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'Tribeca'
Goes Global as Name Brand
by Barry
Owens
In Kaposvar, Hungary, there is a champion Great Dane named Robert De
Niro that comes from a kennel called Tribeca.
In Nice, France, a life of elegance beside the Mediterranean is promised
for the residents of a new apartment building called Le Tribeca. In Quebec,
Le Tribeca is an Italian restaurant and disco.
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In the Bronx, a rap artist with recorded works such as "Oochie
Wally" and "Trojan Large" goes by the name Tribeca.
No longer just a Lower Manhattan neighborhood, Tribeca the moniker
is global.
When the Trib last looked, in 1998, about a dozen products-ranging
from blue jeans to bed linen to a race horse and a font-were named
for the Triangle Below Canal Street. Today, "Tribeca"
can be found stamped on poker tables, lipstick, furniture, wool
rugs, designer eyeglasses, wristwatches, jewelry, dishes and flatware.
Everything from ceiling fans to floor tile goes by the name Tribeca.
And from Dallas to Dublin, the neighborhood name is being adopted
by restaurants, bars, a social club, financial and marketing firms,
a cigar store and a yacht. Even a recycling company in West Nyack,
N.Y., calls itself Tribeca.
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"The name has an ultra-cool, hip and happening feel to it,"
explained Kim Cruser-Scott, designer of the Tribeca necklace, bracelet
and earring set being sold by Brighton Accessories of Los Angeles.
"At first, only people who had traveled or been reading the papers
and hearing about De Niro's restaurant and 'John-John' knew what it
was," said Regis Chung, a Vancouver, British Columbia, restaurateur
who in 1999 called his place Tribeca. Now the town also sports a condo
development by the same name.
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"Tribeca lofts" have sprung up in Santa Barbara,
Calif., Seattle and Dallas. The Dallas-Tribeca development
web site boasts of duplex homes for sale with "stained
concrete floors," 19-foot ceilings, and reserved parking
spaces-all on professionally landscaped grounds just blocks
from a 15-story building housing wholesale exporters and a
shopping center called...the World Trade Center.
Overseas, Tribeca restaurants and bars can be found in: Sao
Paolo, Brazil; Seoul, South Korea; Lyon, France; Manchester,
England; Glasgow, Scotland; Innsbruck, Austria; Buenos Aires,
Argentina; Parma, Italy; and in two cities in Ireland.
Such international renown may reflect a certain misguided
view of reality. On the web site of Tribeca Glasgow, a Scottish
restaurant, the owner claims that Tribeca, the neighborhood,
has been New York's cool place to hang out for the past 40
years.
"It has been home to an eclectic mix of small dimly lit
jazz clubs, art house cinemas, galleries, small restaurants
and coffee houses," he writes. "It is now considered
to be, amongst New Yorkers, the city's hippest and most happening
area."
Subaru's marketers have the same notion.
This summer the automaker is coming out with an SUV called
the B9 Tribeca. It was given that name, according to a company
press release, because the neighborhood has "many distinctive
boutiques, galleries, and
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restaurants, where young artists work and cutting-edge trends are
created that attract worldwide attention."
In a statement, Kyoiji Takenaka, CEO of Subaru's parent company, elaborated
in more corporate terms: "Subaru can leverage the vested equity
already associated with the progressive style, art, and culture that
the name Tribeca represents," he said.
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"I guess it could have been worse," wrote an amused
auto enthusiast in an online chat room. "They could have
called it Hell's Kitchen."
If the Tribeca name can add class to a car, it certainly can't
hurt a cigar. Downers Grove, Ill., is home to the Tribeca
Cigar Company, which sells its very own alcohol-soaked product,
the "Tribeca Rum."
"You know, a lot of cigar stores go with something like
'Stogies' or 'Smokies.' 'Tribeca' seemed like more of a distinguished
name," said the proprietor, Frank Gadzala.
"It is a really good word," said Trevor Browne,
owner of "Tribeca" restaurants in Dublin and
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Stillogren, Ireland.
"It has a good ring to it, easy to remember and has a kind
of bite to it. I think that is why it is successful as a brand
name."
Browne said the name was the first and only choice for his Dublin
restaurant, located in a triangle-shaped neighborhood next to
a canal.
"It's not below the canal, but it's close enough,"
he said.
"The neighborhood is popular with us as designers,"
said Paul Gebhardt, director of design for Oneida Ltd., a company
that introduces up to 100 new flatware designs a year. "The
name phonetically fits a design we had that had a triangular
intersection of three panels. We weren't sure if it was a copyrighted
name; the name game is more complicated than you think. I thought
it had both an appropriate pattern and connection to the design
community, so it was perfect."
And, he said, "Tribeca" met the most important criterion
of all-"the name meant something."
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For the Bronx rap artist formerly known as W.A. Richards,
the name Tribeca conjures up a life of luxury with a
limo driver and a loft.
"I'm fully aware how flush the area is," said
the 25-year-old rapper who officially adopted the stage
name 'Tribeca' five years ago when he signed a record
deal with Major League Entertainment. "That's exactly
where I want to be."
Edit Keleman, a dog breeder in Hungary, was searching
for a name for her kennel and breed when her first litter
of German Mastiff puppies were born nine years ago.
She found the "perfect name" in an article
about Robert De Niro and his film company. Immediately,
she named one of the dogs after her favorite actor.
The rest of the prize-winning breed has gone forth under
the "family name," Tribeca.
"This name brought me luck," she said.
Bruce McGraw Graphics is having great success with a
line of posters called "Tribeca Works."
"We were thinking [Tribeca] was a hip and up-and-coming
neighborhood, kind of the in-spot now," said Katie
Murphy, the company's product development manager. She
added that the firm would never have considered naming
the product after its own hometown, West Nyack.
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"We have the second biggest mall in the country,"
she said. "But I don't think we'd want to be associated
with that."
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