Vanishing New York Backup

As we heard from Bowery Boogie earlier this week, the successful and beloved McNally Jackson bookstore on Prince Street in Soho is being forced to move. Why? The landlord wants “an enormous amount of rent,” Sarah McNally told AMNY . McNally added that she has "a contract on one space and has also identified another as a backup. She’s not announcing the final destination yet but it will be in Manhattan close to the original store." This is good news--but for how long? For over a decade of talking to countless small businesspeople pushed out by landlords who hiked the rent or denied lease renewals, I have found that many fail to relocate. Of those that do, many end up closing soon after. What's missing? Long leases. It was once customary for a small business to get a ten-year lease. Today, you're lucky if you get two years. And then it can happen all over again. In addition, the bookstore-killing Amazon has opened a brick-and-mortar location in Soho --right ...

VANISHED After close to four decades, Argo Electronics on Canal Street has closed. Tribeca Citizen shared the news today, writing, "I’d have to wager that the building—and the one(s) to the west—aren’t long for this world." photos from 2015 Argo was a beautiful little remnant of old Canal, its wares organized in cardboard boxes spilling out to the sidewalk, a cacophony of useful junk and stuff. Power cords. Extension cords. Remote controls. Rolls of duct tape. Rolls of masking tape. Motherboards. Keyboards. Key chains. Coffee pots. Flip flops. Watch bands. I never got the chance to go inside, but I always liked the look of the place and photographed it each time I went by, mostly because it had that look. You know the look. The one that says: I won't last much longer in this new New York. For videos of the inside, visit Tribeca Citizen .

A couple of readers sent in a listing offering the Canal Rubber site for rent. "Currently Canal General Merchandise and Canal Rubber," it reads, with a plea and a renaming: "Join Canal Street’s burgeoning design district." And, of course, there's a rendering of the blandification that the realtor hopes will come, clearly a dream of Shake Shack (and a different breed of people): Canal Rubber has been in this location since 1954. I called the place and was told that the building has been sold to a new owner, but the shop is not closing: "We're not going anywhere." That's good news because Canal Rubber is beloved--by customers, of course, but also by passersby , thanks to its unique vintage signage. IF IT'S IN RUBBER - WE HAVE IT! (They've got a great Twitter feed that shows all the amazing things you can do with their products.) Urban miniaturist Alan Wolfson even rendered Canal Rubber in Lilliputian dimensions . Long live...

The trophy hunters have snared Pearl Paint and stuck its head on a pike. Curbed reports: "Pearl Paint, the beloved downtown art supply store, closed in 2014 , but a piece of the shop still lives on—in the new, pricey rentals that have just hit the market in its former Canal Street headquarters. Listings for four apartments that sit atop the former art shop just appeared, with the cheapest going for $16,000/month, and the priciest—a top-floor penthouse—asking $18,000/month." And: "Unsurprisingly, they’re using the store as a selling point: the brokerbabble touts the apartments as being part of 'the stunning residential conversion of the iconic art store,' and the neon 'Pearl Paint' sign that once hung on the flagship is now installed in the building’s lobby. (One could see this as either a nice piece of historic preservation, or an egregious way of capitalizing on the store’s historic cachet. We’ll let you make that call.)"

Tonight, the Liquor Committee of local Community Board 2 will hear an application for the space that held Milady's bar for 81 years . Sean Sweeney, Director of the SoHo Alliance, writes in to say that "two restaurateurs have approached the SoHo Alliance to notify us that they are applying for a liquor license for a 65-seat restaurant and bar" in the space. But the space has sat empty for so long--two years --it is no longer zoned for bar/restaurant use. Also, writes Sean, "the area is already saturated, with more than its share of licensed premises." He says, "there are about ten licensed premises already within 500 feet of Milady’s. New York State Liquor Authority laws require that an applicant for a liquor license must demonstrate that providing an additional liquor license would 'serve the public interest' in any area that is already saturated with licensed premises. It is highly unlikely the applicant would be able to demonstrate that....

In 2014, after 81 years in business, and with a steady clientele, Milady's bar closed . Employees told customers that the landlord refused to renew the lease (this has not been confirmed , see comments below). New Yorkers grieved. The space has been empty since. It had a For Rent sign on it all this time, but I guess that didn't succeed in attracting a suburban shopping mall chain. So now there's a bigger, brighter banner--in orange!--strapped across the front of the murdered bar. High-rent blight never got so bright. Come on, Applebee's!

