Ghosts of 8th Ave

This past summer, we started saying goodbye to a chunk of the West 40s.

Ken bid farewell to Frankie & Johnnie's and Lost City said "so long" to 45th Street where buildings had already started falling for the massive tower to come, a million-square-footer that will span the block from 45th to 46th, shouldering its way into Platinum territory, where the marvelous McHale's used to stand.

Today, the big Broadway Inn is gone. Here, glittering detritus of New Year's Eve clings to the chain-link fence surrounding the lot where not even a single brick of the old hotel remains.



Here's the corner last spring, where bricks and lintels are overshadowed by glass and chrome, the Platinum's Randian hero flexing his muscles as if readying himself for destruction (click for more photos of this block):



And still more buildings are yet to fall. Curbed covered the initial demolitions last year. The footprint for the coming monster is massive, crumbling how many old buildings? Count 'em:


image and story from NY Post

Just a block south, after knocking down the beloved Playpen (nee Cameo Theater), the Tishman hotel has begun its rise, furthering the massive transformation of what has been seedy Times Square's last holdout blocks:



Looking at select bits of 8th Avenue, like this chunk at 45th, you'd never know the city was crumbling and rising as glass. Winter sunlight shines on the weary bricks to reveal a pair of ghost signs, one on top of the other, artifacts from the age being wiped out today. A cigar box fades beneath a scrim of advertising for ROOMS complete with steam heat, hot & cold water, luxuries of the last Great Depression.