The BAMN! automat food vending machine on St. Marks Place. It evoked two things for me: 1950's Americana pharmacy dining and contemporary Asian vending machines where you can purchase everything from beer to condoms. The offerings were creative -shepherd's pie, faux chicken sandwiches from Red Bamboo, grilled cheese, bbq chicken paninis. Everything was $1-$3, impressively cheap.
Another observation - the general Asia-fication of New York. From popular Japanese retailer Uniqlo (they of the $40 cashmere sweater) and Muji (which I love with my minimalist-obsessed heart) to the restaurants like the Rickshaw Dumpling Bar, and the dozens of Izakayas that line St. Marks, it feels as though a large portion of Tokyo's hipsters have relocated to the area around NYU and the East Village. I enjoyed shopping at Uniqlo, below, with its overwhelming selection of T-shirts and nondescript preppy staples like polo shirts and button-downs.
Now, if only we could purchase cashmere sweaters from vending machines...
3 comments:
I had a surreal experience at Uniqlo. They had retro t-shirts with old corporate logos and one of them was Yum Yum Doughnuts, a doughnut chain in L.A. that I grew up with! So a guy from Miami buys a t-shirt of an L.A. doughnut shop at a Japanese apparel store in NYC. Wacky.
And we loved Muji. It was the only place that I could find a manly fold-up reusable grocery bag as well as a wooden block set of iconic NYC buildings, complete with taxis and limos.
Every experience at Uniqlo is surreal...And I saw that wooden block set at Muji and fell in love with it too. Nice shopping L2M!
I used to live in Miami and now live in New York (near the food vending machines!) and like your blogs lots! it makes me homesick for miami. i wish i could find decent cuban food here. i will swap you dim sum for pastelitos!
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