Vanishing New York Backup

Desco Vacuum Sales and Service, at 131 West 14th Street, has been around since about 1950 . It was (at least) a third generation business. Now it's gone. A reader wrote in: "Owner of business (and also the building) said that it was becoming increasingly difficult to do business in the city, even with owning the property . He also said that millennials don't buy vacuums and the ancillary products, and it was hard to compete with that." I bought my vacuum cleaner bags at Desco and always liked seeing its vertical neon sign, but especially the neon vacuum cleaner. Now the shop is empty and the neon signs are dark. 2008

VANISHED/DISPLACED Our neon-loving friend Tom Rinaldi writes in: "I was dismayed to see (first) that Bosco's coin shop on E32nd St has closed and moved to the holding area for displaced antique shops known as the 25th St Antiques 'Showplace.' I was then further dismayed to see that Olde Good Things, in the same building, has been similarly displaced. I was then still further dismayed to see that the gorgeous (to me anyway) building formerly inhabited by both shops appears to have been completely cleared of tenants." * UPDATE: Bosco has moved to the Manhattan Art & Antiques Center, on 2nd Ave between 55th and 56th Sts. 2014 I was sorry to hear this. I always liked walking past Bosco , usually by chance, and looking into the fantastic, jam-packed window, filled with coins, antique political buttons, trinkets, all of them described on hand-lettered cards. It was one of those odd little survivors, the kind of place you come upon and wonder how it mana

VANISHING?  For the umpteenth time, rumors are floating about the demise of the Neptune Diner in Astoria, Queens. We first heard about it last winter , but it was denied. We heard about it in December , but it was some kind of a misunderstanding. Now it returns. This time, though, the rumor sounds possible. The Queens Gazette reported it on their Facebook page . "Sadly Neptune Diner Site is for Sale," they wrote earlier this month. And they pasted in a realtor's listing (but no link to the source): "As exclusive marketing and sales agent, Eastern Consolidated is pleased to present 31-05 31st Street aka 31-01 Astoria Boulevard North in Astoria, Queens (the 'Property' or 'Site'). The Property, which is well-located corner future development site with three sides of legal light and air and a maximum ZFA of ±41,760 square feet. The Site is currently improved with a standalone diner with on-site parking and will be sold subject to the existing

Back in 2011, La Nueva Rampa closed its doors on West 14th Street. It was one of the city's last Chino-Latino restaurants--and the last one in Chelsea, where they had once been abundant since the 1960s. It then became El Paraiso , keeping up the Chino-Latino menu. Then El Paraiso shuttered in 2016 . And now? It's a temporary "immersive installation" called Unspoken . (At least it was when I wrote this post--it closed last week.) Strands of shimmering strings hang from the ceiling. According to Untapped Cities , the installation by activist artist Ann Lewis is presented by "social impact production company Killer Impact." Viewers are asked to reflect on 'different questions regarding mortality such as “Do we actually exist?' and 'Can death be an adventure?'” The part I found the most compelling, however, was a revelation in the wall. (I was told it was original and not part of the installation.) I'd never seen it when dini

VANISHED/MOVED Roland , auctioneers of antiques, has left the city. Family owned and founded in 1973, they've been in the neighborhood south of Union Square since 1974, and in the St. Denis building at 11th Street and Broadway for several years. But the neighborhood is being rapidly changed. In 2015, the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) put out a call to redevelop a city-owned site on E. 14th Street. They were looking to “create an iconic commercial development” for tech startups and co-working spaces. Mayor de Blasio soon announced the winning “ Tech Hub ,” a glass tower that politicians and developers hope will boost more high-end development. It is attracting major real estate speculation, including Normandy Real Estate Partners’ 2016 purchase of the St. Denis building for $101 million. Normandy stopped renewing leases, and hundreds of small business people--most of them psychotherapists and other providers of wellness--were forced to leave the building. I was on

VANISHING The emptying out of western Bleecker Street continues with the coming closure of Your Neighborhood Office store. Last week, owner Helen Ann Lally sent an email to her customers to say: "I am sorry to say that after 24 years, Your Neighborhood Office will be closing, effective Saturday, March 31, 2018 . I have not come to this decision lightly, but I do know that it’s time for me to move on to the next phase of my life." Unconfirmed, a couple of readers say it was the rent that did it. As we know, this end of Bleecker has been through hell in the past 5 - 10 years . First, almost all the independent small businesses were pushed out by high rents and un-renewed leases. They were all replaced by luxury shops, many of them global chains. More recently, many of those luxury corporations decided to shutter their Bleecker locations. Storefronts have since sat empty, creating high-rent blight . After the closure of Manatus and a few other small places on t

The great Lanza's restaurant shuttered in the summer of 2016 . It had been in the East Village since 1904 and I miss it. When we heard that Joe & Pat's pizzeria would be moving in , it seemed okay. I worried about Lanza's antique murals, but a peek inside showed they were being preserved under plastic during renovations. A more recent peek shows the murals have been revealed--and they look good. In the very back, the lady with one bared breast lives on. Joe & Pat's has added two walls of vintage photos, presumably from their 57 years of family business on Staten Island.

