The VNY Flickr group has been going strong. Now, inspired by Michael Dashkin's "Behavior Enforcing Signage," I decided we needed a place to put all those urban etiquette signs that have been proliferating over the past decade. So I started another group--join here and add your stuff.
...And here's a rather colorful example. [GVDP]
Landlords can evict you to gut renovate? Come August 12, NY State might make it legal. [SLES]
Median household income for white toddlers in Manhattan? $285,000. [NYO]
Alex has a bunch of old photos, mostly of the LES as it was, complete with anarchy symbols and empty skies over Katz's. [FP]
HunterGatherer discovers Rappaport's in the old East Village on TV. [HGNYC]
Contrary to all predictions, the Sunshine Hotel, one of the last flophouses on the Bowery, has been given a stay of execution for the next three years. [Curbed]
Monday, July 21, 2008
Reggie Fitzgerald Triangle
The little triangle bordered by W. 4th, 8th Ave, and Horatio is vanishing. It was named for Reggie Fitzgerald, a gay activist and Village preservationist. Florent Morellet described him as "one flamboyant, aging queen, with tight leather pants, lavender, long-lapelled satin shirt and flowing neck scarf." When was the last time you saw one of those in this city? I used to see Quentin Crisp all the time in the window of the Cooper Square Diner, but such folks (and the diner) have vanished, too.
I wrote last month about the demise of Nick's hair salon on the triangle. Walking by recently, a postman told me it's turning into an upscale barber shop. I peeked inside. The walls are subway-tiled, the mirrors trimmed in heavy oak. The postman, who turned out to be a font of information, expects "men's haircuts for 60 bucks."
He also confirmed that, on the 4th Street side of the triangle, Action Care pharmacy has lost its lease. "The best kept secret in the Village" has had a For Lease sign on it for some time. How long, really, could it last next to Crumpler, et al?
And what about Miles Tinsmith? What about Mrs. R. Reese Spiritual Healer & Psychic? (Did they ever sell that Sand-Over-Sable colored "Ass-Machine" Bentley that threw the triangle into speculation about yuppies and gentrification?) "There are a lot of old-timers in that building," the postman told me. The freshly painted corner lot was bought and all the residents booted. Around the corner is the Lukoil gas station.
"Fuggedaboudit," the postman and I said in unison as we stood taking in the scene.
I wrote last month about the demise of Nick's hair salon on the triangle. Walking by recently, a postman told me it's turning into an upscale barber shop. I peeked inside. The walls are subway-tiled, the mirrors trimmed in heavy oak. The postman, who turned out to be a font of information, expects "men's haircuts for 60 bucks."
He also confirmed that, on the 4th Street side of the triangle, Action Care pharmacy has lost its lease. "The best kept secret in the Village" has had a For Lease sign on it for some time. How long, really, could it last next to Crumpler, et al?
And what about Miles Tinsmith? What about Mrs. R. Reese Spiritual Healer & Psychic? (Did they ever sell that Sand-Over-Sable colored "Ass-Machine" Bentley that threw the triangle into speculation about yuppies and gentrification?) "There are a lot of old-timers in that building," the postman told me. The freshly painted corner lot was bought and all the residents booted. Around the corner is the Lukoil gas station.
"Fuggedaboudit," the postman and I said in unison as we stood taking in the scene.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Moscow on 7th St.
At the suggestion of blogger HunterGathererNYC, I watched Moscow on the Hudson. It has some good scenes of New York in the early 80s: Boomboxes, breakdancers, muggers, New Wave yuppies. And the marquee and lobby of the St. Marks Cinema, now Cohen's Fashion Optical with the Theatre Condos above.
In the movie, Robin Williams' character lives in a tenement apartment on 7th Street between 1st and 2nd--above an egg shop. Did you know there was an egg shop on 7th (still open in 1991)? Gothamist discovered a movie of the shop, where now you'll find Howdy Do. And, in the background, that's David's shoe repair with the yellow sign complete with Cyrillic lettering (none of that today).
At the end of the movie, there's a scene in long lost Moisha's Luncheonette (239 Grand St.), where one legend claims the egg cream was brought to Manhattan from Brooklyn in 1920 by Moisha Zambrowsky. (See another shot here.)
