A Cupcake, Marc Jacobs and the Vanishing West Village

It all started with a pink-frosted cupcake — at least according to writer Jeremiah Moss.

Seventeen years ago, characters Carrie and Miranda of "Sex and the City" sat in front of Magnolia Bakery in the West Village and chatted about relationships over cupcakes. What followed, Moss said, was an onslaught of "Sex and City" tour buses and luxury clothing chains ready to seize on the craze. 

"In 2001, Marc Jacobs, the company, saw this and they said, 'we want to take advantage of the 'Sex and the City' fans,'" Moss told WNYC. "So they started opening stores on Bleecker Street."

Jeremiah Moss walks along Bleecker Street with WNYC’s Richard Hake.

(Richard Yeh / WNYC)

Other luxury brands followed, taking over local shops and dramatically changing the West Village's landscape. Now, most of the Marc Jacobs shops are gone and empty storefronts line the streets. 

For the past decade, Moss (which is a pen name) has been documenting the shuttering of the city's local shops, restaurants and bars in his blog "Jeremiah's Vanishing New York." His chronicles were the inspiration for a new book: "Vanishing New York: How a Great City Lost its Soul."

Jeremiah Moss in Three Lives & Co bookstore, a neighborhood staple which managed to survive the building’s ownership change in 2016.

(Richard Yeh / WNYC)

Moss walked along Bleecker Street with WNYC's Richard Hake. Click "Listen" to hear the interview.