Gentrification Crashing on the East River?

Vanishing New York brought my attention to this piece in the Times. It is interesting to consider what will happen to neighborhoods on 'the verge' with the current economic downturn. Locally, I'm particularly interested in how this plays out with the LIC condo boom. We've already seen a number of those new buildings accepting rental tenants when they can't sell units. This has sent some would-be owners scrambling to get out of their agreements before closing.

Long Island City is a fascinating test case of this sort of thing. There is so little residential neighborhood there compared to the number of new developments. It seems every bit the test-bed in engineering a neighborhood. I have no idea what it will all look like if/when these developments fail, but I'm curious to see. Not sure if this bodes terribly well for new establishments like Dutch Kills.

Astoria on the other hand seems relatively culturally intact. While the number of shops that have recently closed on Steinway Street isn't a good sign, this is every bit the pre-existing neighborhood. Already a mish-mash of cultures, Astoria will likely benefit in the long run from the slowing tide of gentrification. Most of the property here is rental property anyway, and the hiccups in redeveloping LIC will slow the hand of those who would like to tear down and redevelop the neighborhood. 

Successful newer establishments like Blackbird's have found a niche and steady local clientele. They've catered very well to the Astoria that actually exists, as opposed to a hypothetical neighborhood that could be.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex in Soho

Last night I attended a party at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex in Soho. It was my first chance to get a look at the space, and I had been looking forward to it. I wasn't disappointed.

The Rock Annex is a much smaller space than the Hall of Fame in Cleveland, but they pack a lot into what they have. Entrance is staggered, so only so many people are walking through a given exhibit at a time. While I haven't seen this at work with large crowds of tourists, it worked really well at last night's party. Everybody had time and space to explore the exhibits without any crowding issues.

The exhibits blend hi-tech, interactive media with memorabilia throughout rock history. Guests wear headphones throughout the Annex, and as they approach an exhibit, the corresponding music tracks begin to play. This lets you wander in any direction you like, making it a big difference from traditional audio tours. My personal favorite example of the blend of interactive media and traditional exhibits is the Jimmy Hendrix section of the Guitar Heroes gallery. Concert footage of Hendrix wailing away at "Purple Haze" plays on a massive screen. As the music fades, the image vanishes to reveal a display case behind the performance. Included in the display, amidst guitar straps and other minutiae, are the original lyrics for "Purple Haze".

New York Rocks is an exhibit close to home. NYC rock history is explored here with the Talking Heads, Blondie, the Ramones, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, John Lennon, and of course, CBGB. That they've replicated as many elements of the club here as they have is fairly impressive. Graffiti and sticker-encrusted walls are preserved under glass. It's a look back at an old New York that would almost feel too sterile, too museum quality, if not for Joey Ramone shouting in your ears. For a split second you're there.

The last exhibit hall currently houses The Clash (the exhibit runs until sometime this Spring). It was remarkably well done. As a Clash fan, it was magic. This is a massive gallery to devote to a single band. I think this is probably the best thing about the Rock Annex. A few times a year, they'll rotate this exhibit, and focus on something new. It gives a reason to return.

Overall, it was a really fun way to spend an evening. There is definitely something there for any rock fan.

35th and 36th Streets in Astoria

Forgotten NY has a nice piece on Astoria, with lots of photos. Definitely worth checking out.

While only briefly covered in the Forgotten NY piece, the Museum of the Moving Image is really a great spot in that neck of Astoria. Once they finish their renovations, I expect it will be a much stronger attraction. 

As is, it really isn't a bad spot to spend an hour or two. Especially if you like vintage arcade games. The museum's collection includes Asteroids (1979), Battlezone (1980), Berzerk (1980), Defender (1980), Donkey Kong (1981), Frogger (1981), Galaxian (1979), Gauntlet (1984), Missile Command (1980), Ms. Pac-Man (1982), Qix (1981), Space Invaders (1978), Super Breakout (1978), and Tron (1982).

Headlines for February 25

As reported in numerous places, New York Water Taxi is adding another Water Taxi Beach this summer. Governors Island will play host to the city's newest fake beach. Harry Hawk and the crew have some fantastic burgers, so it'll be interesting to see what has become a Long Island City staple expand beyond Queens. Between this, the Circle Line Downtown acquisition and the Ikea shuttle, Water Taxi has emerged as a major player on the water.

Eater continues speculation on the rumor that Tishman Speyer is looking to turn the legendary Rainbow Room into more Rockefeller Center office space once Cipriani vacates. I think that would be a big mistake on Tishman's part, especially considering they would have the opportunity to more closely tie a new Rainbow Room to their very successful Top of the Rock Observation Deck.

