Vanishing New York Backup

Coney Island's old Playland is losing its letters. One by one as the years go by. Summer 2010 They're mid-century neon letters. One has to wonder if they're being taken by ordinary vandals or by Coney Island history buffs terrified that this, too, is about to vanish. Summer 2011 In Forgotten New York , Kevin Walsh tells us that Playland began in 1930 as Silver's Penny Arcade. It was run as Playland from 1957 until it closed in 1981. Horace Bullard bought it and left it to rot. The ruin's guardian was a man named Andy Badalamenti . He recently passed away . A small tribute to him hangs on the fence outside Playland. For a peek inside the ruins of Playland, see photos by Lindsay Wengler and Nathan Kensinger .

My last drink at Ruby's on the boardwalk at Coney Island. I don't have much to say about it. It's been here, "a Brooklyn treasure," since 1934. After this summer, it will crumble under a corporate tsunami, along with the rest of the boardwalk. How can I ever go out there again?

Assuming Hurricane Irene didn't suck Zamperla out to sea, there's not much time left to say goodbye to Coney Island as we've long known it. We all know the devastation that is coming after this summer. The company that Bloomberg has handed this city treasure over to has a vision to make the place " refined, cleaner ...with sit-down restaurants and sports bars." And so everything on the boardwalk, except Nathan's and Lola Star, will be bulldozed. They want to turn it into a place where you can "sit in nice comfortable chairs and have a nice cappuccino or ice coffee." Sitting down is key. So is niceness. "Nice" is an epidemic that's killing the city . What will "nice" look like at Coney? It's already arrived. We've got a good idea of what's to come thanks to the new Luna Park's Cyclone Cafe . It looks like it was born from a plastics extruder, a cookie-cutter design with none of the joyful messiness of Co...

Still on exhibit at the Mob Scene Gallery in Little Italy, "Crazy" Joe Gallo's fedora, the one he was wearing on the night he was gunned down and died in the street outside Umberto's Clam House. Before opening this storefront museum in Little Italy, proprietor Arthur Nash kept his gangland collection in his room, formerly Bob Dylan's room, at the Chelsea Hotel. That is one haunted hat.

Jason Shelowitz (aka Jay Shells ) offers a sneak peek of his latest urban etiquette street-art project-- heads up texting zombies! In Bed-Stuy: "This is not the kind of neighborhood people like us move into." [ NYT ] Mmmm...the urban jungles of the Flower District. [ SNY ] 8/26: Take a walking tour with Greenlight Books and Literary Brooklyn author Evan Hughes. [ FB ] Bottled Brooklyn sells "vegan-friendly" test-tubes full of Brooklyn dirt --for $24. [ BB ] More on how the deal was done to sell the Chelsea . [ CN ] Why 316 E. 3rd must be saved. [ EVG ] & [ OTG ] Remembering The Dom . [ ENY ] Greenwich Village poet Samuel Menashe has died [ NYT ]. He was someone I once knew in another life, long ago. This is the poem of his I remember best: Here and there White hairs appear On my chest— Age seasons me Gives me zest— I am a sage In the making Sprinkled, shaking

Oh, the ups and downs of the Chelsea Antiques Garage . Pat writes in to say, "I just emailed a vendor I keep in touch with and she told me the Garage was originally going to close August 28th but they're on a month to month lease again . For now!" Along with Steve Cuozzo, we're worried about El Quijote , too. [ NYP ] Can't get enough of the egg cream? Check out this ultimate guide--it also gives you good ideas for where to find a diner. [ JCT ] Marty buys a pile of books at St. Mark's Bookshop . [ MAD ] 8/30: Meet the last of the live nude girls with Arthur Nersesian at St. Mark's Bookshop: Video of yarn-bomber Olek . [ BB ] Jazz musician Giuseppe Logan is alive and well and back in Tompkins Square Park. [ EVG ] Is a good restaurant review " the final nail in Bushwick's coolness coffin "? [ Gothamist ]

Check out the film " Last Summer at Coney Island " free until 9/1. [ BSr ] John Penley announces a protest at the office of Ira Meister , seller of the Bialystoker Nursing Home: 9/1 at 3:30 at 127 E. 59th. [ FB ] Central Park Boathouse employees reveal the eater "has been serving filtered tap water disguised as bottled H2O for a whopping $8 for years." [ NYDN ] A collection of ugly NYC buildings . [ Restless ] The demolition of an East Village " dream home ." [ EVG ] Reasons to save another EV dream home from demolition. [ OTG ] Olive and the Bitter Herbs : A play about a woman "washed up in a rent-controlled apartment in Kips Bay" whose neighbors are driving her "crazy with the scent of artisanal cheeses." Sounds good to me. [ CNY ]

