I interviewed Mike last month after spotting his postcard in the Village and (offline) begged him to print up some t-shirts. I wasn't the only one--he received dozens of requests. Now you can own your very own "More Jane, Less Marc" shirt for just 20 bucks.
I suggest you wear it on Bleecker Street.
To order, e-mail Mike at his business, Stereotype Design, and specify your size: XS, S, M, L, or XL. (In a weird ironic twist, they're printed on American Apparel shirts--click here for size chart). Plus! If you order now, Mike will throw in a handful of "More Jane" postcards, so you can spread the love all over.
This shirt should be sent to all local media outlets. Imagine the conversation that this could start locally, about gentrification, corporatization,etc. Seriously, this is some NY Times material right here.
ReplyDeleteI respect the W. Village residents who want to keep the area more 'local.' But let's be real...MJ helped prop up a fading neighborhood with his stores. He's a local boy who's done well and prefers to keep his business in neighbrohoods like this throughout the country. And his company is one of the few who can afford to pay the no-doubt collossal rents on these properties. The foot traffic his stores generate help prop up other area businesses.
ReplyDeleteI just bought 2 t-shirts. Thanks for your posts!!
ReplyDelete@ anon - the west village was doing just fine, thank you very much, until landlords starting driving up rents and driving out the shops and shopkeepers who had been part of our community.
there were 2 excellent reasonable chinese restaurants on hudson st which had both been there for about 20 + years. one was shuttered. when the 2nd was shuttered, someone taped a sign on the door "another f*****g boutique" - which i photographed. however it didn't become a boutique. it became a f*****g bank :-)
The vanishing New York Chinese restaurant business has been under-reported.
ReplyDeleteI love that t-shirt.
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna forward this to Save Coney Island! After the super gentrification sets in and the 30 story hotels are built, we'll probably end up with a Marc Jacobs Beach Shop in Thorland. You may recall Save Coney did a "Jane Jacobs Would Save Coney Island" protest at the Jane Jacobs Way street naming ceremony.
ReplyDeleteSorry anonymous, I have lived a short block from Marc Jacobs ground zero long before his stores arrived. The West Village was hardly "fading" when his first stores opened. Clearly, you ain't from around these parts.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous #1, are you serious? It appears you know nothing of the state of the W.Village before M. Jacobs and his boutiques took over. Cafes, bookstores (that sold real books, many discounted, and not just pretty ones), and interesting people with something to say at said establishments. Marc is apparently a 'really nice guy,' but I wonder what he does to give back to the neighborhood, or NY in general, aside from littering its sidewalks with discarded receipts for the disposable chachki's most tourists buy at Marc, etc.
ReplyDelete@anon - "a fading neighborhood" - had you ever even BEEN there before this corporate explosion? Please, dude, just....please.
ReplyDeletewhen was the west village "fading" never! it was always an upscale area, for generations wealthy & famous people have lived there. as well as working italians who owned many businesses. that area on bleeker was never a tourist trap. it was a quiet residential neigborhood. i think that is something you may not understand. you sound like you are just out of college or think the world is one big bar & mall. there are movie stars who have sold their town houses, as they cannot handle to influx of tourists. the west village never needed to be revitalized. it was never a fallen ghetto. personally i would rather see a marc jacobs than a cell phone store, bank, chain restaurant. @least he opened a book boutique.
ReplyDelete