the great equalizer

De Lauer's. Say it again. De Lauer's. Feels good dudn't it? Try on De Lauer's Super newsstand Since 1907. And it's walking distance from me. Not just a newsstand but a super newsstand. Not just a super newsstand but a cigar shop. Not just a cigar shop but a place to buy racing forms. Not just place to buy racing forms but a place open twenty four hours a day. They won't kick you out no matter how long you peruse their shelves. In fact, they seem to invite it, as there is always a warm cup of coffee just waiting for you in a styrofoam cup. Try walking by it without stepping in. Try walking by and not being enticed by all those international newspapers. There are over 100. Try walking in and not stopping to browse the literary journals. Try not peeking into the Italian Vogue, the paper thin Mexican comics, or the overpriced New York art rags. Try not dropping 10 or 15 or 20 dollars.

De Lauer's. A local institution for sure. Let me tell you what De Lauer's is like at 2AM on a weekend night. First of all, it's bumping. A group of Ethiopian men gossip and sip coffee over a month-old newspaper from their homeland. Drunk hipsters fall in and buy, maybe an Artforum, maybe a copy of Nest. They leave change behind. A bum quietly comes in and buys a cheap cherry cigar. There are lone men in the back leafing through the porn mags, which I hear houses quite an eclectic collection. Twenty-year old hustlers will scamper in and out, happy to have an audience to bullshit. The clerk is patient. A TV blares Arabic news behind him. There are drugstore romances. There are hobby and craft magazines beside feminist zines stapled together. You can buy monthly subway and bus passes. And outside, that same bum will sell you a half-used bus transfer for fifty cents. The bars empty and De Lauer's, in turn, fills. There is always a cab out front and there are always a few cabbies huddled inside. A cop walks out and not too much later a drug dealer will waltz in. The important thing to note about De Lauer's is that we are all there. We may be in our own worlds. We may, in fact, hate like hell to ever leave that world. But inside De Lauer's we are all welcome and we are all quite content.