Vanishing New York Backup

Ruby's plans "huge protest" for New Year's Day. [ Grub ] Coney's Shore Hotel has been completely demolished by Thor. It's a sickening sight. [ ATZ ] Here's a shot of the Shore I took around 1994 , when the signage was still alive and kicking, and so were the hot sheets in the century-old hotel: " Fran Lebowitz Dismayed At All the Young Tools in NYC ." She says, "Someone my age is supposed to be angered by kids. You’re supposed to say, 'These crazy kids—what will they think of next?' You’re not supposed to say, ' These kids are so boring. These kids are so regressive.'" [ Gothamist ] Fran also tells Bust that young women are responsible for "why New York today seems suburban to me—all kids and babies in strollers. It’s 1950s domestic life." [ NYO ] Tracing weird Bowery angles. [ EVG ] On the fate of Mars Bar : "There's a lot of creative ways to figure it out, give it a new look and keep...

Last week we learned that Mars Bar, the East Village dive, long a haven for punks and outcasts, will be replaced by a 12-story prison-block of an apartment building . The pangs of loss have been reverberating through the city, among the bar's regulars and non-regulars alike. This is a big one. It brings with it a larger feeling of defeat. The East Village has lost so much of itself in recent years, but Mars Bar feels symbolic, as if it contains all of those losses in one final blow. As the glass tide of luxury has risen around it, the bar remained a symbol of defiance and hope, a sign that the bastards could not grind us all down. We went inside for a drink and felt, ourselves, like holdouts, survivors, undefeated. Just walking past that corner and seeing the painted riot of Mars Bar could boost your soul. It was as if that crumbling little corner was giving a big "fuck you" finger to all the shiny towers rising around it , and all the shiny people swarming in, radically...

How did Santacon go from 1970s anarchist prank to 2000s pub crawl? [ Grumbler ] Santarchy Logo NY Post writer defends poor, oppressed, drunken frat boys from the omnipotent Bohemian overlords of the East Village. [ EVG ] A collection of Mars Bar photos. [ GVDP ] Checking in on the site of the lost Moondance Diner . [ FP ] Mmm... Peter Pan donut shop. [ NYS ] Warm up with a trip to Rockaway . [ FNY ] During Santacon , in the men's room of the Loews Village 7. At least he flushed after tossing his candy. A watch repairman who's still ticking after 60 years. [ DNA ] Visiting the Staten Island Greenbelt . [ 13 ] Talking about the gentrification of Williamsburg --in England. [ UKG ] Artwork by LAII . [ EVC ] The history of Schames Paints . [ BB ] Wal-Mart America is banging at the gates again. [ NYT ] " Bike zealots are now spreading their tired propaganda..." [ Restless ]

On the downtown 6 train, on the day of Santacon. Doofus Tourist Man: Hey, what's up with all the Santa suits? Santacon Man: It's New York! Woo! New Yorker Woman: (intervening) It's called Santacon. People dress up like Santa and get drunk. Doofus: Awesome! So they just walk around shit-faced all day? That's awesome. New Yorker: No, it's not awesome, actually, it's pretty horrible. Doofus: What are you, Ebenezer Scrooge? New Yorker: Yes, I am. Doofus: But it's New York! New Yorker: (getting upset) You're telling me it's New York? You're telling me ? Doofus: What, you live here? New Yorker: Yes, I do. Doofus: But you're not from here, originally. New Yorker: Yes, I am. Doofus: So you see this Santa thing all the time? New Yorker: Yeah. And it gets old pretty quick. Doofus: (giving up) Huh. Well, I guess it's a local holiday. Like Kwanzaa. Read a brief history of Santacon at The Grumbler

The news of Mars Bar's demise is much in the air these days. I can't look to the future, the fat glass tower of nothing that will rise on the corner of Second Avenue and First Street, so I'm looking to the past. The deep past. (I'm not the only one doing this today .) NYPL: looking north at 1st St. Imagine, sometime in the early part of the 20th century, you step out of your tenement loft above the dreary Woolworth Theatre, the building that will one day house something called the Mars Bar in a world you can't even begin to imagine. The theater is shut down, empty, its hollows sectioned into stores for lease. NYPL, looking west along 1st St. It's a warm day. You are bored. Across the way are the Second Avenue Baths, but you're not in the mood for a schvitz . You're schvitzing enough as it is. You walk to 1st Street and look west, but the million barber shops of Bowery do not beckon to you. You head north instead. NYPL, looking north up 2nd Ave. from 1...

A few years ago, MTV created the Virtual Lower East Side (VLES) , a digital fantasy version of the neighborhood that included clubs, bars, yarmulke shops, Katz's deli, and no condo or hotel towers. One of the bars they created was Max Fish. All screenshots from the VLES On the real Ludlow Street since 1989, Max Fish will be closing at the end of January . The landlord's son has taken over and given them the boot. Said the owner to Grub Street , "I do think that the alternative culture is being forced to get out , but I don’t think we should go. I don’t agree. We have a right to live here as much as anyone else...we’ll take the spirit and everything else with us." When asked about recreating the space elsewhere, the owner said, " We’re going to re-create a Max Fish like we did last year in Miami for Art Basel . We did a pop-up and it was so much fun, because we did it really fast and it totally had the essence. People walked in and said, 'Oh my God, this is so...

As the New Fedora gets a new awning , what about the neon sign? The sign is still there but the neon has been stripped out, surely for a refurbish like McNally did at Minetta . Congrats to all the winners and finalists in the Village Voice Web Awards and thanks to the Voice and all who voted. Glad to be in such good company. First Mars Bar, now Max Fish is shuttering at end of January . Is Pink Pony next to go? [ Eater ] Now that our Polonia fears have subsided, it's time to worry about renovations to the Nom Wah Tea Parlor of Doyers Street. [ BB ] Check out Slum Goddess in the Wall St Journal. [ WSJ ] Can we pool our money and buy the Chelsea Hotel? The bids begin next week. [ Curbed ] Minnie the McSorley's cat has a facebook page. [ EVG ] On the vanishing of restaurant owner-hosts . [ NYT ] An interview with Justin Bond . [ NYT ]