Kim's on 1st Avenue is looking colorful:
It's time to say bye-bye banks! [Times]
Consumers finally wising up and getting thrifty with their pennies. [Times]
Deep NYC history, check out the glacial potholes at the WTC site. [Times]
Monday, October 6, 2008
*Everyday Chatter
An unconfirmed rumor from a reader just came in: Residential rents at the Avalon Bowery are rising by almost 80%. Holy Wall Street crash! I guess Avalon needs the funds to take over Extra Place and turn it into a private mall. And what does this mean for businesses like the Bowery Wine Co.?
Kim's on 1st Avenue is looking colorful:
It's time to say bye-bye banks! [Times]
Consumers finally wising up and getting thrifty with their pennies. [Times]
Deep NYC history, check out the glacial potholes at the WTC site. [Times]
Kim's on 1st Avenue is looking colorful:
It's time to say bye-bye banks! [Times]
Consumers finally wising up and getting thrifty with their pennies. [Times]
Deep NYC history, check out the glacial potholes at the WTC site. [Times]
Antiques Garage Saved
As hoped, the economic downturn brings some good news. Aside from closing bank branches, empty condos, and the like, we're starting to see some reversals of impending vanishings. The Antiques Garage in Chelsea just received a stay of execution.
JVNY reader Kenny G. at WFMU wrote in to say:
"Just over at the Antiques Garage on 25th Street between 6th & 7th and there are signs up everywhere celebrating the fact that they've renewed their lease for a year, possibly longer. The Garage was supposed to close after Thanksgiving, but in the face of the collapsing economy, the developer has indefinitely postponed plans there. A little bit of sunshine through the clouds, no?"
Yes, Kenny G.!
Last October, I visited the Garage and reported on their doom. What a difference a year makes.
After Kenny's news, I went by to take some pics of the celebratory signage and chatted with a vendor who told me, "It's a month-to-month lease, but I expect we'll be here another year or two. The developer can't get a hotel license. There are too many hotels around here as it is."
Not only that, she said she talks to a lot of kids who just got out of school and came to New York to make piles of money, "but it's not happening. So now they're all heading for Pennsylvania. They're very upset because their starting salaries in Allentown are only $45,000! But how much do you really need to live in Allentown?"
Not much. Cue the Billy Joel...
JVNY reader Kenny G. at WFMU wrote in to say:
"Just over at the Antiques Garage on 25th Street between 6th & 7th and there are signs up everywhere celebrating the fact that they've renewed their lease for a year, possibly longer. The Garage was supposed to close after Thanksgiving, but in the face of the collapsing economy, the developer has indefinitely postponed plans there. A little bit of sunshine through the clouds, no?"
Yes, Kenny G.!
Last October, I visited the Garage and reported on their doom. What a difference a year makes.
After Kenny's news, I went by to take some pics of the celebratory signage and chatted with a vendor who told me, "It's a month-to-month lease, but I expect we'll be here another year or two. The developer can't get a hotel license. There are too many hotels around here as it is."
Not only that, she said she talks to a lot of kids who just got out of school and came to New York to make piles of money, "but it's not happening. So now they're all heading for Pennsylvania. They're very upset because their starting salaries in Allentown are only $45,000! But how much do you really need to live in Allentown?"
Not much. Cue the Billy Joel...
Thursday, October 2, 2008
*Everyday Chatter
Checking in on 1 Jackson Square, as the sky is falling, the undulation has officially begun:
Welcome to Fear-Mongering 101. Says Bloomberg, "we may well be on the verge of a meltdown," and he's the only who can save the city. We heard the same thing from Giuliani after 9/11. [Times]
Just got this email: "Councilman Weprin is going to have a rally this Sunday, October 5 at 12 Noon on the steps of City Hall...against changing term limits legislatively, as proposed by the Mayor today."
Banksy to Wall Street rats: Let Them Eat Crack. [Curbed]
David LaChappelle's "Holy War" in Chelsea is supposedly a critique of our wasteful consumer culture, but one writer called Bones says "this is not critique, not at all. It's celebration, and I have no idea why we're celebrating." [Voice] ... Take a look for yourself.