Sunday 8/28: Join David Freeland and Poor Baby Bree for a free historical musical tour of the LES. [ PBB ] Cooling off with the Lemon Ice King of Corona. [ LC ] "It is an indelible, if sorta pervy, memory: going over to the Bowery loft a couple of doors down from William ­Burroughs’s place to talk to Blondie guitarist Chris Stein about Japanese monster movies and seeing Debbie Harry’s underwear spread out across the uneven wooden floor, half a dozen pairs of panties and maybe a bra or two." [ NYM ] Welcome to the mysterious Box House Hotel , just "a used-condom’s toss from the Newtown Creek Waste Water Treatment Facility." [ NYS ] San Gennaro Feast to get gourmet offerings. [ Eater ] Catching up with Literary Brooklyn . [ P&W ] This year, over 40% of thefts in NYC involve cell phones. [ RS ] A visit to Chinatown's Wo Hop . [ MAD ]

I wrote about the Allerton Hotel when it vanished in 2007 to become part of the Gem Hotel chain, but it is only now, after finally getting immersed in Patti Smith's excellent memoir Just Kids , that I get a full picture of what the Allerton was really like in its rock-bottom days. verplanck's flickr Smith recalls taking Robert Mapplethorpe to stay there, sick and broke, with nowhere else to go. She remembers their room: " The place reeked of piss and exterminator fluid , the wallpaper peeling like dead skin in summer." And the "lumpy pillow was crawling with lice." " There was nothing romantic about this place , seeing half-naked guys trying to find a vein in limbs infested with sores. Everybody's door was open because it was so hot, and I had to avert my eyes as I shuttled to and from the bathroom." She says, "Never had I seen so much collective misery and lost hopes, forlorn souls who had fouled their lives." today ...

I've been nominated for CBS New York's " Most Valuable Blogger " award. Vote for me here. " I remember The Chelsea Hotel . Sometimes writing things down can make everything a little more bearable." [ WIC ] Ozzie's 7th Avenue location in Park Slope to close--the rent is too damn high. [ BSr ] Are we about to lose the forlorn little buildings on 3rd between 11th and 12th? (They were once the tallest on their block.) [ EVG ] Where are we? Two banks, two cell phones, a tub of fro-yo: In Bed-Stuy: Stop the eviction of Mary Lee Ward. [ O4O ] ...At today's rally . The neon cows of Corona. [ LC ] Do you have sidewalk rage ? Maybe it's because the sidewalks are more crowded now than in past years. Maybe it's because people don't know how to walk. Robert Selsam proposes a Pedestrian Code of Conduct . $50 fine for not staying to the right! [ NYDN ]

Bloomberg has become unpopular at last--and this great bunch of comments shows how the tide has turned. [ NYT ] August 22: Stand Up, Speak Out against anti-LGBT violence in Williamsburg and Greenpoint. [ NYS ] Bostonian Bowery Beef moving off the Bowery --they were robbed by junkies 4 times in one week--and we might get a new bookstore out of the deal. [ EVG ] Washington Square Park's new fountain design may be killing the trees. [ WSP ] Advertising on the High Line gets classy: The end is near for what was one of the largest meatpacking plants in town-- a demolition permit has been filed . [ OTG ] Park Slope's Henington Press shop, long empty, has a new tenant and it's not a wine shop --it's a framer. [ OMFS ] Will renovation ruin the Fortune House sign in Brooklyn Heights? [ LC ] Frances Bean has a tattoo of Quentin Crisp on her back --mom Courtney Love says, "I was incredibly impressed. I was like ‘Awww, that’s my daughter!’" [ NYO ]

Last August I visited the last of the remaining Andrews Coffee Shops in the city. There were two at the time. And now--there is one . This week, in an Eater post about a new "dark dining concept from Paris" and its "fall arrival at a former Andrew's Coffee Shop ," I recognized the blue sign above the papered windows as the lovely little Andrews on 38th. Apparently, it has closed , I guess sometime this past year. August 2010 It's regrettable. It was a good, out-of-the-way place, cheap and neighborly. As I described it last summer: " It had a slightly desultory air about it. No one was pumping happiness into the place. There were no flatscreen TVs screaming and no bouncy music. The song on the radio when I walked in was singing from 1990, 'If you don't love me, why don't you let me go?' Here, they let you eat in peace." So much for all that. At the time, I wrote, " If I had to bet which Andrews will be next to vanish...

