When it was announced that a new wine and liquor store would arrive at 183 Lenox Avenue in the Historic District, many thought this would be a great addition to the boutique businesses in the area. We have since received multiple messages this weekend on the actual establishment that is arriving at the corner of 119th Street and the neighbors are definitely not happy. The Mount Morris Park Community Improvement Association has already filed a complaint with Community Board 10 who has thus started work with the Landmarks Preservation Commission on the matter. These diamond plate, stamped steel storefronts seem to be popular elsewhere uptown but is apparently highly inappropriate for one of the most picturesque historic districts in the city. Would this have been acceptable in the West Village's historic district?
How was this approved in the first place? I thought in historic districts you get a slap on the wrist if you put up the wrong hanging basket?!
ReplyDeleteIt is a hideous sign. Just outright offensive. And what adds horrible insult to serious injury - they also have a loud yellow "Liquor" sign that hangs vertical at an angle to the building, so you can see it at the parlor level from several blocks away on Lenox Ave.
ReplyDeleteThe vacant, unrenovated space before was much better.
Also, instead of steps going down to the entryway, they put in a ramp. But it is a very short ramp, and a terribly steep angle. No way could a person in a wheelchair or scooter use it. It is hard for me to believe there isn't a serious code violation there.
Pathetic caving by the LPC. Just shows how little they actually care about historic preservation, and how much they really care about protecting powerful NIMBYs. Hopefully the approval gets overturned.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad something is being done. I walked past yesterday and couldn't believe that such ugly signage had been allowed. If I lived on that block I would not be happy. It also makes me question the quality of the liquor shop that is moving in. I hope it's not another shop where everythign is behind bullet proof glass.
ReplyDeleteWe can only guess that by the looks of that signage they will also install bullet proof countertops!!
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing but bullet proof glass inside. Clearly, the proprieter has no sense of the neighborhood aesthetics or demand for retail of higher quality. Shameful.
ReplyDeleteHistoric district is on the EAST side of the boulevard, this is on the west, no?
ReplyDeletePersonally—I love it. Mix of old Harlem with the elusive “new” Harlem. Just wish it had a big yellow sign like an arrow with flashing lights.
I would be disappointed if it’s not bulletproof plexiglass.
And cmb——that’s the beauty. You don’t have to question the quality of the booze inside. You already know.
But hey—that’s just me. And as soon as they open I’m gonna scrape up some change and buy me a pint of Alexi.
Both sides of Lenox are in the historic district from the north facing corners of 119th to 123rd Street.
ReplyDeleteWell then, this liquor store is, as we say, screwed. Better rethink its business plan asap.
ReplyDeleteI actually think the font of the sign is kind of cool. While I agree the metal look is icky, I would rather have that then an abandoned property.
ReplyDeleteI love how the historic districts jumps all over people for doing something "non period" but letting your historic property deteriorate, that's just great. I.E. the chipping paint on the door and rusted fence next door. This place will probably be really successful just as the other liquor, 99 cent more or less, bodegas, and African fashion places have been. and why is it that the stores charging a hundred dollars for an awful tie and uppity lounges, serving crappy food with terrible service, can't stay in business? This place is a bit to far for me to venture, so I'll stick with my liquor store with its bullet proof glass and revolving windows. Juan Abuello rum for 12 dollars, Yum.
Wow. What an eyesore.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering who took a look at the neighborhood and thought: "Yes, stamped steel and Toys R Us lettering for a liquor store is just what the place needed".
If the proprieter's decisions are always that bad s/he may remove him/herself before the LPC has a chance to.
the sign already has two letters that don’t light so it looks like it’s been there forever. Inside it’s plywood and bullet proof plexiglass to the max. When I walked the dog last evening a very pleasant man was puttering around outside—I assume he was the owner. It seems already to go, just needs the stock. The elderly gentlemen sitting outside the bodega across the street told me with great enthusiasm that it opens the 3rd. I think earlier once the distributor rolls up.
ReplyDeleteIt’s really no uglier than the barber shop and tube sock stores across the road. At least it doesn’t have a digital sign. Yet.
