I was reading The L Magazine, a nifty little giveaway weekly, on the N train. (Someone is spending a serious amount of time editing it.) Something in the magazine reminded me of 'zines in the 1990s, and how I wanted to start one when I lived in Minneapolis and spent an inordinate amount of time in coffee shops, in between my five part-time jobs, and how now I sort of have one.
I didn't go to any art shows today because I went to hear a band instead. They are known as Felix Unger for reasons unknown to me, and they played their second show ever today at Cake Shop (152 Ludlow Street). Because I don't wander around the Lower East Side as much as I'd like, I decided to check out all the food places that I've read about on one of my favorite blogs, The Girl Who Ate Everything. I went to BabyCakes, Tiny’s Giant Sandwich Shop, and Sugar Sweet Sunshine (I had the Ooey Gooey - chocolate cake with chocolate almond buttercream). What a cute area - I am sure it will morph into a mall (yes kids, here I go again). I have to admit that this excursion was more fun than some of the art shows I've been going to, but maybe my luck will change.
(And a sidenote: What is the story with 190 Bowery? A gorgeous 1900 building on the corner of Spring Street that looks completely derelict. How could this be? Why has Vornado not turned it into a mall?)
In the meantime, I might try to emulate the spirit of 'zines, though I could use the help of Minnesota's own Dunn Brothers!
(Another sidenote: I just read the History page on the Dunn Brothers Web site. Apparently the founder chose the Twin Cities area because it has "a large coffee drinking population and a prolonged hot coffee drinking season." Hmmm. Minnesota = cold, coffee = hot. See, this is the kind of reductive business model that even I can understand.)
4 comments:
Cool blog. I agree about 190 Bowery. Been wondering about it for years..
I am such a doofus! I fiddled around with the settings, but I didn’t realize that I had to “approve” comments before they appeared, so they’ve been sitting there for a few days. Anyway, hi everybody! (Crickets chirp.)
190 Bowery is an old bank building that is occupied by famed photographer Jay Maisel. He lives up top and has his gallery, offices and studio in the rest. He keeps his archives in the vault. It is immaculately restored on the inside, you would never know from the street.
That’s incredible, thank you for the information. It truly looks abandoned from the outside – makes me wonder where he enters the building, given that the main entrance looks like it hasn’t been used as such in a couple of decades.
Now I have to go research Jay Maisel.
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