Vanishing New York Backup

Filmmaker Dustin Cohen has made a poignant short film about the dying soul of New York with one of the last of the original East Village bohemians. He writes: "I met Phillip Giambri at Grassroots Tavern (R.I.P.) on St. Mark's Place during the summer of 2016 after hearing him perform at an open mic in the East Village. He drank me under the table that afternoon, but not before we agreed to collaborate and bring his poem 'The Boho's Lament' to life." Giambri was a Grassroots regular. He was written up in the Times a couple of years ago as "the Ancient Mariner, being a Navy veteran and as relentless a storyteller as Coleridge’s salty narrator." As Cohen notes on the film's Vimeo page, Giambri "has been writing and performing in New York City's East Village since 1968," and you can find him "sipping cheap drinks and waxing philosophical at the some of the last remaining real East Village dive bars like Coal Yard, Doc Ho

For 27 years, Wayne Conti has been running Mercer Street Books & Records , one of the last used bookstores in town. Recently, business has gotten rough. He's not vanishing yet, but he just signed a new lease, and it might be the last. It came with a jump in rent, plus an escalation. “My rent is far from the worst,” he says, “and my landlord’s not a bad guy, but I think he got pulled into the idea of the market. It’s not a partnership anymore, like it was in the past. It’s all market, market, market.” Wayne points out the high-rent blight in the Village and Soho, storefronts kept empty by big landlords, sometimes for years at a time. He heard a theory about the practice. A high rent, even on an empty space, he explains, means high equity that building owners can turn into high loans from banks, that can then be used to buy more buildings. It’s some kind of a racket—and it’s helping to kill small businesses in the city. “I think every small business person is unhappy in

VANISHED Scaletta Ristorante has been on the Upper West Side for 30 years. Recently, I walked by and looked at its old yellow sign and thought I should check it out, because the old yellow sign seemed like an indication of something authentically New York and a little bit hidden. It also made me think: That can't last. Now I won't get the chance because the landlord gave Scaletta the boot. Last night was their last night. West Side Rag reported the news and shared Scaletta's note to customers, which included this pointed bit: "You might be wondering whether we were yet another victim of astronomical rents? Well, to eliminate any speculation, here’s the story. Yes, our rent had steadily climbed up, but no, it wasn’t the ultimate reason for our closing. In fact, we were willing to stomach yet another rent increase, and invest in gut renovating our space and committing to another decade or more. No, the truth is we simply weren’t wanted. Our landlords covet

VANISHING In the East Village, Three of Cups is closing. Owner Anthony Barile writes on his Facebook page : "The day has come where I must share the sad news that Three of Cups will be closing. I’ve thought often about what I might say when this day came and each time I pushed the thought from my head, but here we are. The reasons are many that we are at this moment, with all of them meaning that I can’t sustain it any longer. It’s the end of the longest thing I’ve continuously been involved with, almost 1/2 my life, nearly 26 years." Their last day will be April 1.

Last week we learned that El Quijote, the 87-year-old restaurant in the Chelsea Hotel, is closing at the end of March , thanks to its new owners. Now Page Six reports that the employees are getting a raw deal. “The staff is being disrespected,” said a tipster to the Post . “They are being given two weeks’ severance pay...from a person who just started working last month to the executive chef who’s been working there over 30 years. They’re all being treated the same.” I first reported on the coming closure of El Quijote here in 2014 . Since then, the restaurant and the hotel changed hands (again and again). The hotel is currently owned by "BD Hotels’ Richard Born and Ira Drukier, and Jane Hotel honcho Sean MacPherson." Born told the Post , "The real severance obligation is from the original owner...We have only been here a little over a year.” El Quijote has been a thorn in the owners' side for awhile now. Back in 2010, The Real Deal reported : When BD

From her downtown office, Peg Breen, President of the New York Landmarks Conservancy , looks out over historic buildings that the Conservancy had a hand in preserving--Ellis Island, the 1886 fireboat station at Pier A, the U.S. Customs House/National Museum of the American Indian. They remind her of what can be accomplished--and what is at stake in this age of rampant over-development. A proposal is right now sitting on the desk of the New York State Assembly. If it passes, the city will become a radically different place. Breen wants to stop it. The Conservancy is celebrating its 45th year of advocating for and funding the preservation and restoration of what Breen calls "the best of New York," from the Olmsted House and the Picasso Curtain , to neighborhood brownstones and houses of worship. "Buildings tell stories," says Breen. "And all the different layers in New York tell our history. They tell migration patterns. They give you a sense of con

VANISHING After nearly 90 years in the Chelsea Hotel, the great and wonderful and gorgeous El Quijote is closing on March 30. Eater reports: "Staffers at the historic restaurant, located at 226 West 23rd St. between Seventh and Eighth avenues, were given two weeks notice. Ownership allegedly told employees that the restaurant is being renovated and will re-open eventually. Eater NY has reached out to the restaurant for comment." Back in 2014, I reported on this coming closure . At the time, I was told that El Quijote would be upscaled and sanitized in a fashion similar to what happened to Minetta Tavern. The plan was denied -- and then confirmed. A rep for Ed Scheetz, the man who took over the hotel, said at the time that they would "retain the signature look and feel of El Quijote" while "maintaining its authenticity." But then life went on. El Q remained untouched. We held our breath. When -- and if -- the place reopens, it won't be th

Banksy is back in town. He unveiled a mural on the Houston Street wall today, urging the liberation of Turkish artist Zehra Dogan. A Banksy rat appeared on a clock at 14th and 6th Avenue, atop the old Greenwich Savings Bank that will soon be torn down for luxury condos. photo via Banksy Now Instagrammers are finding more possible Banksy easter eggs around town, including one somewhere in East Harlem: And another at Avenue I and Coney Island Ave -- both with a similar message for the capitalist class:

