Frankfurter Rundschau

"Everything Will Be Erased." Talking about the "Hyper-Gentrifizierung" of New York City with journalist Sebastian Moll for the German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau.



If you don't read German (as I don't), Google Translate offers some choice interpretations: "Bloomberg has really turned on the turbo. Since then dies every day the soul of this city a bit more."

The piece is not yet on the newspaper's site, but you can read the whole thing at Sebastian Moll's page.

Lascoff's Insides

When the great Lascoff Pharmacy closed last July, and was gutted, many of us worried what would become of its gorgeous antique fixtures.

Now, it turns out, they're selling on ebay.



An Anonymous commenter sent us to the listings, where you can find three hanging ceiling lanterns for $9,000, a collection of leaded stained-glass globes for $26,500, a set of 15 Gothic window panels for $14,000 ("These are really knockout and can be repurposed very easily as decorative elements in any store or restaurant")...



...two sections of cabinetry for $14,500, an additional 75 feet of wooden fixtures for $80,000, plus the copper canopy, with interior lighting intact, for $39,000.



As seller newyorkphotographs writes on the ebay store page: "These are from one of the most prominent 19th century pharmacies in New York City whose proprietor is known as 'the father of modern pharmacy'... Salvatore Dali and many other celebrities patronized his pharmacy over the years to purchase leeches, powder compounds and custom topical ointment."

Now you can reassemble your own Lascoff's for a total of $183,000. Maybe in your living room, complete with jars of leeches?
 

Press, Reviews, & Awards

INTERVIEWS



Vox, 1/24/2021 

Conde Nast Traveler, 8/24/20
VRT, Belgian News, 8/5/20 

WFMU Radio, 8/26/19
Vox, 11/21/18
"Vanishing City" discussion, Relevant Tones, 9/20/18
The Takeaway, WNYC, 9/12/18
Marketplace, 8/30/18
New York Said podcast, 7/28/18
E.V. Grieve podcast, 7/27/18
Harper's Magazine podcast on The Death of New York, 6/28/18
Hyperallergic, 5/9/18
Fox5 News with Ernie Anastos, 1/25/18
Metrofocus, WNET PBS TV, 1/3/18
WNET PBS Television, 11/16/17
Terrific City podcast, 10/26/17
NY1 News, 9/8/17
New York Times, 8/11/17
WNYC News: 8/10/17
Leonard Lopate Show, WNYC, 8/3/17
Salon Talks, 8/1/17
Brian Lehrer Show, WNYC, 7/27/17
The Village Voice, 7/18/2017
Ways of Hearing podcast, summer 2017
The New Yorker, 6/26/17

Paper Magazine, 10/20/16
New York Business Journal, 9/28/15
VICE, 8/15/15
Enormous Eye, 6/6/15
New York Magazine, 5/1/15
WNYC: Brian Lehrer Show, 3/26/15
The Guardian, 4/8/15
New York Times, Metro, 4/3/15
Huck, 4/2/15
Salon, 3/15/15
BBC World Service Radio, 11/25/14
New York Post, 11/16/14
The Indypendent, 8/13/14
The Daily Beast, 8/5/14
The Australian, 4/7/14 
Financial Times Magazine, 11/15/13
Paper Magazine, 8/19/12
New York Observer, 7/13/12
No Such Thing As Was, 1/6/12
Next American City, Fall 2009
Broke-Ass Stuart, 7/14/09
Patell & Waterman, 1/30/09
The Villager, 4/17/08
The New York Times, City Section, 10/28/07


BOOK REVIEWS



"We should all buy Jeremiah Moss’s book, Vanishing New York." --Sarah Jessica Parker, Time Out

“Essential reading for fans of Jane Jacobs, Joseph Mitchell, Patti Smith, Luc Sante, and cheap pierogi.” –Vanity Fair

"Moss, a cantankerous defender of the city he loves, chronicles its disconcerting metamorphosis from cosmopolitan melting pot to bland corporate lounge with passion and vigor; New York is lucky to have him on its side." – NewYorker.com

“a full-throated lament for the city’s bygone charms.” –Wall Street Journal

“Moss won me over almost immediately and has written a cri de cœur that is essential reading for anyone who loves this city.” –Michael J. Agovino, The Village Voice

“a remarkable atlas charting where New York has gone, and why.” –The New Republic

“This is a very good, angrily passionate, and ultimately saddening book…. a brilliantly written and well-informed account.” –Booklist, starred review

