Blast from the past

Given the world we live in these days... France 24 checks in (H/T cmarrtyy!) with a feature on the city's mostly forgotten fallout shelters, specifically the one at the Cooper Station Post Office on Fourth Avenue and 11th Street:

The yellow and white metal sign on the Cooper Station Post Office is one of perhaps thousands that can be found scattered throughout the city -- largely forgotten relics of the days when the threat of annihilation via a Soviet nuclear attack seemed like a very real and terrifying proposition.

But as the war of words between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un intensifies, the idea of nuclear war, however remote, has made its way back into public consciousness for the first time since the Cold War.

The shelter at Cooper Station is now used for storage, per the article. (Maybe this could serve as a fallout shelter?)

Also at Cooper Station, someone affixed the word Trump to the top of the sign...



P.S.

Bonus Fallout Shelter signage from Second Street between Avenue A and Avenue B (photo taken on June 12)...

Express Tailor Repair living up to its name

Bill Cashman noticed this scene last night at the 55 Express Tailor Repair on Clinton between Stanton and Rivington... presumably a shirtless man sitting and waiting for his shirt to be expressed tailored...

Your 'Lower Manhattan Theme Song 2011' (Woo Hoo!)

Chuckle Cakes NYC shared this video with us. Per the YouTube description:

This is a song that attempts to capture the current zeitgeist of the areas below 34th street in Manhattan (as well as certain areas in West Brooklyn and Manhattan above 96th street.) Anyone who has been here in the last few years will recognize the eclectic mix of people who draw their inspiration from an overlapping medley of 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s fashion, movies and music. These areas now see a a mix of clean-cut street looking kids of West Side Story and Buddy Holly-lookalikes; 90s/oughts Indie rockers; 70s handlebar-mustachioed porn-star types; Woodstock worshiping quasi-hippies and "folksters", endless variants of 80s "Wall Street" style people; rehashed grunge types; a plethora parade of would-be Lady Gagas; a voluminous number of "Gossip Girl" dreamers; "Jersey Shore" clones; curious tourists; and a smattering of everything else you care to name. One common thread, however, is their penchant for hard partying, and screaming "woohoo!" and "woo!" at all hours while stumbling around drunkenly.

It's a microcosm of the urban and suburban American culture of the naughts and oughts.

Manhattan, this is for you.

The way we live (drink) now

From New York magazine's Recession Index this week:

Approximate number of cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon ($3 each, the cheapest drink) sold at Max Fish in a week:

JULY 2008: 480

OCTOBER 2008: 960