*Everyday Chatter

Mud Coffee has apparently given birth to a "Giant Wiener Dog" shack attached to Webster Hall.


"Eat me or I'll eat you," says the Giant Wiener Dog...shark?


"Senior bankers at Goldman Sachs are arming themselves with handguns to fend off any forthcoming populist uprising against the bank." [Gothamist]

For uber-cuteness, a hamster on a crime-scene subway can't be beat. [NYS]

Bagels replace Papaya King on 14th and 7th. [Grub]

Viking pub crawl spawns weird love connection. [BB]

City takes another swipe at graffiti by outlawing security gates. Meanwhile, half the city is infested with bed bugs. [CR]

Brack's Bowery Revisited

Remember the giant boutique hotel that was coming to Bowery and Delancey? The one that took over four buildings with plans to demolish? Remember long-time Bowery resident and holdout Roberta Degnore? Well, WNYC returned recently to the Bowery with Degnore, and they caught us up on the current state of things.



WNYC reports:

DEGNORE: It’s weird. I’m oddly numb I think. I know I complained, about oh my god, I don’t want to go back down there but, it hurts. But in a way, time really does heal, a bit... Those are my windows up there. My curtains are still hanging.

REPORTER: She has one of those classic New York stories--Degnore came to New York in her 20s. She’s a writer and filmmaker. She lived with a sculptor, and photographer. They converted a huge commercial space themselves. It had mice. It leaked and Degnore loved it.

DEGNORE: That's really true. I made a choice to be on the edge at the time when I got this loft.

REPORTER: The Bowery has been Degnore's Main Street--from its gritty, punk rock days in 1970's--to the latest wave of luxury condos and high end grocers, like Whole Foods. And as that development wave hit its crest Degnore found herself caught in the undertow.

In the summer of 2008, her landlord sold the building for over $7.5 million to Brack Capital Real Estate. Degnore tried fighting. She was the last tenant to holdout. Then her dog died. And she gave in--agreeing to leave her home in exchange for a financial settlement, which she didn’t disclose.


photos from my flickr, July 2008

DEGNORE: I had no future anymore. I had to become unattached. I left my washer, dryer, the plants outside.

REPORTER: Now, over a year later, scaffolding stands in front of her old building. But there’s no hotel, and no construction going on. Brack Capital Real Estate still lists a project for this address on their website.

They describe it as a boutique hotel…with quote “spectacular views of Soho," which means, they were planning to build pretty high. But now the project appears to be stalled, and no one from the company returned repeated calls for comment about its status.

*Everyday Chatter

David Freeland digs through the history of an old East Harlem theater once known as the Cosmo. [GLF]

Happy 20th Birthday to Max Fish. [EVG]

Glory be, the Nom Wah Tea Parlor reopens on Doyers Street! [LC]

Hubert's Dime Museum--one of the many places that makes me wish for a time machine. [ENY]

In Queens, watching old houses fall to make room for McMansions and Fedders boxes. [HP]

A belated Thanksgiving greeting from Greenpoint. [NYS]

A reason to go to the Time Warner Center--rock & roll. [Stupe]

Take a visit to Fort Totten. [Blah]

Goldman Sachs building drops another load. [Gothamist]

Bike Repair 1989

Before Zum Schneider resided on the corner of 7th and C, there was this guy.



Youtube user "bobertbach" posted this 1989 film of the man online and wrote:

"This man ran a bike repair shop in the abandon NW corner of C & 7th in the late 80's. When he needed to straighten out a bike frame he would wait for a bus to stop across the street & stick it under its' tire. I can remember him arguing with a bus driver. He was eventually evicted by developers. It is currently Zum Schneider."



There's also a dog in the film, sleeping soundly on the hood of a car. Bobertbach writes, "The dog, 'Hank' was owned by actor Mark Boone Jr. who was a bartender at Vazaks in the mid to late 80's. It was stranger than paradise."

Happy Thanksgiving

In case you're left without a place to feast tomorrow, try some of these locales for homemade-like cooking. The Howard Johnson's menu looks good. Chilled fruit cup with sherbet. Mince pie. Freshly baked rolls and butter. Orange drink! Mints!


click to enlarge

Actually, this is a scan from a 1955 Village Voice. So, unfortunately, you won't be able to feast at the Greenwich Village HoJo's tomorrow, nor at any of the other places mentioned here. They're all gone.

Maybe it's best to take the writer's advice: "the wisest thing is to go to a friend's home and get fractured."

-A look back at the HoJo's of Times Square, the history of the building that held it, and what's there now.

*Everyday Chatter

The Papaya King on 14th and 7th is shuttered. The neon lights are off, the shades are down, and the interior is a wreck of packing boxes. It went on the market last January.:



Walker in the City visits Bleecker Street and the author responds to all those many Marc Jacobs stores: "I imagined myself, if I had a business, having three or four shops on one street with my name on them all and the thought embarrassed me." [WIC]

Avalon Bowery appears to emit "poison molecule," sends blogger into paroxysms of paranoid delusion. [Restless]

Brian Berger interviews Luc Sante about his new book. [WWIB]

Umm...what? "During his campaign for a third term, Mayor Bloomberg stifled a Freedom of Information Law request by withholding the release of photographs of himself with Sarah Palin until two weeks after the election, the Daily News reports." [Gothamist]

PJ Hanley's pub to move in next to the International Bar? [EVG]

"More Jane" Ts

We asked and we have received. Mike Joyce, creator of the "More Jane, Less Marc" guerrilla postcard campaign, has put his catchy slogan on a t-shirt.




I interviewed Mike last month after spotting his postcard in the Village and (offline) begged him to print up some t-shirts. I wasn't the only one--he received dozens of requests. Now you can own your very own "More Jane, Less Marc" shirt for just 20 bucks.

I suggest you wear it on Bleecker Street.

To order, e-mail Mike at his business, Stereotype Design, and specify your size: XS, S, M, L, or XL. (In a weird ironic twist, they're printed on American Apparel shirts--click here for size chart). Plus! If you order now, Mike will throw in a handful of "More Jane" postcards, so you can spread the love all over.