VANISHING The Silver Spurs coffee shop has been around since 1979. After this month, it will be no more. The original on Broadway and 9th Street shuttered in 2013 , thanks to an expired lease that was not renewed. The landlord hiked the rent, breaking hearts , and the space went to Starbucks. That left one other Silver Spurs, at Houston and Laguardia. A reader in the Village sent in the news and spent some time talking with Kiki Bourekas, the manager of the restaurant, who said the place is closing because business is down. As we know, coffee shops are closing all over the city. Kiki says, “It was like Cheers in here. It was family. Customers became friends. You came here and made friends in the neighborhood. I’ve been here since it opened 22 years ago. People in the neighborhood call it ‘Kiki’s.' 'Let’s go get some of Kiki’s coffee,' they say. I stayed on all that time because I liked it so much." The place is family owned and got its western theme in 1

UN-VANISHING It's rare when bookstores open. It's rare to get any good news in this town about local businesses. And yet. Yesterday we heard that Shakespeare & Co. is opening two new stores in the city. There will be one in Greenwich Village, in the spot long occupied by Jefferson Market ( closed in 2008 , turned into a Gristede's, and then a luxury condo showroom ). Another will come to the Upper West Side at 2020 Broadway, between 69th and 70th Streets. (None for the book-starved East Village?) They are slated to open in the fall/winter of 2018. 2014 I asked CEO Dane Neller a few quick questions. Q: Downtown, we still miss the Broadway location near NYU ( closed in 2014 and turned into a Foot Locker ). Will the new shop on 6th and 11th Street have a similarly curated selection? A: Yes, with more selection since it’s a larger store. Q: With so many bookstores closing across the city, what's the secret to surviving -- and growing -- in the curre

VANISHED Reader Ted Rao writes in: "The amazing Wong Kee , located on Mott Street between Canal and Grand, succumbed to a new landlord and rising rents. Its last day was 1/21/18." photo via Yelp According to this video from SinoVision , Wong Kee was in Chinatown for nearly 30 years. The lease ended and apparently was not renewed by the landlord. According to SinoVision, "The landlord plans to take the property back and construct a pharmacy in its place." There are already several pharmacies nearby.

The following is from photographer Michael Berman: ’99 Snapshots is a documentary project about people I met and photographed in 1999. I met them on sidewalks and in places of business in each of Manhattan’s many neighborhoods. I am now re-photographing and interviewing as many of the 300+ original people as I can find, seeking details about who they were in ’99, who they are now, and their thoughts on multiple topics including New York but also big ones like life and the passage of time. Because I encountered the people in 1999 randomly, the group as a whole reflects demographic diversity. I aim to turn this into a book and a documentary film. Marian and Lindsay, Harlem I’m able to find many people on my own, using social media and the phone book (I have their 1999 names). But some people I can’t find, so I post “ISOs” to the project’s Instagram feed , with hopes that people might help out. Sometimes I find out that a person has died. If possible, I want to include them anywa

The St. Denis building south of Union Square is full of stories. For 165 years, it's been a place for the famous and the radical. Most recently, it's been full of shrinks. But that's all coming to an end as the building is emptied--displacing hundreds of small business people (myself included)--and as Union Square changes under the pressures of hyper-gentrification and City Halls' "Tech Hub." I talked to the people inside the St. Denis, and wrote up the story of the Death and Life of a Great American Building for the New York Review of Books Daily. Read it here .

VANISHING New Beer Distributors on Chrystie Street just announced via their Facebook page : "Sorry guys to announce we have a few days left till we shut down for good. We have a fire sale going on!!! 50% off on everything on our shelves. Thank you guys for all the business and memories you gave us for the last 50 years." I recently walked by to find them flanked by luxury construction and demolition. They say it was the rent. 50 years--wiped out by hyper-gentrification. 

Last month I wrote about the demise of 69 West 14th St and its tenement neighbors . At that time, nine storefronts had been shuttered, and developer Extell will likely demolish the buildings. Now there are ten. Sol Moscot was (from what I can tell) the last tenant in the buildings, making them now clear for destruction. And Moscot has moved up 6th Avenue, into the mini-mall structure built a few years ago by the Stonehenge Group. Stonehenge is the same group that cleared all the small businesses out of a building they purchased on 9th Avenue and 18th Street. It was a move that broke the hearts of many local people . That was years ago. Since then, they put in a Wells Fargo bank , but all of the remaining spaces still sit empty and wasted. Stonehenge also quintupled the rent on Colony Records , putting them out of Times Square after 60 years. Has anything permanent moved into that spot, or is it still revolving holiday pop-ups? Anyway, I hope Moscot got a good, long lease

VANISHING By now you may have heard the sad news that Glaser's Bake Shop is kaput. Or will be soon. On Friday, they posted on their Facebook page : "It is with a heavy heart, the bakers and coworkers at Glaser's Bake Shop regret to inform you on July 1, 2018 Glaser's Bake Shop will be closing it's doors to the public after 116 years of service. After many years of daunting hours and hard work, the third generation of bakers have come to the difficult decision to hang up their bakers hat and move towards retirement." Co-owner Herb Glaser told Eater that it's not easy to run a retail bakery, "especially in today’s climate." A PIX11 reporter said, "it's been really tough to maintain a family-owned business in this changing landscape." And to AMNY , he said, “We struggled with it for quite a while. But we realize what’s involved keeping [the bakery] going, and we just can’t anymore.” On Saturday, the bakery was packed,