Gabba Gabba Gay
315 Bowery in New York City, the one-time address of legendary punk dive CBGB, has reopened this week as the showroom of clothing designer John Varvatos, who has attempted to keep some of CBGB’s spirit alive by keeping a number of the club’s original elements intact. And while we’re sure Mr. Varvatos is a swell guy with honest intentions, we can’t help but think it’d be better to simply let the rock and roll landmark die with dignity rather than attempting to keep some lesser version of it alive. Wouldn’t you rather remember the Who from 1968 and not the Who from 2008?
“When the club closed,” Varvatos told GQ, “The choices were it was either going to become a deli or a Bank of America. This way, it’s like keeping a piece of history.” While it may be true that Varvatos understands the legacy of the space he now inhabits, there must have been other Bowery locations for his new store. Wouldn’t he have saved himself a ton of bad press by simply opening down the street. Why there, at that exact address?
Though Varvatos’ clothes may adorn the frames of today’s lanky rock stars, they are generally reserved for the over-styled covers of glossy magazines or video shoots. We’re pretty sure the next great NYC band isn’t saving their gig money for a new pair of $200 designer jeans.
“The bum stores along Houston Street,” is where Debbie Harry told the Village Voice she used to buy her clothes. “They sold a lot of fun, interesting stuff from barrels or racks out on sidewalks. You’d find great stuff for a nickel in those days. I’m not in the garbage business any more, but when I first moved here and we didn’t have any dough, we found great stuff in the garbage.”
Somewhere up in rock and roll heaven, Joey Ramone, the unofficial mascot of CBGB is most certainly *not* altering his punk rock anthem to reflect the new state of the union: “Hey, Ho, Var-vatos!”
Take a tour of the new store:
