Summer has officially begun and, just in time, we have a renovated playground open for children who aren’t stuck in a hot classroom, an Asian kitchen featuring healthy food so we don’t balloon out during swimsuit season and a lovely French café with plenty of iced coffee options. As usual, if you see any new retailers or spot changes to a long-time establishment, please email me at tre@downtownny.com and I’ll check it out.

Yushi Asian Kitchen
100 Maiden Lane, betw. Gold & Pearl Sts., 212-742-2150, www.yushi.com
Yushi Executive Chef Danny Lachs took a trip to Thailand when he needed inspiration for his pad thai. It’s this passion and attention to detail that’s making Yushi a popular new dining destination in Lower Manhattan. The company operates one other branch in Midtown, which is grab-and-go, but for the new location, Lachs said he and owner Luke Fryer wanted to expand to include a build-your-own-meal bar. Customers can still get pre-packaged food made fresh daily, but they can choose from the bar, which includes protein options such as tofu, chicken, beef or pork, a base of rice or bok choy salad and vegetable options to complete the bowl. Choose a sauce such as orange-sesame vinaigrette to top it all off.

“People can come in three days a week and get a totally different experience,” Lachs said.

The kitchen doesn’t stop at Thai influences—it also pulls in Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese flavors. Customers can order sushi, potstickers and, coming soon, several kinds of bahn mi sandwiches. The restaurant is what Lachs calls “fast-casual,” and though some establishments of this kind often serve foods high in fat and calories, Yushi features veggie-based, low-cal options for the health-minded.
But one of the most important aspects of the restaurant for Lachs is the way the food is prepared. “To me, what is crucial is the open kitchen. When chefs are behind closed doors, they can’t interact with the customer.”

Café French Gourmand
9 Maiden Lane, betw. Broadway & Nassau St., 646-756-4911
This quaint establishment features the best aspects of a French café much closer to home. The menu offers breakfast and lunch items with enough variety to please most everyone in the office. Hot sandwiches on ciabatta include a piadine of tomato, mozzarella and prosciutto and the classic croque monsieur. Cold sandwiches on offer include a French variety of roast beef, tomato and salad dijonnaise. The salad bar includes fennel, brie, goat cheese, chicken and radishes. Several soups are homemade every day.

Breakfast, my favorite meal of the day, includes one of my favorite meals, the ham and cheese croissant. They also offer bagels, oatmeal, muffins and flavored croissants. Top your breakfast off with a specialty coffee such as an iced macchiato.

Pearl Street Playground
Pearl Street betw. Fulton & Beekman Sts.
Throughout the winter, I watched renovations continue on this playground and wondered when it might reopen. The other week, I stopped by and discovered the playground was packed with children. The renovated space features new play equipment, a water fountain, spray shower and a safety fence. The playground is within sight of the South Street Seaport and nearby piers. Children could even do a playground crawl, stopping first at Imagination Playground on Burling Slip and continuing on to Pearl Street.

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

Is there a better target for robbery than a shady van filled with thousands of cellphones? That’s just one complication that arises when considering the city’s perplexing cell phone storage procedure for high school students.

Cell phones are banned in city schools—probably with good reason—but students who attend schools with metal detectors, and want cellphones for the commute, must store these phones in trucks or nearby bodegas for a $1 fee. The bodegas and trucks store the phones for the day like a coat check service. That adds up to about $22,800 a day for all New York City high school students.

The New York Post reports these companies make up to $4.2 million a year, while the accumulated “phone check” fees can be a financial stretch for some students. As Gothamist points out, schools with permanent metal detectors often have the most financially challenged students (88 of 1,200 schools have detectors). For many students, money now going toward cellphone storage may have been put toward basic sustenance.

WNYC reports Mayor Bloomberg told students to “leave [their] cellphones at home,” but we’ve all seen enough Law and Order to know kids should not be wandering city streets without some means of communication.

