Lifestyle
It’s a support system. The concrete trust between pro skaters and their videographers
On a Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles, a group of longtime friends recorded a conversation on the side of the road at Grand Avenue and 3rd Street after a long day of skating around the city with legendary photographer Atiba Jefferson, who was heading home after shooting the crew. Lee Spielman, a California native and co-founder of Babylon L.A., a locally based skate and streetwear brand, has known this group for years. He sat down to talk with pro skater Na-Kel Smith, who’s now been skating for more than 20 years; 13-year-old Junior Gutierrez, who started skating at age 3; and filmmaker Davonte Jolly, another longtime skater. All three were born and raised in L.A. — the “mecca of skateboarding,” as Smith put it. “If you’re gonna get a clip here, it’s gotta be beast, because everything’s been skated.”
Lee Spielman: Na-Kel and Jolly, how did you guys meet each other?
Davonte Jolly: We first met in 2015 casually, and then we started skating together a little after that.
LS: When did you start creatively working on longer-form video projects together?
DJ: The beginning of our relationship was literally just us hanging out at spots, like we wouldn’t even necessarily get clips, until that barrier was broken on the switch hard flip I filmed for the Adidas — Away Days video Nak was working on.
LS: I don’t think people who watch skate videos always understand what goes into it. You press play and watch this crazy montage of people going off, but there’s a lot more that goes into it, both physically and emotionally, between the skater and the filmer. Is there a way to explain the trust involved in that? You’re about to try something that is absolutely insane, obviously unsafe, you have to be —
DJ: A support system.
Na-Kel Smith: You’ve got to build up the chemistry. You’ve got to be able to sit around somebody for hours. I skate with a lot of different filmers, but I have a different trust when it comes to Jolly because I know my clips are always gonna look good. I know that I can communicate with Jolly if I need to use it for something for one of my sponsors. He’s not gonna go missing on me. He is organized. He helps me keep track of my list of tricks while I’m working on parts. It’s really just all-around communication.
LS: And being able to see creatively eye to eye?
NS: That’s where the trust comes in. I’m not necessarily too pressed on, “Yo, get this angle, do this.” Because I trust your angle, and that’s why I skate with you, so I don’t have to worry about that.
LS: What do you look for in a videographer?
NS: Off top, communication. And somebody that’s fun. If you’re not fun to be around, it ain’t no point …
Na-Kel Smith wears Louis Vuitton by Tyler, the Creator backpack, Hardies Hardware jacket, Levis pants, Adidas Superstars shoes, King Skateboards board.
LS: Jolly, we’ve traveled the world together — from Europe to Japan and in between. I’ve seen it before, when you pull out the camera on a session, people try to get filmed by you. I bet your inbox is flooded with people asking to go skate. There are a ton of skaters out there, but you’ve chosen to focus on a select few. What’s always been cool about your videos, to me, is that it feels like a collective. What is it that you look for in a skater when you’re working on videos?
DJ: I think early on in my filming career, I did choose who I filmed more so on a trick basis, but through that process, I learned you have to be selective about who you choose to not only attach your work to but just work with in general. From that, a tree kind of formed. I’ll use Na-Kel as an example. We’ll go out, he’ll bring someone that he loves to film with, and then I’ll meet and build a genuine relationship with someone, like Ishod [Wair], and from that, chemistry is formed. I’m not necessarily on a scout for the next top skater to film. Every skater that I film, it organically happens from another person that I already film with.
LS: Atiba shot all the photos that are in this magazine. I think there’s something to touch upon with him sort of being the glue that holds all this together, right? It’s like we have the filmer, the skater, and then we need that photo. The photo for the mag. Let’s talk a bit about Atiba’s place in that — where does he come in for you guys?
