Yesterday a little Harlem liquor store was lambasted by members of the Mount Morris Park Historic District, which has been working hard to class up the neighborhood, and then along came this downmarket booze peddler to Lenox Avenue—their "Champs-Élysées"—with a garish neon sign and bulletproof glass. The sophisticated community improvers were hoping for a nice wine shop where they could enjoy nightly tastings, while others, like local handyman Rick Jones, were simply grateful to have a new "place to get drunk." But now the city is stepping in to restore balance to the Force of Gentrification.
The city's Department of Buildings has slapped the store, at 183 Lenox Avenue, with a stop work order, warning that "construction on the interior of the store and the sign were performed in a 'dangerous or unsafe manner,'" DNAinfo reports. The DOB has also issued three violations for working without a permit on the sign, facade and interior. DNAinfo reports that the Landmarks Preservation Commission has also served the owner notice, specifically because of that fugly sign, which a worker at the store says cost $4,500. The owner has 20 days to respond to the commission or face fines.
All of this is welcome news for the wounded eyes of the more refined neighbors. Take Syderia Asberry Chresfield, for instance; she's the president of the neighborhood historic district, and she explains, "I'm not accustomed to going to a store and pointing through a plexiglass and saying what I want. I might want to pick up the product." Honestly, we can't imagine how anyone is expected to choose the perfect bottle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape if you can't first cradle it in your arms like a newborn baby!
