Save Pino's Prime Meats from eviction. [Petition]
Ask the DOT to give Frank's Bike Shop some space from the Citibank bikes. [Petition]
Save the Children's Magical Garden. [Petition]
7-Eleven is not New York--go away:
The great Odessa on Avenue A may be closing soon. I can't look. [EVG]
Go see the 1980s/90s NYC show at the Whitney.
In Williamsburg, you can learn to make your own boots. [NYS]
Malcolm Gladwell blasts the NYPL: "Luxury condos would look wonderful there." [HP]
Nude art drawing protest against the Citibank bikes. [Gothamist]
On the Central Park 5. [LOM]
June 18: Robert Herman talks about his great street photographs shot in the city from the 1970s to today. [APANY]
"If These Knishes Could Talk," the documentary that chronicles the New York accent, will have its Manhattan premiere at Quad Cinema on Friday, June 21st at 7:30 pm.
19th century cemetery discovered under endangered East Village church. [GVSHP]
40 signs you grew up in Brooklyn. [BF]
Enjoy 1938 NYC in glorious high-definition color:
Friday, May 31, 2013
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Utah House
Reader Matthew Buckingham writes in with a ghost sign from long ago. The hand-painted "Utah House" recently appeared in Chelsea, on the facade of 300 Eighth Avenue during renovations to Kyung's Market (put out of business after 7-Eleven moved in next door).
Matthew writes, "Utah House was a hotel where many trade unions and associations held their meetings. That stretch of Eighth Avenue was also the scene of the July 12, 1871 Orange Riot. Police and the National Guard killed more than 60 people and wounded over 150 at an Orangemen parade celebrating the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 when Protestants regained control of Ireland."
Matthew also attached the following illustration and mention of the hotel from the book The Orange Riots by Michael Allen Gordon:
"Just after leaving his paper collar business in Twenty-sixth Street, James A. Clark was wounded in his right thigh and arm. Irish-born Thomas Dugdale and Patrick Slattery, who like Clark later died from their wounds, by all accounts were innocent bystanders. Dugdale had watched the parade from the Utah House, where militia fire tore into his left arm and breast."
"Unfortunately," Matthew adds, "the facade has already been boarded up again."
engraved illustration of the riot in front of Utah House
Ephemeral New York and New York Neon also covered this story.
Matthew writes, "Utah House was a hotel where many trade unions and associations held their meetings. That stretch of Eighth Avenue was also the scene of the July 12, 1871 Orange Riot. Police and the National Guard killed more than 60 people and wounded over 150 at an Orangemen parade celebrating the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 when Protestants regained control of Ireland."
Matthew also attached the following illustration and mention of the hotel from the book The Orange Riots by Michael Allen Gordon:
"Just after leaving his paper collar business in Twenty-sixth Street, James A. Clark was wounded in his right thigh and arm. Irish-born Thomas Dugdale and Patrick Slattery, who like Clark later died from their wounds, by all accounts were innocent bystanders. Dugdale had watched the parade from the Utah House, where militia fire tore into his left arm and breast."
"Unfortunately," Matthew adds, "the facade has already been boarded up again."
engraved illustration of the riot in front of Utah House
Ephemeral New York and New York Neon also covered this story.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Save Pino's Prime Meats
After just losing Joe's Dairy, we began to worry about Pino's Prime Meats across Sullivan street. Now we have good reason for that worry. Reports came in from readers saying that Pino's is in jeopardy.
[Click here to SIGN THE PETITION to save Pino's]
photo: Tim Schreier
I talked to Sal Cinquemani, son of Pino, who told me they received "a letter from out of the blue," telling them that their lease, which goes to 2017, will end abruptly this month, and they need to be out. The letter claims that Pino's has "created and sustained an active nuisance in front of the building," causing tenants to make complaints.
Sal is unaware of any complaints. The letter goes on to say that the shop is blocking the sidewalk with crates and boxes, and is "not respecting the rights of the residents and...co-tenants in the commercial space." The co-tenants here are the neighboring restaurant Pepe Rosso To Go and the West Lake Laundromat.
