On the disappearance of DJ Lenny M. [EVG]
A visit to the Donut Pub. [IL]
"Brooklyn Is Dead--Yuppies Killed It." [Curbed]
The DOH: "cheese made from breast milk is not for public consumption, whether sold or given away." [Grub]
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
*Everyday Chatter
NY Post still up to its old tricks of taking stories from bloggers without credit--their Chuck E. Cheese grab goes all the way to SNL. [AFB]
On the disappearance of DJ Lenny M. [EVG]
A visit to the Donut Pub. [IL]
"Brooklyn Is Dead--Yuppies Killed It." [Curbed]
The DOH: "cheese made from breast milk is not for public consumption, whether sold or given away." [Grub]
On the disappearance of DJ Lenny M. [EVG]
A visit to the Donut Pub. [IL]
"Brooklyn Is Dead--Yuppies Killed It." [Curbed]
The DOH: "cheese made from breast milk is not for public consumption, whether sold or given away." [Grub]
Stolen LEGOs
Yesterday, NewYorkology reported on the LEGO fill-in artwork of Jan Vormann, who has been patching up the city's holes with colorful LEGO bricks. They started here, at the 10th Avenue wall of the General Theological Seminary:
photo: NewYorkology
I like the LEGO fill-in idea. It has an Easter egg-hunt quality to it.
At the same time, I wonder if it might be part of the cute-ification of New York--part of that "tsunami of cute" that Jim Windolf wrote about in Vanity Fair a few months ago. It's the stuff of cupcakes, puppies, and bright-colored toys--the infantilization of an entire culture.
Windolf refers to the essayist Daniel Harris, author of the book, Cute, Quaint, Hungry and Romantic, who argues that to make something cute is to disempower it. Is that what has happened to the city? Is castration by cuteness what Bloomberg helped bring to New York?
The LEGO artist says on his website that he came "to New York City...to support Mayor Bloomberg in his everyday-struggle to make this city even more amazing."
Well. Maybe I'm reading too much into it all, trying to make connections where there are none. Maybe it's just a cute street-art project and not part of a larger, collective-unconscious mission to make New York more palatable to the rest of the world.
photo: DispatchWork
As a post-script to all this, Gothamist picked up NewYorkology's story and a commenter wondered, "So how do they prevent people from stealing the legos?"
Answer: They don't.
On the same day the story broke onto the blogosphere, this LEGO fill-in, with its teeny little door, was found ripped out of the Seminary wall. Was it taken by a smitten collector? Or destroyed by an enemy of cuteness? We may never know.
photo: NewYorkology
I like the LEGO fill-in idea. It has an Easter egg-hunt quality to it.
At the same time, I wonder if it might be part of the cute-ification of New York--part of that "tsunami of cute" that Jim Windolf wrote about in Vanity Fair a few months ago. It's the stuff of cupcakes, puppies, and bright-colored toys--the infantilization of an entire culture.
Windolf refers to the essayist Daniel Harris, author of the book, Cute, Quaint, Hungry and Romantic, who argues that to make something cute is to disempower it. Is that what has happened to the city? Is castration by cuteness what Bloomberg helped bring to New York?
The LEGO artist says on his website that he came "to New York City...to support Mayor Bloomberg in his everyday-struggle to make this city even more amazing."
Well. Maybe I'm reading too much into it all, trying to make connections where there are none. Maybe it's just a cute street-art project and not part of a larger, collective-unconscious mission to make New York more palatable to the rest of the world.
photo: DispatchWork
As a post-script to all this, Gothamist picked up NewYorkology's story and a commenter wondered, "So how do they prevent people from stealing the legos?"
Answer: They don't.
On the same day the story broke onto the blogosphere, this LEGO fill-in, with its teeny little door, was found ripped out of the Seminary wall. Was it taken by a smitten collector? Or destroyed by an enemy of cuteness? We may never know.
