Fine & Schapiro

VANISHING

After news about the Upper West Side's Fine & Schapiro closing for renovations, word has come out that it will not be reopening.


photo: Manhattan Sideways

On Facebook, Manhattans Sideways reports, "Fine & Schapiro, an institution on West 72nd Street since 1927 has closed. They have very sadly lost their lease as confirmed by the staff members who have worked here for decades." Another tipster writes, "The landlord jacked the rent."

*Update: West Side Rag reports, “They had two years left on their lease. Business was slow. Because of their age and bad health, they decided to close. That’s the story,” said Joe Kizner, manager of the building. The paper was unable to get in touch with the owners of the business.

Book Culture

VANISHING?

Book Culture has been on the Upper West Side since 1997, when it was founded as Labyrinth Books. Since then, it has expanded from one to four shops. It's a great local business and much beloved. But now, owner Chris Doeblin has announced in a letter (below) that Book Culture is in danger of closing--but it's unclear why.

UPDATE: I spoke with Doeblin about the situation. He told me that his landlords have been "terrific." Columbia University is one of them and "they're trying to keep us open and have made adjustments over the years." Amazon, however, "has just been devastating. A huge number of people shop there without being reminded enough of the value of having storefronts in the neighborhood."

The biggest bite, right now, says Doeblin is the 50% increase in wages. "We've not been able to grow fast enough to deal with the increase," he told me, "and we've had to lay people off. But I think we can make it, if we have more financing."

To that end, he's hoping for an angel. Either a wealthy investor or the city. "I'm hoping that the city will underwrite a loan for us. What would really help us is a significant loan from a local bank that's subsidized." He noted that the city and state "pulled a lot of strings for Amazon and every luxury building in New York City," so why not small businesses like Book Culture?

Doeblin also says he wrote the letter to get the word out. "I want people to hear from me about what it's really like" to run a small business in the city. "I want to direct people's attention to a better idea of the future."



Doeblin sent out the following letter and accompanying video on Facebook:

To all our members and patrons, to Mayor De Blasio, Governor Cuomo, Speaker Johnson, Gale Brewer, all City Council members, fellow citizens of New York, neighbors;

My name is Chris Doeblin and I am the owner and operator of Book Culture. We run 4 storefront bookstores in New York City, 3 in Manhattan and 1 in LIC Queens. We have been in business for over 22 years.

There is a situation that I need help with and I want to address as large a group as possible in the hopes of finding a solution. I hope to also make a statement about the future of our city.

Our 4 stores are in danger of closing soon and we need financial assistance or investment on an interim basis to help us find our footing. This is true in spite of the fact that business has been good and we are widely supported and appreciated.

Book Culture's stores generate over $650,000 in sales tax revenue each year for the city and state. We employ over 75 people at peak season and had a payroll over $1.7M last year. Book Culture has always been committed to paying our employees above minimum wage, both before and after the increase. All of that payroll along with the $700,000 a year that we pay in rent goes right back into the New York economy, which is why I address our government here. Many large development plans, Amazon’s HQ2 in LIC for example, included a cost to taxpayers of $48,000 per job. There is a history here of local government aiding business when it produces a return for the locality.

Every one of our employees, including my family, spends virtually all our income in the city. We shop here, eat here, pay our rent, use the MTA, and all those expenses roll right back into the community economy, to the benefit of all of us. It’s the multiplier effect of storefront businesses. It isn’t a huge sum of our economy taken by itself, but it is integral to the fabric of our city.

The jobs we create aren’t tech jobs but our jobs offer a toehold to young people coming to New York, often times trained in the humanities and heading for careers in the arts or other cultural industries; to students, artists, dancers and writers. We have been employing young native New Yorkers forever too, often as a first job. Publishing and bookselling have long been a significant part of New York City’s cultural and economic foundation.

Book Culture does a lot more for our communities than act as an economic engine. As an organization, we can take an empty storefront and spin it into a wonderful community asset that transforms a neighborhood. That takes vision, creativity, courage and entrepreneurial talent. This is a set of qualities that a city, any city or community, ought to reward and empower.

This combination of talent and industry, so common in smaller businesses is too often overlooked and not given the support and nurture that it deserves. The capital pools that allow projects like Amazon’s near entree into New York or building projects like Hudson Yards aren’t available for small businesses like ours. But they ought to be. We have been financed by credit card, by 30% a year interest loans and by remortgaging our home.

