I’ve written about the old Tower Records space on 4th and Broadway many times, here (most recently on this post). As recently documented in Colin Hanks’ great documentary, “All Things Must Pass,” Tower Records was a great, maverick organization, and the one they opened in the heart of the Village did indeed become a local landmark. Like many others, I was a fiercely loyal, regular customer, and I was — of course — duly crestfallen when all the Towers in New York City closed in the early 2000’s. The above quote comes from an old colleague of mine, who was incredulous when the storied, expansive space became utilized as a Toys ‘R’ Us pop-up outlet.
Shortly after that, of course, it was announced that the massive space Tower formerly occupied on that memorable corner was to transform into some fatuous promotional facility called the MLB Mancave – a sort of biodome created for sports-obsessed hermits who could watch their precious sportsball tournaments all day in a ridiculous fish-tank of sorts. It seemed like a real waste of space.
The hue and cry from folks like myself, however, came with a backlash from gentrification proponents who wanted to see Greenwich Village move with the times. A memorable commentator on EV Grieve tore us all a new one for daring to speak out again it (as documented here).
In the ensuing years, the MLB Mancave never really seemed to serve any discernible purpose. Nothing ever seemed to actually be happening inside the place, despite the curvy slide, the air hockey table, the electric guitar and the wall of televisions.
On Sunday morning, meanwhile, I went out for an early AM walkabout with my son, Oliver, and I couldn’t help noticing that evidently, the MLB Mancave seems to be no more. The space is empty and gutted. So much for that great leap forward.
Bring back Tower!
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