Paradise Lost: New York City 1970s

I only now saw this on Matt's site, who also "just" found it. But suffice to say I wish I'd been able to attend this exhibition of disco-era NYC photos by Meryl Meisler that was recently at the Carole Lambert gallery in Paris. You can almost smell the poppers just looking below!

More HERE. 

Fear and Purring in New York City

I was tickled when my pal Matt sent me this photo he'd snapped in Upper Chelsea over the weekend. Kudos to aspiring social-media personality Kafka Is Famous -- who is sort of the feline Angelyne -- for riffing off this 1975 pamphlet from one of New York City's darkest moments in time:

Travelers arriving at New York City’s airports in June 1975 were greeted with possibly the strangest object ever handed out at the portal to a great city: pamphlets with a hooded death’s head on the cover, warning them, “Until things change, stay away from New York City if you possibly can.”

“Welcome to Fear City” read the stark headline on these pamphlets, which were subtitled “A Survival Guide for Visitors to the City of New York”. Inside was a list of nine “guidelines” that might allow you to get out of the city alive, and with your personal property intact.

Keep reading BELOW.

Putting NYC On the Map

I live in "gays," and just renewed my lease for a 20th year. Meanwhile, a new report says -- shocker -- that New York City's rich keep getting richer while the poor get poorer. Read HERE.

A City That Gathers No Moss

Pre-order HERE.

Jeremiah Moss -- who writes the sublimely depressing Jeremiah's Vanishing New York blog -- just posted information about his upcoming book that covers similar ground about how the Big Apple lost its soul. I love the cover -- learn more HERE.

Music History

Find out what became of the original CBGB awnings HERE!

And go inside the rock 'n' roll-inspired John Varvatos store HERE.

NYC's Hottest Bars, Clubs and Art Spaces in 1973

   How many people does it take to change a light bulb in New York City? Twenty. One to change the bulb, and 19 to tell you how much better the city used to be back in the day. Read HERE.

The Stilettos: Amanda Jones, Elda Gentile and Debbie Harry, circa 1973

Rummage Through the Mudd

Tickets HERE.

Too rich for my blood, but I'd certainly love to own a piece of history from the MUDD CLUB! 

Mistrial in Etan Patz Murder Trial

Heartbroken for the Patz family, who have waited 36 years for justice. Still, with false confessions being all too commmon -- and absolutely no other evidence to connect this nut to the case -- I think the jury was correct to not convict AND to not acquit. Pedro Hernandez is rightly added to a list of viable suspects. Here's hoping prosecutors will some day be able to thread the needle against one of them. Sad day for everyone involved. Etan’s father, Stanley, told reporters after the judge made his decision that he firmly believed that Mr. Hernandez had killed his son and he wanted prosecutors to try him again. “I don’t understand why the jurors couldn’t come to a verdict, but I am convinced,” Mr. Patz said. “This man did it. He said it. How many times does a man have to confess before you believe him and it’s not a hallucination?” Read HERE.

Watching Every Move at Private Eyes

Michael used to tell me how much fun the video bar Private Eyes was.

It was his first gay bar -- Madonna, Grace Jones and everyone went to this Flatiron hotspot -- right next-door to the famed Danceteria, which appeared in "Desperately Seeking Susan" and is where Madonna debuted "Everybody" to the world a couple years before.

Madonna and Sean Penn reportedly stopped by on their first date

I never made it there -- Palladium, Lure, Tunnel, King, Limelight, Club USA, Works, Uncle Charlie's and the Works are as far back as my NYC bars/clubs experiences go -- but from the looks of this 1989 clip, he sure was right! 

I'm told a shorter version of this used to run as an ad on public access' Channel J.

More deceased bar info HERE.

Eighty-Sixed

After 60 Years in Hell's Kitchen, Smith's Bar Is Closing This Week

This was actually one of the first bars I ever went to with coworkers when I moved to NYC in the 1990s. While it's not exactly my local watering hole, this totally sucks -- the victim of another greedy landlord. The only person who might not be sad to see it go is Ted Koppel. 

My City Was Gone?

The End of New York: How One Blog Tracks the Disappearance of a Vibrant City 

As city rents skyrocket and small businesses close to be replaced by chain cafes and glass condos, Jeremiah Moss’s blog, Vanishing New York, keeps a rueful eye on the ‘progress.’ 

 When one of my favorite journalists talked to one of my favorite bloggers. Read HERE.

A Roseland by Any Other Name

Stunning news via Joe.My.God: The legendary Roseland Ballroom, home to the Saint-At-Large Black Party for more than two decades, will reportedly close in April:

As Billboard notes: The venerable venue, owned by developer Larry Ginsberg and booked by Live Nation, opened at its 52nd street location, a converted skating rink, in 1958 and is a sentimental favorite for many bands. The history of the venue in New York dates back to 1919, when it was located at 51st and Broadway, and prior to that in Philadelphia. While there are several similarly sized venues in Manhattan, including one not far from the Roseland in Times Square, it will be interesting to see if any are willing to take on as colorful an event as the Black Party. Next year's event may be safe, as the Black Party takes place in late March.

I have a lot of memories in that place, from dozens of concerts (The Pretenders!) to the Black Party with Larry and the White Party with Jay (my first and only K-Hole!). Sad to see it close.

