A gloriously epic rant against the High Line. [HP]
...as yet another giant tower heads to 28th and 10th. [Curbed]
Djuna Barnes' New York years at the Brooklyn Museum. [PRD]
The scandalized city. [NYM]
"Parents in Park Slope are discussing a ban on ice cream carts in a Prospect Park playground because of the choice they have to make between letting their ravenous progeny wail or opening the gate to a lifetime of obesity and hypertension." [Gothamist]
La Nueva Rampa's chef brings Chino-Latino back to Chelsea with El Paraiso on 14th. [Villager]
Memories of Mary Help of Christians. [GVSHP]
Where does NYC neon go when it dies? Ohio. [NYN]
Judy Garland on Broadway. [NYM]
Monday, April 2, 2012
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23 comments:
The other day I was walking on Mott Street and I noticed that the notorious "Mei Dick" barbershop sign was missing. The shop and sign has been there for at least 40years. Anyone know if it's closed for good.
The High Line is exactly why the LOW LINE on the LES should never be.
Christopher Lee Nutter's article on the High Line Kool-Aid is one of the most eloquent, well thought out and constructed pieces of writing I have ever read in my entire life. Obviously this should be considered THE definitive assessment of the High Line, and every single New Yorker should read it. I just don't see any way someone not directly financially tied to the High Line project could possibly read this article and not come away as disgusted and sad as the rest of us at the loss this has led to.
Thank you for linking it, and if you are reading this Christopher, thank you for writing it; it's just absolutely brilliant.
At first, I too was intrigued by the High Line. But I'm turned off by the hype, and by what it turned out to be. Meanwhile, city parks in all five (count 'em, FIVE) boroughs become more and more run-down, crime ridden, and neglected. I guess you only get the park you can afford.
J- totally off-subject but I thought you'd have something to say about Patti Smith's interview on CBS Sunday Morning. They stopped by the Chelsea Hotel.
Little Earthquake, i missed the show but i did hear about it. thought to comment, but life's been hectic recently and i haven't got it so together on the blogging front. but, yeah--why didn't she mention the plight of the residents? that's the question.
Non-rhetorical questions: Why did the High Line turn out this way? Could it have been different? How?
Exactly - she walked into her old apartment and was moved to tears (rightfully so). Then she said, "Isn't it great when something remains unchanged?" or words to that effect. I thought that was rich.
That proposed ice cream ban on Park Slope was news three years ago. Nonetheless, just to add to the ridiculousness of this, yet they would give their kids babycinnos.
+1 gazillion at the High Line rant. Been there during the day, night, crowded, empty... and still don't get the attraction of it. I guess because I knew and appreciated what it was before, and much like the author of rant says on being on the new High Line: "I felt like a stranger in my own neighborhood".
The High Line is also popular in tumblr -- always gets jillion "notes" when one posts a pic of it. (e.g. this and this). And apparently, a New Yorker must go to the Highline, if they want to consider themselves a "true" New Yorker, well at least according to this scary sadshaw [ugh!].
The Bowery Boys have a great objective podcast on the history of The High Line, and A Veblenesque Gorge has a good essay on the appreciation of the High Line right around before it became this Baudrillardesque park.
Apologies for all the linkage, but requesite to make the point.
As for the Chino Latino place in Chelsea, better not be an artisanal and sustainably local organic joint. And no one better be talking about ramps.
The High Line. I appreciate all the objections. It's also the place where my soon-to-be son-in-law pulled off a very sweet "let's get married" for my daughter, so -- well, let's hope that some changes, however problematic or even awful, are being implicated in bright futures we can't yet imagine.
As for ice cream carts and worried parents: it's not hard. Learn to say "No."
if i hear about ramps one more time...!
and here's more on Patti Smith's visit to the Chelsea, where her old room apparently was faked to make nice for CBS viewers:
http://www.chelseahotelblog.com/living_with_legends_the_h/2012/04/patti-smith-intoxicated-by-air-of-chelsea-hotel.html
JAZ, I hope this isn't considered the definitive assessment of the high line because it will then suffer from the same indignity it complains about. This piece is childish and self-obsessed, written by a person who's only sense of self-worth and importance comes from living in Manhattan. The fact is, and readers of this site should be more than aware of, that Chelsea was never the neighborhood it is today, nor even 5 years ago. The gay population moved up from the West Village looking for space and cheaper rents in the great NY tradition and found it there. The author is writing as if Chelsea is the holy land of gay culture, an inviolable homeland that no others can lay a claim to, despite of course, that influx of gay culture caused a seismic shift in the area's demographics. Chelsea changes because of gays moving in, driving rents up and displacing residents, and now this writer can, without seeing the irony, bitch and scream that other, richer people are moving in and raising rents and changing the dominant culture.
wrong link on that scary sadshaw suggesting a New Yorker must go to the High Line.
here's the right link
http://www.timeout.com/newyork/things-to-do/what-makes-you-a-true-new-yorker?pageNumber=8
Gotta admit, I agree with Alec on that writer's assessment of Chelsea and the High Line. His complaints were the height of Uncle Tomism. People complain that it's all about tourists, but they don't realize that they often sound like it's all about THEM.