Busy elves are working hard to bring not one, but two new Ralph Lauren stores to Bleecker Street, making a total of four:
Welcome to Fear-Mongering 101. Says Bloomberg, "we may well be on the verge of a meltdown," and he's the only who can save the city. We heard the same thing from Giuliani after 9/11. [Times]
Just got this email: "Councilman Weprin is going to have a rally this Sunday, October 5 at 12 Noon on the steps of City Hall...against changing term limits legislatively, as proposed by the Mayor today."
Banksy to Wall Street rats: Let Them Eat Crack. [Curbed]
David LaChappelle's "Holy War" in Chelsea is supposedly a critique of our wasteful consumer culture, but one writer called Bones says "this is not critique, not at all. It's celebration, and I have no idea why we're celebrating." [Voice] ... Take a look for yourself.
Busy elves are working hard to bring not one, but two new Ralph Lauren stores to Bleecker Street, making a total of four:
Chinatown Tunnels
I wrote about Doyers Street here, and its impending demise, thanks to its discovery by the gentry. In a way, you might say things haven't changed very much.
As Julia Solis writes in New York Underground, "In the 1890s...the area had become a popular destination for adventurers from the city's more affluent quarters who wanted to go on slumming tours." With the opening of Apotheke, we see a similar trend, though you no longer have to be very adventurous to venture here. The hatchet-wielding crimps are gone and the bar comes with a "friends only" hidden entrance, a slummers' homage to Doyers' rich history of being tunneled.
There is still a real adventure to be had beneath Doyers, I'm sure of it, but I can't quite figure out how to access it.
I ventured down into the one open tunnel, a revamped relic from the Tong War days. It is nothing like my fantasy of it, something close to Portland's Shanghai Tunnels, a dreamy, dark place filled with opium bunks, dust-covered masonry, and trapdoors. No, the Doyers Street tunnel is a business arcade. Kind of a mall.
To get to it from Doyers, enter through a wall of Chinese signage, the Wing Fat arcade, and step down into the underground. Beneath a dropped ceiling lit by fluorescent bulbs, you'll find an assortment of businesses: a philatelic shop displaying old postcards from Shanghai, acupuncturist offices, English-language schools. On the other end, you exit by the OTB beneath the Wing Fat Mansion building.
the geomancer and the Donald
Most interesting may be the metaphysics office of a geomancer, feng shui master Tin Sun. Donald Trump asked them for advice when building the Trump International Tower. They've since been "adapting the ancient nature-based system...to modern glass-tower life," says CNN. They also feng shui'd the offices of Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley. (Maybe that's what's kept those houses both alive through the current Wall Street carnage.)
So far, nothing very exciting, but off this main corridor of subterranean Wing Fat are several locked doors. Some have Chinese writing on them, others state in English "Keep Out" and "Do Not Enter." Stand at these doors and dream of what lies beyond--dusty corridors hiding opium artifacts, cloisonne pipes lying in ash next to wooden bunks, ghosts of tong soldiers drifting like smoke among velvet curtains, the skeletons of their captives buried inside hollow walls.
If anyone knows anything about what's back there, please tell me. My heart speeds up just to think of passing through those doors to discover a hidden lost world.
As Julia Solis writes in New York Underground, "In the 1890s...the area had become a popular destination for adventurers from the city's more affluent quarters who wanted to go on slumming tours." With the opening of Apotheke, we see a similar trend, though you no longer have to be very adventurous to venture here. The hatchet-wielding crimps are gone and the bar comes with a "friends only" hidden entrance, a slummers' homage to Doyers' rich history of being tunneled.
There is still a real adventure to be had beneath Doyers, I'm sure of it, but I can't quite figure out how to access it.
I ventured down into the one open tunnel, a revamped relic from the Tong War days. It is nothing like my fantasy of it, something close to Portland's Shanghai Tunnels, a dreamy, dark place filled with opium bunks, dust-covered masonry, and trapdoors. No, the Doyers Street tunnel is a business arcade. Kind of a mall.
To get to it from Doyers, enter through a wall of Chinese signage, the Wing Fat arcade, and step down into the underground. Beneath a dropped ceiling lit by fluorescent bulbs, you'll find an assortment of businesses: a philatelic shop displaying old postcards from Shanghai, acupuncturist offices, English-language schools. On the other end, you exit by the OTB beneath the Wing Fat Mansion building.
the geomancer and the Donald
Most interesting may be the metaphysics office of a geomancer, feng shui master Tin Sun. Donald Trump asked them for advice when building the Trump International Tower. They've since been "adapting the ancient nature-based system...to modern glass-tower life," says CNN. They also feng shui'd the offices of Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley. (Maybe that's what's kept those houses both alive through the current Wall Street carnage.)
So far, nothing very exciting, but off this main corridor of subterranean Wing Fat are several locked doors. Some have Chinese writing on them, others state in English "Keep Out" and "Do Not Enter." Stand at these doors and dream of what lies beyond--dusty corridors hiding opium artifacts, cloisonne pipes lying in ash next to wooden bunks, ghosts of tong soldiers drifting like smoke among velvet curtains, the skeletons of their captives buried inside hollow walls.
If anyone knows anything about what's back there, please tell me. My heart speeds up just to think of passing through those doors to discover a hidden lost world.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Googling NYC 2001
Offering a beautiful way to waste some quality time at work today, EV Grieve points us to Google's anniversary stunt, a virtual time-machine back to 2001 via their oldest search engine available. In this alternate universe, there is no Chocolates by the Bald Man, no Lower East Side towering condos and luxury hotels, no Pinkberry, no Gwathmey Astor Place--and no Jeremiah's Vanishing New York, for that matter.
It is staggering how much has changed in a mere 7 years.
photo: harrisj's flickr
A search for gentrification and "east village" yields the following description of the neighborhood from a realtor:
DRAWS: Lots of thrift and health-food stores. A 30-year resident, points to the cultural and artistic landmarks such as La MaMa, Performance Space 122, the Nuyorican Café, and CBGB that have managed to hold on despite gentrification: “It’s still a place where musicians and artists work,” he says.
DRAWBACKS: No subway east of First Avenue; scarce bank branches; no gyms; and no really outstanding Chinese restaurants. The supermarkets are decidedly C-list. Even the most enlightened yuppies are a bit scared of the housing projects on 4th and 6th Streets and the East River. And a painter, would like to see more diversity in age, style, and dress. “Everybody takes on a certain struggling-artist look,” she complains.
It is staggering how much has changed in a mere 7 years.
photo: harrisj's flickr
A search for gentrification and "east village" yields the following description of the neighborhood from a realtor:
DRAWS: Lots of thrift and health-food stores. A 30-year resident, points to the cultural and artistic landmarks such as La MaMa, Performance Space 122, the Nuyorican Café, and CBGB that have managed to hold on despite gentrification: “It’s still a place where musicians and artists work,” he says.
DRAWBACKS: No subway east of First Avenue; scarce bank branches; no gyms; and no really outstanding Chinese restaurants. The supermarkets are decidedly C-list. Even the most enlightened yuppies are a bit scared of the housing projects on 4th and 6th Streets and the East River. And a painter, would like to see more diversity in age, style, and dress. “Everybody takes on a certain struggling-artist look,” she complains.
*Everyday Chatter
The real estate boom is over. Not only that, according to the Times, gentrification is slowing on the LES. Is that daylight I see, peeking through the clearing smoke? via [Curbed]
Still, the Bowery is so "on," it now has an off-off version. [EVG]
A few good suggestions for the (rather odd) Bowery Suggestion Box from BoweryBoogie.