For too long we have accepted that businesses need only serve their profit orientation as though it were an obvious fact, a natural law of the 21st century. As someone dedicated to our city and nation, as a leader building a company, and its culture, as a parent and citizen, I know we can do better. Book Culture as a business is dedicated to serving the community it inhabits. This orientation to the common good rather than extracting wealth is the crucial distinction.

We do not reject large business, or internet commerce, but we know that we can’t build a future by accepting that businesses simply extract and accumulate. We need to support a culture of businesses that serve our communities holistically. And we need to move to a greater diversity of ownership not towards more consolidation.

The families that own America’s 2 largest retailers, Amazon and Walmart, just 2 families, have accumulated over $250 Billion in privately held wealth. That is a 1⁄4 of a $1 trillion!
This grotesque inequity is one of the gravest dangers posed to our democracy, the civil society and the communities we hope to build for our children.

As a parent who has served as treasurer of our schools PA I have grown to see everything as a teachable moment; what are we teaching our children? What are our values here?
If each of those families had only, ONLY, $1 billion, we could have spent $2 million for every single public school in America.

But what really sets off the distinction for our future America is that these 2 companies, like so many others, still arrive in our communities with their hands out asking for more. And they arrive in our governments by way of lobbyists asking them not to represent our children and the best future we hope to create for them. They arrive to continue to pile on to the wealth of the shareholders.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Companies like Book Culture, that are entwined with and dedicated to their communities, offer a better way forward.

Lastly, Book Culture contributes simply by being what we are, storefront businesses active in a community. We add to the street life and Jane Jacobs’s ideal of a neighborhood where people interact, face to face with each other in the simple conduct of our lives. Our shops light up the evening streets with a welcoming inviting space. We provide a place for parents and children to visit together and engage in books. We are a place for quiet, or conversation, discovery and reflection.

We need financial help to continue our transition.

If you run the city or the state or if you have the means to assist, or even if it simply means calling and emailing and writing to the local city council member where you live and the mayor and governor, please do so.

The price of doing business doesn't have to be incurred by the people. The price of doing business should be more about serving our common welfare.

Sincerely,
Chris Doeblin

Westsider Books Saved

Last week I reported that Westsider Books was closing. This week we heard the good news that it has been saved. The following is a guest post by Janice Isaac:



Westsider Books is a wonderful used bookstore stuffed with books in every possible space. They could no longer afford to stay open, and locals were devastated. Apparently, non-locals were as well.

Bobby Panza, a West Sider who doesn’t even know the owners personally, but who knows the store and values its uniqueness, started a GoFundMe to help keep this treasure alive. He’d been inspired by owner Dorian Thornley commenting about being able to stay open if they had $50,000 from crowdfunding. Thornly says he was “amazed and shocked...quite taken aback” when he saw, on Facebook, the campaign to save the store. The GoFundMe quickly reached its goal (thanks to donations ranging from very modest to several in the thousands), and Westsider Books will stay. Locals are overjoyed.

I live in the neighborhood and have loved walking around the store, searching for treasures. I sometimes touch the bindings as I shop, as each book seems to have its own history. I once brought my then six-year-old to pick out some children’s books for himself. Venturing up the stairs, he was excited to discover something he’d never seen before -- an actual typewriter. He was disappointed we couldn’t purchase it, but a gently used copy of The Secret Garden seemed to appease him.

When I went there this week to chat with Thornley, I felt steady blasts of cold air as customers arrived, coming in to browse the packed shelves. Some appeared to be tourists, lugging heavy backpacks. Some were obviously locals, and they congratulated Thornley on Westsider being able to remain. Sometimes the door would open, and people would just pop their heads in to express relief about the store’s future, and then they’d continue on their way up or down Broadway. Clearly, in an area filled with empty storefronts and chain stores, the locals are delighted to be able to keep some vestige of what once made walking the streets of the neighborhood special. Who doesn’t cherish those small, quirky, independently owned businesses, run by people who clearly love what they do?

When I asked him how he feels now that the campaign to keep the store open has reached, and even exceeded, its initial, seemingly unattainable goal (it’s at $51,876 as of this writing), he replied, “I’m amazed. I feel incredible."



