5 Pointz. (The Flooz)

As the above-ground train rolls past the Court Square stop on the 7 line, a stone’s throw into the heart of Long Island City, passengers are awakened by a defiant cacophony of shapes and colors against a backdrop of the graying and decrepit Queens skyline. There, a red-brick warehouse stands proud, one entirely outfitted in graffiti tags and murals by aerosol artists. Born of a mission to create a legal urban canvas for the criminal art form flaring up in excess throughout the city during the early ’90s, the brainchild of founder Pat DiLillo—then known as “The Phun Phactory”—opened in 1993. In 2002, Jonathan Cohen—an FIT grad who had been tagging since he was 13 and is better known in these parts by his nom de plume Meresone—began curating the work. He soon rechristened the building “5 Pointz,” after the five boroughs of New York City. But it has since branched out and become a cultural mecca of sorts, with pieces by artists from cities such as Paris, Madrid, London and Germany.

On any weekday, while businesses—a clothing factory, storage space for city hotdog vendors and a small non-profit gallery called Local Projects—hum away inside the building, Mr. Cohen can be found in or around the building, monitoring projects and making sure nobody is painting without his permission.

“I’m here every day, I have no life.”

But the 39-year-old Flushing Native may soon be getting his free time back­—at the price of his life’s work. Though plans to tear down 5 Pointz have been rumored since 2010, Jerry Wolcoff, owner and developer of the site, has recently announced tentative plans to erect two large residential towers with ground floor space for retail. According to Mr. Wolcoff, the September 2013 demolition date is awaiting approval by the community board, which would make the end of this era official.

According to Marie Rouge, a Parisian and self-proclaimed graffiti aficionado who handles the limited public relations for the building, the media coverage was the first they had heard of it.

“He’s not calling us and giving us information. We are learning everything from the press,” she told us. “We fully understand that our landlord is a real estate developer, and that he owns the building and that he can do whatever he wants. [But] we feel that what has been built in the past ten years and what 5 Pointz represents, not only in New York City, but worldwide, is not something you can just dismiss.”

“It’s sad that there’s nothing like this in the city,” Mr. Cohen said. “There is nowhere else to do this.”

But despite the disappointment and occasional outrage, the two seem resigned to accepting the impending demise. They haven’t made any plans to picket or circulated any aggressive calls to action. Most of the protest has come from a petition circulated by fans called “SHOW YOUR LOVE TO 5POINTZ,” which generated almost 15,000 signatures, and by a few minor donations on the PayPal section of the 5 Pointz website.

5 Pointz administrators are instead focusing their energy on the building’s tenth anniversary celebration—an ongoing summer festival featuring free events every Saturday. So far, the building has hosted performances by DJ Marly Marl, ’80s break dancing crew The Dynamic Rockers and various other New York City hip-hop icons. These are the things that drew Mr. Cohen to 5 Pointz and the graffiti world in the first place. “I liked this world when I was young because it was just about having fun,” he said of his goal to re-imagine the glory days of Hip Hop on this corner of Long Island City.

At the event honoring The Dynamic Rockers, Mr. Cohen succeeded in bringing that world to life as the building was rife with nostalgia. One who followed the thump of the bass to the loading dock area travelled back to a pre-Giuliani New York City, straight out of a rap video from the ’80s—flattened-out cardboard boxes made a makeshift dancefloor and the nearby fire hydrant had been broken open, all set against the graffiti backdrop of 5 Pointz. Break-dancers leapt forth into circles, a DJ spun older rap with splashes of James Brown and a few artists worked on new murals for the ever-changing face of the building. Like Mr. Cohen and Ms. Rouge, the attendees seemed nonplussed by the imminent danger to their home. True to a community long under siege, they carried on, business as usual.

Luis Lamboy Jr., or Zimad, once designed backdrops for MTV and clothing for singers like The Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff. He now calls 5 Pointz home. “This place is about the art form itself, the goodness of the art form without the police,” Mr. Lamboy said. “It’s about the positive.”

One of the honorees, a Dynamic Rocker who goes by the name Glyde, refuses to believe 5 Pointz is going away. “I’m not going to promote that,” he said. “I’m a positive thinker. I’m going to keep with that they’re not going to tear it down—until they do.”

For a demographic that vehemently fought gentrification in the past, they appeared suspiciously quiet. Perhaps New Yorkers have just grown used to city landmarks, and childhood memories, being rezoned.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Mr. Cohen was circling the block as usual. Within earshot of the party, he was working, as he had for nearly a decade. He stopped often to make sure everything was going to plan—and that nobody strayed from their designated spot or painted illegally.

