We learned in July that the venerable shop would be closing after 73 years of history in the city. By the end of that month the owner had packed up and sold Irving Klaw's entire Bettie Page collection to a Las Vegas collectibles company.
The space, once loaded with bins full of colorful movie posters and towering shelves overflowing with Hollywood glossies, has been gutted and turned into a pure, white hollow. A paper taped inside the window says Lefroy Brooks is coming.
Lefroy Brooks sells luxury bathroom fixtures. They have one elegant collection of faucets, towel bars, soap dishes, and toilet paper holders called "Kafka."
Is this all a bit Kafkaesque?
Franz Kafka's biographer, Frederick R. Karl, defined the term "Kafkaesque" to the Times: "What's Kafkaesque is when you enter a surreal world in which all your control patterns, all your plans, the whole way in which you have configured your own behavior, begins to fall to pieces, when you find yourself against a force that does not lend itself to the way you perceive the world. You don't give up, you don't lie down and die. What you do is struggle against this with all of your equipment, with whatever you have. But of course you don't stand a chance. That's Kafkaesque."
Read more about Movie Star News:
The long history
The closure
The move to Vegas
Luxury bathroom fixtures? Are you fucking kidding me?
ReplyDeleteI loved Movie Star News, can't believe it's an overpriced toilet store now. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteI've pretty much given up on Manhattan as being unique. However - everytime I visit friends in Queens and Brooklyn or even explore further out into the burroughs I'm quite delighted with everything I see.
ReplyDeleteKafka toilet paper holders? Arch, trite vacuity.
ReplyDeleteTook a class with Karl long, long ago.
Another useless store. After the hurricane I noticed how important the useful, practical stores are- bodegas, diners, hardware stores, coffee shops, laundries. The new NYC is a bland boring boutique of useless stuff that will do nothing for you and do nothing to improve your life. Just leave you empty and frustrated.
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