Vanishing New York Backup

CONEY ISLAND COALITION CALLS FOR NEW YEARS DAY RALLY In what is probably the biggest and most devastating vanishing of 2008, with our backs turned, in the dark of winter, Coney Island has been destroyed and snatched, from one end of the boardwalk to the other. When spring comes, nothing will remain. Rally New Year's Day at noon. Click here for more information . "A few days before Christmas, Thor CEO Joe Sitt’s agents began evicting longtime tenants by cutting off locks , asking for triple the rent , or refusing to discuss 2009 leases. On Christmas Eve, huge custom-sized "Space For Lease" banners were put up on Ruby's Bar & Grill, Nathan’s Boardwalk store, Cha Cha’s, and others businesses on Thor owned property in Coney Island." NOTE: Ruby's will be open and hosting polar bears ...so there's another reason to go out into the cold. See photos of the devastation here

The year in review. It's a staple. To keep it simple, if hardly exhaustive, here's my list culled only from the 2008 Vanishing New York archives. For other end-of-year lists and round-ups, see Lost City , EV Grieve , Bowery Boys ... Last year I added ages to the vanished places. This year the list is too long to bother tracking all that down. Also for 2007, I broke it up into two posts, one for the vanished and another for the probably-will-vanish . This time I've combined it all into one. VANISHINGS Vanished: Second Childhood Armando's The Minetta Tavern (as it was) Bobby's Happy House (and more of 125th) Mili Quality Cleaners A. Fontana Shoe Repair Chez Brigitte Taxi Ray Kottner Nick's Hairstylists Cafe Figaro Nusraty Afghan Imports Kim's Mediapolis Tribal Soundz The Pioneer Theater The Tower of Toys Chelsea Liquors Five Rose's Pizza Angelica's Herbs David's Bagels Burritoville Nikos newsstand 8th Street Salvation Army Yankee Stadium Shea Sta

Like the Moondance Diner before it, another New York icon has been forsaken by New York and found love in another country. Kim's collection of videos is going to Sicily. December 31 is the final rental day and after that, off those thousands of movies go to a town called Salemi , an ancient village undergoing renovation after a tragic earthquake, thanks to the efforts of Mayor Vittorio Sgarbi, called "one of the oddest and most colourful figures in contemporary Italy" during his " celebrity coup ." It's because of this tragedy and the resulting "Progetto Terremoto," in English "Project Earthquake," that Salemi has been able to take on the collection of films. According to the extensive informational poster on display in Mondo Kim's on St. Marks, "The town of Salemi is planning to launch the Neverending Festival , a non-stop public projection of Kim's Video Collection DVDs in their new home." Wow. In addition, " Fo

Believing the Upper West Side's P&G bar would close on December 31, I visited this weekend to say goodbye. But the bartender informed me they'll probably linger on until sometime in February--the new place isn't ready just yet. He also reported that their sign, that beloved antique neon that everyone hopes will survive, probably won't be going with them. It's too old, too brittle to make the journey. On Saturday the New York Times also visited the P&G , wondering if its patrons will follow the classic dive to its new, larger, and more deluxe location. Glenn Collins writes: "The future P&G, with its 2,700-square-foot public space, is three times as large as the old 860-square-foot bar, has four rooms and will offer a fireplace for the poolroom-and-dartboard set. A rusticated structural wall will be an ornament, instead of the kitschy Austrian castle and forest fantasy mural signed in 1943 by a rye-drinking artist who executed the scene to pay his b

A little mid-holiday round-up of the past week's news: Hey, great news! Streit's matzo factory is going off the market --after bidding the city goodbye about a year ago, they're saved by the economic crisis. Visit the factory virtually , then go grab some hot matzo and have a Happy Hanukkah. [ Forward ] via [ BBoogie ] see all my photos of streit's here I've been in denial about what's happening to Coney Island. It's really, really bad out there. Looks like Thor has put everything up for lease . VNY reader Jack Szwergold sent in pics of his trip out there yesterday. Check out his devastating flickr set: Christmas Day at Coney Island . Robin Raj to stay alive--in another form--and the frat bar isn't coming! [ EVG ] "8 Yunnies puking" make their way into a very special new holiday song. [ STLL ] Chris Shott talks with the Jane Hotel protesters at the Waverly-- meet them here at the Bowery Hotel. [ NYO ] Forgotten NY took a last

