Tonight at 7: Jim and Karla Murray discuss disappearing store fronts (click for info):
As Minetta reopens, McNally reflects: "If Pastis was something of a catalyst for the changes in the Meatpacking District, as you suggest, then I should be ashamed of myself...I can’t bear most of the changes there. The area has become ugly and excruciatingly one-dimensional." [Villager]
Meanwhile, in front of the plywooded future McNally in Meatpacking East, aka the Bowery, you can sign a petition to save the neighborhood from become ever more MePa:
Ukulele player makes accurate prediction about Mo Pitkin's replacement: "another bland, chic meat-market with delicious mojitos. The people moving into the town...just want to get hammered and drag someone home to their luxury condo." [EVG]
Ask Joel Kotkin about NYC's middle class. And the first question is: "nyc has a middle class?" [CR]
Pissing (again) on Avenue A. [NMNL]
Batten down the hatches. East Village experiencing a rash of break-ins. [Blah]
You should check out the great vintage "Los Muchachos" signage above the bodega at 4th St and Ave C (formerly Mountains of Yaffa, and more recently something dull like 4th St Deli Grocery) before they cover it back up again. I have no idea how old it is (it could probably be dated by the old lotto logo in the corner), but definitely an improvement over the usual generic plastic awning. I wish they'd keep it as is!
ReplyDeleteAnyplace named "Truffles" belongs in the Bahamas, not New York.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder New York didn't make that lame "manliest city" list.
Has it come to this: Frat bar = chic?
ReplyDelete"If Pastis was something of a catalyst for the changes in the Meatpacking District, as you suggest, then I should be ashamed of myself,” he said. “I can’t bear most of the changes there. The area has become ugly and excruciatingly one-dimensional. It’s diversity that makes neighborhoods work and makes them vital.”
ReplyDeleteYes, you should be ashamed of yourself. Instead, you're a self-congratulatory putz spouting pseudo-self-aware crapola about not being like those OTHER developers. Gag.
People like this restauranteur make me so angry. I love how they use the language of "community" for their own ends but are really the antithesis of what they're talking about.
This guy doesn't want real diversity or character. He wants to sell a glossy, veneered replica of diversity and character to people who fancy themselves "artsy/cultured." Mature souls. He's homogenized anything real out of the place.
He can talk about "preserving the character" and having "reverence for history" all he wants...but he's made it so that the people who really made up the heart and soul of the place in the first place would never step foot in the joint now.
So gross.