As you know, the beloved Pearl River Mart closed when its rent was hiked from $100,000 to a reported $500,000 per month. Here's what remains. #SaveNYC .

The Magic Shop recording studio on Crosby Street is closing in March. via NY Times Founder Steve Rosenthal writes on the studio's Facebook page : "After an amazing 28 year run, I will have to close The Magic Shop Recording Studio. March 16, 2016 will be our last day open. Everyone knows why I have to close, so there is little point in rehashing my story." He thanks Dave Grohl, The Foo Fighters, and Lee Johnson "for stepping up big time last year to try and save the studio." As the Times reported yesterday, the legendary studio was in a landlord dispute. Rosenthal tried to buy the property, but the co-op board said no. Lou Reed, David Bowie, and many others recorded here. via Magic Shop Facebook page In his Facebook note, Rosenthal adds: "One last thing, I get that New York City is always changing and adapting like the living city it is. Maybe what I believe in is no longer of value, but it was for us and we lived it. As the city becomes ...

This past spring, Crain's reported that Pearl River Mart, the excellent Asian emporium, would be forced to close at the end of the year due to an insane rent hike. Now reader Andrea R. writes in with a final (ish) date. A friend who works in the store told her: " the closing date is around February 10 ." Pearl River first opened in Chinatown in 1971. It has since moved twice, but this may be the end of it, due to sky-high rents all over the city. As Crain's reported, " Pearl River currently pays more than $100,000 a month for its shop, and rent would rise more than five times when the lease expires ." That's over $500,000 per month. And this is why we need to #SaveNYC .

The original Bicycle Habitat opened on Lafayette Street in 1978 . It is now being forced to close due to a massive rent increase. photo: Andrew Burton, NY Times Reader Wendy points us to a report from Bicycle Retailer : "Rent for the 244/242 Lafayette Street store, which encompassed two storefronts and about 2,300 square feet of space, was $21,000 a month. And [owner Charlie] McCorkell said his rent was going to increase by nearly 3 1/2 times to $72,000 per month , which wasn't sustainable with the revenue from bicycle sales." The shop and its owner have long advocated for a bike-friendly New York. It is also a favorite of celebrities. Wrote the Times in 2012, "On any given day, you might see Jake Gyllenhaal. Or Matthew Broderick or David Byrne. David Beckham has been said to swing by, just for some much-needed air." But in today's New York, doing good business and making money won't keep you afloat. Not when landlords can hike the rent t...

NOT VANISHING In more good news today for old New York, Kenn's Broome Street Bar will not be closing anytime soon. A tipster wrote in, "They just signed a new five-year lease." A call to the bar confirmed: They're staying put. A year ago, I broke the news that the 43-year-old bar would be closing , following the death of Kenn Reisdorff. The building soon went on the market. But reports in the Post that the building had sold (for $12 million) were "erroneous," the bartender told me. For reasons unknown, the building has not been sold. And we can still go on enjoying the Broome Street Bar for another several years. With this, after the good news about Smith's Bar and Jim's Shoe Repair , we're feeling somewhat optimistic. For now.

VANISHED? "The dirty, polluted, overpriced, but iconic fruit stand at the corner of Broadway and Houston is no more," writes in Joe. "For some reason, I already miss it terribly." Maybe they're on a long vacation, but they've been shuttered for at least 10 days and the stand has become littered with empty coffee cups and other detritus, so it certainly appears to be gone for good. today When the Wall Street Journal announced in 2013 that the fruit stand's parcel had been sold by the MTA to a real-estate developer for $26 million, they called it an "unglamorous pocket on the northern lip of luxurious Soho." Maybe that's why Joe, and many others, miss it--it was a scrappy holdout from another time, a reminder of the neighborhood that's been wiped out. April 2014 Its name was the Honest Boy fruit stand, and it was opened by Louis Arenas in 1980-- the letters that spelled out "The Honest Boy" had that New Wavy ...

VANISHED On Spring Street in SoHo, the Hair Box barber shop has closed. Signs in the window say: "This has been a barber shop for over 100 years and we are sad to see it go," followed by a frowny face emoticon. Gone are the crazy Styrofoam heads from the window. Gothamist called Hair Box " The Best Place for a Shave " in 2006, and The New York Times profiled the place in 2010: "Many businesses in SoHo have come and gone, but 203 Spring Street has housed a barbershop, through several identities and owners, for over 100 years. It has been the Hair Box since 2001, but two of the shop’s three barbers began working there long before that, including Rocco Milano, 79, who had cut hair there for nearly 40 years before having a stroke in September. (He plans to return once he feels up to it.) Lingering like the combs submerged in dark blue Barbicide is a cast of neighborhood old-timers who sit inside, watching the weather forecast, or outside in lawn...