Decked out for Christmas (with a menorah stuck in there for diversity's sake), Joe Jr.'s on 6th and 12th is like one of those panoramic sugar eggs, you know, the ones you look into and see all the glittering excitement going on inside. One of two Joe Jr.'s in town (the other's on 3rd Ave), who knew the Village diner attracted celebrities and their ilk? It nearly vanished in 1994, when the Times interviewed Isaac Mizrahi on the subject, who said: " It's like everybody's dream diner, the perfect New York diner. Sort of tatty around the edges, very tatty around the edges. Excellent tuna-fish sandwiches on rye toast. Excellent scrambled eggs. Amazing immediate delivery. And it's such a fixture in the neighborhood. They make really good hamburgers. It's the kind of place that you would never think of going to, and suddenly it becomes your favorite place because it's so comfortable. They're very friendly." Going on fifteen years later, Joe

A couple of weeks ago I found the photography of Daniella Zalcman on Flickr and was struck by the simple beauty and urgency of her project: A photographic preservation of the Manhattanville section of Harlem in its final days before it is crushed by Columbia University's eminent domain-- just approved by the state of New York . Daniella, a student at Columbia, is also a freelance photographer for the New York Daily News . She maintains dan.iella , a blog called theonetrain , and just last week she launched the impressive site Manhattanville.net , where you can find her photos of this vanishing neighborhood, along with interviews and historic information. I wrote to Daniella and asked her a few questions. Riverside Viaduct, by Daniella Zalcman Q: What made you decide to photograph Manhattanville? A: I started photographing Manhattanville three years ago when I arrived at Columbia and heard about the impending expansion plans. Columbia is planning to build another campus in West Ha

Last night, a handful of residents from the Jane Hotel, formerly the Riverview, stood outside the Bowery Hotel to fight against harassment and eviction. In their small but sturdy ranks, while Bowery swells sneered and scoffed at them, as cops threatened to arrest them, they quietly held up signs and passed out fliers that said: "Eric Goode and Sean MacPherson, You may own a fancy hotel, but... You are still slumlords!!! Shame on you! " They will be protesting again tonight at 7:00 outside the Waverly Inn ( see report ) and they welcome you to join them. Goode and MacPherson are the entrepreneurs behind the Waverly Inn, Maritime Hotel, and Bowery Hotel. They bought the 211-room Jane Hotel in January 2008 and immediately began eviction proceedings . First went the transients, the protesters told me, including elderly, physically and mentally disabled, poor, and otherwise less-than-fortunate New Yorkers who made their home at the SRO. "I asked the hotel staff what was goin

Cemusa, that European machine that turns out clones of "street furniture," just can't figure out how to spell anything in New York City. [ BB ] A bit about the history of the R&L Restaurant --which came before and after Florent. [ Eater ] Pub crawlers take over EV, go to Zum Schneider and "talk like a nazi." [ EVG ] Closed by the DOH: Song 7.2 , with all the creepy pictures outside (a tongue made of strawberries my favorite worst). [ CR ] Loving the Orange Hut in Woodside, Queens. [ LC ]

Is the city now using "trench warfare" to renovate the East Village , one collapsing building at a time? I didn't see that in the rezone plan. [ EVG ] If you're one of the few of us who still don't have cable or digital, if you're still enjoying your clunky old analog, your TV might go blank today . Am I the only one who resents this edict? [ yahoo ] What happens to those parking meters once they're taken away ? I asked a DOT guy this morning and he said: "They go to Queens." Queens is getting Manhattan's hand-me-down meters. But probably not any from the East Village. Ours are incorrigible, irredeemable, too resistant to renovation. "These ones with all the stickers and graffiti," the guy told me, go in the trash. It's just not worth it to scrape and repaint them. "...wouldn't it be great to see a bunch of angry West Village cranks getting in the way of paparazzi at the Waverly Inn?" Yes! [ NYM ] "Walking

"It’s not the cry of the dodo bird, but it’s about to vanish forever ," wrote the New York Times last week, "and it goes something like this: 'Passengers, you must be in the first five cars in order to exit at South Ferry.' "It is the cry of the No. 1 subway train conductor. Hundreds of times a day for decades--sometimes garbled, sometimes virtually inaudible, sometimes ringingly clear--it has serenaded downtown-bound straphangers as they approached the line’s terminus at the tip of Manhattan: the anachronistic, 103-year-old South Ferry station, where the truncated and sharply curved platform has room for only half the cars on the train. But one day next month, the last cry will die upon a conductor’s lips as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority opens a new South Ferry station directly beneath the old one ." a sign that will soon vanish I rode the #1 to South Ferry this weekend to hear the conductor's cry for the last time. Sadly, I got the ga

