Vanishing New York Backup

VANISHED On West 4th Street, next to Left Bank Books, Lee's Laundry has closed after 30 years in Greenwich Village. photo: me-myself-i's flickr A reader sent in a flickr link with the news, saying, "I asked Mr. Lee if I could take his photograph. but he said 'No, I'm too sad.' When I asked if the rent had been raised too high, he said no, that was the strange thing, he had not been offered a lease. It was a very sad scene, nothing was left in the place except Mr. Lee and the clothes that hadn't been picked up by their owners hanging on the rack... I wonder if this location is destined to be another Marc Jacobs? " photo: my flickr I have been watching the little Chinese launderer's for awhile now, wondering how long it would last. Surrounded by Marc Jacobs boutiques, it was like a vulnerable gazelle circled by hungry lions. It had the tell-tale signs of an imminent vanisher--peeling paint, an interior that makes you want to peer inside, a sense of

The newest glass tower on 14th and 3rd is rising--here comes another box of nothing: The backlash against the Williamsburg backlash is backlashing. [ Curbed ] David Cronenberg to adapt Don DeLillo's "Cosmopolis" for the screen. [ LM ] East 3rd Street men's shelter getting rowdy in the EV. [ Gothamist ] A peek inside the old Charles theater on B. [ EVG ] Someone doesn't like "slavery" massage parlor ads in the Voice. [ BB ] Enjoy the cheap lunch special at Ola Polish Deli in Ridgewood. [ BBK ]

Just after news of Max Brenner's demise from the EV , the signage is off like a prom dress and workers are already gutting the place of all things bald and chocolate: On the license notice announcing a new Chipotle for the former Food Bar in Chelsea, someone has scrawled: "another F...g McDonald's? There's one right up the street!" Chipotle, McDonald's, it's really all the same: Cinema Nolita closes on Mulberry. [ BB ] Make a last visit to the lovely and lost Peter's grocery. [ FNY ] Bloomberg deports homeless from NYC , begins construction on giant velvet rope to keep rabble out of Manhattan. [ NYT ] Sign the petition to save Rudy's , one of the last real dives in Times Square. [ LM ] Looking back at a landmark countercultural theatre on Ave B. [ EVG ] Another skinny building has been revealed--the glass box that is replacing the more interesting 61 Fifth . [ Curbed ] Read about the old building here and here . In Glover's Mistake , &qu

Last September, I wrote about the sudden closing of Addukkan on 7th Street. Then in April, permits went up in the window, including for a kitchen. The architects were the same ones who did Jamba Juice. I got worried . Since then, I heard from sources on the street that a guitar shop is coming to this space . I doubted the rumors, wondering: It's a big space in a bad economy, and what kind of guitar shop needs a kitchen? But now, two neon signs are sitting uninstalled in the window of the still-empty shop: FRAMUS & WARWICK guitars. Framus guitars was founded in Germany in 1946 and later took on the name Warwick. The Beatles played Framus guitars. So did "Canadian hard rock power trio" Triumph. On the Warwick online forum , this address is noted as the "Custom Shop." According to this video , Framus' Custom Shop is expanding into direct sales with a "new headquarters in Manhattan"--and they're bringing their guitars to the "boutique

Let the de-gentrification of the "Vanishing Block" of 9th Ave begin. MePa is not moving in (yet). A taker has been found for the long-empty Chelsea Liquors spot. It's a Subway: " the High Line project ... is set to destroy the Chelsea gallery scene as we know i t. Just as SoHo quickly transformed itself ten years ago into Fashionista Central, so the High Line will become the enemy of high art and the locus of the frivolous ..." [ Artnet ] via [ Conscientious ] When public parks go stealthily private --on the High Line: "Celebrity endorsements (Edward Norton, Diane Von Furstenberg), caps on visitor attendance, adjacent real-estate development, and a dense police presence compared to other parks have all contributed to the appearance of something less than fully public." [ NYM ] The WaMu on 2nd Ave and 8th St is becoming yet another Chase . Does this mean the 2nd Ave Deli will move back into the Chase spot two blocks north? Wishful thinking... Bruni b

