{"id":69413,"date":"2014-04-08T10:58:35","date_gmt":"2014-04-08T14:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=69413"},"modified":"2014-04-09T15:54:14","modified_gmt":"2014-04-09T19:54:14","slug":"the-disappearing-face-of-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/08\/the-disappearing-face-of-new-york\/","title":{"rendered":"The Disappearing Face of New York"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"optimo-cigars\"<\/a>

What was once Optimo Cigars is now a boutique cupcake shoppe. Photo: James and Karla Murray, via Facebook<\/p><\/div>\n

Smithsonian Magazine<\/em><\/a>, Beautiful Decay<\/em><\/a>, and others have recently featured photographs from Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York<\/a><\/em>, published in 2008 by James and Karla Murray. In 2004, the couple \u201cbegan a project to capture New York City\u2019s iconic storefronts\u2014the city\u2019s unique, mom-and-pop restaurants, shops, and bars\u2014before they disappeared.\u201d Now, ten years later, they\u2019ve revisited the storefronts to find that most of shops have, in fact, disappeared:<\/p>\n

\"lenox-lounge\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Many traditional “mom and pop”\u00a0neighborhood storefronts that had prevailed in some cases for over a century were disappearing in the face of modernization and conformity, and the once unique appearance and character of New York’s colorful streets were suffering in the process \u2026 We noticed very early on while photographing the original stores that if the owner did not own the entire building, their business was already in jeopardy of closing. The owners themselves frequently acknowledged that they were at the mercy of their landlords and the ever-increasing rents they charged \u2026 When the original\u00a02nd Avenue Deli location in the East Village closed in 2006 after the rent was increased from $24,000 a month to $33,000 a month, and a Chase Bank took over the space, we knew the contrast of before and after was severe.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

More of the photos can be seen on James and Karla\u2019s Facebook page<\/a>. They\u2019re especially sobering given the sad fate of Rizzoli Bookstore<\/a>, which will shutter its beautiful, historic Fifty-Seventh Street location on April 11.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Smithsonian Magazine, Beautiful Decay, and others have recently featured photographs from Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York, published in 2008 by James and Karla Murray. In 2004, the couple \u201cbegan a project to capture New York City\u2019s iconic storefronts\u2014the city\u2019s unique, mom-and-pop restaurants, shops, and bars\u2014before they disappeared.\u201d Now, ten years later, they\u2019ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2384],"tags":[6699,13476,4027,125,1179,12651,13475],"class_list":["post-69413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-look","tag-gentrification","tag-james-and-karla-murray","tag-manhattan","tag-new-york-city","tag-real-estate","tag-rizzoli-bookstore","tag-storefronts"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Disappearing Face of New York by Dan Piepenbring<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"April 8, 2014 \u2013 Smithsonian Magazine, Beautiful Decay, and others have recently featured photographs from Store 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