Store Front II: A History Preserved: The Disappearing Face of New York Hardcover – November 20, 2015

A must for coffee-table book collectors, NYC lovers, photography fans, city kids, and those interested in urban studies. As a NYC native, this book and its companion volume have provided me with hours of memories and information on much-beloved institutions, but their value is much greater than nostalgia, or the sheer physical beauty of these volumes; James and Karla Murray have captured the very essence of a disappearing part of big-city life, the mom-and-pop institutions that once were the lifeblood of every community. Through their wonderful photographs and insightful text, they bring hundreds of years of business and neighborhood ties to life, along with all of the social and cultural memories they evoke. Although there is no editorializing here, this book and its preceding volume "Store Front" (as well as their "New York At Night") stand as testament to the importance of local businesses to the communities they serve, and an indictment of the rapid strip-malling of many cities in the United States. By the time the first volume was published, a significant portion of the shops pictured had closed due to New York City's recent, unprecedented commercial rent rate increases, and I already see many businesses in the second volume that have disappeared in the last few years. This book fulfills many roles: as a work of art, as a memorial for what has been lost, a celebration of neighborhood individuality and pride, and a warning about what we lose when we ignore or cease to value our local institutions. Another plus is a lack of the Manhattan-centric focus so often found in books about New York City. A true labor of love by the authors, who have spent years walking through the five boroughs of NYC and documenting the rapidly-changing face of the commercial life in the city they call home.However you choose to read and absorb these lovely, well-bound books, they are a beautiful addition to any library. I see them with different eyes each time I turn a page, and that is a wonderful attribute in any work of art. I heartily suggest that you add these volumes to your collection!

For all lovers of Nostalgia and Vintage, not only for the signage or days gone by but the history behind it. This book describes the history of the space, where they are now, Even talking with original owners.Photographs are each beautiful in their own way ,the book is designed richly, Using thick paper and mapping out what your going to see by Burroughs, I have Storefronts , James and Karlas first book and this one is just as fabulous, going through each picture and remembering or wishing I had seen it before it disappeared. I highly recommend this beautiful coffee table book, everyone loves a story and every single one of their pictures tells a great one!

This book is worth what you pay for it because you will get hours of enjoyable reading.

Great!

The Murray's return with huge, wonderful second helping of Big Apple store fronts (actually this is the third book, the second was 'New York Nights', featuring the stores after dark) and like the first book so many of these will have stopped trading, usually because of rising yearly rents. The book's format repeats the elegant presentation of the first one: the five boroughs are divided into their districts and each starts with a map and essay about the area; the store front photos are one to a page (sometimes a spread) and a location caption; many have a brief history of the premises and interviews with the owners. I thought it's these comments that make the photos come alive with references to neighborhoods and trading over the decades.The only way to photo these stores was straight on because they are full of detail and color, mostly because the lettering, window displays and frontage are so amateurish and frequently in need of a make over. What does the shabby front of the many meat markets here say about products they sell inside? Using a creative window display to pull in the customers is mostly absent from the mom and pop store world.Like the first book this one is well printed on a matt stock using a 175 screen and the back pages Index lists all the stores. There is a little bit of design whimsy where a 0 is used with all the page number: 01 to 0343. As these stores are slowly disappearing you can spend a pleasant hour or so using the caption address to find the buildings (or their replacements) on Street View. I did this and found that there are still plenty of stores for the Murray's to photograph for Store Front III.

I'm so glad to have Store Front II on my bookshelf, sitting right next to its predecessor. These are beautiful, hefty volumes. James & Karla Murray have created a wonderful tribute to the independent "mom and pop" stores of New York City. As New Yorkers, we thrill to look inside & see our own local favorites represented here - a butcher's, a barber's, a pharmacy, a bakery - places that make the small, day-to-day transactions of living in the city such a pleasure. Look wider, and we see places we visit less often, but are still important to our sense of the city, places we visit every so often and make us glad we live in New York all over again. Look farther still, and we see places we've never been, but know we should venture out to, while there's still time. While part of the joy of living in New York is its vastness, and a sense of anonymity in the grand sweep of things, part of it too is in the small-scale, the businesses that anchor neighborhoods and build up communities. They make us at home.The Murrays' book is a historical record, gorgeously photographed and documented. It's also a shout out to the City to do SOMETHING to preserve and protect small businesses threatened by rising rents, developer buy-outs, & the wrecking ball. Some of the stores in the Store Front books are already gone, and countless others in the books or beyond their pages are at risk. We can't afford to lose them.A gem of a book!

The Murray's return with huge, wonderful second helping of Big Apple store fronts (actually this is the third book, the second was 'New York Nights', featuring the stores after dark) and like the first book so many of these will have stopped trading, usually because of rising yearly rents. The book's format repeats the elegant presentation of the first one: the five boroughs are divided into their districts and each starts with a map and essay about the area; the store front photos are one to a page (sometimes a spread) and a location caption; many have a brief history of the premises and interviews with the owners. I thought it's these comments that make the photos come alive with references to neighbourhoods and trading over the decades.The only way to photo these stores was straight on because they are full of detail and colour, mostly because the lettering, window displays and frontage are so amateurish and frequently in need of a make over. What does the shabby front of the many meat markets here say about products they sell inside? Using a creative window display to pull in the customers is mostly absent from the mom and pop store world.Like the first book this one is well printed on a matt stock using a 175 screen, the back pages Index lists all the stores. There is a little bit of design whimsy where a 0 is used with all the page number: 01 to 0343. As these stores are slowly disappearing you can spend a pleasant hour or so using the caption address to find the buildings (or their replacements) on Street View. I did this and found that there are still plenty of stores for the Murray's to photograph for Store Front III.

Great book...wonderful photos...0 stars for Amazon shipping...long slash done down the middle of the cover, probably with box cutters, physical damage not withstanding, will still keep the book...

Sublime livre