NS: I think Atiba specifically is like our ancestral guide to this whole thing. Atiba’s been around so many eras of skating, shot so many people in general, not even just in the skate world but, like, Quincy Jones for example, who just passed away. He’s got a photo of Kobe, a photo of LeBron, like everybody. He’s really the guy. He really knows how to, I’m not gonna say pressure you, but he knows how to nudge you to keep going and try your trick. If you’re getting close to getting something that’s worth it, and Atiba says you should keep going, you know to keep going because it’s actually something there. He knows what a good photo looks like.
LS: Skate photos before video, that’s all there was. I still trip to this day. You’ll hop on the internet and there will be some throwback — Kareem Campbell, Guy Mariano, whoever it is — and it’s shot by Atiba. It’ll be shot medium format with a fish-eye lens all perfect — that alone is a craft in itself. That’s not necessarily around as much anymore.
[Junior skates up.]
LS: Junior, who you are and where are you from?
Junior Gutierrez: I’m Junior. I’m from L.A.
LS: When did you start skating?
JG: I was 3.
LS: How old are now?
JG: 13.
Junior Gutierrez wears Babylon LA shirt, Fuccuuwant undershirt, Guess Originals shorts, Air Jordan 5 Retro “Top 3” shoes, King Skateboards board.
LS: Coming up in skating, being out with a high-caliber photographer like Atiba and a notable filmer like Jolly, what does that make you want to do at the session?
JG: When I’m with Atiba and Jolly, I don’t feel pressured but I do feel that I gotta do better because legends are filming me, taking photos of me. It’s just more intense, because I have some of the best of both worlds taking photos and videos of me. It makes me want to push myself a little harder.
NK: You’re crashin’ out when Atiba’s there! It’s time to go crazy!
LS: What is it that makes a good video to you?
JG: You gotta have a good relationship with your filmer, because if it’s not like that, it’s not gonna work out, because you have to deal with them 24/7 when you’re filming a video part. You just need the connection with a filmer.
NS: What I want to see out of a skate video is personality and character. I want to see style. I want to see who somebody is as a person, I want to be able to really get to know somebody through their video part, to see if I would actually like them as a person, somebody that you could aspire to be like. Just people with character and personality. It don’t even really be about the tricks.
LS: I think skate videos give a lot of taste and character to the streets, they help kids find themselves. Jolly, what makes a good skate video for you? And also, the music — I feel like that influences kids and what they get into. Do you use specific music for that reason?
DJ: A lot of my music tastes came from skate videos growing up. So I consciously wanted to use a Black soundtrack for my video “Godspeed,” because I wanted to shed light on artists that wouldn’t get that shine in skate videos normally, and change some other kids’ music taste because they watched this video, and now they’re into Brent Faiyaz, or Baby Keem or whatever other artists I use in my videos. And what makes a good skate video to me is a lot of the points Na-Kel said: It’s seeing personality and character, and it’s also just about the care from the filmer and from the skater. When both sides care about what they’re creating together, it shows in the end product, and when they don’t, it also shows in the end product.
Davonte Jolly wears Necessary Evil hat, Goodfellow & Co button-up, Race Service slacks, Air Jordan 4 Retro ‘Red Cement’ shoes.
LS: Junior, earlier we were talking about all the tricks you’ve done since you first started. I can search on my phone and type in “Hollywood High” and see you as a little 9-year-old skating an iconic spot. How do you feel when you look back at footage like that?
JG: It’s cool to be able to have these memorable moments on video so I can always look back and remember what I went through to film that specific part — or just how happy I was after I finally got the trick.
LS: For you, Nak, when you look back at footage, is it a snapshot for you? Like damn, I remember that moment in Atlanta, or that trip to Paris was crazy. Or my life was in whatever place at that time, you know?