There's something about the South Brooklyn Casket Company. Maybe its the name, the startling word "casket" right out there in the open as you walk along Third Avenue in Gowanus. Maybe it's the fact that you can see right into the warehouse, to its cache of caskets , all gleaming silver and polished wood, waiting to be filled with, let's face it, your future. The company was founded in 1931 by Thomas Pontone and was more recently acquired by the larger Milso Industries, which is the name on the trucks you will see carrying the coffins out of the low brick buildings in Gowanus and to their customers. But the buildings haven't changed, they're still ramshackle and a bit ominous. You might find yourself lingering there, watching the boxes come out in bunches, and wondering who will lie inside them. A few years ago, the Times wrote about how the coffin company has inspired writing and art, including a video that appears to have nothing to do with South Brook

Say it ain't so! Guss' Pickles is leaving the LES for Brooklyn . One more reason to stop loving the LES. [ LD ] Is this the t-shirt of NYC's new generation ? They used to love the city, now they believe the city loves them. Trust me, yunnie, the city loves no one: Hipsters upset about the Crusty invasion of dead Williamsburg condos have retaliated with irony, creating the Gutter Punk Foldable and writing, "they've invaded the 'burg and now we can expect a surge in lyme disease from the ticks festering in their nasty-ass beards." [ FW ] L Magazine blogger Jonny Diamond rages at hipster-on-crusty hatred --and, in the process, sums up "the gentrifying pattern of the Lower East Side (aka the East Village) which went artist/junkies, crusty/huffers, yuppy/alcoholics" vs. the Williamsburg pattern, which "has kind of gone artist/alcoholics, hipster/cokeheads, yuppy/artisanal beercoholics." [ LM ] Russel Brand on Orchard [ BB ] and R-Pattz a

At the northeast corner of 13th and 3rd once stood the Stuyvesant Pear Tree , planted in 1667 by Peter Stuyvesant and felled 200 years later by a winter storm and a wayward horse in 1867. Below is a rare photo of the tree in better days. photo from NYPL The plaque that marked the presence of the pear tree has a long and circuitous history, which you can read about here in the Villager . In short: In 1890, the Holland Society erected the plaque on the wall of the Pear Tree drugstore, later Kiehl's, at 13th and 3rd. When Kiehl's moved one step to the north, the plaque came down, went to St. Marks Church, then to Mr. Charles Schlesinger, who owned the Bendiner & Schlesinger lab building at 3rd and 10th. Then Kiehl's expanded back into its original corner spot, which was re-dedicated Pear Tree Corner in 2003, after L'Oreal bought out the long-time local business. And the historic lab building was demolished in 2005 to build what is now an SVA dorm. The plaque, once gr

Noisy, illegal hotel (packed with crazy Canadian girls) freaking out uptowners. [ Gothamist ] Partying renters are not properly respecting the condos they've been invited into. [ Curbed ] Just don't rent to America's Top Models --you might end up with this twisted nightmare. [ Gawker ] On 14th and 6th, the long-empty storefront with the LYNN's ghost sign has found a tenant-- one of the 9,000 7-Eleven's coming our way to kill our bodegas: Visit the incredible Chez Ralph in Red Hook. [ NYP ] Is American Apparel firing workers the owner deems "unattractive and thus detrimental to the 'AA aesthetic'"? [ Gawker ] In a highly funded campaign, who's actually volunteering for Bloomberg ? [ NYM ] SuperDive --a different kind of velvet rope. [ EVG ]

The Cabinet Shop on 7th Avenue in Park Slope has closed. People stop by the window to look in at the empty store and exclaim, "Oh! I was just about to buy new cabinets!" They take a few moments to read what might be the bitterest farewell note ever posted by a shuttered mom-and-pop . And that's a compliment. They excelled at bitter signage--like the "No Cell Phones" sign that I loved (not everyone loved it--see this rant/parody from FIPS ). Here, they stick it to all the window pickers who never bought, and to Ikea--without naming names--we know who they mean when they say "inferior quality, cookie cutter mold made objects" that waste money and crowd landfills. It's a must-read--click to enlarge: Now, if you're shamed and still looking for durable, handcrafted items, their workshop at 712 5th Ave, between 22nd and 23rd, is still in operation.

