Vanishing New York Backup

The Holiday Cocktail Lounge is crowded tonight with regulars and well-wishers come to remember Stefan. A sign on the door announces his funeral service on Monday and all are welcome to attend at St. George's Church: I spoke to a friend of the family who is helping to run the bar and asked their plans. He said, "We have to keep Stefan's spirit alive." Are they going to change anything? He said, "Of course not. Why would you? Look at the place. It's perfect." So with great relief I'm pleased to report it sounds like the Holiday will live on with no changes greater than "a spit and polish." For example, they recently retiled the bathrooms. On the Holiday: Stefan Lutak, 1920-2009 Holiday Survives Holiday Closes

More signs of the Yunnipocalypse : -The future of NYC? Worse than 1975 -Big designers like Vera Wang and Betsey Johnson save $$$ by skipping Fashion Week -Even Sarah Jessica Parker "can't imagine going shopping" right now -"Polls show bipartisan resentment at the lords of finance who expect continued gilded age rewards after ruining the economy of the Western world." -To all those swinging dicks, we may be entering "The Testicular Age," marked by "Yin qualities like patience, steadfastness, supportiveness, solidity, stability, reliability, and resourcefulness." -PLUS! Roy Edroso pens an enticing post-yunnipocalyptic Sex & the City sequel Mercury Lounge building is up for sale. [ Curbed ] St. Marks fixture, DJ Lenny M , that guy who sells mixed hip-hop CDs, has been suddently shuttered. [ DBTH ] Worried about the battered Cheyenne? Read this comforting note from the folks who adopted the diner: "We have carefully removed the ...

I am sad to report that Stefan Lutak, long-time proprietor of the Holiday Cocktail Lounge, has passed away. For those who wish to pay their respects to Mr. Lutak, there will be a viewing on Sunday at Peter Jarema from 2:00 - 5:00 and from 7:00 - 9:00 --an appropriate choice, as the funeral home is a neighborhood survivor since 1906. ( Funeral services are Monday .) photo sent in by Mike Marvin Stefan Lutak was born in Ukraine in 1920. During World War II, he fought with the Soviet Army. Remembering Stalingrad he recalled to the NY Press , "The winter was terrible. The ice came from your mouth. We were sleeping in the snow, nothing to eat. Two, three, four days, a whole week with empty stomach. Kitchen? Gone! They killed the horses. Then they killed the cooks. We ate leaves, and in November the leaves were gone." Stefan arrived by boat in New York City in 1949. He played soccer. With his wife he opened the Holiday on St. Marks Place in 1965. He served drinks to Allen Ginsb...

More Signs of the Yunnipocalypse : -Village shop successfully stands strong against Chocolate Tsunami -Viva Chuck ! -West Broadway is over . -Thor covers Gordon's Novelty shop with a faux facade , "so we can at least pretend that we are not in deep recession." Reminds me of what they did in the Bronx during the last economic crisis. Remember the urban blight decals ? photo source More on the sad closure of the Oscar Wilde LGBT bookshop. [ NYT ] Poor old 1551 Broadway , where once was HoJo's and the Gaiety, American Eagle has landed on you. [ Curbed ] City Room digs up a NYC character, a lady who sells Civil Service books --and may be going under. [ CR ] Remembering 172 Stanton , one of the uglier days in LES history. [ EVG ] Before and after at Paul's Boutique . [ BBoogie ] Nearly ever other window in this block of University between 9th and 10th looks like this:

The new view of West Chelsea, as glass boxes grip the High Line, accompanied by Armani billboards in matching shades of icy glacial blue. This scene, with crane slicing the sky, epitomizes our present day. The High Line, like a suddenly wet watering hole in a dry desert, has attracted condo and hotel towers like thirsty rhinos to its shores. They push and shoulder each other out of the way, crushing whatever gets underfoot. And the developers demolishing the most ancient of meatpacking plants insist the High Line is a hardship, a detriment to construction. Tell that to the rest of the builders who just keep on building. Nearby, 456 West 19th has been topped with a rollercoaster rail . No, that's just more undulation. Also on the rise, HL 23 with its misshapen foldy bits beginning to recline over the High Line. Here its crane casts a shadow onto " Highline 519 ." And what is that below, a brick tenement with tin cornice? Shouldn't that have been demolished by now?...

More Signs of the Yunnipocalypse : -Condo buyers abandon ship -Restaurants kiss ass -Landlords cry cataclysm ! -Bloomberg creates welfare program for Wall St's unfortunates -"Madison Avenue... pockmarked with vacancies as retailers flee." Chelsea Hotel resident s prove there's still some crazy spirit left in this town. [ NYO ] Memorial for Peeler Man this Saturday. [ Gothamist ] The Holland Bar is open , after shuttering some months ago. [ Grub ] In more sad diner news, the Miss Williamsburg after the fire . [ Brownstoner ] Updike on New York: Uninhabitable. [ NYT ] Is the city being attacked by UFOs, groundhogs, and Mrs. Butterworth? [ Gothamist ]

At long last, I finally got over to see Jim and Karla Murray's show "Counter/Culture: The Disappearing Face of Brooklyn's Storefronts" at the Brooklyn Historical Society . The exhibit is up until March, but if you can't make it there in time, you can bring the Murrays' important work home with you. Their book Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York is now available. A $65 hardcover, it's an investment and well worth it--the book is a big, fat collection of gorgeous color photographs from the vanishing face of New York City. I email-interviewed Jim and Karla about their work and asked them what they look for in a choice storefront. "We try to photograph storefronts that have a certain character due to their age," they said, "Old neon signs always attract us as well as hand-painted signs and interesting fonts that we haven't seen before." Which vanished storefronts do they miss the most? "We definitely miss Katy's Ca...