“Vanishing New York is an urban-activist polemic in the tradition of Jane Jacobs’s Death and Life of Great American Cities: Every page is charged with Moss’s deep love of New York. It is both a vital and unequivocally depressing read.” –Molly Fitzpatrick, Village Voice

"a vigorous, righteously indignant book that would do Jane Jacobs proud." --Kirkus

“Moss tells an intriguing story that is an indictment of local leaders who ushered in a sterilized iteration of Gotham through public policies favoring the wealthy… a sad elegy to a city that is no longer recognizable.” --Associated Press

“Vanishing New York is an entertainment as much as it is a polemic. Angry--sure. Funny--you bet. And oh so astute.” –Shelf Awareness

“an impassioned work of advocacy on behalf of a city that’s slipping away…a brawny book…a full-throated argument for New York City as a particular kind of place, and for a certain kind of life lived within it.” –Guernica

“a compelling and often necessary read…. One of the great accomplishments of this nearly 500-page polemic, is that even as I read through in a state of outrage and sadness, I was also reassured: I am not crazy. The city really has vanished…” – Daily Beast

“This polemic is likely to stir a lot of emotions.”—Publishers Weekly

“A relevant lamentation of New York’s rebellious, nonconformist past and its path toward an inexpressive mélange of glass and steel big box stores and chain restaurants.”
--New York Journal of Books



OPINION & EDITORIALS



Testimony for SBJSA, City Council, City Hall, 10/22/18
New York Daily News, Editorial 6/24/18: How to Bring Back Mom and Pop
New York Daily News, Editorial 9/17/17: On Bill de Blasio and Gentrification
New York Daily News, Editorial 4/10/16: On Weird Times Square
New York Daily News, Editorial 3/9/15: On #SaveNYC
New York Daily News, Editorial 10/29/14: On NYC Ambassador Taylor Swift
New York Daily News, Editorial 8/16/14: On Chains in the City
New York Daily News, Editorial 4/27/14: On Carriage Horses
The New York Times, Room for Debate 4/13/13: On Gentrification
New York Observer, Advice for Mayor Bill, 11/13/13
The New York Times, Opinion 8/21/12: On the High Line
Playboy Magazine, Reader Response 5/19/2010: On the vanishing city
The New York Times, Opinion 4/4/10: On Edward Hopper's Nighthawks
New York Daily News, Editorial 2/10/09: On the City's Downturn


ARTICLES & BLOG POSTS



The Atlantic, A Dispatch From the Anti-Amazon Victory Party, 2/15/19
New York Review of Books' Daily: The Triangle Shirtwaist Memorialist, 8/31/18
Village Voice, "The TRGT Fiasco Was No Mistake," 7/31/2018
New York Review of Books' Daily: "Death and Life of a Great American Building," 3/7/2018
New York Times, The End of Moe's Meat Market, 10/10/2017
Metro NY, weekly column
The Daily News, 8/3/14
The New Yorker, Culture Desk 10/24/13: The Last Picture Shop
The New Yorker, Culture Desk 5/23/13: Edward Hopper's Details
Salon, 9/19/12, New York's Dying Signs
Paris Review, The Daily 8/3/12, Sisters of the Night
Paris Review, The Daily 1/12/12, A Day in Culture
Huffington Post, multiple dates


FOREIGN LANGUAGE



Sueddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), 8/11/19
Publico (Lisbon), 3/11/18
La Vanguardia (Barcelona), 11/12/17
L'Express (France), 10/17/17
Le Monde (France), 4/26/2016
Die Presse (Vienna), 5/24/15
Norwegian Business Daily, 1/9/14
Frankfurter Rundschau, 4/29/13
24 Heures (Switzerland), 4/1/13 
Xplor NY (Italy), 2/27/12
La Tercera (Chile), 10/7/10
Le Temps (Switzerland), 10/21/09


AWARDS



Named to Curbed's list of "101 Things to Love About New York City," 2018
Historic Districts Council: Grassroots Preservation Award, 2016
Guides Association of New York: Outstanding Achievement in Support of New York City Preservation Award & Outstanding New York City Website Award 2016
Village Voice: Best of New York 2014
Friends of the Upper East Side: Preserving Classic New York Award 2014
Village Voice, Web Awards 2012: "Blogger We Love"
Village Voice, Web Awards 2010: "Best Personal Blog"
Village Voice: Gotham's Best Blogs 2010


