Elk Hotel, Seedy Bastion of Old 42nd Street, Closes

JVNY reports the sad news that the old fleatrap The Elk Hotel, on 42nd Street and Eighth, has closed for good. It wasn't a landmark (though it was old, having been built in 1925). It's wasn't architecturally interesting. No famous novel was written inside its walls. But it was a living sign that heterogeneity lived on in Times Square; that people from all walks of life could still find a place to call their own in the busy center of Manhattan; that you didn't need to be rich or corporate or a tourist to find a room to call your own.

Yes, I know it was home to many a druggie and call girl. So what? Is it any use pretended that those types don't walk our streets, and won't always be a presence in a city like New York? They've got to go somewhere. And, quite frankly, I'd rather hang out with them than that guy who made the decision to put a Red Lobster near the Crossroads of the World.