Vanishing New York Backup

There's good news for the vintage neon Mitchell's Liquors sign on the Upper West Side. After reporting earlier this month that the sign was removed , to be junked, I heard earlier this week that it would be returned. Stephen wrote in: "I thought you'd appreciate that it appears the neon sign will be returning. They have remodeled both the inside and the facade and there are definitely new holes placed where neon tubes should go. Can't wait to see it completed!" He sent in the following photo of the new sign in progress: I also heard from William, who wrote: "I passed Mitchell's Wine and Liquor today and the neon sign seems to be going back up! I saw the letters on the ground and they were drilling new holes in the facade to mount them. I also spoke with the workers who said it was, in fact, being reinstalled." And behold! West Side Rag shares the following shot of the new sign--a replica of the old. And Rob writes in, "The new

Last month, I first reported that Tekserve would be vanishing . Then we heard that they'd be looking for a new location, with plans to "morph with the times." Alas, those plans have changed. Tekserve will shutter. CEO Jerry Gepner wrote in to say: "Tekserve is sad to announce that in a few months when our lease is up on 23rd Street we will close our retail service and sales business. We have been working on plans to move to a smaller retail location, but it has proven to be an impossible goal. Tekserve started when there were few service options for Apple products in New York. Sales and foot traffic have fallen with the growth of the internet and the spread of Apple stores. Products have become more reliable and manufacturers have changed their service strategies and requirements. In addition, retail rents are out of sight. We simply can’t find a sustainable retail business model in this environment. Our amazing corporate and professional team, which spun

DW Gibson, author of The Edge Becomes the Center: An Oral History of Gentrification in the Twenty-First Century , has a new project. "Jerry the Peddler" is a documentary about a locally legendary Lower East Side squatter--and about an outlaw urban lifestyle that is rapidly vanishing. Visit Seed & Spark to find out more, and consider sending in funds to help complete the film. I talked with DW about squatting in New York. Q: How do you see squatting as "a critical challenge to our prevailing interpretation of 'The American Dream'"? A: By and large, the American Dream is defined by property ownership. It carries all kinds of connotations with it but at its core it’s about having a place of your own for you and your family to be comfortable, and in America that means owning a home. But there are two other major elements of the American psyche that can be found in the world of squatting: hard work and personal liberty. I don’t think most people

VANISHING Legendary Lower East Side performance artist, poet, Elf Girl, and curator of the Troll Museum, Reverend Jen Miller has been evicted from her apartment, which also doubles as the museum. In recent days, a city marshal entered Miller's apartment, where she was dressed in only a towel from the shower, and reportedly told Jen he wished he had a gun to deal with her. Video of the event has been posted to Facebook. Misrahi Realty is her landlord. Sion Misrahi has had a major hand in changing the culture--and the residents, and the rents--of the Lower East Side. As he told the Times in 2007, "We decided to rent to bars and restaurants who would bring in the hipsters and change the neighborhood." photo by Mr. E Today, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, the Troll Museum will be dismantled.  All are invited to help "pack up one of the last magical places left in this fucking greedy city," in the words of the invitation. photo by Mr. E Reverend Jen sha

VANISHED At 84th and Lexington on the Upper East Side for 59 years, Mimi's Pizza is no more. On Sunday they wrote on their Facebook page : " It is with a heavy heart that after 59 years, today is our last day of business. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, we are forced to close our doors. We want to take this opportunity to thank our loyal customers and neighbors on the Upper East Side for your friendship and patronage. This is an extremely difficult time for our family, but we hope to see you in the future." Andrew Fine shared the news and a photo on Twitter, announcing today's auction of the pizzeria's equipment: "Mimi" is short for Dominic, the original owner, according to this little film about the place: Mimi's is considered a local institution. Paul McCartney was a regular. Bobby Flay used to roll out the dough. It will be missed. *Update: The Daily News followed up on this story and reports the closure