NS: Really, that’s the whole point in documenting all this s—. It’s really a timestamp. When we first started skating it felt like I needed to go get footage so I can get sponsored or just to showcase what I do, but now that I’m getting older, when you look at it, we were just so young back then, just trying to get to a certain level. And then you actually reach that level because you worked hard to get there and you’re like, damn, now I’m what I looked up to as a kid. I look at my skate videos the same way how I used to look at Bryan Herman’s skate videos, or Antwuan Dixon’s skate videos. Like, I’ll go look, and I’ll sit there and honestly get inspired and be like, “Dang, this is always what I wanted to do as a little kid.” I really always wanted to be a pro skater. And now I really am that in every aspect of it. I’m just so happy that it’s all been captured for reals.
LS: Jolly, you’ve filmed some of these people’s greatest times in their lives. How does that feel for you when you look back at those moments, whether it’s iconic tricks or trips? How does it feel for you to be in the driver’s seat of how those moments are presented to the world?
DJ: It’s one of the things that brings me joy in the world. The same way I would look at an old photo is the same feeling I get when I pull up an old video and I have the reference point of when it was filmed, but also what it even took to get the clip, or why we even made the video in the first place. So even today, when I was showing Junior old videos that I’ve made, it’s a quick reminder of not only how far you’ve come but, to Nak’s point, of where you wanted to go and being present in that feeling of, “Oh s—.” We are way further than I could have imagined when we were just making little YouTube videos.
Davonte Jolly, “ghettobird,” 2024, featuring Na-Kel Smith, Junior Gutierrez, and Atiba Jefferson. Track: “Celine” by Na-kel Smith.
LS: If you had to describe your filming style to someone who has no idea what skating is, how would you describe it?
DJ: I want whoever’s watching my footage to feel like they are there. That’s how I document skateboarding specifically.
LS: Na-Kel, you’re from Los Angeles. You grew up street skating in Los Angeles. What makes L.A. so unique as a city for skateboarding for you?
NS: The skateboarding roots are so deep in Los Angeles that it just always had a skate vibe to the whole city for real. When I was growing up, it was never too foreign to see people skating as it was in other places. Skating is how you learned transportation. It’s how you learned your city. When I was young, I went through way more of the city by myself and with my friends than a lot of my other friends who didn’t skate because we were really trekking around. We were on buses, trains, skating miles just to go to different spots and really just to go explore different areas. It’s just an adventure. It’s the home of skateboarding. The mecca of skateboarding.
LS: Nak, do you have any advice for a kid who wants to be a pro skater? And Jolly, what’s your bit of creative advice for any kids out there who are currently making videos with their friends and trying to showcase their community?
NS: My advice to any kid trying to be a pro skater, No. 1, is: Maintain the love in skating. It’s supposed to be fun. You’re supposed to want to push yourself. You’re supposed to want to get better, but you’re supposed to enjoy it. That’s the essence of it. My second piece of advice: Get in that field. You can get a little motion in the skate park, but it don’t really matter. Hop in that field and go hard, because it’s millions of people out there who want to be pro skateboarders, and some of them make it, some of them don’t make it at all, but you gotta go hard in that field if you want it. That’s my main piece of advice.
Lee Spielman, second from right, wears Babylon LA hat and hoodie, BoTT vest, Guess Jeans pants, Nike Air Jordan 4 Retro “Lightning” shoes, Carpet Company board.
DJ: My biggest advice, and I wish someone told me this when I was younger, is just stay curious and follow that curiosity, but also try as much as you can to keep like-minded people around you who also are pursuing those curiosities because the journey is a lot better once you are on it with your people, versus people who cause friction to your journey. Facilitate a group of people you trust and believe in. Understand that it’s going to change and evolve, but be open to that and stay curious.
LS: All right. Quick last words. Na-Kel, favorite skater?
NS: Tyshawn Jones.
LS: Jolly, favorite skate filmer?
DJ: Spike Jonze.
LS: Junior, favorite skater?
JG: Vincent Nava.
Producer Lee Spielman
Music “Celine” by Na-Kel Smith
Lee Spielman co-founder of Babylon L.A. and California punk band Trash Talk, has spent over two decades creating community-driven spaces by blending music, art and alternative culture through global collaborations that inspire creativity, self-expression and cultural connection.
