Vanishing New York Backup

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...

For 27 years, Wayne Conti has been running Mercer Street Books & Records , one of the last used bookstores in town. Recently, business has gotten rough. He's not vanishing yet, but he just signed a new lease, and it might be the last. It came with a jump in rent, plus an escalation. “My rent is far from the worst,” he says, “and my landlord’s not a bad guy, but I think he got pulled into the idea of the market. It’s not a partnership anymore, like it was in the past. It’s all market, market, market.” Wayne points out the high-rent blight in the Village and Soho, storefronts kept empty by big landlords, sometimes for years at a time. He heard a theory about the practice. A high rent, even on an empty space, he explains, means high equity that building owners can turn into high loans from banks, that can then be used to buy more buildings. It’s some kind of a racket—and it’s helping to kill small businesses in the city. “I think every small business person is unhappy in...

VANISHED Scaletta Ristorante has been on the Upper West Side for 30 years. Recently, I walked by and looked at its old yellow sign and thought I should check it out, because the old yellow sign seemed like an indication of something authentically New York and a little bit hidden. It also made me think: That can't last. Now I won't get the chance because the landlord gave Scaletta the boot. Last night was their last night. West Side Rag reported the news and shared Scaletta's note to customers, which included this pointed bit: "You might be wondering whether we were yet another victim of astronomical rents? Well, to eliminate any speculation, here’s the story. Yes, our rent had steadily climbed up, but no, it wasn’t the ultimate reason for our closing. In fact, we were willing to stomach yet another rent increase, and invest in gut renovating our space and committing to another decade or more. No, the truth is we simply weren’t wanted. Our landlords covet...

VANISHING In the East Village, Three of Cups is closing. Owner Anthony Barile writes on his Facebook page : "The day has come where I must share the sad news that Three of Cups will be closing. I’ve thought often about what I might say when this day came and each time I pushed the thought from my head, but here we are. The reasons are many that we are at this moment, with all of them meaning that I can’t sustain it any longer. It’s the end of the longest thing I’ve continuously been involved with, almost 1/2 my life, nearly 26 years." Their last day will be April 1.

Last week we learned that El Quijote, the 87-year-old restaurant in the Chelsea Hotel, is closing at the end of March , thanks to its new owners. Now Page Six reports that the employees are getting a raw deal. “The staff is being disrespected,” said a tipster to the Post . “They are being given two weeks’ severance pay...from a person who just started working last month to the executive chef who’s been working there over 30 years. They’re all being treated the same.” I first reported on the coming closure of El Quijote here in 2014 . Since then, the restaurant and the hotel changed hands (again and again). The hotel is currently owned by "BD Hotels’ Richard Born and Ira Drukier, and Jane Hotel honcho Sean MacPherson." Born told the Post , "The real severance obligation is from the original owner...We have only been here a little over a year.” El Quijote has been a thorn in the owners' side for awhile now. Back in 2010, The Real Deal reported : When BD ...

From her downtown office, Peg Breen, President of the New York Landmarks Conservancy , looks out over historic buildings that the Conservancy had a hand in preserving--Ellis Island, the 1886 fireboat station at Pier A, the U.S. Customs House/National Museum of the American Indian. They remind her of what can be accomplished--and what is at stake in this age of rampant over-development. A proposal is right now sitting on the desk of the New York State Assembly. If it passes, the city will become a radically different place. Breen wants to stop it. The Conservancy is celebrating its 45th year of advocating for and funding the preservation and restoration of what Breen calls "the best of New York," from the Olmsted House and the Picasso Curtain , to neighborhood brownstones and houses of worship. "Buildings tell stories," says Breen. "And all the different layers in New York tell our history. They tell migration patterns. They give you a sense of con...

VANISHING After nearly 90 years in the Chelsea Hotel, the great and wonderful and gorgeous El Quijote is closing on March 30. Eater reports: "Staffers at the historic restaurant, located at 226 West 23rd St. between Seventh and Eighth avenues, were given two weeks notice. Ownership allegedly told employees that the restaurant is being renovated and will re-open eventually. Eater NY has reached out to the restaurant for comment." Back in 2014, I reported on this coming closure . At the time, I was told that El Quijote would be upscaled and sanitized in a fashion similar to what happened to Minetta Tavern. The plan was denied -- and then confirmed. A rep for Ed Scheetz, the man who took over the hotel, said at the time that they would "retain the signature look and feel of El Quijote" while "maintaining its authenticity." But then life went on. El Q remained untouched. We held our breath. When -- and if -- the place reopens, it won't be th...