“The Holdouts” is a comedy series about New Yorkers who can’t afford to live in the new New York. Co-created by Stephen Girasuolo and Dan Menke, it stars Kevin Corrigan as Kevin Shanahan, a rent-controlled tenant who refuses his landlord's buyout as he bemoans the hyper-gentrification of the city: “They won’t be happy until this whole island is one big Duane Reade with a Starbucks inside and an IHOP inside that and a Bank of America inside that.” The creators have launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the show, which they hope will help bring attention to the plight of the vanishing city. I chatted with Girasuolo and Corrigan about the show, the lost New York, and the life of a holdout. Q: So the inevitable first question: What inspired you to do this project? Stephen: I was being forced out by my landlord of 25 years in Hell's Kitchen at the time and my co-creator Dan Menke wanted to write a part for Corrigan as a man out of time in New York City. Something sta

In 1978, Fran Lebowitz told People magazine, "When you leave New York, you are astonished at how clean the rest of the world is. Clean is not enough." Nearly four decades later, in the age of the Sterilized City, the quote has surfaced on the side of a building in Chelsea. Specifically, on the Yves luxury glass condo at 18th Street and 7th Avenue, where Core realty has a first-floor office from which they sell more luxury glass condos. mingum7 posted a photo of the wall to Instagram and wrote: "I'm having trouble thinking Fran Lebowitz would approve of advertising this glass condo. But she must know, right?" mingum7 Does Fran know? Would she approve? I also doubt it, but someone will have to ask her. Either way, the quote is utterly inappropriate for the side of a luxury glass condo, which is all about being antiseptically clean, and not New York, and not enough. We need more than clean. Cleanliness does not make a city. Real cities are messy. The

Last year, the little stationery store at 8th and Horatio that used to be Typewriters & Things, along with the newsstand next door, was forced to close due to a steep rent hike . Something new has opened in their place. And guess what--it's a global luxury chain. Acne Studios , with locations around the world, has moved into the spaces and then some. I see their ads all over the place and, every time, I think to myself: Why in God's name would you name your luxury lifestyle brand after a painful and disfiguring skin disorder? The answer is on Wikipedia: " The name ACNE stands for Ambition to Create Novel Expressions ." Anyway, it's sleek and expensive and enormous. And it's not a newsstand or a stationery shop or anything else a person might actually need. So it fits right in with the new Greenwich Village.

A reader wrote in to let us know that the Campanile restaurant on E. 29th Street has closed. It's been awhile. Eater shared the news a year ago--and I missed it. They wrote: "Northern Italian eatery Campanile has closed after 18 years of business. According to the restaurant's Facebook, the building was sold and the landlord wants to turn it into a high rise ." The building that housed Campanile at 30 E. 29th was originally the very old New York Telephone Building . I can't locate any plans for a high rise here, but something's happening along this block. One building away, neighbor Stampworx is also gone. They'd been around since 1946 . Probably as long as Campanile's pink neon sign's been hanging there, the remnant of another restaurant. Stampworx was located in a wooden house owned in the 1800s by the Pringle family. It has a lovely second-floor facade and an interesting history .   Life used to take me to this block somewhat regu

This just came in to my mailbox. I would like to be more eloquent about this, but right now, I am not happy. I love this fucking bookstore. Dear Three Lives & Company Customers, I am writing to you about a possibly significant event for the bookshop in the upcoming months. The building in which Three Lives & Company occupies the corner retail space has been put up for sale. In preparation for this sale the owners did not renew the bookshop’s lease earlier this year and we are now on a month-to-month lease. As you are certainly aware, the white-hot real estate market in New York City means this could present some challenges for the bookshop. Ideally, we would like to stay in our space, our address for thirty-three years , when a new owner for the building is found. 154 West Tenth Street has been a wonderful home for all of us, staff and customers alike, for all these many years. Jill, Jenny, and Helene, the founders and original owners of Three Lives, built an ama

