It's Part II of Curbed's Third Annual Year-End Awards. Let's get right to it.
II. NEIGHBORHOODS
New Microneighborhood Names of the Year
3) DUGO. Sounds too much like Yugo, and the area under the Gowanus Expressway is a freaking pit. Cue the luxury condos!
2) NoMaS. The North of Madison Square Park restaurant district. No Mas, indeed.
1) Hell Square, for the quadrilateral of drunken revelry on the Lower East Side. Now w/t-shirt! (above)
Lost Neighborhood Landmark, Soho Edition
Cybele (left). As a tipster emailed us at the time, "That's 16 less tits and 6 less ass cheeks for Soho."
Lost Neighborhood Landmarks, Brooklyn Edition
4) Old Dutch Mustard. The developer bought it because he loved it, then tore it down. Still with us?
3) Greenpoint Terminal Market. Unlike other slo-mo demos, it went out in a blaze of glory.
2) Todd Shipyard. Ikea coming soon, but the Graving Dock is still clinging to life.
1) Revere Sugar Factory. The end is bitter, painfully slow, and entirely too photogenic for its own good.
Most Threatened Landmarks Still Standing (More or Less)
3) Domino Sugar Plant. Will the Williamsburg waterfront site be landmarked or not? Stay tuned.
2) Broken Angel. Crazy genius artist creator, evil bureaucratic villains and an unfortunate fire, make this a compelling fight. But will an, um, angel step in to save this Clinton Hill treasure now that it's on the market?
1) Admiral's Row. Decrepit, but historic, Navy Yard buildings soon to be a big supermarket. Cycle of life, etc.
Rumors on the Internets Medal
Awarded to: Blowout closing bash at Williamsburg's 184 Kent put on ice (right) after building owner reads Curbed, freaks out. (Bash carries on across the street, natch.)
Honorable mention: Crazed Gowanus squatters take up arms in Curbed comment threads, threaten more bad graffiti.
Storefronting: Store That Most Improved a Neighborhood's Quality of Life
3) Trader Joe's. If you waited in one of the endless entry lines to get in during its first 30 days, punch yourself twice in the head. Now do it again.
2) Fairway. Red Hook, now with 72% more kinds of cheese you've never heard of!
1) Whatever the hell this West Village store was selling that day.
The Somebody's Going to Pay for Fucking with God Award
3) St. Ann's. Don't worry, NYU says it's going to save the facade on the East 12th St. church. Nevermind that there's going to be a 26-story dorm growing out of it.
2) St. Brigid's. The bulldozers tore a chunk out the East Village church's side before the crazy man on the roof saved the day. Eternal damnation postponed.
1) Lower East Side's Incredible shrinking synagogue. And then God said, dibs on the penthouse.
Absurdist Art Project of the Year
3) Sky Mirror (above). Not billowy or orange.
2) 11 Spring. Safe for luxury condos yet?
1) The NYPD's Tower of Fun, making Harlem safe for luxury condos and chain stores since 2006. Bonus: Now in Times Square!
Takes A Licking But Keeps on Ticking Award
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn. The Atlantic Yards juggernaut ran over this Fighting the Man Award winner at every turn, closing out the year with a final approval from the Gang of Three in Albany, but DDDB is still fighting with lawyers. Someone get these guys courtside Nets tickets already.
Storefronting: Heart-Wrenching Neighborhood Shutterings
4) The Movie Place (Upper West Side)
3) Shopsin's (West Village)
2) CBGB (East Village)
1) 2nd Avenue Deli (East Village, above)
This City Is a Toilet Award
3) Harlem's serial crapper.
2) The residents of this Chelsea apartment building. Slinging shit and other shit the best they know how. (See also Hudson Hts. copycat shit-slingers. It's an epidemic.)
1) 29 E. 11th St. C'mon, gang, did you see a urinal puck?
Best Reader Rant
"once you grow up, say maybe around age 35 you start to realize there is more to life than drinking and staying up til 4am. And that yes, you might like living somewhere where hipsters aren't up all nite long screaming and yelling and puking. The night life crowd does not own the LES...people actually live there and miss the quiet residential feel it used to have." -xgirl, On East 4th Street, No Liquor for You E.U.
Most Anticipated 2007 Opening
The Party Barge (right)! Probably trolling around the East River looking for good times as we write these very words. This summer, it'll settle down as a rockin' community pool on the shores of Brooklyn. And you thought the water was warm at Soho House.
One more end-of-year post to follow, featuring the reader vote on the Curbed neighborhood of the year. That's dropping tomorrow, and then we'll be checking in with updates through New Year's Eve. After that, we're back at full steam on Tuesday, January 2, 2007. Our thanks to all the Curbed tipsters and eyes on the streets that made this site what it is again this year. We couldn't do it without you. —JA&JA&RG&LS&the whole Curbed team.
BONUS: Eater's serving up its own massive year-end wrap.