NYC The Blog

Curtis Kulig Explains "Love Me"

2011-04-26T07:00:00.008-04:00

Here's video of Curtis Kulig, the artist behind the "Love Me" tag you've likely seen in your travels around New York City, giving a talk at the TedxTeen event held in New York on April 2. "I want to explain to you guys my story," he said, "and I think I'm just going to start from the beginning."

Speaking of his ubiquitous tag, "Whatever it has become," he explained, "it's kind of my everything."

Hear more from Kulig in a recent video profile with Juxtapoz magazine and an interview with Downtown Diaries last month.

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City Seals Off Section Of Rat Zoo

2011-04-22T08:00:00.015-04:00

Collect Pond Park, sitting between Centre Street and Lafayette Street across the street from the New York Criminal Court in Manhattan, is still a haven for rats. But the city has sealed off some broken sidewalk that lies adjacent, preventing the rats from gathering in one of their favorite spots. Now to tackle the 98 other tunnels throughout the park, and the other patch of broken sidewalk a few feet away, near where this photo was taken.

Here's video highlighting the Rat Zoo in Collect Pond Park, filmed last summer at the very spot seen in the photo above.

Previously:

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Public Auction At Farinella's Bakery And Pizza Follows Closing

2011-04-21T07:44:00.002-04:00

Farinella Italian Bakery & Pizzeria, owned and operated by Alberto Cretara, a well known Italian rapper, closed their Worth Street location after two years. Like George Jefferson perhaps, they have moved on up to the Upper East Side, on Lexington Avenue between 78th and 79th Street. Here's video from their opening party for their new UES location, held downtown at the now closed Chinatown Fair. A public auction was held in their Worth Street location yesterday and attracted a crowd of people. Two more photos from the auction below.

Here's more from The New York Times in 2000 on Cretara's role as a rapper in Italy.

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MTA Producing Pleasant Time Lapse Videos Of Sunsets For Unknown Reasons

2011-04-20T07:00:00.020-04:00

In what must be an attempt to divert attention from the reality of your commute in the New York City subway system—in train cars packed with people at their wits end, where rats run amok, meals are being tossed about, elevators and escalators do not work and intoxicated passengers vomit from drinking too much; all while you are bombarded with advertising—the MTA has produced a beautifully pleasant and calming high-definition time lapse video of the sunset over the ~~Triborough Bridge~~ Robert F. Kennedy Bridge on Sunday evening, for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

View more time lapse videos from the MTA on their YouTube channel, youtube.com/mtainfo

Previously:

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Flowers In Full Bloom On Varick Street In West Soho

2011-04-18T07:18:00.000-04:00

Flowers from an unknown artist bloom on the edge of an empty lot on Varick Street in West Soho. Can anyone identify the artist?

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917 Area Code Numbers Available On Google Voice Now

2011-04-16T00:47:00.025-04:00

On the eve of the new 929 area code rolling out in New York City's outer boroughs, a random check of Google Voice revealed nearly 100 "917" area codes available, which are rarely available from any provider. See all the 917 area codes currently available in the photo below, (click through for larger version), and claim your own at Google Voice. But you better hurry... four have been snapped up in the time this post was written.
[UPDATE: All gone!]

If you don't use Google Voice or get there too late, and the thought of getting stuck with any thing less makes you uneasy, you can always look to Ebay and other sites online for a 212 or 917 area code, as The Wall Street Journal pointed out in August of last year.

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NYPD Continues Crackdown On Cyclists, Stops Brooklyn Rider On Sidewalk, Arrests Bystander (Video)

2011-04-15T07:00:00.026-04:00

[UPDATED BELOW] A quiet corner in Brooklyn became the scene of an unfortunate arrest by the NYPD after they stopped a cyclist for riding on the sidewalk, and ended up arresting a vocal bystander.

Video uploaded to YouTube yesterday shows a cyclist on the corner of Claver Place and Putnam Avenue in Brooklyn in the company of an NYPD van, after being stopped for riding his bicycle on the sidewalk, part of the NYPD's sustained crakdown on cyclists. Just this morning, The New York Post reports a woman on the Upper East Side was given a ticket for riding with a tote bag strapped onto her handlebars.

Passersby good naturedly gave the Brooklyn scofflaw hard time. "Riding on the sidewalk, huh?" one asked. "You a grown man," another told him, "you know that's against the law!"