Thornley and co-owner Bryan Gonzalez are hoping to stay in this location, selling books for as long as possible. Thornley’s plans for the money raised by devoted customers? “Well, I’m hoping we can carry on indefinitely. That’s what I’m telling the press. This money’s going to allow us to pay off the rent and buy some good books."

After speaking with him, I smiled as I glanced at the cover of Salinger’s Nine Stories, a personal favorite, taped to a bookshelf. Then I enjoyed a little browsing in a store that has graced the Upper West Side for 35 years, and hopefully will for many more.

Check out this video about saving the bookstore, by Evan Fairbanks and Christopher Ming Ryan:


Disappearing NYC: Saving Westsider Books from Wheelhouse Communications on Vimeo.

Westsider Books

VANISHING

Located at 81st and Broadway, the great Westsider Books has just announced they will be closing. Another heartbreak for New York City bibliophiles.



Owned by Dorian Thornley and Bryan Gonzalez, the shop opened in the 1980s. They call it "the last used bookstore on the Upper West Side." But the neighborhood keeps on changing, filling up with more money and more chains.

“It’s all different now," Gonzalez told Narratively a few years ago. "There’s more money here, and the people have changed, and so have their tastes. Not that long ago, the city gave you a sense of belonging to something unique, exciting, cosmopolitan. Now what you find here, I can find in a Jersey mall."

Westsider is a wonderful, authentically New York shop, packed from floor to ceiling with books. When I was taking classes in the neighborhood, I would stop in every week and always walked out with a book in hand. Recently, Westsider had a cameo in the excellent and very New York nostalgic film "Can You Ever Forgive Me."


via Medium

The employee I spoke with doesn't know the reason for the closure, but "I can guess," he said. I can guess, too.

He told me they'll be open until February. Until then, everything is 30% off.

Shakespeare & Co.

In good news for bookstores, Shakespeare & Co. has opened an outpost on the Upper West Side.



From the press release:

The new store is located at 2020 Broadway (between 69th and 70th Streets) and opened its doors Saturday, November 17. The Upper West Side is a homecoming for Shakespeare & Co. as the original flagship Shakespeare & Co. opened at 81st and Broadway in 1982.

“I am thrilled to be returning to our original home on the Upper West Side. We see this as sort of a happier ending to You’ve Got Mail, where Shakespeare finds a new location a few blocks south,” says Dane Neller, the CEO of Shakespeare & Co. “The welcoming and good will wishes from the local residents have been overwhelming. The sales at the Upper West Side store were record-breaking over the weekend.”

The company’s expansion plans continue as the Greenwich Village store is slated to open at 450 Sixth Avenue near 11th Street (the site of the old Jefferson Market store) in the spring of next year.

Lincoln Plaza Cinema Reboot

As I first reported in April, the shuttered Lincoln Plaza Cinemas has attracted a band of angels working to bring it back to life, including Norma Levy, who told me at the time, "I decided there has to be a way to recreate the cinema. It's too tragic to lose."

Now, with New Plaza Cinema Inc., we're getting a new version of the cinema. Through a press release today they announce a partnership with the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan "to host first run and independent films in its 250-seat auditorium throughout the summer."



“We’re excited that the JCC has graciously agreed to screen our films this summer,” said Levy. “We’re working to find a more permanent venue which will offer first run and independent films.”

Toby Talbot, who co-founded Lincoln Plaza Cinema with her late husband, Dan Talbot, supports the New Plaza Cinema’s goals. She says, “Although Dan is no longer with us, I’m sure he would have been heartened—as am I—that a band of devoted theater goers have taken upon themselves the arduous task of creating similar cinema anew. I fully support their effort and look forward to their ultimate success.”

According to the press release: "The series will have a soft kick off with an uptown run of the IFC release The Catcher is a Spy by Ben Lewin with multiple screenings on June 24, 25 and 26. The following week, the series will honor the passing of Philip Roth with a marathon of films based on his books."

For more information visit:
www.newplazacinema.com
www.JCCFilm.org

Read more on the fight to save the Cinema.


Click to enlarge schedule

New Plaza Cinemas

When Lincoln Plaza Cinemas closed this past January after almost four decades in business, many New Yorkers were heartbroken. People talked of saving it, with nearly 12,000 signing a petition to keep it running, but it shuttered just the same.

In the fight for this beloved movie theater, one long-time Upper West Sider took action.