A look inside Goorin Hat Brothers of Bleecker, formerly the Etc. Grocery (and porn magazine) shop: Enjoy the vintage East Village photos of Michael Sean Edwards. [ EVG ] Chinatown is falling : "Sitting in a tiny kitchen, with a view across Delancey to one of those silver, faux-industrial-style million-dollar condos with rooftop birch trees, Mrs. Zheng, 58, smiles and waves her hand as if to bat away flies. 'It is battles all the time here; lots of people are leaving,'" she says while her landlord schemes up new ways to get her out. [ NYT ] Greenwich Village fashions of the 60s --suburban! comfortable! corduroy! [ LS ] 8/23: Rally to save the Bialystoker Nursing Home . [ BB ] The nightmare that is Bryant Park movies . [ NYT ]

Now that 51 Astor is getting prepped for demolition , with its tall trees chopped down , so a new glass tower can rise on its site, let's take a look at its role in the battle for Astor Place--and Cooper Union's role in it all. The City's Department of Transportation and Cooper Union are unfolding their plan to turn Astor Place into what they call a public park, but what is clearly an amenity for more condo and office towers, setting the stage for further upscaling of the East Village and Bowery. In the plan, there will no more street called Astor Place. Preservationists, like GVSHP, oppose the plan because Astor Place, the street, is very old, dating back to a Native American trail from the 1600s. That's a good reason. Another good reason is that the city should not be taking away our streets to give green plazas to private developments and calling them public parks. This isn't the first time powerful forces have tried to erase Astor Place as it stands. Cooper Un...

Is the media brainwashing us? Programming the Nation comes to the Quad Friday. The city's oldest bagel shop felled in part because "Now, people make coffee at home and have a Pop Tart." [ CR ] "In New York, they saved " on everything, until they didn't. [ Nonetheless ] Jerry's Astor Place newsstand gets a reprieve--for now. The city still wants him gone in November. [ EVG ] Hello, elusive white rat of Tompkins Square Park. [ NMNL ] Remembering Merlin .

VANISHED Todd in Hell's Kitchen tipped us to Michael Musto's report that the Film Center Cafe has closed --it's been here since 1933. Musto writes, "it's kaput... The sign outside thanks patrons for their years of support and urges them to go to the other eateries in the chain." trishylicious' flickr The cafe's Facebook page , as of August 7, says they're closed for renovations and will reopen in the fall. I could not get a confirmation from the cafe owners and their telephone didn't answer--no "disconnected" message, no voice mail, it just rings and rings. The website remains up. But a call to their sister restaurant, Cara Mia, confirmed: " They're closed for good ." So what happened between renovation plans on August 7 and closing for good? 78 years is a long time to survive and then just suddenly vanish. Now this has me worried about the whole block. Ninth Avenue between 44th and 45th has long been a have...

Patti Smith is getting Just Kids ready for the big screen. [ NYM ] LES exploded with new restaurants in past decade. [ Gothamist ] EV Crazy Landlord building to get sex toy shop ? [ VV ] Karl Fischer gets busy building in the East Village. [ EVG ] Behind the recent closure of the new P&G bar and grill . [ DNA ]

VANISHING After a stay of execution, we now hear that the Antiques Garage in Chelsea will be closing at the end of August . Tipster Mitch points us to the blog Stuff Nobody Cares About , who says, "The dealers who exhibit have been told that Extell will soon begin demolition and this month is to be their last." In 2007, we visited the Antiques Garage and heard that 2008 would be its final year after the building was sold to developer Extell. The year 2008 came, the economy collapsed, the developer wasn't developing, and the Antiques Garage got a new lease . At the time, a vendor told me, "It's a month-to-month lease, but I expect we'll be here another year or two. The developer can't get a hotel license. There are too many hotels around here as it is ." There are still too many hotels around there, but no matter. Extell is coming. With something big. As the Observer recently reported, Extell president "Gary Barnett continues to bul...

