Results tagged “factory”

     

If you've ever seen Warhol's Factory, it was likely in part through the lens of Nat Finkelstein, who documented much of that era and the characters who created it. The photographer died of pneumonia and emphysema on October 2nd at the age of 76, while at his home in Shandaken, New York. The NY Times notes that he was the house photographer at the Factory from 1964 to 1967, and "created spontaneous portraits not only of Factory regulars like Sedgwick and Gerard Malanga but also of the artists and celebrities who drifted in and out of the Warhol orbit."

Writer Jim Carroll died of a heart attack Friday while working at his desk inside his Manhattan apartment at age 60. Carroll is most famous for writing , his follow-up memoir about working in Warhol's Factory and attempting to get clean. Carroll is survived by a his brother, Tom.

Stella D'Oro, the local makers of cookies and breadsticks that you used to be able to take almost anywhere, has been sold and is leaving its longtime home up in the Bronx. Earlier this summer, workers of the Kingsbridge cookie factory were put on a roller coaster ride when a judge ruled in their favor of their yearlong strike only to be told by owners Brynwood Partners that the court's costly decision was prompting a shutting down of the factory. Workers demanded that Brynwood sell Stella D'Oro so that operations could continue and the company complied...only to have new owners Lance Inc inform them the new jobs would be about 500 miles west in Ohio. Following the news, the union released a statement saying, "We weren't wrong in what we did. What's wrong is that the law allows companies to sell off its business in order to avoid a judgment of the law." Well, at least 75 years of baking cookies and a hardfought labor battle aren't all for naught—Lance Inc says Stella D'Oro is "a perfect fit in with the niche brand strategy that we have."

City Councilman John Liu is running for Comptroller and, in a TV ad, he says he's worked in a sweat shop with his parents. However, a Daily News reporter wrote yesterday that he never did, based on what Liu's mother told her: Jamy Liu says she never worked in factory, though she did bring home fabric; her sons helped her with and were "paid 25 cents for every ball he spun on a yarn-spinning tool," money that Liu's father Joseph said was "allowance." Liu fired back, with a statement on his website, calling the News piece "gotcha" journalism, "My mom was very reluctant and embarrassed to talk about her experience working in the garment industry," and noted that many sweatshops "including the one my mother worked in - combined factory hours with home-based piece work to maximize the exploitation and squeeze the most out of workers: even after leaving the factory, the work never ends." Today, the News stands firm and wonders why Liu "initially said his mother worked in a sweatshop while her children were 'latchkey' kids. Now he claims she worked at home during the school year, but brought her boys to the factory during the summer." Related: Liu fires shots at Councilman David Yassky when asked by the News to discuss his rivals for the position.

Days after a judge ruled that Stella D'Oro, the baked goods company, should reinstate its striking 134 union workers in the Bronx, the company announced it would shut down its Bronx factory. Last week, the judge found that Stella D'Oro did not "bargain in good faith because it did not release its 2007 financial statement," and now the company says it can't make a profit without union concessions. The company said, "The decision to close the Bronx bakery operations has not been made in haste or without significant planning." One resident said to NY1, "Every time I would come by I would smell the aroma of the cookies, of the baking, etc." Related: Patton Oswalt riffed on the Stella D'Oro breakfast treat ads.

It's been a while since there's been any movement on developer Michael Lappin's plans to turn the decaying old Domino factory in Williamsburg into a 2,200-unit residential and retail complex. Could it be the $1.3 billion project is being scaled back or abandoned, seeing as how the economy went down and hung itself in America's dank basement? The developer insists all systems are go, despite the fact that some of the banks underwriting the project have gone bust, and the real estate market is hobbled. Now some community groups and officials opposed to the plans are calling this an opportunity to reconsider the project, which some say will overwhelm the already stained public transportation system and parking situation. Assemblyman Joe Lentol tells the Observer, "We have now an opportunity to negotiate. They may be able to see the light and redesign the project so that it's more amenable to the community." Lappin says he expects to file the land use application with the city soon, and then the project will undergo the crucial public review phase.

Few residents of Park Slope, Brooklyn are probably aware that they share their neighborhood with a firearms company that has operated in the borough for almost a century. The Henry Repeating Arms Co. is garnering some unwelcome attention this week, however, after it was revealed that the company shipped four of its lever-action rifles with live rounds inside. The company produces around 100,000 rifles annually.