NYC Spotlight: La Sirena.

I tend to gush about independent shops in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn, and La Sirena (which means "the mermaid") is certainly a note-worthy gem in that category. This past Xmas, I spent some time amid the shop's colorful, ceiling-high clutter looking for little gifts for family and friends. I ended up purchasing a Day of the Dead matchbook, hand-made ornament, miniature angel figure, skull-woman magnet, and a luchador figure... because honestly, what is Xmas without a little rubber Mexican wrestler?

The shop sells Mexican folk art that really runs the gamut: from tiny trinkets to printed shirts to funky jewelry to artful collector's items. I love all of the Catholic iconography and pendants, especially when combined with images of skulls and flowers, and portrayed with glitter in absurdly bright colors. The owner, Dina Leor, is also sweet and helpful (she even gave me a free calendar). But the best part about the store (other than its killer kitsch factor) is that many of the crafts are handmade from Mexican artisans, which reflects "the beauty and richness of the country of Mexico and the people who live there." As it says on their website:

The store is filled with arts and crafts from all over Mexico, from museum quality pieces to traditional marketplace merchandise and in all price ranges. Much of the work is crafted by families whose traditions have been handed down from generation to generation. Families whose lives, in and of themselves, are living art. The pieces are bought directly from the artists, whenever possible. This is very important because it ensures that the artist fully profits and the traditions live on.

It really doesn't get much more authentic than that. Next time you need a quick gift or find yourself in the mood for browsing, stop by this little space. I guarantee you'll see some things you've never seen before, and you'll probably acquire a sudden need for a tiny Mexican wrestler of your very own.

-a.d.

NYC Spotlight: Third Rail Coffee.

Like many cities, New York is filled with places to get fresh coffee without having to rely on *groan* Starbucks or D'D. In fact, it really bothers me when people purposely seek out a chain store for coffee rather than pay a teensy bit extra to support local business (and probably drink better coffee!). I am far from a connoisseur and don't even drink coffee every day, but I like what I like and luckily what I like is just a stone's throw from my apartment (NYC is all about location!). 

Third Rail Coffee opened a couple years ago and it makes me feel like I live in an actual neighborhood rather than a tourist/drunken frat-kid trap. The guys and gals who work here are cool and down-to-earth, carrying none of the pretension one might expect from a coffee shop near the West Village. This place feels more like a community than a mere cafe, and these dudes are totally my people! They play great music, eagerly stamp your card with a star (9 drinks and the 10th is free) and are just really passionate about the art of caffeine. One of their baristas, Mike Jones, actually placed 2nd in the Northeast Regional Barista Competition. And recently, after my klutzy self spilled an entire iced tea on their floor (I probably buy iced tea more than coffee, actually), not only did they clean it up, but poured me another one (for free) and assured me I shouldn't be embarrassed.

While Third Rail is a bit too tiny for staying and chatting or staying and writing (though many do), Washington Square Park is a block away and, on nicer days, the perfect spot to sip whatever you've got. They serve a wide range of coffees, with fancy shmancy ones like Americana and Kilamanjaro (I always save my free-drink ticket for those!) and they use slow-drip Chemex coffeemakers, which are simple and elegant. They even have liquid sugar (both brown and regular!) for cold drinks. Then of course there's the selection of scones, muffins (pumpkin apple walnut for the win), croissants, etc. 

Cooler than even the ever-changing blackboard out front and the staff in general is the art that adorns its walls. Changing every few months (at least to my observation), the art adds to the overall ambiance. On the walls most recently is Ashley Gilbertson's contemporary exhibit of photographs from Occupy Wall Street in NYC. Maybe it's the Gilded frames or the sepia and black-and-white tones, but I originally thought the photos were from protests of the '60s. Very inspiring!

Third Rail Coffee

240 Sullivan Street

New York, NY 10012

-a.d. [photo of blackboard by me, photos from OWS by Ashley Gilbertson]

NYC Spotlight: The Bowery.

Recently, a former student asked me for some help. Now a second-year architecture student, she was "designing a library in the Bowery area for class and wanted to make the content of the library music." She was wondering if I "knew anything about how the punk rock culture affected the Bowery and the neighborhood" as well as "its effects today and the mark it left in society." Naturally, I was flattered that she considered me some kind of expert on this topic. Below I share my rambling message, with some minor rewordings!

   For starters, I recommend watching Captured (a documentary about Clayton Patterson), which details the chaotic history of the LES and the Bowery through the literal lens of its most important historian. In fact, I recommend just looking at pictures Clayton has taken, as well as this fantastic interview. Other pictures you should look at include those by Marcia Resnick (who happens to be good friends with my good friend's dad) and Jenny Lens. Both really capture the essence and aesthetic of the era and some of its major players.

