The battle of the food fetishists vs. the leather fetishists continues--as wholesome "family" entertainment claims Meatpacking. [Villager]
Literature dies at a book party for "twitter wit." [NYP]
Hashing: Where jerks run around the Lower East Side in a "never-ending quest for beer, food, good times and beer." [EVG]
...After all that, if you're still not convinced the city is in the shitter, save the date on 9/28: Don't miss the third installment of Vanishing City at Dixon Place, complete with Bowery visuals and live cabaret. [DP]
Friday, September 18, 2009
Galaxy Diner
VANISHED
To my chagrin, I only just noticed that the Galaxy Diner in Chelsea has closed. The windows are newspapered with papers dating from June.
In a neighborhood where an affordable meal is hard to find, the Galaxy was a standout. It was a real diner, with cheap lunch specials, including a meatloaf sandwich I looked forward to on a cool, almost-autumn day.
Inside, it was wonderfully and weirdly decorated with scenes of outerspace--rocket ships and planets on the walls, and the tables dusted with moons and stars. It was a place where you could go and quietly read a book among the galactic splendors.
photo by Danmeth
Wondering why it closed, I found the following comment at Destination Chelsea: "As far as I know the owners of restaurant Nisos next door owned the Galaxy Diner. Being that Nisos is now serving the breakfast that the diner used to offer, I can only guess that Nisos will expand."
Nisos also took over the spot once occupied by the beloved Sam Chinita's Cuban-Chinese diner.
photo by TheMachineStops
Above, you can see what was lost. Below, the neon-blue and stoneface replacement. Above Nisos, you can see the planet-painted wall of the Galaxy. Another down-to-earth coffee shop vanished.
To my chagrin, I only just noticed that the Galaxy Diner in Chelsea has closed. The windows are newspapered with papers dating from June.
In a neighborhood where an affordable meal is hard to find, the Galaxy was a standout. It was a real diner, with cheap lunch specials, including a meatloaf sandwich I looked forward to on a cool, almost-autumn day.
Inside, it was wonderfully and weirdly decorated with scenes of outerspace--rocket ships and planets on the walls, and the tables dusted with moons and stars. It was a place where you could go and quietly read a book among the galactic splendors.
photo by Danmeth
Wondering why it closed, I found the following comment at Destination Chelsea: "As far as I know the owners of restaurant Nisos next door owned the Galaxy Diner. Being that Nisos is now serving the breakfast that the diner used to offer, I can only guess that Nisos will expand."
Nisos also took over the spot once occupied by the beloved Sam Chinita's Cuban-Chinese diner.
photo by TheMachineStops
Above, you can see what was lost. Below, the neon-blue and stoneface replacement. Above Nisos, you can see the planet-painted wall of the Galaxy. Another down-to-earth coffee shop vanished.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
*Everyday Chatter
Comedy at the Holiday? JVNY reader Frances sent in this pic to my Facebook page, saying, "Stefan has not been gone six months and now there is this amIfunny night at the shrine for serious alchoholics?" First the Jager girls and now...
Oct 2-3: Attend the Lost NY Conference, starring many of your favorite nostalgists, including Alex NYC, David Freeland, and Bowery Boogie. [P&W]
At the newest Bowery tower, banging conga drums are no doubt already giving the neighbors something to fret about. [Curbed]
Matt Harvey looks at the murder of Eric "Taz" Pagan and gun violence in Alphabet City. [NYP]
As more bullets fly in the East Village, some things don't change: "Still, I see too many seemingly clueless people bopping around by themselves wearing Bose soundproof headphones and texting at 2 a.m. They're making it a little too easy." [EVG]
Kevin Walsh traces the evolution of Extra Place, the lost alley off Bowery. [HP]
Dickchicken possesses the voicebox of Ernie Anastos: "Keep fucking that chicken." [Gothamist]
Oct 2-3: Attend the Lost NY Conference, starring many of your favorite nostalgists, including Alex NYC, David Freeland, and Bowery Boogie. [P&W]
At the newest Bowery tower, banging conga drums are no doubt already giving the neighbors something to fret about. [Curbed]
Matt Harvey looks at the murder of Eric "Taz" Pagan and gun violence in Alphabet City. [NYP]
As more bullets fly in the East Village, some things don't change: "Still, I see too many seemingly clueless people bopping around by themselves wearing Bose soundproof headphones and texting at 2 a.m. They're making it a little too easy." [EVG]
Kevin Walsh traces the evolution of Extra Place, the lost alley off Bowery. [HP]
Dickchicken possesses the voicebox of Ernie Anastos: "Keep fucking that chicken." [Gothamist]
Marc Jacobs Books?
On a recent trip to the quickly vanishing Biography Bookshop of Bleecker Street, architects for the new Marc Jacobs store were already taking measurements--of the door, the walls, the nooks, the crannies. The body's not even cold. People were shopping for books around this tape measure that kept stretching across portions of the space. You could feel the shift in the air, the snappy, plasticky smell of designer eyewear and motorcycle jackets in Crayola colors. More fashion is coming, books are vanishing.
Or are they?
While browsing novels, I listened to the twitters in the air and the talk was surprising. Call it rumor, call it unsubstantiated flimflam, but what I heard was: Marc Jacobs is putting his own bookshop in this location.
Or are they?
