Friday, September 20, 2013

*Everyday Chatter

The Village Voice has left the Village. [GVSHP]

Volunteer for St. Mark's Books advisory committee--and help them fix their business so the East Village can have a bookstore for a long time. [SMB]

Bloomberg "revitalizing" the Lower East Side--with a bunch of big, glass nightmares. [NBC]

The hideous redesign of Astor Place has begun--the sterile corporate office park is on its way. [Curbed]

RIP LES Jewels. [EVG]

What's it like to be born in New York--and then priced out? [Salon]

Check out the Coignet Building documentary tonight at the Greenpoint film fest. [GFF]

Watch this movie about seltzer man Walter Backerman. [MS]

The Lyric Diner has returned to Gramercy:


Photos: The daily life of the NYPD--in the 1970s. [VE]

Welcome to Fear City--a survival guide to 1970s New York. [Gothamist]

Willets Point on hunger strike against the city's eminent domain. [youtube]

Bloomberg's Last Dump: The Great Upper East Side Garbage Swindle [Huffpo]

The NYPL rethinks its hideous, book-hating design. [WSJ]

10/20: Take a tour of Striver's Row. [SRHT]

We don't need another Starbucks:

9 comments:

James C. Taylor said...

Re: The Lyric Diner

I can't believe they ripped out that fabulous neon signage for nothing.

David said...

Those NYPD photos are fantastic. Thanks for linking to them here.

Brendan said...

I'm curious--would you feel differently about the LES development if it were 100% affordable housing, rather than 50%?

Ivan said...

Tina Turnstyle looks like Michael Monroe of Hanoi Rocks.

Uncle Waltie said...

Bye Village Voice. I fell in love with you when I used to wait on line at Sheridan Square on Tuesday nights, trying to get a head start finding an apartment in their classified section. Loved Hentoff, Feiffer, Christgau, Jill Johnston etc.. Carefully perused the night-life advertisements, wondering who was playing at Bboomers, Kenny's Castaways and so many other places. You had a great run and were a substantial influence in my formative years. It's kind of ironic that you wound up half a block from where I've been living for thirty plus years. Now it might be time to say goodbye with dignity, rather than to be relegated to obscurity. Wishing all of you writers and other staff the very best. Thanks for everything.

mch said...

The NYPL debacle is, unfortunately, another (though hardly "just another") example of the destruction of the library as place for books, quiet, and absorbed concentration (or daydreaming). It's happening all over the academic world, too. Off-site storage of, you know, books, to make room for cafes, performance spaces, all sorts of things that destroy the intimate relationship between reader and books.

sinestra said...

Fantastic photos of the 70's cops. I particularly love the cops being real with people- playing with kids, letting them sit in their car or on their scooter, taking pics together. It's like they had a relationship with the people in the community. I hope today's cops see these photos and try to see the human element that is missing these days when every civilain is seen as a threat.

Pat said...

The Lyric Diner closed and there is a "store for rent" sign in the window. Bummer, I liked the people who worked there, I hope everyone will be alright.

Anonymous said...

I was taking a woman friend to the Lyric Diner at 22nd and 3rd yesterday, raving about their pancakes. My 'if this place ever closes' speech was cut short by the papered-over windows and FOR RENT signs. A man in his 60s appeared from inside, said he was the building owner, started criticizing the Lyric, "they had 13 waiters and 9 dishwashers, how could they ever make money, they didn't know how to run a diner", it was all their fault yadda yadda. I told him I'd never seen more than 3 waiters and they were always stretched to the max, 9 dishwashers no way, finally 'so you doubled their rent and want to feel good about it' and left.

That place was like home to me.