Hospital Productions, the specialty record store that peddled black metal and noise music, has evidently closed up its shop at 60 E. Third St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. Someone has cleaned out the store and there's that "for rent" sign in the middle of the front window...
I first noticed the sign when it was above the store last month.
Via email, I asked the Hospital folks on Nov. 15 if they were closing/moving. They told me they were "just working on a huge inventory project."
When I saw that the store was empty, I sent another email asking if they were moving or only selling items from their label online ... I received the following: "I am currently out of the office until 2012. Thank you for your patience."
UPDATED: East Village Radio provides more background and color on just how unique this store was...
Hospital was a store like no other in this city, selling a wide-range of fringe music and sound-art from a variety of genres. Established by Dominick Fernow as an extension of his tape label bearing the same name in 2006, Hospital’s early life as a retail outlet was spent in the basement of Jammyland—a record store specializing in dub and reggae. In those days, you’d walk down the aisle of Jammyland while the clerk eyed you suspiciously until you hit an almost totally vertical ladder to descend into Fernow’s foxhole filled with noise, black metal and experimental cassettes, LPs and CDs. Jammyland eventually left, and Hospital ascended from the basement and took over the ground level storefront at 60 East 3rd Street.
Bummer! this was a cool little place.
ReplyDeleteAll that mad money from Matador form the owner's band Cold Cave...
ReplyDeleteI always hate to see record stores closing. I never thought I'd see the day when record stores could become extinct, but in this downloadable age, it could come true.
ReplyDeletewell that sucks.
ReplyDeleteI loved that Hospital existed (and wished it still did), but they never had what I was looking for, alas. I once went in looking for a vintage live album by Venom -- arguably the veritable CORNERSTONE of all things black metal -- and (as I said on your FB page), they looked at me as if I'd stumbled off the street looking for a Joan Baez record. Also, I was always kinda bummed that none of them were sitting around in corpse paint, but that's another matter. To echo Marty's comment above, I'm deeply saddened every time another record/disc shop closes, and this one is now exception. Pour one out and throw the goats high in the sky at an unforgiving deity in praise of Hospital Productions.
ReplyDelete@ Alex
ReplyDeleteHa. Love your anecdote.
I always regret that I didn't that Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock record there that came with a bag with of shit.