Moisha's is gone. The egg shop is gone. St. Marks Cinema is gone. (David the cobbler is still there.) Thank goodness for the movies.
In the movie, Robin Williams' character lives in a tenement apartment on 7th Street between 1st and 2nd--above an egg shop. Did you know there was an egg shop on 7th (still open in 1991)? Gothamist discovered a movie of the shop, where now you'll find Howdy Do. And, in the background, that's David's shoe repair with the yellow sign complete with Cyrillic lettering (none of that today).
At the end of the movie, there's a scene in long lost Moisha's Luncheonette (239 Grand St.), where one legend claims the egg cream was brought to Manhattan from Brooklyn in 1920 by Moisha Zambrowsky. (See another shot here.)
Moisha's is gone. The egg shop is gone. St. Marks Cinema is gone. (David the cobbler is still there.) Thank goodness for the movies.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
*Everyday Chatter
Eve Salon on Bleecker has the following "keep smiling" goodbye poster in their window. They're moving to make room for Kate Spade, according to a rumor on Racked. The salon's been there for 25 years. And more upsetting (to me, anyway) is that its neighbor, Biography Bookshop, will most likely be gone within the year. With the bookshop and the news about Nusraty, we're seeing the last vestiges of Bleecker vanish into thin air. I guess SJP's concerns about the "Marc Jacobs effect" are true. She should probably say goodbye to her framer friend:
Protesters demonstrated against the rezoning of the EV/LES, which fails to protect Chinatown and the Bowery. [NYT] ...A commenter leaves a link to this must-see video.
Taxi Ray gets an obituary at last. [City Hall]
New blogs in town: Ken Mac, the blogger behind Greenwich Village Daily Photo, just launched MacDougal Street Noise to fight against "local noise, filth, and evil." This with his also newly launched blog about Walking the Highline. Check them out, he just had a birthday.
Party at the Elk Hotel, Times Square's last flophouse, with Grieve. [EVG]
The Market Diner might be (re)opening soon. [Urbanite]
Rolando finds some colorful bits of old Times Square in a TV show. [Urbanite]
And if you're fascinated by the Fascination parlor in the link above, check out this interior shot of the joint:
Protesters demonstrated against the rezoning of the EV/LES, which fails to protect Chinatown and the Bowery. [NYT] ...A commenter leaves a link to this must-see video.
Taxi Ray gets an obituary at last. [City Hall]
New blogs in town: Ken Mac, the blogger behind Greenwich Village Daily Photo, just launched MacDougal Street Noise to fight against "local noise, filth, and evil." This with his also newly launched blog about Walking the Highline. Check them out, he just had a birthday.
Party at the Elk Hotel, Times Square's last flophouse, with Grieve. [EVG]
The Market Diner might be (re)opening soon. [Urbanite]
Rolando finds some colorful bits of old Times Square in a TV show. [Urbanite]
And if you're fascinated by the Fascination parlor in the link above, check out this interior shot of the joint:
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Nusraty Afghan Imports
$45,000 per month. That's how much Mr. Nusraty's landlord wants after 30 years of doing business on the corner of Bleecker and 10th. And that's why Mr. Abdul Nusraty is closing his doors as of the first week of August. A WestView newspaper clipping in his window states that the rent has gone from $3250 to $7500 a month, and then to an "unprecedented six-fold increase" of $550 per square foot for less than 900 square feet of space.
I spoke to Mr. Nusraty today and he told me, "I do it for the pleasure, not to make a million dollars. This doesn't make me rich." A customer was there when I went in and Mr. Nusraty was polishing a ring for him. "It's his grandfather's ring," Mr. Nusraty said after, "It was broken. I sent it to be fixed in Brooklyn. I charged the kid 10 dollars. Nothing. I make nothing from this. But he is happy."
I told Mr. Nusraty that Brooks Brothers will be moving in to his space. "Brooks Brother?" he scoffed, "Junk." The whole city, he said, is turning into junk.
Until August, he will be having a moving sale, at 25% - 50% off. Though he doesn't know where his shop will be moving to, he hopes to stay in the Village. I hope so too.
I spoke to Mr. Nusraty today and he told me, "I do it for the pleasure, not to make a million dollars. This doesn't make me rich." A customer was there when I went in and Mr. Nusraty was polishing a ring for him. "It's his grandfather's ring," Mr. Nusraty said after, "It was broken. I sent it to be fixed in Brooklyn. I charged the kid 10 dollars. Nothing. I make nothing from this. But he is happy."
