The impending dismantlement of the Avenue B Toy Tower has many of my bloggin' compatriots up in arms. I'll be quite sad to see it go myself, it being one of the final remnants of bohemian character left in the East Village. As has been stated on those other blogs, go down and take part in the celebratory vigil for the tower tomorrow night, from 7pm to 9pm.
This whole chapter has reminded me of another spot just down the ways a bit that also fell prey to the wrecking ball. The Gas Station was a bizarre performance space/art gallery on 2nd Street and Avenue B that also featured massive sculpture. Initially an actual gas station, it was abandoned and then subsumed by the badlands culture of the East Village in the 1980s, which turned it into a junkie hive before some entrepreneurial souls cleaned the place up and turned it into the performance space. I can't say I ever attended any shows there -- and was frankly quite astounded by the sight of the place whenever I walked by it -- but I liked knowing it was there. The Gas Station is probably most notorious for being the site of the final, calamitous performance by G.G. Allin & the Murder Junkies. After the show in question ended in a riot (not an atypical situation for the Geeg), Allin tromped off into the East Village afternoon with some new friends, only to overdose on smack later that evening, undermining his oft-stated intention to kill himself onstage.
Don't bother looking for The Gas Station now. It's long gone. If memory serves, the space now plays host to a Duane Reade. I wonder if G.G.'s ghost haunts the back aisles of the place. In any case, you can read a more authoritative account of its existence and accompanying demise by clicking on this article from the Times in 1995.
To catch a glimpse -- albeit a shaky, oft-nauseating one -- of the Gas Station (and its surrounding neighborhood circa 1993) in full effect, check out the video of Allin's final show below. You may want to usher the kids out of the room first. Oh, and NOT SAFE FOR WORK, by the way.
A lot of these places came into being during hard times in NY, right? A booming economy causes developers to turn every space into something commercial. So a long recession might bring some of these more characterfull spots back to NYC. Bring it on?
Posted by: simon | May 10, 2008 at 11:39 PM
Ugh. Hate to admit this, but I'd almost forgotten about the Gas Station. Was there a few times. But it does seem as if that spot has been a Duane Reade forever (it was actually another pharmacy -- Kings?? -- when the new building opened).
Good memories of that old corner. Thanks for the post.
Posted by: EV Grieve | May 11, 2008 at 06:55 AM
Alex please check your email. Thanx.
Posted by: Bimble | May 11, 2008 at 09:34 PM
To whom will the NYPD have their attention, or who are their going to arrest nowadays? I guess they''l just be watching them yunnies and yuppies watch have sex in their fishbowl condos during their patrol.
Posted by: anon. | May 12, 2008 at 04:34 PM
Recently "L.E.S. Jewels" started wearing a ripped-up G.G. Allin shirt.
Last summer in Tompkins Square Park 2 or 3 ill-tempered crusties kicked "Swill" into a 5 week long coma.
The G.G. Allin spirit is still with us .
Posted by: Bob Arihood | May 12, 2008 at 05:31 PM
What I tried to say above but the blog didn't make the correction is:
Jewels has a new G.G. Allin Shirt that he wore to flash avenue A last week and that Swill was kicked last summer into a 5 week long coma for wearing a G.G. Allin shirt in TSP.
Posted by: Bob Arihood | May 13, 2008 at 05:20 PM
Wow...to be down there when that occurred must have been something to see even for jaded New Yorkers. It's a shame he couldn't make due and get more recognition with better recordings or better songs but that wasn't the point of his art.
Posted by: MEK | May 14, 2008 at 11:39 AM
The demise of the Toy Tower reminded me of Gas Station,too. There was a beautiful Rivington School metal sculpture in the yard, which was sadly dismantled.
I really miss places like Gas Station, it was nice to go there in the summer; the whole neighborhood would be there,older Latino women talking,men playing dominoes, kids running around (and not being pushed in SUV sized strollers), local artists, local community. Osvaldo would ask if you wanted your juice "with gas" since there was no official liquor license.
Allen Ginsberg used to do readings there, too. It was one of the many real performance spaces in the area that have disappeared.
I didn't go to that GG Allin show, though everyone heard about it. Too bad he's not around anymore, it would be great to watch the yuppie lemmings & SATC crowd surging down Avenue B wander into one of his shows.
Posted by: honey west | May 14, 2008 at 09:58 PM