Old 42nd Street

Starting in 1992, a group called The New 42nd Street began redeveloping historic theaters along the Deuce, making them safe for the new suburbanized, tourist-centered Times Square.



Anyway, they recently hung a banner along a portion of the street showing how it looked in 1987.

The panoramic photo comes from Battman Studios and includes the marquees of the Victory, the Lyric, the Times Square, the Apollo, and the Selwyn, along with the little shops in between. The effect is staggering, thrilling, and slightly disorienting.



The people of 2016 walk past the old Deuce, hurrying along. They look like time travelers, bent over iPhones, unaware they've gone back.

The people of 1987 appear to be a different breed of New Yorkers. No tourists. They all look up, alert and aware. They stand around. They've come to this block for porn or hot dogs or martial arts weaponry, to hustle and get hustled. To be surprised. They are not here for Applebee's.



The past and present collide. If you're like me, you'll want to slip inside the old world with its crummy marquees, its porn-theater glow, its grimy sidewalk--and, oh, the Grand Luncheonette!

That one might make you cry. I almost did, standing there, gazing in through its greasy windows, remembering.

(Remember when the Selwyn collapsed? Remember its ghost sign? "Cooped up? Feelin' low? Enjoy a movie today!" Does the new Times Square even imagine that a person might be feeling low? No low feelings allowed here.)

I have a recurring dream in which I travel back to the city of the past, most often to Times Square, with a digital camera. This banner is a bit of a dream come true.



The "New 42nd" has some information printed on the banner's end. It says, "Gone is the blighted, hostile 42nd Street landscape of 1987. Today, this legendary street at the Crossroads of the World is once more a vibrant destination for New Yorkers and visitors alike."

"Vibrant" is in the eye of the beholder. And the only reason a New Yorker might have to venture to 42nd Street today is to see this banner, to stand alongside it, and pretend that the dead has come back to life.

But, really, don't miss this.

Last Meal at 69 Bayard

VANISHED

As I reported last week, the restaurant 69 Bayard closed in Chinatown this weekend. I went in for a final meal--and also a first.



The line went down the block and around the corner. Most of the patrons were young Chinese people, long-time regulars, and a few older folks.

According to NPR, 69 Bayard had been here for 80 years. They closed because the landlord hiked the rent, denying them a new lease. It's the story we've heard now a hundred thousand times.



Inside the busy restaurant, I shared a table with a Chinese family.

The mom told me how she used to pick up her son from school and bring him in every day for a good, affordable meal. "Lots of memories," she said.

We talked about Chinatown and changes. "Everything in Chinatown," she said, "is going up. Everything's more expensive."



I ate my chicken wings while regulars came in and out, hugging the waiters, taking pictures, saying goodbye.

On the wall near my table, a pair of dollar bills read: "Sweetness was here. 69 Bayard 4 ever." It's quite possible that Sweetness is somebody's name, but I prefer to think it refers to the flavor of the place, which is sweet--and warm and friendly. I don't know if there's a word in Chinese for the Yiddish word Haimish, but if there is, it applies to 69 Bayard.



If you'd like to try and stop the bleeding, join #SaveNYC. Help pass the Small Business Survival Act. Let the city know we need protections for our beloved small businesses.

Club Escuelita

VANISHED

Escuelita, the legendary Latin LGBTQ nightclub, has closed. A notice on their website says thank you for 49 years and "it's time to say goodbye for now..."



That's all the information I can find on the closure. The club's phone has been disconnected.

Two days ago, DaGrapevine called it "Truly The End Of An Era For The New York City Underground Gay Night Club Scene... However Tbh We At #DGV Aren't Surprised About This At All," due to the club's struggles with the State Liquor Authority.

In 2012, the Post reported on Escuelita's fight. "In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Escuelita charges the SLA is cutting corners in a bid to take away their license, a move the club charges is clearly aimed at clearing gay, lesbian, transgenders and minorities out of the gentrifying area."

Said owner Sayvon Zabar in an affidavit, "I also believe that we are no longer welcome on West 39th Street as minorities scare the mostly white tourists who patronize the newly built and expensive boutique hotels on the block."

Zabar also told the Daily News that "Minorities...do not fit into the gentrification plans of the city."

Escuelita won that fight--and the fight went on.



Located on West 39th Street near Port Authority, Escuelita is, in fact, surrounded by a crop of new hotels. But the harassment isn't new.