"The landlord is trying to get us out," Sal told me. "And we need people's support."
photo of Pino: Tim Schreier
He is baffled as to why this is happening. "I think we're being attacked here," he said. "My dad's sick over it. He's been here 30 years. His uncle was here another 40 before that. We're a butcher shop. We cut meat, we have sawdust that's been grandfathered in and we don't even put it down anymore. I take my trash out to Queens. I sweep like five times a day. And we respect our neighbors--we hold keys for people, we hold packages. You've got to be kidding me."
Pino's has hired a lawyer to help them fight this, and the case is going to court this week, but it's expensive and distressing. You can help. The easiest way is to please sign the petition to Save Pino's.
Pino's 200-year-old pistone
There's been a butcher shop in this space for over a century. Jackie Onassis got all her steaks from Pino's. Says New York Magazine, "Pino's Prime Meats is one of a scant handful of survivors, hard evidence of the old-world-Italian culture that once made Sullivan Street destination shopping for those who wanted to mangia bene. No logos or slick storefronts here... It’s an entirely different experience than the shrink-wrapped anonymity of your local Food Emporium."
Watch the butchers in action (Warning NSFV--Not Safe for Vegans):
Butcher from Cyrus Dowlatshahi on Vimeo.
[Click here to SIGN THE PETITION to save Pino's]
photo: Tim Schreier
I talked to Sal Cinquemani, son of Pino, who told me they received "a letter from out of the blue," telling them that their lease, which goes to 2017, will end abruptly this month, and they need to be out. The letter claims that Pino's has "created and sustained an active nuisance in front of the building," causing tenants to make complaints.
Sal is unaware of any complaints. The letter goes on to say that the shop is blocking the sidewalk with crates and boxes, and is "not respecting the rights of the residents and...co-tenants in the commercial space." The co-tenants here are the neighboring restaurant Pepe Rosso To Go and the West Lake Laundromat.
"The landlord is trying to get us out," Sal told me. "And we need people's support."
photo of Pino: Tim Schreier
He is baffled as to why this is happening. "I think we're being attacked here," he said. "My dad's sick over it. He's been here 30 years. His uncle was here another 40 before that. We're a butcher shop. We cut meat, we have sawdust that's been grandfathered in and we don't even put it down anymore. I take my trash out to Queens. I sweep like five times a day. And we respect our neighbors--we hold keys for people, we hold packages. You've got to be kidding me."
Pino's has hired a lawyer to help them fight this, and the case is going to court this week, but it's expensive and distressing. You can help. The easiest way is to please sign the petition to Save Pino's.
Pino's 200-year-old pistone
There's been a butcher shop in this space for over a century. Jackie Onassis got all her steaks from Pino's. Says New York Magazine, "Pino's Prime Meats is one of a scant handful of survivors, hard evidence of the old-world-Italian culture that once made Sullivan Street destination shopping for those who wanted to mangia bene. No logos or slick storefronts here... It’s an entirely different experience than the shrink-wrapped anonymity of your local Food Emporium."
Watch the butchers in action (Warning NSFV--Not Safe for Vegans):
Butcher from Cyrus Dowlatshahi on Vimeo.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Ghost Sign & Eagle's Nest
New York State Senator Brad Hoylman sent in a photo of a ghost sign recently revealed after a demolition on 11th Avenue and 21st Street:
Frank Jump at the Fading Ad Blog spotted it, too. He did some research and connected the sign to the Berger Manufacturing Company, specializing in "artistic designs in metal ceilings."
So what building was demolished to reveal the sign?
It was 547 West 21st Street--former home of the Eagle's Nest, the gay leather bar that opened just after Stonewall and closed in 2000. Prior, the Eagle's Nest had been a longshoreman's bar called the Eagle Open Kitchen from 1931-1970.
In 2010, the long abandoned bar became a temporary art gallery. Its beautifully decorative pressed-tin ceilings were on full display there, and at the high-end furniture shop it later became. Who knows, maybe the artistic metal ceilings were made by the Berger Manufacturing Company.
