Bowery Issue: Part2
 | Author: Jauretsi | Posted: May 29th, 2008 | Filed under: Art, Designers, Music, Starworks Commissioned | | Comments Off |
This is Part 2 to a post that our Sharon wrote regarding the John Varvatos store now located inside the old CBGB’s. (Read old post Varvatos + CBGB here).
(Varvatos cleans up CBGB’s bathroom)
Well, I finally went to the store myself to see it. I’m not mad at it. I know everyone is freaking out about the take-over, but the truth of the matter is, nobody I know in the industry has even BEEN to CB’s in 10 years! If anything, the Varvatos store is bringing people back (there is an adjacent Music Photo Gallery next to the store too). On top of that, John kept ALL THE WALLS. He basically bought the space, and turned it into the CBGB’s museum — and of course is selling clothes, because, well, that’s his business.
(Preserved walls inside the store)
(Preserved walls inside the store)
The first thing that occurred to me was my hometown of Miami Beach growing up. I remember standing on the corner of 5th Street and Collins Ave in 1992 when a wrecking ball was knocking down Muhammad Ali’s famous “Fifth Street Gym”. All the locals shook their heads in shame as this historical treasure (with word-of-mouth folklore) was being destroyed before our eyes so that a parking garage could go up. This was the place that Cassius clay BECAME Muhammad Ali! The Sonny Liston history, the Beatles visit, and the political hotbed for Ali. All the legendary fighters and stories that crawled through those walls are now gone.
(Cassius Clay and The Beatles, Fifth Street Gym, Miami Beach, February 1964)
Let me say that I WISH some streetwear store had bought that gym, and preserved all those walls, and threw some racks of clothes up. I would pay good money to see it today. I remember sneaking into that gym to see the colorful posters, old fight pictures, and yellowed clippings of battles. There was a 50′s vintage sign at the door (which remained hung until the 90′s) that read “No Deadbeats” (referring to pay the .25 cent fee to train there). I can’t even discuss the mass invasion Miami Beach endured after that, but alas, gentrification is an old and stale topic that’s hard to win. It was truly the death of a fabled FIGHT factory.
But back to CBGB’s — the death of the fabled MUSIC factory — Frankly, Varvatos took over the carcass of an old building. I know that sounds harsh, but it’s not like he shut down a venue that was currently churning out credible musical movements.
(Opening Night of the John Varvatos store. CBGB’s preserved wall of flyers)
Being a Bowery resident myself (of 8 years), I too am increasingly worried about the skyrocketing rent in our neighborhood. I think people like Rebecca (protester outside the store) mean well but I disagree with her argument that it would be better if a Starbucks took over CBGB’s rather than the Varvatos store (with her logic being that a local musician can afford a $4 coffee, versus $800 pair of pants).
(Protester Rebecca Moore)
Isn’t the issue at hand about “increased rent”? That means the “price-point” of the product is irrelevant! Both Starbucks or Varvatos would be paying the same high rent anyway — and that’s what ultimately pushes artists out of the neighborhood. So you’d prefer a crappy $4 coffee than going into a retail store that bronzed the whole space and preserved it as a CBGB shrine? Don’t hate the player. Hate the game.
My point is, instead of complaining in front of the store, perhaps there is a way we can all sit down in 1 table and discuss initiatives to help music on the Bowery. If we’re all fighting the same fight, then why don’t we actually sit together and talk it out? Trust me, it sucks losing the historical treasure entirely! It just means we all need to be smarter with saving the next gentrification casualty in the neighborhood.
(Looking in Mirror. Fifth Street Gym in Miami, October, 1970)
