Shocker: NYU Fucking Up Provincetown Playhouse Preservation

Hey, they never really cared about the historic dump in the first place, did they?

To the surprise of no one, but the dismay of everyone, NYU has carelessly and predictably screwed up the preservation of the Provincetown Playhouse. The whole world fought with the education behemoth last year when it announced it's intention to tear down the historic theatre, which gave birth to Eugene O'Neill and the whole of modern American theatre. After many community meetings and lots of bad press, NYU begrudgingly agreed to keep the theatre building in place and build its desired new law school structure around it, rather than destroy the entire address in favor of a new edifice.

Only, you gotta watch the assholes at NYU like a hawk or they'll tear down the Washington Square Arch while you're not looking. According to an article in The Villager, work was "put on hold on Aug. 18 after neighbors discovered that part of the historic playhouse wall that was to have been preserved had been removed."

Reactions were not mild. "The discovery of the missing wall segment last week outraged Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, and prompted Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer to demand on Monday that work related to the theater cease, except as related to structural stability, until the community is informed of the extent of the damage."

Alicia Hurley, N.Y.U. vice president for government and community engagement, and one of the biggest liars you'll ever want to meet, said "a portion of the north wall of the theater, dating from before 1916, was removed about three weeks ago when it was found to be made partly of rubble and unstable. She said she discovered the removal only last Thurs., Aug. 13...My office should have known about it and takes full responsibility for the communications gap,” Hurley said. Work as related to the theater will cease and will not resume until a report is made to the community within the next two weeks. “The final shoring up of one wall of the theater is being done this week to hold everything in place, and then we’ll take a break from work in the theater part of the project,” Hurley said."

Why don't they just tear down the whole thing one midnight, like developers sometimes do to get around the City, and get it over with. You know that's what they really want to do.

(Picture from Curbed.)

Some Stuff That's Interesting

Andrew Berman gets some things off his chest. [The Villager]

Coney Island scourge Joe Sitt is working his charm again, this time frightening clowns away. [Curbed]

Chumley's has a new predicted opening date—fall 2009! We sorta believe this one a little more than the previous nine predictions. [The Villager]

Why couldn't they have just let the roof cave in? [NY Post]

A nice film of the interior of the RKO Keith in Flushing. [Queens Crap]

Details magazine thinks Park Slope's O'Connor's is a dive (correct), as well at Times Square's Jimmy's Corner (wrong). Dives are on the decrepit side and are home to sad boozehounds. Jimmy's is simply a nice, well-kept, modest bar. It's old and unfancy, not down and out. [Details]

Queens is Pinko. [Restless]

There was a road called Bloomingdale. [Harlem Bespoke]

Some nice photos from near the Hudson. [Greenwich Village Daily Photo]

Abraham and Straus, "Brooklyn's Greatest Retail Store," remembered. [Forgotten New York]

NYU to Squash Another Short Building on WSP

NYU hates every building bordering Washington Square Park that it doesn't own. (It's their park, you know!) One that it particularly hates is the squat, '60-style church at 58 Washington Square South, known as the Catholic Center at New York University. The university has been trying to be the thing since the '90s.

Now, it has finally succeeded. The Archdiocese of New York gave NYU the go-ahead to buy the church for $25 million. NYU will build a seven-story building there, which will perfectly destroy what remains of the view of the Washington Square Arch looking down Fifth Avenue. NYU spokesperson John Beckman said the site would not be used for dormitories. "The site will be used for multi-faith and academic purposes, and there will continue to be a Catholic presence there," he told the Real Deal. "It will not be used for student housing."

Other Great Plans NYU Has for the City

Witnessing how well its idea to dump a ton of new bricks on the historical Provincetown Playhouse went over, New York University this week rolled some of its other plans for the town. Among them:

*Remembering that, historically, painter John Sloan once camped out on top of The Washington Square Arch with a bunch of his buddies, NYU will build on that idea by installing two dorm rooms and a bulkhead at the top of the arch.

*To create yet more dorm rooms, an enormous treehouse will be built among the branches of the centuries-old "Hanging Elm" in the park.

*Toll booths will be placed at Fifth Avenue, LaGuardia Place and all other entries points to Washington Square to regulate traffic and provide a steady source of income for the university.

*The university will enter into a partnership with restaurateur Keith McNally to turn the Minetta Tavern into a student cafeteria. Joe Gould goulash will be served every Wednesday.

*NYU will build a tall glass building that will spoil, er, enhance the view of the Washington Square when looking down Fifth Avenue. Wait! They already did that.

*NYU will be a monstrous towering dorm over the corpse, er, facade of St. Ann's Church. Wait! They already did that.

*NYU will tear down a former home of Edgar Allan Poe to build a new law school...what's that?...goddamn it!

*The school will propose to City Council changing the name of the metropolis to New York University City.

*Taking on Columbia University as its running mate, NYU will run for Mayor in 2009. Bloomberg, it is expected, will endorse the two institution's candidacies. City Hall to become a dorm. Gracie Mansion a gymnasium.

NYU Thinks Up the Unthinkable

Here's a simple history test even an ignorant dunderhead of a New Yorker could pass. The Provincetown Playhouse in Greenwich Village where Eugene O'Neill, the father of modern American drama, produced many of his first plays—worth preserving or eminently dispensable?

Duh.

Well, NYU isn't as smart of your average dunderhead. It wants to tear down the Macdougal Street landmark (which isn't officially landmarked, of course) and develop the property for its law school. When I first saw this article in the Villager, I checked to see if it was April 1. It seemed like one of those April Fool's Day joke stories. It couldn't be true!

Excuse me while I go berserk for a minute.

WTF! WHAT THE FUCK?! What the everlastin', God-fearin' fuck are they fucking thinking, those monstrous, vulgarian, institutional mother-fucking fuckers. If they touch one brick I'm going to go down to Washington Square and rain a torrent of blows on their greedy, unthinking, unworthy heads!

OK. I'm better now. Still furious, though.

Reads The Villager article:

New York University proposes to demolish the four-story buildings on MacDougal St. where the Provincetown Playhouse first produced the plays of Eugene O’Neill, and redevelop them to include new space for the university’s law school as well as a new theater.

Although not protected by city landmark designation and modified several times over the past nine decades, the row of four buildings and the 170-seat theater have iconic cultural significance.

The redevelopment of 133-139 MacDougal St. will be the first test of the N.Y.U. planning principles adopted in January with the support of the Community Task Force on N.Y.U. Development and Borough President Scott Stringer. The principles were adopted with the hope they would bring a new era of harmony between the university and its Village neighbors.

Oh, yeah. This'll breed harmony for sure. NYU! The village just gave you holy Hell for wanted to shut down a Met supermarket! Do you think this proposal makes for a good follow-up?

Here's the ugliness they're after. Purty.

NYU President John Sexton's e-mail is: john.sexton@nyu.edu. Write. Write. Write. Make his computer crash. Make his life miserable.

NYU sucks. NYU sucks. NYU sucks. NYU sucks. NYU sucks. Repeat ad nauseum.