I was scouting near Times Square on Friday when I noticed this neat new billboard on 7th Ave…

Apparently, it’s promoting Best Buy’s electronics recycle program, and if you look closely…

…you’ll see that the letters are actually made from recycled electronics!

I wish they had made it a little bit more clear what the incentive is to lug my old VCR all the way to Best Buy versus just tossing it in the garbage…Maybe they just want to make more billboards like this? (Ha, I’m being facetious, of course – see the comments for why you SHOULDN’T just throw this stuff away).

Either way, neat sign.

-SCOUT

Tags:   ad · blogsherpa · new york · new york city · seventh ave · Times Square4 Comments

I was scouting around Red Hook today when I noticed this old brick warehouse:

While the building itself is neat, what really caught my attention were all the warning signs:

So in summary: Violators Will Be Prosecuted, possibly by:

And in case those dogs don’t work out:

And hey, because we can’t have too many signs:

I love that that their No Smoking sign is so specific as to include “CARRYING LIGHTED CIGARS PIPES OR CIGARETTES STRICTLY FORBIDDEN.” Pipes, for God’s sake!! Because you really need to be concerned about all the pipe-smoking riff-raff that prowl around Red Hook.

Seemingly out of place is this friendly little hand-painted OPEN sign hanging on a cute red string.

I gotta be honest, of all the buildings on the block, this is the only one that had me wondering what the hell is going on inside.

Later, a few streets over, I noticed this sign for a prop building company. Read closely…

Catch this?

A free sandwich vs. attack dogs? I think I know where I’m doing business.

-SCOUT

Tags:   blogsherpa · Brooklyn · new york · new york city · red hook · signage10 Comments

Will Brooklyn’s decaying Kings Theater finally be saved? According to this NY Times article, a developer has made a $70 million dollar agreement to renovate, with plans for it to become a live performance venue. Finally!

Check out my post on the theater for more info. Opened in 1929, the theater (one of the five Loew’s movie “palaces”) closed its doors in 1977 and was abandoned to rot.

Over thirty years later, things haven’t been looking so pretty at the Kings.

But $70 million is a lot of money. How much will be saved of the original theater? According to a rep from ACE Theatrical, the developer, “We’ll be able to recreate what it looked like when it was first put into use,” he said. “We’ll be able to very accurately recreate what is no longer there and restore what is there.”

Fingers crossed!

-SCOUT

Tags: 1 Comment

A Scouting NY reader is planning on proposing to his girlfriend, and needs your help!!

I recently got a letter from a fan of the site telling me that he is planning on proposing to his girlfriend, and is looking for the perfect NYC location to do it. Both he and his girlfriend are huge fans of NY history and enjoy exploring the city together, and he really wants to choose a location that ties the city into his proposal in a unique, intimate and historical way, a locale they will remember for the rest of their lives.

His first thought was Gramercy Park – neither of them has ever been inside, and his hope was to work something out with the Gramercy Park Hotel for access, take her on a tour, then ask the big question when she was least expecting it. Great idea, right?

Of course, it comes as no surprise that the douchiest park in NYC is bordered by the douchiest hotel in NYC. They said the rules are very strict, and that he could only gain access by paying the $500/night room fee, which he can’t afford.

Coming up short on ideas, he wrote me a very thoughtful letter asking if I could suggest any other locations. His only requests were that it be somewhat off the beaten path, pretty, intimate, and historical. My first thought was Bannerman’s Castle, an incredible abandoned castle-like structure located on an island in the the Hudson. Then again, perhaps visiting decrepit ruins on an island in the middle of the freezing winter doesn’t exactly scream romance. Other ideas include Staten Island’s Snug Harbor, Governor’s Island…Bethesda Fountain is probably too cliched, no? Perhaps he could gain access to Grove Court by talking with a neighbor? Gantry State Park in Queens is a pretty amazing location.

Rather than limit the options to my knowledge of the city, I promised I’d turn it over to SNY readers: where should this guy propose?? Historical, intimate, off the beaten path, and New York-centric. Hell, if one of you comes up with something that he uses, maybe I’ll come up with a cool Scouting NY prize for you. Just post your ideas in the comments.

Ready? Go!

-SCOUT

PS – “The park was at one time opened to the public on Gramercy Day (which changed yearly, but was often the first Saturday in May). In 2007, the Trustees of Gramercy Park announced that it would no longer open the park on that day.” Fuck you, Gramercy Park. Seriously, go fuck yourself.

Tags:   blogsherpa · new york · new york city46 Comments

Each time I walk down East 43rd Street, I expect it to have been torn down:

A beautiful Italianate marble building, 4 East 43rd Street has to be one of the few abandoned properties in Midtown. Nestled in amongst the skyscrapers adjacent to Grand Central, it has been decaying since I began my location scouting career over four years ago.

To me, the building has always felt like it would be right at home in Venice, especially with its beautiful second floor balcony:

The building is covered in wonderful ornamentation, and I realized as I passed it today that I’ve never even taken a photo. Those red x-ed boxes on the front are never a good sign of health, and rather than miss my chance forever, I decided to snap some pictures.

As I was shooting, a guy suddenly approached me and accusingly asked me why I was taking pictures. I get hassled all the time while scouting, and I’m usually quick to cop an attitude whenever someone gets in my way. However, this time, I found myself answering honestly: “Because it’s an incredible building.”

The guy sorta stepped back and said “Ha, yeah, I think so too. That’s why we bought it.”

Turns out the guy is somehow related to the company who recently picked up 4 East 43rd Street for a cool $6.3 Million (maybe he’s the owner? part-owner? It was unclear). We chatted for a bit, and the man told me how he’s passed the building every day on his way to work for years and really really hated to see its decay. He was thrilled to purchase it recently, and can’t wait to get to restoring it.

Honestly, in a city where 99% of developers would raze this property without an ounce of guilt, it was really astonishing to hear him talk so passionately about saving it. This NY Post article pretty much mirrors the conversation we had. Apparently, the building is to become a boutique hotel, which I think is a perfect fit.

4 East 43rd Street was built in 1916 and originally leased to the Mehlin Piano Company. Though the interior is now completely destroyed, this is what it originally looked like:

An old Mehlin advertisement:

At some point, the first floor became a clothing store – over the right doorway, you can still see the remains of a “WOMENS DEPARTMENT” sign (can anyone make out what the upper line reads?):

The building is lined with cherubs, which are now significantly weathered:

The second floor balcony (note the mermaid-like creature sculpted into the center):

Third floor balcony:

Finally, the top floor – note the row of crests:

A close-up of the crest designs. Note the swastika in the center shield.  Nothing unusual about this – prior to World War II, the swastika appeared quite frequently in building ornamentation as a symbol of religion, luck, or prosperity. I especially like how the crests are sculpted so as to appear to be hanging from bolts.

The west side of the building is in pretty bad shape, with an enormous broken window:

Side entrance to the building, now completely sealed up:

Side window, featuring more ornamentation:

Close-up:

The cherub design continues around the exterior:

The second floor side balcony looks like its in bad shape:

It’s tragic that this building has been left to rot for so long, but I’ve got my fingers crossed that we’ll see a rejuvenation in the coming years. Check it out if you have a chance – one way or the other, it’ll look quite different in the coming years.

-SCOUT

Tags:   4 east 43rd street · blogsherpa · east 43rd street · grand central · Manhattan · new york · new york city13 Comments