I Left Just In Time

When I moved onto 9th Avenue and 53rd Street on Manhattan's West Side 16 years ago, "Hell's Kitchen" was a typical working-class neighborhood. There were hardware stores, delis, grocery stores and laundromats. It had been inhabited by Irish and Puerto Ricans (think "West Side Story") since the days when Hell's Kitchen was a crime-ridden pit next to crime-ridden Times Square. There was only one gay bar (the neighborhood hadn't been discovered by The Gays yet), only one fast food restaurant (McDonald's), and no Starbucks.

But things changed rapidly. As Times Square became sanitized for the masses, so did Hell's Kitchen. Real estate developers started buying up lots and building condos. Working-class people could no longer pay the rising rents and moved out. Hardware stores became frat-boy bars. The greasy-spoon diner on my corner became an upscale restaurant called "eatery" (no capital letters). The grocery stores disappeared and became banks. Corner bodegas and cheap ethnic restaurants became high-end boutiques and specialty eateries - including one that serves nothing but fancy grilled cheese sandwiches. Seriously (below).

But the thing I most noticed was that the neighborhood's laundromats kept disappearing, one-by-one. Even with the new condos, Hell's Kitchen is still primarily a neighborhood of 5-floor walk-up tenement buildings. And most of those buildings don't have laundry facilities - so you have to either send your laundry out or do it yourself at a laundromat. But it takes A LOT of quarters for a laundromat to pay Hell's Kitchen rents these days. And wine and cheese bars bring in a lot more money and thus can pay a lot more in rent ...

Yesterday's New York Post did a story on how the last two laundromats on my stretch of 9th Avenue recently closed due to rising rents. The one pictured below was directly across the street from my apartment. I spent countless hours sitting on that small, sturdy, blue bench (bottom right corner) reading newspapers and waiting for my clothes to dry.

The other one was two blocks away and was fantastic - with plenty of space, great people-watching and even internet access. And now it's closed and rumored to be turning into another bank...

If I lived in Hell's Kitchen now, I have no idea where I'd do my laundry - but it certainly wouldn't be across the street.

My new neighborhood, Astoria (Queens), reminds me of Hell's Kitchen from the early 90's - mom and pop stores, bodegas and plenty of laundromats. Like the Hell's Kitchen of before, Astoria is diverse, working class and affordable. But the winds of change are blowing ... on my block alone, FOUR new condo buildings have gone up in the past 1 1/2 years. It is becoming less ethnically diverse and more white. And, yes, there is now a wine bar on my block.

I'm doomed. But at least, for now, I have clean clothes.

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