Why have these storefronts been empty for so long?

Today, Jeremiah has a list of places loved — or just well-liked — around town that have been sitting empty with "for rent" signs.

Meanwhile, there are other storefronts in the LES/East Village that have seemingly been empty for years... Look at the recent photo below taken by the EV Grieve Intern of the former Tina Nails on First Avenue near 14th Street. The "Dear customers" sign remains. The place has been closed since September 2007.



Or how about the Coffee Pot (and, since last fall, Two Boots Restaurant) on Avenue A? Or the long dormant (and jinxed?) restaurant space at 171 Avenue A...?

These storefronts all seem like prime EV/LES locations. What gives? Shit economy? (Though some of these places have been empty since the recession...) Jinxed locations? Stupid landlords?

Here are just a few of the storefronts that remain empty....

There's the former Tonic space on Norfolk, sitting empty next to Blue.



And Kelley & Peng on the Bowery and Second Street.



Second Avenue and Third Street. (The one with the CRAZY landlord!)



East Sixth Street near Avenue A.



East Sixth Street near First Avenue.



Third Avenue near 12th Street.



First Avenue between First Street and Second Street.



First Avenue near East Seventh Street.



For further reading on EV Grieve:
Cafe de Nova space for rent; Avenue B back up to 22 vacant storefronts

A 35-year-old former Ivy League fencer and “Star Wars” buff is pretty much running the city

Well, at least according to the Times. Meet Edward Skyler! (Kind of like Skywalker!)

(And that's NOT Mr. Skyler in the photo.)

A little creativity outside a Duane Reade

On Third Avenue and 10th Street.

Vampire Easter Weekend

At Blockbuster on East Houston.

Buy a Hannah Montana hollow egg this Easter

At Duane Reade on Avenue B.

Mundane details continue to fascinate at former Love Saves the Day spot

Wow, the ramen guys really are going to brick up the windows. That seems...weird.

Nostalgia for 1980s New York in Beijing

From the Times:

What’s interesting about “Ai Weiwei: New York Photographs 1983-1993” at the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, in Beijing, is that the Americans I know who have visited the exhibit, particularly those born and raised in New York, tend to focus on the location photos: the raw, grimy East Village sidewalks; Tompkins Square Park with its anti-gentrification protesters and drag queens; shirtless students at St. Marks Place; the bums on the Bowery and the gritty sidewalks and graffiti-covered subway cars that inspired “Stranger Than Paradise,” Jim Jarmusch’s 1984 film set partially in New York City. They are drawn to them precisely because they induce feelings of nostalgia for 1980s New York.

But Chinese visitors viewing the exhibit, most of whom have never been to New York (or America, for that matter), tend to focus on the Chinese people in the photos. Where the typical American will focus on how much Times Square has changed from the 1980s to now, the typical Chinese viewer looking at that same photo will focus on what looks like a Chinese immigrant sitting on top of a taxi.

Hummus Place expanding on St. Mark's Place?

Yesterday morning, I noted that Sympathy for the Kettle had closed at 109 St. Mark's Place.



Hummus Place shares the address on the west side of the building. Word on the street is that Hummus Place is taking over the former Kettle space. Which is one reason why Hummus Place on St. Mark's was closed today and workers were coming in and out of the space. There's an outgoing phone message at the St. Mark's store stating that all the NYC Hummus Place locations (four in total) will be closed for the holiday from April 8-17. Sounds like a good time for an expansion.

The Holiday expands its hours

After Stefan's death earlier this year, the Holiday was only open on the weekends. Now, though, as this flier on St. Mark's shows, the Holiday is expanding its hours. Which is a good thing.

An award for navigating "the wilds of don’t-ruin-my-neighborhood blogosphere resentment"

In Time Out's Eat Out Awards this week, the magazine's critics bestow the Best Sweet Revenge award upon Bespoke Chocolates. Why?

As if the seven levels of city-permit hell weren’t enough, chocolatier and former Union Square Cafe pastry staffer Rachel Zoe Insler also had to navigate the wilds of don’t-ruin-my-neighborhood blogosphere resentment before she even opened the doors of her unassuming bonbon shop. Insler placated the haters with patience and warmth — and won over everyone else with her pretzel-covered sea-salted caramels, cardamom-scented Turkish coffee truffles and the rest of her handmade sweets. 6 Extra Pl at E 1st St (212-260-7103)

Well, now. I hope you haters are happy now! Got your just dessert!

Hell yeah, it's HoJo's

Thanks to reader/frequent commenter Mick for passing along the url to HoJoLand, a comprehensive Web site devoted to the history of Howard Johnson's. The last HoJo's closed on Times Square on July 9, 2005 (first photo below). As HoJoLand points out, there were 10 HoJo's in Manhattan at one point...



...like this one on 53rd and Lexington...



...uh, somewhere on Broadway...



and at 1551 Broadway...



Meanwhile...you'll find the world's largest repository on the last HoJo's in the city on the site...

A quick look inside DBGB

Sometime this spring, DaBo's brasserie/diner place -- DBGB (ugh, sorry) -- will open at 299 Bowery between Houston and First Street. (Latest projection has it opening in May.)



The doors to the location, a block south of you-know-what, were open last night... the fans were blowing out toward the Bowery to provide ventilation for the paint job that was happening inside. I went to step inside for a better look when Mr. Unamused Supervisor did one of those, Halt!-who-goes-there moves. Anyway, opening in May? Maybe late May!