—Alissa Fleck

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

Despite the unappetizing nickname “street meat,” food carts are an extremely popular snack and meal option in the City. They range from basic coffee or pretzel carts to elaborate, gourmet food trucks with their own Yelp pages and faithful customers who have no qualms about waiting in line for—what could be—hours.

(by Alissa Fleck)

Now the Department of Health has proposed some new regulations for food cart vendors. The DOH claims these regulations would make current rules easier and more transparent for those who operate food carts. The implication is that many food cart vendors do not break the rules on purpose; these rules may simply be difficult to understand.

The DOH is also proposing changes to some of its rules governing mobile food vending to “improve sanitary practices and decrease the threat of foodborne illnesses.” Additionally the Department hopes the new regulations will help control the rampant black market for mobile food permits.

New regulations follow some recent complaints about food cart vendors. Many such complaints come from The 34th Street Partnership, a not-for-profit, private management company organized as a business improvement district. The Partnership called food vendor trucks an eyesore and wants the city to reduce the number in Midtown. The Partnership says food cart vendors are also “terrible citizens” who litter.

Street Vendor Project advocates for street food vendors. Attorney Matthew Shapiro, representing the Project, said fines given to food carts prevents them from making their carts look nicer. (Some of these many potential fines are listed in the food cart facts below.)

For one, the city hopes to crack down on accountability. Many food carts are not directly operated by the person holding the permit for the cart. The proposed regulations would require that person to be present during inspections.

Food cart size is also a problem—too-large carts may face a violation. The new regulations propose food trucks be limited to 10 feet long by 5 feet wide, except in the case of trucks. Storage facilities would also be required to log when every cart is brought in or leaves as dictated by the new rules.

Then there’s the black market. In 2011 the Wall Street Journal reported that a hot dog stand in the Bronx could cost $14,000 for a two-year permit. In this case the permit-holder, not the city, is charging the person who operates the stand.

According to the WSJ: “The city charges a mere $200 for most food-cart permits, which must be paid every two years when they are renewed. But it only issues 3,100 year-round permits plus an additional 1,000 seasonal permits—not enough to satisfy demand. Transferring or renting these permits to another vendor is illegal but everyone, including the city’s Health Department, acknowledges, that it happens.” There are 2080 people on the city’s waiting list for a two-year food cart permit.

According to the NY Post, food carts in NYC accumulated 2,517 general violations in 2011 by July. Despite violations, the city’s health department does not grade food carts like it does restaurants. The greatest violations it reports appear to result from uncleanliness on the part of the vendor, i.e. failing to wash one’s hands. The independently popular, fancier food trucks tend to be more sanitary.

Horror stories abound, though they must be “digested” with a grain of salt. One person whose brother fell victim to street cart uncleanliness told CBS in 2011 that his brother had to be hospitalized and they “found rat hair in his stomach.” (Perhaps “street meat” is not so far off, though this accusation would not be surprising in nearly any NYC restaurant.)

There may be some benefits to the proposed plan. According to the DOH website, “Carts or trucks that sell only pre-packaged, non-potentially hazardous foods or whole fresh fruits and vegetables could be stored in a facility other than a commissary” provided the facility meets certain regulations.

Despite this, many vendors fail to see the benefits.The Press was curious what food cart vendors had to say about these new proposed laws.

Two food cart vendors operating separate stands in Union Square had not heard anything about the proposal.

At a Rafiqi’s stand, also in Union Square, two cart workers present, neither of whom was the unit’s permit owner, had heard of the proposal:

“We’re all thinking the same thing,” said one Rafiqi’s worker who did not identify himself, of other vendors to whom he had spoken. “It’s crazy.” He said they agreed there were already too many restrictions in place.

Three vendors in the Flatiron area around lunchtime said they had not heard of the proposals either, while some of them seemed reluctant to the Press at all. One coffee cart vendor in the area said of the proposals: “It’s just talk.” He seemed to believe new regulations would not apply to his coffee cart.

Two vendors in what would be, by new regulations, an oversized vehicle said their boss was not there when asked about the regulations, and then that they had not heard of these regulations either.

