Vanishing New York Backup

On October 7, at 6:30 p.m., the Transit Museum will be screening Jeremy Workman's award-winning documentary "One Track Mind," the story of Philip Ashforth Coppola's 30-year devotion to and obsession with "meticulously cataloging every subway station--and corresponding mosaic--in the New York City subway system." Phil Copp You might remember Jeremy and Phil from an interview I did with them on this blog back in 2011 . An excerpt: Q: One of the people in the film says you are "possessed" by your study of the subway, that you have a "certain kind of mind." How would you characterize that kind of "one track" mind? PC: What kind of "possessed" mind do I have? There's two of me, after a fashion. The everyday me goes to work, goes to church, does all the special occasion and holiday stuff, does the house chores, et al. Just like any of you. Then there's the me who has filled 36 notebooks with sketches &...

Photographer Miron Zownir has just published NYC RIP, a collection of photographs capturing the "day-to-day lunacy" of New York City in the 1980s--mostly images of sex workers and drug addicts--with an introduction by Lydia Lunch . In talking to Dazed , Zownir recalled of his time in New York, “Rents were still cheap, crime was high, most of the Lower East Side, Harlem and the Bronx were dangerous slums, the establishment was uncomfortable and scared, and the police corrupt or helpless to guarantee any protection. But NYC was bursting with a sexual and creative energy that was overwhelming.” His beat was Times Square, the Bowery, the piers along the Hudson River. All places that have been sterilized since. As Lydia Lunch writes in the intro, the city has been "white washed of all its kaleidoscopic perversions in order to make it safe for anyone who could afford the ridiculous rents charged for shoe box size apartments." see full NSFW image here Rece...

Last week, blogger Travelerette posted a cornucopia of photos showing the ghost town that Greenwich Village has become , thanks to greedy landlords who kick out commercial tenants, and then warehouse the empty spaces while they wait for high-paying national chain stores to move in. What happens? The spaces sit vacant for months and years. all photos by Travelerette This past spring, Tim Wu in The New Yorker online called this phenomenon " high-rent blight ." It's a plague across hyper-gentrified parts of the city. This summer, Tribeca Citizen found 100 empty spaces in their neighborhood and posted the photos . Travelerette writes: "I had gotten the general impression, while wandering around the Village, that there seemed to be an unseemly amount of hideous and depressing burned out storefronts where once there had been vintage clothing stores, Chinese restaurants that serve cold sesame noodles, and tea shops frequented by local drag queens. But was th...

Earlier this month, Adam Purple, Lower East Side artist, activist, and creator of the Garden of Eden , died of a heart attack while riding his bike across the Williamburg Bridge. Since then, friends have been working hard to get him buried according to his wishes. Finances, however, are an issue. The Adam Purple Burial and Memorial Fund is collecting donations to cover Purple's burial at the Greensprings Natural Burial Preserve in New York's Finger Lakes region, along with a memorial on the Lower East Side. From the page: "He spent his life as an activist for sustainability, living sustainably himself. As such, he did not spend his life accumulating assets. It is up to us, his friends and those whose lives he enriched, to ensure that he has the final resting place that he wanted and believed in. We would also like to erect a permanent memorial on the Lower East Side where people can meditate, congregate, and remember Adam and what he stood for. On behalf of Ada...

By this point, you are all familiar with Pizza Rat , the little rodent that could, made world famous for his or her New York-style moxie in dragging a whole slice of pizza down a flight of subway stairs. Now Tina Trachtenburg, a.k.a. " Mother Pigeon ," creator of soft sculpture pigeons and other urban vermin that she sells in the parks, has revealed her Pizza Rat plushie . (In addition to the following photo, there is also an inspirational video on Tina's Facebook page, complete with dramatic accordion music.) Rats, pizza, and the subway. It doesn't get more authentic New York than that. And in a time when authentic New York is vanishing fast, we need Pizza Rat more than ever. Has Pizza Rat become a symbol of all that is being lost in the sanitized city? The filth and grit, the moxie, the unpredictability that is meant to be inherent in urban life? On her Twitter page , Tina says you can see Pizza Rat in person in Union Square Park this Friday. She can oft...

A reader sent in this shot of Rudy's Music Stop, now officially with a For Rent sign. I first reported on the shop's closure in July , a penultimate nail in the coffin of West 48th Street as Music Row. This little building and its neighbor are likely to be demolished, so why the "for rent" sign? And why only the upper floors? Is there a chance Rudy's will stay in some diminished form?