SOME OTHER QUOTES & MENTIONS

Architectural Digest, 5/10/19
Rolling Stone, 11/6/18
Surface, 2/2/17
New York Times, 11/23/16
New York Times, 5/25/15
Newsweek, 9/1/14
New York Times, 11/22/13
Time Out New York, 4/9/13, NYC Secrets 
This Recording, 10/3/11
Village Voice, 1/28/2010: "I Blog NY: Your Guide to Gotham's Best"
New York Daily News, 11/8/10
The Times of London, Has New York Lost Its Edge? 11/23/09 
New York Magazine, City of Glass, 9/9/08

Save PS 199

Guest post by David Saphier, co-chair of Lincoln Square Community Association and co-creator of 199demolition.com:

The Bloomberg administration is bringing more high rises to the Upper West Side, with threats to demolish Public School 199 on West 70th Street, as well as another local site, and replace them with luxury condo towers.



The Lincoln Square community has undergone major upheaval over the past few years, with the building of countless high rises, including the Trump Buildings on Riverside Boulevard, all of which have significantly changed the neighborhood from a close-knit, family-friendly community to something very different, a place unaffordable to many. These real-estate developments have also disrupted long-established school catchments and contributed to major overcrowding in schools. As a result, many children are forced to sit on waiting lists for their local public schools.

A while back, the DOE, through the ECF (Education Construction Fund), quietly released a Request for Expressions of Interest to developers for the development of the sites currently hosting PS 199 and PS 191 on the Upper West Side, along with a third site on the East Side. The community was not informed, and the plan as proposed is not subject to any further community, city, or state overview.

The proposed plan for PS 199 outlines the construction of a 50-story residential tower and a new school--a nice sentiment, but it will barely accommodate the additional children that will reside in the tower.



PS 199 was designed by the renowned architect Edward Durell Stone. Although it is a small building for the man who also designed MOMA, Radio City Music Hall, and The Kennedy Center, it is significant. It represents Stone's shift from the International Style to his signature style that drew from classical elements.

According to Landmark West, the school’s 166 thin, glazed white brick piers are faithful to Stone’s love of repetitive columns and are evocative of a grand colonnade. Classical patterning is illustrated in the concentric squares inscribed beneath the roof’s overhang. Stone paid attention to the smallest detail, including the roof design, knowing that the surrounding buildings would view it. The roof contains a cutout that serves as an open-air play space. PS 199 continues the neoclassical spirit of Stone’s unique form of Modernism on the Upper West Side and should be preserved in its own right.

With all of these concerns in mind, the local Lincoln Square community has formed a task force to oppose the project. Please read more details at our website. And consider signing the petition to save PS 199.

Carmine Street Comics

With all the recent bad news about Carmine Street (the coming of IHOP, the closing of Marinella's), it's about time for some good news. A comic book store has opened there.

As Unoppressive, Non-Imperialist Bargain Books continues to fight the good fight to stay alive, they've rented part of their space to Carmine Street Comics.

Writes Long and Shortbox:

The owner "settled on the name in part because his father's name is Carmine, but also, he says, because 'we're proud to transplant ourselves to a new place with such a rich history of 20th century culture: this is Bob Dylan's old neighborhood and where the beat poetry movement started. This street has class and pop culture history in spades.'

Beyond that, it turns out that Carmine Street has a long history with comics retail; in the front of the new shop is a light up sign that simply reads 'Comics.' That sign came from Village Comics, once New York's largest comics shop. At some point, it moved into a space it shared with Bleecker Bob's on nearby Bleecker Street and then gave the sign, and their remaining customers, to Unoppressive Non-Imperialist Bargain Books. By opening on Carmine Street, once also the location of a store called All Comics, Jon and Mike are going to bring back something that the West Village has been missing for a long time. In this spirit, they're committed to integrating themselves into the neighborhood."

Photo by Long and Shortbox

The grand opening is May 1, just in time for Free Comic Book Day on May 4.  So go welcome them to the neighborhood, and let them know you're grateful they're not a frozen yogurt place, or a cupcake bakery, or a 7-Eleven, or a bank...

Folsom Street East

VANISHED

We knew it would happen, and now it's happening. Folsom Street East has been cancelled.