He can barely make it halfway down the block without stopping.

“Is this the next generation?” Mr. Cohen asked an old friend carrying his baby, before turning to us. “Kids that were 15 when they started coming here now with their kids, I see that a lot.” He then asked us to wait while he stopped an unauthorized photo shoot.

Truth be told, it doesn’t seem that Mr. Cohen is really fighting the demolition at all, though it might just be because he doesn’t have a second to spare. Or perhaps he is just used to change. After all, 5 Pointz looks different every month.

“I believe ultimately there’s only so much to do. You can only work so hard to do something,” he told us. “In the end what’s meant to be will be.”

editorial@observer.com

Joe Acaba aboard the Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft in May.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has overcome a number of harrowing obstacles along the road toward accomplishing out-of-this-world feats—the Apollo missions, followed by the space shuttle, and now the development of Commercial Crew vehicles—but there remains one roadblock of sorts that it is still trying to navigate its way around: How do we get these darned kids to think we’re hip?

NASA administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. is well aware that his current audience remains much the same as it was during the space race; a lot of older people follow NASA closely because of intense nostalgia for space-related memories like gathering around a black-and-white TV set with their entire extended family and watching something special like, say, the moon landing. Today's youth, on the other hand, hasn't grown up with these scientific breakthroughs occupying an abundance of airtime or attention, and these major events are pretty much known to them from what they've read in school textbooks or heard at family gatherings—when grandpa has had one too many bourbons.

But now, NASA is launching initiatives to bring the agency better remembered from monochrome boob tubes into the present, aligning itself with pop culture trends. It recently released Angry Birds Space, which is designed to encourage users to consider anti-gravity trajectories while they eliminate egg-stealing pigs. (Following the game release, a YouTube demonstration on the International Space Station of real-life angry birds using a slingshot and balloons had 16 million views.) And Bob Jacobs, deputy associate administrator for communications, tells us the agency's fervent social media efforts are “award-winning.”

“There was a time when space exploration was new, that every launch was a pioneering effort,” Mr. Jacobs said. “Kids today don’t know a time without space exploration.”

This Friday at 4 p.m., however, NASA hopes that the elusive younger demographic will be brought into a space story of their own—about the time they listened to the first DJ spin from the stars out yonder.

Astronaut Joe Acaba will host the program, entitled “The Joe Show: New Rock From Space,” from the International Space Station, 240 miles above Earth.The show will be broadcast on NASA’s radio station, Third Rock Radio, available on the NASA home page and via a mobile app called TuneIn.

Cruze, one of the founders of Third Rock Radio, tells us that the station is like any other, except for two small details: It only plays new music, discovered online and at music shows by its team of “music explorers,” and, during breaks from the program, it shares facts about NASA and other technology developments.

“In between songs, instead of saying things that other DJs might say like, ‘Join us next Thursday for drinks at so-and-so’s club,’ the Third Rock DJs talk about ‘Hey we’re landing this info finder on Mars next week.'"

Cruze—who goes by only one name—told us that he and his partner Pat Fant have more than 30 years of broadcast experience between them, which they are trying to apply to NASA’s new initiative. “This is NASA’s challenge, frankly,” he told us. “Becoming more relevant to a new generation.” But this isn’t NASA’s first foray into experiments with the music world, he said. Cruze related an experiment by Don Tepit, an American astronaut who put water droplets on a speaker and then blasted ZZ Top so the water droplets could be photographed in suspension.

At Third Rock Radio, the DJs make an effort to match music with whatever they are reporting. And Cruze says that though it might sound “cheesy,” the Apollo landing would definitely pair well with Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. He added that he wasn’t the only one who thought Pink Floyd goes well with spaceflight miles from Earth. During an interview with Third Rock, astronaut Joe Kriegel told them about a mission during which they played the album while they looked at Earth through the cabin windows.

“They missed the moment for re-entry and had to wait until they got the go-ahead to try again, so they shut off all of the lights in the cabin,” he told us, “and listened to the entirety of Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd.”

Cruze thinks all of the expeditions can be paired with music tracks. Other expeditions are a little “more psychedelic,” he laughed over the phone. “Any Mars landing might be something sort of electro.” He points to songs by a French duo called Air, which released an all-instrumental record intended to be a soundtrack to the silent film “Voyage to the Moon.” In light of the Curiosity rover landing on Mars scheduled for Monday, the album might very well hit Third Rock's airwaves.

