Love Saves The Day

Love Saves The Day aka LSD on Second Avenue at the corner of East 7th Street was founded by Leslie & Richard Herson in 1966. When we photographed this kitsch-filled vintage shop in 2001 for our book “Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York” we also interviewed Richard who told us that the store was “an institution and many of my customers who don’t live in the neighborhood anymore still come back because I carry very unique items.”

The shop also became well known as it was featured in the movie “Desperately Seeking Susan”, starring Madonna who traded a vintage jacket off her back for a pair of boots she saw in the window. Sadly, Love Saves the Day closed its NYC location in 2009 after its rent was raised from $5,000 to $15,000 a month but still maintains a shop in New Hope, PA.

Defonte’s Sandwich Shop in Red Hook, Brooklyn

Defonte’s Sandwich Shop in Red Hook, Brooklyn was founded in 1922 by Nick Defonte who emigrated to New York from Mori di Bari, Italy. Since the beginning it has specialized in serving large Italian heroes at first to the longshoremen who worked on the piers along the Brooklyn waterfront and now to everyone who makes the journey to its free-standing green-and-red-painted brick building.  

We recently visited @defontes1922 and met the third-generation owner who told us they are celebrating their 100 year anniversary this year and had an enormous eggplant 🍆 parmigiana sandwich which was absolutely delicious. All the sandwiches are huge and come in one-third or one-half hero sizes on fresh Italian bread 🥖. 

To watch our visit to Defonte’s and our visit to a custom neon sign shop @moonsignnyc nearby please check out our JamesandKarla YouTube channel, see direct link below & in bio and IG story. • 

Link: https://youtu.be/heWP1_xCiHs

Happy Record Store Day! Village Revival Records on Bleecker Street & Executive Producer Steve Rosenthal

Happy Record Store Day! Today, we helped support some amazing independently-owned vinyl record shops in NYC including Village Revival Records on Bleecker Street. @villagerevivalrecordsnyc was founded by Jamal Jararah over 32 years ago and today he had the full line of #RecordStoreDay releases available at his shop. 

We were lucky enough to not only score a copy of an exclusive #RSD release by Blondie of “Sunday Girl” at Village Revival but also meet and speak with Steve Rosenthal, who mixed the “Sunday Girl” demo and is one of the executive producers of the limited edition EP. (2nd photo of Karla and Steve Rosenthal outside Village Revival ).  • Taken from the band’s multi-million-selling album Parallel Lines, “Sunday Girl” was originally released in 1979 and was the follow-up single to the band’s number one hit single, “Heart of Glass,” and was a UK number one and a top 10 hit around Europe. • @blondieofficial states that  “Exactly why the song became Sunday Girl, I am not sure, other than @christein and I had a silly kitty named Sunday Man. Also, I was born on a Sunday…,” reminisces Debbie Harry about the song.  

• To watch our YouTube livestream visit to help support independently-owned record stores today (swipe left for 3rd photo of the Blondie mural by Shepard Fairey @obeygiant where we started our livestream with Hudson wearing his headphones) please visit our JamesandKarla YouTube channel, see direct link below & in bio and IG story. 

• Full video: https://youtu.be/urPPFw4tOPs

House of Oldies #recordstoreday

Today is #RecordStoreDay and we are going to be shopping at some of our favorite vinyl record shops in Greenwich Village and East Village today but will miss the House of Oldies shop on Carmine Street, which sadly closed in 2020 due to the pandemic. The owner, Bob Abramsom opened the shop in 1969 and since its beginning it sold only vinyl records & specialized in rare and out of print vinyl records from the 1950s to 1970s. (Swipe left for 2nd photo of Bob inside his shop).

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When we interviewed Bob for our book “Store Front II- A History Preserved” in 2010 he told us that that he “got the bulk of his current inventory years ago from record stores that were going out of business. I bought all new records, not used ones and put everything away.”

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Please follow our crate digging adventure today on our JamesandKarla channel.