I told Mr. Nusraty that Brooks Brothers will be moving in to his space. "Brooks Brother?" he scoffed, "Junk." The whole city, he said, is turning into junk.
Until August, he will be having a moving sale, at 25% - 50% off. Though he doesn't know where his shop will be moving to, he hopes to stay in the Village. I hope so too.
Bowery Stories
Something gigantic is coming to Bowery and Delancey. With the New Museum arrival and the protested EV/LES rezoning, the Bowery has become more valuable, and therefore more threatened, than ever before.
Now Rob Hollander of Save the LES sends notice of a Real Deal report that condo/hotel developer Brack Capital just bought a townhouse at 185 Bowery, adding to their clustered purchases of 187, 189, and 191. Like dominoes in a row, all four are expected to fall.
photo: dylan stone, nypl
Brack is responsible for 15 Union Square West, a boutique hotel on Grand St., and other developments in the city. It is rumored they will demolish the four low-rises for a luxury hotel. Here comes yet another giant tower, to go with the one right behind it and all the rest.
Today in #187, resident since 1980 Roberta Degnore still hangs on, the only one left and a possible roadblock to the wrecking ball. She recently told The Observer, "I’m alone in this freaking building on the Bowery, and if I scream, nobody will hear me.” (Take the money and run, Roberta--look what they're doing to Hettie Jones.)
Assuming these buildings are as old as they look, there are more stories here. #189 once had a saloon in the front and a German men's keno parlor in the back. In 1867, it was raided by the police in a "Descent upon a Bowery Keno Hell."
The Illustrated New York of 1888 tells us that #191 used to be R.H. Luthin's wholesale and retail drug house (formerly Cassebeer's drugstore) where they carried Vitalized Cordial, Wild Cherry Syrup, and Sarsaparilla. There was also "a small cigarstand and a place for the sale of hot-corn" on the site.
By the 1930s, these were all flop hotels--The Puritan at #183, The Savoy at #185--with beds and rooms from 20 cents to 50 cents apiece.
photo: nypl
It's the townhouse at #185 that is clearly the architectural gem of the bunch. It also has the most tragic story.
According to the 1884 edition of New York's Great Industries, this address was the home of Karl Hutter's Lightning Bottle-Stoppers, Lightning Fruit-Jars, and Bottlers' Supplies. Here you could see a "full assortment of his stoppers and attachments, also siphons made of French glass, with pure metal heads, bottle-filling machines, lightning bottle-washers, siphon-filling machines, corking machines," and more.
Mr. Hutter made a fortune on his lightning bottle-stopper, which "revolutionized beer bottling." You can see its descendant today on bottles of Grolsch.
photo: robert k. chin
Even with all his wealth, prized Oriental rugs, and society club memberships, Mr. Hutter could not overcome the "acute melancholia" that led to his suicide in 1913. The Times reported that Mr. Hutter filled his bathtub with water, removed his clothing, got inside, and shot himself in the head--all in his "sumptuously furnished apartment" on Central Park. He left a note, saying, "The pain and agony endured in this world cannot be more than that to be endured by the soul in the next."
There are eight million stories in the naked city. These four buildings about to vanish from the Bowery have been some of them.
Now Rob Hollander of Save the LES sends notice of a Real Deal report that condo/hotel developer Brack Capital just bought a townhouse at 185 Bowery, adding to their clustered purchases of 187, 189, and 191. Like dominoes in a row, all four are expected to fall.
photo: dylan stone, nypl
Brack is responsible for 15 Union Square West, a boutique hotel on Grand St., and other developments in the city. It is rumored they will demolish the four low-rises for a luxury hotel. Here comes yet another giant tower, to go with the one right behind it and all the rest.
Today in #187, resident since 1980 Roberta Degnore still hangs on, the only one left and a possible roadblock to the wrecking ball. She recently told The Observer, "I’m alone in this freaking building on the Bowery, and if I scream, nobody will hear me.” (Take the money and run, Roberta--look what they're doing to Hettie Jones.)
Assuming these buildings are as old as they look, there are more stories here. #189 once had a saloon in the front and a German men's keno parlor in the back. In 1867, it was raided by the police in a "Descent upon a Bowery Keno Hell."