Not only that, but the High Line itself has now been caricatured as either "Amazing" (it's not) or "Lame" (it's not). It's a friggin' park. I think people need to stop seeing their dreams or nighmares in the High Line. It's become a weird lightning rod of self-identification for whatever side of the development issue one is on. Had the High Line never existed in the first place, perhaps the Standard Hotel would be the local boogeyman. At least the High Line is free and open to all, instead of some high priced boutique or hotel or night club. I don't think it's transformative or amazing, but I also think it's one of the least offensive (if bland) developments from the past decade.
I applaud Nutter's High Line rant. Makes me feel less like a lone voice when I was writing these pieces in 2007.
Ed Hamilton
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ed-hamilton/all-aboard-the-high-line-_b_37745.html
http://www.chelseanow.com/articles/2007/05/04/chelseanow_archives/20070504-archive7.txt
Alec- THANK YOU for speaking out on that irritating HuffPo piece on the High Line by the gay writer. I was worried that this comments section would just be an echo chamber of "Yeah, the High Line sucks and is destroying Chelsea!" I'm gay and was completely offended by that writer's looooog-winded, solipsistic whining about how he can't walk or rollerblade (barf) under an abstract, abandoned structure at 5am anymore. Chelsea stopped being a gay mecca a long time ago. The Roxy & Twilo closed ages ago. Did that writer get the memo that hordes of gay men have moved up to Hell's Kitchen? That's the current gay-dominant 'hood now, not Chelsea.
Yes, the High Line gets crowded and yes there are (gasp!) straight people up there. Gays do not own New York. Even if gay men could cruise up there, they wouldn't. He should go to the Rambles in Central Park if he wants proof. No one cruises there anymore because everyone is doing it on Grindr, Scruff, ManHunt, etc. Welcome to the present.
Design-wise, I think the High Line is brilliant and I know that a lot of gays appreciate it for that. I have a lot of lesbian friends who love it as well--but of course that me-me-me gay-male writer doesn't give a shit about lesbians! As far as all the rules....it's not difficult to sneak some wine up there in a thermos if you're keen on having a picnic at dusk on a less-crowded weeknight....we do it all the time in Central Park and elsewhere. It's called adapting. The city needs more public spaces like this. The fact that it's often crowded only proves how successful it is. If one's bag is to hate straight people or tourists or to just be an all-around maudlin misanthrope, fine, knock yourself out. But they shouldn't expect a city to adapt to their narrow belief systems.
The High Line piece was brilliant, funny, and well supported by facts that the HL founders and their PR machine manufactured themselves. It was satirical commentary and the writer was simply disputing two facts that their propaganda factory continues to grind out like sausage: 1) It's for Chelsea & NYC locals to use as a relaxing zen space. It's clearly not. & 2) It's "Gay". It's clearly not... (whatever that means! - Wasn't aware parks and old railroad tracks had sexual preferences.) If the HL didn't make these claims, the writer wouldn't have had a case to make. Anyone who can't see this is old school New York satire in addition to being a good old fashioned 'reading' is a dolt or have the gays forgotten how to appreciate a good 'read' ? (dress down for you newbies). Give him some credit for coming out against a (good intentioned) sham that most New Yorkers just bought hook, line, and sinker, yet never step foot on because it's too crowded with tourists.
and let's not forget the fact that the High Line has been used by Bloomberg and developers to erase an entire neighborhood, pushing out many long-time businesses, and to create emotional and financial support for the once hated Hudson Yards project.
no one hates it anymore--know why? it's the High Line's glorious finale.
But again...WHY did the High Line have this effect? It's a park. In general, parks are good for neighborhoods. I've never been to the High Line because I've only heard bad things about it. I believe that it sucks. But why? What makes it different from other parks? The rules? The way it was promoted? The design? I want to understand.
Jeremiah: I don't live in Chelsea so I'd be interested to know which businesses were specifically pushed out by the High Line, and how did something that's elevated above street level and previously desolate push out these businesses? I don't doubt that there's been detrimental effects--just as there were when the bougie, selfish gays moved to Chelsea in the '90s--but aren't you being a wee bit hyperbolic when you say the High Line has "erased an entire neighborhood"?
here's a rundown of the businesses most recently pushed out due to the High Line effect:
http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2011/12/kamco.html
if you click through the links in that list, you'll get a thorough reading.
RE: High Line: I find it hard to believe that people are actually complaining about a historic, preserved piece of the city that was turned into a park! I've worked in Chelsea for a decade and I'm happy to walk in this beautiful park every day on my lunch hour and experience the city version of peace and nature. Yes, there are tourists. Walk around them as you usually do.
It's a bit hard to swallow this complaining when there are such HUGE DESTRUCTIVE projects going on all over the city! I live across the street from the Atlantic Yards monstrosity, so I am unable to sympathize with complaints about a park.
@Anony 3.49 PM
Highline:
http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2011/06/goodbye-poppys.html
Atlantic Yards:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/17/nyregion/atlantic-yards-project-is-already-transforming-brooklyn.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion
Same-o, Same-o.
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