I live next to a store on Thompson Street that epitomizes
everything that’s right about New York, but at the same time I hate it. The Little Lebowski is a store that
specializes in all things related to the Big Lebowski. The fact that it exists is what I love about
New York City. An owner operated shop
with an extreme focus, nestled on a quiet, unassuming block, that most people
would never walk by or go in if they did.
Stores like it bring the character, the enthusiasm and cool factor to
the greatest city in the world. I love
that a store with such a specific clientele, people who love the Big Lebowski,
can stay in business for as long as it has. Also on Thompson there were two
rival chess shops across the street from each other. I say were because one of
them (the one I liked less) recently closed and even though it was the one I
liked less, it was a very sad day for the neighborhood. I would take pride in saying, “it’s the block
with all the chess shops,” when trying to describe where I live to people. The surviving chess shop stay open 24 hours
just in case you get a craving to castle in the middle of the night. My economic guess is that stores like these
couldn’t survive in most major cities let alone in more rural areas. This what’s right with NYC. Cool local businesses can make it no matter
how niche they are. The stumble upon
aspect of walking down a street you’ve never been on and finding something that
you never thought could exist but it does and it’s right in front of you.
The first morning after Sandy hit I walked around downtown
to see how severe the damage was. I was
surprised how intact everything was for the most part, at least what was above
ground. I didn’t expect to find anything
open since the mass transit system had been shut down effectively making
Manhattan a sweet, sweet, isolated dream, devoid of tourists and making “I Am
Legend” a reality or at least a reality without those creatures. After a few hours of walking around I
realized that I had planned poorly and hadn’t brought any water with me,
ordinarily this situation is remedied by walking 15 feet in any direction and
walking into a convenience store, bodega, Starbucks, street vendor, bookstore,
Best Buy etc., etc. ad nauseam. On this
day it meant another 2 to 3 miles of walking back to my place. I turned off of Battery Park and found a
pocket of blocks that had power. There
was a mom and pop convenience store that was open with cases of water. I started a conversation with them because
one, there was nothing else to do, two, to see if all the power had come back,
and three how they got there. They drove
into the city at 6 am because this store was the livelihood of multiple
generations of their family and since it was only about a block and a half away
from the river they were terrified (to the point of not being able to sleep) as
to what the ramifications for their family would be depending on the extent of
the damage. Thankfully for them there
was nothing amiss with their store and they had power. When I walked in I expected to pay upwards of
$3 for a bottle of water given the market conditions, they were the only game
in about a 40 block radius that was operational, staffed and with inventory;
yet I paid $.75 for a bottle.
I walked out of there with a few thoughts. The first being reminded how people for the
overwhelming majority are genuinely good, in particularly in a time of
crisis. The second being how small
businesses like this one have been squeezed out of the city due to landlords
upping the rents and preferring to keep spaces vacant for the tax write off
than rent them at reasonable rates to help the city bounce back economically
and spur it culturally. The third
thing was how the chain stores have taken over and have stripped New York City
of the charm of finding eccentrically themed or eccentrically owned and
operated shops. The other downside of
the chains is that in a true crisis their employees will happily (and very
justifiably) sit in the comfort of their own homes instead of not sleeping and
rushing to their workplace as early as possible just to know one way or another
as to how their lives will be affected going forward.
These reasons are just a few as to why, New York I love you
but you are bringing me down.
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