The art industry is increasingly shaped by artists’ and art businesses’ shared realization that they are locked in a fierce struggle for sustained attention — against each other, and against the rest of the overstimulated, always-online world. A major New York art fair aims to win this competition next month by knocking down the increasingly shaky walls between contemporary art and fashion.
When visitors enter the Independent art fair on May 14, they will almost immediately encounter its open-plan centerpiece: an installation of recent couture looks from Comme des Garçons. It will be the first New York solo presentation of works by Rei Kawakubo, the brand’s founder and mastermind, since a lauded 2017 survey exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.
Art fairs have often been front and center in the industry’s 21st-century quest to capture mindshare. But too many displays have pierced the zeitgeist with six-figure spectacles, like Maurizio Cattelan’s duct-taped banana and Beeple’s robot dogs. Curating Independent around Comme des Garçons comes from the conviction that a different kind of iconoclasm can rise to the top of New York’s spring art scrum.
Elizabeth Dee, the founder and creative director of Independent, said that making Kawakubo’s work the “nerve center” of this year’s edition was a “statement of purpose” for the fair’s evolution. After several years at the compact Spring Studios in TriBeCa, Independent will more than double its square footage by moving to Pier 36 at South Street, on the East River. Dee has narrowed the fair’s exhibitor list, to 76, from 83 dealers in 2025, and reduced booth fees to encourage a focus on single artists making bold propositions.
“Rei’s work has been pivotal to thinking about how my work as a curator, gallerist and art fair can push boundaries, especially during this extraordinary move toward corporatization and monoculture in the art world in the last 20 years,” Dee said.
Kawakubo’s designs have been challenging norms since her brand’s first Paris runway show in 1981, but her work over the last 13 years on what she calls “objects for the body” has blurred borders between high fashion and wearable sculpture.
The Comme des Garçons presentation at Independent will feature 20 looks from autumn-winter 2020 to spring-summer 2025. Forgoing the runway, Kawakubo is installing her non-clothing inside structures made from rebar and colored plastic joinery.
Adrian Joffe, the president of both Comme des Garçons International and the curated retailer Dover Street Market International (and who is also Kawakubo’s husband), said in an interview that Kawakubo’s intention was to create a sculptural installation divorced from chronology and fashion — “a thing made new again.”
Every look at Independent was made in an edition of three or fewer, but only one of each will be for sale on-site. Prices will be about $9,000 to $30,000. Comme des Garçons will retain 100 percent of the sales.
Asked why she was interested in exhibiting at Independent, the famously elusive Kawakubo said via email, “The body of work has never been shown together, and this is the first presentation in New York in almost 10 years.” Joffe added a broader philosophical motivation. “We’ve never done it before; it was new,” he said. Also essential was the fair’s willingness to embrace Kawakubo’s vision for the installation rather than a standard fair booth.
Kawakubo began consistently engaging with fine art decades before such crossovers became commonplace. Since 1989, she has invited a steady stream of contemporary artists to create installations in Comme des Garçons’s Tokyo flagship store. The ’90s brought collaborations with the artist Cindy Sherman and performance pioneer Merce Cunningham, among others.
More cross-disciplinary projects followed, including limited-release direct mailers for Comme des Garçons. Kawakubo designs each from documentation of works provided by an artist or art collective.
The display at Independent reopens the debate about Kawakubo’s proper place on the continuum between artist and designer. But the issue is already settled for celebrated artists who have collaborated with her.
“I totally think of Rei as an artist in the truest sense,” Sherman said by email. “Her work questions what everyone else takes for granted as being flattering to a body, questions what female bodies are expected to look like and who they’re catering to.”
Ai Weiwei, the subject of a 2010 Comme des Garçons direct mailer, agreed that Kawakubo “is, in essence, an artist.” Unlike designers who “pursue a sense of form,” he added, “her design and creation are oriented toward attitude” — specifically, an attitude of “rebellion.”