The building was also home to several artist studios.
The site sold for $32 million and its space will yield a 19-story residential tower with luxury retail. It will, most likely, cover up that ghost sign once again.
possible design, from WiredNY
Previously:
Men in Leather
Eagle's Nest
Eagle's Nest Update
Frank Jump at the Fading Ad Blog spotted it, too. He did some research and connected the sign to the Berger Manufacturing Company, specializing in "artistic designs in metal ceilings."
So what building was demolished to reveal the sign?
It was 547 West 21st Street--former home of the Eagle's Nest, the gay leather bar that opened just after Stonewall and closed in 2000. Prior, the Eagle's Nest had been a longshoreman's bar called the Eagle Open Kitchen from 1931-1970.
In 2010, the long abandoned bar became a temporary art gallery. Its beautifully decorative pressed-tin ceilings were on full display there, and at the high-end furniture shop it later became. Who knows, maybe the artistic metal ceilings were made by the Berger Manufacturing Company.
The building was also home to several artist studios.
The site sold for $32 million and its space will yield a 19-story residential tower with luxury retail. It will, most likely, cover up that ghost sign once again.
possible design, from WiredNY
Previously:
Men in Leather
Eagle's Nest
Eagle's Nest Update
Friday, May 24, 2013
Hopper's Process
Yesterday, the Edward Hopper Drawing show opened at the Whitney Museum and I had a piece published on it at the New Yorker magazine's "Culture Desk" blog. In the piece, I interview the curator of the show, Carter Foster.
A few years ago, I conducted a search for the original source of Hopper's Nighthawks diner.
My interest in finding Hopper's inspiration gave me the chance to visit Foster at his office, where he had collected bits of Hopper ephemera--Xeroxes of the artist's sketches, photographs of Greenwich Village streets, antique maps, and newspaper clippings.
It was exciting to see it all in one place, bits of evidence compiled to show how Hopper came to paint what he painted--from the vanished block of "Early Sunday Morning" to the military uniform of a movie theater usherette that appears in "New York Movie," as well as parts of "Nighthawks."
I never found the diner, and eventually concluded that it did not exist--at least not as one thing.
Carter Foster comes to the same conclusion, saying that Hopper was a synthesizer, taking pieces of the city and combining them together. “Edward Hopper is called a realist,” he told me. “But his real process was about memory, the way it infuses subjectivity, and he focussed on the material memory of the city.”
That material memory is on view at the Whitney Museum, where Hopper's sketches are presented with photographs of the city as it was. You'll even find Hopper's easel, on loan from his studio at NYU (nice of them, especially considering NYU tried to evict Hopper in 1947).
Check out the show and please visit the New Yorker to read the whole story.
Further Reading:
Finding Nighthawks Part 1
Finding Nighthawks Part 2
Finding Nighthawks Part 3
Coda
&
Hopper's Studio
A few years ago, I conducted a search for the original source of Hopper's Nighthawks diner.
My interest in finding Hopper's inspiration gave me the chance to visit Foster at his office, where he had collected bits of Hopper ephemera--Xeroxes of the artist's sketches, photographs of Greenwich Village streets, antique maps, and newspaper clippings.
It was exciting to see it all in one place, bits of evidence compiled to show how Hopper came to paint what he painted--from the vanished block of "Early Sunday Morning" to the military uniform of a movie theater usherette that appears in "New York Movie," as well as parts of "Nighthawks."
I never found the diner, and eventually concluded that it did not exist--at least not as one thing.
Carter Foster comes to the same conclusion, saying that Hopper was a synthesizer, taking pieces of the city and combining them together. “Edward Hopper is called a realist,” he told me. “But his real process was about memory, the way it infuses subjectivity, and he focussed on the material memory of the city.”
That material memory is on view at the Whitney Museum, where Hopper's sketches are presented with photographs of the city as it was. You'll even find Hopper's easel, on loan from his studio at NYU (nice of them, especially considering NYU tried to evict Hopper in 1947).