An officer in the van took issue with this particular bystander, telling him to "mind your own business." "I wasn't even talking to you!" the boisterous witness responded. And with that, the officers hopped out of the van and approached, demanding, "give me some I.D.!" "Get your hands out of my face," the bystander responded. "I'm gonna issue you a summons right now," the officer continued. "A summons for what?" the bystander demanded to know. A call for backup is made, and the witness recording the scene remarks "the NYPD is crazy." It was at this time the officer and bystander realized where the situation was headed and decided to apologize to each other and defuse the situation. Just kidding! Actually, the situation went from ridiculous to outrageous.

The officer and his new friend argue back and forth, with the officer making demands, and the man questioning those demands.

"Stay right here." "For what?"

"Give me your ID?" "Why?"

"Stay right here, you're detained now." "Detained for what?"

By this time, two more cruisers arrive and an arrest is being made. "Yo, do me a favor" the cop asks his just arrived colleagues, "put him under." "I got it all on video" the man recording tells those on the street.

Nearly three minutes later, and after the arrest was made, you can, for the first time, hear the officer state his reason for doing so: "Interfering with police business."

Neighbors and family members have gathered around and everyone seems to be confused and upset over what just happened. Amid the growing commotion, the cyclist tells the growing contingent of officers, "I did not do anything. I did not do anything." It's at this time the video ends and there was no more information available. It's unclear if the cyclist did actually receive a ticket, but if he did, he might look foward to an apology. The other guy probably won't be so fortunate.

UPDATE I: The person who recorded the scene, YouTube user JoshuaBamboo, adds more information about the incident in the video's description. The cyclist was a friend who had stopped by to visit.

"He rode up on the sidewalk from the street to our front door. In NYC this is illegal. You are supposed to stop in the street, get off the bike and walk it on the sidewalk. Although he was merely coming from the street up to our front door, those few second were illegal. NYPD rolls up and tickets him for this ($150 fine or appear in court!).

Meanwhile our neighbor walks by while this scene is unfolding. They exchange some banter. We all laughed. He keeps walking.

From there everything escalates... Seems completely unnecessary to me...

At the end of the day, he was charged with harassment, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest."

UPDATE II: From JoshuaBamboo on Twitter, "just met with the family. He was finally released; charges weren't dropped."

For more on the NYPD crackdown on cycling in New York City, visit BikeBlogNYC's excellent reference page, Crackdown 2011, collecting reports and resources from across the five boroughs.

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The MTA's Optimistic Video Report On Construction Of East River Tunnel

2011-04-14T07:00:00.002-04:00

In 1971, the MTA produced a video progress report documenting the excavation and construction of the East River Tunnel at 63rd Street, from March 1970 to June 1971. Work on the two-level tunnel, extending to Queens under the East River and through Roosevelt Island, then called Welfare Island, began on November 25, 1969. The project was budgeted at 69.5 million dollars. "A monumental MTA project," the video informs, "carried out with care and precision. By 1976, it will be in daily use."

After years of delays, the upper level finally opened in 1989, and was dubbed the 'Tunnel to Nowhere' "because all it did," Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney wrote, "was bring passengers one stop into Queens." It ultimately cost nearly 1.5 billion dollars to complete, and the lower level has never been used for train service. That lower level is now being planned to extend all the way to Grand Central Station, at a reported cost of 6.3 billion dollars. Watch the MTA's 1971 "Film Report" on the 63rd Street tunnel project, below.

Related:

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Hells Angels Forever: The Abridged 3rd Street Version

2011-04-13T08:00:00.003-04:00

An abridged version of the early 80s documentary Hells Angels Forever has been uploaded to YouTube, edited down to a 14 minute clip of "most of the footage that was filmed on 3rd [Street]" in front of the Hells Angel club house in the late 70s.

"I lived across the street from the clubhouse for 10 years," wrote the YouTube user who uploaded the clip, "from mid-1970s to mid-1980s. The first guy speaking is Howie Weisbrod, who's apartment was directly across the street from mine. Next guy is Big Vinny Girolamo, who later lost his life in a knife fight with an Oakland Hells Angel, back in 1979."

Don't miss the smartly dressed gentleman shortly after the 7 minute mark. He rightly chastises police officers in front of the club house for fraternizing with Hells Angels members, and then complains to an NYPD "inspector" about the rank and file on-duty officers who are standing on the street smoking in uniform.

