose is to take fragments of reality and arrange them into a lie convincing enough to make an intelligent person act before questioning it.

If a bank supposedly contacts you about suspicious activity, stop. Don’t use the telephone number supplied by the person contacting you. Don’t click the link in the text. Don’t give them another piece of information merely because they already possess one. Open your banking app independently or call the number printed on the back of your card.

And report the attempt.

What happened to me this morning did not cost me, ut it taught me something considerably more valuable.

The fact that someone knows something about you does not mean they are who they say they are. A stranger knowing your bank doesn’t prove he works for your bank. Knowing four digits of your card doesn’t entitle him to the other twelve. Knowing something happening in your life doesn’t make him trustworthy. And a telephone number appearing on your screen doesn’t necessarily tell you who is actually behind it.

I got proactive. I reported them. I crank-called them. Then I went looking. The sender told me the name I found was his. He messed with the wrong person. But here is the part I don’t want to leave out: about two years ago, I was almost taken in by a scam myself.

This time I reported what happened to the institutions whose job it is to investigate further first instead of feeling helpless.

Now I’m reporting something else—to you.

The next scam that arrives on your phone may know far more about you than you expect. Don’t let what they already know convince you to give them what they don’t.

What the sender apparently didn’t know was that the “silly lady” he had chosen to scam happens to be a journalist—and owns the publication you’re reading right now.

Times Square has always been a feast for the senses. On September 9, it becomes a literal one. The Times Square Alliance brings back its annual Taste of Times Square, one of New York’s longest-running outdoor food festivals, turning Restaurant Row and the Broadway plazas into one enormous open-air dining room on Wednesday, September 9, from 4 to 8 p.m.

Presented by The Durst Organization, this year’s festival gathers close to 40 Times Square restaurants, offering a culinary trip around the world without requiring so much as a MetroCard swipe. Mexican, Caribbean, Cuban, Italian, Indian and American flavors will share the streets, proving once again that the neighborhood surrounding Broadway is considerably more interesting gastronomically than its old reputation suggests.

That’s part of what makes Taste of Times Square so much fun. The Theatre District has quietly become a remarkable culinary crossroads in its own right. Within a handful of blocks, one can travel between cultures, continents and cooking traditions—and on September 9, those kitchens come outside.

The festival also returns to familiar territory this year, stretching along West 46th Street from Seventh to Ninth Avenues, including Restaurant Row, and onto the Broadway plazas between 45th and 47th Streets.

The concept remains wonderfully democratic. Rather than committing to one restaurant and one meal, guests can wander, taste and construct dinner one plate at a time. Most dishes will cost $5, with select offerings priced at $10. Visitors register a wristband with a credit or debit card at the event and use it to purchase tastes as they go.

Even better for those who plan ahead: advance purchases made through September 8 receive a 20 percent savings.

Of course, this is Times Square, so food alone isn’t enough. Live music and performances will accompany the evening, with entertainment representing several current Broadway productions, along with performers from the Broadway Dreams Foundation and Ellen’s Stardusters. Dinner, Broadway and several blocks of New York spectacle—all without having to choose between them.

Taste of Times Square has endured because it captures something essential about the neighborhood. Times Square may be internationally famous for its billboards and Broadway marquees, but behind all that neon is a community of restaurants, chefs, bartenders, theatre people and longtime New Yorkers who actually make the district function.

For four hours, they take over the streets. Taste of Times Square takes place Wednesday, September 9, from 4 to 8 p.m., along West 46th Street from Seventh to Ninth Avenues and the Broadway plazas between 45th and 47th Streets.

Taste of Times Square information and advance purchases

Come hungry. This is one night when wandering around Times Square without being able to decide where to eat is precisely the point.

The Hamptons went to the dogs—in the very best possible way—as NYC Second Chance Rescue gathered animal lovers, philanthropists and familiar faces at a private Bridgehampton estate for its 5th Annual Concert for a Cause.

The summer benefit honored legendary entrepreneur, philanthropist and longtime animal advocate John Paul DeJoria, while also marking the world introduction of Pawpoint.

Beth Stern (Image Credit: BFA / David Benthal)

DeJoria, whose philanthropic work has long extended to animal welfare, was recognized for a commitment that dovetails naturally with the mission of Second Chance Rescue.

“It is an honor to be recognized by NYC Second Chance Rescue,” DeJoria said. “Their compassion, dedication, and commitment to animals are truly inspiring, and I am grateful to be part of an evening that will help so many animals in need.”

Hamptons benefit should never forget the party, the evening came with some serious musical wattage.

Ashanti (Image Credit: BFA / David Benthal)

Grammy Award winner Ashanti headlined alongside platinum-selling artist Fabolous, giving the intimate Bridgehampton gathering considerably more star power than the average summer fundraiser.

Fabolous Photo by Rose Billings

Fabolous (Image Credit: BFA / David Benthal)

The generosity continued offstage. A live auction featured experiences including a yacht charter donated by Lauren and Eddie Shapiro of NestSeekers, while a paddle raise brought in additional funds for the rescue’s work with some of the animals most difficult—and expensive—to save.

Beth Stern (Image Credit: BFA / David Benthal)

Among those joining the evening were Beth Stern

Caroline Radziwell (Image Credit: BFA / David Benthal)

Carole Radziwill, Peter Cook,

Bradley Fishel, Alexandra Fishel, Maria Fishel, Kenneth Fishel Beth Stern (Image Credit: BFA / David Benthal)

Kenneth and Maria Fishel, Blair and Margit Brandt, Jennifer Brooks, Lisa Blanco, Lisa Rose, Katie McEntee, Daisy Toye, Eric Muschinski, Tina Guidipipietro and Rocco Guidipipietro, along with DeJoria, Ashanti and Fabolous.

Lisa Blanco, Ashanti, Jennifer Brooks (Image Credit: BFA / David Benthal)

Behind the glamour is a mission with very real consequences. Founded in 2009, NYC Second Chance Rescue concentrates much of its work on animals that frequently have the fewest options: large-breed dogs and critically injured or medically complex dogs and cats pulled from overcrowded municipal shelters.

Since its founding, the nonprofit has rescued more than 17,000 animals, providing medical treatment, rehabilitation, foster care and ultimately the possibility of a permanent home. Its work extends beyond rescue through community programs designed to help people keep the animals they already love.

The evening was presented with support from Alexander Capital Ventures LLC, Montauk Project and the Phenom Foundation, with Renaissance Properties, Margot Brandt Palm Beach and Cindy Karen serving as Champion sponsors.

There are plenty of beautiful parties in the Hamptons every summer. The best ones manage to send everyone home having accomplished something besides being photographed.

Concert for a Cause did exactly that—turning one glamorous Bridgehampton night into second chances for animals who desperately need them.