Past and present: NYC's changing streetscape: Digital Photography Review

Past and present: NYC's changing streetscape

Published Apr 14, 2014 | dpreview staff

Past and present: NYC's changing streetscape

Ten years ago, James and Karla Murray set out photographing New York City's distinct and varied storefronts. The project was known as Storefront: The Disappearing Face of New York. With ten years passed they revisited the same locations and photographed them again, where over and over one-of-a-kind signage has, in fact, disappeared. Banks and fast food restaurants have sprung up in their place, while others decay behind bars and graffiti. It's an altogether fascinating look at a quickly changing urban environment.

Browse the gallery above for more, and see the whole set on Facebook.

Above: CBGB, The Bowery, East Village, NYC

Comments

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Oldest first

Michael Piziak

Most of these are a change for the worse.

Apr 17, 2014permalink

Sean65

The sign writing and designs were so much more inviting compared with the cold modern minimalist glass designs of today. I feel that we've lost the 'character' of our high streets. Nice essay.

Apr 16, 2014permalink

Florin Moldovanu

The rise of corporate America.

Apr 15, 2014permalink

Monochrom

Great idea to show something in two pictures what otherwise would be unnoticed. The dissappearance of real businesses in a city like NY is a slow process, but one that is taking the life out of it. Soon you won't be able to tell if you're walking the streets of NY or Chicago or even London: same storefronts and giant advertisements everywhere.

Apr 15, 2014permalink

PCLOADLETTER

This article is manipulative. Taking some classic establishments that have some emotional connection for NYers (I'm surprised they left out Ratner's). And the 2nd Ave Deli one is severely misleading. The owner was murdered and they moved to 33rd between Lex and 3rd. Grom is FREAKING FANTASTIC gelato, so I am very glad it replaced the pizza place.

Katz's Deli is still here, as is Ess-A-Bagel, Zabar's and many other "old" establishments. They are still great.

NY is definitely different from when I was a kid. On the one hand, we did lose "character". On the other hand, I can walk down the street and not get stabbed, shot, assaulted, mugged, and harassed. I'll take the Disneyfied Time's Square over the porn-n-puke Times Square of the 70's and 80's. I still would not live anywhere else.

Apr 15, 2014permalink

Monochrom

Correct me if i'm wrong, but the first of the two pictures was taken ten years ago. In 2004 the streets of NY were allready as safe as they are today. Still Subway's, Starbucks and corporate banks are taking over the nice spots like they've been doing since the eighties. I think it has a lot to do with the old shops just not being able to pay for the giant increase in rent. A couple of months ago i read an article about a restaurant (Rocco's) going out of business for just that reason.

Apr 16, 2014permalink

Vladik

Doesn't look like it's a good change!

Apr 14, 2014permalink

jkoch2

All the changes involve cases where one business failed, or could no longer be sustained. The replacements involve new efforts to "make a go of it." Most of the new storefronts are improvements.

Maybe half the new ventures will thrive. Others will hang on, but be a grind to keep going. A quarter will be gone in five years.

This is the normal process of competition or creative destruction. People who are tired of this are tired of life, or perhaps consumed by pixel-peeping dementia.

Apr 14, 2014*permalink

b craw

Your comment is correct in terms of capitalism and survival therein. However, there are a host of subtexts which inform the issue. Just one example: in such a case where a "mom and pop" business is replaced by a corporate outpost, the US tax system has stacked the deck against the former. Small businesses are disproportionately taxed because they often haven't the resources to effectively eliminate taxation through offshore sheltering, etc. Banks (Chase included) like Bank of America have had years wherein they payed $0 in tax in the US, while their profits were in the multiple billions. Now most of these businesses featured were not replaced by another business of the same type, but it is naive to think that this overall trend of corporatizing the public landscape is just good old fashioned capitalist competition - it is more complicated than that.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

The Incredible Hoke

It's incredibly naive to think as jkoch2 posted. But it's not surprising. If one thinks generic storefronts like Chase Bank or Subway is an improvement, then there is a lot they don't understand beyond tax breaks.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

JackM

B craw, your comment is further proof of why the US needs to stop taxing corporations altogether, because corporations do not pay taxes anyway. Then we can stop considering them people, and we can take away their "first amendment rights" - instant campaign finance reform.

Apr 15, 2014permalink

AbrasiveReducer

I think it misses the point to judge these storefronts on their "beauty". The point is that any sort of uniqueness, any personality has been replaced by sameness. It's like visiting a mall in a distant city. Everything is identical to what you have at home. But some people take comfort in this. Mediocrity rocks.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

Sir Nick of High Point

Exciting photography -> Depressing result
But in the end it makes me want to appreciate the here and now.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

JackM

Of the 10 examples posted above, only two are lamentable - #2 and #3. The rest are just normal changes. Some even for the better.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

b craw

Yeah, (#1) John Varvatos is a vast improvement over CBGB - an important venue in the history of rock music. Please.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

b craw

And, just me, but I prefer a good cigar over anything Melissa bakes. And, were I to open a boutique bakery, I think I'd consider employing a designer other than the dude that takes inspiration from contemporary malls.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

b craw

Okay - last entry was a little mean. I bet Melissa makes delicious cupcakes.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

Don Karner

Actually NOT fascinating at all to me. Maybe if I lived around NY.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

agentul

even if you lived around NY you wouldn't find it fascinating.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

JEROME NOLAS

http://www.megapixel.cz/predstavi-leica-novy-model-t-typ-701
Sorry I thought this is important news....

