Shop that's cooler than a museum: there's a place in New York that sells city history

With each reconstruction, New York loses a piece of history, and with it, ancient luxury. All the attributes of an era when minimalism was not fashionable - paintings, brass plafonds, stucco molding - are the zest of the city. It is a pity that they are no longer visible in the mirror surfaces of modern skyscrapers. He told about the history of New York and where to buy it Voice of America.

Olde Good Things is a place where pieces of an ever-changing metropolis are carefully collected. The shop window is decorated with a clock without hands, which means that time does not matter here.

Jim Gee Giacoma, the store's sales manager, says they are primarily looking for architectural elements from old Big Apple buildings. He shows a terracotta sculpture of Bacchus that stood on the roof of # 4 Park Avenue. There was once the Vanderbilt Hotel.

The history of legendary hotels

The store has a Waldorf Astoria corner. There you can see luxuriously served for tea drinking table under an unusual chandelier. The Art Deco chandelier was installed in the hotel in the last century during a major renovation, according to Giacoma. It is made of Murano glass, specially made to order for the Waldorf Astoria.

This hotel has been undergoing major renovations for several years. Despite the fact that the hotel has abandoned its historical heritage, in the updated form it will be no less luxurious.

A landmark is not only a facade, but also everything that is hidden behind it. The hotel has hosted stars, politicians, monarchs and even presidents of the United States - from the 28th to the 44th.

Giacoma shows a white door frame from the presidential suite. Every president, from Woodrow Wilson to Barack Obama, has stayed in this suite, and therefore passed under this frame. This is a really special thing, says Giacoma.

Olde Good Things has a lot of specialties from another iconic New York hotel. Plaza, some of the rooms of which have been converted into living quarters, has lost the luxurious details. They didn't fit into the aesthetics of a modern condominium.

According to Giacom, mantels are their specialty. Particular attention is paid to marble onlays. During a major renovation in the Plaza, the store bought about 150 mantel pieces.

Details of a defunct theater

Removing such luxurious details, according to Giacom, is a mistake. If hotels hire their own decorators, then they want to change something, introduce their own ideas. This is how these historic luxury items end up in Olde Good Things.

Here you can also see a reproduction of a bas-relief from the Roxy Theater, which was demolished. He was in Rockefeller Center.

Luxurious huge lamps and sconces were also going to be sent to the landfill. They once decorated the building of the International Toy Center in Madison Square (now there is an Italian supermarket).

The store uses an old cash register

New York changes its outfits all the time: brass for chrome, crystal shades for LED lamps, terracotta for tinted glass.

Giacoma knows how popular the New York classics are around the world. The years 1890-1920 are the best times in the Big Apple, he said.

“This is not the old New York, but this is a period of high quality,” said Jim G. He believes that such a quality is now not found in either the attention to detail or craftsmanship.

It is unlikely that banks will now order signs in Tiffany. Among the good old things, you can catch the atmosphere of New York, forever gone. Even among the sounds. Giacoma shows Victroll to listen to jazz.

But the best sound in this store is the ringing of the cash register. Attractive Ka-ching entered the English language as a word meaning profit, success. An old cash register is used here. Although few people pay in cash nowadays, the old-fashioned sound is pleasant to hear.