Back in Black

Northeast blackout of 2003: Ten year anniversary of the power outage that rocked New York   

 It's funny how these things go, but I have fond memories of the 2003 blackout. I had recently started full-time "freelancing" at the New York Times, so when the power went out that afternoon, I wanted to impress my new boss and still show up for work on time. Walking 25 blocks in the heat to get to 43rd Street wasn't too bad, but I was concerned what I'd find once I got there. Turned out there was a generator providing some power -- and air! -- to the old Times building, but the elevators weren't in service. So after schlepping up to the 9th floor, I was a bit crestfallen to see that nearly everyone had made it in just fine. (So much for my "grand" gesture!) My boss was still grateful for all of our efforts, even though it turned out that the part of the building with working computers -- five floors back down -- barely had enough terminals to accommodate half of us. I remember walking my colleague Mary home that night -- it was pitch black, so you couldn't see two inches in front of yourself  -- because I didn't like the idea of her being alone on the street late at night. It was sweltering -- 90s and very humid -- so Michael and I would pop multiple Benadryls just to be able to fall asleep. I can't remember what we did for food -- I certainly don't have anything in the cupboards -- but I do recall going to a Blimpie on Seventh Avenue in the Village right when the power came back on a couple days later and their trying to sell stuff that had obviously not been properly refrigerated. (Big surprise: that location has since gone out of business.) Sometimes we would just walk around and become quasi  bitter that certain buildings had their own power sources. (Nothing like seeing others blasting their air conditioners, watching television and ironing their clothes while you're sweating your ass off.!) But I mostly recall how much fun Michael and I had hanging out and taking care of each other, and how we got to know a bunch of people in the neighborhood we normally wouldn't have, people who were also sitting out on their stoops trying to cool off and just pass the time ...

The show did go on!

Bodega Girl

This one's by my apartment, and I was just telling Michael how I was surprised it was even still in business with the sparkling new 7-Eleven across the street

Fun piece in the Wall Street Journal about Gail Victoria Braddock Quagliata, who set out to photograph every bodega in Manhattan. She was inspired when she became to notice that the beloved corner stores were dwindling rapidly. 

 "I really never considered myself an activist or the kind of person who would dig my heels in and say these mom and pops should stick around," said Ms. Quagliata, who lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. "But I had to become a kind of angry person who said I don't want this in my neighborhood."

Called "Every Bodega in Manhattan," her photo project, some of which is online, now includes more than 4,000 stores. It is a visual record, if not a virtual scrapbook, of the idiosyncratic mom and pop stores and the neighborhoods they serve.

Read HERE. 

 

Last Splash

As widely reported, New York's famed Splash Bar will be closing on Sunday, Aug. 11.  To commemorate the bar's 22-year run, the owners have just released a calendar of 10 Countdown Events, leading up to the final night.

No One at Rawhide Ever Wanted to Eat Pie

Wow, this is going to chafe:

Crain's New York Business reports that a West Coast pizza chain is moving into the former home of the Rawhide, Chelsea's oldest -- and raunchiest -- gay bar:

Project Pie -- a do-it-yourself pizza chain founded in San Diego way back in 2012 -- says its ambition is to become "the Chipotle of pizza restaurants, imitating its fast, fresh and custom approach."

"We feel like Manhattan is a market that we can expand in, and we are looking for more locations, especially in midtown," said Christopher Schwart of Cushman & Wakefield, who represented the tenant.

And then came this doozie:

"The landlord liked their concept," said JP Sutro, who represented ENS21 Management. "They thought it would be great for the area to have something that wasn’t a 7-Eleven or Dunkin' Donuts, something with a little more local flair where the community would like to patronize."

(Emphasis mine.)

Yeah. This should do the trick.

Where toppings take on a whole new meaning

Hotel Carter's Secret Past

To New Yorkers with Times Square experience -- I worked for years in the New York Times building on West 43rd Street -- the Hotel Carter is best known as one of the dirtiest hotels in America, the place next to the club where Puff Daddy shot someone when he was Mr. J. Lo, or where Joel Steinberg hung out after finally getting released from prison for his role in the sad death of his adopted daughter, Lisa. (It also houses the Lucky Star deli!) But it turns out the Hotel Carter -- then known as the Hotel Dixie -- used to be known for something far less shady: It was home to the Central Union Bus Terminal, which at the time was the largest enclosed bus station in New York. Scouting New York has all the fun details HERE.

Token Disapproval

A friend just found these while cleaning his apartment. Seeing as subway tokens haven't been in use since 2003, something tells me he may be appearing on an upcoming episode of "Hoarders."

NYT: Landmarks in History of Gay Rights, Found and Lost

Nicely done by David Dunlap of the New York Times:

Social landmarks don’t make their significance readily apparent, but a Gay Pride Month guide is a reminder that buildings can breathe with life to those who know something about them. 

Read HERE.

New York's Disappearing Diners

While Michael Perlman isn't willing to kill over diners -- some are over the Tick Tock -- he is on a quest to save New York's vanishing prefabricated eateries. Read HERE.

  It's too late for the Empire Diner in Chelsea, which was relaunched and closed again recently