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NYC is changing. It used to be a place where you could find anything, no matter how insane, at any time of the day or night. You need a bloody chicken feather of a Jamaican chicken? A severed bat wing from the african congo? A cardboard cutout of a midget stripper in a top hat? Ask someone, and chances are – you’d find it. This was made possible by the Mom & Pop shops… This is what made this city the GREATEST PLACE ON EARTH!

Starbucks and Jamba Juices are popping up faster than I can blink an eye. There is literally one on every single corner, sometimes 2 on the same block! I don’t know about you all, but the Jamba Juice craze has not caught me yet. I just don’t see it and I just don’t “taste” it. The Mom & Pop Health Food Store on 23rd St. makes the best damn carrot/apple/beet juice I’ve EVER HAD. Why? Because they squeeze a drop of love into every cup, that’s why!

Chelsea Guitars is probably one of the most famous Vintage Guitar shops on the east coast. Made famous by none other than Sid & Nancy Vicious of Sex Pistols fame and, of course, the Chelsea Hotel. It’s been there forever! It may possibly be closing down now to make way for a fucking Starbucks! Wow… Why? Well, because Starbucks can afford the $10K a month rent while the Mom & Pop’s of yesteryear can not. With rents on the incline, UE on the incline and shopping on a decline this year – who could afford such high rent besides the legal crack dealers like coffee shops?

Tower Records, while no Mom & Pop but certainly no Virgin Mega-Store Conglomerate… is now closing. That store was like a staple in my childhood, well that and Sounds on St Marks and Other Music on West 4th. All of which are music stores that I would actually look forward to visting on weekends with my friends. They were the perfect places to feed my growing musical addiction and my oddball taste in sound.

Religious Sex is gone, Antique Boutique is gone, Unique is gone… All of the great Goth and Vintage stores. The places I’d go to blow $350 on a victorian gown that I couldn’t possibly wear anywhere, but was handmade and to die for gorgeous so I just HAD to have it.

As for the vintage stores, I remember a time when vintage jeans cost $0.50 not $250. I remember when 80’s concert T-Shirts were no more than $5.00 – now they are $200-$300. As a matter of fact, I actually remember when Bazooka cost $0.02 rather than $0.05. I remember when shit was “real” and people were REAL. Now, everyone is trying so hard to be “different” meanwhile, being normal is actually the new “different”. Wow, do I sound old?

Well, I AM!

CBGB’s? Gone. Not like it was all that “cool” anymore. That place sort of lost it’s luster awhile back for me. When the good hardcore bands stopped playing there and it became a sort of EMO/Punk rather than a Rebel Punk hangout like it was in the 80’s/90’s. However, it was still a huge part of NYC music history. Limelight? GONE! Turned into some insane guido bar where people get shot and raped. Certainly NOT the freak boutique it used to be. Not the place where you’d have to wait on line for 3 hours and be nice to “Kenny” and “Aphrodite” at the front to get in and you better believe that you HAD to look good and NOT be a poser!

Next they will tell me that Billy’s Bakery, Marty’s Cool Stuff and Screaming Mimi’s are closing.

::Sigh::

This used to be a cool town…