There will be a public forum on July 19 to address the new proposal.

In 2007, New York Magazine released some interesting facts on these food carts:

-Black-market rental at the time was $3,000 a year

-The most common violation was “standing too far from the curb” (more than eighteen inches). Other violations included vending within twenty feet of a building entrance, vending at a bus stop, not offering a customer a receipt and resting food on wooden surfaces. 

-A typical vendor paid $433 a year in fines, with New York courts dealing with 59,000 vending cases every year 

-Carts are stored in garages at night, with monthly rent between $250 and $300 (many of these garages have been shut down by the Health Department) 

-Average daily revenue for a food cart was $200 to $300 

-Average annual take was $7,500 to $14,000

-The most profitable food cart item was coffee, the least profitable being fruit 

-There are no official standards regarding the quality of meat or other products

Find out more here.

More information on proposed food cart regulations can be found here.

Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons

Car-less travelers who want a cheap ride out of the city know they can count on a plethora of Chinatown buses, which pick up riders curbside and deposit them in various cities along the coast. They may be disappointed to learn this might not be the case for much longer.

In light of recent deadly crashes, federal officials have shut down twenty-six of these Chinatown bus companies, the New York Times reports. The pool of inspectors for these bus companies is small, and the hope is this action will discourage other similar, low-budget companies from trying to get away with the same legal evasions, the article explains. These evasions are facilitated by the companies’ lack of an official “home base,” making investigations into safety regulations difficult. Recent investigations, however, reveal safety violations among these companies run rampant.

The Chinatown buses’ nearly 1,800-a-day passengers include everyone from students on a budget to casino-goers hoping to make a deal. One of the companies, Apex Bus, touts its low prices on its barebones company website. Roundtrip from Manhattan to Richmond, Virginia is a steal at $30.

Many officials hail this crackdown as a lifesaving measure, but how are riders responding, particularly those left to fend for themselves on the curb?

At the intersection of Canal and Allen Street, where these bus companies have their offices and stops, many people were standing around today with their suitcases, looking perplexed. Some bus stop buildings are open for business while others, like Apex, have their grates partially pulled down. A handwritten sign out front of Apex lists several trains as “not running.”

One frustrated traveler was trying to visit family in Philadelphia. He said the Apex website was up and running and indicated the last bus would be leaving at five. When he showed up at the “bus stop,” there were just a lot of people waiting without explanation.

“They’re only letting people in that building based on nationality,” he said, indicating the Apex building. When pressed further, he explained only Chinese people were being allowed into the building. “I have ridden this bus several times, there and back, now people are saying the government shut it down. They’re saying it’s not safe. I guess I’m going home today,” he said. “Suddenly this all looks bogus,” another added.

Hopeful riders explained Apex runs as a cash transaction, and they would likely not trust the website with their money. They expected to pay in person at the stop, agreeing Apex is preferable to a service like Greyhound, which charges significantly more and is not accommodating in where it drops riders off. Apex is known for driving into more “obscure neighborhoods.”

There is a transportation bill pending in Congress, according to the New York Times article, with one goal being to implement a letter grade system similar to that currently being used with restaurants in the city. The Philadelphia-bound rider said the buses were only occasionally dirty in the past, but often had wifi access. He said they were never as bad as a New York City subway train.

“A grade would not necessarily make a difference to me, I’ve never had trouble in the past,” he said. “It’s important that the driver be safe though, that’s my life on the line.”

Several people waiting for other bus lines, in front of open buildings, declined to comment on the situation.

As of today the Apex Bus website is still accepting online ticket purchases, despite being shut down, though it redirects users to an external site.

Downtown Alliance’s Kelly Rush lets us know what’s opening and closing

I love Lower Manhattan this time of year. I have at least 50 (no exaggeration) different spots along the water where I can sit and watch boats or the sun or children playing. I never get tired of seeking out new vantage points on the Hudson and East rivers because, like my ancestors of long ago, I am drawn to water.