Monday, March 8, 2010
*Everyday Chatter
How neighbors are fighting for Ray's and other small shops. [NYT]
Buy a shirt to help Save Ray's. [EVG]
...and wear it to tonight's benefit. [SG]
Remembering Gregory & Paul's when Coney Island was "gritty, unpredictable, almost organic." [NYP]
Rescuing Coney's Shore Theater. [ATZ]
Beatrice Inn to get new life--from mysterious "Mephisto"--but it will never be what it was before its Vongerichtification. [Eater]
Looking at the past and future of Freddy's bar. [VV]
Buy a shirt to help Save Ray's. [EVG]
...and wear it to tonight's benefit. [SG]
Remembering Gregory & Paul's when Coney Island was "gritty, unpredictable, almost organic." [NYP]
Rescuing Coney's Shore Theater. [ATZ]
Beatrice Inn to get new life--from mysterious "Mephisto"--but it will never be what it was before its Vongerichtification. [Eater]
Looking at the past and future of Freddy's bar. [VV]
Eagle's Nest
One of the lost gay leather bars of West Chelsea, the abandoned Eagle's Nest reopened this weekend to house a temporary art installation by a collaborative called Emma 17.
Says Emma 17: "Our work is an exploration of the history of others; it is a product of their narrative, wisdom and personal experience infused with our own aesthetic. Emma draws upon our background in sculpture, sound and large scale production to create living monuments.... This piece explores the fragility of infamy, the passing of phenomenon and the power that memories can still hold."
In this case, they erected a sculpture made of wrought iron and glass panels, each one etched with a quote from a former Eagle habitue. The men's voices can be heard echoing from speakers around the room as they recall nights long ago in the dark bar at the city's edge.
There was nothing left of the former bar, and I tried to imagine the hollow room crowded with men, the smell of sweat and leather, a 1970s throb. But the main thrill to be had was simply from gaining access to the boarded-up space.
Once painted completely black, the walls and ceiling have stripped and peeled, revealing beautiful and intricate antique sheets of pressed tin. Thick wooden beams hold up the ceiling, a filigreed checkerboard...
On the walls where longshoremen lounged and boys leaned for cruising, ancient roses still bloom...
Originally a longshoreman's bar called the Eagle Open Kitchen from 1931 - 1970, according to this history of the place, the Eagle's Nest opened just after Stonewall and closed March 5, 2000. It later moved from this location at 11th Ave. and 21st St. to 28th St., where it is now surrounded by luxury development.
Towle Road noted in September 2009 that the long-empty bar was being gutted, perhaps in preparation for renovation. With the High Line coursing nearby and glass towers shooting up in every direction, you can bet the old Eagle is slated for something precious.
And like many vacant storefronts stuck between the old New York and whatever is to come, the Eagle has paused only a moment for art.
When whatever is to come finally arrives, when the tin ceiling and walls are painted vibrant white, and the dark corners are populated by potted palms, as new waves of the landed gentry make themselves comfortable in this space because a Zagat reviewer told them the $30 craft burger was "epic" and the Pomme Aligot was "out of this world," a couple of men will wander in, looking lost in their scraggly beards and biker jackets too tight these days to zip over expanded middles.
They will sit down amongst the wasp-waisted blondes and Botoxed masters of the universe, and order the cheapest thing on the menu, telling the waiter, "Tap water is fine," just because they want to be here. They hope to remember.
Over a shared plate of $12 pommes-frites, they close their eyes and try to bring the vanished back to life--the black-painted bar and all its lost boys, many dead, some disappeared, and the boys they themselves used to be. But it's no use. What's gone is gone. And this world will never be the same.
See all my Eagle's Nest photos here
Says Emma 17: "Our work is an exploration of the history of others; it is a product of their narrative, wisdom and personal experience infused with our own aesthetic. Emma draws upon our background in sculpture, sound and large scale production to create living monuments.... This piece explores the fragility of infamy, the passing of phenomenon and the power that memories can still hold."
