Vanishing New York Backup

Oh no, no, no-- Bill's Gay 90s files for bankruptcy in financial rift with landlord. [ LC ] Take a look out Harvey Wang's window --at the Tenement Museum. [ CR ] Harry Potter to play Allen Ginsberg --a better fit than Franco's Howl ? [ Gothamist ] Longtime holistic and homeopathic EV Veterinarian shuttered. [ BB ] A drink at Rolf's twinkly spectacular. [ MAD ] You can rent the last empty storefront in Coney's Stillwell terminal. [ ATZ ] When will NYC's massive tourist bubble burst? [ NYM ]

On saving Bill's Gay 90s, Brooks offers: "a news flash to Mr. DeLucie: Bill's already has an old-time feel . Don't fuck it up with your vile whoring-after-the-1%, faux-authentic sensibilities. This is not your element. You have no idea what a real New York tavern is. So: Back. The. Hell. Away. From. Bill's." [ LC ] Hinsch's saved --reopens to great excitement in Bay Ridge. [ NYDN ] French street artist JR covers the windows of unrented retail space at 456 West 19th with his big monochromatic eyes: Finding an undiscovered clutch of vintage neon in the Bronx. [ NYN ] Harlemisms from 1951--you dig? [ DTDB ] What's the story with backhouses ? (Not to be confused with the Italian back'ows .) [ OTG ] 7-story condo-type thing to replace countercultural theater on Ave. B. [ EVG ]

As Grieve reported , Nevada Smith's on 3rd Avenue between 11th and 12th has closed and the building that holds it, along with its neighbor, is coming down. Said Smith's, developers are "poised to demolish most of the block and replace our place, and yours, with a new luxury apartment block." The two doomed tenement buildings have been derelict for some time, a place for mysterious grubby curtains and wondering about weird interiors. They are also the last remnants of the old block. photo: Mark Kane In this late-1970s photo by reader Mark Kane, they are the tallest structures on the block. To their left is James Renwick's 1869 headquarters of the New York City Department of Public Charities and Corrections. It was demolished in 1989 for the Loews Village 7 multiplex. The trio of three-story buildings on their right disappeared, said Mark, "when the landlord pulled some of those 'decorative' columns from the storefronts, only to have the building f...

Zito's Sandwich Shoppe answers the question on every Park Slope parent's mind--and solves the babies in bars problem-- "YES! We have Growlers & High Chairs." Feel free to get drunk with your baby: Bill's Gay 90s ( that fantastic spot that is completely unpretentious and accessible) is about to be ruined. [ NYP ] Are we losing the famous and wonderful Mike's Newsstand Candyland from Harlem? [ HB ] There are now $14 foie gras dog biscuits . [ Eater ] Here come demos and condos for the corner of 12th and 3rd. [ EVG ] Garment District standby Spanish Taverna has shuttered. [ LC ] Tour along the Harlem River . [ FNY ] Epic article on the leaders of OWS . [ NYM ] Inside the kitchen the night of the raid on Zuccotti : "the ruling class doesn’t want us carrying soap and deodorant, they want us to smell bad." [ POW ]

The big plywood wall surrounding the vanished Village Lukoil on 8th Avenue and Horatio has a bright, bold new look, thanks to Jay Shells , aka Jason Shelowitz, creator of guerrilla urban etiquette signage and other street art . photo: JVNY He spent the whole weekend working on it, first outlining it, then filling it in with blue, purple, and black. I asked him a few questions about it. photo: Jay Shells What made you pick this stretch of plywood? i picked this because i live up the street and saw it as a giant blank canvas. who wants to look at plywood covered in stupid fly-poster ads for months anyway? What's the work about--waves? giant squid tentacles? just some abstractions from my bag of tricks. i've done a bunch of paintings like this before. the fluid motion of the lines help me think. since it's not really about anything in particular, it's just real therapy for me. get to just flow with the paint and not worry about it looking like anything in particular. it...

