Target's East Village CBGB Store Front

I thought Gothamist shut down.

There's no actual Target in the East Village, there's one in Tribeca and one on 14th Street. There is a Kmart on Astor Place, which with the super high rents down there these days, residents do need Kmart.

What actually brought down the Village and the LES and every other downtown neighborhood, the high end designer shops and expensive restaurants and, of course, the absurd real estate conversions.

All the stores I used to shop in downtown are long gone. Even the few small records shops which survived after Tower closed, are now gone, thanks to real estate moguls and their never ending greed.

Same with Soho. Oh, and let's not forget all the wealthy celebrities who have been moving downtown for years. They've moved into lofts which originally cost $20,000-$50,000 and even much less than that, especially when no one wanted to even walk around Soho after dark. A friend bought his Soho loft for $45,000. Another, $10,000.

Oh please, get over it.

[quote]Oh please, get over it.

Get over what? Posted by a flyover lawyer/banker or wealthy Euro trash which has ruined all of downtown.

Which one are you?

[quote]Get over what? Posted by a flyover lawyer/banker or wealthy Euro trash which has ruined all of downtown. Which one are you?

[quote]I thought Gothamist shut down.

It did but was resurrected.

Very sad.

You guys can still see the original CBGB awnings at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

Our country is now being run by an imbecilic madman who wants to be president for life, yet someone is griping about a faux CBGB awning?!

Priorities people, priorities!

Yes, and now that they've ruined NY, they have scattered to ruin other formerly decent cities. See: Portland, NY money remaking a city for the Bay Area people who cannot afford SF.

This just makes me long for the days when Times Square was seedy and fun.

R8 because posting more comments online about Trump is bringing so much progress and change.

[quote][R8] because posting more comments online about Trump is bringing so much progress and change.

What an absurd response.

Downtown NYC changed a long time ago, way before there were any stores such as Kmart and Target downtown. Extreme changes were starting about 20 years ago.

OP must be a flyover or a newbie, native New Yorkers who live downtown, realize there's not much they can do. If they do own some prime real estate, many are cashing in or already have.

R12 NO ONE CARES ABOUT NATIVE NEW YORKERS

R8 let's dwell on Trump and give Great Leader all of our attention!

You're a fucking idiot & trash, who no doubt wears Aeropostale and constantly eats at Chick-fil-A.

[quote]OP must be a flyover or a newbie, native New Yorkers who live downtown, realize there's not much they can do. If they do own some prime real estate, many are cashing in or already have.

There's no such thing as "Downtown NYC", you poser. We refer to neighborhoods in the southern tip of Manhattan by their respective neighborhoods (LES, Chinatown, Little Italy, etc.) or as "Lower Manhattan." Nor would it make sense to even call any place "Downtown NYC", since NYC refers to all five boroughs.

[quote]Nothing says you're in touch with locals more than co-opting a beloved venue that was brought down, in part, by the very commercialization of the neighborhood that your company is exploiting.

Uh...the locals who were really connected to the East Village scene of CBGBs are gone too. I mean, that era is long passed and shit changes. That NYC ain't ever coming back unless the city falls apart economically again and loses a million or more residents, starting with wealthier residents. Probably not likely.

[quote]This just makes me long for the days when Times Square was seedy and fun.

Yeah, that's the tip-off you were never there. It was seedy, but not "fun" in the slightest, and I'd wager if it were the same still YOU'D never go there to spend money and "have fun"! Trust me, I've been here since 1980. It wasn't quite so picturesque in real life.

R17 what's with all these posts lately doubting people knowing about places and neighborhoods in New York? It's a fairly common American experience to visit and/or live there for awhile. Most people sensible enough know when to get out.

[quote]Trust me, I've been here since 1980. It wasn't quite so picturesque in real life.

Transplant, Times Square's "seedy heyday" happened in the 1960s and 1970s. Not 1980 and beyond.

Jamie Gillis - walking around Times Square in the video at R19 - getting a blowjob from a guy in 1981

That looks like Louis Calhern without a moustache at R5.

R16 and similar: Exactly!

I lived there before it was finished off 25 years ago. You bitches can fight amongst yourselves about which decade was better. I'm just grateful that I got to experience it before it was killed by the low-life likes of Ghouliani.

Target didn't kill CBGB. Increasingly higher rents charged by the owner of the building did.

[quote]There's no such thing as "Downtown NYC", you poser. We refer to neighborhoods in the southern tip of Manhattan by their respective neighborhoods (LES, Chinatown, Little Italy, etc.) or as "Lower Manhattan." Nor would it make sense to even call any place "Downtown NYC", since NYC refers to all five boroughs.

Poser? Kiss my ass, my mom grew up on the LES, around the corner from the iconic Anderson Theater. Native New Yorkers call most of that "southern tip" area 'downtown'. I grew up on Grove Street in the Village.

You are completely proving you aren't from NYC. Only newbies, transplants and trust find Eurotrash call downtown NYC by the names created by real estate people, the same assholes who created the names Dumbo and every other stupid new name they've give to areas of Brooklyn, such as East Williamsburg, Clinton-Stuy and the even more absurd, Bedford Hill.

[quote]Uh...the locals who were really connected to the East Village scene of CBGBs are gone too. I mean, that era is long passed and shit changes. That NYC ain't ever coming back unless the city falls apart economically again and loses a million or more residents, starting with wealthier residents. Probably not likely.

