In "Last Days of the Deadbeats," Matt Harvey remembers when Mars Bar seemed "like a beautifully decayed hulk of a forlorn ship on the edge of an apocalyptic planet." [NYP]
Mars Bar tells polo-shirted Observer reporters to go fuck themselves, again and again. [NYO]
"The era of Bowery bums, punks and junkies is long gone. Which, if you lived and were sober in the neighborhood back then, we suspect you would agree is a good thing." [Gothamist]
City "finally determined to erect a public urinal...at Astor Place, the cost to be about $2,400." [BK]
Artisanal soda jerk: “When the older people come in here and start talking about the sodas they used to get, I almost want to say, ‘I don’t care about your memories.' ...Don’t screw this up for these kids by putting it in the past. This is happening now.” [NYT]
More artisanal blah, blah, blah for the overcrowded East Village streets. [EVG]
Sting's kid buys a luxury condo on Orchard Street. [NYO]
Wal-Mart keeps trying to buy Manhattan. [Racked]
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a.k.a. The Book of Lamentations:
a bitterly nostalgic look at a city in the process of going extinct
- Jeremiah Moss
- THE BOOK:
"We should all buy Jeremiah Moss’s book, Vanishing New York." --Sarah Jessica Parker
“Essential reading for fans of Jane Jacobs, Joseph Mitchell, Patti Smith, Luc Sante, and cheap pierogi.” --Vanity Fair
"a vigorous, righteously indignant book that would do Jane Jacobs proud." --Kirkus Reviews
THE BLOG:
"the go-to hub for those who lament New York's loss of character." --Crain's
"No one takes stock of New York's changes with the same mixture of snark, sorrow, poeticism, and lyric wit as Jeremiah Moss." --Village Voice, Best of NY
“Jeremiah Moss…is the defender of all the undistinguished hunks of masonry that lend the streets their rhythm.” --Justin Davidson, New York Magazine
"One of the most thorough and pugnacious chroniclers of New York’s blandification." --The Atlantic, Citylab
"Hyperbolic and combative, tireless and passionate." --Salon
Glad you spotted the Artisanal Jerk's comment about the Older People. There's a canny businessman knowing how to go after and secure a broad customer base.
ReplyDeleteit's a revealing statement that i think reflects this larger sentiment in the city today: "old is bad, new is good, and please don't mess up our new way of life with your miserable nostalgia."
ReplyDeleteit's in the Gothamist piece about Mars Bar, too. it's everywhere.
Peter Freeman-Go fuck yourself!
ReplyDeleteBut if the Mars Bar somehow survives, won't that mean the crime will come back?
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I actually agree with the Gothamist article about the narrow issue of whether this is a good time for the Mars Bar to close. The place is now next to a structure that looks like a shopping mall. Many of the other places that gave those particular blocks of the city have closed or changed character, and if the Mars Bar somehow remained open it risked becoming a sort of parody of itself. At best, it would have been the downtown version of PJ Clarke's.
ReplyDeleteWhat is objectionable is EVERY place in the central part of the city (downtown and midtown Manhattan, and brownstone Brooklyn) turning into a place that only people who like upscale shopping malls could like. This is bad on its own terms, and horrible for the diversity that cities, after all, are supposed to provide.
And again, this has nothing to do with the city being "cleaned up". Crime rates dropped roughly between 1991 and 1996. The Mars Bar is closing in 2011. The scene there functioned quite well during Giuliani's mayorality, and even ten years later. Blame or credit increased inequality of income and wealth and the real estate bubble, which is why other American cities are experiencing the same, though in a less extreme form.
"Like the other modern jerks, Mr. Freeman is determined to avoid running a retro or theme restaurant selling nostalgia without content."
ReplyDeleteThis is the least self-aware comment in a sea of them I've read in all these pieces where some Times writer fawns over yuppies repackaging something that used to be normal, affordable, and undocumented by bloggers, and selling it to bland yunnies. The guy wouldn't have a customer to speak of if not for this obesession with old-timeyness that's all the rage with the leisure class.
Screw Freeman. Ray's 4-Evah.
If the artisanal soda jerk with the ironic facial hair is so "determined to avoid running a retro or theme restaurant" and doesn't want his venture screwed up by people recalling the very thing he is so blatantly pastiching, then why do he and his cohorts look like extras from a Spencer Tracy movie?
ReplyDeleteThese people are odious and an embarrassment to their generation (which, unfortunately, is also mine). However I have no shame in admitting I own several Lacoste polos...
That Jake Sumner article is absolutely nauseating. Such a cliche - rich boy, desperately trying to sell his Soho penthouse to move to the neutered and declawed LES (from the article: "the newest to hip Lower East Side living"),chasing the latest edge of cool.
ReplyDeleteAnd needless to say, he's straight out of trust fund central casting with the thick framed glasses, beard, and ironic t-shirt.
It is all so painfully fitting - Jake Sumner should be on the Now Safe for gritty urban experience postage stamp. He is a living synopsis of so much that is wrong with NYC these days.
Peter Freeman of Brooklyn Farmacy, yo are a f*cking a$$hole.
ReplyDeletemore artisanal blah, blah, blah indeed
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.villagevoice.com/forkintheroad/2011/07/photo_review_of.php
that'll go well with the artisanal shaved ice and the rest of artisanal blah blah blah
i'll stick to papaya, ray's and under the umbrella hot dogs, thank you much