Do You Live on Gentrification Row?

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.)

Related:

• The Final Hours Of Chinatown Fair, The Last Arcade In Chinatown
• Chatham Square's Contribution To Gentrification Row Nears Completion
• Kenny Scharf Restores Bowery Mural; Flirts With Bystanders
• T-Bone Grocery Store On Mott St Gets Boarded Up
• Visiting St. Patrick's Old Cathedral School
  
• The Hidden Graffiti Of Chinatown
  

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Boston Deluxe Employee Takes It To The Street; Demands Salary

A presumed employee of the Boston Deluxe bus service—a one line shuttle transporting riders between Manhattan and Boston—is alleging the company has unfairly withheld salary, among other complaints. How do we know that? Because as residents of Chinatown are wont to do, this individual took it to the streets. Completely covering a minivan with fliers that detail a litany of complaints in English and Chinese, the individual parked the vehicle on a busy stretch of Bowery near the Manhattan Bridge. The area is busy with stops by competing lines.

UPDATED: 2 Cooper Square Has Tenants?

A women ready to assist residents in a newly opened lobby of 2 Cooper Square on the east 4th Street side

2 Cooper Square, one of Bowery's most watched residential development, has been the topic du jour for bloggers in the East Village and environs for years, with Lockart Steele's Curbed.com excitedly covering it's development and construction. Everyone seemed to be waiting for the first tenants imminent arrival. So imagine my surprise when the woman at the front desk of Cooper's finished lobby confirmed some apartments are already occupied, as of "a couple of months ago."

Marc Ecko And Shepard Fairey Together On Houston Street

Marc Ecko took to Houston Street last night (or rather, a digital projectionist did on behalf of an ad agency) to illuminate the street with a digital billboard. The digital display advertised Ecko's Cut & Sew line, "for those who want to start dressing a little more seriously but still maintain their youthful edge."

Related:
Microsoft Zune projected their own advertisement above the Shepard Fairey advertisement
Guerilla Remy Martin advertising above Keith Harring Mural on Houston and Bowery

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Not To Be Outdone By Shepard Fairey's Deitch Wall, Building On Broome And Bowery Covers Up In Plywood

342 Broome Street, (or 150 Bowery as others report) seen above on the NW corner of Broome and Bowery, was partially hidden behind a plywood exterior yesterday. The building has been empty and available for what seems like years; a peek behind the wall and inside windows showed some ancient demolition, but no new clues as to what my be going on.

Maybe the building owner liked the looked of Shepard's Fairey mural down the way, which was recently covered midway in plywood after having been heavily damaged? Either way, this wall is definitely inviting its own penis. Your move, penistrator.

UPDATE: There is a demo crew on site this morning doing a "full gut renovation."
UPDATE: Plans are for a restaurant. Bowery Boogie has more. Eater reported in March that "the owners of sleek Williamsburg Japanese restaurant Zenkichi just signed at lease at 150 Bowery, right by Broome."

Related: For comprehensive coverage on the radical changes taking place on the Bowery, see Bowery Boogie, EV Grieve, and Curbed. 

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Paul Richard On Bowery

Untitled 2009Metal - Metal, Paint Stickers and Mixed Media 28 x 14 1/2 x 17 inches estimate $230,000.00

Previously...

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Things People Do In New Luxury Apartments: Fist Pump; Flash Your Vagina; Take Your Shirt Off; Smoosh Your Boobs Against The Glass; Give A Middle Finger; Be A Matador

What do you do after you purchase a new luxury apartment at the Ian Schrager designed 40 Bond, where units sold for anywhere from 2.5 million to 15 million dollars or more? You have a huge party on Sunday afternoon, that's what. You and you're guests fist pump, flash passersby your chest and crotch, play loud music out your open windows, pretend you are a matador, flip people off. Basically, you do whatever the hell you want to.

And if it's your apartment, as the gentleman in the photo above claimed, you run outside to entertain you're guests streetside, pretending your are a matador and whipping your shirt off. You just paid well over 2.5 million dollars for your apartment. You have arrived. It's Kool and the Gang time!

NSFW photos after the jump!

Shepard Fairey Mural Vandalised Yet Again; Receives An Exceptional Amount Of Damage

Sometime early today, the Shepard Fairey mural on Houston Street was vandalized yet again when someone kicked 11 new holes into the wall's structure which holds the mural. [UPDATE: Later that day/night, four new holes were added, bringing the total to 15.] Behind which the Os Gêmeos still exists. You can see it's bright colors shining through the holes in Shepard's mural.

This is at least the fourth time the mural has been vandalised with puncture wounds. It was only late last week that it four other holes were patched up. Is this the work of a serial vandaliser with a steel toe shoe, returning time and again to express his displeasure? All this destruction and repair is growing tiresome for some.

Bucky Turco of ANIMAL explained after last week's case of vandalism: "At this point, unless someone lights it on fire, I really don’t care what happens to Shepard Fairey’s mural..."

That hasn't happened yet, but it seems like the mural is in danger of being overwhelmed, and it's beginning to look like Shepard, in spite of his earlier claims to repair any damage the mural might incur,  is moving on.

See large photos of the damaged mural on NYC The Blog's facebook photo album page here.

Shepard Fairey Not Interested In Bringing Back Keith Haring Mural

Shepard Fairey's muraltisement on Houston Street faces frequent defacement, and it seemed the Fairey team had given up on removing all instances that. The recent call to "Bring Back The Haring" however, was quickly blacked out. It's a moot point anyways, the Haring mural was painted over last year, but the sentiment is understood.

The truth is, Shepard's mural, succumbing to the vagaries of the street and tarnished with various acts of graffiti and vandalism, looks more historic and pleasing than it ever did prior. It is almost iconic, becoming some kind of visual representation of the struggles of a different kind happening all around it on the Bowery. 

