Holdouts

In his short prefatory note to NYC Storefronts: Illustrations of the Big Apple’s Best-Loved Spots (Prestel), Joel Holland describes the graphic project as his way of “grabbing tight to New York and squeezing. Hard.” This tight squeeze is both cope and futile hope that time will slow down enough to enjoy things just a little longer. Of the 224 storefronts he illustrates (the accompanying capsule descriptions were written by author David Dodge), many have changed dramatically, if not in appearance, then in clientele. I remember a locals-only Friday-night vibe at Fanelli in Soho when I lived in a closet around the corner. I now live in Morningside Heights, an area with thin representation in Storefronts, largely because it lacks the eccentricities endemic to the tangled streets of Lower Manhattan (to which Holland is especially attached). Up here, there’s an effort toward cleanliness and order. And yet, the pint-size galleries, the sidewalk bars, the dense human sociability—they all have me waiting on the South Ferry–bound 1 train platform every day. A few notable haunt…