Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Frank to Fro-Yo

Since the great New York School poet Frank O'Hara's last home was torn down in 2009 and replaced with a luxury condo, the first floor retail space has sat empty, yearning "for a boutique or coffee shop."

It's not getting its exact wish, but pretty close.


2009

A Department of Buildings permit has gone up in the window, along with the familiar brown paper that always comes with a move-in.



The renovation calls for "ten new yoghurt machines." And the march of the fro-yo chains continues.

But which fro-yo chain will it be? Pinkberry? Red Mango? 16 Handles? There are so many to choose from.



The architect on the permit is listed as MK Dream Design. They do plastic surgeon offices, beauty spas, and futuristic dance clubs. In the yogurt world, they designed The Yogurt Shop in Englewood, New Jersey, to look like an intergalactic cafe on a spaceship.



Is this what's coming to what was once a place for amputees to find new limbs? Where the upstairs was a haven for writers and artists? Change happens. But why, in the new New York, does it always have to go in the same mind-numbing direction?



Previously:
Frank's Last Place
791 Broadway

3 comments:

Little Earthquake said...

I understand your frustration. But I can't get worked up over frozen yogurt. People seem to like it (I don't) and it's a cheap product. Yes the designs of "froyo" stores leave plenty to be desired. Yes there are more than necessary and the bubble is bound to burst. But overall I don't find these places that obnoxious, and they work their way into the local neighborhood fabric better than a luxury boutique or a 7/11. The 16 Handles on Court St. (Brooklyn) did a good job ingratiating itself to the locals and it does business like gangbusters.

onemorefoldedsunset said...

That's so sad. On Ryerson Street, in Brooklyn, a condo building is going up right across the street from the last surviving (unprotected) Brooklyn home of Walt Whitman, where he lived when Leaves of Grass was first published.

laura said...

the yogarts are expensive, because the cusomers have to pay for the spaceship furnishings. isnt that alot os bs for a frozen dessert? its so tacky, but its the direction on the world.