Vanishing New York Backup

VANISHED After 62 years, Record Mart, " the oldest record store in Manhattan ," has closed. photo: Jesse Jarnow Untapped Cities reports the sad news, “I’d seen them clearing the store out last week but I thought it was because of the fear of looting.” It was not the looting. It was "due to the pandemic," according to a sign on their door, which also reads, "We are moving into the vintage audio business, where we buy, refurbish, and sell audio equipment. Please visit us at recordmartwifi.com to browse our selection, or if you want to contact us to sell your audio gear." I was last inside Record Mart in December. I worried about it then and bought a few things. I also took this video. A little moment of joy under the ground at Times Square.

When the great Colony Music was forced to shutter in 2012 by a massive rent hike , after 60 years in Times Square, its space in the Brill Building was gutted and turned into a revolving door of random businesses. 2013 There were Christmas and Halloween stores, a Build-A-Bear Workshop, and some other crap . That's what happens when the new landlord quintuples the rent to $5 million and there's no commercial rent control or any other policies protecting the small businesspeople of this city from unregulated greed. Now, after 7 years of high-rent blight and unstable pop-up ventures, the space has been taken by the only kind of retailer that can afford such millions--a giant chain store. Colony is now a CVS. 2019 To add insult to injury, the owners of the landmarked Brill have decided to obscure this gorgeous, historic building with digital screens. (How was the Landmarks Preservation Commission okay with this mess?) Seven years. What a long, sad trip it's bee...

After going , going , going , Show World is so very gone. On 8th Avenue near 42nd Street, the buildings that made up Show World and its neighboring businesses are wrapped in scaffolding and demolition shrouds. today The interiors have been completely demolished, but the buildings will remain, renovated into something called The Hive, "an $80 million boutique office and retail property, " according to The Real Deal , geared to "attract technology, financial and media tenants." So what else is new? architect's rendering In the Commercial Observer , The Hive speaks for itself, describing itself as "authentic" to the neighborhood. "On the inside," it says, "you will find a hip, urban interior featuring exposed hardwood floors, brick walls and steal columns throughout. The historic character of the building reflects the roll-up-your-sleeves work ethic that defined the success of the many companies that called this neighbo...

When the beloved Hell's Kitchen bar McHale's was forced to close in 2006 and replaced by a luxury condo tower, New Yorkers wept. In 2012, its neon sign was salvaged and then resurfaced in a nearby bar . It wasn't McHale's, but one could dream. Now a commenter alerts us that the sign has resurfaced once again-- on ebay . ebay It can be yours for $2,500 -- or else it gets destroyed. The seller writes: "I bought this to repurpose the sign for something else, but was told this was a popular bar in the theater district at one time. Now demolished for more condos. I would prefer this go to someone interested in NYC history or Mchales and so I am giving this one shot, and then it heads off to the shop. This is located in NYC." 2006

The surviving peep shows at the margins around Times Square keep vanishing. Yesterday I reported on the demise of old Show World . There's a smaller, less storied spot a few blocks south on 8th Avenue at 39th Street--and it's vanishing, too. Vihan's Video, with the ever-photogenic neon sign on the front, has a giant FOR LEASE banner on it. "3-Floor Flagship," it says. "Restaurant/Bar." Sadly, this whole corner is being destroyed--and it was a good corner, too, an old slice of the old city hanging on at the edge of the Garment District. Last year, the marvelous Mayfair Barber Shop was replaced by the boring, useless Corvo Coffee . More recently, NYC Fried Chicken shuttered. It was always a good spot to watch the people seated at the windows. The Shoe Repairs place next door is still open, but for how long? And there's a liquor store with two antique neon signs--for some reason, it is shown in the realtor's listing . Barber shop, c...

VANISHED Last year, Richard Basciano, "New York’s former prince of porn," died, leaving behind the Show World building at 42nd St. and Eighth Ave. While the big Show World closed in 2004 , the next door Show World Center remained, a glittering warren of peep booths, sex toys, and crossword puzzle books . I wrote, "Now is probably the time to go and say goodbye. The last gasp of smutty old Times Square may not be here tomorrow." Well, Show World Center is now gone. The lights are off and the shutter is down. The inside is empty. A peek around back shows the hallway with its mirrored diamond decorations, along with stacks of boxes waiting to be moved out. A number of other businesses in this building have also shuttered, making me wonder if the place has been sold and will be demolished for another glass hotel tower. I talked to the Nuts 4 Nuts guy who works outside and he told me that Show World Center closed last month. He said the building will no...

