Recessive economy, high unemployment, falling housing market: What year is this...?

I'm currently reading a rather academic book titled "From Urban Village to East Village: The Battle for New York's Lower East Side." It was first published in 1994. The chief author is Janet L. Abu-Lughod, at the time of the book's release a professor of sociology at the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research.

Her section on the the beginning of 1992 is particularly interesting...perhaps you can draw a few parallels to another time in the city. Like now...

The economy of the city also appeared to be going to seed. Recently released data on jobs and unemployment revealed that in 1991 the city had lost jobs at an even faster rate than in the 1975 recession. And these were jobs not only in manufacturing, which had long been deserting Manhattan, but in the services as well. Service job losses, while they began at the high end of the scale when the stock market first tumbled in 1987, were now being translated, through a multiplier effect, into losses within demand sectors that "yuppies" had formerly supported.

Vacancy rates in hotels were rising. It was easier to get a cab, even in bad weather. Reservations were no longer needed at many good restaurants and tickets to concerts and the theater were once again more available. Employees of commercial firms, both high on the ladder and now, in back offices as well, were being let go, and in the interests of reducing municipal and state costs -- and New York City and the State struggled with mounting budget defecits -- the number of public employees was also being reduced. The 1991 Christmas buying season was one of the most disappointing on record.

The bottom was also falling out of the housing market. Real estate agents, never ones to suggest at any time that housing might be a poor investment, were estimating that sale prices on luxury flats in the city had dropped a fourth to a fifth from their peak values in the late 1980s and that there were "real bargains" to be had in rental units, co-ops and condominia. But sellers, even those offering "bargains," reported months without a single buyer nibble. Advertisements in the Sunday real estate section of The New York Times for auctioned residential and commercial units expanded from half a page to several pages, and the lower auction prices established a ceiling beyond which other prospective buyers refused to bid.

The commercial firms in Lower Manhattan, whose job holders were the "white-collar workers" that a walk-to-work gentrifying zone of the East Village was intended to attract, were especially hard hit. Vacancy rates in privately owned buildings soared from under 3 percent in 1981 to over 20 percent in 1991.

In the East Village, although properties were too downscale to warrant private auctions and many residents were already so marginal to the economy that its collapse left them relatively unaffected, the wind was definitely out of the gentrifiers' sails.

The book includes the map of the East Village below...it's included in a section that discusses 1987. (Click to enlarge.)

A sterile new sign for the Blarney Stone

The Blarney Stone on Fulton Street near Nassau in the Financial District is a fine joint for some beers and affordable quality food. And they open at 8 a.m.



Was disappointed, though, to see them recently get new, sterile signage...fits right in with the rest of the neighborhood now. Charmless.



Still haven't been back to the Blarney Stone on Eighth Avenue near the Garden since they ruined that with a remodeling a few years ago...

[Top photo by IrishNYC via Flickr]

Speaking of landmarks and chicken fat, Cindy Adams thinks East Houston has a problem

From her column in the Post yesterday:

NOW, Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber's glamorous glorious gorgeous premiere of "Defiance" at the Landmark Sunshine Theater. Landmarked? The thing should be condemned. Sunshine? Their VIP reception room is a windowless, airless basement. But maybe it's the location that counts. East Houston Street just a vat of chicken fat from Yonah Schimmel's knishery.

Are bag snatchers getting more brazen or are people getting dumber? YOU decide

From the Police Blotter in this week's issue of The Villager:

A woman who put her bag on the corner of the bar at Anchor Bar, 310 Spring St. at Renwick St., during the early hours of Fri., Jan. 2, discovered it was gone when she was ready to leave at 3:30 a.m.

A man who stopped off at Vosges Chocolate, 132 Spring St. between Greene and Wooster Sts., around 4:30 p.m. Sun., Jan. 4, fell asleep at his table and woke to find the backpack that he had placed at his feet was gone.

A woman patron of Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St., told police that her wallet and cell phone were stolen between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. Fri., Jan. 9, while she was on the dance floor. Another woman at Le Poisson Rouge checked her belongings right after the first theft was reported, and discovered that her wallet with an iPod and personal property had been taken from her bag, which she had placed on her table.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

Expect more empty storefronts in Manhattan (New York Times)

Bartender wanted ad of the day: "Styled like a hipster Bennigan’s, this Billyburg rock club lets the good times roll." (Hunter-Gatherer)

Upright Citizen's Brigade prepping move to the old Pioneer Theater (Eater)

Biker Bill's first cell phone (Neither More Nor Less)

Jeremiah's favorite film from 2008 (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Morning at the Subway Inn (Greenwich Village Daily Photo)

New city landmarks (City Room)

Virgin closing Times Square location (Idolator via Curbed)

38-hour work weeks at the Hotel Chelsea (Living with Legends)

Allen Street tea shop inches closer toward opening -- now featuring a bright red awning visible from space (BoweryBoogie)

Why aren't there more neighborhood blogs in Manhattan? (Washington Square Park)

The cornerstones of New York (Lost City)

Where are all the ads?

