Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Dykes Lumber

Since 1912, Dykes Lumber has been on West 44th Street, occupying a pair of brick buildings painted forest green. They won't be there much longer.


Alex Albanese

Reader Alex Albanese let us know the business is moving. Signs on the exterior say they're relocating to East 124th Street.

The barber on the block believes they sold the building and "a new hotel is coming."


Alex Albanese

19 comments:

  1. This is a big company, with ten locations in NY and NJ. I keep wondering if they plan to sell their Gowanus property any time soon.

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  2. What happened happened. These posts are moronic. If this is your idea of "saving New York", keep dreaming.
    Goodbye.

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  3. I know this company. They are very big.

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  4. Obviously Anonymous doesn't realize that what this blog is doing is a Historical service. Your concern for what is vanishing is no dream. Many of us feel the changes personally in loss of Community and loss of vital services in each of our neighborhoods. Take the case of the recent East Village explosion, a tragedy for many, heartbreak to a few and complete disorientation within that community. Yours is a broad vision Jeremiah. I appreciate it.

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  5. @Anon. 9:16 - And good damn riddance to you, sir. Too bad NY can't lose you and your ilk, we only seem to lose the good stuff.

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  6. What dykes aren't?

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  7. Who is going to serve midtown's lumber needs????

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  8. I, for one, agree with EVERYTHING Anonymous says!
    Yours is but a paltry vision, Sir!
    Yours faithfully,
    Magnus Irvin, Twit Towers, London, UK.
    (Please send $16. to receive your installment of the Daily Twit. Thank you and have a pleasant evening tea.).

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  9. I walked by that Dykes Lumber constantly when auditioning.

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  10. Jeremiah, you neglected to post one very harsh but truthful comment. Since you posted Irvin's dull and wishful-to-be-witty comment, you may well understand that stalking (cyber & other) is a crime and you can be witness should something very terrible happen to a piece of living New York history. I won't be reading your blog anymore. I had to state the obvious, however in denial you may or may not be about the state of New York and our over-globalized economy and/or mass consumerism. Spoken as the true native New Yorker that I am.
    Yours truly,
    Roscoe the Bed Bug Sniffing Dog

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  11. Just ran across a Todd Webb photograph of a Dykes Lumber location from James Slip in 1946. I run his archive. Thousands of 8x10 negatives from the 40s and 50s of NYC. Let me know if I can show you some time. Keep on keeping on.

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  12. I love this blog. Sorry you don't like it Anon. 9:16AM. I used to walk the city all the time until I changed careers and am now chained to a desk. This blog keeps me in touch. West 44th between 8th and 9th Aves is a bit of a throwback and has only started to catch up to the mallification of the Times Square area. Some old time bars. A few old rundown prewar apartment buildings, some low rise commercial, working class bars and a creepy old parking structure.

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  13. I meant the comment before last, ya dummy.
    -Roscoe!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  14. anon 9:16am: i admire jeremiah for not trying to "save the entire planet". not spending time w/some govt funded bs project somewhere in africa. (& spending yourown airfare for the"experience"). charity begins @ home. when you weaken the "center" you lose it all. best to clean your own house first. between the loss of small businesses/tragic explosions- NYC needs its residents more than ever to step up. we may win some battles & lose the war. but we wont go down w/out a fight. get that??

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  15. Sounds like they cashed out, just like they sold their Jackson Ave location in LIC for big bucks a few years ago (now it is a luxury apt building). What's your point with this post? The owners made their decision...there is nothing to "save".

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  16. Dykes lumber in long island city is gone too.

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  17. I do wish you could focus a bit on the good. Spend more time showcasing shops and institutions that are "getting by," or maybe even flourishing, despite rising rents and changing tastes. Often, I only hear about these old places when they show up on here as "vanished." Tell me where to go and places to visit before they're dead or dying! The negativity on here gets depressing. Surely there are some happy success stories to be told?

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  18. Um, Anon. 3:31, you DO realize that the title of this blog is "VANISHING New York", don't you? What is it about that word you don't understand? And the reason that Jeremiah doesn't tell "happy success stories" is because there really aren't any, except for maybe the Subway Inn, which he wrote about extensively.

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  19. Thanks Gojira. I get tired of explaining that myself.

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