Cute video alert: Freaky puppy with extra leg escapes life in the Coney Island freakshow--not the local Coney Sideshow , but the one that came from Hollywood. [ Gothamist ] More on the Hollywood freakshow . [ CR ] What's it like to party at the Coop ? Jill gives the inside scoop. [ EVG ] Mmm...the Clover Delicatessen . A place I worry about. [ GVDP ] Just released: Lost & Found, New York stories from Mr. Beller's Neighborhood. [ SMB ] Upcoming "Tenement Talks" include Colum McCann (7/29) and "Automats, Taxi Dances, & Vaudeville" (8/11). [ Tenement ] 100 disappearing things. [ Wired ]

Last weekend, when I ordered a chocolate egg cream at Ray's Candy , it inexplicably came in a Wolfgang Puck coffee cup ( click to view ) instead of the usual Greek-design "We Are Happy to Serve You" cup so emblematic of the city. I thought little of it, figured he got some deal on cheap cups, finished my egg cream, and tossed the cup away. Last summer's egg cream at Ray's: Remarkably, the next day, City Room solved the mystery , telling the story behind the recent proliferation of random coffee cups of New York . Jennifer 8. Lee explains, "much of the eclectic assortment of cups are part of a lively underground market of what are called 'misprints'....they are overruns, discontinued prints, leftovers from promotions, or the results of cup-using vendors who go bankrupt, leaving the manufacturer with unwanted cups." photo: Angela Jimenez for The New York Times Aside from Wolfgang Puck, the random cups advertise banks, football stadiums, soft drink

I just realized that I missed my own anniversary. On July 15, this blog turned 2. It's now officially a toddler that refuses to eat what I put in front of it. You can read about my first anniversary here . Here are 5 of my favorites from back then: Doyers Street The Egg Cream Lives Old Newsstands Lenny & Leather Pupkin's Payphones The Diesel Wall , hyped by the corporation as a kind of public art project , is now more obviously what it really was all along--a big ad: Ikea quits the free rides. This is how they getcha--the big retailers come in with all kinds of treats, lull you to sleep, then one by one, the treats disappear. [ BP ] Time Out New York seems to think the Cooper Square Hotel is "cool" and "edgy" , just like the old school East Village. [ TONY ] Will 1st Avenue and 6th Street, already overcrowded, get its own MePa-style Bacchanalian Brunch nightmare? [ EVG ] People respond to the glorious 500-foot rule . [ Eater ] City painter Sharon Flo

Recession or no, construction continues full throttle along the High Line 's yet undeveloped northern parts. Curbed recently reported on a giant hotel and condo complex that will take down a few of the existing low-rises and blue-collar businesses. There are gaping holes where more hotels will grow. Condos bloat and shoulder their way between leather bars and strip joints. Before we know it, the entire neighborhood as it currently exists will have vanished. Today, it is not yet the glittering showpiece the developers want it to be. It's still raw. Still rough around the edges. There are interesting things to see. Like fully functioning scrap yards . Auto repair shops where busy mechanics take their breaks in the noontime sun, to sit on the sidewalk with eyes closed, catching short siestas. Flat fix shops with tires stacked in neat, braided piles. Taxi garages and medallion operations. And the fantastic Terminal Food Shop, aka Poppy's , serving deli food under big animal

