Photo on left by Robert Haile.
[UPDATE BELOW] The shoe shiner on the corner of 42nd and 5th has lost his set-up in a fire. A reader sent in this photo of the charred booth this morning, and our sources in the area tell us it's been like this for at least a day; the plaque is also missing from what's left of the booth. Officials don't have any information about a fire incident on that corner, but all signs point to an arson job executed by the sinister electric shoe shine machine industry.
UPDATE: Leave it to the New York Public Library to unearth some information about the incident. Our friends at the main branch tell us that the Bryant Park Corporation's officers were involved in putting out the fire, which happened at 2 a.m. on Monday morning. They have no leads on who burned it, but it will be replaced.
We contacted Jerome Barth at the BPC and he tells us the stand was owned by Bryant Park Corporation, and for the time being, "the shoeshiners will work from our other location at Greeley Square Park." They may also end up bringing the Greeley stand to the Bryant Park location while they recreate the area's former stand. Barth also pointed us to their own blog, where you can get a better look at the set-up during its glory days.
