Vanishing New York Backup

For its opening weekend, Hudson Yards, aka Dubai on the Hudson, is crammed with people. They walk the glistening floors of the luxury shopping mall and climb The Vessel, aka The Giant Shawarma (h/t Eater ). They stand in line for free ice cream and ransack a refrigerator full of foul-tasting beverages that may or may not be free. They pose for Instagrammable photos with the mega-development's corporate logo and pay $28 to visit Snark Park, an "art theme park" where the creators have seized an opportunity to " literally control and curate everything ," which pretty much sums up everything about Hudson Yards. In my 2017 book Vanishing New York: How a Great City Lost Its Soul , I predicted that Hudson Yards would be: "A dreamworld of exclusion...one of those places Mike Davis describes in Evil Paradises : 'where the rich can walk like gods in the nightmare gardens of their deepest and most secret desires.' It will be what Norwegian urbanist Jonny A...

Next Tuesday, October 24 at 6:30pm, the editors of the book Deconstructing the High Line: Postindustrial Urbanism and the Rise of the Elevated Park will explore the after-effects of the popular luxury park, looking at gentrification along with causes and consequences of the “High Line Effect.” ( See more description and info here .) I asked co-editor Brian Rosa some questions: What motivated you to "deconstruct" the High Line? When the High Line first opened, and for quite awhile, it felt forbidden to critique it in any way. Why this book now? How has the possibility of deconstructing the High Line opened up over time? The genesis for this project was when Christoph Lindner and I first met at an authors’ meeting for a book he was editing, called Global Garbage, in June of 2014. We were wondering out loud why the reception of the High Line had been almost unanimously celebratory. Your op-ed in the New York Times from 2012 , along with a few articles here and there, wa...

In 2015, the Chelsea restaurant La Lunchonette was forced to close , thanks to the High Line Effect . It had been in business there, and beloved, for 26 years. The building was slated to be demolished, along with a former horse stable built in the 1880s, for a tax-supported, 10-story luxury condo made of wood, from SHoP, architects of the Barclays Center. Then the restaurant's former space showed up for rent . Earlier this year, the developer scrapped plans for the luxury tower , blaming a downturn in the luxury condo market. “The project just wasn’t feasible,” he told The Real Deal. And now? A deli called Chelsea Square Market has opened in La Lunchonette's former space. So the buildings get to live another day and the space isn't sitting empty, contributing to high-rent blight. It didn't turn into a chain store, either. But if I had to guess, I'd say the market's lease is likely short, that it's a temporary place-holder until the developers f...

For years, the block of West 28th Street between 10th and 11th Avenues was a quiet one, wide open and low rising. It was auto-body shops, a scrap yard, a place to get a slice of pizza, and the Eagle gay bar. Then the new High Line came. Immediately, a big chunk of the block was flattened. Small construction businesses moved out. The +ART condo went up across the street in 2010. The second section of the High Line opened in 2011. Construction began for Avalon Bay's AVA High Line. In 2012, the one-story nightclub in the bottom right of this photo was demolished. The scrap yard (left side, with yellow machine) kept scrapping. Life went on. Then residents of the +ART condo started complaining about the Folsom East fetish fair. Christian right-wingers stood on the High Line with signs telling the fairgoers they were sinners. Tourists gawked . The fair was cancelled and eventually moved. AVA got bigger and bigger and bigger. Then the scrap yard went in 2013 , sol...

You can now take home a piece of La Lunchonette. Owner Melva Max is selling many of the items from the restaurant this week. She writes on Facebook : "Please contact us at lalunchonette@verizon.net with any questions on what we are selling and how to buy! You can also come by the restaurant this week. call ahead 212 675 0342 as the landlord plans to do some work and we may be closed at that time." The items for sale include art, antiques, kitchen equipment, dishes, and glassware. La Lunchonette was forced to close by the High Line Effect , when its building--along with its neighbors--was sold to be demolished for a luxury condo .

When La Lunchonette closed on New Year's Eve , forced out of business after the landlord sold the building, I wondered what would replace it -- and what would happen to the little house behind the front tenement along West 18th Street. Berenice Abbott photographed the house in 1938, along with its equally diminutive neighbor. via MCNY Probably dating back to the 1880s , the two structures are hardly changed today. One had clearly been a stable for horses. It still has its arched hayloft window. The interior of the living space above the restaurant looks like a hayloft, with wooden beams and ceiling. But it won't be here for long. La Lunchonette's owner Melva Max told me that the little house will be demolished. A new luxury condo is coming. People are excited about it because it's made of wood, it's designed by Shop, the architects who did the Barclays Center, and we're all paying for it , through a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Ag...

