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So we're wondering, vis- -vis the MPD, what's left? What holdouts remain from the pre-Florent era when everything started going to hell? We've taken a look around; after the jump, the surprising results.

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With the closing of Western Beef pretty much all of the old-line cattle dispatcheries have left the neighborhood which bears that industry's name. Restaurant-wise, you've got Old Homestead, which has been around for almost 150 years. It's serviceable, in the same way that Peter Luger's is serviceable, i.e. the meat isn't as good as you would expect and the waiters can be a little gruff. Plus, they offer a Kobe beef hot dog, which is disgusting on both aesthetic and economic levels. There's also Frank's, which has been around since 1912, but they've recently moved a few blocks west, which feels like a cheat.

And that's pretty much it; a few scattered bodegas, a coffee shop, that gas station. Even the place that pretended to be a candy store but really sold pot is long since gone.

In short? If a visitor from 1979 were magically transported to today's MPD, it would take him an hour or two of wandering around before, tripping on a random cobblestone, he'd suddenly realize where he was and shout, "You maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God...damn you all to hell!"

If only there were some way to blow it up again.

[Image: The Sartorialist]