The Illustrated New York of 1888 tells us that #191 used to be R.H. Luthin's wholesale and retail drug house (formerly Cassebeer's drugstore) where they carried Vitalized Cordial, Wild Cherry Syrup, and Sarsaparilla. There was also "a small cigarstand and a place for the sale of hot-corn" on the site.
By the 1930s, these were all flop hotels--The Puritan at #183, The Savoy at #185--with beds and rooms from 20 cents to 50 cents apiece.
photo: nypl
It's the townhouse at #185 that is clearly the architectural gem of the bunch. It also has the most tragic story.
According to the 1884 edition of New York's Great Industries, this address was the home of Karl Hutter's Lightning Bottle-Stoppers, Lightning Fruit-Jars, and Bottlers' Supplies. Here you could see a "full assortment of his stoppers and attachments, also siphons made of French glass, with pure metal heads, bottle-filling machines, lightning bottle-washers, siphon-filling machines, corking machines," and more.
Mr. Hutter made a fortune on his lightning bottle-stopper, which "revolutionized beer bottling." You can see its descendant today on bottles of Grolsch.
photo: robert k. chin
Even with all his wealth, prized Oriental rugs, and society club memberships, Mr. Hutter could not overcome the "acute melancholia" that led to his suicide in 1913. The Times reported that Mr. Hutter filled his bathtub with water, removed his clothing, got inside, and shot himself in the head--all in his "sumptuously furnished apartment" on Central Park. He left a note, saying, "The pain and agony endured in this world cannot be more than that to be endured by the soul in the next."
There are eight million stories in the naked city. These four buildings about to vanish from the Bowery have been some of them.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Vanishing Anniversary
A year ago today, I started this blog.
I’d never had a blog before, nor considered it. I'd been writing fiction and essays about the city for years, but never managed to publish. Last summer, I was writing a novel—about an East Villager named Jeremiah who grapples with grief and rage for his vanishing city. Giving voice to my inner Jeremiah provided me with an outlet to express my own anger, powerlessness, and longing. As my first draft was coming to an end in July, I didn’t want to give up that outlet. So, without much of a plan and inspired by blogs like Neither More Nor Less and Lost City, I launched VNY.
i kinda need this shirt
As an unpublished novelist, writing mostly in the vacuum of solitude, it has been gratifying to have readers. The blog has connected me to new people, both in person and electronically. It also reacquainted me with New York. For awhile, I’d been turning away from the city, a place where I no longer feel at home. But writing the blog forced me to turn outward again. It sent me out walking and got me to travel around Manhattan and the outer boroughs to seek and find what remains.
Along the way, there have been moments of hopefulness, instances when it seems the soul of New York is still alive and well. I’ve tried to record those moments here, together with the vanishings. The compulsion to preserve, even if it’s only with a few words and snapshots, spurs me on.
Thanks, everyone, for reading. For a taste of my novel, check out the old post Jeremiah's Lamentations. And here are a few of my favorites from last summer:
I’d never had a blog before, nor considered it. I'd been writing fiction and essays about the city for years, but never managed to publish. Last summer, I was writing a novel—about an East Villager named Jeremiah who grapples with grief and rage for his vanishing city. Giving voice to my inner Jeremiah provided me with an outlet to express my own anger, powerlessness, and longing. As my first draft was coming to an end in July, I didn’t want to give up that outlet. So, without much of a plan and inspired by blogs like Neither More Nor Less and Lost City, I launched VNY.
i kinda need this shirt
As an unpublished novelist, writing mostly in the vacuum of solitude, it has been gratifying to have readers. The blog has connected me to new people, both in person and electronically. It also reacquainted me with New York. For awhile, I’d been turning away from the city, a place where I no longer feel at home. But writing the blog forced me to turn outward again. It sent me out walking and got me to travel around Manhattan and the outer boroughs to seek and find what remains.
Along the way, there have been moments of hopefulness, instances when it seems the soul of New York is still alive and well. I’ve tried to record those moments here, together with the vanishings. The compulsion to preserve, even if it’s only with a few words and snapshots, spurs me on.
Thanks, everyone, for reading. For a taste of my novel, check out the old post Jeremiah's Lamentations. And here are a few of my favorites from last summer:
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