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New Turning Lane For Cyclists Introduced On Bowery At Prince Street

The New York City DOT recently finished a new turn lane for cyclists turning west onto Prince from Bowery. The lane provides riders a path on the right side of traffic turning west, allowing bikes a safe route for their own west turn. Previous, it was normal for cyclists to migrate to the left lane of traffic on Bowery before continuing west onto Prince, a not entirely safe situation for anyone, particularly with barely any median to speak of and other lanes of traffic traveling southbound on Bowery, as Cyclosity pointed out.

Below, see a helpful primer with photographs displaying incorrect and correct use of the new turn lane. Because otherwise all your friends from the Netherlands will laugh at you for not knowing how to cycle properly.

Avalon Bowery Place For Only $7,495 A Month

From left to right, the floorplans above feature one and two bedroom units available at Avalon Bowery Place, the new luxury buildings erected on the east corners of Bowery and Houston. It is there you will find:

"...Manhattan living—the way you always dreamt it would be. Set on the famed Bowery, this luxury rental residence puts you in the center of an all-encompassing lifestyle."

And how much will this "Manhattan living" set you back? According to the most recent listings, $3,500 a month for a one bedroom, and $7,495 for a two bedroom. But it's worth it; Zipcars are kept on the premises, and there is also a billiard room.

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NYC The Blog Presents A Sneak Preview Of "Dirty Old Town"

"I can't even get laid with a fist full of bananas in a monkey whore house."

Dirty Old Town is a stunning film shot on the Bowery starring William Leroy, Nicholas De Cegli, Scott Dillin, Ashely Graham and Janell Shirtcliff.

Leroy you might recall is better known as Billy, from Billy's Antiques & Props, one of the very few remaining businesses on Houston retaining vestiges of the Bowery of yesteryear. The store is facing it's own pressures to conform to new norms, or GTFO.

The film's website observes:

Facing extinction, [Leroy's] ramshackle tent of antiquities lures a troop of misfits, freaks and renegades who form a tableaux vivant full of carnival pageantry, white lies and victimless crime in a fleeting glimpse of Downtown New York.

Plans are in place to premiere the film in mid-June. Watch a sneak peek below...

Deitch Wall On Houston And Bowery Prepped For Lazy And Uninspired Art Of Shepard Fairey

Workers were seen prepping the Deitch Wall on the corner of Houston and Bowery on Sunday afternoon, getting it ready for the uninspired and lazy artwork of Shepard Fairey, who will be using the wall as his canvas in promotion of his show at Deitch Gallery in May. Fairey might be best known for creating work that is often shown to be copies of other artists' images.

The smooth white wall seen above is newly constructed, and surrounds and preserves the original stone Deitch Wall behind it. That wall recently displayed the brightly colored and elaborate mural of Brazilian twins Os Gêmeos, work which still exists hidden behind, accessible by a door.

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Corner of Grand And Bowery Gets It's Very Own Halal Food Cart

Last night at 10pm, two gentleman were nudging their Halal food cart into place on the corner of Grand and Bowery, for the very first time. Having never before eaten food from a food cart, I bit the bullet last night and ordered the first item this food cart has ever sold on this spot; a falafel sandwich for $5 that was good. Not bad, not excellent.

The proprietor informed me he moved his cart here after having a rough day with the police in Queens where he was previously, receiving four tickets for undisclosed violations, and being told to "Move here, no you can't be here, move there..." He seemed to think the corner of Grand and Bowery is as good as any.

As he set up his cart, he had a tape measure out and was responsibly measuring the distance from his cart to the bank at the other edge of the sidewalk, a nearby fire hydrant, and the corner. He was at a legally acceptable distance from all. With a lack of Halal food carts in this area, he might have a niche here, and certainly won't need to worry about turf wars.

Capturing The Scents Of The City, One Bottle Of Perfume At A Time

Bond No. 9 has created a perfume line in homage to nyc, with the ambitious task of creating separate scents for the many disparate neighborhoods in our great city, as well as scents for the Hamptons and Fire Island. And in this universe, only Manhattan exists. Sorry Brooklyn, in spite of what your guide book says. The photo to the right shows an advertisement in last weeks NY Times for The Scent of Peace, which is part of the Midtown collection, for reasons that are unclear. There are a total of 33 scents listed on their site, and though I have never sniffed any of them, I imagine they all smell like perfume.

Browsing through the selection, there are scents which attempt to capture the essence and smells, apparently, of a number of neighborhoods that one might not really want to smell in a bottle. Chinatown for one. Thoughts and smells of Chinatown have never preceded a daydream sequence whereas I imagine spraying it's scents all over me, but I'm not really a cologne wearer anyways.

Wall St.? What does Wall St. smell like? Cocaine? It used to smell like money I imagine, but now...it might smell more like burning money. I could see how that scent, with a touch of fruity accents, and just the right amount of some special sauce, could be a pleasant smell. For 14 year olds and men who spend much of their free time at bars.

Or how about Nouveau Bowery? Not the Bowery, which Bond No. 9 evidently determined to be to downmarket and smelly for even this line of perfumes, but Noveau Bowery, "The sweet scent of skid row transitioning to ultra-modernity." Ahh yes...That smells so good. Calgon, take me away.

And then we have Riverside Drive. It's not a road or bikepath I frequent, and I wonder how good the Hudson smells, along side a highway of speeding cars. But Bond No. 9 has captured that one of kind smell, and put in a bottle.

If any of these seem appealing, it would be the scents capturing our beaches at Coney Island, Fire Island, and the Hamptons. A cool breeze, lemonade, the bright sun, that is a scent I would like to wear.