Despite these pairings, Cruze tells us they don’t like when their songs are too literal. “We don’t want to have it be about Rocket Man by Elton John,” he told us. “A lot of time that’s what people think Third Rock is about. But it’s about what’s new and not been heard everywhere else.”

He hastens to add that during Friday’s show, he’s not enforcing any limits. “If Joe Acaba wants to play Rocket Man, I’m not going to tell him not to.”

Turning Park Avenue into a park. (NYC DOT)

Zip line! (NYC DOT)

Brace yourself for traffic jams and honking horns, the event of the summer that infuriates New York City drivers the most is back with a vengeance. Summer Streets begin this Saturday and while bridge and tunnel commuters across the city are throwing up their hands in frustration, DOT commissioner Sadik-Kahn tells pedestrians, don’t forget to try the zip line!

August 4 is the first of three consecutive Saturdays this month when New Yorkers are encouraged to hang out in the nearly seven miles of car-free streets that will stretch from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park. In addition to programs held in previous years such as picnic areas, exercise and dance classes, bicycle and rollerblade rentals and a rock-climbing wall, this year summer streets will also feature a yoga pop-up park and a 160-foot zip line.

Some of the more bizarre events on the program highlight the urban backdrop. “Truck’s Eye View” encourages summer street attendees to get behind the wheel of a truck to see how truck drivers see the roadway as part of a safety initiative. And, in a venture that would only truly jive with a populace raised on 90’s hip hop and urban heat waves, a fire hydrant sprinkler will be available at 52^nd Street.

The programming this month will also include collaborations with the Urban Art Program to create four temporary installations. “Bench Press” will offer collapsible benches exploring public seating in major areas. “Bus Roots” will repurpose bus rooftops into mobile gardens. “Cyclo-phone” is an exhibit of two bike powered musical instruments that will be found at Astor Place. And lastly, “LOVE TV” will invite New Yorkers to share stories of New York City.

Overall, the summer streets program will highlight the recent initiatives put forth by the city, encouraging fitness and environmentalism. In what perhaps might be a reference to the notion of spending a portion of your Saturday at summer streets in the front seat of a truck, Commisioner Sadik-Kahn said in a press release he hopes that “New Yorkers can reach new heights of fun on the first three Saturdays in August.”

Hacker and wife. (Tequila Minksy)

In The New York Times opinion section on Sunday, CUNY professor Andrew Hacker asked readers a question: Is Algebra Necessary? Mr. Hacker eventually reasoned the answer was no. Hundreds of his readers across the country screamed back, “Yes!”

These opinion articles are predisposed to garner strong reactions. Close to 100 readers might comment on an opinion piece on a controversial topic such as American involvement in the Middle East. Mr. Hacker’s article drove 474 commentators to their computers before The Times stopped accepting the respondents.

They weren't to be halted; they then turned to the open platform of the web. Bloggers and mathematicians alike took to their keyboards to pile on the rage and some praise about the suggestion that algebra should be an elective.

Mr. Hacker, for one, is shocked. “My home computer is just about undergoing a seizure,” he told The Observer yesterday afternoon when we reached him over the phone. “I’ve been getting e-mails from Abilene, Texas! I’m surprised the gray old New York Times has infiltrated all of these places.”

While many of those who were driven to blog about the issue seem to vehemently oppose Mr. Hacker’s stance, he told us the e-mails and comments he has received have also been positive. His wife discovered a post on the the Facebook page of The Monkees band member Michael Nesmith defending Mr. Hacker’s stance on the issue after novelist Jane Smiley sent him a link to the op-ed. “Forcing me to learn school-taught algebra was like trying to teach a lion table manners,” wrote Mr. Nesmith. “Manners are useful, but not so much to a lion.”

“Then he got 600 more comments about me,” Mr. Hacker laughed.

Despite the outrage, Mr. Hacker remains firm as ever on his stance against mandatory algebra, and even more so against an abstract group of people he labels as “math people” or “math major."

He doesn’t agree that algebra skills are necessary. He then asked The Observer—reporters and likely holders of degrees not so numbers oriented—if we studied math at any point during college (we haven’t). “Math majors,” he tells us, “math majors have their minds so sharpened, that their opinions about Syria are more valid than your opinions about Syria because once you do math and algebra, your mind becomes superior and so do your opinions in every field.”

He does believe that algebra sharpens the mind, but he doesn’t feel this brain sharpening should be required. As a result, he tells us he has been called “anti-intellctual” and “anti-rigor.”