Also taking this position is “Costume Art,” the spring exhibition at the Costume Institute. Opening May 10, the show pairs individual works from multiple designers — including Comme des Garçons — with artworks from the Met’s holdings to advance the argument made by the dress code for this year’s Met gala: “Fashion is art.”
True to form, Kawakubo sometimes opts for a third way.
“Rei has often said she’s not a designer, she’s not an artist,” Joffe said. “She is a storyteller.”
Now to find out whether an art fair sparks the drama, dialogue and attention its authors want.
Lifestyle
They set out to elevate karaoke in L.A. — and opened a glamorous lounge that pulls out all the stops
Brothers Leo and Oliver Kremer visited karaoke spots around the globe and almost always had the same impression.
“The drinks weren’t always great, the aesthetics weren’t always so glamorous, the sound wasn’t always awesome and the lights were often generic,” says Leo, a former bassist of the band Third Eye Blind.
As devout karaoke fans, they wanted to level up the experience. So they dreamed up Mic Drop, an upscale karaoke lounge in West Hollywood that opens Thursday. It’s located inside the original Larrabee Studios, a historic 1920s building formerly owned by Carole King and her ex-husband, Gerry Goffin — and the spot where King recorded some of her biggest hits. Third Eye Blind band members Stephan Jenkins and Brad Hargreaves are investors of the new venue.
Inside the two-story, 6,300-square-foot venue with 13 private karaoke rooms and an electrifying main stage, you can feel like a rock star in front of a cheering audience. Want to check it out? Here are six things to know.
The Kremer brothers hired sculptor Shawn HibmaCronan to create an 8-foot-tall disco-themed microphone for their karaoke lounge.
1. Take your pick between a private karaoke experience or the main stage
A unique element of Mic Drop is that it offers both private karaoke rooms and a main stage experience for those who wish to sing in front of a crowd. The 13 private rooms range from six- to 45-person capacity. Each of the karaoke rooms are named after a famous recording studio such as Electric Lady, Abbey Road, Shangri La and of course, Larrabee Studios. There is a two-hour minimum on all rentals and hourly rates depend on the room size and day of the week.
But if you’re ready to take the center stage, it’s free to sing — at least technically. All you have to do is pay a $10 fee at the door, which is essentially a token that goes toward your first drink. Then you can put your name on the list with the KJ (karaoke jockey) who keeps the crowd energized throughout the night and even hits the stage at times.
Harrison Baum, left, of Santa Monica, and Amanda Stagner, 27, of Los Angeles, sing in one of the 13 private karaoke rooms.
2. Thumping, high sound quality was a top priority
As someone who toured the world playing bass for Third Eye Blind, top-tier sound was a nonnegotiable for Leo. “Typically with karaoke, the sound is kind of teeny, there’s not a lot of bass and the vocal is super hot and sitting on top too much,” he says. To combat this, he and his brother teamed up with Pineapple Audio, an audio visual company based in Chicago, to design their crisp sound system. They also installed concert-grade speakers and custom subwoofers from a European audio equipment manufacturer called Celto, and bought gold-plated Sennheiser wireless microphones, which they loved so much that they had an 8-foot-tall replica made for their main room. Designed by artist Shawn HibmaCronan, the “macrophone,” as they call it, has roughly 30,000 mirror tiles. “It spins and throws incredible disco light everywhere,” says Leo.
Karaoke jockeys Sophie St. John, 27, second from left, and Cameron Armstrong, 30, right, get the crowd involved with their song picks at Mic Drop.
3. A concert-level performance isn’t complete without good stage lighting and a haze machine
Each karaoke room features a disco ball and dynamic lighting that syncs up with whatever song you’re singing, which makes you feel like you are a professional performer. There’s also a haze machine hidden under the leather seats. Meanwhile, the main stage is concert-ready with additional dancing lasers and spotlights.
