(food, lists, nyc, to do — )
25 Mar. 2008
Much as poutine to Quebec, marmite to Queensland, or egg cream to the Bronx, such is Rotel to Texas. Which means it has thus far eluded me in NY, and now I find I need it desperately. Shit, shit, shit. Time for another weekend mission, I guess. Googling indicates the following as possible sources, but I fear the list is outdated:
- Walmart
- Stop & Shop (I do recall as a student in Yonkers that this was accurate...but today?)
- Food Emporium
- Target
- Dean & Deluca
- Random bodegas
If any of you five trusty readers has had a recent Rotel sighting, now is the time to come forward! Do you remember that crap queso I served you recently? Do you?! Do not make me feed that to you again.
Update: Although the bodegas and larger groceries of Astoria and Greenpoint were sadly lacking in the Rotel department (as was Kmart), Food Emporium of Union Square came through.
2: Key Foods @ Ditmars has Rotel. Instead of being shelved with the other canned tomatoes, however, it is tucked away next to the beans and Mexican foods.
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(books, nyc, to do — )
20 Jan. 2008
I've been pestering S. for this list of cool used bookstores in NY ever since I left Portland. It is from the special 2006 25th anniversary issue of Cometbus (issue #50), and I haven't been able to track down a copy of my own, or even another copy of the list online. Thankfully, she finally found her copy buried under thousands of books of her own.
My goal is to visit everyone of these as a start to compiling my own list of used bookstores here in NYC. Please e-mail me ('holla,' at this domain) if you have any personal favorites to recommend).
- Skyline Books
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13 W. 18th St
- Bookoff
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14 E 41st St (near NYPL)
- Community Books
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143 7th Ave, Park Slope, Brooklyn
Uncertain if this is the same one referred to in Cometbus, but looks promising either way.
- Clovis Press
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Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Closed. One story says it's been turned into a wine bar by local gentrification efforts.
- Spoonbill and Sugartown
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218 Bedford Ave, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
- 7th Ave Books
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Park Slope, Brooklyn - Closed
Brooklyn seems to be hard hit in the book realm.
- Park Slope Books
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Park Slope, Brooklyn - Closed
Another gentrification fatality.
- Junk
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197 North 9th St, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
- Alabaster Bookshop
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122 4th Ave
- Westsider Rare and Used Books
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Broadway between 80th and 81st, Upper West Side
- Unoppressive, Non-imperialist Bargain Books
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34 Carmine below Bleeker
- Accidental CDs
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location unknown, probably defunct
This used to be on Avenue A but then moved around the corner to St. Marks to squat in "the Cave." The landlord evicted the entire building with a sledgehammer about 5 months later. Unclear what happened to Accidental after that, but their original location is supposedly now a bakery that makes dog treats.
- Gotham Book Mart
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Closed!
After roughly 87 years in business, this one closed in summer 2007.
- The Two in One Shop
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52nd near 9th Ave, Times Square - closed?
I can't find any reference to this online or in the Yellow Pages, so I'm thinking it might be gone.
- Mercer Street Books
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206 Mercer St, NYU
- 12th Street Books
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11 E. 12th St., Greenwich Village
UPDATE: Moved to 179 Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn in July 2008
- 86 Books
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276 12th St, Park Slope, Brooklyn
Unclear if this is the same store mentioned in Cometbus.
- Housing Works
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126 Crosby St near Houston
Always a winner. Beautiful, delicious, charity.
- Heights Books
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109 Montague St, Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn
- The Strand
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I should not have to tell you how to get here
Ah, a classic. Probably the first used bookstore I visited in NYC, all the way back in college. Because of its size, The Strand is great if you are looking for something specific, but it can be claustrophobic with all of the traffic and definitely isn't the place to go if you are looking to get lost in quiet stacks of books.
- East Village Books
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99 St Mark's Place
- The Thing
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1001 Manhattan Ave, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
- The Vortex
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222 Montrose Ave, Bushwick, Brooklyn
This used to be around the corner from The Thing and was (is?) run by the Thing's wife
List additions:
- Adam's Books/Unnameable Books
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456 Bergen Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
Tiny but enjoyable selection of art, history, philosophy, and lit books. They also have a nice rack of what look like artists' self published zines? I went here looking for an obscure title by Jenny Perlin that they carry. Very cool.
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(charity, mongol rally, to do, travel — )
17 Dec. 2007
This is way, way down the road (yeah, I missed this year's deadline), but I am currently fielding a team for the 2009 Mongol Rally. I've sent a note to those I thought would be interested, whom I don't expect to kill after more than 3 days in a cramped car, and/or who won't wimp out at the sight of a gun.
At any rate, if you are one of the 3 people who reads this regularly and you feel I incorrectly left you off the invite, drop me a line. If you would just like to help out in some random way, drop me a line for that, too.
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