Norma Levy is a Yale Law School graduate and practicing lawyer. While she has done non-profit work in the past, she told me she has "never done anything like this" before. For Lincoln Plaza, she just had to do something. "I decided there has to be a way to recreate the cinema," she said. "It's too tragic to lose."

At the memorial service for cinema co-owner Dan Talbot a few months ago, Levy handed out flyers asking people to help revive Lincoln Plaza Cinemas. Thirty people showed up for a meeting and together they formed New Plaza Cinema Inc.

The group has enlisted two Lincoln Plaza veterans who chose the films and managed the cinema in recent years, including former general manager Ewnetu Admassu. They have formed a board and launched a website. Their mission is to "create and operate a new cinema devoted to quality independent and foreign films on the Upper West Side of Manhattan."

Ideally, the group would like to recreate the cinema in the same location. Building owner Howard Milstein seems open to that possibility. His lawyer is in talks with New Plaza Cinema Inc., and the location has not been rented to anyone yet. "The space is still up for grabs," said Levy, and she hopes her group can grab it. If not, they'll look for another space in the neighborhood.

Rebooting the cinema is sure to be challenging in a high-rent neighborhood where so many of the spaces go to national chains and banks. Whether it's in the old spot or someplace new, it will be an expensive venture. New Plaza Cinema is looking for financial partners and supporters. They also need dedicated people to join their group and help bring back what was a beloved and important center for both the local community and the cinema industry.

Visit New Plaza Cinema's website and Facebook page. Join their mailing list. If you can help, drop them a line at newplazacinema@gmail.com. And go to their next meeting, April 17 at 7:00 p.m. (Email nlevynyc@aol.com for the location.)

As Levy said, "People are desolate" since the closing. New Yorkers all across the city miss this cinema--and they want it back.

Scaletta

VANISHED

Scaletta Ristorante has been on the Upper West Side for 30 years. Recently, I walked by and looked at its old yellow sign and thought I should check it out, because the old yellow sign seemed like an indication of something authentically New York and a little bit hidden. It also made me think: That can't last.

Now I won't get the chance because the landlord gave Scaletta the boot. Last night was their last night.



West Side Rag reported the news and shared Scaletta's note to customers, which included this pointed bit:

"You might be wondering whether we were yet another victim of astronomical rents? Well, to eliminate any speculation, here’s the story.

Yes, our rent had steadily climbed up, but no, it wasn’t the ultimate reason for our closing. In fact, we were willing to stomach yet another rent increase, and invest in gut renovating our space and committing to another decade or more. No, the truth is we simply weren’t wanted. Our landlords coveted a shinier, fancier model in our place. To our landlord, as well as to many in NYC these days, a celebrity chef-owned chain, or private equity backed steakhouse sounds a lot sexier than a family-owned Italian joint.

We get it. However, when we look out at the incredible number of retail vacancies polluting our neighborhood, including one prominently empty space on our very corner, we question whether pursuing big name tenants is shrewd business or simply quixotic. Commercial vacancies have become a blight on our communities, and yet it’s not for a lack of viable business models. It’s simply short-sighted greed."

There you have it in a nutshell. Once again, if you're sick of this shit, here are some extremely simple, easy things you can do to try and create some positive change: do this and do that. 

Their landlord, Equity Residential, told West Side Rag, "We are excited about the possibilities the future holds for this space.”

Shakespeare & Co.

UN-VANISHING

It's rare when bookstores open. It's rare to get any good news in this town about local businesses. And yet. Yesterday we heard that Shakespeare & Co. is opening two new stores in the city.

There will be one in Greenwich Village, in the spot long occupied by Jefferson Market (closed in 2008, turned into a Gristede's, and then a luxury condo showroom). Another will come to the Upper West Side at 2020 Broadway, between 69th and 70th Streets. (None for the book-starved East Village?)

They are slated to open in the fall/winter of 2018.


2014

I asked CEO Dane Neller a few quick questions.

Q: Downtown, we still miss the Broadway location near NYU (closed in 2014 and turned into a Foot Locker). Will the new shop on 6th and 11th Street have a similarly curated selection?

A: Yes, with more selection since it’s a larger store.

Q: With so many bookstores closing across the city, what's the secret to surviving -- and growing -- in the current market?

A: Being community based; offering an intimate setting and literary cafe for customers to convene, socialize, and browse; providing a forum for self-expressions and creation with the Espresso Book Machine technology; and having a thoughtfully curated selection of books geared to the neighborhood patrons, with knowledgeable and friendly booksellers.

