I received a tip from a friend yesterday that the former storefront where I had McKinney Arts in 1996-97 was back on the market, available for rent. I had made plans to go into NYC to see some gallery shows today, so I couldn’t resist walking over to the East Village to see the current state of 526 East 11th Street. As you can see from the comparison below, the exterior of the building has changed over the decades (!!), with the picture window extended to the full height, the door moved up flush to the front, and the blue pull-down security gates long since removed. When I lived there in 1996-97, the neighborhood was a lot rougher than what it is now, and it seemed in the best interest of my personal safety to pull down both security gates (over the window and the door) each night before going to bed … I felt like I was sealing myself in a coffin, but hey – that was the price to pay to have a storefront art gallery and be able to live in the back of it!
While it’s been 28 years since I’ve lived there, I came back to this space in 2019, when I found it available to rent for pop-up events and booked it for a weekend art exhibition which I titled “McKinney Arts REDUX,” which included several artists from the original run of exhibitions back in 1996-97. I have fond memories of both stints in this location, so my curiosity was very strong and I had to find out what it was renting for now. I called the number on the sign and learned that it’s still zoned as a live/work space, but renting for about triple what I paid back in the day. Of course, that’s no surprise after all this time, I expected it to be in the range that was quoted, but it’s more than what I could ever afford to pay now. Not that I’m ready to give up a comfortable condo in the suburbs for a storefront where the “bedroom” is a loft space which is not tall enough for me to stand up, and no longer has a stove, just a refrigerator and sink … it’s funny to think that I cooked a Thanksgiving dinner for five here back in 1996!
Nostalgia has pulled me back to walk past this storefront numerous times over the years, and it always catches me off guard that my current perception of the space is so much smaller than my memories of how it was when I lived there. As you can see below, it’s still being fixed up, the box shows a new refrigerator, and other clean-up activities still taking place. I’ll have to walk by again in the near future to see what becomes of this storefront next.
