Tuesday, June 3, 2008

*Everyday Chatter

The Observer turns us on to a new blog from Spanish Harlem, where the blogger states quite plainly: "the ultimate goal of this site is to promote and hopefully encourage Manhattanites to think about and improve the swath of neighborhood between 96th Street and 125th Street, from the FDR Drive to Fifth Avenue, helping to make it an area that people may actually want to move to..." Except, you know, lots of people already kind of live there. [No96]

...and read this post, too, for lots of observations about dirty, crappy, undesirable places that really ought to be cleaned up and gentrified.

HGTV, where soulless "Jasons and Jennifers" long for the good life of excess--including their very own "Man Rooms." [NYP]

Hank's Saloon has a big FOR SALE sign plastered on it. The Voice reports that the 100-year-old (really?) Brooklyn honky-tonk is on the market for $2.2 million and the space will fit a giant condo tower quite nicely:


Look at what's rising at 30 Orchard Street--a 12-story "see-through" condo that looks like something from Luke Skywalker's home planet.


Alex, you beat me to it--I am loving this week's Tomine New Yorker cover. [FlamingP]

Stuy Town is working really, really hard to turn itself from middle class to uber-hip and unaffordable. You really must look at this. [Curbed]

Tell me who, in a panicky "cheese emergency," calls this place for same-day delivery of artisanal cheese? Home or office! Natch this was spotted on 9th Ave in Chelsea. In the bike lane.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

My face is a firery red after reading that No.96 blog. What an absolute tool.

Anonymous said...

I'm not a violent person, but I seriously want to punch that North of 96th Street blog dinkus in the face.

"... it fortunately hasn't proven particularly unsettling to traipse around a world that features three-digit street names, a concept alien to most New Yorkers."

Seriously?

"...there isn't exactly a population base that would justify any number of restaurants/eateries, and a business owner also runs the risk of potential undesirables entering one's premises at any given time."

Seriously?!

"Any chance some developer is coming in to demolish these dilapidated shanties and constructing a mega-condo? I'm looking at you, Curbed."

You have to be joking.

"To the surprise of no one, longtime residents of the area want to fight change of any kind tooth and nail, because it will mean they'll have to leave the area, but sadly none of them seems to realize that nothing can stay the same forever, and anything that can help repair such a broken-down and neglected area of the city has to be considered a good thing."

This person simply cannot be for real. He is just too smug and deeply stupid. The fact that he has left no identification or bio there has me convinced it's a parody (although perhaps he wisely fears the wrath of his neighbors). Plus the NYT linked to it, and wouldn't it be fun to punk the delusional morons at the Times? In that case, bravo.

Hi Jeremiah, read you every day, love you, love your blog.

Anonymous said...

The new building going up on Orchard does look like something out of Star Wars.

Kind of makes me wonder how much time two of my favorite (still existing) records have left.
Though I must admit I have not visited either store in several years.

Breakbeat Science's and The Sound Library's days on Orchard may be numbered. TSL just moved over there a few months ago too.

Anonymous said...

lvv, that's what I thought, too -- that North of 96th was the New York City real estate version of Landover Baptist. I hope that it is. I fear that it is not, but I hope that it is.

Anonymous said...

I lived in Peter Cooper Village from 1998 until August 2001. I lived with an eccentric 50 yeat old man who was born in the apartment and I rented out his late mother's bedroom so he could live on his savings, write his science fiction novel and work on his dance pieces in the living room. The rent at the time was $800 for the whole apartment, and the majority of the people in my building were senior citizens. I was a struggling actress in my 20s and needed a cheap situation. There is no room for these stories anymore. It's so fucking sad. Every time I hear a new horrible item about what is happening to PCV and Stuyvesant Town it makes me so sad and so worried about all the people who grew up and still lived in what were once affordable apartments. It's the Monsanto-fication of New York -- terminator seed technology and sowing the earth with salt so that only the rich can be here. My husband was born in Queens and grew up in the West Village of the 70s, and it breaks his heart that we cannot afford to raise children in his city.

I love your blog Jeremiah, thank you so much.

Lillet

L'Emmerdeur said...

I just went shopping for jeans in that area. Good luck gentrifying that area. I foresee piles of stabbed whiteys on every corner.

When I was ready to pay for my 3 pairs of jeans, the shop owner gave me a $15 discount, even though he knew I was going to buy them - and they were reasonably priced to begin with.

Ask for a discount at a Levis store, and they'll probably take you out back and sodomize you for daring to utter such a thing.

Anonymous said...

Hmmmmm. North of 96th is gone, deleted, kaput, pfffft. I had just about decided that it *was* a parody site, that nobody could be that obnoxious with a straight face. Now I wonder.