yardage

I moved to New York about 16 years ago exactly. Slowly Progressing from the East Village to the South Slope in Brooklyn I've seen a few neighborhoods change. We had been looking for upholstery fabric to redo the three Danish pieces we got on ebay back in the Spring

I had been shopping at places like ABC carpet. Their selection is not nearly what it used to be but their prices remained well... retail. I longed for the days of old musty, saw-dusty smelling fabric dealers on lower Broadway and the lower east side.

It was about the time I realized the American Apparel had replaced my favorite fabric store on Orchard St. that it dawned on me. Manhattan was really no longer that different than the rest of America. A broad array of consumer choices where even the most rarefied material has been homogenized and packaged for easy digestion

What Manhattan represented to me 16 years ago is sort of gone. What's replaced it isn't necessarily bad, it's just different. The fabric dealers I long for did not disappear they just moved deeper into the boroughs. I'm not saying that a Dunkin Donuts on every block is a good option but like it or not, walk down 5th Ave from 23rd to Washington Square-- I challenge you to find a shop owner that's not either 1) struggling to hang on or 2) part of a much larger chain that can be found in malls near you.  But I digress...pardon the rant.   

I finally found this guy on Broadway South of Canal. I walked in, he asked me what I wanted. "I'm looking for a canvas or perhaps a wool, very plain for plain cushions." He showed me a few things. Nothing really blew me away. Then he asked me what I was covering. I told him about the pieces and he said, "I have the perfect thing". And he did, it's a Knoll remainder that there was plenty of to do all 11 cushions of the three pieces. Just for a moment it was 1990 again.

Comments

[The Girl]

i cried the day my favorite ribbon shop on lower broadway closed. i believe it's a Puma shop now. so I know exactly how you feel. where did i City go?