Apr 14, 2014permalink

b craw

Yes - interesting. But I don't think this is a good practice, to post unrelated content. There are many more articles about gear here than there are art/photography features. Why invade with more gear news?

Apr 14, 2014permalink

peckinpah

I wonder if Paul's Boutique's still there

Apr 14, 2014permalink

saralecaire

Don't see what's the big deal about this? It doesn't inspire any feelings or message to the general viewer. Photography-wise, doesn't show anything outstanding either. Unless you were among the people who lives in that neighborhood perhaps it might speak to you.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

0MitchAG

You're looking into this way too deeply. It's simply interesting.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

The Incredible Hoke

It's a big deal to the people that live here. IN NYC, your mom and pop stores, especially those within walking distance, are a fabric of the neighborhood. The storeowners and their families are part of the neighborhood. My bodega on my corner has like three generations of one family working in the store and they know everyone. It's a vital part of our block. Old men hang out in front, kids pop in for quarter candy...

And these gorgeous old storefronts, many with neon signs, are/were much more visually appealing than just another a 7/11 or Subway.

I do see your point though about maybe not connecting to general viewer, but these places mean a lot to the people who live and work here.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

b craw

Shawn: excellently put. But, I disagree with initial post - I see no reason why this would not reasonate with a general audience; perhaps not in an urban context, but most viewers (particularly in certain parts of the US) can relate to corporate impact on the landscape, the erasing of small, unique and often idiosyncratic businesses and the proliferation of bland homogeneity. And I find the images visually interesting and demonstrative of this. Once again, I think some comments speak less of the photography featured than they suggest rather quick judgements and dogmatism about aesthetics.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

JackM

I'll take a Subway over a sketchy looking hosiery store that looks like it was run by a hoarder every time. Subway is the one fast food chain trying to help people on budgets live better.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

b craw

Jack, really? Perhaps your life would be improved by the exercise in walking to any of the sandwich shops, likely in abundance within a half mile of what you seem to indicate was a blight upon the landscape. Further, unique hoisery is hard to find.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

AbrasiveReducer

I live thousands of miles away yet I find this quite interesting and this type of record keeping a good use for photography.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

GSD_ZA

If this were a fair representation of the city, I'd say things were looking bleak. The photographers need to get out more.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

The Incredible Hoke

James and Karla are friends of mine and they travel all over the world documenting changing cities. Their book(s) are consistent bestsellers and they have serious gallery representation in NYC and other world capitals. I think they get out plenty.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

h2k

In today's New York, i'd go hungry.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

Joe Ogiba

http://www.timeout.com/newyork/restaurants/100-best-new-york-restaurants

http://www.urbanspoon.com/gf/3/100/225/NYC/Manhattan/German-Restaurants

Apr 14, 2014*permalink

PCLOADLETTER

NY has some of the finest cuisine on the face of the planet, for all budgets. I can never understand foreigners who come here and eat in chain restaurants or other stereotypical American fast food establishments and then complain about the food in NY. My sister teaches English to foreign students and has the same conversation with her classes every semester:
"We don't like American food"
"What have you eaten?"
"Hot dogs, hamburgers, Applebee's, Olive Garden, KFC, Subway"
"That's not American food, that just bad food."

Apr 15, 2014permalink

Albert Valentino

Joe's Pizza, the best slice in NYC. Always went out of my way to stop buy and eat, standing up, packed together. All part of the experience. Then the rents skyrocketed and, well you know...

Apr 14, 2014permalink

Rdefen

"Well you know..." might read like you can't get the same exact pizza anymore. They have another location close by. And since closing that location they opened a second location up on 14th as well.

Apr 14, 2014*permalink

PCLOADLETTER

L&B, man, L&B...

Apr 15, 2014permalink

jimi1127

Speaking of glass towers check out this story from New York's WNYC public radio -- http://www.wnyc.org/story/shadows/?utm_source=Newsletter%3A+WNYC+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ea6ad5c5b9-Daily_Brief_Jan_27_20141_26_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_edd6b58c0d-ea6ad5c5b9-68621573
For a deeper understanding of NYC history watch Ric Burns "New York: an eight-part, 17½ hour, documentary.
NYC has always been a city unafraid to change - often for the better, sometimes much less so - the demolition of the old Penn Station in 1963 was architectural murder yet it spurred on activists like Jane Jacobs to act as watchdogs for neighborhoods and culture.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

D1N0

RIP Claudio

Apr 14, 2014permalink

citizen2012

Socialism has finally taken over the US

Apr 14, 2014permalink

Ocolon

Ha, I was born in former East Germany, a “socialist” country, and it did not look like New York today at all. I’d rather say that New York shows the face of big, globalized capitalism.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

ethern1ty

Agree with Ocolon.

These pictures simply show the face of capitalism....

Apr 14, 2014permalink

Albert Valentino

Crony capitalism

Apr 14, 2014permalink

PCLOADLETTER

Then where's our universal healthcare?

Apr 15, 2014permalink

A200Eric

This really has nothing to do with socialism. Many of the leaders and people in the US would like us to get there, or farther, but these pictures in no way represent socialism.

Apr 15, 2014permalink

Eric Calabros

more glass, less color
way to go Gotham

Apr 14, 2014permalink

jadot

bit depressing.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

RobertSigmund

Things have not improved, to say the least ...

Apr 14, 2014permalink

The Silver Fox

Fascinating. Always great to see this kind of street photography that shows the passage of time.

Apr 14, 2014permalink

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