According to a number on the door, it was established in 1976. Today, it's wedged between an Intermix and one of the two (?) James Perse stores on the street. Its storefront isn't slick or pretty. Its name is still spelled out in a circa-1980s typeface that looks a lot like Courier.
I'll bet you they get pressure from all sides to move or sell. Yet every time I walk by, they are still there. Surviving.
I can't find much information about the gallery. One online listing states that it's run by a couple named Martinelli and their mission is "to educate people about contemporary prints by exhibiting graphics of the highest quality and the broadest range that appeal to us," like Hockney and Motherwell.
This week, they've got a photograph in the window that caught my eye. (I couldn't read the photographer's name.) It's a scene from another piece of the vanished city, a scene of old Times Square, from 1993 when 42nd Street was a mixture of sleaze and art, in that moment before "revitalization" washed it clean. In this shot, we see Jenny Holzer's "Truisms" on the marquees and my favorite (now vanished) ghost sign of all time: "Cooped Up? Feelin' Low? Enjoy a movie today."
This is all we have left. Ghosts inside ghosts. How long before this is gone too?
Places like this fascinate...offbeat little storefronts that somehow survive. But how? A 500-year lease? Rich kooks own the joint? Sure glad places like this still exist.
ReplyDeleteInteresting place!
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting!
Very interesting and "ghosts inside ghosts" is a perfect way to encapsulate it. Hope this ghost keeps haunting this neighborhood for awhile longer.
ReplyDeletewalked by there just the other day. How did I miss this? !!
ReplyDeleteand who wrote the book of the same name?
ReplyDeleteThe photographer is Michael Magill.
ReplyDeleteHis website is:
http://magillphoto.com/
He used to have a small gallery down the block on Bleecker closer right off Christopher Street. If I'm not mistaken, the gallery was called Barr/Magill or Magill/Barr.
I own a print of this photo, which I love, as well as another of of the Fedora neon sign on West 4th Street & West 10th.
God I love little places that are squeezed in between others. Like they weren't good enough to be changed and ended up being better than their neighbors. Great find!
ReplyDeletethanks for the info and link on the photographer, mark.
ReplyDeletepretty sure it's the title of a hemingway story--right, ken? and, if i remember correctly, it's about an old man looking for a quiet cafe to sit in. harder and harder to find these days.
Very interesting story and find. Places like these add so much soul and essence to a neighborhood.
ReplyDeletewalk by this place everyday for years. rarely see customers inside.
ReplyDeletenow you have jinxed it by noticing it. the kiss of death.
1993 was before Times Square was sanitized? Can it be? That was the year my son was born. Am I old? Did I misread that? Now I'm depressed. Maybe I need to get that cataract looked at and get my hip replaced.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the Fedora on W. 4th and W 10th St, does anyone know if they are still operating the restaurant? The same family owns the building as runs the restaurant, but the owner was getting on in years when I was last there 5 years ago, and I was the only customer. Wish I knew more about the history of the place if anyone knows....thanks
ReplyDeleteyes, the fedora is still chugging along!
ReplyDeleteFedora's has been there at least 40 years. Fedora greeted and seated. I was told that her husband (Henry?) ran the small bar, that her son had a dentist office upstairs, that some customers ate there nightly, requesting the same tables and the same waiters. Another New York! It was rumored that the late Tom Tryon named a character in his books after her.
ReplyDeleteall of these Fedora stories are true.
ReplyDeleteAm glad to know my Fedora memories are intact! Another thing: I think the restaurant was closed on Tuesday nights, making it an anomaly. Most West Village restaurants tended to be closed on Monday nights. No dummy our Fedora! Wonder what she thinks of the WV restaurant scene now that it has been reconfigured to Yunnies. J, why not interview her before it's too late? A perfect subject for your wonderful blog.
ReplyDeleteYes, Fedora is there. She greeted us on Friday!
ReplyDeleteI'm familiar with Michael Magill's photographs from when he had his gallery further down on Bleecker Street. If you're a fan of vanishing New York, you should go into A Clean Well-Lighted Place and check out more of his work (or go to magillphoto.com). No photographer I know of captures timeless moments in New York like he does.
ReplyDeleteIt is run by Tom Martinelli, a village resident, and all around terrific character. You should stop in and talk with him.
ReplyDelete