Previously:

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Chorus Of Straphangers Perform "Lean On Me" In Lexington Avenue Station

2011-04-12T07:00:00.020-04:00

New York City's subway systems are pretty lively spaces. And they're not always so stressful and crazy, filled with rats and physical violence. Sometime people break out an impromptu song and dance. The video below, wrote the YouTube user who uploaded it, "might just be 'The Feel Good Video of the Year.'" Uploaded last week, it captures a lone subway performer singing Bill Withers' Lean on Me at the Lexington Avenue & 53rd Street station, with what looks like two dozen, teenaged straphangers joining in.

Previously:

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28 People Trapped Inside A Crowded Subway Elevator (Video)

2011-04-11T07:00:00.082-04:00

The 181st Street subway station on the 1 line in Washington Heights—the same station where the roof collapsed in 2009—has no stairs, leaving elevators the only means into and out of the tunnel. This past Friday at 8:35pm, one of those elevators stopped working and trapped 28 people inside. Here's what happened...

On April 8, an elevator inside the 1 line station at 181st Street stopped working with 28 people inside, including an MTA assistant who was operating it. Isabella, a 35-year-old temporary neighborhood resident who didn't want her last name used, was inside when the elevator failed. It's not clear if this elevator was one of new ones reportedly installed at this station in 1999.

The escalators and elevators in New York City's transit system are notorious for being poorly maintained and often broken-down. The Daily News recently reported an elevator nearby at the 191st Street station trapped people five times between October and December of last year. It "may be the worst in the system," they wrote.

It was hot and crazy when the unit at 181st Street failed, Isabella told NYC The Blog in an email, and hard to breathe. One of those trapped was a young girl who had asthma. "She was scared," Isabella wrote, and had a "hysterical attack." The MTA employee present called 911 "several times" but otherwise was just as helpless as the others. Some passed the time with friendly conversation. "What's your favorite song," one asked. Others fanned the young girl to keep help keep her cool.

The FDNY arrived to help extract the trapped commuters about an hour later. "I need the young and the old," a firefighter told the crowd after he opened a hatch on the elevator's roof. Trapped passengers were placed in another elevator and lifted out. Still inside the broken elevator, Isabella panned her camera around as people said hi. At least one said hello to YouTube, a sly acknowledgment that the video would likely end up there.

The MTA's New York City Transit Twitter account told NYC The Blog that "28 customers were released from EL110 and did not request medical." "Repairs were made," they added, "and the machine is being test operated for 24 hours" before being placed back in service for this morning's rush hour commute.

The experience has changed the way Isabella commutes. She will not use that station anymore. "Why are no there stairs in the whole station?" she wondered in her email to NYC The Blog. "Where are the emergency exits? What could happened if the electricity didn't work, how would all the people get out from underground?"

This is to say nothing of disabled persons who need an elevator to enter and exit subway tunnels. For them, arriving at a broken elevator contributes to making the subway system a "very, very scary place."

Back on the street after being rescued, Isabella walked the block home. Did the MTA follow up with her or try to contact her about the incident? "No one asked us our name or anything," she wrote, "so it's impossible that they could contact me!"

Read more:

MTA Admits Subway Escalator Program Is Broken [Fox Five News]
12 trapped in subway elevator for over an hour [New York Post]
$1 Billion Later, New York’s Subway Elevators Still Fail [The New York Times]
Straphangers get shafted by lousy elevator that's been stuck 5 times in three months [Daily News]
MTA Line Managers to Launch Elevator Outage Phone Line [Transportation Access]
181st Street elevators (but no stairs!) [NYPIRG's Straphangers Campaign]
Out of Service Elevators and Escalators [MTA]

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Oxygen Ads Reinforcing Stereotypical Images Of Beauty Get Embellished

2011-04-08T08:00:00.002-04:00

Someone isn't happy with an ad campaign for the Oxygen network reinforcing stereotypical standards of beauty, currently on display in one of connecting tunnels at the 14th Street 8th Avenue L train station.

The advertisements for shows such as "Tori & Dean Storibook Weddings," "World According to Paris," "The Glee Project" and "All About Aubrey" are catching the attention of commuters, but not for the reason Oxygen probably had in mind. Someone has left stickers with sharp, mocking criticisms over the eyes of every women featured in the advertisements.

"I'M THE WHORE, YOU'RE THE JOHN"

"FOCUS ON HOW FABULOUS THE WEDDING IS (NOT HOW LONG IT LASTS)"

"STRIVE FOR THIS"

See more photos on NYC The Blog's Facebook page. Read more about advertisements in subways stations and on trains.