First St. Mark's Books and now Caffe Vivaldi. Originally aiming to triple the rent , landlord Croman has made a deal with Vivaldi to keep it in its Greenwich Village home for another 10 years. But they need major donations to stay afloat. Here's the Facebook update: Dear friends of Caffe Vivaldi, Congratulations to all of you, the members of our "Save Caffe Vivaldi" family. We have an agreement with our landlord. Without your overwhelming support this would not have been possible - almost 5,000 signatures in less than four weeks!!! Our rent is going to be high, but manageable, provided we raise our revenue by soundproofing and renovating our premises. Towards that end we have launched a fundraising drive. Our goal is to raise $75,000/- by the end of December. We have already raised $7,000/- in the past few days. We are very proud to note that our support is very broad, ranging from $5 - $1,000/- donations so far. This enthusiastic response to our fundraising drive ...

If you haven't yet been to visit the All City Student Occupation at the New School , go now--before they're booted out. [ Gothamist ] Oh God, the miserable new individually wrapped Ritz crackers of DOH'd Sardi's ! [ MAD ] First they came for the cheesepots. Now Matilda the Algonquin cat has been banished by DOH. [ Gothamist ] If you enjoy complaining that " New York just isn’t what it used to be ," check out these links. [ P&W ] Saying goodbye to the Coney Island Souvenir Shop --shuttered by Zamperla after 25 years in business. [ ATZ ] Uncle Moe's burritos of Park Slope shuttered after 20 years. [ HPS ] Walking on Waverly . [ FNY ] Times Square's Rialto in the 60s and 70s. [ VS ] Damaged book press conference from the OWS librarians. [ RS ] Sign the petition to help keep libraries open and running in NYC's public schools. [ THS ]

In this week's Village Voice , on stands today, Jen Doll publishes a big cover story entitled "How to Be a New Yorker." It's a follow-up to a 1964 book with the same title by Joan and Leslie Rich and it's good fodder for debate about what being a New Yorker really means. I offer the following excerpt, not just because I'm quoted in it (and get in a dig at Little Wisco ), but because it covers the nostalgic part about living in the city, from both sides of the story. Which side do you take? Jen writes: Lament the way things change, even as you know it is inevitable . Despite our hard-edged reputation, we are, in fact, a bunch of nostalgic saps. Tough guys on the outside, pure mush in the middle. And we hate change, we really hate it, even though change has been a New York constant since before New York was born. In How to Be a New Yorker , the Riches write: "Long ago we realized that New York is the only place for heart-on-the-sleeve romantics like us, who...

We've lost another vintage neon sign. verplanck's flickr Mayfair Chemists on 7th Avenue at 12th Street, felled by Duane Reade in 2006 , just had its chrome and neon sign removed. What's moving in? The Duane Reade on the corner is expanding southward--now it will take up the entire block. Let's hope Mayfair doesn't suffer the same fate as Jade Mountain --unknown but likely disastrous.

Married Brooklyn authors Paul Auster and Siri Hustvedt have just purchased a pair of plots in Green-Wood Cemetery. They will one day become "permanent residents," sharing prime real estate with the likes of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and Bowery Boy bare-knuckle boxer William "Bill the Butcher" Poole. (Writer Pete Hamill will also be a neighbor.) They made the purchase this weekend when Auster appeared at Green-Wood to read from his novel Sunset Park , answer questions, and sign books. Originally, he was to give a cemetery tour via trolley, but that part of the afternoon was cancelled--a disappointment, as I was looking forward to the weirdness of riding a cemetery trolley with Paul Auster as guide . It was my first time at Green-Wood and a perfect day for it, crisp and autumnal, with the green monk parrots chattering madly in their nests high up in the nooks of the big entrance gate. Immediately lost, I wandered into a building that looked li...