Q: So is it a myth that people are reading (and buying) fewer print books?

A: Absolutely. Printed books still represent over 75% of total industry sales.


At the Shakespeare & Co. uptown

Capitalism Killed This Cinema

Last night, Lincoln Plaza Cinemas closed its doors for good, shuttered by the landlord, Milstein Properties, who refused to renew the lease, despite pleas from local politicians and thousands of New Yorkers.

The cinema held a memorial last night--for the place and for the man who began it, Dan Talbot, who died just a few weeks ago. Michael Moore was there, along with Wallace Shawn, Philip Lopate, and other speakers.



Deadline Hollywood reports today on Moore's speech at the event:

“Capitalism killed this cinema," he told the audience, "this evil, greedy, 20th century form of capitalism. The multi-billionaires known as [landlord Milstein Properties] have done this.”

The Milsteins, Moore said, “are part and parcel of what this city and liberals have done for a long time — and that’s just to sit back and take it. It’s so strange that this neighborhood, the capital of the left in America, would allow this theater to close. It’s shameful — it should be embarrassing.”

"You understand though that each time we let another thing like this happen, they become empowered. It’s like in horror films when the beast gets fed another morsel and it becomes stronger and stronger.”

“I don’t know what to do about this situation,” Moore concluded. “I can say, I’ll be there for anything you want to do — anything you can do to out the Milsteins for what they have done here... At some point, people say, ‘I’ve had enough.’ And the revolt begins. I encourage you and all of us.”

With that in mind, here are three easy things you can do right now:
1. Sign and share the petition and give the Milsteins a piece of your mind.
2. Take one minute to send a ready-made letter to the mayor and Council Speaker telling them to pass the Small Business Jobs Survival Act.
3. Join #SaveNYC on Facebook, meet people, and organize an action.

Goodbye Lincoln Plaza Cinemas

As you already know, Lincoln Plaza Cinemas is vanishing. The lease was not renewed and its last day will be January 28. We tried to save it, but Milstein Properties apparently isn't listening.

Filmmaker Christopher Ming Ryan went to the movies to talk to folks about why Lincoln Plaza is so special--and why it should not vanish:



Ryan writes:

"We have a message to the landlord, Howard Milstein: make capital improvements on this space, but keep the people who run this theater by offering them an affordable lease. Toby Talbot deserves to stay. I want to enjoy the films they hand pick and continue to support the wonderful staff here--for a very long time. Do the right thing."

Over 11,000 people agree--and many more. Sign the petition and let the landlord know what's on your mind.

Broadway Restaurant

VANISHED

As New York City diners meet their collective demise (and then some), overwhelmingly due to skyrocketing rent and denied lease renewals, another one appears to have joined the list.

Christopher writes in to say that the Broadway Restaurant at 101st Street has shuttered. There's no sign to say goodbye, or give a reason why, but the shutters have been down for a week and the phone has been disconnected ("temporarily" says the recording--is there hope?).


photo from Christopher

Asks one Yelp reviewer (where the reviews are glowing), "could broadway restaurant be closed ?? -will be missed if true." Maybe they're just on vacation? Though it seems unlikely.

I went to the Broadway only once, happily stumbling upon it while I was wandering the neighborhood for reasons I can't remember. I loved it instantly.



I loved the sign outside with its "STEAKS CHOPS SEA FOOD," an indication of a certain vintage, and an increasingly rare sight.

I loved its interior with the U-shaped counter and the movie star posters. Brad Pitt appeared on the walls several times--maybe because he filmed there once.

I loved the hand-painted menu with its CORNED BEEF HASH and TASTY SANDWICHES.

The place was busy and beloved. If you know what happened here, please let us know.



*UPDATE: Harry points us to a recent article in West Side Rag, reporting that a fire closed the place on New Year's Day.

Hopefully, the 47-year-old diner will recover, but the damage looks bad.


photo via West Side Rag

Lincoln Plaza Cinemas Update

The online petition to save Lincoln Plaza Cinemas now has over 11,000 signatures. Paper petitions are also circulating and gathering names. Every day, customers ask what they can do to protest the closure. But the closure is coming--in just a couple of weeks. Milstein Properties has not offered a new lease.

Before the new year, Dan Talbot passed away. He'd been running Lincoln Plaza with his wife, Toby, since 1981.