The organizers put out a message last night via Facebook and their website:

"It is with sadness that the Producers and Board of Directors of Folsom Street East have to announce that the 17th annual Folsom Street East Street Festival this June is going to be cancelled. Though we continue to receive support for this community-building and fundraising event from Community Board 4 and our neighbors on the block (including our producing partner The Eagle NYC), the ever-growing construction on the north side of 28th street has made it impossible for us to successfully and safely hold our annual street festival. Thank you for the years of support from our attendees, sponsors, partners, exhibitors, vendors, performers and volunteers; we are sad that we will not be able to celebrate Pride with you at our fetish-friendly event this year."



At the end of the message, they write: "Thanks for 16 great years celebrating sexual freedom with the Folsom Street East Street Festival, and we hope to see you back on the kinky streets of New York City in 2014!"

They don't say which streets and we can guess it won't be West 28th. Ever since the High Line opened in that part of town and Bloomberg rezoned it for luxury development, Folsom East has had a target on its back.



Here is a timeline of what has happened on this one block of West 28th Street since it became prime High Line real estate (click the dates for the full articles):

November 2010: A "High Line Boomlet" came to West Chelsea. The first residents of the +ART luxury condo moved onto this block of West 28th.

June 8, 2011: The second section of the High Line opened, bringing many tourists and other folks to a part of town they'd never before entered, including this once-industrial block, over which the High Line stretches.

June 19, 2011: High Line walkers got their first glimpse of Folsom Street East, right beneath their feet. Though the fair had been on this block for years, you had to be a part of it to go looking for it. At the time, I asked, "As the High Line spreads its luxurious seed across upper Chelsea, replacing every rough thing in its path with glass and glamor, how long, really, do you think Folsom will be allowed to party here?"

June 24, 2011: The Eagle gay leather bar was raided by the NYPD. They claimed the bar was the source of chronic noise complaints, but no such complaints were on record--only complaints about noise from all the condo construction. Around the same time, the massive Avalon West Chelsea condo tower broke ground right across the street, with advertisements proclaiming, "Don't miss your chance to be a part of the High Line!"



April 2012: We learned that another luxury condo tower would be coming to this block.

June 13, 2012: A resident of the +ART condo told us about the backlash against Folsom East, saying, "Residents from several surrounding buildings have passed fliers asking our residents to write to the Community Board to relocate or totally eliminate Folsom Street East because 'fetish' fairs shouldn't be allowed so close to so many residential buildings." Meanwhile, a slogan on the windows of the condo stated, "Chelsea is the birthplace of creative modern art and the home of bad behavior."

June 14, 2012: A representative from Folsom East responded to the backlash against them, saying they were doing everything they could to cooperate with the new neighbors.

June 17, 2012: Folsom East went on--surrounded by construction fencing and with a special path built for the condo people. Up on the High Line, tourists gawked like visitors to a freak show, while Christian right-wingers waved banners telling the fair-goers that only Jesus would save them from Hell.

January 2013: We heard that the scrapyard Central Iron and Metal, the last industrial business on the block, would be closing after 86 years in business. It sold for $65 million to a luxury developer.

March 2013: Not on West 28th, but still related, the Rawhide bar was driven out of Chelsea after 34 years of serving the LGBT and leather community.



Queer New York City has, once again, just gotten smaller. It's vanishing day by day. Don't blink, you might miss it.

Very soon, this entire block will be taken over by High Line culture, filled only with luxury condo towers and their occupants, with artisanal-foodie restaurants to feed them and high-end chain stores to fulfill their consumer needs. The Eagle remains, but for how long? In the end, Bloomberg's High Line always wins.

Marinella's

VANISHED

Lynn Lieberman from A Fine Lyne has let us know that Marinella Restaurant, on Carmine Street for over 27 years, has shuttered.



Lynn shares these photos, including one of the goodbye sign. It states the reason for Marinella's closure as "the high cost increase connected to the renewal of our lease." They refer customers to their other restaurant, Porto Bello on Thompson Street.



I never made it in to Marinella's, but I like the way New York Magazine described it: "On a quiet stretch of Carmine Street, Marinella has a longstanding reputation as a satisfying red-sauce joint... The middle-aged crowd that frequent this restaurant knows what they like."

Of course, red-sauce joints frequented by middle-aged New Yorkers are no longer permitted in the parts of Manhattan where they once flourished.

As for the rents on Carmine Street, the real estate agent who brought us IHOP promised they'd go up when he told the Wall Street Journal that Carmine "was a dumpy street. Now it's top-notch." IHOP is "a big brand, and it'll help me convince other big brands to follow. People don't even know where Carmine Street is--yet. We'll fix that."

Maybe he can shove a 7-Eleven in Marinella's space. Top fucking notch.