1970′s Porno Reveals Long Gone West Village Gas Station! (100% work safe, I promise!)

For the longest time, I’ve wondered about that odd little building at the corner of Commerce Street and Seventh Avenue South.

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Shaped like a triangle, it occupies one of the weirdest plots of land in New York…

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…and even has one of the few white picket fences in the city!

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46 Seventh Ave South was a dry cleaning place until recently – now it’s up for lease, and being used as a storage space. But if you look in through the glass, you’ll see all these strange little details that suggest it has some sort of history. I’ve always wondered…

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Then, out of the blue, the answer came last week when I received an e-mail from a West Village resident who had been wondering the same thing. He happened to ask his barber, a long-time Village proprietor, who gave him a DVD copy of what has to be one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen: Forced Entry.

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>>>Continue reading “1970′s Porno Reveals Long Gone West Village Gas Station! (100% work safe, I promise!)”

Scouting NY on CBS Sunday Morning!

Hope you enjoyed the segment on CBS News Sunday Morning today! For anyone who missed it, here ya go! Stick around til the end, I make a few appearances…

And if you’re just finding Scouting NY for the first time, I’ve put together a list of my favorite posts from over two years of writing. Enjoy!

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Confirmed! Scouting NY On CBS News Sunday Morning…This Sunday Morning!

Just got word – I will be featured on CBS News Sunday Morning…this Sunday morning!

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Last week, CBS filmed a segment about my work as a location scout in New York City, which should air at 9 AM on Sunday. We had a lot of fun going around to some famous movie . . .

→ Read More: Confirmed! Scouting NY On CBS News Sunday Morning…This Sunday Morning!

The Last Arcade in Chinatown – A Trip To Chinatown Fair

It’s in Chinatown, and it’s best to visit late on a Friday or Saturday night.

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From Canal Street, head south on Bowery past Chatham Square…

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…and turn right onto the dimly lit, deserted Mott Street.

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It’s at #8 Mott, though you’ll know you’re there simply because it’s the only storefront around with its  rollgate up, a strange purplish light spilling out onto the street.

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Head through the fingerprint streaked glass doors…

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…and you’ll find yourself in something out of a movie, a brick-walled tunnel of a space lined on both sides with dozens of quarter-fed video games: the last arcade in Chinatown.

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This is the real thing. Not a Hollywood set, or a nostalgia-fueled attempt at creating a Tron-like arcade. The letters on the store’s sign are missing not for aesthetic value but because they fell down with age or were stolen, and haven’t been replaced because the owner doesn’t feel it’s worth the trouble.

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Same goes for the vertical Video Game Land sign, though I wish to God this would get fixed – nothing would be cooler than turning onto Mott Street and finding a rainbow of flashing lights advertising one of the last old school arcades in the city.

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I only learned of Chinatown Fair Arcade recently, when a friend showed me it after a delicious Peking duck dinner one Saturday night. The place was packed with a mix of young teens, 20-something hipsters, and Chinese locals pumping quarters for a few minutes of video gaming.

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For the most part, the games are a quarter or two…

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>>>Continue reading “The Last Arcade in Chinatown – A Trip To Chinatown Fair”

Fancy Water Fountains In A NY Public School

I love scouting turn of the century public schools in New York because you find all these neat little details no one would ever think to spend money on today. One bit from a school I scouted recently: all the water fountains had neat tile aches around them…

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…and in the center, . . .

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Friday Puzzler Answered!

There were a lot of great answers for Friday’s locations puzzler. “How did you get a photo of my refrigerator?” asked Clazy8. “Taken at the Bowery…picture of a fungus on a homeless person’s toe,” wrote Robert C. “The Statue of Liberty’s underarm hair? She IS French…” suggested Ann Onimous. And of course, “some zombie graveyard at midnight” from Jeff.

The answer?

. . .

→ Read More: Friday Puzzler Answered!