Vanishing New York Backup

On a warm spring afternoon I meet John Freeman Gill on the Lower East Side for a little gargoyle hunting. Gill is the author of The Gargoyle Hunters , a novel set in 1970s New York City about a boy and his father who rescue ornamental stonework from tenements and other old buildings under demolition. For the father, it's a way to preserve a vanishing city. "The book is completely about the evolving streetscape of New York," says Gill. "The city is constantly destroying itself. Regenerating. It's always been a city in a hurry." Gill's inspiration for the book was a man named Ivan Karp, a self-taught gargoyle hunter who put together a team in the 1950s and led "clandestine raids on demolition sites." It was the time of Urban Renewal when countless tenements were destroyed, taking their decorations with them. Karp saved some 1,500 sculptures and eventually got the Brooklyn Museum to take them in. Since the days of Urban Renewal, housin...

In February, I reported that NY Cake was closing , hoping to move to a new location. They have announced that they are staying in the neighborhood, moving to 118 West 22nd Street in the fall of 2018. In their press release, they write: "The larger space is located just a block away from the current storefront which will remain open throughout the summer to ensure customers’ baking needs continue to be met. The new location will enable NYCAKE to enhance the store’s offerings including the introduction of new lines of baking products, expanding the school’s schedule to include additional baking classes with co-owner Lisa Mansour, and launching their first-ever café offering freshly-baked confections from NYCAKE."

Tired of just complaining about small businesses closing? Then show up and make some noise for something that can actually help. On Wednesday morning at 10:00, join the rally for the SBJSA on the steps of City Hall. The Small Business Jobs Survival Act (SBJSA) is the best way we currently have to slow down the loss of our small businesses and the scourge of high-rent blight that is killing our streetscapes. Recently, City Councilmember Ydanis Rodriquez reintroduced the SBJSA. Corey Johnson, the new speaker of the City Council, has pledged to give the bill a public hearing, and we hope it will go up for a vote and pass in full force. It sounds good. But supporters of the SBJSA are worried that the City Council will kill the SBJSA once again--or rip out its teeth and pass a watered-down version to end the discussion. But the discussion will not end. Show up and let them know you want a strong SBJSA, not a " REBNY Trojan horse " version of the bill. Here's what...

VANISHING B.B. King's blues club on 42nd Street is closing at the end of April. In a press release , they wrote: "Despite many sold out shows, the location's rent escalated to an unsustainable level, leaving us no choice but to close our doors. Unfortunately this has become a growing trend in New York City , with other iconic music venues and businesses falling victim to opportunistic property owners. This venue's legacy extends much further than the stage, playing a role in Times Square's revitalization two decades ago. It is a shame that wasn't taken into consideration regarding its future in the area." after the death of B.B. King As they say, B.B. King's played a role in the redevelopment of 42nd Street, helping to change it from honky-tonk to tourist-friendly. In her definitive book on the topic, Times Square Roulette , Lynn Sagalyn notes B.B. King's as one of the "rush of commercial developments" defining the New 42nd Str...

Last week, NY Yimby reported that permits have been filed to replace the historic St. Denis building with a new 12-story office building. The St. Denis is 165 years old, boasts an impressive history (Alexander Graham Bell, Ulysses S. Grant, W.E.B. Du Bois, and lots of communists) and was recently emptied of hundreds of small business people (myself included). You can read all about it here . For those who hoped the St. Denis would not be demolished, this doesn't look good. But a look at the permits reveals an important note: "Development Challenge Process is pending Zoning Approval. For any issues, please contact the relevant borough office." Does that mean there is hope to save this building? The GVSHP put out an email to explain the situation: "The bottom line is we are working very hard to get zoning or landmark protections for the University Place, Broadway, and 3rd and 4th Avenue corridors, which the Mayor continues to oppose. We are using the leve...

On a warm spring day outside the Cafetal Social Club at 285 Mott Street you might find the filmmaker Paul Stone and his adopted family, including neighborhood guys like Vinny Vella, aka "the Mayor of Elizabeth Street," and Dominick Ferraro. For over 60 years the Cafetal was a social club. It's been a home-style Italian restaurant for 6 years. The guys hang out on the sidewalk to drink coffee, shoot the breeze, and reminisce about life in old Little Italy, childhoods spent sleeping on fire escapes and showering in fire hydrants with bricks of Ivory soap. Stone, a half-Italian, half-Irish native of Brooklyn, moved to Elizabeth Street in 1985. He lived in Martin Scorsese's building, played in punk bands, and made movies. In Mulberry: A Gentrification Story , he shows how the neighborhood changed in just a few short years. "A few years ago," he says, "it went from slow gentrification to hyper-gentrification. The dial got turned way up. It was a co...

When Lincoln Plaza Cinemas closed this past January after almost four decades in business, many New Yorkers were heartbroken. People talked of saving it , with nearly 12,000 signing a petition to keep it running, but it shuttered just the same. In the fight for this beloved movie theater, one long-time Upper West Sider took action. Norma Levy is a Yale Law School graduate and practicing lawyer. While she has done non-profit work in the past, she told me she has "never done anything like this" before. For Lincoln Plaza, she just had to do something. "I decided there has to be a way to recreate the cinema," she said. "It's too tragic to lose." At the memorial service for cinema co-owner Dan Talbot a few months ago, Levy handed out flyers asking people to help revive Lincoln Plaza Cinemas. Thirty people showed up for a meeting and together they formed New Plaza Cinema Inc. The group has enlisted two Lincoln Plaza veterans who chose the films ...

VANISHED Reader Bill Marden writes in to say that the Pedal Pusher Bike Shop on Second Avenue between 68th & 69th has closed. photos: Bill Marden He says: "Store had been in current location for nearly 50 years. Suddenly closed in early March 2018. A nearby dry cleaner told me that the bike shop closed due to a recent rent increase (big surprise) . Besides selling bikes, the store was well known for its bike rentals to groups and its repair services. They'll be missed." The clothing shop next door is sitting empty, too. More high-rent blight.

The East Village/Bowery is slated for yet another luxury boutique hotel, and this time the historic Merchant's House Museum on East 4th Street is under threat. They have issued a call to arms, with instructions on how you can help . Curbed Not only that, but the hotel would mean goodbye to the little one-story garage where the neighborhood's hot dog vendors store their carts -- another small piece of New York's character. The Merchant's House Executive Director, Margaret Halsey Gardiner, writes: The proposed hotel, at 100 feet tall, is in violation of the City's Zoning Resolution. The developer's application for a zoning text amendment – "spot zoning" – would in effect rewrite the law for a series of waivers that benefit the developer alone. At eight stories, the proposed hotel towers over the 4 ½ story Merchant’s House (completely blocking sunlight to our rear garden) and is grossly incompatible with the surrounding buildings and neighbo...

Back in 2014, just before launching #SaveNYC , I put together a wish list for saving the city's mom and pops . The list included, among other things, the Small Business Jobs Survival Act (SBJSA) and a vacancy tax on landlords who keep their commercial spaces empty, creating a problem known as high-rent blight. For years, activists have been pushing for the SBJSA and they've been pushing harder than ever in the past couple of years. The vacancy tax idea has also picked up steam. More and more New Yorkers are talking about the small business crisis and the real solutions that can stop it. Talk can lead to change. It seems we have arrived at a critical moment. Last week, Mayor de Blasio mentioned the vacancy tax for the first time. On WNYC he said, “I am very interested in fighting for a vacancy fee or a vacancy tax that would penalize landlords who leave their storefronts vacant for long periods of time in neighborhoods because they are looking for some top-dollar rent but...