Soon I’ll be bringing to you a project I’ve been working on for several months, a catalog of sorts of all of the open spaces where you can sit, eat a quiet lunch, rest or just people watch in our district. The tableaux from many of these spots are spectacular, particularly the views that encompass the deep blue. Look for this report on our website in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, I have a few new businesses to report on, including a hip lounge you should visit after the sun sets, a yogurt shop and a café. As usual, if you see any new retailers or spot changes to a long-time establishment, please email me at tre@downtownny.com and I’ll check them out.

Demi Monde
90 Broad St. (betw. Broad & Whitehall Sts.), 212-248-7220, demimondeny.com.
It’s not every day you run into a cocktail lounge that employs Japanese bondage knots in its edgy décor and yet still maintains a feeling of class. The chandelier-lit, blue velvet-draped Demi Monde (designed by Warren Red) is the sort of place you want to end up at rather than leave for your ultimate destination.

Co-owner David Blatt, who also just moved to an apartment on Wall Street, said he and partners David Kaplan and Alex Day wanted to create a place for neighborhood residents who are looking for more upscale nightlife—people who don’t want to get a cab at 10 p.m. and head far north.

“We’re recognizing the shift in the neighborhood, which has become a 24-hour place,” he said. “Residents can stay—walk down the block.”

Demi Monde’s chef and the food he is creating weren’t afterthoughts, and that’s what separates this lounge from many others, Blatt said. Groups can reserve a tasting table and enjoy a nine-course tasting paired with cocktails from the elegant and classic to the bold and experimental. The food, described as new American small plates, includes king crab rolls, tofu skins, a wagyu strip steak, sashimi and oysters. Or get a bottle of champagne and order caviar service from the tobiko to the golden osetra.
Blatt says the establishment is about revelry and celebration, so sparkling beverages rate high on the menu. Demi Monde batches its own soda, make its own tonic and uses these mixers to best advantage. I think I’ll try the Whisper Campaign, composed of Calvados, chamomile, chartreuse, lemon and sparkling wine. If you have a favorite you don’t see on the menu, don’t worry; the bartender will know how to make it.

Brooklyn Yogurt Factory and Cravings Catering and Café
17 Trinity Pl. (at Greenwich St.), 212-344-1111.
Though both establishments have the same owner, Harry Ashkenazie, are kosher and are side by side on Trinity Street, neither is a step-child of the other. They are each unique and bring some much-welcomed variety to this little strip between Broadway and Battery Park City. Ashkenazie said parents have already come over from the other side of West Street to ask just how late the yogurt shop will stay open.
Brooklyn Yogurt features a self-service bar where customers can mix flavors and dole out as large, or small, a serving they desire. In homage to Brooklyn, Jennifer Giuglianotti, who hails from the same city, has painted the walls with whimsical trees and a replica of the Brooklyn Bridge. The café, which has its own bold, colorful décor, features pizzas, paninis and soups and will have outdoor seating for patrons who want to enjoy their meals in the fresh air.

Where the children go, the schools follow. In a sure sign that Lower Manhattan is adding more families than ever (our residential population has doubled in the last 10 years), a new child care center and preschool has opened off Washington Street across from Battery Park City.

Just up the Hudson in North Battery Park City, Harry’s Italian has officially opened its doors, thus completing the restaurant row openings around the Goldman Sachs building. As usual, if you see any new retailers or spot changes to a longtime friend, please email me at tre@downtownny.com and I’ll check them out.

The Learning Experience  Children’s Academy
20 West St. (Entrance at 28 Washington St., betw. Morris St. & Battery Pl.), 212-797-1110, thelearningexperience.com.
Mr. Bubbles the elephant roams the halls, walls are decorated in a fairy tale theme and everyone gets a nap. This is the blissful life of a child enrolled at The Learning Experience, a child care center and preschool for children ages 6 weeks to 6 years. The center will celebrate its grand opening May 19 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with games, vendors, prizes and a ribbon ceremony. Center Director LaToya Dawkins said activities are play-based and teach children how to explore and learn from their natural environments. At each stage of development, children are preparing for the next level, whether they are just spending time on their tummy building strength, getting potty-trained or learning words in Spanish or Mandarin.

