J. Yormark Survives

Some months ago, whatever had once occupied the spot next to Left Bank Books on 8th Avenue near Jane Street had a piece of its facade torn off to reveal a lovely piece of glass signage.

J. YORMARK SHOES it read in stained glass. GVSHP did a little digging--they found a bit, but it seems there is not much to be found on this little shoe store of the past.



I worried how the new occupants of the spot would treat the un-vanished sign. In February, a barber shop moved in.

They kept the sign.



The barbershop is called Igor's "Be Good" Barber Shop. It sounds like Igor of the Little Tony & Igor Be Good barber shop has branched out on his own.


Igor's facebook page

Astor Hair Documentary

I first visited Astor Hair in 1989. Later, the Royal barber shop on St. Mark's Place became my regular spot for a haircut. But just recently, I've gone back to Astor Hair--mostly because it's one of the last places in the East Village that still feels like the East Village. More than that, it still feels like New York City.



Which is why I was excited to hear that filmmaker (and JVNY regular) Karen Gehres is making a documentary about the place. She writes:

"With so many NYC Institutions dropping like flies, due to skyrocketing rent, one barber shop remains. Since 1939, Astor Barber has been cutting hair with pizzazz and is still one of NYC's most loved institutions. Get your hair cut from cradle to grave...literally! ...From the countless celebrity customers to the karaoke in the back with other 50 barbers, this barber shop is never dull."

Check out the trailer on Kickstarter and please donate some cash to help her complete the film.

Henry in Harry's

When we see places vanish, we wonder what will take their place. Checking back in with the new tenant is usually disappointing and depressing. Still, it must be done.



In 2006, Harry Chong was forced to close his laundry after 60 years on the corner of Waverly Place and Charles. The landlord spiked the rent. A hair salon moved in, keeping part of the HARRY CHONG window signage, then it moved out. In October 2011 a For Rent sign went in the window. Last month, after the space was rented, workers scraped HARRY CHONG from the windows.

Today, there's a new upscale boutique in the spot. Henry Beguelin has moved here from the Meatpacking District, bringing MePa values with it.

That yellow handbag on the table sells for $2,195. Flip-flops go for $550.



Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that many of the "pioneering" boutiques that created MePa are being pushed out of the high-end shopping mall they created by skyrocketing rents that are attracting high-end shopping mall chain stores, like Sephora and Intermix.

With its influential boutiques on the move, thanks in part to the High Line raising property values, "MePa Creep" has begun.

If these stores have the power to make MePa wherever they go, what will happen to our quiet little blocks--and their existing businesses--when the exiled Meatpacking boutiques start showing up?

Peep World Remnants

After the death of Peep World, we heard from some grieving readers.

Stacy alerted us to a January 2012 story by Christopher Gray in the Times that described the Horn & Hardart Automat that preceded Peep World at this spot. Gray reports that this Automat was designed in 1930 by Louis Allen Abramson.


Burger King's shingles

He explains that the Automat was "a Deco-Gothic anthem. Above a bronze storefront rose a vertical streamlined facade of buff terra cotta with two man-size sculpture niches in the center, each sheltered by a perforated canopy called a baldachin, as if waiting for statues of the saints of macaroni and cheese. At each side, pairs of muscular, stylized men appeared to tussle mightily over faceted lozenges."

In 1975, the Automat's elaborate facade was shingled over by Burger King. You can see in the photo below what Burger King did to the great Times Square Automat in the 1970s--same shingles, same sign as Peep World.


1978, via Lost City

Says Stacy about the Peep World Burger King, "I used to go in there with my mother when I was a little girl after visits to Santa Claus at Macy's. I have a lot of fond memories of this place. We sat upstairs. A quick glance at the green exterior shingles and the floor tiles in your photos gives away its fast food lineage."

We wonder, when the Murray Hill gastropub hacks away at Peep World, will we see Horn & Hardart's tussling muscle men emerge? (God forbid they should be preserved.)


photo: Casey

We also heard from Casey, who was bold enough to venture into Peep World during its last moments of life and snap a shot of the video booths in disarray.

Casey also took home a souvenir. He writes, "They sold me the Extended Viewing Time sign that hung between booths for $20. I had to buy this sign to preserve something from Peep World. I will take very good care of it. Even as a newcomer to the city, I feel it's so important to preserve what I can of the vanishing New York spots. I wanted to live here because of these places."

Amen to that.


photo: Casey

Atlas Meats Gone

The demolition of Atlas Meats is complete. Where once stood a historic meatpacking plant, there is now an empty lot, covered with gravel and surrounded by a shiny, new chain-link fence.


today


same view, June 2011

In the fresh emptiness, the battering ram High Line is now visible. Alongside, where Interstate Foods had its sign, there's nothing but a hollow. And so "MePa" is swept even cleaner, as this space awaits another glass tower.


today


same view, 2011

Previous coverage:
Interstate Foods
Atlas Meats & Interstate
Atlas Meats Demo

*Everyday Chatter

A gloriously epic rant against the High Line. [HP]

...as yet another giant tower heads to 28th and 10th. [Curbed]

Djuna Barnes' New York years at the Brooklyn Museum. [PRD]

The scandalized city. [NYM]

"Parents in Park Slope are discussing a ban on ice cream carts in a Prospect Park playground because of the choice they have to make between letting their ravenous progeny wail or opening the gate to a lifetime of obesity and hypertension." [Gothamist]

La Nueva Rampa's chef brings Chino-Latino back to Chelsea with El Paraiso on 14th. [Villager]

Memories of Mary Help of Christians. [GVSHP]

Where does NYC neon go when it dies? Ohio. [NYN]

Judy Garland on Broadway. [NYM]

Manganaro's Gutted

This one hurts.

A tipster sends in this shot and writes, "Well, the gutting of Manganaro’s has begun. I’m sure it will be yet another Thai restaurant."



What more, really, is there to say?