Thursday, December 20, 2007

*Everyday Chatter

I am still in shock from this sudden news: Beloved East Village dives Sophie's and Mona's are up for sale! Says the owner of both, "The neighborhood has changed so much...I love both bars, but they're dinosaurs now." [Page 6 via Gothamist]

Speaking of dinosaurs, more news from our disposable culture: Check out the TV repair shop carnage. [Pardon Me via Gowanus L]

Regarding Bloomberg's assault on small businesses, a recent commenter here noted, "it amazes me that there's no large campaign...like shirts or buttons with bloomberg's face with an x through it." Good question. In the 1990s, we had images like the one below all over the city. Why not now?

painting by Robert Lederman

Streit's is leaving the Lower East Side and taking their matzos with them. And so the Jewish Lower East Side fades further into history. [Curbed]

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Re: the loss of Sophie's and Mona's and any other place an actual human being might want to step into, in the final years of the reign of Mayor McChee$e: hatehatehatehatehatehatehatehate!!!
hatehatehatehatehatehatehatehate!!!
hatehatehatehatehatehatehatehate!!!
hatehatehatehatehatehatehatehate!!!

Feliz Navidad and a Happy Kwanzaa to all.

Rambler said...

I lived right across the street from Sophies in the mid-80s. Of course, i was a recent college grad then paying an outrageous $520 a month for a 4th floor studio with a sloping floor. And I guess that means I was part of what was probably the second wave. Now it's on the tenth wave. I'm sure the Blue & Gold will soon be a starbucks

Jeremiah Moss said...

when the blue & gold becomes a starbucks, then i will throw myself off the roof of my building. when george's, (aka verkhovyna, aka bar 81) died, a part of me died with it. it's now a dull little suffering pub.

Barbara L. Hanson said...

Well, that just killed my holiday spirit. At Streit's, if you asked nicely, they would give you a piece of matzoh fresh off the rack, still warm. And my favorite snack, soup nuts, are available nowhere else.
My neighborhood is drawing its last shuddering breaths.

hoolia said...

Man, I'm going to miss the big buck hunter ex marine.