As reported over at Racked almost a full year ago, the new teen emporium going in at the intersection of Broadway and Houston for the Abercrombie & Fitch upstart Hollister means curtains for the iconic DKNY wall art.
That bird's-eye view of downtown NYC has been emblazoned across the north wall of 600 Broadway for nearly two decades, and serves as visual counterpoint to The Wall, the big blue sculpture rising above Houston on the west side of Broadway. And now it's fading to gray.
At a recent meeting of the always contentious Community Board 2 Landmarks Committee, the creative gang of marketeers and architeers from A&E unveiled their plan for what's to replace the DKNY art. The scheme for the mall -- er, wall -- is thus: nearly 15,000 square feet of gray paint covering over the raised hand of Lady Liberty and Twin Towers beyond. Dark gray at that -- what they described as a "historically appropriate" hue -- and the words "Hollister" and "California" painted ever so discretely at dead center.
Oh so tasteful! Pardon us for napping. Who can we thank for this? The rules of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the brains of retailers and the desires of SoCal-loving teens. For the posers, let's pose this really big question: by the time the iconography has been altered and this place opens will those label-loving high schoolers have any of their parents' once-disposable income left to spend?