While browsing novels, I listened to the twitters in the air and the talk was surprising. Call it rumor, call it unsubstantiated flimflam, but what I heard was: Marc Jacobs is putting his own bookshop in this location.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
*Everyday Chatter
In Park Slope, says psychologist Peter Loffredo, "needy, greedy narcissists arrived back from their summering to ruin what was evolving into a peaceful haven for grown-ups." Wait, shouldn't that apply to the whole city? [OTBKB] via Grub
Why did Tavern on the Green fail? [NYT]
Anyone up for "a poetic travelogue performed on a bus touring the South Bronx"? Here's your chance with the Provenance of Beauty, by Claudia Rankine. [LM]
The East Village is experiencing a 90% surge in burglaries. Sort of. [EVG]
More Toynbee tiles on the LES. [BB]
Go inside the Cooper Union Hive. [Curbed]
More graffiti art. [Gothamist]
Why did Tavern on the Green fail? [NYT]
Anyone up for "a poetic travelogue performed on a bus touring the South Bronx"? Here's your chance with the Provenance of Beauty, by Claudia Rankine. [LM]
The East Village is experiencing a 90% surge in burglaries. Sort of. [EVG]
More Toynbee tiles on the LES. [BB]
Go inside the Cooper Union Hive. [Curbed]
More graffiti art. [Gothamist]
D*Face Paints
London-based street artist D*Face is painting a mural in the Meatpacking District.
He's in town for his debut U.S. solo show "All Your Dreams Belong To Us / Ludovico Aversion Therapy" at the Jonathan Levine Gallery.
The show is, in part, about New York's "Shuttered Storefronts"--a topic of interest for many artists these days. For example, No Longer Empty and Nicholas Fraser's memory collecting of empty storefronts.
In an interview in Fecal Face, D*Face talks about what happens when your work goes from the street to the gallery, and the next thing you know, it's coming out in the form of vinyl toys.
About his work, he said, "It was [originally] more escaping the everyday and to get people to question their environment and culture. Question the advertising that is around them. It is a little different now, the more aware the public becomes of street art the less applicable it seems to be. Because it was like 'oh that's D*Face' or 'Shepard' or whoever, instead of what is the meaning behind that."
As even the roughest edges of our city are smoothed splinterless, as the denigrated outsider becomes the high-end insider (Colt 45 at luxe Bowery parties, models dressing up as homeless people, Varvatos selling $700 Ramones t-shirts in the former CBGB's), we are forced to face a number of questions.
When it comes to street art, like D*Face's mural, I like seeing it. I enjoy having it around.
Still, I can't help wondering: How do we think about graffiti when it's officially permitted by the city? How do we think of it when it goes up alongside the new High Line, where unpermitted graffiti is being painted over to create a placid, eye-pleasing environment for property investors?
Is graffiti still graffiti when it's not defacing public property?
He's in town for his debut U.S. solo show "All Your Dreams Belong To Us / Ludovico Aversion Therapy" at the Jonathan Levine Gallery.
The show is, in part, about New York's "Shuttered Storefronts"--a topic of interest for many artists these days. For example, No Longer Empty and Nicholas Fraser's memory collecting of empty storefronts.
In an interview in Fecal Face, D*Face talks about what happens when your work goes from the street to the gallery, and the next thing you know, it's coming out in the form of vinyl toys.
About his work, he said, "It was [originally] more escaping the everyday and to get people to question their environment and culture. Question the advertising that is around them. It is a little different now, the more aware the public becomes of street art the less applicable it seems to be. Because it was like 'oh that's D*Face' or 'Shepard' or whoever, instead of what is the meaning behind that."
As even the roughest edges of our city are smoothed splinterless, as the denigrated outsider becomes the high-end insider (Colt 45 at luxe Bowery parties, models dressing up as homeless people, Varvatos selling $700 Ramones t-shirts in the former CBGB's), we are forced to face a number of questions.
When it comes to street art, like D*Face's mural, I like seeing it. I enjoy having it around.
Still, I can't help wondering: How do we think about graffiti when it's officially permitted by the city? How do we think of it when it goes up alongside the new High Line, where unpermitted graffiti is being painted over to create a placid, eye-pleasing environment for property investors?
Is graffiti still graffiti when it's not defacing public property?
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
*Everyday Chatter
As the Cheyenne Diner makes its move to Alabama, its impending arrival was celebrated at the annual Butterbean Festival. You won't be able to eat at the diner anymore, but Dune Buggy the Clown, aka "The Ambassador of Peanuts," will. [AL]
After public nudity, people are now pissing off the roof of the Standard. [Gothamist]
Green condo not really very green at all. [EVG]
Another new Toynbee Tile spotted on Grand Street, along with Delancey and the one for Jim Power on 2nd Ave. They all seem to be anti-media. [BB]
Nanny Bloomberg is trying to stop you from smoking in the great urban outdoors. [ND]
What if Carrie took to the crack pipe in the next film installment of Sex & the City? [NYCR]
After public nudity, people are now pissing off the roof of the Standard. [Gothamist]
Green condo not really very green at all. [EVG]
Another new Toynbee Tile spotted on Grand Street, along with Delancey and the one for Jim Power on 2nd Ave. They all seem to be anti-media. [BB]
Nanny Bloomberg is trying to stop you from smoking in the great urban outdoors. [ND]
What if Carrie took to the crack pipe in the next film installment of Sex & the City? [NYCR]
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