Speaking of Bowery, there has been some debate about whether or not it's officially a street. So which is it, street or not a street?
photo: specmotor's flickr
Andy Schwartz reflects on the Lost Music Venues of Manhattan and notes a change in today's crowds: "sending/receiving text messages, snapping photos with cell-phone cameras, ordering more drinks, discussing jobs or relationships or vacations--anything, it seems, other than actually listening to the music." [PSF]
Enjoy hipster fashions you love to hate. [HuffPo]
Bloomberg on the mayoral extension of term limits: "I think it would be an absolute disgrace to go around the public will." Uh-huh. [Newsday]
Supporters of Bloomberg's power grab are "blind to a fundamental problem with Bloomberg’s tenure as mayor: The excessive accumulation of power in the hands of someone who is both the city’s chief executive and one of the nation’s wealthiest citizens." [Commonweal]
Still, the Bowery is so "on," it now has an off-off version. [EVG]
A few good suggestions for the (rather odd) Bowery Suggestion Box from BoweryBoogie.
Speaking of Bowery, there has been some debate about whether or not it's officially a street. So which is it, street or not a street?
photo: specmotor's flickr
Andy Schwartz reflects on the Lost Music Venues of Manhattan and notes a change in today's crowds: "sending/receiving text messages, snapping photos with cell-phone cameras, ordering more drinks, discussing jobs or relationships or vacations--anything, it seems, other than actually listening to the music." [PSF]
Enjoy hipster fashions you love to hate. [HuffPo]
Bloomberg on the mayoral extension of term limits: "I think it would be an absolute disgrace to go around the public will." Uh-huh. [Newsday]
Supporters of Bloomberg's power grab are "blind to a fundamental problem with Bloomberg’s tenure as mayor: The excessive accumulation of power in the hands of someone who is both the city’s chief executive and one of the nation’s wealthiest citizens." [Commonweal]
Kim's Mediapolis
A tipster writes in to say that Kim's Mediapolis uptown has closed its doors. The Columbia Spectator confirms that the movie and music store at 113th and Broadway closed on September 15:
"'Business has really slowed down with the advent of Netflix,' said Morningside Heights branch manager Kenny Mativey... An increase in rent has also hurt Kim’s, which leases property from Columbia."
photo: workinpana's flickr
I guess Kim's held no hard feelings against its landlord, because the Spectator also reports that they donated their entire movie rental collection to Columbia’s Butler Media Collection: "approximately 17,500 DVDs, 500 DVD boxed sets, and 10,000 VHS tapes." Said a librarian there, “The Kim’s collection will be an important addition, particularly in areas of U.S. and foreign feature film titles, anime, and television programming.”
photo: time out
A Ricky's will be moving in to the spot, starting with lots of Halloween costumes. Says one commenter at the Spectator, "how many ricky's does this town need? they're like starbucks now." Another just opened at 13th and 6th, former site of Cosi sandwiches--that makes either 18 or 19 for Manhattan.
As I reported here earlier, a new Kim's is opening in the East Village, on 1st Avenue between 7th and 8th Streets. The sign is up and the shelves just went in this past weekend.
"'Business has really slowed down with the advent of Netflix,' said Morningside Heights branch manager Kenny Mativey... An increase in rent has also hurt Kim’s, which leases property from Columbia."
photo: workinpana's flickr
I guess Kim's held no hard feelings against its landlord, because the Spectator also reports that they donated their entire movie rental collection to Columbia’s Butler Media Collection: "approximately 17,500 DVDs, 500 DVD boxed sets, and 10,000 VHS tapes." Said a librarian there, “The Kim’s collection will be an important addition, particularly in areas of U.S. and foreign feature film titles, anime, and television programming.”
photo: time out
A Ricky's will be moving in to the spot, starting with lots of Halloween costumes. Says one commenter at the Spectator, "how many ricky's does this town need? they're like starbucks now." Another just opened at 13th and 6th, former site of Cosi sandwiches--that makes either 18 or 19 for Manhattan.
As I reported here earlier, a new Kim's is opening in the East Village, on 1st Avenue between 7th and 8th Streets. The sign is up and the shelves just went in this past weekend.
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