Antiques Garage Saved

As hoped, the economic downturn brings some good news. Aside from closing bank branches, empty condos, and the like, we're starting to see some reversals of impending vanishings. The Antiques Garage in Chelsea just received a stay of execution.



JVNY reader Kenny G. at WFMU wrote in to say:

"Just over at the Antiques Garage on 25th Street between 6th & 7th and there are signs up everywhere celebrating the fact that they've renewed their lease for a year, possibly longer. The Garage was supposed to close after Thanksgiving, but in the face of the collapsing economy, the developer has indefinitely postponed plans there. A little bit of sunshine through the clouds, no?"

Yes, Kenny G.!



Last October, I visited the Garage and reported on their doom. What a difference a year makes.

After Kenny's news, I went by to take some pics of the celebratory signage and chatted with a vendor who told me, "It's a month-to-month lease, but I expect we'll be here another year or two. The developer can't get a hotel license. There are too many hotels around here as it is."

Not only that, she said she talks to a lot of kids who just got out of school and came to New York to make piles of money, "but it's not happening. So now they're all heading for Pennsylvania. They're very upset because their starting salaries in Allentown are only $45,000! But how much do you really need to live in Allentown?"

Not much. Cue the Billy Joel...