Luckily I got to see one show at CBGB's (though certainly the place was already past its prime). I don't know if you know this, but CBGB's had "famous" bathrooms because of their extensive graffiti and stickering. Pretty much any good punkish venue should have heavily stickered bathrooms. Just think of all the things people do in bathrooms...cocaine and sex galore! I don't know if that factors in design-wise, and I'm afraid I can't say I know anything about how punk culture affected architectural design, but interior-wise, keep it gritty and dark. Not a lot of windows.

Have you seen all the mosaics around the East Village -- on streetlamps and such? Those were done by Jim Powers. They came after the whole punk thing, but I feel like they're a decent representation of the spirit of punk and were perhaps influenced by it. Jim took matters into his own hands and created public art that tied the community together, even though gluing tiles to lampposts was a rather dangerous endeavor when you consider how crime-ridden the area was. I think the culture of punk was very tight-nit in a similar fashion: lots of little pieces glued together, lots of colors, and most of it very "street" since there was not a lot of money going around. Punks all made use of what already existed, for the most part, like warehouses and basements and the sidewalk, and remember too that some of them were squatting in Tompkin's Square and abandoned buildings. Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe actually lived in the Chelsea Hotel .

I think the punk rock culture attracted people -- musicians, filmmakers, artists, and people who just loved those things and wanted to live an unconventional lifestyle in contrast to societal expectation -- to the area, and eventually this led to independent businesses that catered to such things: little bookstores, record stores, video stores, etc. I worked at Kim's Video for a year, when it was a three-level store on St. Marks (now it's a one-level store on 1st Ave) and though that originally opened (on Ave A) in 1987, I feel like even that store was, in some way, influenced by the neighborhood's history....the idea of selling vinyl, carrying zines, selling burned DVDs illegally (ha!), and renting out old videos on VHS. The neighborhood is extremely different from what it once was and gentrification is partially (or mostly?) to blame, but inklings of that era remain.

I guess I bring up Kim's Video because it appealed to people who still wanted to listen to music on record and watch a movie on VHS (and there were lots of 'em), which were around during the punk movement. Things back then were physical and bulky (as opposed to digital and invisible) and not as easily obtained or as functional as they are today. People listened to music in groups; there were no ipods or even walkmans. So everything had this communal vibe, particularly when you consider gutter-punks who often squatted together and watched each other's backs. I think all the gutter-punks you see now (around Tompkins for example) are probably attracted to the area for its punkish history. Then you have other little reminders, like a bar that plays punk music, a bar that has an old photobooth, or tattoo artists who remember working when tattooing was illegal in NYC.

Nowadays, I think Brooklyn carries the spirit of that era more so than Manhattan, though there are still a plethora of shows around the Bowery and in the LES, which has places like Max Fish and Cake Shop and ABC No Rio. I think that era also inspired the arrival of many art galleries, in Soho for example, which catered to low-brow art, video-art, the avant-garde, graffiti, found objects, etc. Then of course you had Basquiat --- watch Downtown 81 if you can. He's in that movie and it really shows you what the area looked like in 1981...it looked like a warzone!!

You also had the "Cinema of Transgression," led by Nick Zedd. It might not really be worth looking into this for your project, but the LES really did have its own unique film history (also documented by Clayton Patterson). Nick Zedd's films speak to this explosion of eccentric creativity, and Kembra Pfahler was in some of his films, looking all crazy and non-human and feminist risque, and she also leads a band called The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black -- they stir things up! I do think that a greater sense of feminism, "shock value," and daring artistic expression came out of the whole CBGB's movement, along with, perhaps, the idea of an extended period of youth in direct opposition to the status quo.

So as for the mark it left on society...well like I said, Brooklyn. I really believe that some of the hispter Williamsburg culture is an offshoot of the original punk movement, though there's a lot of imitation (of the Urban Outfitters variety) that lacks actual substance. But people start their own businesses (cafes, markets, boutiques, record stores, etc) and their own venues in weird places throughout Brooklyn (Glasslands, 285 Kent, Death By Audio, etc), and I've definitely compared shows I've been to with pictures I've seen from the '70s and it honestly doesn't look too different (though the rest of NYC does). There are rooftop shows and basement shows and lots of random DIY things going on...even the biking craze, anarchists, and Occupy Wall Street seem to owe something to NYC's punk past, at least to me.

The whole DIY culure came out of that ethos, which has fostered more art, more music, people starting their own record labels, people pressing their own zines and chapbooks, and even people growing food on their rooftop. On the Bowery today, we still have Billy's Antiques (it's literally on Houston and the Bowery) which has been going strong for decades...something like that (a guy selling old furniture on the street) also comes out of the punk-on-Bowery era, as does the Yippee Cafe, and even Bowery Poetry Club. It's all about making art, sharing art, and giving the middle finger to what mainstream media says is cool or accepted.