Though the academy has more than 100 locations throughout the country, the West Street location is the first in Manhattan. The academy has more than 30 years of experience in the child care and pre-kindergarten business, and developed The Learning Experience Academic Program (LEAP), which consists of three classes separated by age and developmental stage. Add in phonics instruction and curriculum that includes American Sign Language, and children will be as prepared as possible when they enter kindergarten, Dawkins said.

Harry’s Italian Pizza Bar
225 Murray St. (betw. North End Ave. & West St.), 212-608-1007, harrysitalian.com.
Chef Nick Angelis and restaurateur Peter Poulakakos are teaming up again, this time to bring a new pizza parlor to a community hungry for some more Italian. The restaurant features both round and square pies with toppings such as meatballs, prosciutto or broccoli rabe. Pastas include gnocchi, seafood linguine and manicotti. Or, enjoy an entrée such as chicken parmesan, veal saltimbocca or filet of sole. Harry’s also offers a variety of wines for the perfect pairing.

Delivery and takeout will be available throughout Lower Manhattan and a weekend brunch will be served on Saturdays and Sundays. This new venture is the fourth pizza bar and third outpost of the Harry’s Italian brand, said Kate Domaingue, who represents the group. Angelis and Poulakakos first partnered to create Adrienne’s Pizza Bar and later opened Harry’s Italian Family Style on Gold Street, as well as a location in Rockefeller Center.

Sometimes I have a big group of new store openings, sometimes I have one exquisite standout. This week’s column features the lovely and distinct florist, home furnishings and accessories brand Bloom. New Yorkers may recognize the name because Bloom has another outpost in Midtown. The new store is in a large, light space adjacent to the Conrad New York Hotel in North Battery Park City and is a smart, inviting addition to the new retailers in this community.

As usual, if you see any new retailers or spot changes to a long-time friend, please email me at tre@downtownny.com and I’ll check them out.

Openings

Bloom, 255 Murray St. (at West Street),646-414-6269, www.bloomflowers.com

Harvard Professor Elaine Scarry, in her book On Beauty and Being Just, proposed that beauty is an aid to justice. The idea is that the beautiful object stops us, pulls us out of our self-absorption and focuses our attention on the wider world, thus prompting a concern for others. A trip to Bloom won’t necessarily make customers more ethical, but it will infuse their homes with vibrant beauty and perhaps start them on a new path that begins in their living rooms toward seeing the world in a brighter way.

Bloom offers the standard floral services, including arrangements for the home and special events such as weddings or corporate gatherings; it also offers landscaping design for everything from a backyard patio to a rooftop garden.

Customers will find unique home furnishings and accessories in the store, such as an oblong-shaped glass terrarium with a Venus Flytrap among amethyst crystal rocks inside, but that’s just the beginning of what owner Kimberly Perrone offers. She can design a whole room around just one flower, a unique vase, a pillow or a natural object such as a plant that can live outside of soil. In fact, finding such exotic pieces is one of her specialties.

Perrone calls Bloom a lifestyle environment and says florals and botanicals are key to the brand. Her style could be described as architectural and minimal but still elegant and luxurious in feeling. She pays special attention to color and shape, favoring monotones and hot brights and generally avoiding pastels. She uses organics when appropriate, such as petrified driftwood or a seashell made of ground shells.

Perrone had worked in the fashion industry, but decided she wanted to own her own business and began looking for something that felt right. She discovered Bloom, what she called a “sexy luxury brand in flowers,” and decided to purchase it. “I thought it was a great opportunity. The market hadn’t been approached the way it could have been. There was no real floral brand of this type.” She began expanding her services and hasn’t looked back.

Bloom also has a thriving e-commerce business, with many items available for purchase online, including flowers (seasonal and a signature collection), gift baskets and candles. But if a customer has a specific idea about the perfect container for a particular flower, Perrone will find it.