“I’m all in favor of rigor,” said Mr. Hacker. “Chess! Chess would be a marvelous way to sharpen minds. I don’t think millions of students should be mandated to play chess.”

This is not the first time Mr. Hacker has stirred the academic pot. His book about the “myth” of higher education decried tenure. But he insists that his intent is not to cause as much trouble as he often does. “Whenever you question a possession that people have, like money, tenure, math knowledge, they get very defensive,” he explained.

But that’s not going to stop Mr. Hacker from writing his opinions about what he sees to be fact versus what he asserts is fiction. “You know what? I’m a professor, I’m a scholar and I’m interested in the truth,” he told us. “If I see there’s myth, superstition and self-delusion I think, ‘Hey, there’s a thing called academic freedom, we’ll blow the whistle.’”

Dan Willingham, author of Why Students Don’t Like School and professor at the University of Virginia, presented a more typical argument to The Observer. “If you leave it up to an eighth grader or ninth grader, they’re probably not going to opt into algebra,” he said.

Mr. Willingham said the result might be stronger disparities between poor and wealthy families in terms of achievement and college educations, adding that tracking in this manner can be a problem because without the foundation algebra and the core principles it introduces, mathematics, in general, won’t be as helpful in the future. “You’re going to end up limiting the greater possibility of what kids can do.”

After reading the argument, Mr. Willingham penned his own opposition to the piece called “Yes, Algebra is Necessary,” on his personal website.

According to him, many of the comments supporting Mr. Hacker seemed to rely on personal experiences. “Everyone has individual stories,” he told us. “They know someone who hated math and hated being subjected to it. But there are lots of counter stories of kids who thought they hated math but ended up working through it and are glad they did.”

Many of the articles comments opened their arguments with phrases like “I thought this was satire” or “Seriously?” Mr. Willingham himself began his counter saying that when he saw the op-ed, he “mistook it for a joke.”

He recognizes that the argument got pretty heated. “It is actually a little personal,” he told us. “It’s obviously very provocative, calling for a major realignment as what we think of as standard curriculum. But also, as funny as it sounds, people love math.”

Meanwhile, the heartfelt criticisms have, if anything, made Mr. Hacker more certain his position is correct. He thinks the “math people” doth protest too much. “I have a hunch they know their case isn’t that strong.”

This stinks! (NY Natives)

The Bloomberg Administration’s plans for a waste-transfer station in Yorkville mean that Upper East Siders will no longer be able to dump their trash on outer borough residents, and they are not happy about it.

The neighborhood’s residents can be a difficult bunch when it comes to government-sponsored projects in their backyards, as administrators of the Second Avenue subway line can attest, and they have been vigilant in their refusal to become trashy — the waste-transfer station was delayed successfully for close to a decade.

But, now that the $240 million project has received federal approval in the form of a permit by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the Yorkville waste transfer station should be up and running by 2015, The Times reported yesterday.

The administration said the plan, which also includes a few stations in Brooklyn and Queens, would move trash onto barges, reducing traffic and emissions from garbage trucks all over the city. The new stations would be part of an effort to make sure every borough does its part in taking out its own trash, rather than dumping the loads on Staten Island and the Bronx—there are currently 13 waste-transfer stations in the South Bronx.

The Upper East Side station is meant to serve the borough of Manhattan, but not if the adamant opposition to the plan has anything to say about it. Assemblyman Micah Kellner still has hopes to deter the plan, and recently filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court, where Mr. Kellner told The Times they will see the Bloomberg administration on Aug. 17.

“I am more than hopeful that we will win in court and finally put this ill-conceived garbage dump to rest,” he said.

It remains to be seen whether or not the courts will agree that a waste-transfer station that will move more trash responsibility from traditional low-income neighborhoods equally across the five boroughs and reduce the number of garbage trucks is “ill conceived.”

There we were—a young journalist—standing on the viewing deck of the recently erected bubble pavilion on the top level of the museum . From our elevated post we were eye-to-eye with the cockpit of the Enterprise, the shuttle that will be housed in this temporary structure until it finds a more permanent home on the premises. Just inches away from the craft's enormous nose, Ms. Marenoff continued, “If the Intrepid can play a role in stimulating minds and getting them excited about science again by having the Enterprise here, that’s important to us."

When The Observer arrived at the Intrepid for the pavilion’s ribbon cutting ceremony earlier today, the clouds were nearly as gray as the body of the massive boat. We couldn’t help but wonder who would forfeit their entire Thursday morning, present company excluded, to sit outside on the flight deck of a boat in on and off drizzles of rain?

