it's sad, but Florent wasn't really Florent for a long time if you know what I mean--sort of the way people mourned CBGB, but it hadn't been a creative hub for aeons.

Posted by: hairyass at June 11, 2008 2:24 PM

I know exactly what you mean Hairyass. Even before they tore down the divine Howard Johnson's on Broadway, it had gotten sort of, well, declasse. Even the trashiest of the stripper boys at the Gaiety wouldn't eat there. What does THAT say? As far as I'm concerned, sophisticated culinary life in NYC ended when the automats closed.

Posted by: The Late Tallulah Bankhead at June 11, 2008 2:58 PM

Would people who arrived in New York in the late '70s and early '80s- if they were the same age as then- want to stay in THIS New York we have now? Is there any New York left in New York? The shell in there, but the innards all seem so empty & forced. I do love to go to Village Pizza, though. Do those guys ever NOT talk about baseball? Please!

Posted by: Girl Ditzi at June 11, 2008 3:14 PM

I hope that after they've pulled the plug on the last videobooth; after they've sent every struggling artist to Buffalo; when Chanel is as ubiquitous as Europan; when the St. Marks Place turns into Eurotrash Central; and when rent control goes out the window & everything native about New York disappers- I hope a BIG ASS FUCKIN' HURRICANE COMES & washes the shitbags left behind into the goddamn see- never to be heard from again! I doubt even their mother would weap- as long as they had life insurance 'cause their mamas are probably all a bunch of money-grubbing cock whores too! Thank you, THE END.

Posted by: Girl Ditzi at June 11, 2008 3:24 PM

I love it when Girl Ditzi gets all in a tizzy. She unloads a fury of badly-spelled brilliance. Love ya, baby, but use your Spellcheck button.

Posted by: Trixie Blowhard at June 11, 2008 4:37 PM

Oh My God! Thank you so much, Trixie! I DO have too much misspellings in my diatribes. I need to start watching that shit, Girl! It doesn't mean as much when it looks like a retard wrote it.

Posted by: Girl Ditzi at June 11, 2008 4:59 PM

Girl Ditzi is right on the money. And speaking of which, it's that creepy little plutocrat Bloomberg, who has sold the city to luxury developers, who's most responsible for this city turning into a boring yuppie playground. (Every time I hear that petulant whine of his I want to reach for my beretta, if I had one.) Him and his busybody homophobe health commissioner Frieden, who wants to shut down every gay establishment in this town.

Posted by: GiorgioNYC at June 11, 2008 7:23 PM

Girl Ditzi, your diatribe is fine the way it is..let it be. and thanks for the paintin'( a little tribute to "Ditz") Olan' and the Musto Gusto of sharing in your blog...from an oldie who enjoys reading it all..thanks for the memories.

Posted by: eslye at June 11, 2008 8:22 PM

Thank you Michael - Well said! I wish I could put into words how I feel as well as you can Michael.
My friend Gazelle made this little video of his performance art from that day which he had invited me to shoot and watch. I find it quite beautiful and moving.

Enough said...or unsaid...hell you know what I mean and kudos to Girl Ditzi - the toilet sounds like a good place for them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f09yL8OS1M

Posted by: Olan Artist at June 11, 2008 9:50 PM

Olan you solved my dilemma: I thought Morellet himself or Joey Arias was behind the pig! Kudos to this Gazelle guy, kudos to Ditzi, kudos to Olan, kudos to Florent, kudos to Michael...and to me too!

Posted by: Tony at June 11, 2008 10:22 PM

I have to say, having been there in the rain holding two cameras and an umbrella, I had thought to myself "am I really walking down the street chasing after my boyfriend carrying a pigs head?" As someone who by my own admission, am artistically challenged, I didn't quite get the concept until later on when I saw the amazing artwork that Olan brilliantly created. It truly is breathtaking imagery. The video Gazelle edited and posted on youtube (as well as Olan on his own website) could only be what it is by having incorporated the finished art product into the video at the end. When you look at an image such as the one that Olan created, you are left pondering whether or not people were added, or what the true inspiration for the person laughing behind the pane of glass was. I know that I often make those assumptions and ask those questions. But coupled with the video, you can truly see how this entire portrayal is as true to form as one could get, with a brilliantly added flare that only Olan can adequately achieve. Well, enough ranting from the artistically challenged.

Olan and Gazelle (Miss Tilly the pig too) teamed up to create a wonderful piece that beautifully commemorates the end-of-an-era, that anyone who is lucky enough to own one can look back 20 years from now with a certain nostalgia. They'll be able to look back and think of a time before the neighborhood commercialized, and as Michael put it so well, before the fuck-me-pumped jersey girls started stomping around, that all there was here was a great haven for the late hour hungry drag queen to feel "at home."

Bravo to you Olan, Bravo to you Gazelle.... and most especially, Bravo to you Florent. Au Revoir.

Posted by: Mark at June 25, 2008 7:26 AM