The Mercury Lounge survived John Mayer, it can survive this

From Curbed: The building that houses the Mercury Lounge is now on the market...However, the Mercury's lease runs until 2018...

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition (updated)

Cover your eyes: Daniel Maurer takes a look at the new-look Holland. We expected it to be cleaner and what not, but a fucking MP3 juke? (Grub Street)

RIP Stefan Lutak; opened the Holiday in 1965 (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Google Maps still thinks CBGB is open (BoweryBoogie)

Bloomy's order inviting illegal development? (Save the Lower East Side!)

The Rhum Rhum Room is real (NY Barfly)

PS 64 still for rent (The Villager)

Whaa?: 76-year-old Ray of Ray's Candy Store turned down for Social Security (Scoopy's Notebook, fourth item)

At Neil's Coffee Shop (where Abe Vigoda eats!)

If I lived near Lexington and 70th Street, and thank God I don't (kidding!), I'd likely spend a lot more time at Neil's Coffee Shop, a throwback to the days when diners were, uh, diners. Nothing phoney about this place, from the formica tables to the professional waiters.




And, before continuing...why, yes -- that's Abe Vigoda.



One of the waiters told me was just in the other day. By the way, Abe turns 88 this Feb. 24.



Other stars of stage and screen have been here, too, as you can see from the gallery of publicity stills...There's Harry Belafonte...Steve Martin...Jack Hanna, the zookeeper whose sole purpose in life seems to be as a guest on Letterman.



And the food? Delicious!




And here are a few more shots of the rest of the place...






Finally! A great NYC diner that's not moving to Alabama or Wyoming.

Worth noting:
In 2002, Neil's suffered damage when the tailor shop next door was destroyed by a firebomb...

Taking another look at Clinton and Stanton: Where's the synagogue?

Just a few follow-up items from my Remembering 172 Stanton St. post from yesterday...First, thanks to commenter KMC for the link to the photo below of what Clinton and Stanton used to look like...



Then, something was bothering me about the artist's rendering of what the corner will look like soon courtesy of the new million-dollar condo 32 Clinton...



This is what it actually looks like as of yesterday...something's missing from the artist's version and reality...



It's the historic synagogue at 180 Stanton Street...I don't see that in the artist's version...it's replaced by what looks like a fancy new building.



I hope the artist doesn't have any kind of inside information...

A sign of spring

Baseball...Handsome Dick's Yankees (and other teams) report to camp soon...
Taken in front of Manitoba's on Avenue B.

P.S. Snapped this photo while walking by last night...Check out the TV screen behind Joba...Braindead?

Bloomy's "assemblage of private enclaves"

Over at the Daily Gotham, Bouldin discusses Mayor Fiorello La Guardia and his relationship with FDR. La Guardia was a constant guest at the White House, and was able to secure Federal funds to help bring NYC out of the Depression, Bouldin writes. Meanwhile, Bloomberg's public schedule doesn't indicate any White House visits. "In short, his administration is wasting potentially billions of dollars that could be spent on needful things."

Later:

[T]he big difference between LaGuardia and Bloomberg is one of vision. LaGuardia loved the City as public space, with great, sprawling vistas built for the public. Mayor Bloomberg's vision is profoundly distinct from that: he sees the City as an assemblage of private enclaves that, without ready cash, are closed to you.

That's the problem. We could have a re-birth of the City, with a grand plan for the future. But we do not have that, that great living adventure, nor will we get it.

"The world of Mike Bloomberg is a charmed place"

From the Times today:

Campaigners for Bloomberg Taste High Life

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s operatives get to inhabit his very different world.
They stay at the Four Seasons in London (about $400 a night), the Intercontinental in Paris ($320) and the King David in Jerusalem ($345). Room service? The mayor pays for it all. Even the laundry.
And invitations to dinner parties at Mr. Bloomberg’s Upper East Side town house rarely disappoint: Kofi Annan and Nora Ephron are regulars.
The billionaire mayor is turning heads these days with the hiring of high-profile operatives for his re-election campaign, including several who had previously worked for his rivals in the race.
And as he seeks to entice talent to come aboard the campaign, and possibly to a third term in City Hall, Mr. Bloomberg wields a powerful tool: the perks of inhabiting his world.
Working in politics often means stingy pay and tedious log-rolling. But when the richest, most socially connected man in the city happens to be mayor, it can seem more like the life on (pre-recessionary) Wall Street, right down to the car service.
“The world of Mike Bloomberg is a charmed place,” said Jonathan Capehart, who worked as a policy adviser on Mr. Bloomberg’s first bid for mayor.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in NYC is expected to hit 10.5%.

The future of the middle class in NYC (Hope you like Philadelphia!)

Big new report out now by the Center for an Urban Future titled "Reviving the City of Aspiration: A Study of the Challenges Facing New York City's Middle Class."

