Friday, September 2, 2011

*Everyday Chatter

As we've been saying--here and here and here--the High Line is driving out long-time businesses. [NYP]

An update on the city's "gentrification project." [MONY]

Women who eat their own placenta "are mostly middle-class...college-educated, in their thirties, and live on a gentrifying street in Crown Heights." [NYM]

The last of the old block of Third Ave. between 11th and 12th is coming down. [EVG]

Mapping Brooklyn via Jonathan Lethem. [P&W]

Website filler text has gone artisanal with "Hipster Ipsum," e.g., "Brunch sartorial williamsburg, you probably haven't heard of them fanny pack marfa banksy." [DH]

Now you can get artisanal New York delivered right to your door. [Gothamist]

UWS diner demolished to make room for another CVS. [WSR]

More diner demolition. [Curbed]

Revolutionary War discovery in upper Manhattan. [AMNY]

Trolley tracks unearthed on Union Street. [HPS]

Three survivors of Times Square that somehow escaped the wrecking ball. [LC]

8 comments:

James Campbell Taylor said...

So routine has the closure of beloved establishments become, I'm always surprised how much each one still hurts.

The demolition of this block is especially painful. The first time I visited the city from the UK (as a wide-eyed 20 year-old) I stayed at the hotel on the corner of 77th and Broadway. It was already called On The Ave, but it had a tiny lobby and few frills.

There was a Fishs Eddy on the ground floor and a laundromat across the street. I don't think the Manhattan Diner was there at the time or I'm sure I would have eaten breakfast there (I went to Xando around the corner or the Beacon Diner instead).

Years later, after moving to the city, I ate at the Manhattan Diner several times. Fantastic burgers but I never had the egg cream. I almost cried when I arrived one wet Sunday in May to see it shuttered. They'd already begun tearing the place up, so I made sure to take a photo of the mosaic entrance. That's probably gone too by now.

TyN said...

That memo seems oddly made up.

Laura Goggin Photography said...

I have to admit I like those Hollister guys after reading that interview.

Have a great weekend, Jeremiah!

Bryan said...

Thanks for linking to the Lethem book club discussion over at PWHNY, Jeremiah. Would love to get reader feedback on those posts -- or do not enough people actually like the novel?

BrooksNYC said...

I'll miss the Manhattan Diner! As an ex-pat New Orleanian, I used to go to the diner and order bread pudding plus a shot of bourbon to pour over the pudding. (No substitute for N.O. bread pudding with whiskey sauce, but good enough to cure a bout of homesickness.)

JAZ said...

That story from AM New York about the Revolutionary War redoubt is great - I'd love to get up there to take a look at that. Pretty amazing that such an important piece of history just lays there without praise.

Ed said...

The "gentrification project" letter is a must read. It pretty much summarizes what has been happening in the city for over a decade now.

My New Yrok said...

Jeremiah

Wonderful blog!

I think there is another stretch of Revolutionary War earthworks still in Manhattan: at the Southeast corner of the eastern division of Trinity Cemetery, near the corner of West 153rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue. There is a small hillock and a low berm extending eastwards towards Amsterdam; both were, I believe, part of the earthworks. There is a plaque marking the site of the Middle Redoubt. I posted a couple of photos on my tumblr blog.