When I read about DeRobertis closing in Jeremiah’s Vanishing NY in November of last year, I somehow was not surprised. Not because I’m a jinx and I took pics of the interior in May of that year, although – I wouldn’t recommend you letting me take pics of your new home, your wedding or newborn. It’s not because I’ve lived this never-ending Twilight Zone episode of loss in my life that I have seemed to conveniently document through photography – it’s just inevitable.
May 2014 © Frank H. Jump
May 2014 © Frank H. Jump
May 2014 © Frank H. Jump
May 2014 © Frank H. Jump
May 2014 © Frank H. Jump
I frequently pass Richard Yee’s ghost that still lays fallow on Avenue U and think when will this be replaced by at best, a local grocer and at worst, another Rite-Aid. We can use another good Chinese restaurant but that would be wishful thinking.
© Frank H. Jump
And in light of the many closings of businesses that seem to be staples and undying institutions, you have to ask yourself- “What is next?”
© Frank H. Jump
© Frank H. Jump
Frank Jump in front of my friend David’s Rebel Rebel Records on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. © Frank H. Jump
Many stores we frequent in Queens like Rudy’s Cafe in Ridgewood – and in Brooklyn like Three Guys on 65th Street where we buy our fresh produce – are small businesses whose doors remain open because faithful neighborhood consumers keep them alive. If you like a business in your neighborhood and want them to remain there, shop there. That’s why we buy all of our milk and ice-cream and pastries at Lords Bakery at Flatbush Junction, because I don’t want to see them have to close their doors. With the rising rents and pressure from mega-stores popping up almost everywhere and never-ending changing trends – the fate of the small business almost seems inevitable. Even in places that don’t seem to be in flux.
CLICK FOR SAVE NYC PAGE
It is time to take action and to demand action from our city government. Save New York! Join the Save New York Facebook page to start organizing with other New Yorkers today. Use the hashtag #SaveNYC when you tweet.
Thank you,
Jeremiah Moss
Vanishing New York
I’m so glad that this initiative exists and seems to be gaining traction! I grew up in Brooklyn but haven’t lived there for over 15 years, I don’t even feel bad about it anymore because I’ve come to accept that it wouldn’t be feasible. But, when I do home, it’s heartbreaking to see so many of my old favorite businesses gone — more and more, it’s like I’m visiting a new city, not one I’ve known for years.
Hey ! Thanks for stopping by. How are things out in Cincinnati? Give my buddy Tod Swormstedt a shout out for me. I hear some great things are happening along the riverfront. Now about NYC, yes it is sad to see the town become overwhelmed by corporate bland glaze. It started with 42nd Street and then the “Harlem revitalization” which ruined the old jazz feel of 125th street. Benettons and Gaps now where old dives were where you could hear Wurlitzer organ jazz live and hear stories about the “renaissance” from old timers. Oh well. Change happens and we need to preserve what we want to stay.
There are some big things happening in Cincinnati — riverfront development [which looks like the projects to me], streetcar [super-short route that doesn’t seem very useful], rehabbing and condo-izing historic buildings, etc. It all has the result of pricing us out of the neighborhood we’d lived in for almost 9 years — see, the changes you notice in NYC are happening all over in only slightly different ways.
We’re moving to Indianapolis TOMORROW. It’s where my SO is from and where we met 14 years ago. We bought our first house in a sort-of-near-downtown neighborhood — the mortgage is less than 1/2 of the rent we’ve been paying in our very-near-downtown neighborhood in Cincinnati. But the American Sign Museum will always be close to my heart!
I just read that the Toys’R’Us in Times Square is getting priced out. It’s bananas!