This week, West Side Rag talked with Toby. As it stands, she will not be part of Howard Milstein's plans for the site, which reportedly include upgrades and a new movie theater, possibly something run by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Possibly not.

On her wish to keep the theater going, Toby said:

“Of course I would like to continue running it. And one of the things that grieves me — grieves is hardly even a strong enough word — is that the people who’ve been working with us — and I say not ‘for’ us, but ‘with’ us, some for 35 years — are so devoted, I just hate to think of them suddenly being out of jobs. The people on our staff come from all over the globe. It’s a United Nations down there. It’s a harmonious place, run with a very hands-on perspective. I’ve been the one who has chosen everything at the confection stand. Almost every pastry comes from a different place.”



And on the chance of saving it?

“The only thing that could possibly be done,” Toby said, “is if significant political pressure is exerted by our elected officials, saying this isn’t a matter of just economics, but of a cinema culture that has been established for three-and-a-half decades in that spot, with people who are very bereft to be deprived of it.”


photo via West Side Rag

Please sign the petition and write to your local politicians, asking them to get involved. City Council Member Helen Rosenthal, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, State Senator Brad Hoylman, and Assemblymember Richard Gottfried recently sent this letter to Milstein:


click to enlarge

Save Lincoln Plaza Cinemas

On Friday, Deadline Hollywood broke the news that the art house Lincoln Plaza Cinemas will be forced to close in January. It opened in 1981. Operator Toby Talbot said that she and her husband, Dan, “did everything we could to ask for the lease to be extended.” But the building owner “is looking to get everything he can. He’s looking to make money.”

On Saturday, the theater’s regular customers were all talking about the news. Ivan, the young assistant manager, stood in the doorway of the small office across from the concession stand and commiserated. The clientele of Lincoln Plaza is made up mostly of local senior citizens--people on fixed incomes--and mostly women. It is, in many ways, a gathering place for midtown and uptown women over 65.

All day Saturday, they gathered around Ivan.



Interior. Movie theater lobby. Day.
The lobby is busy but not overcrowded. People sit on benches and stand in line. They read the paper and do the Times crossword puzzle. Some buy popcorn and rugelach from the concession stand. A wall fountain gurgles, but the basement room is otherwise quiet.

In the doorway of the Manager’s Office, a young man in a blue sweater stands talking in a relaxed way to three older women. LOIS wears black horn-rimmed glasses and a black pageboy haircut. She holds a cane. HILDA is blonde and quiet. NANCY wears a knit winter hat and paces back and forth, fired up about the closing.

NANCY: We need to do something. We need a petition. Everything good is vanishing.

LOIS: This place is my lifeblood. I’m limited (she taps her cane) and this is accessible. I come from the East Side. I come for intelligent movies. And it connects me to the area. After a movie, I eat in the restaurants and shop in the stores nearby. I come every week. It makes you feel secure.

HILDA: It’s comfortable and welcoming. Not like the multiplex. The physical space of a large multiplex? It’s like a warehouse. It’s yucky to go into. But this is a cozy space. It’s not fancy, but it feels good. It’s a neighborhood place.

NANCY (pacing): We need to start a petition. We should plead elder abuse.

HILDA: It really is a connection for seniors. It gets us out of the house.

LOIS: Where else can you go where you’re familiar with the ushers’ faces? They know us. It’s a community. We’re New Yorkers here. I’m not a tourist.

NANCY: Why are they doing this?

IVAN: It’s not about business being bad. It was a landlord decision. The Milsteins own the building. The old man died and the kids took over.

LOIS: They don’t care about people or the quality of life. They just care about the money.

IVAN: The theater owner’s never been about the money. He just wanted people to enjoy the movies.

CORINNE walks in and greets her friend LOIS. They meet here every Saturday. She is blonde and red-cheeked from the cold.

CORINNE: I was shocked when I heard the news. But I was always afraid this day would come. What’ll they put here?

LOIS: Probably a health club.

CORINNE: It’ll sit empty. Like everything else. This is a cultural institution.

HILDA: It’s terrible. Just terrible. Everything else is going downhill in the world. And in this country. This just adds to it.

The USHER, a young man in a gray suit and necktie, stands up and calls out the next movie to the waiting crowd.

USHER: Wonder Wheel! Wonder Wheel! Wonder Wheel!

The women join the crowd and head into the theater to see their movie.