Writing about queer club culture of 1990s New York in her book, Impossible Dance, Fiona Buckland reports on the surveillance, undercover actions, and raids that Escuelita had to deal with. She recalls a police cruiser parked outside the club. "I bet they ain't hanging around outside straight, white clubs," remarks someone in line.

When the old Escuelita closed in 1995, the final night was a scene of tears. "All of the drag queens, the transformistas, and impersonators," reports one regular in the book Puerto Rican Jam, "gathered on stage for the grand finale. They sang 'America the Beautiful.' They cried. Their makeup ran. An American flag unfurled...upside down."


Lady Bunny with Jerry O'Connell and Andy Cohen backstage, via Daily News

For decades, Escuelita was an important part of the queer scene in the city, providing a space for drag performers like Lady Bunny, and--in the words of 60by80--for "fierce trannies, homo thugs, papichulos and voqueing pier queens from all 5 boroughs."

A list to which New York adds, "Dieseled-out hip-hop gays, sweet cocoa go-go boys, and a handful of blanquitos, all of whom stick around for the truly fierce after-midnight drag competition."

In Queering the Popular Pitch, the authors recount how Escuelita got its name. It was originally located in the basement of a language school. And from "the use of diminutives by Puerto Ricans when giving directions--the club was, thus, the place under the 'little language school.'"

Escuelita has closed and moved before, and it may do so once again. "Goodbye for now," they say. But where in the white-washed tourist city will they be welcomed? My guess--Jackson Heights.

69 Bayard

 VANISHING

69 Bayard is the little restaurant in Chinatown where the walls are covered with dollar bills.


photo: Winston Wanders

It's been there a long time--I don't know how long and the man who answered the phone was too harried to answer that question when I called, but he did tell me that this Saturday will be 69's last day in business.

I also don't know the reason for the closure.

The restaurant is known and loved for being a late-night nosh.

It will be missed by many.


photo: Larry C. on Yelp

Panda in Hell

Reader Cat McGuire sends in pics of something new moving to Hell's Kitchen at 46th Street and 9th Avenue.



It's a Panda Express -- a suburban shopping-mall, food-court restaurant with over 1,500 locations around the globe. It's run by this billionaire CEO.

And the chaining of the city continues. Anyway.

An angry New Yorker with a Sharpie has a message for the mega-chain: "Panda Express?!? A mall restaurant?!? Get the fuck out of Hell's Kitchen!!"

Left Bank Books

VANISHING

Some terrible news from this fantastic little bookshop:

"We regret to announce that after nearly 24 years in business Left Bank Books is closing up shop. It's a familiar story by now: the costs of maintaining a brick-and-mortar used and rare bookshop in Greenwich Village are simply no longer tenable. We expect to close our doors sometime in early-to-mid-March...

We couldn't have lasted as long as we did without the patronage and support of our many loyal customers. We're grateful to you and will miss you and the neighborhood. Please visit us over the next few weeks to take advantage of our sale, get some great books, and say goodbye. And please spread the word."

Until the closing, Left Bank's books are 30% off.



Left Bank is on 8th Avenue, between 12th and Jane. It moved there in 2010 after its 4th Street landlord hiked the rent on its former location. I wrote about that here.

This entire block of small businesses is being emptied out. Chocolate Bar got the boot. And then the House of Cards & Curiosities shuttered. You simply cannot survive for long as a small business in this city anymore.

And now we have to lose yet another bookshop? Manhattan is getting stupider and shallower every day.

The Magic Shop

The Magic Shop recording studio on Crosby Street is closing in March.


via NY Times

Founder Steve Rosenthal writes on the studio's Facebook page:

"After an amazing 28 year run, I will have to close The Magic Shop Recording Studio. March 16, 2016 will be our last day open. Everyone knows why I have to close, so there is little point in rehashing my story."

He thanks Dave Grohl, The Foo Fighters, and Lee Johnson "for stepping up big time last year to try and save the studio." As the Times reported yesterday, the legendary studio was in a landlord dispute. Rosenthal tried to buy the property, but the co-op board said no. Lou Reed, David Bowie, and many others recorded here.


via Magic Shop Facebook page

In his Facebook note, Rosenthal adds:

"One last thing, I get that New York City is always changing and adapting like the living city it is. Maybe what I believe in is no longer of value, but it was for us and we lived it.

As the city becomes more of a corporate and condo island, some of us wish for a better balance between money and art, between progress and preservation, and we hope that one day we will see a reversal of the destruction of conscience and community we are witnessing.

Or maybe not...

After all I'm just a guy from The Bronx."