The answer seemed to be, with the exception of  those being honored, a handful of astronauts, the original crew of the intrepid and some space buffs, the very kids Ms. Marenoff was talking about, who were excited at the prospect of seeing a real live shuttle in their very own city.

The Enterprise didn’t have an easy trip here. Even after it had traveled to space and back, it still had to be lifted from Washington D.C. to John F. Kennedy international airport in April, and then up the Hudson river by barge. Then, it was craned onto the flight deck of the museum to its home in the pavilion. The ceremony celebrating its reveal to the public featured speeches by a number of affiliates with the museum including Ms. Marenoff, as well as Charles F. Bolden Jr., administrator of NASA.

The Observer caught up with Mr. Bolden inside the pavilion after the ceremony ended, and he told us its not easy to get children excited about science. “I think our biggest obstacle is getting them exposed to what’s available,” he told us. “This exhibit is great. Having a kid from New York City be able to stand under a shuttle, I mean, that’s incredible. It’s different than Googling or looking at stuff online.”

Mr. Bolden told us that his generation was enamored with space travel because so many were inspired by the moon landing.  “I was in flight school at the time,” he told us. “And I remember being in front of a black and white TV and watching Neil Armstrong. Even though I had no inkling of going into space training at the time, it captured my imagination.”

For those without an iconic moment like the moon landing in their recent memory, Ms. Marenoff told us the Enterprise’s arrival to New York City can offer some comfort. She told us that when the Enterprise arrived in New York City and did a fly over before landing at JFK International Airport, people young and old gathered in nooks of the city to watch in what she calls “a  very New York moment.”

“The over-forty generation remembers all of these missions and are very sentimentally attached to it,” Ms. Marenoff said of the space programs. “For the youth who don’t remember, having the enterprise here is just cool, for lack of a better word.”

Cool it was. As The Observer set off across the exhibit to track down the main attendees and targets of the Enterprise exhibit, children ages 9-12 weighed in with their opinion about the massive shuttle overhead. And guess which adjective they all chose?

“It’s pretty cool,” nine-year-old Jordan Quiles told us, in a short break from walking around the exhibit with his mom and dad.

Meanwhile, another young attendee told The Observer the exhibit inspired him with grand aspirations for the future. “I think that I would like to discover a new planet or drive a space shuttle that moves at a very fast speed,” twelve-year-old Gabriel Soluri said.

So, as they say at NASA, mission accomplished.

Meanwhile, the target on children elicited a different response by some of the older visitors, namely the original crewmembers of the Intrepid.

“I have to bring my grandchildren,” Mark Horvath, told The Observer.

A few moments later across the room, without missing a beat, Richard Mills told The Observer the ceremony gave him the same idea. “We’re planning a trip with our grandchildren,” he told us. “It’s going to knock their socks off.”

mnarov@observer.com

The Bari Equipment and Restaurant Supply store at 240 Bowery is one of the few suppliers with no plans to leave their Bowery home. The Bari’s have been shipping pizza ovens to pizzerias all over the city since 1930, when the founding Bari invented a cheese grater that catapulted the store into notoriety. They’ve seen a lot of people come and go in the last 80 years, from a host of unsavory criminals who once populated the Bowery to the shiny new gallery and restaurant owners who now rent some of the Bari-owned properties across the street.

Today, past the shiny new and used appliances pouring onto the sidewalk, past the cheap pans and giant colanders and whisks, foisted by numerous attendants eager to help new customers, three living generations, Franklin Bari, Anton Bari, and Anton Bari Jr., still run the business from a wood-paneled office at the back of the store.

“People walk in every week with offers to buy,” the eldest Mr. Bari told The Observer as he rifled through his desk, eventually locating a recent proposal of $6.25 million. “But we’re not going anywhere.”

However the Bari’s are an exception to the general Bowery restaurant supply store rule. Many of their neighbors have already traded in their Bowery addresses for homes in the outer boroughs.

Last week, construction began on the flagship Paulaner brewery in America. A beachhead for the Munich beer (No. 8 in Germany!), the brewpub is being built at 265 Bowery, where it is the newest business to replace yet another supply store. Paulaner rents the property from Simon Attias, who moved his store Attias Oven Corp from that location to its new home in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. “We got a good offer, and we feel that the restaurant equipment people there are all moving out one by one,” Mr. Attias told The Observer. “We decided to leave too.

