“To Everything There Is A Season . . . "
Reader alert: please don’t be disappointed that this Ecclesiastes/Pete Seeger reference is not about fall and the change in the weather, but rather about what’s missing in my beloved New York City.
See, here’s my favorite Chrysler building. I love its mythology. The 1928 shiny art-deco-period edifice once had apartments, a car showroom, a private club, and a water bottling plant inside. And the spire itself was assembled inside the building and then hoisted up and hooked on in less than two hours. The spire itself is over 1000 feet while the building is about 900 feet tall. It’s my favorite view. If it goes, my NYC is a goner. But other little treasures are gone.
What I am trying to tell myself is that to everything there is a season--birth, life, death. Get over yourself, Glenne. Be a bit more savvy. Change is inevitable. Like my hair turning grey. I am feeling the losses, though, in my city. A few pictures and a “why I loved a particular site” should suffice for you to understand why I am melancholy.
Carnegie Deli is closing on New Year’s Eve after 79 years. Although the Levines own the building, they lost the rental space next door, a bad divorce with alleged embezzlement, a gas line problem, etc., etc., etc.
What I am trying to tell myself is that to everything there is a season--birth, life, death. Get over yourself, Glenne. Be a bit more savvy. Change is inevitable. Like my hair turning grey. I am feeling the losses, though, in my city. A few pictures and a “why I loved a particular site” should suffice for you to understand why I am melancholy.
Yes, it is a touristy kind of place but maybe once a year I would visit for a four-inch- high BLT that could last for at least two meals. It is a landmark less than a half block from our timeshare building. I liked knowing it was there! Oh, according to their marketing the best cheese cake in NYC and shipped anywhere!
Big Nick’s! (YES, this is an over-sized picture but I wanted you to see the poignant sign.) This “we are open 24-hours” dive was two blocks from daughter Mary’s apartment. Great breakfasts, pizzas, burgers, and Cobb salads. Probably ate there twice a week when I was in the city. One of Nick’s waiters who knew me as “Mary’s mama come to town” told me that Nick’s rent hike was $200,000 per year. I guess Nick did have to close! Fifty years of business. Losing this iconic local joint broke my heart. I was in the city when it closed on July 28, 2013.
FAO Schwarz for about 150 years was the landmark spot for children and their parents (and grandparents) and anyone who wanted to visit a behemoth toy store. We have Barbie dolls and party supplies from there, but more often we just wandered around looking at everything any child could ever want.
Mary did want that electric MB convertible when she was about four years old. She did not, however, get it! Thank you, I say ironically, to Toys ‘R’ Us who had purchased the store, then opened a flagship store of their own in Times Square (which is – ironically – now closed). Toys ‘R’ Us said Schwarz’s rent was too high. It probably was, but this 2015 closing was not a happy one!
The Four Seasons in the midtown Seagram’s Building closed in July. This was the power lunch spot. I only went there once, but the Hermes ties and Savile Row suits and BIG gold bracelets and Birkin bags were evident. Deals, BIG deals, were made in this dining room with its indoor pool.
The Four Seasons in the midtown Seagram’s Building closed in July. This was the power lunch spot. I only went there once, but the Hermes ties and Savile Row suits and BIG gold bracelets and Birkin bags were evident. Deals, BIG deals, were made in this dining room with its indoor pool.
But their lease was up and the owners, according to a Bloomberg report, want to open a trendier spot. Where will the powerbrokers of NYC be found now?
It really had an “I’ve got the world on a string” vibe of a club for the discreet movers and shakers. I felt out-classed (certainly my wallet did), but I am glad I went once.
I tried to select one more closed icon to make this a list of five. I just couldn’t decide. So – here is a list of other places I really, really miss.
Fishs Eddy – if you never went to this discount store on the upper west side you missed great shopping. It was a mishmash of vintage dishes and cutlery from ocean liners, closed restaurants and hotels and clubs. Starting at a $1 each, I often did my Christmas shopping there. We use daily some of the eight green soup bowls (match nothing else in our cupboard) that I bought there.
I tried to select one more closed icon to make this a list of five. I just couldn’t decide. So – here is a list of other places I really, really miss.
Tower Records--gone, not forgotten. Spent many an hour browsing. Big, big Barnes & Noble on the upper west side near the AMC theatre (13 screens) closed, too. It had a great coffee shop in the magazine department (maybe not a smart idea – buy a $3 cup of coffee and read a half dozen magazines for free?!) and it stayed open until 2 a.m. A great place to linger after a movie. Rent was the reason it closed its doors here. The store had 60,000 sq. ft. and the rent was upped to $300/sq.ft. [60 x 3 = 180! You put the zeroes on.]
And this fall, a new season in the city, without some of my favorite spots makes me sad. I will find new treasures in NYC. I’ll let you know when I do. It’s 3 o’clock and I have not had lunch. I wish I could have a spinach omelet from Nick’s while I read the gossip on Page 6 of the New York Post. Oh, well!
And this fall, a new season in the city, without some of my favorite spots makes me sad. I will find new treasures in NYC. I’ll let you know when I do. It’s 3 o’clock and I have not had lunch. I wish I could have a spinach omelet from Nick’s while I read the gossip on Page 6 of the New York Post. Oh, well!
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