Vanishing New York Backup

DW Gibson, author of The Edge Becomes the Center: An Oral History of Gentrification in the Twenty-First Century , has a new project. "Jerry the Peddler" is a documentary about a locally legendary Lower East Side squatter--and about an outlaw urban lifestyle that is rapidly vanishing. Visit Seed & Spark to find out more, and consider sending in funds to help complete the film. I talked with DW about squatting in New York. Q: How do you see squatting as "a critical challenge to our prevailing interpretation of 'The American Dream'"? A: By and large, the American Dream is defined by property ownership. It carries all kinds of connotations with it but at its core it’s about having a place of your own for you and your family to be comfortable, and in America that means owning a home. But there are two other major elements of the American psyche that can be found in the world of squatting: hard work and personal liberty. I don’t think most people...

“The Holdouts” is a comedy series about New Yorkers who can’t afford to live in the new New York. Co-created by Stephen Girasuolo and Dan Menke, it stars Kevin Corrigan as Kevin Shanahan, a rent-controlled tenant who refuses his landlord's buyout as he bemoans the hyper-gentrification of the city: “They won’t be happy until this whole island is one big Duane Reade with a Starbucks inside and an IHOP inside that and a Bank of America inside that.” The creators have launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the show, which they hope will help bring attention to the plight of the vanishing city. I chatted with Girasuolo and Corrigan about the show, the lost New York, and the life of a holdout. Q: So the inevitable first question: What inspired you to do this project? Stephen: I was being forced out by my landlord of 25 years in Hell's Kitchen at the time and my co-creator Dan Menke wanted to write a part for Corrigan as a man out of time in New York City. Something sta...

Last week, we talked about hyper-gentrification , the brand of urban change we're living with today, a very different process from old-fashioned gentrification. In my long essay, I referenced "brownstone fever" and this 1969 feature in New York magazine . (For an analysis of how New York magazine helped to market a new urban lifestyle, see Miriam Greenberg's Branding New York .) The 1969 article is a fascinating historic artifact, an in-depth piece about the New Yorkers who were moving out of their "aseptic uptown apartments" and making new homes from fixer-upper brownstones in no-man's land neighborhoods like Chelsea, the East Village, the Upper West Side, "even Brooklyn." Says the article, "Strange but true: People from Scarsdale are now alive and well in Brooklyn; contented in places called Fort Greene and Boerum Hill and Park Slope." From the writing, it's clear that the magazine's readers might never have heard of...

The following is part of a larger piece I've been working on to explain hyper-gentrification, today's form of gentrification. It's also a response to the Spike Lee brouhaha. It's rather lengthy. I hope you'll stick with it. Motherfuckin’ Christopher Columbus   Last week, filmmaker Spike Lee spoke to an audience of students at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute. During the Q&A, one student asked if he thought gentrification had its good sides. Spike launched into a powerful defense of his home neighborhood , Fort Greene, against the incursion of affluent white people. He recalled his childhood, when the garbage wasn’t picked up every day and the police weren’t out making the streets safe. He asked, “Why does it take an influx of white New Yorkers in the South Bronx, in Harlem, in Bed-Stuy, in Crown Heights for the facilities to get better?” An excellent and important question. As the audience member tried to argue with him, interrupting to say, “Can I talk about s...

VANISHED  Time to add yet another casualty to the High Line's hit list, as every single blue-collar business along its length is rapidly being wiped out. When the blindingly bright luxury condo 245 10th Avenue rose up, wrapping itself around a Lukoil gas station to lean over the High Line, we knew the Lukoil couldn't last. No matter that the gas station was always busy, it just didn't fit with the new neighborhood. The two sides of the condo facing the gas station were built with no windows, obviously awaiting a future tower to come. And now it's coming. I walked by recently to find the gas station shuttered, its signs ripped down, and the whole thing surrounded by a wall of tastefully potted shrubbery--musn't upset the neighbors with unsightly developer blight. A nearby worker told me it closed about a week ago. In a big story about High Line overdevelopment, the New York Post reported that the lot was purchased by luxury developer Michael Shvo ...

VANISHED Last night was the last night of Max Fish on the Lower East Side--and it was packed . We've been hearing of this closure for a few years now. Due to a large rent hike, Max Fish is moving to Brooklyn. As the Lo-Down reported, "When Max Fish first opened, Rimkus was paying scarcely more than $2,000 month. Arwen Properties, her landlord, is reportedly seeking $20,000/month for the space next door." You could argue that Max Fish is being gobbled up by the monster it helped create. There may be some truth to that, but Ludlow Street had attracted artists and hipsters way before Max Fish arrived. In the 1960s and 70s, members of the Velvet Underground lived and recorded music there. John Cale recalled , "In the fifth-floor apartment in '65, Lou, Sterling, and I combined the music of Erik Satie, John Cage, Phil Spector, Hank Williams and Bob Dylan. The result was a new form of rock—more about art than commerce." Warhol superstars also found ...

The Highline Effect keeps knocking down Chelsea, and blue-collar businesses along the park have taken a few more hits, adding to the lightning-fast timeline of loss . 2012 At 19th St. on 10th Ave., Kamco Building Materials has been completely demolished . Nothing remains but a blue plywood wall. today Soon to take its place will be a pair of giant, $40-million condo towers , rising on both sides of the High Line. The condo project is called "The Highline." Because that name hasn't been used nearly enough. Here's a rendering of the double tower to come: tomorrow One block north, on 10th Ave. stretching across the entire block from 20th to 21st Streets, a GGMC parking garage is being demolished. Not much to look at, but part of the old low-rise neighborhood just the same. It sold for $47,900,000. The address is 500 West 21st. Originally bought by hotelier Andre Balasz, the current developer, according to the Wall Street Journal , is "Sherwood...

While chatting with a shopkeeper on Bleecker Street, I heard that the great Manatus diner is being pushed out. Said the shopkeeper, "Manatus has lost their lease. The space has already been rented out for a Calvin Klein store. Not sure how long they have left. Maybe a month." Don't panic yet. That was a month ago now, and while I've tried to get something definitive, I have been unable to confirm the information . One person I spoke to at Manatus hesitated to answer, eventually saying, "Eh, well, not tomorrow, maybe in a year." We've worried about Manatus for awhile. It's been around for decades--since at least 1985. They have long catered to a gay clientele, mostly older men , locals who eat in diners. It's also one of the last affordable places to dine in that part of town. (Read my previous post .) At lunch the men come walking in, some limping and some using canes, singly or in couples. They're greeted by the hostess with kisses ...