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New Activity At Former Cinema Nolita Storefront

2011-04-07T07:00:00.013-04:00

New plywood is up around the old Cinema Nolita space at 178 Mulberry Street, (formerly of 202 Elizabeth Street), the neighborhood's beloved but short lived video rental store that closed in 2009. Mums the word on l'internets on what's to come.

See what the storefront previously looked like in 2009, via this great photo by by epicharmus on Flickr.

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Street Team Hustles Napoleon Da Legend CD (With Audio)

2011-04-06T08:00:00.017-04:00

Street promoters work the corner of 59th Street and 5th Avenue during the recent cold snap, trying to put the CD of aspiring rap stars into passersby hands. Though you'd think that would be a tough sell on such a corner, the one on the left succeeded in slipping me a CD, The Myth or The Legend, by Washington D.C. based Napoleon Da Legend. Listen to the fourth track on the album, "Ruff Kut (Intermission)," in the player at left.

[Napoleon Da Legend]

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Subway Ratdemic Continues: Large Rat Rides A Train™ (Video)

2011-04-05T07:00:00.007-04:00

A very large rat scurries about an A train recently in New York City

Hey, guess what? Rats on the Train™, again. A commuter recorded video of a very large rat running around an A train.

Seems like just last summer when Zita Allen, at the District Council 37 of American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, was making a fuss about the massive reductions in City employees battling the rodent population—and the resulting increase in rats and other pests sure to follow. And it seems like just last week that amNewYork continued ringing the alarm. In reality, we're all a bunch of slobs, unwitting rat benefactors, which no amount of labor could ever remedy. As Chris Rovzar wrote at Daily Intel, we long ago lost the war when it comes to rats. "We've already seen it all," he lamented. The Rat Zoo they inhabit downtown, the attacks launched against commuters, the committed relationships they have formed with some of us. So this rat nearly as big as a kitten, running around an A train, is just another ho-hum reminder of our crushing defeat.

As if we needed anymore reasons why eating on the subway should be banned.

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The Colorful Lettering Of Bank Iran

2011-04-04T08:00:00.008-04:00

Colorful, hand painted signage marks the door of Bank Iran at 113 Leroy Street in the West Village. According to Boveda.tumblr.com, "Bank Iran includes the studios of Kathryn Lynch, Philippe Arman and Carlos Little and artist in indefinite residence John Furgason, as well as an exhibition space."

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Mexican Mile: A Closer Look At The Taco Trucks Of Bedford Avenue

2011-04-01T07:50:00.007-04:00

Photo credit: atomische/Will Bredderman/NYC The Blog

Is Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn—between Metropolitan Avenue and North 7th Street in the heart of the North part of the neighborhood—becoming a Mexican Mile? Aol's City's Best recently wrote of "the street-taco scene" there when there were only two trucks. Now, a third has joined them on this five-block stretch —an unusual density in any neighborhood. In the following report produced by Yeah New York for NYC The Blog, Will Bredderman takes a closer look at the trucks on "Mexican Mile."

At the corner of Bedford and North 7th is Tacos Morelos, an outpost of the Tacos Morelos restaurant in Jackson Heights. Endless Summer—owned by Jared Eggers—has staked out the block between Metropolitan and North 3rd.

The most recent addition is a pastel green and purple and stainless steel vehicle parked on N. 4th.

It doesn’t take much to see this new vendor is different from its rivals; it sits slightly further away from Bedford, on a quieter street occupied by mostly older houses with chipping paint or asphalt shingles. The truck lacks the faux-grittiness of Endless Summer and the loud signs of Tacos Morelos. The menu is written in marker next to the window, and the whole aesthetic is clean but unpretentious.

Inside is Gerardo, the owner, a pleasant, heavyset man from Chiapas, the southernmost state in Mexico. A chef, Gerardo started his truck nearly a year ago, having previously owned a grocery store near his home in Woodside, Queens. On why he chose to come to Williamsburg, he says, “I came out to see the place, the people seemed nice, so we opened here.”

With tacos going for $2.25 and its quesadillas as low as two bucks a pop, the truck is slightly cheaper than its competition, though Gerardo warns that his prices will rise next month. And unlike the other two food wagons, the truck’s weekday hours are from 11:30am to 8:30pm, and it closes at 10:00pm on Fridays and Saturdays—meaning it doesn’t cater to Bedford’s all-night drunken hipster pageant on the weekends. However, Gerardo hopes to change that.