Check out the show and please visit the New Yorker to read the whole story.
Further Reading:
Finding Nighthawks Part 1
Finding Nighthawks Part 2
Finding Nighthawks Part 3
Coda
&
Hopper's Studio
Thursday, May 23, 2013
*Everyday Chatter
God's Love We Deliver is bringing a 14-story luxury condo to Soho, and it will be named after fashion mogul Michael Kors. The people are not happy. [Gawker]
On the New Bowery:
Coney Island Applebee's donates money and the use of their "private terrace" to the Mermaid Parade--how kind of them to "support" the culture they're helping to kill. [BW]
There's going to be a documentary about Streit's Matzo factory--and you can help. [KS]
Max Fish will be gone from the LES by July's end. [TLD]
On the demise of Joe's Dairy: “What we see happening in the neighborhood is hypergentrification." [Villager]
Meet Eak the Geek. [EVG]
Say hello to Pretty, the Coney Island cat. [ATZ]
The illegal, unethical, immoral eviction of Willets Point continues. [CBS]
This weekend, tour Newtown Creek and have lunch at the Goodfellas diner. [OS]
Praising dairy restaurants at the B&H. [Tablet]
Karen Lillis on her New York novel. [BAB]
The Penalty--New York City, 1920, and the legless kingpin of the Lower East Side--at Dixon Place. [DP]
June 23: Check out the Punk & Underground Record Fair at Beauty Bar on E. 14th:
On the New Bowery:
Coney Island Applebee's donates money and the use of their "private terrace" to the Mermaid Parade--how kind of them to "support" the culture they're helping to kill. [BW]
There's going to be a documentary about Streit's Matzo factory--and you can help. [KS]
Max Fish will be gone from the LES by July's end. [TLD]
On the demise of Joe's Dairy: “What we see happening in the neighborhood is hypergentrification." [Villager]
Meet Eak the Geek. [EVG]
Say hello to Pretty, the Coney Island cat. [ATZ]
The illegal, unethical, immoral eviction of Willets Point continues. [CBS]
This weekend, tour Newtown Creek and have lunch at the Goodfellas diner. [OS]
Praising dairy restaurants at the B&H. [Tablet]
Karen Lillis on her New York novel. [BAB]
The Penalty--New York City, 1920, and the legless kingpin of the Lower East Side--at Dixon Place. [DP]
June 23: Check out the Punk & Underground Record Fair at Beauty Bar on E. 14th:
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
East Village 70s & 80s
Recently, a reader discovered a calendar of vintage East Village photos by local photographer Ann Sanfedele. Viewable on the photographer's website, the images are wonderful, everyday glimpses of the neighborhood when it was still quiet and Old World, punk rock and ragged.
In a 1970s shot of 7th Street between 1st and 2nd, a Kosher poultry market and an egg store ("open Thursday only"!) stand where an artisanal coffee shop and clothing boutiques are today. (See an egg shop film here.)
At 8th and 1st, Jo & Ray Pizza soon became Stromboli, as it still is today, and C&F Fabrics (with its Viletones graffiti) is now a shoe store. Theatre 80 looks exactly the same.
On East 14th, the Jefferson Theatre crumbles next to Smoke & More, where a roll-down gate bears the message, "You have messed up your life with crack. Why ours?"
A cat looks out a window from behind leopard-print curtains above Manic Panic, Tish and Snooky's original shop on St. Mark's.
And there's more--the St. Mark's cinema, the Grassroots Tavern, Astor Place before Starbucks, lost restaurants, vanished funeral parlors, people. I got in touch with Ann Sanfedele and asked her a few questions.
Q: How long have you lived in the East Village?
A: Steadily since 1963. Alphabet City back then, and 7th St since 1968. Earlier, I had lived for a few months on 6th St., off 2nd ave.
Q: When did you start photographing the neighborhood?
