A great storefront (and noted)

11th Street just west of First Avenue...

Meanwhile, hanging inside the doorway... just took this shot for posterity. A reminder of what could be the biggest flop in Broadway history.

Chico's tribute to Mom on Avenue B and Houston

Yesterday morning, Chico and friends started their new mural on the liquor store on Avenue B at Houston...



They're also putting up new local ads on Houston...



Later yesterday, Chico had wrapped up his work...



This is a tribute to the owner of the great liquor store here. She passed away earlier this year.



No word yet on the fate of the store. Her nephew is weighing the options, I'm told. Scoopy had an item on this store. As he reported: "The nephew is currently trying to locate the paperwork for the old tenement, the upper floors of which have sat empty for some 20 years. 'Maybe there's some money in the building, a secret hideaway — could be, I didn't say there is,' Chico quipped. As for 'Mom,' he said, 'She used to give everybody credit. She was a hard-working woman. She would lock the gates. She was open till midnight.'"

Sad news about the liquor store on Houston and Avenue B

I walked by the liquor store at Houston and Avenue B last night... and once again, the place was closed...



...and I noticed that the liquor sign on the side had been removed...



My worse fears were confirmed when I got home and read the latest issue of The Villager... in an item about Chico's new mural here, Scoopy reported that the woman who owned the liquor store died several months ago... and in the space on the roll-down gate, Chico is going to paint a mural of the owner. (And does anyone know her name?)



I have no idea what will happen to this space. I haven't seen the store open in some time, though this isn't really a corrider that I walk with any frequency.... Me being me, I worry about what will become of the space. This is prime corner real estate with million dollar condos right across the street (like this one for $1,825 million).

And I'll miss the owner... the kind of which we don't see much of anymore...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Meanwhile, right around the corner

Meanwhile, right around the corner...

...After checking out Chico's mural, I saw that the shabby liquor store on Houston and B that I like so much wasn't open last night...



I haven't been here in some time... I forget the woman's name who runs the place. I enjoy watching her reaction to some fancypants asking her if they have any, say, really buttery California chardonnays whose grapes were harvested on hillsides composed of Kimmeridgian marl, limestone and chalk. Her reaction is usually either, "WHAT?" or "WHY WOULD WE HAVE THAT."

Figure this is one of those doomed corners...so I'll often take a photo of the storefront. Come to think of it, I took these shots on a Friday afternoon in the fall, and they weren't open then either...

A great storefront

The Chupa Barbara Insurance office on Sixth Street near Second Avenue Avenue is one of my favorite storefronts in the neighborhood...



...a reminder of a different era in the East Village.



And so I always get a little nervous when I see notes posted in the window.



Thankfully, this sign just told of reduced hours this week for a holiday.

Meanwhile... another favorite, of course, just steps away on the corner.

One more thing: No more pay phones at the old LSD spot

Back on Jan. 13, I wondered how long the pay phones outside the former Love Saves the Day store would last...



I have my answer: They were removed this week.

New York's disappearing storefronts

A friend recently turned me on to the work of James and Karla Murray, photographers who split time between NYC and Miami. Last month, they released their latest book, "Store Front -- The Disappearing Face of New York." According to their site: "'Store Front' provides an irreplaceable window to the rich cultural experience of New York City as seen through its neighborhood shops. These stores have the city’s history etched in their facades. They tirelessly serve their community, sustaining a neighborhood’s diverse nature and ethnic background, in a city with an unmercifully fast pace and seemingly insatiable need for change.

Through March 29, you can see their work at the Brooklyn Historical Society's exhibition, "The Disappearing Face of Brooklyn’s Storefronts." (Via Gowanus Lounge)

Meanwhile, here's a video they did on Emily's Pork Store in Williamsburg.



Since seeing their "Store Front" work, I've started paying even more attention to the great old shops that remain in the neighborhood...and elsewhere in the city...

A good storefront

On 14th Street near Third Avenue.

Two storefronts on West 36th Street

After checking out the Holland Bar the other day, I walked a bit on West 36th Street between Ninth Avenue and Eighth Avenue. Always glad to see some good, old-fashioned businesses, storefronts that haven't been turned into a Marc Jacobs or something. Here are two examples. Neither of these stores really need to have any kind of compelling window displays. (Not sure how much of their business comes from people who just happen to be walking by..."Say, I should stop and get my sewing machine repaired!") Yet I'm glad they give it a try.

Last day for Love Saves the Day: Sunday

On Dec. 2, Jeremiah was first to report that Loves Saves the Day will shutter its iconic corner store on Seventh Street and Second Avenue. A sign on their storefront confirms the store's last day.



Meanwhile, what will become of the pay phones on the south side of the store? No way will Duane Reade keep them once they open their newest location here...(And yes -- I will burn in Hell for writing that...)

I'm rarely suspicious when a jewelry store has a "must raise cash" sign on its front window

Name aside, there's some kind of Vegas feel to this glittery jewelry store on Nassau Street near John Street in the Financial District.



Of course.

Hope this doesn't give Dov Charney any ideas

BoingBoing brings us this news:

In certain Asian countries, Betelnut is a popular stimulant sold by scantily-clad young girls in streetside booths. A couple years ago, artist Annamarie Ho recreated a Betel nut booth as a gallery installation commenting on this "sexually provocative sales style" in which, it would seem, customers are buying interaction with the salesperson as much as they're paying for the Betelnut. For the next two weekends, Annamarie is reviving the piece, Binlang Xi Shi (Betelnut Girls), but this time in the more unpredictable location of a New York City storefront.

Here's that storefront:

west side of Cleveland Place, south of Kenmare Street
around the corner from La Esquina

Opening:
Friday, 26 September, 6-8pm

Performances:
Saturday, 27 September, 5-10pm
Sunday, 28 September, 2-7pm
Friday, 3 October 3, 5-10pm
Saturday, 4 October, 5-10pm
Sunday, 5 October, 2-7pm

A storefront and sign that I like

At the Stapleton Shoe Company, on Trinity Place at Rector, just south of the American Stock Exchange.