26 March, 2012

closings

Bill's Gay Nineties closed this weekend. I hate it when shit like that happens. The place was open for almost ninety years, has only been owned by two people, was still busy all the time, and is one of the original speakeasies from the roaring twenties. We went over to say goodbye to the place and it was packed to the rafters, tons and tons of people mourning the fact that some dude in Ireland decided not to renew the lease, despite the institution that Bill's has been for multiple generations.

This is one thing that greatly saddens me about New York. Understanding that a city like this is dynamic and ever-changing, there is an aspect of the city that needs to be better preserved. A place like that is a landmark. The story of it makes it worth saving and the foreign aspect of this - with someone who doesn't even live in the city in charge of its fate - is just ridiculous.

But regardless of that little spat that the city and I had, I had an old timey type of weekend, with caviar and creme fraiche, jazz and champagne, and a spicy bloody mary to finish it all off before wandering back home in the fresh, cool air - well, home for the next month, anyway........

This early springtime is wooing me.

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