The Occupation of Wall Street begins Sept 17--meet tomorrow in Tompkins Square Park to help plan the protest. [ OWS ] Hotel Chelsea lobby desecrated , stripped of its art by new owners. [ LWL ] Soho "under siege" by the "cancer" of mallification. [ Villager ] Controversial hotelier eyes the (apparently humanless) Rockaways for more hipification: "It's the Lower East Side on the beach. It's like, 'Why are people not living out here? '" [ NYM ] The vintage, sleazy Times Square art of Jane Dickson. [ VS ] Developers push 5th Avenue luxury north, north, north. [ NYM ] The "Crazy Landlord" might be getting his wish. [ EVG ]

In the works is a new documentary called My Brooklyn , written and directed by Kelly Anderson and Allison Lirish Dean. It tells the story of gentrification in Brooklyn as it follows filmmaker Kelly Anderson's journey from 1988, when she first moved to the borough, to today, when luxury housing and chain stores have taken over, killing the soul of BK. Check out the film's trailer and support the film by kicking over some cash on Kickstarter . In the meantime, I asked Kelly some questions about the film and she answered... Q: Your title is, in a quiet way, a provocative one. To say "my" Brooklyn implies ownership, just as many New Yorkers have a proprietary sense about the city, and the neighborhoods, in which they live. Today more than ever that sense bumps up against gentrification in the fiercest way. How have the past 10 years of major changes impacted your sense of "your" Brooklyn? A: The easiest answer to your question is that the film is told ...

The P&G has closed earlier than expected . Writes a tipster: " last night the P&G closed its doors forever. They had planned to have a big blowout farewell weekend. Unfortunately, that was not to be, and Holiday informed all of us that last night ended up being its swan song." I love these anti-texting t-shirts . [ LUST ] via [ Racked ] Cat fashion show at the Algonquin! [ Gothamist ] Olek hits Chelsea with her crochet street art . [ BB ] Where to find the cheapest beer in the EV. [ EVG ] This Saturday, check out Stephanie Gray's poetry and super-8 films of vanished NYC , including lost bakeries like Zito's, Jon Vie, and Gertel's. [ AP ]

VANISHED I've been watching the Meatpacking District's Olympia parking garage for a long time now. With Pastis on one side and luxury renovations all around, this scruffy survivor has worn the heavy look of doom. Still, it seemed to be doing well. Shopaholics need a place to park their Escalades, after all. today This week, however, scaffolding has gone up over the Olympia and its doors are shut . I called the number and got a "disconnected" message. today The blog Paper and String confirms that after 35 years of business here the Olympia Garage has closed. They write, " Our sources say the rent has increased fivefold and Olympia Garage will not be seeking another location. We were told the Olympia was already becoming dissatisfied with the big changes that came (and are coming) to the Meatpacking District." Through the window, a few abandoned car keys still hang on the board. The calendar pages are turned to July. The telephones have been ...

Artisanalization, germophobia, and class shifts are killing the hot dog : "'a staple of New York...it’s the way New York is.' But the way New York is has been changing." [ NYT ] Check out this film footage of the Lower East Side in 1967 --before it contracted "corporate herpes." [ DM ] How did I miss the transgender Jesus in Tompkins Square Park? [ EVC ] East Village woman is swimming to Coney Island to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of a similar swim. [ EVG ] Mary Cantwell at the Chelsea Hotel in 1978. [ ENY ] What is a " real looking Brooklyn working class type"? Ask CBS. [ LM ] Goggla posts her " Confronting Comfort " protest coverage. [ TGL ] Celebrate Historic Coney Island Sunday 8/28 from 1pm-5pm at the First Annual HISTORY DAY at Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park & The Coney Island History Project .

It's time to worry about the mom-and-pop businesses on Bleecker Street between 10th and Christopher as the Rodeo Drive machine steamrolls south with aims to conquer the block. A recap of recent events nearby: After losing two long-standing antique shops last year, Treasures & Trifles and Leo Design , both of those spaces have since been filled with luxury chain stores. Toons Thai restaurant and the Miracle Grill, both long empty, are about to get European luxury chains . The park has been closed for a high-end renovation. Today, from 10th Street all the way northwest, the only businesses left on Bleecker that aren't high-end mall stores or intimately connected to Sex & the City are the art gallery A Clean Well-Lighted Place (since 1976) and the 22-year-old Arleen Bowman boutique. That's it. Everything else has been replaced or still lies vacant , mostly in just the past 5 years. "Everything" means approximately 43 other businesses. Plus, a resi...