Ephemeral New York looks back at Soho Zat, a haven for comics, zines, and graffiti artists back in the day. It later became Bomb the System, finally becoming Scrap Yard after 9/11.

Joey in Astoria confirms that the El Rey Del Taco Truck, an Astoria staple, will soon be expanding into a storefront on Steinway St. They're keeping the truck as well.

Condo and Co-Op Crunch

As bad as the economy is, the worst is likely yet to come for those who live in condos and co-ops. Gothamist and Crain's are both reporting on skyrocketing maintenance fees for many Manhattan buildings, citing one Upper East Side co-op whose rates are shooting up 15%.

It is especially fierce in buildings that depend on retail and office rental income for their bottom line. Crain's notes:  "Ground-floor retail leases are major sources of revenue for many residential properties. For instance, such space in a building on Madison Avenue in the East 80s can fetch at least $300 a square foot. Retail rents can bring in millions of dollars, according to Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman's retail leasing and sales division."

With the retail vacancy rate in Manhattan closing in on 18%, the numbers look pretty grim there.

While there are advantages to buying in a depressed economy, condos and co-ops may be a really rough bet. Home-seekers may be better off renting for the time being. Who knows, maybe you can find your very own Greek temple.

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Warren Ellis' Crooked New York City

In his 2007 debut novel, Crooked Little Vein, veteran comic book scribe Warren Ellis spends a good deal of time looking at New Yorkers as a species in the zoo that is modern American subculture. The lead character, private detective and self-described "shit magnet" Michael McGill, is a New York transplant, living and working on the edge of a "pre-Rudy zone" in Alphabet City.

McGill approaches NYC as a challenge, which in some respects puts him at constant odds with elements of the city he now calls home. He lives in New York, but is perhaps more properly a Chicagoan. His outside perspective on New York is well represented by Ellis, himself a Brit. The story plunges him into an absurd to the point of brilliant mystery, where he must track down the "Secret Constitution" of the United States, which has been lost since the Nixon era.

Ellis' New York City is one where any fetish has a place (this is true of other cities as well in the book, especially and most disturbingly Los Angeles, but we're focusing on NYC here). Our shit magnet protagonist follows one of the early leads in his investigation to a private club that specializes in Godzilla bukkake. I don't want to ever know if there is a factual basis for that. I am quite happy to pretend it is purely a product of Ellis' demented mind.

McGill's traveling companion for this cross-country journey is a thesis student, and native New Yorker, named Trix. She's his tour guide into the strange, opening doors to worlds of polyamory, saline-injection fetishists and more. Through these sub-cultures the get closer and closer to the secret constitution. Their rapport bristles with an awkward sexual tension, but is also used to highlight the differences between Trix's New York, and the more mundane parts of the country. 

Travelling in Ohio, Trix is particularly astounded at the presence of American flags outside of people's homes (for the record, I have had a similar moment travelling in Ohio). Mike is dismissive of her surprise on account of her being a New Yorker. Mike's response shows how he still perceives NYC as an outsider:

"People in New York are either New Yorkers, or they're Spanish, or Italian, or Irish, or  whatever. Who the hell moves to Williamsburg and says, Hey, I'm an American? Hell, even after 9/11, if you wanted to tell someone they were being a good guy, people were saying, 'You're a hell of a New Yorker, buddy.'"

There is something to that. Something which New Yorkers take pride in and many others  (particularly in Middle America) scorn. We frequently see our city as the center of our world,  and have, as John Updike famously said, a “secret belief that people living anywhere else had to 

be, in some sense, kidding.” Something that separates us from Sarah Palin's 'pro-America parts of America.' The 'Main St vs Wall St' line which echoed throughout last year's presidential campaign which only seemed to further illustrate the ontological differences between NYC and the rest of the country.

What is it about this city that inspires us to act that way?

This question isn't the focus of Ellis' novel, so he doesn't set out to answer it on a  specifically local level. But it, among others, is posed, sometimes literally and sometimes between the lines. The tension between normal, straight, vanilla America and the crooked social preferences of New Yorkers is embodied by the tension between Mike and Trix. Geographic and social boundaries are both examined in their journey. The lines between normal and abnormal are drawn, crossed, erased and redrawn throughout the novel, as Ellis pokes at the absurdity beneath the puritan hang-ups that still linger in American society.

Crooked Little Vein is an excellent first foray into prose fiction for Ellis. A worthy successor to his Transmetroplitan, one of the finest comic series I've ever had the opportunity to read.