VANISHING The Little Lebowski Shop on Thompson Street in the Village is closing, probably at the end of the month. While I like the Coen Brothers' movies, I wasn't a big fan of The Big Lebowski , so I can't say I've done any shopping at the Little Lebowski Shop. Still, odd independent stores like this--especially those fueled by one eccentric individual's singular obsession--give the city streetscape a certain flavor. And when they close they're usually replaced by something flavorless, like a purveyor of acai bowls or dog sweaters--or acai bowls for dogs. However, the For Rent sign does say "no food uses," so perhaps it'll just be the sweaters. photo tip by Jessie Walsh-Rosenstock I emailed owner Roy Preston, who mans the shop in his bathrobe, and asked for the scoop. He responded: "The brick and mortar section of our business is closing. The website will remain active. Customers can shop at the new Little Lebowski Shop - http:/...

Back in June, I first shared the news that The Palm Restaurant, after 90 years, would likely be closing . Last month, The Real Deal confirmed and Eater posted photos of the ruined interior, its priceless murals destroyed . Now reader Dave J. sends in a photo of the recently raised "For Rent" banner: It's very large and rather self-satisfied. It proudly crows: "1st Time Available in 90 Years." That's not actually a good thing. That's a bad thing. That's a thing that means a 90-year-old treasure has been shuttered...so a cupcake shop or fro-yo chain can move in. Also, the windows have been papered over. So no more bloggers taking pictures of the destruction inside.

An affordable housing project may be getting built on uber-luxurified Elizabeth Street . However, its construction could mean the demolition of the Elizabeth Street Garden. Neighbors have been fighting to protect this space--with a Friends of the Elizabeth Street Garden website that provides all the details and info on action you can take. Now actor Gabriel Byrne offers his support in a new video by Simon J. Heath. Byrne has a place on Elizabeth--he bought a $3 million condo at the newly constructed 211 Elizabeth in 2010. The garden has been here since 1991. It's the place where the Elizabeth Street Gallery keeps its sculptures--antique angels, lions, gargoyles. Locked for many years, it opened to the public some time ago, after the gallery took over the space long occupied by La Rosa & Sons Bakery, back when "Nolita" was still considered Little Italy. Watch the video here, in which Byrne quotes W.B. Yeats: You can weigh in on the issue at the LMD...

You first heard of Randy Hage's incredible New York City miniatures on this blog back in 2010 when I introduced him with an interview on his work . Since then, Randy has kept up the pace, shrinking Yonah Schimmel , Mars Bar , and many other vanished, vanishing, and hopefully never vanishing icons of the New York City streetscape. Now he's giving us an exclusive first look at his latest creations. In meticulous three-dimensional miniature, the shuttered Pearl Paint appears in sunlight on Canal Street. Closed in 2014 , it still sits empty, covered in graffiti, another example of the city's ever-growing high-rent blight. Randy opted to re-create the Lenox Lounge after it had been forced to close in 2012 , but before it was stripped of all its gorgeous neon and exterior design elements. Here it stands, still intact, only a lot smaller -- 1/12th the size of the original. From the grave rises CBGB's, before it was evicted and replaced by the John Varvatos bo...

From Park Slope to Key West: Everett Quinton’s Incredible Journey guest post by Tim Cusack Everett Quinton, former lead actor and artistic director of the Ridiculous Theatrical Company, is famous for his cross-dressing performances, and he’s currently starring in one of the juiciest of his career with Drop Dead Perfect at the Theatre of St. Clements in Hell’s Kitchen. As Idris Seabright, a 1950s Key West housewife with artistic aspirations, Quinton’s assured hand at the wheel drives this vehicle like a classic Ford Thunderbird hurtling down the Eisenhower interstate system. So it comes as something of a surprise to learn that he never had a “drag mother” to teach him the skills of gender illusionism. “That’s why my makeup is so lousy. I don’t paint up pretty,” he wisecracks. We’re having lunch at Krolewskie Jadlo , which is Polish for “The King’s Feast” and the kind of place that fits so perfectly into its Manhattan Avenue block in Greenpoint. But then he grows serious: “I was s...

Last week, we looked at the destruction of the historic Blatt Billiards building and the opinionated graffiti on its "Work in Progress" poster . On the image of the glassy luxury tower to come, people had written: "Ugly Work in Progress," "YUCK," and more. The poster was quickly replaced with a fresh one and covered in plastic, presumably to deter the detractors. They have not been deterred. This week they added "UGLY" and the colorful descriptor "Douchebag Storage Locker," with an arrow pointing straight at 809 Broadway , so there could be no mistake.

Barnes & Noble is removing its stores from Queens , including a location in Forest Hills that preservationists tried to save . It's ironic to fight for a chain, but the neighborhood is otherwise a bookstore desert. And what's coming to replace it? A Target . Meanwhile, on Fifth Avenue and 18th Street, the flagship Barnes & Noble bookstore ( since 1932 and closed in 2014 ) has been completely transformed into a Banana Republic. The plaque on the outside wall ("Founded 1873") has been pried off, leaving a shadowy scar on the masonry. Inside, a message for all who might still think books have value: THINK LESS. (I took this picture awhile ago, so it may not be there anymore. It was there when they opened.)