In this case, they erected a sculpture made of wrought iron and glass panels, each one etched with a quote from a former Eagle habitue. The men's voices can be heard echoing from speakers around the room as they recall nights long ago in the dark bar at the city's edge.
There was nothing left of the former bar, and I tried to imagine the hollow room crowded with men, the smell of sweat and leather, a 1970s throb. But the main thrill to be had was simply from gaining access to the boarded-up space.
Once painted completely black, the walls and ceiling have stripped and peeled, revealing beautiful and intricate antique sheets of pressed tin. Thick wooden beams hold up the ceiling, a filigreed checkerboard...
On the walls where longshoremen lounged and boys leaned for cruising, ancient roses still bloom...
Originally a longshoreman's bar called the Eagle Open Kitchen from 1931 - 1970, according to this history of the place, the Eagle's Nest opened just after Stonewall and closed March 5, 2000. It later moved from this location at 11th Ave. and 21st St. to 28th St., where it is now surrounded by luxury development.
Towle Road noted in September 2009 that the long-empty bar was being gutted, perhaps in preparation for renovation. With the High Line coursing nearby and glass towers shooting up in every direction, you can bet the old Eagle is slated for something precious.
And like many vacant storefronts stuck between the old New York and whatever is to come, the Eagle has paused only a moment for art.
When whatever is to come finally arrives, when the tin ceiling and walls are painted vibrant white, and the dark corners are populated by potted palms, as new waves of the landed gentry make themselves comfortable in this space because a Zagat reviewer told them the $30 craft burger was "epic" and the Pomme Aligot was "out of this world," a couple of men will wander in, looking lost in their scraggly beards and biker jackets too tight these days to zip over expanded middles.
They will sit down amongst the wasp-waisted blondes and Botoxed masters of the universe, and order the cheapest thing on the menu, telling the waiter, "Tap water is fine," just because they want to be here. They hope to remember.
Over a shared plate of $12 pommes-frites, they close their eyes and try to bring the vanished back to life--the black-painted bar and all its lost boys, many dead, some disappeared, and the boys they themselves used to be. But it's no use. What's gone is gone. And this world will never be the same.
See all my Eagle's Nest photos here
Friday, March 5, 2010
*Everyday Chatter
Dolphins "free swimming" in the East River. [Gothamist]
Complaint on loud, smug, brilliant parents: "we have all had the same frightening and ignoble urge to smash their heads in with a brick." [CR]
Since Grieve introduced us to him, the NYC blogosphere has been excited about Michael Sean Edwards' wonderful photography of the East Village in the 70s and 80s. Here's one that I often think about, at the intersection of St. Mark's and 3rd:
photo: Michael Sean Edwards, 1980
And here's my less-than-inspiring "after" version taken on that spot. It's a lot more crowded today. More traffic, more people. And more tall building (and taller trees):
my flickr, 2010
Saturday: Benefit for poet and Fug Tuli Kupferberg [P&W]
Vomit danger at Cooper Union. [EVG]
Sad memories of the Baby Ruth ghost sign. [BB]
Loving the ever-lovely Explorers Club. [Blah]
Complaint on loud, smug, brilliant parents: "we have all had the same frightening and ignoble urge to smash their heads in with a brick." [CR]
Since Grieve introduced us to him, the NYC blogosphere has been excited about Michael Sean Edwards' wonderful photography of the East Village in the 70s and 80s. Here's one that I often think about, at the intersection of St. Mark's and 3rd:
photo: Michael Sean Edwards, 1980
And here's my less-than-inspiring "after" version taken on that spot. It's a lot more crowded today. More traffic, more people. And more tall building (and taller trees):
my flickr, 2010
Saturday: Benefit for poet and Fug Tuli Kupferberg [P&W]
Vomit danger at Cooper Union. [EVG]
Sad memories of the Baby Ruth ghost sign. [BB]
Loving the ever-lovely Explorers Club. [Blah]