The Torrisi guys taking over Rocco's are now offering a " gastronomic tour of New York City that runs $125 a head " and represents the current NYC moment with a tribute to Jay-Z: oysters in Armand de Brignac champagne and pieces of broken bottle. [ F&W ] via [ Eater ] No more delicious cheese pots and crackers at the bar at Sardi's ! [ Eater ] Is this finally the end for Mary Help of Christians Church? [ EVG ] "Years ago I used to see Johnny Ramone in Old Chelsea Station all the time, in his holey jeans and leather jacket, opening up his P.O. box. Back then the notion of any post office closing would have been as hard for me to imagine as imagining Johnny Ramone as a conservative Republican, which, I just recently learned, he was." [ WIC ] Racugglia Funeral Home in Carroll Gardens takes down its great old neon sign--hopefully just temporarily. [ LC ] A play-by-play of yesterday's Occupy Everywhere . [ NYM ] Don't miss the Woody Allen document...

Earlier this month we shared the news that Caffe Vivaldi would be forced to close due to a massive rent hike from its new landlord, Steve Croman. The petition to save Vivaldi gathered steam, with thousands of signatures, recently getting a boost from Move On . Your support has helped get Croman to reduce that rent hike--temporarily . Now Vivaldi needs us to back up the support with cash so they can keep going. Yesterday, the owner of Vivaldi gave the following update on the cafe's Facebook page : "Here’s the latest: my last discussion with the landlord was yesterday, 11/16. My next meeting with him is on Monday. He is willing to come down substantially from his asking price of $16,000/- per month, but only for the first year . Even if he comes down to $9,000/- or $10,000/- It is a huge rent escalation. The fair market rate in our area is $100/- a sq. ft. So, the rent for 685sq. ft. that we have, should be $6,850/- per month. After 6 meetings with the landlord, I know this is...

Blayze sends in this pic and the good news--the Waverly Diner's neon lights are shining again: The fight to save Caffe Vivaldi moves on to Move On. [ BB ] Go behind the scenes at the great DeRobertis pastry shop in the EV. [ RNYE ] The big M over the Milford Plaza has vanished. [ NYN ] Before and afters for the Coney Boardwalk . [ ATZ ] Joe's Bar has reopened. [ EVG ] NYC's delightful decorative squirrels . [ ENY ] Avenue Jew appears in Midwood--as anti-semitism is on the rise across the country. [ NYM ] OWS tries to shut down Wall Street . Occupy everywhere--today. [ Gothamist ] Coney Island whitefish , way off course, stuck to the floor of the C train:

City of Strangers recalled our attention to the photography of James Jowers . We'd first seen these shots thanks to E.V. Grieve and Stupefaction , but they bear looking at again--and again--for the fantastic shots of the East Village, its people, and environs in the 1960s. This one, especially, caught my eye. It's a recognizable location, if you live around here, and the number 91 clinched it. James Jowers, 1966 today In 1968, two years after Jowers took that photo, New York Magazine wrote about the Miller Fish Market . It had been there since 1898 and was presided over by the brother and sister Miller, ages 72 and 81, respectively. They weren't so crazy about the Village View housing project that opened up across First Avenue in 1964. There's a great shot in the magazine of Fannie Miller, "81-year-old fishlady extraordinary." New York Magazine Since 1989, 91 First Avenue has been home to the Dual Specialty Store , a beloved Indian market. This is the kind...

VANISHED (and then, partly, not) "The books have been seized, librarians have been gassed and jailed ." If this message wasn't coming over the Occupy Wall Street Library's Facebook page , you might think you'd been hurled back in time, to 1933 Berlin when Goebbels "consigned to the flames" thousands of books. But this was yesterday in New York City and Bloomberg was the leader giving orders. all photos November 2011 Just a few days ago, I made a visit to Occupy Wall Street and was impressed with the growth of the People's Library, which I'd seen evolve from a few cardboard boxes of books perched on a ledge to a lighted Quonset hut (donated by Patti Smith ) loaded with well-organized titles in every genre. So it was with great sadness and outrage that I heard the news yesterday morning about the NYPD raid on Zuccotti Park and their destruction of the People's Library . After the initial shock, we learned that the NYPD tossed more than 5,000...

