Jade Fountain & Babel Blocks

As first reported in May, the Jade Fountain liquor store and the Olympic Diner were evicted from Delancey Street by the Essex Crossing mega-development.

This weekend, Jade Fountain ("As Old As Hills") had its final sale.



Most of the booze was gone from the shelves. What remained was 50% off.



In the window, they sold empty bottles for $5 each. Everything must go. Including Jade Fountain.



Meanwhile, an artistic banner has just been erected on the chain-link fence next door--a typical sight on locations about to be mega-developed.

It's called the Lower East Side History Tribute Fence and features something called "Babel Blocks." As The Lo-Down explained when the design was selected, it's a modern take on "It's a Small World," a collection of caricatures meant to depict the diverse history of the Lower East Side. 



There's a bearded hipster holding an iPhone and another holding what looks like a Starbucks cup. There's also an Asian mom and a Hispanic mom, a Hasidic man, an elderly white lady, and what looks like a baker of artisanal doughnuts (or maybe cronuts).

Today, the people you see on this end of Delancey Street are mostly people of color, not middle class and not affluent. But that's been changing.



Of course, once the enormous, glittering Essex Crossing comes (yes, even with its selection of affordable housing), it will spur more development like itself, and much of this diversity will be wiped out. Notice that the banner is called a tribute to Lower East Side history, not future.

In the end, Delancey will be left to only a few of the Babel Block figures on this banner, and you can guess which ones.