An excerpt:

“The perception of New York among young people is so phenomenal,” says Alan Bell, a partner with the Hudson Companies, a real estate development company that has built housing from the East Village to the Rockaways. “It used to be that automatically you’d get married and had kids and you were out to Montclair, New Jersey or Westchester. Now they want to stay. The question is how they stay since it’s so expensive.”

Set against this picture of progress, however, are some alarming trends. Most of the people interviewed for this report told us of middle class friends, relatives or colleagues who had recently given up on the city. “I work with a lot of people who moved to Philadelphia and commute each day,” says Chris Daly, a media director at Macy’s who now lives with his wife and three kids in Tottenville, Staten Island but plans to move to New Jersey. “It’s the cost of living. You’re going to see more people moving to Philadelphia, the Poconos and commuting.”

Unless we find ways to reverse some of the trends detailed in this report, the New York of the 21st century will continue to develop into a city that is made up increasingly of the rich, the poor, immigrant newcomers and a largely nomadic population of younger people who exit once they enter their 30s and begin establishing families.

Day 4: The Blarney Stone is still closed

Noted

Page Six has a photo feature today of everyone's favorite, SJP....for reasons unknown she'll be featured in the March Harper's Bazaar....I'll let you read the rest...



... particularly that part about how Carrie Bradshaw would handle this recession....

The bad old days of the 1980s are back (but maybe not what you're thinking)

From today's Wall Street Journal:

At law firm Bickel & Brewer, even the mailroom clerks wear suits and ties. Until recently, that might have been considered extreme. But now, power dressing is coming back in style, and the old-school law firm has a new relevance.

As law-firm layoffs mount, fear of unemployment appears to be speeding up the resurgence of power clothes, even among the youngest recruits. Legal interns have begun flouting business-casual dress codes and wearing suits instead, says Gretchen Neels, a Boston communications consultant who works with law firms and graduate schools. "In our economic times, you really want to have your game on. You can't be too formal," she says.

Power clothes are selling well at menswear retailer Paul Fredrick. Those white-collared, colored dress shirts that Gordon Gekko favored in the 1987 movie "Wall Street" have been big sellers in recent months, says Dean White, executive vice president of merchandise. So are yellow power ties, another 1980s dress-for-success accessory.

Whatever...I just hope those mobile phones come back in style...I still use mine. The looks I get!

Remembering 172 Stanton St.

Jan. 24 marked the 11th anniversary of an ugly day in LES history. On that cold, drizzly day in 1998, the lower portion of the rear wall of the building at 172 Stanton St. gave way at 8:58 a.m., as the Times reported. According to the Buildings Department, rainwater apparently got into the wall, which was weakened by years of deterioration, and loosened the bricks and mortar.

Some 25 residents were evacuated as a safety measure. City officials told them they could return to collect their things. As the Times tells it:

But in their dash for safety, many residents of the partially collapsed building left with only their clothes, leaving behind pets, family heirlooms and other valuables. The collapse occurred while many residents were still asleep.

The building was later demolished, angering the tenants who said they had been given no chance to rescue pets or belongings.

Mrs. Grieve and I lived across the street from the building at the time. We watched the horror show unfold. We watched as city officials quickly decided to raze the building, leaving the desperate residents begging officials to allow them a moment to retrieve some personal belongings...their pets...wedding bands...cherished family photos...

Residents who tried to get a court injunction allowing them to remove pets and belongings from the building before it was demolished at about 8:30 P.M. accused city officials of speeding up the demolition when they were informed of their intentions.

"I said, 'Give me half an hour,'" said Marcelino Garcia, a resident who said that he had spoken to an official from the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management. When people outside the building started chanting, demanding that it be saved, Mr. Garcia said, the official got on a cellular phone, "and boom, that was it."

Indeed. Although the building looked fine, the official line was that it was extremely unstable. We watched from our rooftop across the street when the century-old tenement building came down. The five-stories were split open. Bedrooms were quickly exposed. We could see pictures on the wall. An unmade bed. A bureau of clothing. We had our cameras, but were too sick to actually take any photos.

One resident, Marc Friedlander, 35, a video artist, said he had nearly $20,000 worth of cameras and other video equipment in his apartment, as well as the entire collection of tapes of the downtown art scene he has documented over the last 15 years.

"It's priceless what I am losing in there," he said.

Mr. Garcia, who was able to grab his dog, a bichon frise, on his way out, said his canary flew away during the pandemonium. His wife, Milagros, left her wedding ring.

For most of the afternoon, Roberto Carreara, 66, and another resident, Stanley Kleinkopf, stood near the police yellow tape and pleaded to be allowed to rescue their cats.

"Please, please," Mr. Carreara begged an officer repeatedly about retrieving his cat. "He's all I got."

