By Melanie Wallis
Single people in search of fun and romance came downtown last week for the “Mix, Meet, Match” singles event at the A & M Roadhouse. The event, put on by the Tribeca Organization, attracted a diverse crowd, both young and old, from Manhattan and beyond.
Micheal Polacco, 43, from the Upper West side heard about the event through a on-line matchmaking event site called Cosomoparty.com.
“My friend and I decided we were going to go, and my friend pulled out at the last minute,” he said.
Polacco, a real estate developer, said that since ending a long-term relationship last year, he’s found the Manhattan dating game a challenge.
“I find it has its difficult moments, but not much worse than other cities,” said Polacco, who moved here from Boston. “New York has a way of hardening people, so I come across a lot of hardened women,” he said.
Polacco enjoyed the night but didn’t meet his perfect match. “The venue was fine and the food was good,” he said.
For a $40 cover charge people got free food, drink (Beck’s beer and house vodka). More than 100 people squeezed into the low lit bar where the “One Tree Jazz Band” played.
Sharon-Frances Moore, Executive Director of the Tribeca Organization said that the numbers of woman verses men was “almost 50-50.” Advance tickets sales via the internet were monitored to maintain an equal balance. But as the night itself wore on, however, the balance was thrown off by the firefighters and sailors who flooded in.
Sandy Fischer, an Associate Creative Director who lives on the Upper East Side came with her friend Chris Haley who lives in Battery Park City. Haley, a clothing designer and singer, said that she thought the atmosphere could’ve been better, “it seems like people are staying in groups,” signaling towards a crowd of eight firemen in the middle of the room.
Haley said that she finds dating difficult now that she’s older.
“Its easy to have a one night stand but I’m looking for other things now, I’m looking for someone who’s going to be decent,” she said. “I just don’t know where to go!”
This is the second time that the Tribeca Organization has held a singles event. The first time was at the Tribeca Grand.
People came from a variety of locations including Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Upper East/West Side and Downtown. “We did a questionnaire from our last event [at the Tribeca Grand] and we had people from all boroughs and New Jersey,” Moore said.
The type of people who attended the event varied.
“We have people from all different socio-economic groups,” Moore said. On hand that night were: a clothing designer, a real estate broker, financier, artist, and marketing and advertising executives.
A financier named Sindy, 30, said that she came mainly for the good deal.
“Forty bucks is great! I would usually do a lot more than that in a night,” she said. Sindy hooked up with a Sailor called Rob that night. Rob was in town for fleet week, but future plans were being arranged between the two.
“We’ve exchanged e-mails and I’m only docked in Virginia so maybe she can come up to visit,” Rob said.
WWW Downtown Express