Since 1968 this little brick building on Grand Street was home to the De Lorenzo metalworking shop , a business that went back to 1907. It survived and thrived through three generations of the same family. They sold the building in 2008 for a large, undisclosed sum to a "developer seeking to put up a luxury condominium building." 2009 The new building has yet to come, but the luxury has arrived. Occupying De Lorenzo's space today is something called Voce Di, "a unique space that is an equal parts furniture showroom, contemporary art gallery, interior design center and cultural events venue." Here's what Voce Di has to say about the space: "In 1907, the De Lorenzo family opened a metal workshop in lower Manhattan in what is now a fashionable area called Soho. The neighborhood was much grittier then, and the shop lent its service to many local companies. A few decades later, Soho began attracting a new, creative class including emerging artis...

When Joe's Dairy shuttered last year , New Yorkers wept. Lines snaked around the corner for a last taste of the fresh mozzarella. Television news crews did interviews, filmmakers made documentaries, and Calvin Trillin penned a eulogy in The New Yorker . (Unfortunately, he did not get word of the closure, showed up to a shuttered Joe's, and never got a final taste.) Though Joe's closed their doors to customers, they have kept making mozzarella, selling it wholesale to restaurants around town. However, as I recently discovered, they also supply the cheese to one other place--right around the corner. The M&O Market & Deli , at Thompson and Prince, carries the precious item in their deli case. You can walk right in and order it. You can have it in a sandwich. You can buy it whole. You can even get it delivered . Just like at Joe's, it comes in fresh and smoked. The M&O deli is the only place where you can get Joe's mozzarella as a retail custom...

Reader Michael writes in to let us know that OK Cigars on West Broadway in Soho is closing the first week of June. The shop was opened by Ivan Karp, Andy Warhol's art dealer and one of the first gallery owners in Soho. He founded the gallery OK Harris in 1969 and added the cigar shop nearly 30 years later. A frosted glass door reading SMOKE ROOM opens one space onto the other. "An avid cigar smoker," writes shop employee Gavin Baker in Everything's OK , "Ivan was searching for a smoking room once his gallery forbade the timeless ritual. Brilliantly, he converted the gallery’s supply closet into a cigar shop. In 1997, OK Cigars was born. Shortly after, Ivan partnered with Len Brunson, a blues guitarist and reluctant cigar connoisseur." (It was that or a doughnut shop, Gavin explains on video --Karp was a big fan of the Donut Pub on 14th Street. But cigars made sense, as the building was once home to a tobacco curing plant.) Karp died in 2012 a...

VANISHING Reader Leonardo Urbina writes in to let us know that Kenn Reisdorff, owner of Bob & Kenn's Broome Street Bar recently passed away--and that the bar will go with him . Leonardo writes, "It will be closing after the year finishes. The lease would renew in January and one of the two daughters doesn't want to maintain it. There goes another neighborhood institution." *Update: Mr. Riesdorff's obituary calls him "a gentlemanly fixture in the neighborhood, recognizable by his custom-made cowboy hats from a hatmaker in New Mexico, turquoise jewelry, cowboy boots and friendly demeanor." Located in a landmarked building that might be the oldest structure in Soho, dating back to 1825 , the Broome Street Bar opened in 1972 . There's been a bar here since the 1850s. According to The Historic Shops & Restaurants of New York , the stained glass windows and panels around the bar come from the time when it was a German beer hall in t...

VANISHED Zagat says it's been there for 81 years. Others say since 1947 or sometime in the 1950s. Either way, Milady's has been around for a long time. And now it's gone. All photos courtesy of Gudrun Georges E.V. Grieve shared the Twitter rumor on Saturday that the bar would be closing--along with a realtor's listing for the building that advertises: "Building has been completely gut-renovated... will be delivered vacant. Incredible opportunity for luxury residential conversion ." The rumor of the closing turned out to be true. Last night was Milady's last call. Reader Lois went in to Milady's early yesterday with her husband to say goodbye. She reported: "The crowds trickled in. People were drinking beer and shots of whiskey. Making toasts. Everyone was upset and talking about the closing. Some were crying. I saw one older woman walk in, talk to the bartender, and shout FUCK! when she heard the news. The bartender said they wer...