Alex Hartman (Nolita Dirtbag)

The Nolita Dirtbag on Stuart Little, OliPop, Holding On To Your Crypto, and more.

October 6, 2022

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Alex Hartman is the anonymous poster behind one of the best meme accounts in NYC, @nolitadirtbag. After a year of taking the piss out of a culture that he’s a part of himself, it’s fitting that following a name reveal on GQ he decided to save the long awaited face reveal for Perfectly Imperfect (which flips the “PI is the pipeline to getting a profile in GQ” quote on it’s head…). He’s used his meme momentum to throw several big parties, build collaborations with the energy mist brand Pzaz, release a chain with M Jewelers, and drop a signature cocktail at Ruby’s. What’s next for Nolita Dirtbag you may ask? Well on October 11th he’s bringing his memes to life via a TikTok/IG 8-episode “series” that he’s been working on with Adam Faze and Jake Lazovick. Lucky for us, Alex is here to tell us what he’s been into.

Rec

🤷

Michael Thomas White (aka MTW)

In April, some guy with about 2,000 followers popped up on TikTok who labeled himself as “The Next Harry Styles” and a “Model, Singer, CEO of a Watch Company all while having a full time finance job paying 6 figures” and I haven’t looked away since. A few weeks later, I saw him making a TikTok outside Cafe Select and asked for a selfie and he graciously approved without batting an eye like a seasoned celeb which was amazing. I am in a 30+ person MTW Fan club group chat and I attended his first show in the East Village that was insane. I bought a $35 signed shirt. I can’t really explain it anymore (and never will be able to) but you’ve got to check out his videos.

Rec

🍝

Malatesta

It is one of my favorite restaurants to go to in the city. It’s an italian place in the west village on Christopher Street and truly only one of the places where you don’t feel like you just got ripped off leaving. The spinach gorgonzola gnocchi goes crazy, The chicken milanese is fantastic and definitely get the grilled squid if you’re into those sort of things.

Rec

☕

Corto

Corto is a coffee shop in Bed-Stuy and my go to if I’m in the area. I do a lot of work there and they now stay open a little later and started serving wine and “small bites”. They have the best Fococcia I’ve ever had in my life and subsequently some of the best sandwiches. Fair warning - it is $15 bucks for something that will not fill you up - but it’s totally worth it. Their backyard is perfect and isn't one of those places that has the annoying ass “NO LAPTOPS ALLOWED” sign at the front. (Ok they do have it but that’s just for weekends)

Rec

🥤

OliPop

I’m usually not a sucker for these millennial gut health probiotic schticks but I go out of my way to grab a crisp Strawberry Vanilla OliPop a few times a week. I’ve now given all of the other 4.99 “Functional Tonics” a shot and OliPop is by far the best. The consistency is insane and so mf creamy. I feel like a real dweeb saying “How does this only have 5 grams of sugar and 14 grams of fiber” while inspecting the label. The Orange Cream goes crazy too. (Just reread this and it sounds like I’m getting paid for this. I am not)

Rec

🐭

Stuart Little

I loved Stuart Little growing up and just rewatched it. Me and both of my sisters are weirdly obsessed with it. I still tear up at the scene when Stuart is racing his model boat in Central Park and Jonathan Lipnicki who plays his brother goes “That’s not a mouse, that’s my brother!!!”. Awesome scene. I think we need more earnest movies like Stuart Little. It’s a biblical tale that shows you how anyone can do anything, even if the world just sees them as some little mouse 👍 Zootopia is another one of my favorites.

Rec

🤑

Hold on to your Crypto

Don’t get me wrong - the Crypto/NFT bro culture thing is truly one of the worst and most bizzare corners of the world to me but in high school I bought a quarter pound of kush off of the Silk Road using bitcoin. (I split it with friend of the newsletter, Walter Pearce) The price of Bitcoin was 120ish dollars in 2013 and If I didn’t get that dark web zaza it would have been worth $800,000 at the peak last year. That’s expensive kush. (Adjacent recommendation - don’t smoke kush)

Rec

🐷

FergusAlice

My best friend from growing up started a cool collective where he sells a bunch of awesome clothes (AndWander Proxy Mayhem, Amazing Vintage Collection, $600 Bode Pants etc.) and provides great recipes. It’s inspired by epic nose-to-tail Chef Fergus Henderson and polarizing Chef Alice Waters. He recently collabed with Palmes Society and the collective is definitely something you’ll want to check out.

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Alex Hartman (Nolita Dirtbag)

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