Vanishing New York Backup

Tourists officially to blame for turning Manhattan into a suburban shopping mall : "as the [ WSJ ] article reminds, the existence of shows like Law & Order, Gossip Girl, and Sex & The City means 'many tourists make pilgrimages to visit their favorite locations.'" [ Racked ] Welcome to 1940s NYC --in a map! [ Gothamist ] Sullivan Street Bakery opening soon in ousted Les Desirs spot --what about the singing ladies? [ Eater ] Where is Zabar's? Don't ask your idiot phone. [ NYT ] Go see My Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Film Fest. [ BFF ] Reader Marcus lets us know that the NYC municipal parking garage at Essex and Delancey is booting the bicycles that park there. He cites the city law: "Garages or lots that accommodate 100 or more vehicles must provide bicycle parking at a rate of at least one space for every ten vehicle spaces": Fight for your neighborhood library as the city cuts them off at the knees. [ HNY ] Greenwich Village tourists attra...

VANISHED By now you all know that the great Prime Burger closed last week after 47 years in business (74 if you count its days as Hamburg Heaven). I went in on its final weekend for a last supper. The place was bustling, with lots of people taking pictures and saying goodbye to the waiters and to the DiMiceli family, owners of the place. Many of the waiters have been there for decades. They expected to stay for decades longer. ( Watch this lovely, heartbreaking film .) I was lucky to get a booth with the signature swiveling, faux-bois table that always makes me feel like a kid in a high chair. Adding to that effect, the food comes on small, beige, unbreakable Melamine plates. Admittedly, the burger and fries really aren't special--it's the place that's special. That was special. It's the look of the place, unchanged since the early 1960s, the people, and the feeling you get from it all. The feeling you got --and won't get ever again. It was a feeling of permanence,...

VANISHED The Chelsea Gallery Diner has closed after 30 years in business on 7th Avenue near 14th Street. photo: Visual Raconteur's flickr Scott Stiffler has a eulogy for the place in Chelsea Now , and JVNY reader Tim Kirk sent in the sad news with a quick video he took of the shutter signage. Quite pointedly, the sign reads : "Due to our Madison Ave. lease and a dying customer base we have been forced to close our doors after 30 yrs at this location. We have watched our quaint neighborhood turn into the very ‘upscale Chelsea’ of today’s Manhattan . So let us remember a time when this diner was a meeting place for so many strange, unusual & different people to say the least. All were welcomed at a time when St. Vincent’s stood tall, the Halloween Parade was small and our diner at any given time could turn into a fun free for all." Writes Tim, "This was the kind of place where the management would feed locally known homeless people fresh food right outsid...

VANISHED I am sad to report, the Atlas Barber School and shop closed forever this past Saturday after the landlord raised the rent to an impossible $11,000 per month . Just off Astor Place in the East Village, on 3rd Ave. and 9th St., Atlas had been in business since 1948. all color photos from last day of Atlas When I heard the news from tipster Marcus, I ran in for a last cut. I talked to Sheila Gray, director of the school. She was too upset to talk much about the closure, except to express frustration about the rent hike and sadness about closing. She pointed to a statue of St. Jude in the back office, a room cluttered with papers and framed certificates, and said, "See that statue of St. Jude? My father carried it everywhere. He's the saint of lost causes." She shrugged as if to say "so much for that." When I told her that Atlas had kept me in haircuts during my early lean years in the neighborhood, she gave me a hug. (She asked me to wait to post this sto...

The mainstream media got itself into quite a lather over those High Line flyers from Anonymous last week--and it tells us something interesting, something critical, about the city and its changing face. Shawn Chittle's TV After I first posted the news, Fox 5 picked up the story with a video called "High Line Hater." One woman interviewed said, "Before they rented in this place, they knew this exists," referring to residents who live along the High Line. NY1 interviewed a young man on video who said, "It's the Meatpacking District, the nightlife here is crazy, so you should be kind of used to it. Live somewhere else if you don't like the noise ." CBS Channel 2 found someone to say, "This is New York City, if you want space, move to the country," while another called the flyer's rules "civility." The New York Post , with their take titled "High Line anxiety: Neighbor rips raucous rubes," also featured...

We know that not everyone is happy with the High Line (thanks Mandy !) and the way it is putting old Chelsea out of business while attracting monstrous levels of luxury development and crowds to the area. Now someone is plastering Chelsea with a pointed message to the High Line tourists. "Attention High Line Tourists," says the flyer, "West Chelsea is not Times Square. It is not a tourist attraction." The flyer goes on to ask the tourists to "consider the following": "Do not sit on the 'stoops' of buildings or take pictures of and film buildings or residents. Buildings are not tourist attractions: people live there , and sitting on the steps and taking pictures is as invasive, rude and inappropriate as a group of strangers sitting on the steps of your home and taking pictures of it and you from the yard. Think how you would feel in the situation were reversed and act accordingly. 3,000,000 (3 million) of you come to West Chelsea and walk the ...

As you may have heard, the great and wondrous Prime Burger is shuttering , heartbreakingly, ass-kickingly, on Saturday after 47 years in Midtown (74 years if you go back to Hamburg Heaven). Photographer Molly Woodward visited yesterday and shares her gorgeous shots at her website Vernacular Typography . all photos: Molly Woodward One piece of hopeful news: The shutter signage says "We hope to see you in the near future at a new location." Let's pray they take the beautiful faux-bois clock, the baby-chair swiveling tables, and everything, just as it is. My fingers are crossed, though I doubt this will happen. Until then, go now, eat a burger, drink an egg cream , enjoy the atmosphere untouched since the 1960s. It's another funeral for New York. Previously: Prime Burger PB Egg Cream Vernacular Typography