I agree, that scene is long gone. I remember when people wouldn't be caught in certain downtown neighborhoods past a certain time and drunks and 'bums' were literally splayed out on on the street on the Bowery. Only the truly adventurous and actual struggling artists lived in Soho.

A close friend's parents bought one of the first lofts in Soho to use as a residence, it was illegal to do so and they only had cold running water. I don't even think you could buy raw space downtown these days, every loft space now looks like it should be in Architectural Digest or some other decor mag.

[quote]You are completely proving you aren't from NYC.

Yawn. Lifelong New Yorker born and bred, went to school in Park Slope, high school in Chelsea and college in Clinton Hill. Yawn.

[quote]Only newbies, transplants and trust find Eurotrash call downtown NYC by the names created by real estate people

Gimme a break. It is NOT TRUE that names like"Chinatown", "Little Italy", "Lower East Side" are "real estate names." These neighborhoods have been called these names forever; below is an article from 1938 clearly referring to the Lower East Side. Maybe you were born in NYC but you must be all of 20 or something to think that all of these names were just recently coined by real estate. What on earth are you smoking?

The store is technically in Alphabet City not the East Village. Don't get the CBGB connection, since CBGBs was on the Bowery. Whatever.

Ladies, you're all a bunch of insufferable assholes.

[quote]Gimme a break. It is NOT TRUE that names like"Chinatown", "Little Italy", "Lower East Side" are "real estate names." These neighborhoods have been called these names forever; below is an article from 1938 clearly referring to the Lower East Side. Maybe you were born in NYC but you must be all of 20 or something to think that all of these names were just recently coined by real estate. What on earth are you smoking?

Jesus Fucking Christ, give it a REST. I never said these names were "recently coined".

The OP and subsequent responses were about a SPECIFIC part of The Village, no one mentioned the surrounding downtown areas until YOU came into this thread and started calling people on the 'correct' names of LOWER MANHATTAN neighborhoods,.

No one mentioned, Chinatown and Little Italy until YOU came into this thread to argue.

The thread was specifically about neighborhoods in The Village, which many still call the ENTIRE area Greenwich Village. The Village for most native New Yorkers consists of the East Village, the LES and the West Village, which has always been a gay neighborhood, an area where gay people have always gravitated to, to live and hang-out.

Lots of NYC names in Manhattan and Brooklyn, even in Queens, have recently been re-named by real estate people wanting to make certain areas seem hip and desirable, that's a fact.

No I am not a 20 something. Read before you post. How could my mom have grown up around the corner from the Anderson Theater, if I'm a 20 something?! In 1977 CBGB's used the theatre for awhile, but it already changed it's name at that point. The Anderson was partially demolished in 1990, the apartments went up in 1997.

Now everyone is filthy and promiscuous, or...cutting up their bodies...or has no sex and a gun.

All cities are being ruined.

[quote]Jesus Fucking Christ, give it a REST. I never said these names were "recently coined".

Are you R25? Because if you are, you really are embarrassing yourself.

Read the discussion again. I said that no one ever refers to the lower end of Manhattan as "Downtown NYC." They either refer to it as Lower Manhattan (as opposed to "Downtown NYC") or just go by neighborhood name. I then mentioned examples--LES (as in Lower East Side), Chinatown, Little Italy.

Then you (I'm presuming it's you) jumped in with your stupid remarks telling me that what I said proves that I'm from NYC because "only newbies, transplants and trust find Eurotrash call downtown NYC by the names created by real estate people." Then you specifically mentioned these fake, recently coined neighborhood names ("East Williamsburg, DUMBO, Bedford Hill") that have only been around at the most for 15, 20 years and were created by real estate. In bringing up those fake neighborhoods as a response to what I said earlier, you were inferring that the LES, Chinatown and Little Italy were also in the same category as those neighborhoods.

[quote]The OP and subsequent responses were about a SPECIFIC part of The Village, no one mentioned the surrounding downtown areas until YOU came into this thread and started calling people on the 'correct' names of LOWER MANHATTAN neighborhoods.

*sighs*

I brought up those neighborhoods to make the larger point that no one refers to any area south of Midtown (or even south of 14th street) as "Downtown NYC." They refer to it as either Lower Manhattan or specific neighborhoods. That was the point. The point wasn't to shift the focus of the discussion onto Chinatown, Little Italy, etc.

And I didn't come onto this thread to argue. YOU did. YOU started arguing. The OP was using this story to talk about how upset he was about the fate of NYC areas like this one and how wrongheaded this stunt with Target was in the face of what's happening in the community. You (I'm presuming it was you at R12) then DISMISSED his observations with the condescending comment of "OP must be a flyover or a newbie."

That's when I called your own status into question because I found your usage of the term, "Downtown NYC" suspicious, as well as your contention that things had already drastically changed before Kmart and Target arrived. You pinpointed these extreme changes happening 20 years ago. Yet how could that be? 20 years ago was 1998. That Kmart on Astor Place opened two years prior to the period in time you said the extreme changes happened.

Target issues non-apology after faux CBGB awning is met with derision:

"We often host a one-day celebration that shows the neighborhood how excited we are to be part of their community. We sincerely apologize if some eventgoers felt it was not the best way to capture the spirit of the neighborhood. We always appreciate guest feedback and will take it into consideration as we plan for future opening events."

^ Wow, what a disgusting fauxpology. Fuck Target.