With its parlors yet again on the verge of turning off the lights for good, the New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation has one corner of its operation that remains attractive to the outside world.
But three weeks ago, he turned out the lights for good at Gelb Fixture Company, his Avenue A landmark, near Seventh Street, and, with the help of his grandson, Michael Gelb, who recently took over the business, began the move to a warehouse on 45th Street in Astoria, Queens.
One unlikely brush with Hollywood put him off the bright lights for good - "a total madhouse," he told this newspaper in 1987, in a staccato style that was patently tongue-in-cheek: "Kept trying to get me laid, brought these girls with big tits up to my room.
Now, Las Palomas has turned off its lights for good.
The seemingly cursed musical "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" will be turning off its lights for good come January -- at least on Broadway.
Yet, for every educator that walked into the classroom alongside me five years ago and chooses to continue in the career, just as many will turn off the lights for good next June.
We can only expect a frenzy -- a mad dash of Republicans moving farther into their nativist wing, shutting down the lights for good on progressive efforts that Latinos and immigrant communities care about, like immigration reform.
The reward for doing the difficult work is often that we feel lighter afterwards, and that we can revel in the accomplishment, the lightness, and the light for a good while, before we are compelled to move on.
Those are decent work, well-being and basic needs.The themes are also color coded, according to how far off the mark the scores are--red for really bad, for example, and light green for good, but not great.
