steveb leatherworks: the blather

I see the old city disappear…right in front of my eyes.. every day. 
It stopped existing at street level years ago, with “for sale” signage and cleared, gutted street level space, with Plywood roofs above – if your looking for the old “hood” you need to look up to catch the last bits of what was…like this shred of signage.

I believe this was about where the old “Hotalings” newsstand and magazine store used to be. Hotaling’s was the best. They were the best, because, besides having every single magazine and paper from around the world they had the coolest folks hanging out  and stopping in – super global, really felt like you were at the crossroads of the world, even if you might get mugged right outside the door – ha!@  This was a sketchy spot of street when it got dark, back in the day…as there was nothing open on either side of Hotalings store for years

It was a real, if not expensive thrill to buy all the European biker mags from them. I had them special order me stuff all the time. They are long gone, wiped out by a mediocre “I’d rather support Borders” mentality. Hooya in memory of Hotalings! They rocked! 

lost history