Good news! 500-foot-rule strengthened by NY State-- a neighborhood victory over the nightclub juggernaut. [ Eater ] Jill says: Stop the SuperNoise of Superdive. [ Blah ] On 23rd and 7th, Burritoville to become Lucky's Famous burger shop . Famous? Well, there's one on 52nd and now they're spreading: And right next door, what was (I think) a frame store is becoming... a Michigan Militia or some other paramilitary hideout? Hard to tell with the U.S Marines and "Don't Tread on Me" flags draped in the covered windows: See the "Teeny Bop Horde" as Gossip Girls take over Little Italy. [ BB ] Another take on the recession's upside for NYC : " some of the worst kind of New York types are less in evidence . The wannabes who walk down the street shouting into their cell phones, trying to look like wheeler dealers, the masters of the universe types who stare .....somber and smug.... through the tinted windows of their black limos; the over dressed, o

I recently stumbled upon a Lower East Side blog called It Was Her New York . It's different than many of the other neighborhood blogs, mine included. I liked it, so I contacted its author, C.O. Moed, and asked her these questions. photo by Ruben Guzman Q: I like the quietness of your blog. It feels somehow outside of the blogosphere hubbub. Like you're walking a different wavelength. How would you say your blog compares to other EV/LES neighborhood blogs? What made you start it? A: The blogs of the East Village and Lower East Side are so much more “here and now”-- a street-citizen journalism . Very similar to the way word traveled on the LES when I was growing up--someone would see something, tell someone who told the shopkeeper who told the next customer who called his/her spouse/ kid/ neighbor and before you know it everybody knew everything and usually someone was in trouble with their mother. I began this blog to save the heart of a video doc project, IT WAS HER NEW YORK d

As noisy, obnoxious bars and restaurants spill to gentrified Long Island City, people are freaking out LES-style. [ Curbed ] Tonight : Tell the SLA, "No more liquor licenses in the EV!" If it's giving you a headache and keeping you up at night, then stand up and be heard at the CB3 meeting . (Click the pic to read details.) Koi sushi says they'll be low-key on the Bowery. Meanwhile, celebs and fashionistas gear up for this "in-crowd magnet." They go before the CB3 tonight. [ EVG ] 5 Rose's Pizza miraculously did not become a bank or a Starbucks. Iggy's Pizzeria now has signage and the place is spruced up with a pressed-tin ceiling and flat-screen TVs--so we'll see what that's all about. They're also up at the CB3 tonight: 7/23 at Otto's Shrunken Head: Go to the benefit for Ray's Candy and help save this EV institution. [ Shadow ] How the foodies are ruining junk food by making it fancy. Sort of. [ NYT ] Anyway, check out thi

Last year, I went to see the Dance of the Giglio in East Harlem . This year, I went to see it in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where it is the centerpiece of the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel . In East Harlem, the Giglio structure is made of wood and in Williamsburg it's metal. The Williamsburg feast is also bigger, more crowded, and on narrower streets. But the feeling is the same. It feels like New York. People talk with Brooklyn accents , they wear gold chains, pinkie rings, and cream-colored loafers. They say Madonn' and minchia . Their tattoos are far from ironic. We sang the Star-Spangled Banner and the monsignor said a prayer. After the Giglio singer sang the traditional Italian songs, he did Sinatra. "Start spreadin' the news..." as the Giglio went up and down, around and around, making its precarious and glittery way along the street. A few hipsters wandered in with their Super-8 movie cameras and Wayfarers, but the crowd was decidedly Italian-American of

Life is so hard for the beautiful people--take a peek inside Delicatessen (aka Urine Roof Cafe ) and its ultra-exclusive Model Lounge --for fashion models only. [via Eater ] It's so awesome to be gorgeous and make money as a living statue outside the Hollister store on Broadway. Hang ten, dude! Welcome to New California: The Gossip Girls are coming downtown again. Gird your loins. [ BB ] The super-beautifiers lose one battle, anyway-- Washington Square Park will NOT fall under martial law . Not yet. [ Curbed ] Agitated and crusty Paul Giamatti "roams his home streets of Brooklyn Heights with his arms crossed, glaring at strangers." Can he play me in the movie version? [ NYer ]