Sad Times For McBaker
I know everyone has been waiting with baited breath to find out how my "Dragstravaganza Christmas in January" party went on Friday. Hmmm....what's the word I'm looking for....anticlimactic? No drunken antics (ok, I was shitty drunk and as Dan reports, "loud and somewhat obnoxious,") no dragstavaganza. Not much to report, actually. Some food, pizza and the like. Lotsa mingling. No booze allowed (except for that which I had already consumed and that which I snuck in -- Steph! Thanks for the flasks!) It was, well, honestly, kinda lame. And I only say that because it made my company's annual lameass non-denominational holiday gathering look cool. But I digress.
I live in a little apartment building on one of the most famous intersections in my neighborhood: McBaker. Everyone knows my corner for one of 5 reasons: either the coffee shop, the cafe, the infamous McBaker liquor store, the drycleaners or the Fulton 5 bus stop. I live in the corner building above the drycleaners. My building is comprised of three floors: the drycleaners on the first floor (and scary Earl who lives in a shack attached to the building which is located in the alley,) two vacant apartments on the second floor and the lord and lady of the manor (my neighbor James and me) in the two apartments on the top floor.
I came home on Monday to construction on the second floor of my building. I've been nervous about this for some time. That's because there has been a rumor floating around the hood that Michael was going to be doing construction on the middle floor, combining the apartments and either sell it as a condo or move in himself. And there is almost no fate worse than your landlord living in the same building as you.
The other rumor floating around about my building is the drycleaners lost their lease and Michael refuses to renew it. Rumor hath he plans to rip out the drycleaners and turn it into a real estate office for himself. Well, color me surprised when I came home last night to the inside of the drycleaners totally demolished and the family who ran it (yeah, it's a small, family owned business. And by small I mean mom, dad and grown up son,) clearing out the rest of their possessions.
I don't really believe in drycleaning. I mean, didn't humans beat silk and wool against rocks in streams to clean the fabric for centuries? I also don't believe in drycleaning because it doesn't actually clean your clothes and it's expensive. So I never went to the drycleaner. But they opened at the same time I walk TJ in the morning and they closed at the same time I walk TJ at night and we always said hi and I always stopped to let the little old lady pet TJ for a minute. Anyway, I got off the bus and saw the carnage and knew this was probably my last time seeing them, so I stopped by to say hi.
As soon as I walked in the old lady ran over and hugged me and said how she really wanted to say goodbye to me, but wasn't sure what my apartment number was. I wished her good luck and she explained the family circumstances (the dad is too old to work and needs to retire, the mom will continue working to support the family, the son doesn't know what he's going to do) and started to cry, while still hugging me. I didn't really know what to do, what to do you say when someone's livelihood is taken away from them with no fall back when they're a senior citizen? So I just told her it was going to be a good move and something would happen and something would work out and the son agreed...but none of us looked all that sure of ourselves. So I wished them good luck and let them know I will miss them and also how upset the whole neighborhood is. Then I left, because at that point there really wasn't anymore to say.
So I don't really know what's going on with my corner. Funny as it sounds, so many people have lived in that neighborhood and ride the 5 that people know my exact apartment building when I say I live at "McBaker above Fairway Cleaners." Clearly, big changes are in store for my building, my corner, my neighborhood. It makes me sad. But change is life and all of those bullshit platitudes. Stay tuned to see what happens.
I live in a little apartment building on one of the most famous intersections in my neighborhood: McBaker. Everyone knows my corner for one of 5 reasons: either the coffee shop, the cafe, the infamous McBaker liquor store, the drycleaners or the Fulton 5 bus stop. I live in the corner building above the drycleaners. My building is comprised of three floors: the drycleaners on the first floor (and scary Earl who lives in a shack attached to the building which is located in the alley,) two vacant apartments on the second floor and the lord and lady of the manor (my neighbor James and me) in the two apartments on the top floor.
I came home on Monday to construction on the second floor of my building. I've been nervous about this for some time. That's because there has been a rumor floating around the hood that Michael was going to be doing construction on the middle floor, combining the apartments and either sell it as a condo or move in himself. And there is almost no fate worse than your landlord living in the same building as you.
The other rumor floating around about my building is the drycleaners lost their lease and Michael refuses to renew it. Rumor hath he plans to rip out the drycleaners and turn it into a real estate office for himself. Well, color me surprised when I came home last night to the inside of the drycleaners totally demolished and the family who ran it (yeah, it's a small, family owned business. And by small I mean mom, dad and grown up son,) clearing out the rest of their possessions.
I don't really believe in drycleaning. I mean, didn't humans beat silk and wool against rocks in streams to clean the fabric for centuries? I also don't believe in drycleaning because it doesn't actually clean your clothes and it's expensive. So I never went to the drycleaner. But they opened at the same time I walk TJ in the morning and they closed at the same time I walk TJ at night and we always said hi and I always stopped to let the little old lady pet TJ for a minute. Anyway, I got off the bus and saw the carnage and knew this was probably my last time seeing them, so I stopped by to say hi.
As soon as I walked in the old lady ran over and hugged me and said how she really wanted to say goodbye to me, but wasn't sure what my apartment number was. I wished her good luck and she explained the family circumstances (the dad is too old to work and needs to retire, the mom will continue working to support the family, the son doesn't know what he's going to do) and started to cry, while still hugging me. I didn't really know what to do, what to do you say when someone's livelihood is taken away from them with no fall back when they're a senior citizen? So I just told her it was going to be a good move and something would happen and something would work out and the son agreed...but none of us looked all that sure of ourselves. So I wished them good luck and let them know I will miss them and also how upset the whole neighborhood is. Then I left, because at that point there really wasn't anymore to say.
So I don't really know what's going on with my corner. Funny as it sounds, so many people have lived in that neighborhood and ride the 5 that people know my exact apartment building when I say I live at "McBaker above Fairway Cleaners." Clearly, big changes are in store for my building, my corner, my neighborhood. It makes me sad. But change is life and all of those bullshit platitudes. Stay tuned to see what happens.
posted by La Doña at 12:25 PM
1 Comments:
What a sad post. Sorry about all the upheaval, that sucks. Especially if your landlord moves in. I will comment though that if I were a stalker or anyone who had any inkling of wanting to find you or who you were I would now know exactly where you live. Kind of creepy on an online anonymous board. Not like you don't know who I am though.
Updates on my life, for full story call me at any time. I went skydiving, got jury duty, am trying to get out of jury duty, am supposed to give a lecture to paramedics maybe on Monday if anyone will tell me when or where, am leaving for Tampa either Monday or Tuesday depending on this aforementioned lecture, and am generally just incredibly excited and thrilled that my two favorite teams in the NFL will be playing one another in the superbowl. I think that is all for today.
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