I'm all for preserving historic neighborhoods and all that, but I really think these Greenwich Village residents who are "outraged" over Equinox's flashy new ad campaign need to calm down."It's extremely offensive, totally out of keeping with the neighborhood and I can't understand what they were doing, what they were thinking of," said Greenwich Village resident Norman Kahn.
Really? Pictures of people working out on a gym are "extremely offensive"? These are temporary advertisements that will be coming down soon. Where were these people and their (false) outrage when the former building on that corner -- a delightful old movie house that was once the home of the Village Twin -- was being torn down to make room for this "totally out of character" modern structure? I'm "extremely offended" that straight people with baby carriages have taken over the land of Stonewall, but you don't see me bitching about it 24 hours a day. 
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It's one thing to erect a modern building in a historic area, it's quite another to cover it in huge photos and advertising. Maybe the residents are so vocal and angry because it's just one more area of our visual field taken over by advertising.
I remember when they started putting ads on the floors of grocery stores. I couldn't believe it. Little did I know... What's next?
Where were the Village residents with their protests? They were fighting the construction of the building.
I love that this gym is so close to me, but I'm glad it took many months to get approved by the community board. During that time Equinox had to make significant changes the design of the facade to be more in line with the neighborhood.
I'm not a prude. I like a beautiful body but I'd rather see live it in the locker room than two stories high outside my window. There are other New York neighborhoods where that that type of marketing is more appropriate.
Greenwich Village ain't what she used to be.
Anonymous: I'm happy to hear that. (I actually do not recall this, but I may well have missed the hoopla at the time.) I still think that moment was far more important than these silly ads, which many residents on NY1 admitted they hadn't even noticed until they were pointed out to them.
I remember the anger over the original construction of the building, as well as the efforts of local residents to intervene.
I wouldn't mobilize against a temporary ad campaign like this, but it certainly shows that Equinox is pretty tone-deaf to some of the neighborhood's character and local concerns. Such is life.
As a former resident of the WV, I can totally understand why huge ads on buildings disgust the locals. And once these "temporary" ads come down, are they going to be replaced with others?
I agree with Aron that we get bombarded with ads waaaay to much these days. They're ugly, intrusive, and feed into our cancerous consumer culture. I fear the day is coming when coffins will be emblazoned with "This funeral sponsored in part by Bacardi. Please drink more responsibly than HE did."
The outrage seems a little ridiculous to me. Every aspect of modern city life has slowly been overwhelmed by advertising. I understand the desire to fight this, but a.) It doesn't deserve the outcry it's received and b.) the war has already been lost. Sorry, guys. Maybe it's time to move to Brooklyn or the Hudson River valley?
Right on! Power to the (gay) people!
I recently passed by the building on my way to work and I'm a little sad not to see those sweaty bodies seen from the glass windows anymore.
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