How For New York, the Hyper-Local Guide to NYC, Came to Be

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The locals-only guide to New York City has arrived with For New York, an e-zine celebrating independent businesses frequented by cool-ass New Yorkers like Public School’s Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne, Stadium Goods co-founder Yu-Ming Wu, jewelry designer Anna Sheffield, and American Two Shot co-founders Olivia Wolfe and Steph Krasnoff.

“The idea is to demonstrate how important local businesses are to the city,” Phil Chang, who co-created the zine with independent business lender, Bond Street, told Racked. . “We're doing that by digging deep into New Yorkers' personal connections with them. By highlighting the significance of these relationships to everyone's lives, we hope to reinforce how crucial it is that we support these businesses in every way we can.”

So far, Chang has interviewed 60 people, and is hoping that number reaches 100 by the end of the summer. His dream contributions? Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld, Mariska Hargitay, Method Man, and Patti Smith.

“Independent businesses are crucial to balancing our economy and culture. Everything falls apart without them,” he said.

The zine will be printed at the end of the summer, but for now, you can read it online here.