Shamrock Stables, not long for W. 45th Street

Demolition is under way at the building that was Shamrock Stables. It was kept running for years with a $55,000 monthly subsidy from the city. This, at a time of painful cuts to budgets, agencies, and programs.

The city supports the industry and overlooks its numerous violations of law regarding the care of the horses, fares, and other aspects of the cash-only industry.

After several threats of closure, the stable shut down on June 7, 2010. Most of the horses were crammed into other city stables, which already had substandard stall sizes. Some other Shamrock horses almost certainly didn't fare as well. The same day of the closing, a trailer from Shamrock was seen in New Holland, Pa., at the auction, where "kill buyers" buy horses for meat.

Good news, bad news

Fisticuffs in Hell's Kitchen?
A cheerful correspondent on W. 45th Street tells me that he witnessed the standard angry gridlock Tuesday evening around 6 p.m. Turns out a testy taxi driver was madly honking his horn directly behind a horse-drawn carriage approaching Shamrock Stables. We're told that the carriage driver had some special words for the cabbie, along the lines of: "What the heck? It's a horse! Give it a break!" Good news, of course, the horse made it safely into the stable. Bad news is that the horse has to work in those conditions every day.
I could say more of the bad news faced by the carriage horses that must walk up steep ramps at various stables to get cramped stalls, but I'll leave it at that. The road rage in this neighborhood is classic, what with drivers hell-bound for New Jersey and cabbies who just filled up the tank at the Hess station.

Say, Are You Coming, or Going?

I see the same carriages so often it's difficult to tell if they're coming back or going out. In business, the idea is always to optimize the profit margin. This is particularly true in a cash-only business.

A spiffy royal blue carriage, for example, was seen coming back to Shamrock Stables in the rain around 1:30 pm on Monday, and then heading back out again around 6 p.m. To be fair, it had been a drizzly day and the driver of carriage 1110 needed to get his full 1 or 2 shifts in. Cash is cash, dontcha know.

My goodness! Peeba76, your comment was so vile that I forgot to post it! Something about calling me an idiot and telling to watch my ass! (Which I always do, especially around your stable). Careful, big guy (big gal?), there's a law against menacing behavior. Now don't carry any big sticks or make threats.--Alice
p.s. It was the same horse, a beautiful dark horse. I think you know the one.

More Tales of the Weird in Hell's Kitchen

This chilly afternoon I found myself in the badlands of W. 45th Street, home to the sad-looking Shamrock Stables. It was around 4:30 pm and a carriage driver was stuck in traffic as he headed west to 11th Avenue. (This north-south speedway is one of the scary and congested routes that the horses must travel on their way to Central Park for the night shift.)

The driver got antsy trying to weave in and out of traffic, so he steered his horse up onto the crumbling sidewalk to get into prime position to turn right onto 11th. Perhaps he deemed this strategy the lesser of two evils, since the Metropolitan Lumber workers were zipping around the other side of the street on a forklift. The white horse soldiered on, pulling the white carriage. I said a prayer under my breath, knowing how far they still had to travel in Friday afternoon traffic.

Support a ban on horse-drawn carriages in New York City. Support Intro. 658, and ask your City Council representative to do the same. This measure cannot move forward without broad support.
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Coming up: Pop quiz! Which horses have to travel the farthest to and from work? We'll map their routes at www.MapmyRun.com

Hey, Good Looking!

And suddenly the memory revealed itself
Always the urban pioneer, I found myself walking across W. 45th St. on the evening of St. Patrick's Day. Between 10th and 11th Avenues, even. And there it was: Shamrock Stables. It looks different to me, in recent weeks. Seems spiffy! (I know, difficult to tell.) Maybe it's my fevered imagination, but it looks cleaner. Whitewashed, even. Reminds me of something.

Oh, now I remember. It reminds me of how China is "cleaning up" ahead of the Olympic games.

Read a recipe that I came across for making your own whitewash, which the authors say gives barns a real "neat and clean" feel.

If you visit New York, visit Hell's Kitchen (now Clinton). Still the grittiest and most authentic NYC neighborhood, it's now in danger of being too darn trendy. That water, that sunset, that barbed wire, that marijuana stench. It's the neighborhood of choice for the horse stables.