Brett Adams, left, of Sherman Oaks, and Patrick Riley of Studio City sing karaoke together inside a private lounge at Mic Drop.
4. The song selection is vast, offering classics and new hits
One of the worst things that can happen when you go to karaoke is not being able to find the song you want to sing. At Mic Drop, the odds of this happening are slim to none. The venue uses a popular karaoke service called KaraFun, which has a catalog of more than 600,000 songs (and adds 400 new tracks every month), according to its website. Take your pick from country, R&B, jazz, rap, pop, love duets and more. (Two newish selections I spotted were Raye’s “Where Is my Husband” and Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need,” which both released late last year.) In the private karaoke rooms, there’s also a fun feature on Karafun called “battle mode,” which allows you and your crew of up to 20 people to compete in real time. KaraFun also has an entertaining music trivia game, which I tested out with the founders and came in second place.
The design inspiration for Mic Drop was 1920s music lounges and 1970s disco culture, says designer Amy Morris.
5. The interiors are inspired by 1920s music lounges mixed with ‘70s disco vibes
A disco ball hangs from the ceiling.
If you took the sophisticated aesthetic of 1920s music lounges and mixed it with the vibrant and playful era of 1970s disco culture, you’d find Mic Drop.
When you walk into the lounge, the first thing you’ll see is a bright red check-in desk that resembles a performer’s dressing room with vanity lights, several mirrors and a range of wigs. “So much of karaoke is about getting into character and letting go of the day, so we had the idea to sell the wigs,” says Oliver. As you continue into the lounge, the focal point is the stage, which is adorned with zebra-printed carpet and dramatic, red velvet curtains. For seating, slide into the red velvet banquettes or plop onto a gold tiger velvet stool. Upstairs, you’ll find the intimate karaoke studios, which are decorated with red velvet walls and brass, curved doorways that echo the building’s deco arches, says Mic Drop’s interior designer, Amy Morris of the Morris Project.
Sarah Rothman, center, of Oakland, and friend Rachel Bernstein, left, of Los Angeles, wait at the bar.
6. You can order nontraditional karaoke bites as you wait for your turn to sing
While Mic Drop offers some of the food you’d typically find at a karaoke lounge such as tater tots, truffle popcorn and pizza, the venue has some surprising options as well. For example, a 57 gram caviar service (served with chips, crème fraîche and chives) and shrimp cocktail from Santa Monica Seafood. For their pizza program, the Kremer brothers teamed up with Avalou’s Italian Pizza Company, which is run by Louis Lombardi who starred in “The Sopranos.” He’s the brainchild behind my favorite dish, the Fuhgeddaboudit pizza, which is made with pastrami, pickles and mustard. It might sound repulsive, but trust me.
As for the cheeky cocktails, they are all named after famous musicians and songs such as the Pink Pony Club (a tart cherry pomegranate drink with vodka named after Chappell Roan), Green Eyes (a sake sour with kiwi and melon named after Green Day) and Megroni Thee Stallion (an elevated negroni named after Megan Thee Stallion).
When John Lantigua, a retired journalist in Miami Beach, checked his email one recent morning, he was glad to see an invitation.
“It was like, ‘Come and share an evening with me. Click here for details,’” Mr. Lantigua said.
It appeared to be a Paperless Post invitation from someone he once worked with at The Palm Beach Post, a man who had left Florida for Mississippi and liked to arrange dinners when he was back in town.
Mr. Lantigua, 78, clicked the link. It didn’t open.
He clicked a second time. Still nothing.
He didn’t realize what was going on until a mutual friend who had received the same email told him it wasn’t an invitation at all. It was a scam.
Phishing scams have long tried to frighten people into clicking on links with emails claiming that their bank accounts have been hacked, or that they owe thousands of dollars in fines, or that their pornography viewing habits have been tracked.
The invitation scam is a little more subtle: It preys on the all-too-human desire to be included in social gatherings.
