Near the eastern end of this stretch is Tompkins Square Park, that wonderful 10.5-acre patch that continues to lure the bohemian legions yet resists gentrification against all odds. Originally planned as a farmers’ market, it has been used as a public park since the 1800s and has weathered many seasons since. On any given day, there might be a band making noise, codgers playing chess, schoolchildren all in a line, and a Police Department van slowly cruising through. The echoes of demonstrators yelling “Die, Yuppie Scum” may be very faint these days, but there is no Shake Shack ... yet.
The mention of Shake Shack in the East Village prompted a sudden pain in my groin. In the comments, Jeremiah Moss noted: "the writer is practically begging for a Shake Shack in Tompkins Square Park."
Does the author know something that we don't? Or is this just wishful thinking?
So... what if a big, mooing cash cow of a Shake Shack opened in Tompkins Square Park ... just like the one in Madison Square Park?
As Jeremiah recently wrote: "We know what happens when popular, higher end businesses are introduced into a neighborhood. Like the mongoose and gypsy moth, they have a powerful and irreversible effect on the ecosystem."
What would the release of a Shake Shack mean to the Tompkins Square Park and East Village ecosystem? [The poll actually works now! Vote early and often!]
you are seriously tempting the fates with this one, brother. you need to do some cleansing ritual--circle your computer 10 times while waving a chicken head in one hand and a Ray's Candy egg cream in the other, all while chanting, "Out, Shake Shack, Out."
ReplyDeleteThat would be a good thing. Maybe keep some of the dirt bags away.
ReplyDeleteummm if anyone could stomach to eat in Tompkins more power to them. Wouldn't you love to smell the dog piss and shit, and gaze at the milky white liquid run off from the garbage truck while sipping your milk shakes? You could even feed the squirrels your leftover scraps or wait is that a giant rat?
ReplyDeleteLike the East Village needs one more attraction for the masses. Let's keep Tompkins Sq Park a neighborhood park and banish the thought of any Shake Shack.
ReplyDeleteWould get closed by Public Health for a C-grade due to not being able to deal with the rats. No fear.
ReplyDeleteMaybe LES JEWELS, and company will get some work exp here ....
ReplyDeleteConsidering that Shake Shack usually draws a long line of self-entitled honkies, it would look rather decadent and selfish when contrasted with the long, free soup line for the poor that is on the edge of Tompkins Square Park on most days.
ReplyDeleteThe Shake Shacks are the nail in the proverbial gentrification coffin. With regards to TSP/the EV, I think the coffin is still being built. I also agree that the opposing soup/Shack lines would be stratifying, but they'd also prove that everyone in New York waits for everything!
ReplyDeleteThe poll timed out on me, but these granny jeans are making me look like a middle-aged Jessica Simpson.
ReplyDeletei can't understand why folks stand on those long shake shack lines, in all weather, for an awful cardboard burger. there are plenty of junk/fast food restaurants outside the park to satisfy the same need for less money. and there are also some pretty tasty food places. why not bring food into the park without standing on line, and still sit and enjoy the food and the park?
ReplyDeletewhat drug does shake shack put into its awful, expensive food?
Nominating Jeremiah's comment as probably one of the all time funniest I've ever read. The visual it created had me rolling... Grieve WOULD do that... too...
ReplyDeletedon't worry--there will not be a shake shack here. If there are any food carts in TSP in the future--it would be offshoot of local business only.
ReplyDeletethere was a mention last year of a shake shack in a Parks property --and it got stopped VERY quickly.
the pro-Shack people are winning in the poll!
ReplyDeletea new bandshell to help soundproof the park? not in the cards. a shake shack, on the other hand...
ReplyDeletefunny how things work.
Shake Shack? With our luck we'd end up with another Papa Johns or a 7-Eleven.
ReplyDeleteI think you have to combine the 'fighters' and the 'end is near' types into an anti-Shack coalition which (at the moment) are outpointing the Shack Welcome Wagon 45% to 27%
ReplyDeleteWhy do we hate Shake Shack? I work by MSP and it's a really nice park. I've never eaten there (don't get the line thing) but it has no impact on how nice the park is unless walking by lines sends you into an unquellable rage. It would be nicer if Tompkins had the massive public art installations like MSP does.
ReplyDeleteYeah, like Danny Meyer's dream is to build a shack in the single slimiest, most disgusting park in all of Manhattan. Yeah, that's the one he'll pick.
ReplyDeleteWe better start worrying.
Shake Shack equals Gentrified MacDonalds--hamburgers and shakes anyone??? Want some fries with that?? Also adding to the obesity of Americans..do they offer any salad options??
ReplyDelete"It would be nicer if Tompkins had the massive public art installations like MSP does. "
ReplyDeleteIt already has Art Around The Park where people can paint what they want on canvasses without having to seek approval from city officials making sure it's "safe"(YAWN) enough for the public.
Shake Shack is stupid. Ray's has awesome egg creams as it is, even bigger and better price than Gem Spa.