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Robert Ripps book
History of Tribeca Buildings
Seen & Heard: A piece of Chambers Street uncovered
BACK TO THE FUTURE
James sent the heads up on these recently revealed storefront signs at 114 Chambers. Who remembers Craig’s Shoes or Mark’s — and whatever Mark was selling? Send a comment. And in the meantime, maybe James and Karla Murray (@jamesandkarla — one of my fave instagram feeds) can enlighten us?
BLACKTAIL AT PIER A ADDS THE TERRACE
A riff on Hemingway’s fave Cuban beach restaurant called the Terraza, this pierside bar from the owners of Dead Rabbit will only be popped up till November, when it will be disassembled and shipped to Miami for the winter.
JAPAN PERFORMING ARTS FESTIVAL ON GOV ISLE
This weekend, Governors Island will celebrate Japanese dance with the Bon Odori Festival and running through Sunday. The event will bring Japan’s Big Three Bon Odori dance performances into one venue, including Nishimonai Bon Odori from Akita, Gujo Odori from Gifu, and Awa Odori from Tokushima. There will also be Japanese food vendors as well as dance demonstrations. More info here.
I BRAKE FOR WEDDINGS
I pulled my car over for this scene, and there were three other women on the street with their phones out next to me. Suckers, all of us.
LOCAL ARTIST WINS SUSTAINABILITY AWARD
Local textile designer Mary Jaeger won the “Honoring the Future Sustainability Award” at the 2019 Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington, DC, a 37-year-old juried show of American fine craft. The national award recognizes an artist whose work educates the public about climate change. The judges said Jaeger “breathes new life into textile fragments and used garments that would otherwise be discarded. Her work melds ancient Eastern and contemporary Western design through inspired use of color, texture and pattern – and a commitment to reduce waste headed to domestic and third world landfills.”
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I don’t remember Craig’s Shoes when it was at 114 Chambers, but for many years, and until its end, it was at the SE corner of Chambers and W. Broadway, where the AKA Tribeca (Smyth) hotel is now. It closed when they tore down the building to build the hotel. It was a reliable source for shoes for my husband, but I suppose Zappos would have taken it out if the real estate market didn’t.
Odd aside – the home page for the AKA Tribeca shows a gorgeous autumn photo of the Bow Bridge in Central Park with the Dakota in the background.
Tribeca used to be the wholesale shoe district. I had an uncle who worked dpwn here in the wholesale shoes business
Interesting! When was that? I know much of it was a base for textile industry and importers.
From the 1939 WPA New York City Guide:
“Not far away from the [New York Mercantile] Exchange, in the vicinity of Church, Reade, and Duane Streets, is the shoe jobbing center, and east of West Broadway from Thomas to Franklin Streets, the wholesale textile market.”
Thank you, James… So many layers of history here.
Duane Street was large wholesale Shoe area also.
Can’t remember the fabulous discount designer shoe store for women I think on Warren St. Two floors!
Anyone remember Anbar Shoes on Duane or Reade between Broadway & Church? They moved around the block a few times. Pretty good quality shoes.
I still have a pair of Italian d’Orsay pumps that I got at Anbar when it was on Reade. There was a similar outlet across the street, but Anbar was the best.
NYT 3/7/2006 article about Craig’s shoes going out of business says that they’d been around since 1956, and moved to 132 from up the block (presumably 114) in 1981.
Newsday 10/29/1989 discusses ASPCA raiding the abandoned Mark’s Aquarium, and finding many of the animals dead. Oddly back in August 1988 they’d had an article about how in NYC you can rent _anything_, including snakes from Mark’s Aquarium.