Vanishing New York Backup

Eve Salon on Bleecker has the following "keep smiling" goodbye poster in their window . They're moving to make room for Kate Spade, according to a rumor on Racked . The salon's been there for 25 years. And more upsetting (to me, anyway) is that its neighbor, Biography Bookshop, will most likely be gone within the year. With the bookshop and the news about Nusraty , we're seeing the last vestiges of Bleecker vanish into thin air. I guess SJP's concerns about the "Marc Jacobs effect" are true. She should probably say goodbye to her framer friend: Protesters demonstrated against the rezoning of the EV/LES , which fails to protect Chinatown and the Bowery. [ NYT ] ...A commenter leaves a link to this must-see video . Taxi Ray gets an obituary at last. [ City Hall ] New blogs in town: Ken Mac, the blogger behind Greenwich Village Daily Photo , just launched MacDougal Street Noise to fight against "local noise, filth, and evil." This with hi...

$45,000 per month. That's how much Mr. Nusraty's landlord wants after 30 years of doing business on the corner of Bleecker and 10th. And that's why Mr. Abdul Nusraty is closing his doors as of the first week of August. A WestView newspaper clipping in his window states that the rent has gone from $3250 to $7500 a month, and then to an "unprecedented six-fold increase" of $550 per square foot for less than 900 square feet of space. I spoke to Mr. Nusraty today and he told me, "I do it for the pleasure, not to make a million dollars. This doesn't make me rich." A customer was there when I went in and Mr. Nusraty was polishing a ring for him. "It's his grandfather's ring," Mr. Nusraty said after, "It was broken. I sent it to be fixed in Brooklyn. I charged the kid 10 dollars. Nothing. I make nothing from this. But he is happy." I told Mr. Nusraty that Brooks Brothers will be moving in to his space . "Brooks Brother?...

Something gigantic is coming to Bowery and Delancey. With the New Museum arrival and the protested EV/LES rezoning, the Bowery has become more valuable , and therefore more threatened, than ever before. Now Rob Hollander of Save the LES sends notice of a Real Deal report that condo/hotel developer Brack Capital just bought a townhouse at 185 Bowery , adding to their clustered purchases of 187, 189, and 191. Like dominoes in a row, all four are expected to fall. photo: dylan stone, nypl Brack is responsible for 15 Union Square West , a boutique hotel on Grand St., and other developments in the city. It is rumored they will demolish the four low-rises for a luxury hotel. Here comes yet another giant tower, to go with the one right behind it and all the rest. Today in #187 , resident since 1980 Roberta Degnore still hangs on, the only one left and a possible roadblock to the wrecking ball. She recently told The Observer , "I’m alone in this freaking building on the Bowe...

A year ago today, I started this blog. I’d never had a blog before, nor considered it. I'd been writing fiction and essays about the city for years, but never managed to publish. Last summer, I was writing a novel—about an East Villager named Jeremiah who grapples with grief and rage for his vanishing city. Giving voice to my inner Jeremiah provided me with an outlet to express my own anger, powerlessness, and longing. As my first draft was coming to an end in July, I didn’t want to give up that outlet. So, without much of a plan and inspired by blogs like Neither More Nor Less and Lost City , I launched VNY. i kinda need this shirt As an unpublished novelist, writing mostly in the vacuum of solitude, it has been gratifying to have readers. The blog has connected me to new people, both in person and electronically. It also reacquainted me with New York. For awhile, I’d been turning away from the city, a place where I no longer feel at home. But writing the blog forced me to...

A tipster writes in to say that the shrouded building at 12th and A is gone: " they have completely demolished the building on the northeast corner of 12th and A (where the Raven used to be) . They did it quietly, piece by piece, behind the screened scaffolding. There's nothing left but a little bit of the first floor exterior walls. I think i smell another ginormous east village condo on the way." He includes gory pics of the destruction, where posted permits state only "interior renovation" and "replacement of non-load bearing brick walls." That must mean all the walls, because behind the shroud, that building is gone. Yet the FOR RENT signs remain. Is it a rush job? This angry neighbor sure thinks so. Here's a peek inside, through the old door of the Raven , now with "newly installed skylight." And, as a bonus, a shot of the final corner to fill up and its new tenant, Pappy's (?) Gourmet Corner, which replaces the old Metropolitan...

Yuppies are beginning to flee the city , because "anything would be easier than New York." [ EVG ] Wall Streeters are now considered New York's "real estate pariahs" as co-ops and lenders reject them left and right. [ NYT ] Meanwhile, Yippies hold on to their holdout hang-out on Bleecker. [ CR ] New amenity: Beaver House offers "Beaver Butler" so you can watch girls pillow-fight each other in their underpants when you're not at home. [ NYO ] Another take on Friday's Slacktivist protest and mixed feelings about Mr. Two Boots pizza. [ NYO ] If you missed the Giglio celebration in Williamsburg , you can still catch a night dance on Thursday and another on Sunday. [ GL ] and [ Feast Site ] Villager editorial takes on Ekonomakis and "temporary mansion" trend . [ Villager ]

On Friday, the Lower East Side Slacktivists lived up to their moniker with an irreverently slackadaisical demonstration that began in front of embattled 47 East 3rd St. and ended up scattered to the winds across the summer night, still hungry for pizza. Unlike the last demonstration , this time the police were prepared. They were on the scene before anything got started, complete with a paddy wagon, plenty of backup, and a narrow pen into which they herded the protesters--cupcakes, donuts, guillotine, and all. John Penley handed out snacks and sodas. People munched on pastries, muffling their cries of "Die Yuppie Scum." let 'em eat cake! "Who's in charge here?" called out one protester. "Nobody! We're anarchists," came the response. When it was time to march down Bowery, the head cop shouted into his bullhorn, "Time to get marching folks," and led the people along the sidewalk, accompanied by a moped motorcade, and more cops bringing...