Gray's closed a year ago, forced out by a nearly doubled rent hike. This is getting tedious.
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a.k.a. The Book of Lamentations:
a bitterly nostalgic look at a city in the process of going extinct
- Jeremiah Moss
- THE BOOK:
"We should all buy Jeremiah Moss’s book, Vanishing New York." --Sarah Jessica Parker
“Essential reading for fans of Jane Jacobs, Joseph Mitchell, Patti Smith, Luc Sante, and cheap pierogi.” --Vanity Fair
"a vigorous, righteously indignant book that would do Jane Jacobs proud." --Kirkus Reviews
THE BLOG:
"the go-to hub for those who lament New York's loss of character." --Crain's
"No one takes stock of New York's changes with the same mixture of snark, sorrow, poeticism, and lyric wit as Jeremiah Moss." --Village Voice, Best of NY
“Jeremiah Moss…is the defender of all the undistinguished hunks of masonry that lend the streets their rhythm.” --Justin Davidson, New York Magazine
"One of the most thorough and pugnacious chroniclers of New York’s blandification." --The Atlantic, Citylab
"Hyperbolic and combative, tireless and passionate." --Salon
The Village is now almost indistinguishable from a shopping mall.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful, sterile corner. How safe that will be at night when it's closed by 7pm and that corner sit empty. If anyone thinks the city is better because everything shuts down by 8pm then they forget how much crime can happen when streets are empty. Good luck with that area.
ReplyDeleteRight, that corner was always so safe with Gray's Papaya there. Tell that to Mark Carson, a gay man who was brutally murdered right there almost 2 years ago.
ReplyDeleteThe wimpification of New York really seems to be taking hold. I'm almost embarrassed to say I'm a native to that city...been away for a long time. Everytime I go back I just get more numb. Congrats...the Bronxville's, Dariens, Shaker Heights, Great Necks, and Chathams have invaded. Now you have suburbia with big buildings. So sad.
ReplyDeleteTerrible news- I was living in the Village from '94-97 and spent many a night there. You could eat for $2.00- can't beat that. A B Dalton Booksellers was across the street (remember them?) Down the block on 6th Ave was a computer lab, tattoo parlors, a couple of smut shops & a movie theatre. I think the theatre is still there. The Village- like the rest of New York -has really changed in the last 20 years.
ReplyDeleteLiquiteria is a healthy smoothie shop. Prices are way too high for me. I have a blender at home and can make it myself. I left the Village 15 years ago. Liquiteria is perfect for the richies who now populate the area. Hot dogs are considered poison to them.
ReplyDeleteLiquiteria on Eighth. Now that's right around the corner from where I work.
ReplyDeleteThere's a Croissanteria on A around the corner from where I used to live on East 4th.
New York must have caught something causing a liquidy discharge from it's marketing bowels.
To Anonymous at 8:59 PM, thank you for remembering Mark Carson.
ReplyDeleteThat said, the corner of 6th Ave and 8th St has been quite safe for over 20 years now, since the 1990s, and when 8th Street was still "Shoe Row," with TLA Video, B. Dalton's, head shops, affordable restaurants, including the super-affordable Gray's Papaya, etc., there were all kinds of people, of all ages, out and about back then, with very little crime.
The crime era was 10 years before, in the 1980s, though even then, 6th and 8th, and the West Village in general, was far safer than further east or many other parts of the city (East Village, Harlem, Williamsburg, Bed Stuy, etc.) that are now hypergentrified.
On a different note, do the new low-glow streetlights on 8th St. make it seem gloomier to anyone else? Every time I'm on 8th St., I feel like it's a zombie zone just because of the lighting. It looks so dead and sepulchral. Is this sort of dim lighting appealing to the yunnies/superrich who've colonized the area?
I'm a mommy and I miss Gray's Papaya.
ReplyDeleteSuch a sad sight. If I wanted a healthy drink, I would rather walk a few blocks to EVAs and get a nature burger as well...
ReplyDelete