The Pulse: What LA and New York Are Talking About This Weekend

Darlings, a word before the weekend gets away from you. Eileen Ford, who founded Ford Models with her husband Jerry in 1946, judged a face in a heartbeat, and she prized the thing behind it. She told Life magazine in 1970: “There’s a cockiness to them. …They’re just going to be good and you can just tell it.” So that is our lens. Two coasts, one weekend, and the only question that matters: who has the cockiness, and who is merely in the building?

New York: the Garden, a bicycle and a pair of lookalikes

The hottest ticket on the island is still Harry Styles. His 30-show residency at Madison Square Garden plays Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 31, and the final nights have turned the resale market into a contact sport. Per the stories trending on X, fans are posting pleas for pit tickets, some resale listings have reached into the thousands per seat, and the “Harryween” finales on Oct. 30 and 31 are still to come. Mrs. Ford would have approved: the man sells out a building three nights a week and still makes them beg.

Paul Rudd, private investigator. Days after Kelly Clarkson said she felt dismissed while asking about a $15,000 singing-bird automaton at Art of Play in Brooklyn, Rudd was spotted arriving at the shop on a Citi Bike, in sweats. The store says the bird was never for sale. The internet, per X, has crowned him the city’s nosiest neighbor. In sweats. On a rental bike. That, darling, is cockiness.

Sunday’s most competitive casting call is not on Seventh Avenue. At 1 p.m. in Washington Square Park, a free dual lookalike contest invites the town’s best Nathan Fielders and Elizabeth Holmeses; contestants must RSVP, and a ticketed afterparty follows at The Alligator in Williamsburg, according to The New Brooklyn Times. Bring a black turtleneck and an unblinking stare.

RelatedThe Pulse: Fifty Years of Five Boroughs, LA’s Library-Card Costume and Eileen Otte Ford’s Business of Showing Up

The civic set is busy, too. Early voting opened Saturday, and 86,215 New Yorkers cast ballots on day one, NBC New York reports. Diwali at Times Square filled Broadway between 46th and 48th streets with a free bazaar, a procession and a diya lighting. And with the marathon a week away on Nov. 1, r/RunNYC is already trading notes on where to stand. Sideline real estate, darling, is the new table reservation.

On the runway side, Hypebeast reports that Zane Li won the 2026 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, taking $300,000 and mentorship for his label LII. A 2023 FIT graduate, already holding the Karl Lagerfeld Prize. Mrs. Ford said you can just tell. The jury could.

Los Angeles: a stadium, a Shrine and a speed trap

Jay-Z closed out at SoFi. The final two nights of his tour for the 30th anniversary of Reasonable Doubt landed Oct. 23 and 24, and LAmag reports the tour’s signature cocktail, CODE30, has been popping up at Nile Bar, Lounge 1888 and The Spare Room. A man who turns an anniversary into a drinks menu understands the assignment.

Chappell Roan held court at the Shrine. Her two-night Super Graphic Spectacular benefited the Midwest Princess Project, and, per the stories trending on X, night one brought Christina Aguilera out for a duet while night two added Caroline Polachek, PinkPantheress and Lola Young. Rotating gowns, a block party and a cause. Charity, glamour and a guest list: that is how a star treats herself as a business.

Downtown went highbrow, for free. Grand Ave Arts: All Access marked its 10th anniversary on Saturday, with 14 cultural institutions along Grand Avenue opening their doors from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Music Center says. Over in Santa Monica, LAmag listed a Marilyn Monroe centennial evening at the Fairmont Miramar, with guests encouraged to dress as their favorite Monroe look and awards for the best costumes.

Fashion gossip, with the proper caveat. Hypebeast reports that Ye is reportedly planning a Yeezy runway presentation at the brand’s new Los Angeles flagship on Beverly Boulevard, which would be its first runway showing in more than four years. Reportedly. We will believe it when the lights go down.

A practical note for the drive home. Per the stories trending on X, Los Angeles switches on its first automated speed cameras on Monday: 125 of them in a five-year pilot near schools, senior centers and street-racing hot spots, with a 60-day warning period at each site before tickets begin. Arrive fashionably late, not fashionably fast.

The week ahead: costumes, crowds and a carnival

Over on r/LosAngeles, a thread hunting for family-friendly costume events steered people toward L.A. Comic Con, which runs Oct. 30 to Nov. 1 at the Los Angeles Convention Center for its 15th anniversary, and traded notes on Halloween Horror Nights’ costume rules. For the grown-ups, the West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval returns to Santa Monica Boulevard on Saturday, Oct. 31, from 6 to 11 p.m.; it is free, and OnesToWatch puts last year’s attendance at about 166,000. On Quora, meanwhile, a long-running thread still asks the eternal question: what kind of models is Ford looking for?

The Ford verdict

Mrs. Ford was unsentimental about all of this. “Models are a business, and they have to treat themselves as a business,” she told the Toronto Star in 1988. Treat your weekend the same way: book the good room, show up early, leave before the lights come on, and carry yourself like you were always going to be on the list. You can just tell.

Sources

1. The Globe and Mail: Agency founder Eileen Ford set standard for modelling industry (Life 1970 and Toronto Star 1988 quotes)
2. WWD: Eileen Ford, A Model Matriarch
3. X: Fans scramble for last Harry Styles MSG tickets
4. X: Harry Styles delights MSG with his residency
5. X: Paul Rudd bikes to the Art of Play bird-shop story
6. The New Brooklyn Times: Things to do in NYC this weekend (Oct. 24–25)
7. NBC New York: Early voting begins in New York
8. NewYorkNews.app: NYC this weekend, Oct. 24–25
9. Reddit r/RunNYC: NYC Marathon spectator
10. Hypebeast: Top fashion news, Oct. 23
11. LAmag: L.A. weekend guide, Oct. 22–25, 2026
12. X: Chappell Roan’s shows raise funds for LGBTQ+ youth
13. The Music Center: Grand Ave Arts: All Access
14. X: Los Angeles activates first automated speed cameras Monday
15. Reddit r/LosAngeles: Family-friendly Halloween costume events?
16. OnesToWatch: What to do in Los Angeles Halloween weekend 2026
17. Quora: What kind of models is Ford Modeling looking for?

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