Thursday, March 4, 2010
*Everyday Chatter
Visiting Gowanus, "in all its gooey glory." [NYT]
In further branding of what will one day be called "The Bowery District," and then later dubbed "BoDi" (you heard it here first?), McNally creates "Bowery-style" pizza. Will that include a pint of Thunderbird? [Eater]
Meet the woman who saved Little Italy from getting Shacked. [NYP]
Airlines now hyping Mars Bar to tourists. [EVG]
View Coney's Stillwell before Sitt. [ATZ]
3/8: Help Save Ray's at the Theater for the New City. [NMNL]
In further branding of what will one day be called "The Bowery District," and then later dubbed "BoDi" (you heard it here first?), McNally creates "Bowery-style" pizza. Will that include a pint of Thunderbird? [Eater]
Meet the woman who saved Little Italy from getting Shacked. [NYP]
Airlines now hyping Mars Bar to tourists. [EVG]
View Coney's Stillwell before Sitt. [ATZ]
3/8: Help Save Ray's at the Theater for the New City. [NMNL]
Ratner's 1970
Chopped eggs and mushrooms with an individual box of anchovies. A cream cheese and jelly sandwich. Stewed prunes with cream for dessert. All washed down with a glass of sour milk.
This is a meal you could have had at Ratner's on Second Avenue in July of 1970--that's the date on this menu sent in by reader Jack Womack. However, it might not have been the most tranquil, worry-free meal you had. To wit, here are some headlines and sub-headlines from the Times' coverage of (mostly) the Lower East Side and East Village in July of 1970.
-the body of a 75-year-old woman, her hands tied with wire, was found dead yesterday in her ransacked co-op apartment at 500 Grand Street on the Lower East Side.
-after a hot, airless day on Avenue C on the Lower East Side where the smells from the outdoor vegetable stands mingle with the stench of garbage, about 200 restless youths shattered the windows of George Seligman's drugstore.
-Policemen called to stop the looting of a drugstore in the East Village last night were forced to fire eight shots into the air to disperse a threatening crowd of Puerto Ricans.
-Will an eight-foot-high wire fence keep people from dumping garbage into vacant slum lots?
-a wave of bombings in New York had reached "gigantic" proportions.
-Three fires within two hours broke out last night at Callagy Hall, the city's children's shelter in the East Village.
-City Continues to Be Mecca for Artists; Artists Find City Is a Costly Mecca
-Do you have a right not to be stored in a computer, where you can be called up for instant investigation by any bureaucrat or law officer who considers you a 'person of interest'? If you haven't thought about that, it's high time you did.
This is a meal you could have had at Ratner's on Second Avenue in July of 1970--that's the date on this menu sent in by reader Jack Womack. However, it might not have been the most tranquil, worry-free meal you had. To wit, here are some headlines and sub-headlines from the Times' coverage of (mostly) the Lower East Side and East Village in July of 1970.
-the body of a 75-year-old woman, her hands tied with wire, was found dead yesterday in her ransacked co-op apartment at 500 Grand Street on the Lower East Side.
-after a hot, airless day on Avenue C on the Lower East Side where the smells from the outdoor vegetable stands mingle with the stench of garbage, about 200 restless youths shattered the windows of George Seligman's drugstore.
-Policemen called to stop the looting of a drugstore in the East Village last night were forced to fire eight shots into the air to disperse a threatening crowd of Puerto Ricans.
-Will an eight-foot-high wire fence keep people from dumping garbage into vacant slum lots?
-a wave of bombings in New York had reached "gigantic" proportions.
-Three fires within two hours broke out last night at Callagy Hall, the city's children's shelter in the East Village.
-City Continues to Be Mecca for Artists; Artists Find City Is a Costly Mecca
-Do you have a right not to be stored in a computer, where you can be called up for instant investigation by any bureaucrat or law officer who considers you a 'person of interest'? If you haven't thought about that, it's high time you did.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