As Grieve reported earlier today, and as I covered here , the parking meters of the city are vanishing and today was D-Day for many in the East Village. Passing by, I caught the DOT in action. Their process is swift and powerful. As if removing a rotted tooth, they drill and drill, working in a circle around the base. A second guy loosens the meter, pushing it back and forth. Liquid is poured into the hole, maybe water, to soften the concrete and the mud beneath. The meter is wiggled again. You see it yield, giving up its hold on the city's street. Then the second guy, bending at the knees and hugging the meter like a fainted lover or a choking victim in need of the Heimlich, lifts it from the sidewalk. He carries it away and tosses it in the truck, on the growing pile of other bodies.

Dubai's Palazzo Versace to offer refrigerated beaches! Says the developer, "We will suck the heat out of the sand to keep it cool enough to lie on...This is the kind of luxury that top people want." And then we will provide the softest sands made from the pulverized bones of harvested human babies! Mwah-ha-haaaaa! [ Treehugger ] Is Blue & Cream really desperate ? The Hamptons shop on Bowery has gone "ghetto," covering the neighboring Chase bank with postcards--taped to the door and the ATMs, stacked on the ATMs and the tables. Everywhere! That Avalon rent hike must hurt: Time stands still at the White Horse tavern. [ ENY ] As Astroland is destroyed , piece by piece, are we also losing Denny's ice cream stand ? [ KC ] But, please, not Ruby's too! We said goodbye to Ruby's in the summer of '07. Let's hope she keeps surviving. [ Gothamist ] The original Five Roses say goodbye with historic photos in the window of their shuttered pizza pa

VANISHED Pretty much without a trace, Angelica's Herbs, long on 1st Ave and 9th St (anyone know how long?) is empty. The sign is gone and there's little left but the soft waft of herbs, like a faint cloud around the gated entrance. A tipster wrote in about it and I went there to find a man scraping and painting. He was just hired to cover up the graffiti with a coat of fresh paint so the landlord doesn't get fined by the city. He has no idea what's coming next. We speculated and agreed: hopefully not a bank. We looked skyward and pondered together, as many folks in the neighborhood have done for years, what might be hidden inside the top floors , their windows sealed by warped plywood. "God only knows what they'll find up there," he said, his voice filled with the thrill of mystery. Like the old candle building on Elizabeth, the upper floors of Angelica's building have seeded wonder in many minds with fantasies of green and fragrant bales of marijuan

Absinthe is set to open in the former B&M meat market space on 1st Ave between 6th and 7th. It's got beer taps, a bar, and a backyard dining area. CB3 approved their license with several anti-noise stipulations, including: "it will close the backyard at 9:00 P.M. all nights and cease operation of the backyard if there are any noise complaints from residents ." Go deep into the Donnell destruction with a library employee, as another public facility is laid waste for another luxury hotel. [ Driven by Boredom ] 14-year-old cheese and antiques shop to fall. [ CR ] Check out the changing face of Long Island City in paintings by Sharon Florin. [ LIC ] The battle for 47 E. 3rd may be over, but Ekonomakis is still fighting . [ EVG ] The former Tea Lounge , beloved of the Park Slope stroller brigade, is not going to be a bank, as rumored. Mommies, come get your bubble tea: Met Food says thanks for helping them wrest a new lease from NYU--and announces an u

VANISHING On 6th Avenue in Park Slope, the Henington Press sits on the first floor of an old brick building. I've passed the sign many times and always found it lovely in its simplicity. I took this picture earlier in the year, worried it might not last much longer. Now we hear that the press is closing soon, after 96 years . from my flickr WNYC has an excellent radio interview and short film , sure to make you cry, with the owner of the press, David Harris. In the cluttered wonder of his shop he explains how the business was founded in 1912 by his grandfather, Isidor Harris. He still has the beautiful Kluge letterpress the shop started with. He's hoping to find a home for it--to sell it or just give it away. "I love this press," Mr. Harris says, the Kluge chugging in the background, "It's like my wife, you know. Or child. I love it. It's attached to me." from the film He is selling the building, though it pains him, and moving to Israel. As he'