The phishy invitations mimic emails from Paperless Post, Evite and Punchbowl. What appears to be a friendly overture from someone you know is really a digital Trojan horse that gives scammers access to your personal information.
“I thought it was diabolical that they would choose somebody who has sent me a legitimate invitation before,” Mr. Lantigua said. “He’s a friend of mine. If he’s coming to town, I want to see him.”
Rachel Tobac, the chief executive of SocialProof Security, a cybersecurity firm, said she noticed the scam last holiday season.
“Phishing emails are not a new thing,” Ms. Tobac said, “but every six months, we get a new lure that hijacks our amygdala in new ways. There’s such a desire for folks to get together that this lure is interesting to people. They want to go to a party.”
Phishing scams involve “two distinct paths,” Ms. Tobac added. In one, the recipient is served a link that turns out to be dead, or so it seems. A click activates malware that runs silently as it gleans passwords and other bits of personal information. In all likelihood, this is what happened when Mr. Lantigua clicked on the ersatz invitation link.
Another scam offers a working link. Potential victims who click on it are asked to provide a password. Those who take that next step are a boon to hackers.
“They have complete control of your email and, in turn, your entire digital life,” Ms. Tobac said. “They can reset your password for your dog’s Instagram account. They can take over your bank account. Change your health insurance.”
Digital invitation platforms are trying to combat the scam by publishing guides on how to spot fake invitations. Paperless Post has also set up an email account — phishing@paperlesspost.com — for users to submit messages for verification. The company sends suspicious links to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, a nonprofit that maintains a database monitored by cybersecurity firms. Flagged links are rendered ineffective.
The scammers’ new strategy of exploiting the desire for connection is infuriating, said Alexa Hirschfeld, a founder of Paperless Post. “Life can be isolating,” Ms. Hirschfeld said. “When it looks like you’re getting an invitation from someone you know, your first instinct is excitement, not skepticism.”
Olivia Pollock, the vice president of brand for Evite, said that fake invitations tended to be generic, promising a birthday party or a celebration of life. Most invitations these days tend to have a specific focus — mahjong gatherings or book club talks, for instance. “The devil is in the details,” Ms. Pollock said.
Because scammers don’t know how close you are with the people in your contact list, fake invitations may also seem random. “They could be from your business school roommate you haven’t spoken to in 10 years,” Ms. Hirschfeld said.
Alyssa Williamson, who works in public relations in New York, was leaving a yoga class recently when she checked her phone and saw an invitation from a college classmate.
“I assumed it was an alumni event,” Ms. Williamson, 30, said. “I clicked on it, and it was like, ‘Enter your email.’ I didn’t even think about it.”
Later that day, she received texts from friends asking her about the party invitation she had just sent out. Her response: What party?
“The thing is, I host a lot of events,” she said. “Some knew it was fake. Others were like, ‘What’s this? I can’t open it.’”
Andrew Smith, a graduate student in finance who lives in Manhattan, received what looked like a Punchbowl invitation to “a memory making celebration.” It appeared to have come from a woman he had dated in college. He received it when he was having drinks at a bar on a Friday night — “a pretty insidious piece of timing,” he said.
“The choice of sender was super clever,” Mr. Smith, 29, noted. “This was somebody that would probably get a reaction from me.”
Mr. Smith seized on the phrase “memory making celebration” and filled in the blanks. He imagined that someone in his ex-girlfriend’s immediate family had died. Perhaps she wanted to restart contact at this difficult moment.
Something saved him when he clicked a link and tried to tap out his personal information — his inability to remember the password to his email account. The next day, he reached out to his ex, who confirmed that the invitation was fake.
“It didn’t trigger any alarm bells,” Mr. Smith said. “I went right for the click. I went completely animal brain.”
The new scam comes with an unfortunate side effect, a suspicion of invitations altogether. It’s enough to make a person antisocial.
“Don’t invite me to anything,” Mr. Lantigua, the retired journalist, said, only half-joking. “I’m not coming.”
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