I read with interest last week a discussion about dwindling fabric shopping in New York.
No kidding! Ive been a costume designer in New York since 1972. Way back then there were several fabric districts 57th Street, the 30s (the Garment District), 14th Street (cheap fabrics for off-off-Broadway and dinner theater), and Orchard Street (Jewish-owned stores open on Sunday). There were also stores on lower Broadway, which is now more of a college town for NYU. For those in the know there was also Louis Gladstone (up near MOMA) and LP Thur on 23rd Street. Diamond Discount and C&F were in the East Village. There was fabric and trim ALL OVER the city. Practically all the fabric outlets outside the actual Garment District have closed. When it was time to renew the lease, their rents went through the roof. I was on Orchard Street a few days ago. It used to be a place you could find wonderful, affordable fabrics and trim, stacked to the ceiling in hole-in-the-wall shops. I was amazed to see one ultra-cool eatery after another and up-scale shops selling witty little evening bags that cost more than an off-Broadway production of Hamlet. Now the Garment District itself is fighting for its life. New zoning is threatening to open up space once zoned for light manufacturing (cutting rooms, etc.) to office space. Not only the small manufacturing and design spaces on the upper floors in the Garment District are disappearing. The costume shops, milliners, vintage clothing rental establishments are being priced out of the area. And so are the fabric and trim shops that have always occupied the ground level. Can this unique area be saved or will New York become a city of office workers and Starbucks? There is a group fighting this and we ask you, as people interested in costume and fabric and fashion, to become involved. Please have a look at the web site- http://savethegarmentcenter.com/. Sign the petition, write a letter in support. Read the letters from other costume people under Press and Stories. Meanwhile, if I can help any out-of-towners with shopping specifics in New York, Ill be glad to. I just bought some perfectly lovely linen for $5.00 a yard on 39th Street. And, by the way, Greenberg & Hammer has just moved downtown from 57th. Google their web site for information about the new store. Martha McCain _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
