Back to Bill's

The New York Times recently published "Making It Clubby," an interview with the decorator of the new Bill's, formerly Bill's Gay 90s. (The place opens next week.) A reader also sent in a bunch of photos some weeks back showing the state of poor, old Bill's in between the gutting and the redo. So, photos interspersed with quotes from the article:



"Her specialty is taking a space with New York history and breathing life into it by buffing up old surfaces and adding cool touches."



"the five-story 1890s brownstone had gone shabby in recent years, and the taps slowed to a trickle before the place closed nine months ago. 'It wasn’t living up to its potential,' said the decorator."



"'Often with restaurants, they don’t have a long life,' Ms. Sharpe said, taking a seat in a brown leather banquette upstairs. 'My job is to give them a classic aspect so people will come back.'"



Let's remember the real story of what happened here, shall we?
  • Bill's Gay 90s was not shabby at all when the landlord refused to renew their lease this past spring--it had an already clubby, old-world atmosphere that was earned, a collection of antiques and real history amassed over a near-century of existence. 
  • It didn't need to be given a classic "aspect," because it was an authentic classic.
  • Business was brisk--the place breathed with life every night. 
  • The restaurant had enjoyed an exceptionally long life, thriving since 1924. It lived up to its potential and then some. 
  • And it didn't close--it was pushed out. As the owner wrote on the website, "Our landlord refused to renew our lease and after an 88 year run, we were forced to close." 
One more loss in the breakneck "race to acquire New York’s oldest, most storied properties." Let's hope this trend dies before we lose all of our greatest places.

the new Bill's

Previously:
Bill's Vanishes
Bill's Carted Away
Bill's Gay 90s
Bill's in Boardwalk Empire



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

8th St. Hyper-gentrified

Image
For some time, 8th Street has been a ghost town . The once-plentiful shoe stores and other small businesses that lined it have dropped like flies in recent years. Trendy restaurants have tried to get a foothold and failed. It's ripe for "revival" and now the big guns are being rolled in to force the street into hyper-gentrification mode . The Daily News files a startling report on 8th Street's upcoming upgrade--it's going from "under-retailed" to an "artisanal center." Marlton House, Jeff Bachner, Daily News Stumptown Coffee is coming first--they're a foodie favorite in the uber-hipster Ace Hotel (formerly the Breslin, a tragic story there). After that, BD Hotels , of the Bowery and Jane Street Hotels (more controversy there), will open a new boutique hotel in the former SRO Marlton House. The neighborhood flippers have arrived. Says BD Hotels' Richard Born, "We’ve had the experience of changing neighborhoods like wit...
Read more

Christopher off 7th

Image
Seems like something's happening on Christopher Street, just west of 7th Avenue South. 1. Karavas Pizza & Pita is gone. Back in 2011 , the building owner said, “John Karavas and his parents have been tenants there for more than 50 years. The easiest way for us to make money would be to rent it out to some chain restaurant, and we don’t want to do that.” Maybe there's a new owner? 2. The little spot next to Karavas is gone, too. I think it was one of those little souvenir stands, selling t-shirts and bongs. 3. Next to that, the long-time location of Boots & Saddle emptied out a couple years ago when "the new landlord" hiked the rent by a ton. Boots moved on, this spot has since been painted brown, and a sign on the door says Hakata Tonton Japanese restaurant is moving in. What's happening here? Is it all one landlord giving the boot? And what about Village Cigars in their little triangular spot?
Read more

Feral City

Image
My new book, Feral City , hits the shelves October 4, 2022. You can pre-order it today from your local bookshop and wherever books are sold. Thank you! What happens when an entire social class abandons a metropolis? This genre-bending journey through lockdown New York offers an exhilarating, intimate look at a city returned to its rebellious spirit.    The pandemic lockdown of 2020 launched an unprecedented urban experiment. Traffic disappeared from the streets. Times Square fell silent. And half a million residents fled the most crowded city in America. In this innovative and thrilling book, author and social critic Jeremiah Moss, hailed as “New York City’s career elegist” (New York Times), explores a city emptied of the dominant class—and their controlling influence. “Plagues have a disinhibiting effect,” Moss writes. “As the normal order is suspended, the repressive force of civilization lifts and our rules fall away, shifting the boundaries of society and psyche."...
Read more