Well Darlings, after what seems like years in Greenwich Village, (has it only been about ten?!?!?), the process of corporate yuppification of the businesses in the neighborhood seems to be slowing! Bleecker Street, which used to be the bastion of the entrepreneurial and one-of-a-kind shops and cafes, underwent a sudden (and appalling) transformation into a Madison-Avenue-South. If you weren’t part of a major fashion or restaurant chain, your time was up!!!! Forget the fact that the new glam-stores might be empty after their initially big openings!!! There was absolutely no room on Bleecker for the folk art and antique shops, the Mom-and-Pop cafes, the little boutiques, etc., etc.
Well, what to my wondering eyes did appear????? The Ralph Lauren stores, which I believe were the first to invade, were closed up as of last week!!!! Windows soaped over and everything….just like an old episode of The Twilight Zone!! I think I even saw Rod Serling wandering around in the back through the old returns section!!! And as Ralph always leads the way, is this a sign of everyone else again following suit and beginning to trail on out of the Village and return it to its bucolic past???
I’ll tell you one sign that I’ve found of a rebirth down here below 14th…..after the closing of some of the oldest and best loved restaurants in the Village (remember the Beatrice Inn, Sazerac House, Le Metarie, Bruxelles, and on and on????)…..well there is a whole new crop of little boites springing up just like those wonderful,(and brave!) little crocuses in the Spring that let us know that grumpy old Mr. Winter is on his way out!!!
RUN!! DO NOT WALK to Meme on the corner of Hudson Street and Bank!….more to follow shortly!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment