Thursday, May 14, 2009

Traveling the East Village streets of late summer 2007 (and who wants to go see "Mr. Bean's Holiday"?)

I was looking for something in the East Village on Google Maps. Never realized Google's EV street views are a little dated... How dated? Well, I took a trip over to the Loews Village VII to see what was playing...



Given the films on the marquee ("Rush Hour 3!" "Mr Bean's Holiday!") this has to be late August or early September 2007. You know, it's not really all that long ago...but if you start to take a tour of the neighborhood, you see how much has changed... Momofuku didn't rule First Avenue... the former CBGB space is still for rent...there were more record stores than froyo joints on St. Mark's Place...several glassy towers were holes in the ground or just on the way up... Here are a few highlights via screenshots of the street views...:

The Toll Brothers tower at 110 Third Ave. ...



Five Roses Pizza on First Avenue...



The Kurowycky butcher shop is still in business; the International has yet to reopen on First Avenue...



Fontana shoe repair is still open on 10th Street...



Alt Coffee open next to Doc's on Avenue A...



The spacecraft had yet to land...



Cemusa bus shelter going up on Avenue A...



Buy a CBGB T-shirt...



No bank on 10th Street and Third Avenue...



The A Building rises...



Before the darkness on 13th Street...



The Sylvia del Villard Program of the Roberto Clemente Center at 13th Street and Avenue B. Now home to this.



Eddie's Tower of Toys stood...



No John Varvatos in the CBGB space...



Love still Saves the Day at Second Avenue and Seventh Street...



Take a spin on Google Maps for yourself....you may even see someone on the street that you recognize.
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8 comments:

  1. Alex in NYCMay 14, 2009 at 7:48 AM

    Good concept, man, well done. Now if only we could spin it back to, say, `97 or `87. Those would be something to look at.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mykola DementiukMay 14, 2009 at 8:03 AM

    Amazing how everything changes and so fast too...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jeremiah MossMay 14, 2009 at 8:08 AM

    amazing. really thorough job--thanks for this walk down memory lane. it's simply mind-boggling how very, very quickly the neighborhood is being changed.

    ReplyDelete
  4. SusieMay 14, 2009 at 8:13 AM

    My car still shows up on the garage roof where it was parked. Five years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  5. EV GrieveMay 14, 2009 at 8:25 AM

    Thanks... I put about 2,000 miles on my computer at home traveling around the city. I'm fascinated with how Google puts this all together....

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bowery BoogieMay 14, 2009 at 9:21 AM

    This really is proof that a few years in NYC is an eternity.

    ReplyDelete
  7. JillMay 14, 2009 at 7:54 PM

    Ah ha, I was wondering where that A Fontana shoe repair was. Turns out my neighbor Madi used to have her thrift shop right next door in what is now a dry cleaner. Before Mady it was another thrift shop for a very very long time.

    ReplyDelete
  8. esquared™May 15, 2009 at 12:57 PM

    ahhh....memories. good times. good times.

    ReplyDelete

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