She thrives on bringing beauty into a space; it doesn’t just change the environment, it changes the way one views the environment, she said. Everyone could use a little something beautiful in their life—and, for that matter, justice, fairness and impeccable style.

Closings

Blockheads, Courtyard,250 Vesey St., 4 World Financial Center

Diamond’s Hallmark, 7 Hanover Square

The Country Kebab,76 Fulton St.

Photos & Text by Veronica Hoglund

As the weather continues to get warmer, there is no question that most of us will be spending our free time outdoors soon. With that in mind, now might be the perfect time to invest in the bicycle you know you’ve been wanting. I decided to check out the wares at Recycle-A-Bike (75 Ave. C, betw. 5th & 6th Sts.), located in the East Village. The cycle technicians at the shop take old, worn bicycles and give them a facelift, providing you with a beautiful, fully functional refurbished bike while creating no new waste in the process—a process that takes only four hours to complete.

The bike first comes to the shop as a donation, usually bikes that have been sitting in basements or have been left behind by former building tenants. “The bikes just need a little love,” manager Patrick Tomeny told me. Recycle-A-Bike has been providing a vast variety of New Yorkers with recycled bicycles since 1994, in addition to facilitating youth programs in and around New York City.

From the moment you walk into the shop, it is clear how meticulous the process of refurbishing a bicycle can be. The tiny shop is packed with tools, parts and various pieces of equipment. As the Recycle-A-Bicycle team prepares to tackle their latest project, a vintage Schwinn World Tourist, they begin by taking apart the bicycle and wiping down the various parts. As staff member Brendon Brogan explains, the team does an “overhaul” of the bike, completely disassembling it to “guarantee the quality of the bike.” Bear in mind though, about 85 percent of the refurbishing process is simply cleaning, which mainly consists of wiping it down with a concentrate of water and Simple Green.

Though much more complicated than the guys make it appear, the bike is pulled apart piece by piece, screw by screw. In what seems like an instant, all that is remaining is the bicycle frame.

Once everything has been disassembled, it’s time to rebuild the bike. First, each part is given all the way from the bicycle chain to the handlebars—is given a good clean. When able, parts used are taken from the original bicycle and are replaced only when necessary. Then, the many parts are reassembled, using fresh grease to get the bicycle moving the way it should.

After a long four hours, a once-exhausted bike has been transformed into one ready for the streets. A set of refurbished Recycle-A-Bike wheels will set you back $250-$350 dollars, but considering the care and love put into these pieces, it is well worth the price.

It seemed this winter that the supply of new businesses opening in North Battery Park City was endless, and in fact this column will soon see yet another crop. The final two that I know of are expected to open in time for my next column, and then we’ll say goodbye to this busy little strip for a while.

I’ve been taking pictures of some of the myriad public spaces in Lower Manhattan and have come across some beautiful reminders that the northern hemisphere is waking up to spring and showing us its colors. I hope you enjoy them, and as usual, if you see any new retailers or longtime establishments changing locations, please email me at tre@downtownny.com and I’ll check them out.

Conrad New York Hotel
102 North End Ave. (betw. Murray & Vesey Sts.), 212-945-0100.
We’ve seen the construction crews moving in and out of this space for months now, and all that work has finally concluded with the Conrad celebrating its grand opening March 19. The hotel, perched in the center of Restaurant Alley across from the Goldman Sachs building, is like its own little city; It has a restaurant, Atrio, a rooftop bar opening in May called Loopy Doopy (named after the Sol LeWitt mural hanging in the hotel’s atrium), and even a barbershop, Salvatore Barber (Atrium Level, 646-769-4272), which is now open and serving guests and visitors in need of a trim. I walked to the hotel recently and was impressed with the light that pours in through west-facing windows overlooking the Hudson waterfront. Hotels have a tendency to be dark, and patrons can experience what I call the “casino effect,” whereupon leaving the building, one’s eyes cannot adjust even to the weakest sunlight. Not so here. The artwork complements the architecture, the plush carpet in the lobby is so deep it muffled my clunking footsteps and you just can’t beat the view.

