Vanishing New York Backup

VANISHED? A sort of little Chelsea Hotel, the famous Gramercy lodging spot Hotel 17 has closed down, Town & Village reports. They have "stopped taking reservations and has been cleared of guests. According to the general property manager of the business, Eyal Siri, this is not due to lack of business but due to the city’s crackdown on illegal hotels, which Siri said he’s been unfairly ensnared in." A few permanent residents remain. A notice on the hotel's website reads: “ We thank you for your patronage and it has been our honor to serve you during the last 67 years that Hotel 17 has been in operation. Unfortunately the city of New York has decided to close down this generations old family business and we therefore can no longer accept any reservations. Our family and employees thank you and all wish you safe travels.” Over the years, many artists and club kids stayed at Hotel 17. It was a popular place for drag queens and other transgender folks. M...

An old post I deleted and repubbed, from sometime in the 2010s: This weekend, I put together a quick survey entitled “Sidewalk Bumping in New York City.” It consisted of 10 mostly multiple-choice with some write-in questions. I put the link on my Facebook page and quickly received 100 responses (the limit set for free surveys on Survey Monkey). The purpose of the survey was to explore New Yorkers’ experiences of being bumped by other pedestrians on the sidewalk--who's bumping them and what happens during that exchange? The small sample size and limit to the number of questions contribute to this study not being especially scientific. Consider it a pilot study. (If I decide to shell out the $17 a month to Survey Monkey, I may launch it again to get more responses.) Also, people's responses are obviously subjective. Controlled field studies would provide more measurable results. (Any social psychologists out there interested?) Still, the findings offer some provocative trends to...

Unitard, "NYC’s naughtiest, nastiest, no-holds-barred comic trio," just announced its new residency "Tard Core: There Are No Safe Words" at Joe's Pub, starting May 3 . The group is made up of Mike Albo, Nora Burns, and David Ilku. They poke fun. It has come to my attention that they'll be poking fun of the hyper-gentrified city, so I asked Albo a few questions. With Unitard, and in your solo work, you've roasted gentrifiers and gentrification. What makes the topic so right for comedy? Well, greed is always something ripe for satire and parody. Its always amazing to watch, especially in this city, and now elsewhere, how insane and absurd-minded people get about real estate and what they can accomplish by selling avocado toast for 12 dollars. What's so wrong about 12-dollar avocado toasts? Oh, they are delicious! Especially when you make it yourself for an eighth the cost! Its just friggin' toast with some avocado on it! We have fabulized...

Tired of watching your local small businesses disappear? There are solutions. Tired of complaining about it while doing nothing? Here's your chance. Tonight, the Artist Studio Affordability Project is hosting a discussion and organizing meeting on the topic from 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. at Jimmy’s 43, 43 East 7th Street in Manhattan. They write: "We have a commercial rent crisis in NYC. Bodegas, bookstores and hardware stores are closing. Working artists, dance troupes and musicians are leaving the city. And manufacturers are leaving our industrial zones, taking their good jobs with them. Why? High commercial rents, and no lease rights. Learn about some possible solutions, including one approach introduced in the City Council: The Small Business Jobs Survival Act (SBJSA). The SBJSA would help all commercial lease holders in NYC, from mom & pop stores to artists to manufacturers. It offers an opportunity to restore economic equality to our business owners, save our art a...

I was just thinking about how truly remarkable it is that much of 14th Street, from east to west, has not been hyper-gentrified. Yes, there's the Apple Store at the western end. Yes, a Target and maybe Trader Joe's is coming to the east. And Union Square is strangled in chains. But much of the rest miraculously remains Chinese takeout joints, 99-cent stores, other discount shops, diners, and one beloved doughnut shop . It attracts a diversity of New Yorkers, many from lower socioeconomic circumstances. And now this. Gothamist reports that, in response to the impending L Train shutdown, Transportation Alternatives has a plan that "envisions a 14th Street free of car traffic—a concept with the endorsement of city planners, politicians and advocates—plus a six-stop shuttle bus operating on dedicated lanes, and protected bike lanes. The shuttle would connect to a new cross-bridge bus, carrying Williamsburg commuters on a dedicated lane over the Williamsburg Bridge. A...

This Saturday, April 22, show up for a rally to save the neighborhood just south of Union Square Park. Over just the past couple of years, we've watched this area be demolished and rebuilt into yet another dull center for luxury housing and corporations. Speculators are buying up whole buildings and evicting them of their small business tenants. This is happening, in part, because of Mayor de Blasio's plan for a "tech hub." the proposed tech hub on 14th st. As GVSHP's Andrew Berman wrote in The Villager : "the new building would tower over its neighbors and form the lynchpin of a new 'Silicon Alley' the mayor hopes to develop between Union Square and Astor Place." This is not a neighborhood in need of revitalization. It is already vital, its old buildings buzzing with small businesses from bottom to top. Say "no" to more luxurification. Say "no" to more corporate chains. Say "no" to more small business ev...

Yesterday, the new Quad cinema got its new sign. It's a 3-D effect. With slots along the sides for digital display of current movie titles. I took a peek inside. There are digital movie posters where there used to be paper. A wall of TV screens in the back. On the side, there's a wine bar with a tile floor that spells out QUAD. Fancy. The website is up and the new place opens this Friday. Early word has been good , so let's hope it's still welcoming to the city's scruffy cinemaniacs.

Two years ago, Icon Realty purchased 57 Second Avenue for $30 million . The two retail tenants, Alex Shoe Repair and Allied Hardware, were on month-to-month leases and soon removed via steep rent hikes -- $26,000 per month for the hardware shop and $14,000 for the cobbler. Both businesses were mom-and-pop run for decades. They provided necessary services to local residents, and their storefronts provided visual interest to the avenue. I liked walking past to see the giant hammer in Allied's window under their colorful sign. I especially liked the odd paintings that framed Alex Shoe Repair, and the typed poem in the window that Hettie Jones wrote for the cobbler. These places were useful, local, and idiosyncratic. Then they were gone. The signs came down. The funny little paintings were painted over. And Icon's advertisements went up. The two storefronts sat that way for awhile, the picture of high-rent blight . Now, Icon is dressing them up--and they...

Angelica Kitchen closed yesterday after 40 years in the East Village. The place was mobbed. If you missed out on a final meal, you can visit today and tomorrow for their memorabilia sale:

As more and more mom and pops vanish from the face of New York City, people are getting sick of it, and the idea of saving them keeps coming up in the media. This past week, NY1's "In Focus" with Cheryl Wills had two segments on the subject. In the first ( watch here ), Wills talked with Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Queens Councilman Eric Ulrich about the problem of chain stores in the city. As Brewer noted, "We don't live in a mall in the middle of Minnesota. We live in New York City." Of course, without real policy changes, like the Small Business Jobs Survival Act or commercial rent control, like we had from 1945 - 1963 , New York's looking an awful lot like a mall in Minnesota. And it will only get worse. In the second segment ( watch here ), Wills spoke with The Commissioner of the NYC Small Business Services, Gregg Bishop, and the President and CEO of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce, Mark Jaffe. Unfortunately,...

VANISHED There has been a shoe repair shop at 74 E. 7th St. for many years . Most recently, it was David's. Before that, it was A. Brym's. And for all those decades, a Cat's Paw advertisement stayed stuck to the entryway window. Now it's gone. before "Thin heels by CAT'S PAW," the circular sign read. "For those who want the best!" In the center of the circle, a smiling blonde cuddled a pair of kittens. In this following photo from the 1960s, we see that Brym's had two copies of the ad--one decal on the front window and the other in the entryway. Edmund V. Gillon, Jr. You can catch a glimpse of them again in this next shot from 1980. That's likely the year that David's moved into Brym's. The front-most Cat's Paw girl probably vanished when David painted the window with his name, but the second sticker stayed. And stayed. I liked seeing her when I brought my shoes in for repair. photo: Michael Sean Edward...