The cat, Honey, was never seen again. Kleinkopf and his wife Ann had lived in that building since 1958. They lost everything. As did most residents. A lifetime gone. It took 12 hours to bring down the building, an absurdly long time for something deemed so unstable, such a threat to life and limb.

Arguably the worst part of the ordeal as a witness came the following day, when the residents -- some 25 in total -- were brought back from the Westway Motor Inn near LaGuardia where the Red Cross placed them. A waterlogged pile of household items, including Friedlander's guitar, now with a broken neck, were lying on the sidewalk. The residents, mostly still in their clothes from the day before, glumly sorted through the pathetic mound. The rest of the building and its contents were hauled off by a private demolition company hired by the city.

In a follow-up article in the Times on May 10, 1998, "Only 3 of the 25 have found new homes; half remain in shelters and single-room-occupancy hotels. The others depend on the waning sympathies of friends or relatives."

There are theories that "the landlord and the city jumped at an excuse to remove the rent-stabilised tenants from the building," according to a post on RalphBorland.net and a subsequent article published at tenant.net.

The lot stayed empty as long as I can recall.


[Via RalphBorland.net]

We moved several blocks away in subsequent years...I think of Jan. 24 every time I pass by the corner of Clinton and Stanton. Today, the million-dollar condo on that corner is nearly ready for occupancy.

Tribe has closed; owner wants "a classier place"

Yesterday afternoon a tipster passed along news that Tribe, the decade-old bar on the corner of St. Mark's Place and First Avenue, had closed. Indeed, a walk by the place last night confirmed this.




According to the Real Deal:

Tribe's final day was last Thursday, said owner Matt Wagman, senior partner at Riteon, a partnership that operates four other bars in Manhattan. While Tribe drew loyal crowds and "always turned in really nice numbers," the bar closed after negotiations failed with landlord Tara Allmen, who had asked for a "100 percent increase" in rent when Tribe's 10-year lease expired December 31, Wagman said.

Allmen, a physician, inherited the building from her mother, Renée Allmen, along with several other East Village properties, and recently completed renovating the four residential spaces in the building. She called Tribe "an eyesore."

"I want a classier place," she said, adding that Tribe "was not going to enhance the aesthetic of the building."

Previously on EV Grieve:
I'm not waiting on a lady...say, what the hell is Mick wearing anyway?

"Back then this whole area was just people who were into art and you know…"

Meanwhile, more stores are closing in the EV

In recent days I started taking photos of all the stores in the EV that had sale signs in the window. It just seemed as if every store was offering huge savings. Given the number of advertised reductions, it occurred to me that it would be easier to take photos of shops that weren't having sales. There weren't many.

Meanwhile, the carnage continues. The Tibetan specialty shop Lhasa Boutique on Avenue B near Fourth Street is going.



This makes 22 empty storefronts now on Avenue B. (There were 23, but Coyi Cafe opened a few weeks back.)

Meanwhile, on Ninth Street between Second Avenue and First Avenue...

Australian Homemade is back open

As of yesterday. Following a short closure for "construction."

The fools! Don't they know who they're dealing with?

The organizers of the Red Bull Snowscrapers event have pumped out about 1,550 cubic yards of manmade snow for the 90-foot tall ramp. Uh-oh. Are they crazy? Hope they have good security!



Anyway, it's today and free and stuff.

Grub Street reports: The Holland is open

This is the kind of booze news that we can use.

Update: City Room pays a visit.


Previous Holland coverage on EV Grieve.

Day 3: The Blarney Stone is still closed

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

New York Dolls made their uptown debut 36 years ago (This Ain't the Summer of Love, via Stupefaction)

Sucking Icicles (East of Bowery)

Ken has been checking out the Brooklyn Navy Yards (Greenwich Village Daily Photo)

Kirby has more on Great Jones Street (Colonnade Row)

Not cool: Pepsi replaces the Swayzzzzzzzze (BoweryBoogie)

Don't fuck with Central Park (Flaming Pablum)

More vanishing storefronts (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Rotten makes butter better (Hunterer-Gatherer)

The evilest empire: A Live Nation and TicketMaster merger? (Brooklyn Vegan)

Oscar Wilde bookstore closing (Runnin' Scared)

From a New York Times editorial: Lawrence Ferlinghetti once wrote that Coney Island is “where I first fell in love with unreality.” Today, a desolate reality has taken hold at the legendary amusement park. As rides close, bulldozers uproot land that once held delightfully sinister sideshows. The few rides left barely lure neighborhood children and nostalgic tourists.

Reason No. 3,587 why local TV news sucks: Sue Simmons' annual groundhog impression (YouTube)

Ugh: Another dive in danger

Grub Street has the awful news on a Brooklyn classic:

One of the city’s truly gritty watering holes, the Navy Yard Cocktail Lounge, may not have long for this world.

As Daniel Maurer notes, the bar’s building (along with three others) is for sale for $3 million.


[Photo by Daniel Maurer via New York]