With the imminent destruction of the fabled Mars Bar here in what used to be the unwanted part of the city and having passed by a sale of items from the key/hardware store next to it the other day, I did not realize that a part of my own memory had been distorted. A documentary which I watched last night, The Tao of 9 2nd Avenue, made me question my own sanity. While watching it, I was made aware not only of the devastation wrought over the past few years in the name of progress- this is nothing new to the Lower East Side, East Village, Nolita, et cetera, but the twisted nature of it in my own conscience. In the film, the focus was on a certain building which used to serve as a community center, and which had inside it a swimming pool and a church. Watching it in its entirety, I could not make sense of what was happening because I could have bet anyone anything that the building still stood. But, even after the footage of the demolition was seen by my own eyes, I could have sworn that it was still there.
I could not add 1 and 1 together in this instant. This was particularly startling as I am often one with quite a long memory, especially of places. It is a kind of nostalgia for the old days, something that is becoming commonplace nowadays.
Well, today, I walked by the area (which, actually I do almost every day) and my eyes were greeted with the erasure of the old. What I thought was there was no longer, and had not been for years now. How many other things in my life are this way, I do not even want to begin to think.
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| A curious lapse in memory and time (screenshot from the film) |
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