Old-Timers

Partially in response to Spike Lee's recent rant, Jeremiah Moss has a thoughtful essay on the history of gentrification. In it, he recalls the moment when he realized the city "was vanishing at an alarming rate." It was around 2005: "[M]y favorite East Village dive bar suddenly closed after 80 years in business...The delightfully sleazy Times Square Howard Johnson's shuttered, too, with plans for its demolition...More heartbreak. The following year, the Cedar Tavern, Gotham Book Mart, McHale's Bar, the Second Avenue Deli, and CBGBs—all legendary, long-lived spots—all vanished." [JVNY]