Atrio
Atrium Level, 646-769-4250.
This full-service restaurant, situated just off the lobby, has an extensive menu including breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner, plus desserts. To start, try an ahi tuna crudo or a radicchio-and-endive salad. Main dishes include an orecchiette pasta with Long Island duck sausage, a stone-fired organic chicken and a prime New York strip. Stone-fired pizzas available include one with a port reduction and smoked scarmorza. For dessert, try the pistachio profiteroles, salted peanut gelato or a chocolate panna cotta with amarena cherries.

Photo Credit: Patricia Voulgaris

Robert Warner has been the master printer for 17 years at Bowne & Co Stationers, a modestly sized stationery store and printing press that is part of the South Street Seaport Museum.

This piece of New York City history stands on cobble stoned sidewalks, giving New Yorkers and tourists alike a little taste of the 19th century, with its hand-cranked printing presses. Back when printers were tradesmen, not machines hooked up to computers, press printing was a skill and a trade essential to Downtown, which has always been a printing, publishing and finance district.

What does Bowne & Co offer the Downtown community?

This community that’s down here is unlike any other community. There’s a school and then there’s all these businesses and then there’s all these old buildings, which some people have inhabited and restored—there is a whole sense of renewal and community in this part of the city. This is where New York begins. 

We have to learn from our history, preserve it and actually embrace a neighborhood so many people have passed through, like [Herman] Melville and [Walt] Whitman and Joseph Mitchell.

What do people expect when they walk in or pass it by?

When people enter the shop, oftentimes they say, “Oh, it reminds me of the way my grandparents’ house smells.” And I’ll ask, “Well, were they printers?” and they say, “No, it’s the wood.” I’m so used to the smell of the wood after 17 years that I barely notice it.

[When I first started here] I just loved walking in and smelling the ink and the oils. There were two women in the back printing and there was a sense of industry and tradition. I want to continue to convey that. I like people to have an experience when they visit here that they wouldn’t have in any other store.

Why does printing matter?

This neighborhood was the printing and publishing district for many, many years. And as much as we’d like to think that we’re a paperless society, we still rely on paper now. Ink on paper is all the more beautiful when it’s letterpressed because it leaves a kiss on the paper and an impression on the page.

I am a firm believer that humans need the human touch, which is what Bowne & Co. Stationers does. You can buy a handmade $3 card here—why spend $4.50 at a Duane Reade on a glossy American Greetings card?

Photo Credit: Patricia Voulgaris

Do you have any letterpress workshops coming up to get some people coming in? You have to pass on the printing tradition eventually, right?

Occasionally I do workshops. The next one will be letterpress collage, and I’d like to do it weekly. Workshops sound so serious, like you have to work. I just want people to experience paper and composition. It’s not really playtime either, it’s an assemblage, but people don’t really know the word assemblage.

I could consider the next generation, take on an intern, pass on my knowledge. I’ll do what I can, but being here, unlocking the door and having normal business hours, people know and depend on me to come here. I’m not expecting millions of people—I don’t know if I want a global network. I think Downtown is enough.

What’s the appeal of an antiquated letterpress, especially in this technological age where everything is on a screen?

[The letterpress] is hand-operated and hand set, so every letter is an individual body of type. You can print 500 copies from one letterpress and 200 of them might be very similar, but the beauty of it is that they’re never going to be exactly the same. It’s the difference between something that is hand-embroidered and something that is machinemade.

What’s beautiful about printing on letterpress is the ability of the viewer to actually see a hand process. I think more and more, the way the public views a computer screen or a tablet, people long to actually feel paper and run their finger across it. I know that the Kindle is very important because people are reading it and it’s accessible, but I’ve noticed that when people pick up paper or books, they run their finger across it and you see them taking it in. People will always hunger for something that has a texture to it.

Bowne & Co. Stationers, 211 Water St. (betw. Fulton & Beekman Sts.), 212-748-8651