From the Occupy Wall Street librarians : "Call 311 or 212-639-9675 now and ask why Mayor Bloomberg is throwing the 5,554 books from our library into a dumpster." [ BB ] Rebuild the library tonight at 6pm. [ OWSL ] The Houston Wall shows up in a Scorsese fight scene--it's "an architectural extra in two classics of American cinema." [ BR ] Sad scenes of the dismantling of Paul's Daughter at Coney. [ ATZ ] Spend a week in New York culture with the Paris Review's Sadie Stein. [ PRD ] Don Delillo talks about his new book. [ AP ] Peek into the home libraries of six authors who still love real books. [ FT ] RIP John Leeper , bartender at the Grassroots. [ EVG ] Walking on Williamsburg's Berry Street . [ FNY ] Park Slope's Dunkin Donuts conversion of Tonio's coming along. [ HPS ] 11/20: Union Docs presents " Block by Block : New York Street Historians." [ UD ] 11/30: Harvey Wang's photo show opens at the Tenement Museum :

VANISHING The recent announcements about the coming death by rent hike of Rocco's and Rocky's --along with the closure of Aunt Suzie's in Park Slope--has me wondering if we've been witnessing a mass extinction of the classic "red-sauce joint." Looking back, the answer is obvious. Rocco ravioli The Beatrice Inn closed in 2005 after about 80 years . The new owner promised "Monday Scrabble sessions and Italian-food specials will cater to the old regulars." That didn't happen. It became a celeb hotspot that enraged the neighbors and eventually shuttered. The Minetta Tavern closed in 2008 after 71 years when the rent skyrocketed. Keith McNally took it over, changed the Italian menu to French, fancied it up, and stashed Joe Gould somewhere he may never be found. Gino closed in June 2010 after 65 years. Once a favorite of Frank Sinatra, it's now a cupcake chain store from Beverly Hills. Fedora closed in July 2010 after 58 years . The n...

VANISHING 89-year-old Rocco Ristorante at 181 Thompson is about to vanish from Greenwich Village. "Rocco's lease is up at the end of 2011," reported Eater , "and to renew, the landlord is demanding $18,000 in rent, a hefty jump from the $8,000" they currently pay. Many landlords are doubling and tripling rents these days. If no one takes them up on it, the existing businesses might stay, or else the spaces lie vacant. But someone is saying yes to Rocco's landlord. Taking over the lease is a duo of young restaurateurs, Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi, known collectively as "Torrisi." The group (there's a third partner) has a mini-chain of restaurants with two popular spots in Little Italy and a stand at Yankee Stadium. Formerly of high-end Cafe Boulud, they started small and have become quite powerful. Frank Bruni dubbed them " the newest darlings of the New York culinary set ." Time Out called them the " savior " ...

Jonathan Lethem says no to Citi (bank) Field --at Occupy Wall St. facebook Celebrate our victory to save St. Mark's Bookshop with a party at the store. There will be treats: 12/1, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. [ Villager ] Rents in the East Village going sky-high. [ EVG ] The legendary Algonquin Hotel is closing in January for a major renovation. [ Crain's ] Read about R. Crumb's beef with the New Yorker . [ Gothamist ] Remembering the Tunnel Garage . [ GVSHP ]

I've got issues with the Houston mural wall , but I can't hold it against this new one by Faile. It's my favorite so far. Maybe that's because I like comic books and movie posters and the ephemera of pop culture. Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for the gorgeous decay of urban street art and advertising, how the paper rips and tears, revealing layer upon layer underneath. Anyway, I can see the trouble with something and still enjoy it--as I did a couple of weeks ago when I stopped to watch Faile--also known as Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller--put the finishing touches on their mural. I wound up talking to one of the Patricks while the other Patrick was pasting a Chairman Mao to the wall. He explained the way that many different existing designs had been incorporated into the collage. The woman shooting the bunny rabbit is from " Heartbreak in Brooklyn ." The bikini girl in the dinosaur's mouth comes from " It Happens Everyday ." And the ...