Have you noticed how many blank walls there are around the neighborhood these days...? Buildings that typically always have some sort of banner ads attached?








Easy enough, I suppose, to chalk this up to the recession and downturn in advertising, etc. Could also be the time of year. How many more quality films like My Bloody Valentine 3D can there be to promote? Or maybe there's something else...perhaps the East Village is no longer a hot demographic area that advertisers want to target.

In any event, no complaints here about the lack of ads.

A faded ad on 57th and Fifth

Speaking of ads, this past holiday season I found myself in Midtown...I'd never noticed this faded spot at 57th Street and Fifth Avenue for the Greenwich Savings Bank...



For a better look, I braved the crowd at Tiffany & Co. and headed to customer service on the sixth floor.



I like the private little phone stalls in customer service. Plenty of space to call your bookie.

To be honest, I don't really want to know what happened here

On Ninth Street. Hate to see what happened to the memory foam pillows.

An EV Grieve editorial: Time to turn off the lights this season on the Tompkins Square Park holiday tree

It was a fine-looking light job, as always. A lovely tree-lighting ceremony. The tree was still lit up as of last night. It's Jan. 14. Having it on now is just, well, depressing. (Holiday lights in a bar? Different story!) Time to move on. Anyway, we just have one month until Valentine's Day!

[Updated: I'm a jackass...the lights are kept on for a reason. See the comments. Here's more on the Ukrainian holiday from the Web site of St. George's on East Seventh Street. My apologies. But they'd better be off tomorrow! Happy New Year!]

Important research of the day

From the Post:

Life in New York really is a rat race.

Rodents thrive in a Manhattan-style street-grid system, but tend to become disoriented in the more winding, random layouts of cities such as New Orleans and Jerusalem, according to new research at the University of Tel Aviv that could prove useful to urban planners.

Noted

In a storefront on Sixth Street near Cooper Square.

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...)

At the Professional Bull Riders 2009 Invitational

I made a joke the other day about possibly attending The Professional Bull Riders 2009 Invitational this past weekend at Madison Square Garden. As Allen Barra noted in his preview of the event at the Voice, "Not your usual Manhattan entertainment, but — if the photos on the Madison Square Garden website (msg.com) are an indication — lots of fun."

And it was. For the most part. Mrs. Grieve and I made the trip to the Garden for the Sunday afternoon finale. I was hoping for a slice of old-fashioned county fair fun, but was surprised how slick and MTV-like it all was. Lots of loud music. (But hey -- ZZ Top sounds best at this volume!) Pyrotechnics. And the oh-groan, Morning Zoo-like comedy stylings from the rodeo clown/MC with the wireless mic walking around the Garden floor. And lots of cowboy guys riding 2,000-pound bulls. There were plenty of ohhhs and ahhhs when the rider would get chucked from the bull and trampled underfoot. (See the first video below for a sampling.) Not sure what else to say about any of it. Stayed for maybe 30 minutes. That was plenty. Oh, and this was the first time that I've ever been to the Garden where people sitting in Section 43 wearing Dickies had a chance to win prizes.

Walking by the Holiday

Walked by the Holiday around 6-ish last night....and the gate to the front door (locked) was up...Didn't see anyone inside. Nothing looked amiss. Everything was still where it was...Continued home...dropped off the crap that I was lugging...When I returned a little later, the gate was closed again...

Atlantic City now apparently just as soulless as the Bowery

Page Six Magazine this week has a feature on New Jersey, which they bill as the new New York. Seriously. So:



According to the article:

Atlantic City became the place for pasty hipsters this summer. "It is the new post-ironic destination," says Alexis Swerdloff, managing editor of Papermag.com. She has seen plenty of the flannel shirt–wearing, Parliaments-smoking contingency head for the revitalized seaside resort town since the July opening of the Chelsea Hotel. Paul Sevigny and Matt Abramcyk, the duo behind Manhattan hot spot the Beatrice Inn, consulted on the hotel's fifth-floor nightclub and literally moved their scene down to AC in July with a free party bus, to hype the modern, chic space. "Once it was announced that these guys were involved, it gave AC more cred," Alexis says. And since then, Sean Avery, Chloë Sevigny, John Mayer, members of Maroon Five and James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem have all visited — and changed the notion that Atlantic City is for pensioners carrying social security checks, oxygen tanks and crab legs they stole from the buffet.

