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Regarding the classic speakeasy, Chumley’s it’s still reported via Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York construction is a long, long ways away.
Earlier I Loved New York pieces on the perennial fave: The Hits…Yes, they Keep on Coming and the overly optimistic post, Showing Signs of Life.
(image: Greenwich Village Daily Photo)
That’s what I’m on as I type this, cold meds after a quick jaunt to Texas. The eyes of the West Village have once again spoken (our good friend AKP) who reports AUTO is the latest to shutter.
Embedded in their farewell email:
Dear Friends, We are writing to let you know that auto has closed. The cost of doing business in New York and the current economic climate has forced us reluctantly into this decision.
“We are reluctant and saddened to close but we know we must embrace change and what lies ahead. As our former neighbor Florent Morellet said, “New York is the city of changes. People forget this is what they love about it.“ As of now we have no future plans to reopen either the store or the website but we promise to keep you informed of our whereabouts should this change.”
THE MESSAGE HERE; DON’T LEAVE IT UP TO THE FICKLE HIGHLINE CROWD, SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESS.
Baby Buddah was surprisingly orphaned a year and change ago when Mother Buddah morphed into a branch bank. Now the unthinkable (yet too common) has happened and thanks to the avarice of infamed Gottleib heirs another neighborhood institution has bit the West Village’s cobble stoned dust. If only the young guns held the preservationist honor of their uncle….Such neighborly staples as The Hog Pit and Buddah would remain as savory solutions to our greasy regional cravings. Our sidewalks are lined with giant Ripco billboards screaming, “PRIME RETAIL SPACE AVAILABLE” like etchings on cemetery tombstones. Bye Bye Baby Buddah. So long to your bizarre window topiary, your orange wedges, your General Tsao. We salute you.
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Abbie Kunath Park was bred on cheese steaks in center city Philly and spent her younger years on the shores of Lake Michigan. She landed in suburban NY just before the 80s hit. Post grad she hopped to the big city landing her first low rent apt on 6th Avenue just across from the famed 4th Street basketball courts and above Dallas Jones BBQ then onto spring and Thompson and her final low rent score on Mott street before marriage, pregnancy and current residence whereTortilla Flats serves as mess hall and childcare center to her two young children.
(image Abbie K Park)
Per Eater NY (see: post) and off the cuff of Abbie’s earlier tip; it looks as if Baby Buddha will celebrate it’s last supper on 31 January. Tonight folks.
So long take out steamed dumplings.
BUDDHA!
This just in from the most reliable set of eyes and ears in the west village. I shutter to think of life without the steam vegetable dumplings and other assortments. It’s a locals joint.
Big Buddha closed after a bank went in ; now the little engine that could is trying to stay alive. Save her! The neighborhood is already knee-deep in those french bistros and other little boutique restaurant. Take out must live on; and so must the Buddha.
(tip + image: Abbie Kunath Park)
Everyone has (and is entitled) to their own Kim’s Video story. I can think of a dozen off-hand; one which N.F. told me after Jimbo yielded an Ax at one of the employees who refused to lessen his late fee. This East and West Village icon served it’s purpose whether for the classics or the more smutty titles behind a curtain or just beyond that wall. IN 2008, The Daily News reported, ” The beloved movie shop Kim’s Video will soon shut down its rental service on St. Marks Place and ship the store’s 55,000-title film collection to a new far-flung home – in Italy. And it’s been given away for free. A sign posted in the window states the last day for rentals is Dec. 31 – New Year’s Eve –and after that the films will be donated to the town of Salemi, Sicily – population about 11,000.”
For owner Yongman Kim, losing his video collection marks the end of an era. “I think my passion in loving film to share and introduce to New Yorkers is no longer valid,”he told the Daily News via e-mail.
