Case in point: around 10:30 pm, a tall guy with an Olympic medal slung around his neck materializes in the crowd and lights up a cigarette.
“Is that… gold?” a girl asks. It’s bronze, but Taylor Averill, the Team USA volleyball squad’s star middle blocker who’s fresh off the plane from Paris, is still drinking for free tonight. “You go to the Olympics, ball out, you win a medal and then every single person you see is stoked?” he says, still somewhat in disbelief that he’s about to be toasted by a crowd of people wearing vintage designer outfits. “The Olympics is the coolest fucking event of all time.”
Like Wareheim, Averill lives in LA, and he’s been in town from Paris for all of 12 hours. Once he wrapped the Today show and a couple podcasts he and a few friends beelined straight for Dimes Square; they had dinner at Cervo’s. “We’re just parading around and having a blast, man,” he says as his crew sets up on the street corner. As for how he found his way to Time Again? Averill looks around with a smile. “I mean, this spot’s sick!” he says, as a round of beers land on the table and the models come over to ask if they can touch his medal. “This place is popping, and it’s a fucking Tuesday night.”
“New York,” he concludes, “is the place to be!”
