*Everyday Chatter

Nom Wah Tea Parlor reopens--thankfully!--now go get some almond cookies. [LC]

Tomorrow: Save the Bowery--because "if nothing is done the result will be a wall of towers." [SLES]

Economakis gets his way, tenants take buy out, & what other choice did they really have? [Curbed]

Mini Coopers now come in limo size--I guess that's better than those Hummer limos, but how many screaming EV bachelorettes can you fit in this thing? [HG]

Lonely Mars Bar lacks a nearby "neighbor in debauchery." [EVI]

The lovely-signed Fine & Klein is falling to make room for yet another Orchard Street hotel. [Curbed] Here's a shot of the demolition I took in September:


The owners of LES Little Giant are opening Tipsy Parson in the old laundromat space on 9th and 20th. It's all about comfort food, though personally I feel the opposite of comfortable about chicken liver mousse. Here's a shot of the forlorn laundromat, sans machines:


I've never been to Grant's Tomb, but this makes me want to check it out. [RI]

Williamsburg backlash asks "trustafarians" to stop using Obama to "blow shit cocaine & BS up ur ass!" [NYCB]

Note to hipsters, learn the protocol: "People don’t walk on the right. They’re distracted, there’s a total disregard for protocol. They have no regard for nobody else." [NYT]

Speaking of bad manners, Henry Alford offers a helpful guide on how to "wage a campaign of subtle remonstrance" on the streets of New York. [NYT]

Parking Meters

The Muni-Meters are coming.

Initially, I thought these posts springing up all over the East Village were going to blossom into payphones, which just didn't make sense. Then I realized: They're Muni-Meters, those European parking meters "prone to provoking anguished cries of confusion," according to the Times when New York City began adopting the Muni-Meters in 1999.



New York's analog meters had their guts replaced by digitals in 1995 until the last mechanical meter was removed from Coney Island in 2006. But the housings remained with us, those gray, cobra-head shapes made by Mackay in Canada.

The arrival of the Munis means the demise of the old parking meters, a familiar shape relatively unchanged since it was invented by Carl Magee in 1935.



I like clunky, clockworky mechanical things, so I'll miss the meters. I like giving them a musical slap with my palm as I walk by them. And I like their coin collectors--seeing those men and women coming down the street with their little carts, hearing the crashing of coin as they empty meter after meter. I guess this means they'll be vanishing, too.


Photo: Ron Luttrell II Collection

*Everyday Chatter

I guess "E4olution" isn't working out, because the bar that dare not decide on a name is going back to 2 by 4, draping a Bud Light banner over the old new name. Maybe "Ambiance" will make a comeback next:


Reasons for hope: The recession is hitting the "yuppies in the East Village," where the price of an apartment is dropping. [NYT] & [NYT] via [EVG]

William Eggleston retrospective opened at the Whitney this weekend.

Enjoy the murals of Washington Irving High. [ENY]

The new F trains are coming. [Gothamist] Here we see a new F train as viewed from the interior of an old F train:


I, for one, will miss the cheerful citrusy interior decor:

Pioneer Theater

Friday night was the going-away party for the Pioneer Theater. After a decade on Avenue A, they are closing their doors, unable to manage the high cost of living in Newer York. Two Boots pizza and the video store are supposed to stay, but as you can see in this real estate listing, their spots appear to be on the market.



For the celebration, they showed free films from 6:00 to midnight and gave away popcorn, soda, and candy. I stayed for the first two movies: Truffaut's "The 400 Blows" and Michel Gondry's "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," a personal favorite. (Later would come "L'Atalante" then "Donnie Darko.")



Before the film, theater co-owner Phil Hartman said a few words about the occasion. The farewell party was originally to be a chance to watch his favorite films with family and friends, but, he said, "you are all family and friends," so he opened it to the public. He asked us to enjoy the free stuff and "be cool, you know, don't ask for a giant jug of soda to take home or stuff Milk Duds down your pants."

In between screenings, pizzas flowed in from Two Boots and the growing crowd grabbed up the slices. Thanks Phil--for the good night and for giving it a go these past 10 years.



Munching Raisinets and watching "Eternal Sunshine," I could not help but see vanishing New York in its metaphor of erasure. Boom, boom, boom, the lights go out on one memory and another. People, places, objects of love suddenly disappear. You run around, frantically trying to hold on to it, but in the end, it all collapses, taken away by a force more powerful, unstoppable.



Outside, after the movie and a last slice of pizza, I remembered when the condo building that houses the Pioneer went up (1995, 1996?). Across the avenue in the Cafe Limbo (vanished), I used to sit and write in a notebook, watching the construction.

But I can't remember what came before. Was it a vacant lot or was there something standing there? I do recall that you could see a church tower from the cafe and that I disliked having that view disappear. But the rest, like too many of my city memories, has been erased.

• 1994 on Avenue A: "Some of it already looks like a mall. Isn't that what you live here to get away from?"
• A new Two Boots opens on the Upper East Side
  

*Everyday Chatter

Yes, Manhattan's loss is Brooklyn's gain as the shuttered 12th Street Books has successfully, and quite gloriously, reopened as the Atlantic Book Shop. Looking good, but so far away:





The Minetta Tavern gets wrapped in plywood as it prepares to come out sparkling and ready for its new clientele--and new non-Italian menu. [BBoogie]

Amanda sends in this "reverse vanishing," a look at Bill Brand's just restored subway art project, Masstransiscope, from 1980. Check out the surreal video footage, complete with anti-terrorism PA. [FilmLinc]

Rosie O'Donnell is moving into the Ayn Randian monster-condo that replaced dearly beloved McHale's in Times Square. She looks nothing like the ads. [RD]

It's riot cops versus bearded Obama-loving hipsters in lots of fun film footage that actually makes the city look alive. [Gothamist]

Have a seat in Donohue's steak house--and let the lovely melancholy descend. [EVG]

TONIGHT: Don't forget to say goodbye to the Pioneer Theater--free movies and popcorn at 6:00! And galloping blogger Grieve mourns the loss on Flavorwire.

Blarney Cove

Since I announced the gutting and potential demise of the Holland Bar earlier this week, a blog-o-conversation has begun on the state of the city's dive bars. Lost City gave us a list of surviving dives, to which EV Grieve added the neon-fabulous Subway Inn.

Of course, no Manhattan dive round-up would be complete without the good old Blarney Cove on East 14th.



At the Blarney Cove, old men hook their canes to the lip at the edge of the bar before taking their seats. One of those old guys says “ha-ha” and “ha-ha-ha,” not laughing, just saying "ha." And if you're lucky, you might overhear a mature lady explaining to another gray-haired fella all about her dear mother’s “nice pair of tits.”

The Cove has a rough-and-tumble reputation, but it's a friendly place. The second time I ever sat at the bar, Matty the bartender asked me if I wanted “the usual.” Since I’d only been there once before, I figured he had me confused with someone else, but he knew exactly what I wanted and how I wanted it. After my second drink, he bought me one on the house. The Cove knows how to keep their customers.

They also put out a fine Christmas spread, so pencil it in to your calendars and get ready for some holiday cheer.



What's your favorite dive?

• NYC's Best Dive Bars
• NYC Dives

*Everyday Chatter

News flash: "the New York of Neil Simon now belongs to Carrie Bradshaw." When will it end? [TONY]

Never. Because there will, in fact, be a Sex & the City sequel. [People]

An inside look at another great dive bar. [EVG]

See the best set of shots from the St. Marks Obama celebration--including a fantastic poster of Obama as Rosie the Riveter. [NMNL]

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Super Obama! T-shirt by comic-book artist extraordinaire Alex Ross. [Uncivil]