Goodbye Chelsea Market, NY fleas loved by Warhol - Lifestyle

For nearly fifty years it had been a must-see destination for New Yorkers and tourists, hidden treasure hunters, eccentrics, artists and bric-a-brac lovers. It's not like that anymore. The Chelsea Flea Market , a flea market loved by Andy Warhol, who had hosted stalls along the 25th street between 6th Avenue and Broadway since the mid-seventies, has lowered the curtain forever. "They told us without a shadow of misunderstanding that they didn't want a flea market in that block," said the owner of the initiative, Alan Boss, who sub-rented the space at the stalls for $ 225 a day and offered it to the landlord. to raise the canon just to keep the market going.
No more therefore bakelite pins and vintage necklaces, second-hand furs, used clothes, antique and modern antiques, jars, photographs, oil paintings by artists almost never famous. The Chelsea Flea Market, which had been shrinking over the years, is the last of its kind to fall victim to the pressure of the real estate market and the transformation of taste and shopping: in the era of minimalist low-cost furniture from Ikea and anti-accumulation teachings of the queen of "decluttering" Marie Kondo, the attraction of the used equipment, even a little dusty, is plunging. In September also Showplace, an antiques center with about 50 retailers in front of the Chelsea Market, has been converted into a space for auctions and exhibitions in an attempt to attract a "more serious" clientele.
Now there is only room for memories: in the eighties Andy Warhol got there on Sunday before noon in an old convertible Dodge. "A friend had told him that you had to go to the flea market in search of great ideas," said Boss under whose gaze the father of pop art bought vintage watches, bakelite pins and ceramic biscuit boxes: in the 175 upon death in 1987, went up for auction at Sotheby's the following year for tens of thousands of dollars.
In a sense, the New York version of famous bazaars such as Portobello Road and the Marche aux Puces in Paris, has fallen victim to its success: following the example of Warhol, the creative community of Manhattan discovered Chelsea helping to transform the area into a district for artists and galleries: from there to the gentrification the step has been unstoppable.