Regretfully, I report that Movie Star News in Chelsea is closing down. Once owned by the infamous Irving Klaw, photographer of the legendary pin-up queen Bettie Page, Movie Star News has been a Manhattan original since 1939.
I went in to speak to owner Ira Kramer, nephew of Mr. Klaw, and he answered a few questions in person and over email. He told me that their reason for closing is an all too common one--the rent is going up. They'll be gone before the end of the month.
Originally on East 14th Street, Movie Star News moved to West 18th on Memorial Day weekend in 1983, Ira told me, "with 800 boxes and 90 file cabinets" filled with movie star photos, pin-ups, and posters. He remembers being a kid in the 14th Street shop, going to see movies for free at "the old Jeff," the demolished Jefferson Theater, when the adults got tired of him hanging around.
Ira estimates that the shop's deep and tall shelves held 3 million movie star photos--until he started packing them into cardboard boxes--and he still has Irving Klaw's original negatives on-site.
It's from these negatives that Movie Star News prints photos of vintage pin-ups like Bettie Page to order. However, says Ira, "We decided that the public would have trouble pronouncing her name, so we spelled it Betty."
I asked Ira where Movie Star News will go next. He said:
"I believe my situation changed with the world of digital photography. Many people choose to download photos from websites, free of charge, then have them made up at labs or on their own ink-jet printers. So while I continued to sell posters in the shop, the few photo sales I have are made primarily through my website. With this in mind, why take up over 2,000 square feet of New York City real estate, when only a small portion of this space is actually producing an income? If all goes as planned, I will re-locate to a warehouse in New Jersey, as yet undecided where exactly. I must decide by the end of July and will post this update on my website."
packing up the inventory
And so the city is spitting out another piece of its colorful history--and its soul. What will take its place?
Right now, Movie Star News has the high-end Michael Aram boutique on one side and a slick condo showroom on the other (one of the tiny people in their architectural model is walking while texting on a smartphone--she's a very important, self-involved 1/8"-scale person). Anyway, I'm sure we can expect more of the same.
- Read a full history of Movie Star News
- Visit the website to order photos
old shop on E. 14th
Sad ..... another piece of old NYC is deleted..and lands on the cutting floor
ReplyDeleteOh, no. Very sad. I pass it all the time and many times I've thought: Oh, Good, it's still here.
ReplyDeleteNew York, America is knocking.
ReplyDeleteI, for one, can't wait to see what the reaction to all this conformity is. I hope it is a killer renaissance.
Who needs Movie Star News when people in Chelsea, Highline, W. Village, NYC, think, walk, act, as if they are movie stars about to be featured in the news. And they have one eye in their iZombie mirror as they watch themselves gavotte. They think NYC is all about them, don't they? Don't they?
ReplyDeleteSad, that they are closing, but also VERY SAD that Romy just passed the store all the time. Instead of passing the store, you should have stopped in and bought something and then they could have afforded the new rental. SAD.
ReplyDelete1. Isn't (or wasn't) there a similar store on Christopher Street? Across from coffee bean shop ?
ReplyDelete2. Randall, I hope you are right.
Bad news, I live nearby and always liked stopping in there. Another one bites the dust. Rent and technology kills another business.
ReplyDeleteRandall : You can't have a killer renaissance when those most likely to rebel against the rising tide can't afford to be here. And douchey frat-kids and hipster wanks certainly aren't on the cutting edge of any revolution, despite what they may think.
ReplyDeletewhy are the rents so high? why are they rising so often? is the cost of building maintance so huge? & that is rising too? OR are there so many chain stores wanting to be in new york, that they make landlords rich?
ReplyDeleteHow sad! We used to go there all the time for reference material when I was working for a magazine in NYC.
ReplyDeleteWow. I used to go to their 14th Street store when I was in college in the 70s, looking for 8x10 glossies of my crushes: Leslie Howard, Laurence Olivier, Ronald Colman...it was a stuffed and stuffy realm of fading dreams, pure old-school New York eccentric gem. All things must pass...
ReplyDeleteI have little room left in my heart for mourning. I am still weeping over the death of Raven Chanticleer ('The Learning Tree'). Ah, the prosperous future will never be as beautiful as the slums of our youth! (I think that was Verlaine.)
ReplyDeleteA loss for sure , wish I had gone there , but I guess I will have to shop online , as most people do
ReplyDeleteJust like all of us , who read and post online , as opposed to buying real papers... so sad
Just checked the website. Looks like they are relocating to Vegas!! Is the nyc store closed already?
ReplyDeleteNote for history buffs:
ReplyDeleteMovie Star News was the continuation of a
famous New York institution-a fantastic pornographic store where all of Bettie Page was created-
Irving Klaw fetish publications.
So sad to see this go. I shopped there frequenty in the 90s when I ran a fan club for a celebrity. We got the best photos there.
ReplyDeleteStill missing the great bookstore smack in the middle of the diamond district, too.the one that had all the great stuff by gorey...