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Robert Ripps book
History of Tribeca Buildings
A photographer captures the last signs of life on West Broadway and Warren
When I noted in this post that I could barely remember the stretch of West Broadway between Warren and Murray before it was an abandoned pit, photographer and Tribecan Robert Ripps offered to jog my memory with this incredible slideshow.
In 2017 when the destruction was announced, he did a project to document the buildings, businesses and people before they were forced out. This is a look back on the Raccoon Lodge, Mangez Avec Moi, Mariachi’s, Palermo Pizza.
“I am always trying to document changes in neighborhood, and this was big one,” Robert said. “Thought it would make a good project to work on. Also, I had been going to Mangez Avec Moi for about as long as I had lived here, so I was upset to see them forced out. Was my go to place forever.”
These were just regular folks doing regular jobs, yet these photos are so moving. Reflective, joyous, all of it.
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Forever missing Mangez Avec Moi
Heartbreaking. This is my block. I remember those buildings, those businesses, those people. All destroyed because some politician drew a line just a little to the side when they established historic district protections. And now we have a big hole in the ground. They won. I hope the developers are proud of themselves.
Thank you Bob for those photos! The best! Such great memories.
Thanks for sharing these wonderful photos. I patronized all of these businesses and miss them. Land marking Tribeca has been a flawed process that started too late and we ended up with too little. Big real estate calls the shots in this city.
Bravo Robert Ripps!
Thanks everybody! Bittersweet to revisit these images & people working in places that no longer exist. And I too especially miss Nik and the family at Mangez.
This is a little of what I wrote 8 years ago: “A whole block of low rise buildings has been amassed by a developer, and the plan is to shortly force out all the residents and businesses, so the whole block width can be torn down, to be replaced with taller, modern buildings. Typical New York story. However, this block is part of old Tribeca, amidst several blocks that preservationists- myself included- have been fighting for a while to get added to the Tribeca historic district.
This is also a story about the small businesses which have been located here for years, and in some cases, decades, and the people who own and work in them. Most are restaurants or bars owned by individuals who will be forced to shutter and never be able to reopen in the neighborhood, if anywhere. Instead of small, locally owned business, in a few years we will likely have just more chain stores like banks, Starbucks or Duane Reade.”