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...

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...

VANISHED Just a couple of months ago, I wrote about the sudden disappearance of the Mayfair Barber Shop and the move of one of its barbers to John's Barber Shop on the underground mezzanine of the 42nd Street and 8th Avenue subway station. Now we hear from reader Ken that John's Barber Shop has disappeared -- along with two other neighboring small businesses. Ken called John and reports: "He closed the shop because it became too expensive and no longer cuts hair. Bad for the city and bad for my hair." What does that mean about the closure of the other shops? Does "too expensive" mean rents were hiked or leases not renewed? photo from Ken Before moving to this spot in 1997, John Drakakis worked with his brother Nick in another subterranean spot, in the subway station entrance at the northeast corner of 42nd and 8th. As the Times reported in 1995, "In 1993 the Transit Authority, citing security and maintenance problems, sealed the gate from ...

The fifth location of Friedman's has now opened in the space that long held the beloved Cafe Edison, which was forced to close in 2014 after decades in business. The new restaurant announced its opening on Facebook a couple of weeks ago: "FRIEDMAN'S @ Edison has officially opened and we are super excited !!😊" Plus the hashtags: #eatgoodfood #mindfuleating #farmtotable #friedmansnyc #glutenfreee #celiacsafe #fall #edisonhotel #nowopen #2017 #goodvibesonly #dinner #breakfast #lunch #brunchnyc Reluctantly, I went to see what had become of the wonderful Cafe Edison, the place we fought so hard to save -- and lost. A sign at the door of Friedman's read: "A little taste of the farm for the big city." (See: The Wisconsinization of New York .) Already, everything was off. Through the entrance, no more Betty at her cluttered cash register surrounded by signs that read, "No Large Luggage" and "Cash Only" and "If you are grou...

Author and musician Josh Alan Friedman was working for Screw magazine, covering the Times Square beat through the late 1970s and early 80s, when he wrote the cult classic Tales of Times Square . Recently, he dug up the tapes he made from that time--interviews with the denizens of the old Deuce--and turned them into a podcast. Tales of Times Square: The Tapes takes you back in time through the voices of "strippers, old fighters, burly-Q men, peep show girls, hustlers, cops," and one man who ran the penny arcade at 42nd and 8th since 1939. I asked Josh a few questions. All photos via Josh Alan Friedman's blackcracker You've had these tapes for decades. What inspired you to digitize and turn them into a podcast now? Two years ago people started asking if I was involved with The Deuce going through on HBO. So I offered to contribute but they wouldn’t take our calls. My wife, Peggy, said, "What about all those cassettes you recorded back in Times Square?...

Now and then, against my better judgment, I walk by the shell of the once great Cafe Edison to see how the renovations are coming along. This week, it looks like its replacement, Friedman's, is close to opening. There's neon framing the windows where the Friedman's signage has appeared. They've painted over the once famous powder pink and baby blue walls, turning them beige. Which seems appropriate -- it's going from the best matzo balls and blintzes in town to a gluten-free existence. While the hotel owners originally claimed they would replace Cafe Edison with a "white-tablecloth" restaurant and a "name chef," they later announced that mini-chain Friedman's Lunch would be going in. "Just like the Cafe Edison," reported the Daily News in 2015, "the new restaurant is not some flashy, white-tablecloth type space... It’s a modest, family business." The real-estate broker on the deal told the paper, “It’s old-s...

The heart of old Music Row has been just been cleared for demolition. Fast Company reports: "The former site of Manny’s Music at 156 West 48th Street in Manhattan has been approved for demolition, according to a city permit issued last month. It’s a final nail in the coffin for the legendary music store that served as a mecca for generations of musicians and once stood as the crown jewel of New York’s famed Music Row." Manny's was here since 1935 and closed in 2009 . It was a mecca for musicians famous and not. Then Music Row started getting murdered . One after another, the shops shuttered, replaced by Dunkin Donuts or nothing at all. Rudy's Music Stop and Alex Accordion were the last to go. before I walked along that block of West 48th a few weeks ago to see what had become of it. The name MANNY'S embedded in the doorstep was oddly missing. It had been cemented over. Why? The only reason I can think of to do such a thing is to "scalp...