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#vinyl #vinylcommunity #vinylrecords

#vinylrecord #rsd #rsd2022 #record #recordstore #records #vinylcollector #vinylcollection #vinyladdict #oldies #recordcollector #vinyljunkies #vinyljunkies #vinyljunky #recordcollection #recordshop

Phil’s Pizza

Yesterday, we shared that our rescue dog Hudson’s favorite food is pizza 🍕 and one of the many places where we have gotten @hudsonpittienyc a slice is Phil’s Pizza which was founded in 1970. 

Even though Hudson was more interested in their pizza, we especially loved their amazing signage and especially how the flourish in the lettering connected the two ZZ’s in PIZZA! 

• • • • • #storefront #jamesandkarla #pizza #pizzalover #pizzalovers #pizzalove #pizzeria #pizzatime #pizzagram #pizzapizzapizza #pizzaislife #pizzamaker #pizzamaker

Custom neon sign made of our dog Hudson

We had a custom neon sign made of our dog Hudson with his favorite food in the world…a slice of pizza. The amazing artist who created this gorgeous piece is Wayne Heller, who is the owner and sign maker at @moonsignnyc in Red Hook Brooklyn. MoonSign specializes in designing and fabricating signs, graphics, visual ephemera and lighting projects. 

Wayne works with both artists and commercial clients to strategize concepts and provide art direction, technical drawings, fabrication, execution and installation. Wayne not only captured beautifully the essence of our dog Hudson in neon  but also suggested to us that the clear blue neon would be perfect to use as it would not overwhelm our studio apartment when lit.  

• We visited Wayne at MoonSign for the reveal of our “Hudson Pizza Neon” and also had a chance to speak with him about how he became interested in neon and the process of how he brought our Hudson Pizza design to life from sketch to finished piece. Wayne also showed us some of the other unique pieces he has worked on including a vintage “Florist” neon sign which had hung outside a Chelsea Florist shop for years (swipe left for 4-6th photos) which he is bringing back to life in neon.  

•  To watch our livestream visit to Red Hook, Brooklyn to visit MoonSign please see direct link below & in bio and IG story: https://youtu.be/heWP1_xCiHs

Tax Day in the United States

In honor of Tax Day in the United States, we are highlighting this check cashing store in NYC. April 18th is the filing deadline to submit a 2021 tax return or to submit an extension to file and pay tax owed.  • • • • • • #storefront #jamesandkarla  #disappearingfaceofnewyork #checkcashing #signage #ig_signage #signsofthetimes #signssignseverywheresigns

Happy Easter from New York City 🐰!

The Bunny Deli in Washington Heights not only has an adorable Bugs Bunny character holding a cheeseburger on its signage but also has a classic blue-and-white “Anthora” coffee cup, which first became an icon of NYC in 1963 when Leslie Buck, a Czech-American immigrant, designed the to-go coffee cup to appeal to Greek-owned coffee shops and diners. In addition to its blue and white color, the Anthora cup also has the inscription “We Are Happy to Serve You” in a Greek-style font. 

Happy Passover to all who celebrate.

In honor of this Jewish holiday, we are highlighting Streit’s Matzo on the Lower East Side which closed their bakery after nearly 90 years in business after the Passover holiday in 2015. 

Streit's had made matzoh year-round in their four-story building since 1925 (2nd photo of the first floor matzo making area where fresh matzo overhead in wire baskets) but the building was sold to make way for a new luxury condo. 

Alleva Dairy, Little Italy, Manhattan

Alleva Dairy in the Little Italy of Manhattan was founded in 1892 and is the oldest cheese shop in the USA.

 Sadly it has been struggling to survive and is now facing closure after failing to pay rent since the pandemic. 

We first photographed this family-owned Italian cheese shop/deli  in 2003 for our book “Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York” and not only fell in love with its wide array of cheeses 🧀 but also its delicious freshly prepared food and sandwiches. (Swipe left for 2nd photo of interior). 

We hope this small mom-and-pop shop is able to survive but after interviewing hundreds of small business owners for the past 25 years, the number one reason why they close is that they do not own the building they are located in and cannot withstand the rent increases which occur over the years. In the case of Alleva, their current monthly rent is $23,756 and that certainly adds up to a lot of cheese. • • • • •

#disappearingfaceofnewyork #storefront #jamesandkarla #italianfoods #italianamerican #italianamericans #cheese #cheeselover #mozzarella #ricotta #ricottacheese #littleitaly #littleitalynyc

Friday Night Video Club in Brooklyn.