In covering my post on Antique Row , Izzy of Racked asks a provocative question : "Can you mourn the loss of a store where you've never shopped?" You know my answer (can you love someone you've never kissed? or grieve for endangered animals you've never fed by hand?). What do you think? Love Saves the Day employee says he's "tired of hearing customers tell him how upset they are about it." Take an almost-last peek inside this popular and beloved shop. [ Gothamist ] Revisit the old EV with What About Me . [ EVG ] Send the Coney rocket some love. [ Curbed ] Times are tough, unemployment's up, but the folks in LaBarge are looking to staff the old Moondance Diner . Maybe all those out-of-work Wall Streeters should go west and "Join Team Moondance!" [ Moondance ] The building where Magic Shoes magically keeps going out of business, again and again, might really be falling this time . Can the next-door Pizza Box be far behind? [ Curbed

With the announcement of yet another village antique shop closing I figured it's time to put this post together. Shophound (via Racked ) notes that Kyner Antiques at 827 Broadway is shuttering, with the rent going for $65,000 per month. (The neighboring Lions has also fallen, now covered in graffiti.) The blogger asks if antiques are disappearing from Broadway . The answer is yes. And whatever virus is killing them has long been spreading around the corner to 11th Street . For months, the shops there have been falling like dominoes. Walk down 11th between Broadway and University and you walk a gauntlet of defunct shops, empty windows, For Lease and We've Moved signs. Paramount Antiques. Big Apple Antiques. While the big Broadway shops are turning into condo sales offices, the storefronts on 11th are being transformed into yoga stores and boutiques that sell clothing for dogs . A few months ago I asked one of the shopkeepers, a grizzled man who has long intrigued and intimida

Matt Harvey talks to Phil Hartman about the closing of the Pioneer and explores a vanishing East Village over the decades. [ NYP ] Please stop! Astroland rocket atop the fabulous Gregory and Paul's to be sold for scrap?! [ Curbed ] Ever-vigilant Grieve finds the Vigilant Hotel , a real flophouse somehow still alive. [ EVG ] The Ohio Theater is likely closing . Says art director Robert Lyons: "It's not the first cultural institution to succumb to real-estate pressures... Soon we're going to have a city without any cool theater spaces." [ VV ] VNY on flickr A Gowanus before and after . How quickly our urban landscape is radically changing. [ Curbed ] Orchard Corset , still surviving on carpetbagged Orchard Street, just launched a sexy new website. [ OC ]

VANISHING: March 2009 A reader wrote in to tell me about the impending demise of Chez le Chef, a "quirky and cool" restaurant at 29th and Lexington. "If you haven't been there," he said, "you should check it out before it closes." Chef Frederic (nee Friedhelm) Piepenburg began Chez le Chef as a pastry shop on York Avenue in 1987, but it all comes to an end in March 2009. The chef is done with cooking full-time and plans to settle down to writing cookbooks and anecdotes, of which he must have plenty--he was "the Sultan of Brunei's personal pastry chef, the man who kept Coco Channel in sacher tortes and the Saudi Prince in puff pastry," according to the Daily News , and "Director John Huston had Frederic flown to the set of Night of the Iguana in Mexico City to whip up his specialties for Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton." photo: joaoleitao's blog When you go, you'll find the front door is made of plywood, thanks to a

A reader sent in this link to the work of Jon Hammer, painter of "groovy old joints," the vanishing pubs and bars of the city. Check it out. [ JH ] MTA finds new way to torture us with advertising . [ Gothamist ] The freebie L Magazine offers an article on old technology still alive in the city . [ LM ] BaHa gets cheesy at Little Italy's Alleva . [ SE ] One of my favorite novels, Revolutionary Road , is soon to hit the big screen. That always makes me nervous. The Observer reports: Mendes didn't "fuck up." [ NYO ] Is the entire East Village for sale ? [ EVG ] LES fenced in by cartoon character advertisements. [ BBoogie ] El Diario replaced by el Wino. [ GVDP ]

Vesuvio is for sale , Eater reports. And it's not the first time in the past 5 years. In 2003 Anthony Dapolito, after more than two generations, sold the place to his neighbors the Gigante sisters-in-law. They all grew up together and the Gigantes promised to uphold the Vesuvio tradition. Downtown Express reported : "Dapolito, 83, worked as a boy in the bakery on Prince St., decades before the neighborhood came to be known as Soho. His father and mother, Nunzio and Jennie, immigrants from Naples, opened it in 1920 and Tony went on to own it after they died." Nunzio? Only months after selling the business, already in poor health, Mr. Dapolito died . On the passing of the man that Ed Koch called "the heart and soul of the Village," the bakery was bedecked with flowers . Vesuvio then went through a months-long renovation and reopened as a cafe . Not everyone was happy with the new smells of sandwich-making. One neighbor started a petition to stop the "stink