I would not hold my breath for CB10 to enforce this to be contextual as they seem to have an agenda to keep Harlem ghetto.
ReplyDelete@westsider -- you are 100% right. Go to a CB10 meeting, and listen to them rail against schools, against new business, against quality-of-life laws. It would all be comic if it weren't so tragic.....
ReplyDeleteThe unfortunate thing West is that it behooves the politicians in the area to have the population poor and stupid as they can then keep feeding them the "man" keeping them down story.
ReplyDeleteThat way they can continue to line their own pockets while the community at large suffers; if you truly want to make a change vote these idiots out and let's try and replace them with some progressive folks.
The thing is, a bulletproof liquor store with pint stock, charges more than a quality wine and liquor place down in the Village. Just like the bodegas charge more than supermarkets like Best Yet. They rip off the community, but because they have been "part" of the community for years, phasing them out is considered to hurt the fabric of that community. It's just BS fed to the ignorant masses.
ReplyDeleteHow do you reckon they charge more? A quality wine and liquor place down in the Village isn’t even going to carry pints. If they do they up the price on them to discourage low market trade.
ReplyDeleteAnd while bodegas do charge more you don’t go to them to do your weekly marketing, you go to them to pick up something you forgot, or something you need or something you really don’t feel like hiking to the supermarket for.
Okay, so it's pints they specialize in. They're cheaper but if you add up the pints, they are much more expensive per liter. So in reality, it's a huge ripoff. Unfortunately, because I needed some liquor, I've had to pay the ridiculous prices they charge at the bulletproof places. I know for a fact that I could have gotten the same item at a store downtown for almost half the price I was charged. Harlem could use a quality liquor store. It needs another bulletproof place like it needs another gourmet deli.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the bodegas, but what would be nice is that there would be more quality supermarkets in Harlem so you don't have to "hike" to find one. I'm very glad to see the success of Best Yet. It shows the market is there.
Bodegas are the corner store where you go to get turkey hero at 2 in the morning, a bacon egg and cheese at 6 am a a 6 pack of beer when the dreaded liquor store has closed. While I don't do my weekly shopping at the bodega, they do have the cheapest price on my Brooklyn Pale Ale. I have lived in Harlem for 3 years. I have the the bodega I go to to buy beer, the one I go to buy diet sodas to sneak into the theater, one for a good hero sandwich and one to buy lottery tickets. I have a 99 cent store I go to buy hardware tools and one to buy cleaning products and more recently beta fish. I go to the same liquor store every week to buy one bottle of rum for 11 bucks, which is the cheapest you can get Juan Abuelo in America. Each one of these places in mom and pop. The owners know me when I walk in, they say hi on the streets and are proud small business owners. This isn't the Village or the Upper West Side. This is Harlem. Where we still know our neighbors. I would love it if every business that opened was a French restaurant or some "uptown lounge" but that's not going to happen. Why put so much effort into a liquor store, as precious buildings crumble to pieces around us, our parks are full of rubbish and gangs of children roam the streets at all hours of the night?
ReplyDeleteI can afford a tuna sandwich with a side of plantain and a Diet Coke from the bodega and a bottle of booze from the liquor store far more easily than I can a meal at a French restaurant or an evening at an “Uptown Lounge”. Harlem is big enough and disparate enough to have a bit of everything.
ReplyDeleteTrue, Sanou's Mum. Harlem is big enough to have a bit of everything. There are just things that it has too much of, including bulletproof liquor stores and bodegas. And trust me, an "uptown lounge" or a snooty expensive French restaurant is not what I want. And yes, Corey Jace Scott, Mom and Pop can open something besides a bodega or a liquor store. In fact, I'm all for more Mom & Pop establishments, just not more of the same.
ReplyDeleteBodegas are great. The new deli that opened on Lenox and 119th (I think), good luck to em. They make a great bacon sarnie. Problem is, why are some places like Settepani forced to jump through hoops to get approval and others are given a free pass? If it is all about individual taste, freedom of choice etc. then do away with the historic district altogether and make it truly free market.
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