We still own both a VCR and a DVD player and regularly use both of them. Let us know if you are also analog fans too. 

 #analog #notdigital #video #videostore  #brooklyn #videography #handpainted #handpaintedsigns #handpaintedsign

Gem Spa, East Village, NYC

Gem Spa, the beloved East Village haunt for egg creams that was located on the corner of St. Mark’s Place and Second Avenue sadly closed in 2020. 

Gem Spa is where Jack Kerouac and other beat poets got their egg creams in the 1950s and it also became a hangout for many musicians in the 1960s and 1970s, who performed at the Fillmore East and the Electric Circus, which were located on either side of the store. Patti Smith was a long-time customer and the New York Dolls shot their 1973 debut album, New York Dolls back cover in front of Gem Spa.  

• Our 2001 35mm film photo of Gem Spa appears in our book “Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York” and we currently have framed 11x14 inch prints available (2nd photo of framed print) at @villageworksnyc along with a few other iconic East Village mom-and-pop storefronts. 

• • • • • #storefront #jamesandkarla #disappearingfaceofnewyork #eggcream #eastvillagenyc #momandpopshop #momandpopshops #gemspa

Custom Hudson Pizza Neon from Wayne at MoonSign in Red Hook, Brooklyn

Full video: https://youtu.be/heWP1_xCiHs

Manganaro Grosseria Italiana

Manganaro Grosseria Italiana in Helll's Kitchen was founded in 1893.

Our 35mm photo of Manganaro Grosseria Italiana was taken in 2004 & appears in our book "Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York".

The family-owned shop had old-fashioned tin ceilings and ‪vintage‬ showcases stocked with ‪Italian‬ ‪food‬ specialties including prosciutto, sausages, olive oil and pasta.

Even though Anthony Bourdain highlighted the shop in 2009, it sadly closed in 2012 although the family owned the building they were located in.

When we interviewed the third-generation owner Linda Dell'Orte for our “Store Front” book she told us that she was the only one left in the family who had any interest in the business.

#disappearingfaceofnewyork #jamesandkarla #italianfood #italian #hellskitchen #storefront #deli #italianamerican #italianamericans

St. Anthony’s Bakery in Brooklyn

St. Anthony’s Bakery in Brooklyn was in business for over 90 years before recently closing when the owners decided to finally retire. This second-generation owned Italian bakery was founded by Frank Scillaci’s uncle after he emigrated from Palermo, Italy 🇮🇹. 

When we took this film photo & interviewed Frank for our book “Store Front II- A History Preserved” in 2009 he told us that “One of the things that makes our bakery special is that we use a brick coal-fired oven to make all our fresh breads & cookies .” (2nd photo of Frank & the coal-fired oven). 

• If you are interested in prints of this lovely bakery, please DM or email us: jandk(at)jamesandkarlamurray.com as we will be adding this image to our print portfolio

Wo Hop 17, Chinatown, NYC

Wo Hop 17 restaurant is located in a basement-level space on Mott Street in Chinatown. This Chinese-American style restaurant has been in business since 1938 and has attracted many famous customers over the years. The New York Times calls @wohop17 “an authentic taste of an inauthentic past”.  

• Today we visited Wo Hop and dined in their outdoor dining area with our dog Hudson and had their amazing veggie egg rolls, wonton soup 🍜 , chicken chow fun, eggplant 🍆 with black bean sauce and shrimp 🍤 with mixed vegetables 🥦 which were all delicious.

• • To watch our livestream visit to Wo Hop please subscribe to our JamesandKarla YouTube channel, see direct link below & in bio and IG story. 

• Full video: https://youtu.be/SQV6DPOw7sg

Hildebrandt’s

Hildebrandt’s is a classic Long Island luncheonette/ice cream shop which has been in business since 1927 but is struggling to survive due to a recent rent increase.  

To watch our video visit to @hildebrandts  https://youtu.be/N-HrzN1zXS4