Soon after, the general manager, EWNETU, walks in. He wears a Lincoln Plaza Cinemas cap and complains about the traffic as he takes off his winter coat and settles into his office.

IVAN (to EWNETU): About 50 people came to your door today. Ready to cry. Every 3 to 5 minutes.

EWNETU: This is a bad news for our customers, bad news for our staff, and bad news for the neighborhood. It’s as bad as it can be.

This place is unique. What nobody can replicate is that we handpick every film we show. They have a quality value. We don’t get tempted by box office receipts. We have customers who come regardless of reviews because they trust our judgment. Very familiar faces. Customers come from all over—Philadelphia, New Jersey—we even have one guy from Nebraska.

When I started working here I had an afro. Now I’m bald. (He takes off his cap to prove it, and then puts it back on.) I’ve been here over 25 years.

We lost our lease. Business is not bad. It’s not phenomenal, but it’s good enough for us to stick around. The landlord has a different idea. It seems he doesn’t want to renew the lease. It’s very upsetting.

As a society, we should be more than about money. Landlords included.

Fade to black.



The building that houses the theater is owned by Milstein Properties, run by Howard Milstein. On Saturday evening, they sent a statement about the closing to the New York Times:

“'We are long-term members of this community and have played a central role in nurturing this special theater,' the statement said, adding that 'vital structural work' was needed to repair and waterproof the plaza around the building. 'At the completion of this work, we expect to reopen the space as a cinema that will maintain its cultural legacy far into the future.'"

The Times added, "A Milstein spokesman said in an email that it was yet to be determined if the cinema would reopen with the Talbots in charge."

If it's true that a new cinema will reopen here, it could be a multiplex or, more likely, something like a Nighthawk or Alamo Drafthouse that will attract and cater to a younger, more affluent crowd. But Lincoln Plaza is a bit of old New York--and people like it that way. It's affordable and accessible and it should stay that way.

I started a petition--please sign it and share it.

Lincoln Plaza Cinemas

VANISHING

Terrible news this morning from Deadline: "The Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, a temple of the art house movie scene in New York for 30 years, is at the end of its lease and is scheduled to close in January."


photo: Z-Mation

Co-owner Toby Talbot said "word of the January end date has started to circulate among industry execs and filmmakers, but no notices have been posted alerting customers. She said plans are being made for a formal sendoff on January 21."

Deadline further notes that the Talbots "maintained an old-fashioned zeal for cinema, which governed many of their choices." "We had the luxury of choosing films that we knew were not going to be successful commercially, and we could put them on our screens,” said Toby. “We were able to do what we wanted to do."

Reme Restaurant

VANISHED

Reader Keith Taillon writes in about the recent loss of yet another affordable coffee shop:

"A beloved neighborhood diner in Washington Heights abruptly closed recently, and I don't know why. I visited one week, and walking past a week later, found the space emptied with auction fliers taped to the windows. It remains empty."


photos by Keith Taillon

"The diner was called Reme, and it sat at the northwest corner of 169th and Broadway. It was a classic NYC diner, open for at least 40-50 years, attracting old timers, hospital workers, students, and newcomers (like myself) drawn to the area by low rents and a sense of 'home' you can't find elsewhere in the city anymore. Part of what made Washington Heights home for me was being able to go to Reme, where I knew all of the employees by face if not by name, and where I knew I could get a good hot meal for just a few bucks."



Keith shares a few anecdotes:

"- It was cash-only, and very affordable.
- It attracted a great mix from the neighborhood. Lonely old Dominican men & women sitting alone at the bar, loud multi-generational families spilling across tables in the middle of the room, and doctors & students from NY Presbyterian Hospital all could be found there on a daily basis.
- Sheila was my favorite waitress. She was a short, gruff, and sassy Trinidadian woman who lived in Queens and commuted in almost daily. She was even there during blizzards and immediately after Hurricane Sandy, though god knows how she made it in. She was always ready with her order pad and a 'whattayahavin?' I'll miss her.
- There was an ancient TV above the kitchen prep alcove that was usually tuned to the news or a soap opera, sometimes kids' shows. Next to that was a shelf covered with a menagerie of action figures. I don't know why.
- The breakfast menu, which was used before 11AM, had a long history of the restaurant printed on the back. The details I remember are that it was originally called 'Remel Restaurant' when it opened in the 40s, but that the L fell off at some point. When it was bought by a new owner, he liked the metal lettering, even without the L and decided to just call the place Reme from then on."