A: Since around 1966, which is about when I started doing photography. But I don't approach photography in a thematic way. I haven't been "photographing the neighborhood" so much as taking photos in the neighborhood, when something interesting has caught my eye. Living here for 50 years, and more often than not going about with a camera, it just happens that a lot of photos would be of things where I've spent the most time. Things get gathered into themes much later, sometimes by me, sometimes by others. The "Back in the Day" calendar was that sort of thing, a friend saying, "Why don't you do a calendar of...?" Much as my book "Sign Language" got put together, as well.
Q: How do you think the neighborhood compares today to back then?
A: It's radically different, across the board. Don't get me started.
Q: Please, get started.
A: One thing's for sure, NYU had not yet taken over the neighborhood, there were no Starbucks stores every five feet, there were no banks every two feet, and there were wonderful "mom and pop" meat and fish markets of several ethnicities. And the 60's were better than the 70's on the whole.
Q: So, is it safe to say you're not inspired to photograph any Starbucks or banks?
A: That would be correct. On the other hand, I have been photographing the demise--er, um--"changes" in the 'hood as they strike me. A few examples are in this gallery, which is a miscellany of stuff shot recently, some having to do with the progress of 51 Astor Place.
Q: Visually, does the East Village still inspire your photography in the same way?
A: No more or less than anywhere else I might be. The quality of light, the geometry of forms, capturing a decisive moment, ironic juxtaposition, sometimes just something that strikes my funny bone, are things that make me lift the camera to my eye.
In a 1970s shot of 7th Street between 1st and 2nd, a Kosher poultry market and an egg store ("open Thursday only"!) stand where an artisanal coffee shop and clothing boutiques are today. (See an egg shop film here.)
At 8th and 1st, Jo & Ray Pizza soon became Stromboli, as it still is today, and C&F Fabrics (with its Viletones graffiti) is now a shoe store. Theatre 80 looks exactly the same.
On East 14th, the Jefferson Theatre crumbles next to Smoke & More, where a roll-down gate bears the message, "You have messed up your life with crack. Why ours?"
A cat looks out a window from behind leopard-print curtains above Manic Panic, Tish and Snooky's original shop on St. Mark's.
And there's more--the St. Mark's cinema, the Grassroots Tavern, Astor Place before Starbucks, lost restaurants, vanished funeral parlors, people. I got in touch with Ann Sanfedele and asked her a few questions.
Q: How long have you lived in the East Village?
A: Steadily since 1963. Alphabet City back then, and 7th St since 1968. Earlier, I had lived for a few months on 6th St., off 2nd ave.
Q: When did you start photographing the neighborhood?
A: Since around 1966, which is about when I started doing photography. But I don't approach photography in a thematic way. I haven't been "photographing the neighborhood" so much as taking photos in the neighborhood, when something interesting has caught my eye. Living here for 50 years, and more often than not going about with a camera, it just happens that a lot of photos would be of things where I've spent the most time. Things get gathered into themes much later, sometimes by me, sometimes by others. The "Back in the Day" calendar was that sort of thing, a friend saying, "Why don't you do a calendar of...?" Much as my book "Sign Language" got put together, as well.
Q: How do you think the neighborhood compares today to back then?
A: It's radically different, across the board. Don't get me started.
Q: Please, get started.
A: One thing's for sure, NYU had not yet taken over the neighborhood, there were no Starbucks stores every five feet, there were no banks every two feet, and there were wonderful "mom and pop" meat and fish markets of several ethnicities. And the 60's were better than the 70's on the whole.
Q: So, is it safe to say you're not inspired to photograph any Starbucks or banks?
A: That would be correct. On the other hand, I have been photographing the demise--er, um--"changes" in the 'hood as they strike me. A few examples are in this gallery, which is a miscellany of stuff shot recently, some having to do with the progress of 51 Astor Place.
Q: Visually, does the East Village still inspire your photography in the same way?
A: No more or less than anywhere else I might be. The quality of light, the geometry of forms, capturing a decisive moment, ironic juxtaposition, sometimes just something that strikes my funny bone, are things that make me lift the camera to my eye.
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