Thanks to Netflix and the barrage of Direct TV and other do-dads; Kim’s is dust in the wind but not to be forgotten (WHAT A MAJOR COLLECTION, FOLKS). A colorful place and one well-known to all.
grrrr…another classic, in this case, warm Southern soul food is closing after 50 (yes i repeat 50 years). The The Pink Tea Cup (at 42 Grove Street) is slated to close in January 2010. Their site rightfully boasts: “Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey and Liz Smith of the New York Post and others” have passed through their doors. It will be missed in the New Year; so stop by for your fixin’ while you still can.
hear ye; hear ye. hot off the press. you hear this: “More Jane Jacobs, Less Marc Jacobs”
MJJ/LMJ : Graphic designer Mike Joyce
my second post on i♥dnewyork was over my fury about the Biography Bookstop closing after a long run to of all people…Marc Jacobs (again, I’m a chick who digs on Marc but don’t take the Biography!) Tree Hugger composes an interesting article about graphic designer Mike Joyce’s “More Jane Jacobs, Less Marc Jacobs.”
Jane Jacobs 1961 treatise
One cannot help but look at Jacob’s 1961 book, the Life and Death of Great American Cities. The New York Times critic Lloyd Rodwin writes…
Mrs. Jacobs’ view is that people like to live, not just be, in such lively neighborhoods. Youngsters and elders alike need such surroundings. But she scoffs at our understanding of these requirements; for we continue to put up civic centers, low density residential areas and housing “projects” segregated by income…Worse still, the new buildings with high rents squeeze out the marginal activities, the small business man just getting a start, the colorful shop with strange and exotic waves, the little restaurants and bars, almost everything deviant, bohemian, intellectual or bizarre– in other words, all that the author believes lends spice, charm and vigor to an area. (read the full review here)
Also, Project for Public Spaces puts together a terrific piece together on her historical & biographical perspectives.
say it isn’t so or say it IS. PLEASE SAY IT IS.
the secret entrance...back open soon? image: nycbeer.org
I can already taste the lightly toasted English muffin covered burger with a touch of Swiss and pickle washed down by a Harp…or Bass (toss-up).
Via the New York Magazine’s Grub Street; Chumley’s showed signs of life this week by applying for a liquor license. I felt alive. Excited. Confused. Especially since I strolled by a few weeks ago, it was covered in boards. This is promising news off the heels of my earlier post…this is GOOD NEWS for old New Yorkers and New, New Yorkers alike. Karma.
I won’t beat a dead horse here…BUT, as it were…the Beatrice folks. Don’t try and hack me. The X FILES SPEAK…THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE… the PARTY IS OVER.
as it were...
“BYE BYE, BEATRICE “™ (look at my urban outfitters T-shirt now…)™
an oldie (via tabs) but a goodie. image by KBD
my good friend and west village resident always insists i subscribe to the The Villager. It’s true…I should. It appears the New York City Transit wants to “design” an emergency ventilation tower. It clearly rattled me to learn about the possible demise of the makeshift 9/11 memorial at Greenwich Avenue + Seventh Avenue South which has held the memories of the fallen for 8 years plus.
memorial by the people. image: the Villager archive.
Curbed posted a link to the NY Transit designs for the sacred space…check them out. Add your thoughts.
storefront @ the magnolia (photo: Cinzia Reale-Castello)
Upon reflection of biography books, I can only think about the old magnolia bakery, the cute little cupcake shop in the West Village offering free smells of sugar and butter. Now, thanks to the storied Sex in the City episode where Carrie professes new love to Miranda…
Sex and the City Bus Tours…the line wraps around the block like a worm. Tourists pay $40 to hit the Sex and the City hotspots on a 3.5 hour tour. The crowd is hell bent on those cupcakes; so much so, they probably don’t notice the charming heart of the West Village. Let them clear out…quickly. They just want back on that bus to head to the next spot; perhaps for a watered down $10 Cosmo. The West Village residents are probably used to the said masses but cannot be thrilled. Oh well, the satellites are out there… Upper West, Magnolia duex is all yours now.