Ohhh! Maroon Five! Later in the piece:

Still, the boardwalk is not quite gentrified, thanks to a Hooters to Go restaurant and various cheap sundry stands. "The thing to do is to buy a cheesy Atlantic City loose tank top from one of them," Alexis suggests. "Hipsters wear them with their cut-off jeans shorts and boots."

Reminds me that I need to get back down to Atlantic City before it's completely ruined. Will head to Tony's Baltimore Grill on Atlantic Avenue near the Tropicana...

That's a helluva note to post on the office fridge

From the Times today, in an article titled Shock Greets Move to Close Amato Opera in May:

[T]his weekend a note from Mr. Amato was posted on the refrigerator in the offstage area at the company’s home in a small building on the Bowery in the East Village: he was shutting down the company after this season.

“Now, with Sally gone, I have decided that it is time for me to start a new chapter in my life,” the note read. “It has been a great 60-year run!”

In an interview on Monday, Mr. Amato said he had sold the building; the club CBGB was a neighbor for years before it, too, closed.

“I’m 88 years old, and I’m a little tired,” he said. “I have a few years left.” Mr. Amato said he might write his memoirs and wants to establish a foundation to give awards to young singers, conductors and directors. He also plans to study scores, especially Wagner’s.

Curbed has more details on the sale.

The moon...and those red lights!...at the Christodora House

Even spookier!

From firing her "personal organizer" to cutting back on facials, a Long Island millionaire copes with the recession

The New York Post has the sad story, which strangely reads like a personal ad.

Ruin of the Bowery nearly complete: Last season for the Amato Opera

After 60 years the Amato Opera will close its doors after this season. Anthony Amato, the company’s 88-year-old founder, gave the news to his company before Saturday night’s performance of “The Merry Widow.” Mr. Amato said he had sold the opera’s building on the Bowery in the East Village. (New York Times)

Founded in 1948 by Tony and Sally Amato (she passed away in 2000), the Opera has called 319 Bowery home since 1964. Here's an excerpt on the Amato Opera that appears on its Web site. From an article written by Sondra Zuckerman Diaz:

Amato Opera opened originally with two goals in mind: to present entertaining opera at popular prices, and to give singers a stage on which to gain much-needed experience in full-length productions. The early company utilized students from Tony Amato's opera classes. ... Early performances were free because union regulations would not allow them to charge admission. Contributions were requested during intermission. Tony Amato had invested his own money to get the company started. At 319 Bowery, when admission could be charged, tickets were $1.20 an reserved seats, $1.80. In 1975, 15 years later, ticket prices were only $3-4 a performances. Today, at only $23 for an orchestra seat, ticket prices are still a fraction of what is charged at other opera houses. Amato is believed to be the only self-sustaining opera house in the United States. ... The Amato Opera is often referred to as a "mom and pop" operation.

Here's a video created by Columbia Graduate School of Journalism students on the Bowery Poetry Club and the Amato Opera.(The Opera portion begins around the one-minute mark.)



Jeremiah has more on the Amato from last January.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

"The growing number of New York neighborhood blogs — there are nearly 200, many in Brownstone Brooklyn, but there are others in communities like Inwood, Harlem and Astoria, Queens — has amplified the city’s already boisterous discourse, raised the ideological stakes in discussions of even the tiniest issues and turned upside down the old chestnuts about urban isolation." Blogging about a neighborhood? Who would do that? Losers! (New York Times)

The Times also breaks down the latest census figures. It's a portrait of how the city has changed since 2000. On the LES: 55 percent more adults with bachelor's degrees; 43 percent more households of men living alone; 24 percent fewer Hispanic residents.

Historic 61 Fifth Ave. ready for the wrecking ball to make way for...a 10-story mixed-use building, (A Fine Blog; read Jeremiah's history of the location, which once housed a Schrafft's.)

From Scoopy's Notebook: EV Slacktivist leader John Penley wills his photo archives; an illegal hostel on East Third Street. (The Villager)

No pants on the subway (Gothamist)

Kim's Video collection on the way to Italy (New York Post; earlier)