Years ago, New York City had many stores that catered to avid collectors of movie memorabilia. The most legendary were Cinemabilia, where François Truffaut shopped when he came to town, Mark Ricci’s Memory Shop, and Irving Klaw’s Movie Star News, famous for its bondage shots of Bettie Page. Today, there’s only one store left in the city that specializes in movie photos, and it’s not going to be here much longer.
Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store has been in business since 1978. It started on West Third Street, moved to West Fourteenth, and eventually ended up on West Thirty-fifth, in the Garment District. With the Internet stealing customers, business isn’t what it used to be, and the nine-thousand-dollar-a-month rent is more than movie photos can pay. Jerry will be closing his shop and selling just online in the next three to six months.
This is unfortunate, because a computer screen will never provide the physical, sensory experience you get when you step into Ohlinger’s...
Click here to read the rest of this story at the New Yorker's Culture Desk.
A few more photos, before it's gone come 2014:
5 comments:
What about Stephen Sally, at 339 West 44th Street? I remember passing it during the 1990s, though a Google search only turns up this static page: http://www.enterit.com/stephen4972/
And I didn't know they moved from West Third Street. (I guess it's partly customers like me, who forgot about the place, who are responsible for its closing.)
This Banksy op-ed, nixed by the NYT, might interest your readership
http://banksy.co.uk/2013/10/27/blocked-messages
I went to the Memory Shop when I was in my teens. And Kiers. And a number of the others. I didn't even know that there was one left.
I bought a Warriors one sheet from them for $10 at the West 3rd Street Store in 1979 (when they were above the Bat Cave), another copy for $40 in 1988 and a bunch of photos in between. We should all hit the West 38th street store at least once before it's gone :-(
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