Mr. Attias’ brother, Ben, owns an oven supply store next door. He told The Observer that every time a dealer moves out of the area, it makes things worse for the businesses left behind. “At one point it was just the Bowery, so if you needed the equipment you knew you had to come here,” he said. “Now these dealers are moving out to Queens, Brooklyn and New Jersey so you don’t have to come to the Bowery anymore.”

Mr. Attias founded his business 30 years ago. He and his ten brothers all worked in the same industry, though his brothers who didn’t own their spaces on the Bowery were forced to relocate when the rents skyrocketed a few years ago. According to him, the feeling is that New York City authorities do not want the suppliers in Manhattan anymore, evidenced by an increase of sidewalk obstruction tickets in the last three years. Where once City Hall had neglected the street and left its denizens to their own devices, now it is nagging them, and providing yet another reason to move away. “They did the same thing with fabric supply stores on Orchard street,” he said. “Now it is happening here.”

Mr. Attias told The Observer that though he doesn't miss the criminals and drug addicts that used to hang out on the bowery, he misses the days when the streets were filled with other restaurant supply stores. “At this point I’m the only restaurant supplier on my block on my side,” he said. “We used to be nine dealers selling the same equipment. Now it’s kind of quiet.”

According to Mr. Attias every time the dealers move out of the neighborhood, it gives customers a new locale where they can find supplies. Rather than decreasing the competition, it moves it somewhere else, bringing less foot traffic into the bowery and possible bringing the supplies closer to possible customers in the outer boroughs.

If things do not work out, Ben Attias said he would rather adapt to the new Bowery than lease. “If all of these businesses become restaurants, I would have to open a restaurant,” he said. “I don’t want to rent because I’m a young guy and I want to do something. I want to go to work, I don’t want to sit on a beach all day.”

He is not alone in feeling alone. Across the street, Simon Fung and his son Felix own a glassware supply store. The younger Mr. Fung told us they will not be leaving their Bowery home because the rent offers they have received were too low. “We’re business men,” he said. “If we have to change the business we’ll change the business.”

The older Simon Fung said though he likes his home on the Bowery, and misses some of his friendly competitors, he doesn’t have any nostalgia for the old restaurant supply mecca. “You know, the new Bowery is better than the old,” he said. “There used to be a lot of bums on the street.”

The Baris aren’t planning on changing their business plans any time soon. Bari Equipment is the biggest restaurant supply store in the area, and Mr. Bari told us that the business is more profitable than any renter or other endeavor would be. But their decision not to move or change their business is also rooted in their history. “We’ve got four generations in here working,” said Mr. Bari. “How could we say to a guy next door, the guy Patsy that works for us for fifty years, how could I tell him, 'Go home?'”

If the store is eventually the only one left in the area, it is poised to become a monument of some kind. The walls of the office showcase relics of the Bowery’s history, such as newspaper clippings about the store from decades past and photographs of the Bowery from the beginning of the 19^th century showing the train tracks of the New York and Harlem railroad that once passed through it.

Mr. Bari has also saved artifacts that embody the varied personality of their Bowery home. In addition to an antique catalogue selling the cheese grater and the pizza cutter invented by his father, Mr. Bari still has a stack of letters in his desk from a murderer in the early 90’s named Daniel Rabinowitz who, unbeknownst to the Bari family, was renting a room from them in a hotel across the street. “He boiled a girl and he ate her,” Mr. Bari told The Observer, grimacing. “That’s the Bowery for you.”

The architect of the new Paulaner brewery that will soon sit across from the Bari’s historic supply store, Anthony Morali, said the new business doesn’t want to completely abandon that gritty history, but instead hopes to repackage it. He said the brewery would fit in nicely because before the property was an oven supply store, it was actually a bar called Sammy’s Follies.

“That was the original location where vaudeville entertainers would come down from Broadway to have a few drinks and offer free entertainment,” he told us. “Sammy was kind to the bums on the Bowery and he would give them a little food on the side.” Mr. Morali did not say whether the brewery would be doing the same for those still in residence at the Bowery Mission.

Mr. Morali has a picture of Sammy’s that he hopes to tie into the design of the Paulaner brewery with wrought iron, chandeliers and hardwood, so that it will look like it belongs in the Bowery locale, whatever that might be these days. All of it, even the restaurant supply stores, are a sort of manufactured history. Just like the rest of New York.

In the meantime, his neighbors seem poised to accept the new variation of their old scenery—now the customer is just next door.

Mr. Attias said that even if he will miss the supply stores he is not upset about his new neighbors. “This is the way of life,” he told The Observer. “It’s the way things move up. Different businesses move in. Nothing lasts forever.”