“I need more help. Maybe we can do it this year. This is my first year, so maybe this year we’ll work more hours.”

He has big plans for his business. It’s why he says he dropped its original name, ‘La Troca del Sabor.’ “We changed it because we’re going to build a corporation,” which will include more locations. “It all depends on if I get the permissions, because getting the permissions isn’t easy.”

Read more by Yeah New York online at yeahnewyork.com

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New York City Outsmarts Skateboarders At Chinatown Banks

2011-03-31T07:00:00.002-04:00

Chatham Square's derelict little park in Chinatown, a sorry excuse for a "park" not really maintained or cared for by the Parks Department, is a favorite of skateboarders and BMX bike riders from Manhattan and beyond. They affectionately refer to it as the Chinatown Banks, due to the multitude of sloped edges built on the exterior of monstrous planters. A few years ago, some enterprising chaps even took to filling a section of rough stones with cement, for a smoother trip. When signs appeared informing skating was not allowed failed to deter anyone, the Parks Department got clever and installed a bench in front of the beloved, cement filled slope, earlier this month. As you can see, this confused the skateboarders. They left moments later.

As skateboarding website Quarter Snack lameneted, "there is pretty much no reason to ever come here again."

Previously:

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New York City: Looking For Recognition On YouTube

2011-03-30T07:00:00.007-04:00

It seems if you record or are featured in a video showcasing outrageous behavior, particular physical violence, an awareness exists, a hope even, that it will be disseminated online. Take these employees at Primavera Pizza & Pasta in midtown. A recent fight that erupted in their pizzeria was hardly over before they all gathered around to relive the action by viewing it on a witnesses camera. One even expressed their desire to see it on YouTube, going so far as to offer a title. "Fighting at Primavera Pizza & Pasta," he suggested, repeating himself for emphasis. "Fighting at Primavera Pizza & Pasta."

In the video below of a wild brawl that broke out in front of Bar None in the East Village on St. Patrick's Day in Manhattan, the videographer starts to speculate about how many views it might rack up on YouTube. At the 5.30 mark he remarks: "I'm pretty sure, I'm pretty sure it's one million views. At least a hundred thousand. I'll be happy with 30 [thousand]." It currently has 240 views.

At the tail end of the video, the man recording even steps out from behind the camera to jubilantly gloat about his surefire path to one million views on YouTube. "I want to be in my own one million views," he explains. Wrapping his arm around a friend, he tells him, "on the count of three, one million views!" The victorious chant is interrupted by someone who objected to being videotaped in the brawl.

As Vibe reported on Monday, sites like World Star Hip Hop have built successful businesses largely on sharing videos like the ones above. World Star is so popular, Vibe wrote, "that 'documentarians' with cell phone cameras sometimes name-drop the site while recording brawls." You need not look farther back than last night on YouTube to see an example of such a name-drop. In this video of a very rough street fight on 149th and 3rd Avenue in the Bronx, the man behind the camera lets it be known the video is going up online. At the 1.35 mark he tells someone, "World Star, Facebook, all that."

Previously:

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Woman Assaulted And Robbed On Subway (Video)

2011-03-28T23:12:00.012-04:00

In video shared today on YouTube, a subway commuter at the Avenue X stop in Brooklyn recorded the tail end of an assault and robbery taking place in the next car over. (On the F train?) Still recording, he left his car and walked toward the scene. An agitated man, possibly the perpetrator, passes him on the platform. "Is that the guy?" he asks someone off camera who confirms, "Yah." The victim, bloodied in the face from the assault, is already on the phone reporting the incident. "The man attacked me, he punched me," she yells into the phone. "He pulled out a knife at me."

Reached by phone, an officer in the 61st Precinct (where the assault might have occurred) explained they could neither confirm nor deny if this incident took place and do not make that information available. NYC The Blog contacted the YouTube user who uploaded the video as well the MTA and will update with any new info received.

Previously:

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Restaurant Owner Arrested For Bribing Health Inspector

2011-03-28T08:15:00.004-04:00

Jacob Isakov, 26-year-old owner of Gan Eden restaurant at 74 West 47th Street, was arrested and charged with bribery last month when he attempted to bribe a Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Inspector according to the Department of Investigation. They alleged an investigator posing as a DOHMH inspector informed Isakov about violations at Gan Eden Restaurant, to which Isakov responded by trying to give him $100 to "look the other way."

The restaurant currently has an A rating with the DOHMH which was handed out in February 2010 and Midtown Lunch is a fan.