Back in 2011, I reported that Caffe Vivaldi in the Village was being forced to close by a tripled rent hike from their landlord, the now infamous Steve Croman. They survived, and got a new lease , but the struggles continued. Now, even while Croman has been hit with a 20-count indictment for harassing tenants , Vivaldi reports that their harassment continued. The owner of the 35-year-old jazz cafe has posted a petition online . He tells the whole story there, and explains: "Today, I, Ishrat Ansari, owner and operator of Caffe Vivaldi since opening our doors in 1983, reach out to you yet again to help us save our 'cultural institution.' We need your help, your support, your voice. We need you to sign our petition, and to comment if you will. Our objective is simple: the more we can draw in community support, the more we can show to the Supreme Court judge, who will be deciding our case against Mr. Croman this June, that Caffe Vivaldi deserves to remain open .&quo

Tonight, the Liquor Committee of local Community Board 2 will hear an application for the space that held Milady's bar for 81 years . Sean Sweeney, Director of the SoHo Alliance, writes in to say that "two restaurateurs have approached the SoHo Alliance to notify us that they are applying for a liquor license for a 65-seat restaurant and bar" in the space. But the space has sat empty for so long--two years --it is no longer zoned for bar/restaurant use. Also, writes Sean, "the area is already saturated, with more than its share of licensed premises." He says, "there are about ten licensed premises already within 500 feet of Milady’s. New York State Liquor Authority laws require that an applicant for a liquor license must demonstrate that providing an additional liquor license would 'serve the public interest' in any area that is already saturated with licensed premises. It is highly unlikely the applicant would be able to demonstrate that."

Over the past several years, as I've chronicled the vanishing city, many of the places we've lost to hyper-gentrification have been queer spaces. Bookstores, bars, cafes, shops. Even entire neighborhoods. Along the way, I've heard again and again that queer spaces don't matter anymore, that they're not necessary in an age of supposed LGBTQ acceptance and assimilation. But as we saw in the horrifying and heartbreaking news from Florida, queer spaces do matter. They matter in small towns and cities, and they matter in major metropolises. At the Stonewall vigil. Photo: Charles Eckart, AMNY Writing on gay bars, Richard Kim put it eloquently yesterday in The Nation online when he said: "Gay bars are therapy for people who can’t afford therapy; temples for people who lost their religion, or whose religion lost them; vacations for people who can’t go on vacation; homes for folk without families; sanctuaries against aggression." The same can be said for

VANISHING After 28 years in business, Rebel Rebel Records at 319 Bleecker Street is being forced to close by rising rent. It will shutter at the end of June. Reader John Vairo, Jr., writes in: Owner David Shebiro "told us that the owner of the building has raised the rent (what else is new) and they plan to put another basic 'high-end' clothing store in its place --because that's what the Village needs." John adds, "To say that Rebel Rebel is an institution would be an understatement and to see a unique and sustainable business for nearly 28 years bite the dust like so many others that give this city soul is a fucking tragedy ." photo by Evan Kafka The news about Rebel Rebel has been percolating these past weeks. Other readers have written in to tell me that "the clothing store next door" is going to be expanding into the record shop's space. If that's the case, that store is either Scotch & Soda to the east or St. J

A reader writes in to let us know that Mitchell's Wines & Liquors on West 86th has lost its antique neon sign--or is in the process of losing it. "Losing" is not the right word. The owners have decided to remove it and replace it with something new. Perhaps a lovely sheet of plastic? It's a gorgeous neon sign, dating back to the 1940s . Sounds like they almost "lost" it a few years ago, too. But it remained. Our tipster, Mr. E., says, "If only owners could see the value in the history of these signs as icons and how the distinctive designs set them apart from the competition, perhaps we could begin the trend towards preserving them." He and some friends are "working on salvaging what we can, but its home on that store seems finito." UPDATE: Reader Janice sends in a photo of the damage, as of today:

The beloved Manatus restaurant on Bleecker closed two years ago . At the time, I heard a rumor that a Calvin Klein store would be taking its place. Instead, the spot sat empty , creating two years of high-rent blight. Now the place is covered in green plywood. Something's coming. Permits say only, "REPLACE EXISTING STOREFRONT." Any guesses?