You may recall that last fall I reported that La Lunchonette would be forced to close, thanks to the High Line Effect that is sweeping small businesses from Chelsea. The 28-year-old restaurant hung on longer than expected, but now the last supper has been announced. La Lunchonette's final night will be this New Year's Eve.  Owner Melva Max adds, "A ten story building will be erected, another 'starchitect' flexing their creative muscle along the old rail line." After the High Line opened, Max's landlord’s phone didn't stop ringing, and it was always a real-estate developer on the other end. She told me, “My landlord’s not a bad guy, but how you can you say no to offers of $30 million?”  She also noted, “The neighborhood is so gross now. It’s all tourists coming for the High Line. People always say, ‘But wasn’t it great for you?’ The High Line has been the cause of my demise.”  Stop in before La Lunchonette is gone -- taking its delic...

Veterans Chair Caning opened for business in New York City in 1899. Since the High Line opened and the Hudson Yards monstrosity began to rise across the street, I've worried about the modest little shop, located on the first floor of a tenement building on 10th Avenue and West 35th. When I saw their building had sold and would soon be sandwiched between two glassy hotel towers, thanks to the Hudson Yards Effect , I figured it was time to check in. Veterans is hidden behind construction scaffolding. They look closed, but they're open--and very busy. I talked to Sean Bausert, the shop's fourth-generation owner/manager. When I told him I write a blog called Vanishing New York, he said, "That was almost us. We just came this close to vanishing." He explained how the new owners wanted to knock down the building, along with its twin next door, but the tenements are full of rent-regulated tenants--and they're not budging. "They're fighters,"...

About a decade ago, Damon Hoydysh, founder of Highline Studios , climbed up onto the old, pre-gentrified High Line and shot a whole bunch of film--of the weedy wilderness and graffiti tunnels before they were turned into artisanal food courts and tourist outlooks. He shares it here for a first exclusive look (be sure to watch on full screen): I asked Damon a few questions: Q: How did you get up to the High Line to take this footage? A: I hopped the fence at the LIRR railroad yard at the north end of the High Line. Once you cleared the fence, it was just steps to the beginnings of the High Line. It was really hot that day, and when I got to the end, I had to get down through a functioning meat processing facility on 14th street. It was just one of those moments, older guys in white butcher’s coats looking at me funny as I briskly exited via their huge, full-floor meat locker with my camera over my shoulder. Q: What attracted you to the old High Line? A: I was always obsess...

VANISHING When Melva Max and her husband Jean-François Fraysse moved their restaurant La Lunchonette from the Lower East Side to the remote corner of 10th Avenue and 18th Street in far west Chelsea in 1988, it was a different world. The Meatpacking District was the domain of transgender sex workers, queer sex clubs, and meatpacking plants. The High Line was a derelict rail bed covered in weeds. Gun shots cracked through the night air. Now, 26 years later, this is one of the most expensive neighborhoods in New York City, filled with luxury chain stores and luxury high rises. The sweeping change happened recently, in the blink of an eye—and it is forcing La Lunchonette to shutter. “The neighborhood is so gross now,” Melva says. “It’s all tourists coming for the High Line. People always say, ‘But wasn’t it great for you?’ The High Line has been the cause of my demise.” Since the pricey park opened, Melva’s landlord’s phone hasn’t stopped ringing, and it’s always a real-estate develo...

Brian Rose's book Metamorphosis: Meatpacking 1985 & 2013 is about to come off the presses. It features incredible photos of the meatpacking district before and after hyper-gentrification. Some of those shots were first featured on this blog in 2013 , and I got the chance to write the foreword for the book . I recommend it to anyone interested in the city's transformation during the Bloomberg years. Brian's photographs will appear in a show at Dillon Gallery, from July 15 - August 15, with an opening and book launch party tomorrow, July 15 . Don't miss it.

After being forced to close in March 2013, after 34 years in business , the Rawhide bar was set to become a California pizza chain. That didn't happen and the space remains empty to this day. Recently, one of the front shutters was opened. I peeked inside. It isn't pretty. Meanwhile, Folsom Street East was a success this past Sunday, moved to West 27th Street after being pushed off its long-time home of West 28th by: condo owners, the community board, the High Line, more rising condos. Kinksters and queers came out in their full leather and latex regalia, the street was packed, and the music was fierce (Michael Tee and the Vanities are a must-see). The fair felt a bit tame, however, compared to years past. It was more easy-going somehow, and less dirty, less edgy, with what seemed like fewer flogging and spanking demonstrations and, regrettably, no ass-pie eating contest. Unless I somehow missed it. It also seemed shorter than in years past. I wonder if these were...

Award-winning Village Voice cartoonist M. Wartella has just published a book of his work, Wartella's Strip Show . I picked one up recently at the Comic Arts Brooklyn fest and was impressed, especially by his giddily incendiary "Runnin Scared" pieces, many of which chronicle moments of extreme gentrification in the city. You'll be able to find the book in stores January 14. Until then, you can view an excerpt here and buy it online here --or get a signed edition on ebay . I asked Wartella a few questions about his work. What made you decide to publish a collection of your work and why now? I needed to unload all this crap! I've been cartooning professionally since I was ten years old, so that's 25 years worth of printed matter that was filling my closets. It was time to set it all free and the amazing guys at Burger Records, an awesome little record label outta L.A., they believed in it and made it happen! I'm most interested in your R...