-amy.

Can Saint Mark's Bookshop survive?

New York City has always been recognized as the setting (and instigator) of many important subcultures, social movements, and artistic revolutions. CBGB's was home to American punk; Washington Square Park fostered the Bohemians and Beats; the Lower East Side generated graffiti, hardcore, and underground hip-hop. The unifying factor of all movements, otherwise separated by time or topic, is not only the city itself, but all that it stands for. My great-grandparents, for example, came to America via Ellis Island, watching Ms. Liberty grow larger and larger as they approached a new home where they could have a better life. 

New York has thus always represented independence, whether it be for those who immigrate here from other countries or for those who escape their suburban/rural lives in hopes of finding more like-minded people with whom to make something happen. And it's that idea of independence that really drives New Yorkers to create, compete, push forward, learn, speak, and change the world one little step at a time. Here, it seems like almost anything is possible, and nobody will judge you for expressing who you are (or at least, no one will spend an extra five seconds staring at you when there's something else to look at just a stone's throw away).

Of course, the NYC I'm talking about is not Wall Street, nor is it Park Ave. Naturally, people move here not only for creative freedom, opportunities and inspiration, but to make money and lead a wealthy lifestyle. So perhaps the NYC I speak of is particular to people who prize art and culture. In any event, an innovative and independent NYC is fading away and falling apart, especially lower Manhattan. Small businesses here are in danger...as is anyone who treasures them. While chain stores and restaurants do exist throughout the boroughs (and Times Square is one giant advertisement), NYC is also known for its independently owned stores, restaurants, and bars that you simply cannot find anywhere else. I mean, who goes to NYC to shop at Kmart and eat at Applebee's? Hopefully no one.

Now that rents are so high, small business owners can no longer afford to operate (so long CBGB's, etc.), which not only totally sucks for the people who put their heart and soul into them, but also for patrons who have made such places a part of their identity. Many shops, clubs, bars, cafes, and venues are NYC landmarks --- they define us and shape us and they are crucial to the neighborhoods in which they exist. So while having a Chase bank on every other block is...uhhh...helpful, what it's really doing is destroying what makes NYC unique, thus rendering it impossible for a new generation to discover and embrace independent businesses. All of this makes me very sad and angry. Why doesn't New York value, and attempt to save, its very own culture?

The plight that concerns me most right now is that of St. Mark's Bookshop. I cannot tell you how much this store means to me, and how much the continued demise of Saint Marks Place hurts! Recently, over 43,000 people (including me) signed a petition to get the store's landlords, of Cooper Union, to lower the monthly rent, but this appeal was just turned down.

Michael Moore visited the store this month and "spoke about how St. Mark’s is actually the price we are being asked to pay for Wall Street’s greed, and in recent weeks, members of Occupy Wall Street have made stops at the store to help rally against the landlords. Bookshop owners, Bob Contant and Terry McCoy, say that it remains to be seen if the recent surge in customer support will be enough to keep the bookshop’s doors open." >> Read more in this article.

Not only did we lose the massive chain Borders, but now cultural landmarks are next in line. Unlike Borders, these stores are irreplaceable; they foster community, expression, and independence. St. Mark's Books is both independently owned and carries many titles from indie publishers. Let's look at the facts:

St. Mark's Bookshop was established in 1977 on New York City's Lower East Side, a community of students, academics, artists, and other discerning readers. Our specialties include Cultural Theory, Graphic Design, Poetry & Small Press Publishing, Film Studies, and Foreign & Domestic Periodicals and Journals.

Located at 31 Third Avenue between 8th and 9th Streets, we are convenient to the 6 Train at Astor Place and the N/R Trains at Broadway and 8th Street. Our neighborhood is home to New York University, The Cooper Union, and such cultural institutions as P.S. 122 and St. Mark's Church in the Bowery, which offer theatre, dance performances and poetry readings. There are also many vintage clothing stores, designer boutiques, import shops, antique stores, and new & used record stores in the area, as well as dozens of cafes, restaurants and bars.

My plea to you is this: if you are in New York, buy a book there. If you know anyone in New York, ask them to buy one for you, or themselves. You can also buy a gift certificate for someone. I know Amazon is quick and easy, but try St. Mark's Bookshop first. Please...we all know where this is going. And don't neglect other indie bookstores like Bluestockings, McNally Jackson, the Strand, Book Book, etc. The alternative is not pretty...sitting inside all day alone and looking at things on screens. O what fun. 

-a.d.