More interesting than any of the above: the DOI closes the press release by inviting people to call them at 212.825.5959 with any reports you have of someone "ripping off the City." Glad they asked. Here are two instances I can think off of the top of my head.

Related:

Century Old Mulberry Street Bar Shuttered By Health Department

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Century Old Mulberry Street Bar Shuttered By Health Department

2011-03-26T17:04:00.014-04:00

Mulberry Street's century old Mulberry Street Bar was shuttered by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene on March 22 after receiving 47 violation points, two critical, in a recent inspection. Handwritten signs posted in the window of the establishment claim the order is due to a lapsed permit and a document taped to the window ostensibly supports that claim. But that seems open for debate.

A closer look at the document from December 10, 2010 (which suspiciously appears to have been re-posted) notes the temporary permit will lapse on February 15, and is in regard to a "sidewalk cafe unenclosed." (See photo below.) Further, would the DOHMH be the agency shutting an establishment due to lack of permits, five weeks later? Either way, DOHMH inspection record shows that the restaurant was also inspected on March 1, and therefore open for business post February 15, so the permits must have been in order. In a phone call to the bar inquiring when they expect to re-open, the person who answered the phone said the bar will re-open on Monday. "There was a mix up with the permits," he explained. Gothamist also followed up, and was informed the bar is closed "for renovations."

Related:

Mulberry Street Bar on Facebook
Eighty percent of NYC Restaurants Are Achieving A and B Grades for Food Safety and Sanitary Conditions [DOHMH]
Less than a year since New York debuted its restaurant hygiene letter grading system, the city is planning an upgrade: scannable barcodes that will reveal the specifics of each violation. [GOOD]
Busted: NYC Restaurant Posts Fake Letter Grade [Food Safety News]

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Amazing Display Of 651 Red and White Quilts

2011-03-25T07:00:00.019-04:00

Rendering from Thinc DesignBeginning today at 11am and running until Wednesday, March 30, the Park Avenue Armory is hosting a free exhibit, Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts, coordinated by the American Folk Art Museum. The dramatic “Alice in Wonderland-like" installation will spiral as high as 45 feet into the air, displaying ~~650~~ 651 red and white American textiles on loan from Joanna S. Rose, a private New York collector. No two are alike. At the close of the show, Rose is gifting 50 of the "most beautiful and historically significant quilts" to the American Folk Art Museum, to be selected by their curators. See more photos of the installation in process, below.

(Photos of installation, above, via American Folk Art Museum/Flickr)

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Do You Live on Gentrification Row?

2011-03-24T07:30:00.015-04:00

Gentrification Row runs along Bowery, north from Houston, south down to Chatham Square in Chinatown and all the way to Frank Gehry's Beekman tower on Beekman and Spruce Street. This corridor has yet to suffer the fate of it's northern half, where great affluence has enveloped the neighborhood, but is well on its way. Everywhere you look on Bowery, new luxury buildings are sprouting like tulips in the springtime. South of Houston, gentrification was developing in stages slow enough so that you could see it creep. The New Museum. 257 Bowery. But the completion of Gehry's tower on Beekman Street seems to signal a change. Newly constructed buildings in glass and steel are now arriving in working class Chinatown, signaling a new breakthrough in gentrification's advance down Bowery. The Beekman tower now plays the role of anchor and a beacon for money south of Bowery, just as Avalon on Houston was an anchor and beacon on the northern end. Combined, both developments have created a powerful wind tunnel up and down Bowery and environs that blows money and development around. If you listen on a quiet morning, you can almost hear the money whooshing around. And just as a river wraps around the bend, so too does did the gentrifugal force of gentrification, streaming down streets like Kenmare and Bond, enveloping nearly everything in its path. Do you live on Gentrification Row? (View a larger size map of Gentrification Row on NYC The Blog's Facebook page.)

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Johnny Law Shuts Down Calvin Tran Boutique In Nolita

2011-03-23T07:00:00.018-04:00

The City Marshal has shut down the Calvin Tran boutique at 246 Mulberry Street in Nolitam and the landlord has seized possession. A successful designer, Tran was on Bravo's latest season of The Fashion Show. Racked conducted an exit interview with him after the show's end. The Marshall's notice, dated March 18, is likely due to non-payment of rent. A call to the boutique leads to the voice mail for "Jim Martin."

Previously: Retail Climate a Little Slow in Nolita? Billiards Help Pass The Time

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