I’m Not a Cat Lady

Lawn Chairs Invade Times Square

I moved to San Francisco recently after living in New York for 15 years, and I've been really homesick for it  lately… and then I saw this image on Gawker this morning.

Not missing it so much anymore. Tacky? Undignified? Unnecessary? Awkward? Where to begin? There's not even a cafe there to justify all that sitting around in the middle of traffic—what the hell? Is there any other city in the world that has set up a lounging space smack in the middle of its main thoroughfare?

Sadly for New York, there's more to come, as seen in the recent article "Honk, Honk, Aaahh" in New York magazine, about the ongoing mallification of the entire island. Just one big cushy playground for well-heeled shoppers, tourists and their kids. So sad.

The photos below shows plans in actions for Madison Square (top) and more silliness in Times Square. I miss New York like crazy, but this is definitely not the New York I'm missing. That, I fear, is long gone.

images: New York magazine

I Remember You Well in the Chelsea Hotel

According to the excellent Living With Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog, the Bard Family, who have managed the legendary Chelsea Hotel since the 40s, have been forced out by their board of directors, and the hotel’s manager, Stanley Bard, tossed out the door after 50 years. The new management group are the same folks who backed the conversion of Covenant House into the obnoxious South Beach resort-like Maritime Hotel and Richer Meier’s overrated, soulless glass towers on Perry Street.

It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway: No good whatsoever will come of this.

Horsies Go Bye-Bye

These are just two sad stories about the all-too-frequent-lately demise of various New York institutions: The Claremont Riding Academy near Central Park, Manhattan’s only riding academy and the nation’s last standing livery stable, built in 1892; and the 66-year-old Empire Roller Rink, “Brooklyn’s ONLY roller rink,” according to its website.

Two establishments, worlds apart, one thing in common: They're over. Each is closing for very different reasons. The Claremont, claims its owner, Paul Novograd, simply became too expensive to run, and riding in the park especially with all them pesky joggers and Bugaboo-weilding parents claiming entitlement to commandeer the bridle path. (Plus, he got $11 million for the landmark building. Won’t it make awesome condos?) The Empire, it seems, saw one too many shootings outside. Kids today, huh?

Shutterings of New York institution seem to occur at least once a week lately. Does this happen in Paris or London or even San Francisco? I’m betting no.

images courtesy of Gothamist and citilore.org.

Coming Soon To a Neighborhood Near Me

Just as I thought things couldn't get any worse in the Six Flags of Shopping 'n' Nightlife otherwise known as the Meatpacking District, along came this announcement that a colossal new Apple Store is all set to open on the corner of 14th Street and Ninth Avenue, mere blocks from my house.

The megaboom heats up again and my lease is up in February. Help?

For a full analysis of the civilization-ending nightmare this new development portends, see Gridskipper.

photo courtesy of psfk.com

Chelsea Neighborhood Watch Part II

Here's the latest view of that entire block that was ripped down on Eighth Avenue between 16th & 17th Streets.

Hmmm. Must be nice for all those people whose windows face south, they're suddenly enjoying  unfettered sunlight. Just in time for the nice weather, too! They'd better enjoy it while they can, heaven knows what monstrosity is being planned for that huge chuck of space.

It will probably be something like what happened here, a block north on the southwest corner of 18th. In a few months it went from this...

to this...

So what fresh hell is in store for us? Well looky there! See that sign? Who do you think is fixin' to join us in the neighborhood, kids?

And here's me hoping it would be a gourmet cheese shop.

Chelsea Neighborhood Watch

 

Sometime late last year I started noticing that every time I left my house, I got a new shock. Yet another establishment that had been in my neighborhood since way before I moved here nearly a decade ago--restaurant, bodega, stationers, florist--was gone. Establishments come and go in neighborhoods, that's New York, but this was something else. Places started disappearing in entire blocks, domino-like, beginning on one corner and sweeping all the way along to the next.

It wasn't hard to figure out what was going on: I mean, it's going on all over town. Longtime leases on rows of storefronts collectively reach their expiry dates, rents are jacked up by 30 percent, Starbucks and Jamba Juice and Duane Reade move in, crumbling pre-war tenements are torn down en masse, replaced by cookie-cutter glass-box condos, yada yada. Yes, the whole of Manhattan is turning into midtown.

It started to bother me on so many levels. My local hardware store disappeared, forcing me to walk an extra few blocks out of my way for some nails. If I need any special stationery items, I have to go to a Staples. Places that had served as personal landmarks vanished overnight, disrupting my sense of order; I began mourning for them even if I'd never once set foot inside.

Even worse, once signage on a former gift shop/picture framer/laundromat is removed and reconstruction underway, I'm struck with instant amnesia. I'm not alone--just yesterday I was walking past the relatively new Chelsea Custom Kitchens, on the southeast corner of Eighth Avenue and 18th Street, and I overheard a guy say to his friend, "What used to be there again?"

I happen to remember what used to be there: A perky little home decor shop called Details. It had all kinds of lovely things for the bathroom and the kitchen: glasses, Japanese teapots, shaggy bathroom mats, candles, toiletries, curtains, you name it. It seemed perfect for Chelsea--I mean, it stocked designer dog dishes! What was the problem?

I guess it says everything about what this neighborhood is turning into if a place that sells kitchenware is replaced by a place that sells entire kitchens.

Here's a now-expired Chelsea stalwart, LightForms, whose demise made way for two new friendly neighborhood essentials: Some men's clothing emporium and a Twatberry!*

* only twats frequent Pinkberry, ergo...

Anyway, since last October I've been keeping a little photo journal of a couple of stretches on Eighth Avenue between 14th and 23rd, just to track and marvel at (and lament over) their metamorphoses.

Here's the view of the west side block of Eighth Avenue between 16th & 17th Streets last October, the bottom half of which was decimated in one fell swoop. It had a sketchy nightclub on the corner; a bar/restaurant that featured cajun food and live New Orleans jazz; Angelo's pizzeria, a tobacco store; the Chelsea Grill; and beauty/ grooming salon The Station, complete with sad relocation notices. Click thumbnails to enlarge.

Then:

A few weeks ago:

Now:

Watch this space.