He concludes:

"I can't help but think a lot of people in the neighborhood are missing Reme, but Washington Heights lacks the preservationist infrastructure to discuss what's happening or to properly mourn our losses as they pick up speed. Whatever replaces Reme will have to work hard to pry any dollars from my wallet. This is a bitter loss for me."

The Last Love

VANISHING

The last Love store in New York City is closing.


photo & tip from Mimi Fischer: @mimi_yes_and_u

After 35 years, the Love store (discount health and beauty aids) on West 72nd Street will be closing on June 25.

Love was once a local, homegrown chain with 35 locations around the city. In the late 1990s, the bigger Duane Reade bought up a bunch of Loves. New Yorkers were not happy about it. One customer told the Times, ''It's just another megastore thing, and nobody likes it.''

In their goodbye note, prominently displayed in their window, the Love people write: "The climate for small businesses like ours has fallen precipitously. This reality is ever present as you stroll along the streets of a city marked by empty storefronts where thriving independent businesses once stood. Many have or will be replaced by national retail conglomerates or consolidated by 'big box' stores. Small businesses like ours also see customers come into their stores to learn, and then they make their purchase online." (A shonda. And then there's these people.) (But, once, there was Johnny the Love guy.)

As Love says goodbye, they urge you to shop at your local small businesses. While you still can.

Liberty House

VANISHING

Liberty House, at 112th and Broadway, is vanishing after 49 years in business. And it's no ordinary local shop.


photo: Jed Egan, New York magazine

It is the last of its kind, a small chain of New York shops first organized in 1965 by Abbie Hoffman and other civil rights workers in Mississippi to sell goods made by poor women of color, with the profits going back to the original communities, and to support the Civil Rights Movement.

I talked to co-owner Martha who told me the shop will shutter at the end of April. They'll be having a sale until then, from 20% to 50% off.

This time, it's not the rent. "People aren't shopping," Martha said. "They're going online. It's convenient. They tell me, 'I can sit at home and shop in my pajamas.' But people have to shop local or else there won't be any stores anymore."


photo via Liberty House Facebook page

The second-to-last Liberty House shuttered in 2007, also on the Upper West Side. It was a victim of rising rents.

Back then, a customer told the Times, “I don’t know how you stop these people. They’re throwing everyone out right and left, and it’s going to be a neighborhood of Duane Reades and Godiva chocolates. This store should have made it.”

Said one of the shop's partners, “The diversity of people, both incomes and interests, has lessened and we have more of what we used to call upwardly mobile people, who shop online or drive to malls, or get in cabs and go to Barneys.”

At this last Liberty House, Martha asks everyone to go up, buy something, and say goodbye to this piece of New York's history, a shop dedicated to liberation and economic justice--something we need now more than ever. They say farewell on their Facebook page:

Depression Sign

"Depression is a flaw in chemistry, not character," the gold and brown painted sign read. And then it was gone.



On a wall high above the Gray's Papaya at West 72nd and Amsterdam, the sign had greeted commuters, hot dog eaters, shoppers, homeless people, and other assorted New Yorkers since sometime in the 1990s. A few months ago, it was painted over, whitewashed and vanished.

"Through the years it’s clear the sign had become a comfort to people," West Side Rag noted in their report on the whitewashing.



No one knows why the building management decided to wipe it out. And at such a bad time, when so many New Yorkers are feeling the deep blues and could use a little comfort.

Mitchell's Neon Returns

There's good news for the vintage neon Mitchell's Liquors sign on the Upper West Side. After reporting earlier this month that the sign was removed, to be junked, I heard earlier this week that it would be returned.

Stephen wrote in: "I thought you'd appreciate that it appears the neon sign will be returning. They have remodeled both the inside and the facade and there are definitely new holes placed where neon tubes should go. Can't wait to see it completed!"

He sent in the following photo of the new sign in progress:



I also heard from William, who wrote: "I passed Mitchell's Wine and Liquor today and the neon sign seems to be going back up! I saw the letters on the ground and they were drilling new holes in the facade to mount them. I also spoke with the workers who said it was, in fact, being reinstalled."

And behold!

West Side Rag shares the following shot of the new sign--a replica of the old. And Rob writes in, "The new sign is maybe not as elegant, and I haven’t seen it lit, but it sure looks good."