VANISHING/MOVING NY Cake , the much-loved cake supply shop on 22nd Street near 6th Avenue is closing its doors. "We're Moving," reads a sign in the window. They're not sure where they're going yet, but you can put your name on the mailing list to be notified. A multi-generation family business , NY Cake was started by Joan Mansour in 1991-- it was previously known as the Chocolate Gallery in 1989. The shop is a wonderland of cake supplies--shelves of sprinkles and sugars, racks of molds for making chocolate lollipops. And lots of those plastic novelties for decorating cakes for every occasion. They also have this amazing door, for reasons that remain a mystery: I haven't been able to get through to NY Cake to find out why they're closing and hoping to relocate nearby. Back in 2011, they inked a 10-year lease extension, according to the Commercial Observer . “They’d been wonderful tenants,” said the landlord at the time. “The neighborh

The Sunshine Cinema closed last month --bought by developers who plan to demolish the historic building and put up a glassy office tower that will surely help to further hyper-gentrify the neighborhood. All photos by Herb Jue On Thursday of this week, those developers, East End Capital & K Property Group, are hosting a party to celebrate--what exactly? Their triumph over history? The invitation says it's to "CELEBRATE THE LOWER EAST SIDE & PREVIEW OUR NEW OFFICE DEVELOPMENT." I'm not sure how one can do both simultaneously. Anyway, it's free and we're all invited . The party will feature some artwashing --or poetry washing, I suppose you'd call it. Yes, poets are performing at a party thrown by luxury real estate developers to hype a project that is literally demolishing Lower East Side culture. Some protesters might show up, but probably not. This is the new Lower East Side.

As earlier reported, the Hudson Diner has closed . A reader sends in these shots of one regular's heartfelt goodbye note, taped to the window below the roll-down gate: We hear that Babu and much of the Hudson staff have moved on to the Moonstruck Eatery on E. 58th Street. photo: Justin Hicks

There's a marshal's seizure notice on the door of Boots & Saddle , the popular gay and drag bar that's been in the Village for over 40 years, and fans are panicking . I've been unable to reach the owner for comment, but people close to Boots on Facebook say the place is temporarily closed--there's a dispute with the landlord--and they hope to reopen soon. As you may recall, the bar was priced out of its long-time home on Christopher Street back in 2014. They relocated to 7th Avenue South.

Reader Mark Satlof writes in: " Court St. Office Supplies here in Downtown Brooklyn is going. They say they will be closing in about two weeks and have been there 40 years. Old-school, old-fashioned stationery and everything else store. It's really a wonder, not a small store. Really a loss of the fabric." On the shop's Facebook page , they write: "Our shelves are emptying as we say goodbye, and the store has been full of well-wishers. We'll be closing in a few weeks, but we're staying in the office supply business. So like us on Facebook, join our email list or stop by just to say hello." They will continue to run the shop online. Owner Jacob Gutman told Brooklyn Paper , “Our challenge has been the shift in how people purchase things these days. Our decision to close the store has nothing to do with rent.” So blame this one on Internet shoppers.

Neil Greenberg, Professor of Choreography at the New School, recently wrote on his Facebook page: "Another dance studio bites the dust--a location with a lot of history." The dance studio was PMT , located on the third floor of 69 West 14th Street at 6th Avenue, above Sol Moscot's. Pavan Thimmaiah, director of the studio, tells me the building was bought by Extell -- and it will likely be demolished. Tax photo (1940s?) On the history there, Neil writes: " From 1959 - 1963 The Living Theatre, directed by Judith Malina and Julian Beck, occupied floors two and three . Merce Cunningham had his dance studio on the top floor, which is where Robert Dunn taught the composition classes that launched the Judson Dance Theater. In 1977 Peter Saul, who once danced in Merce’s company, taught ballet classes in this studio. I’ve taught here, for The New School, since 2010, and have rehearsed my work here as well. Goodbye PMT Dance Studio. Goodbye this potent history. So