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Have you ever traveled on the M86 crosstown bus, as it passes through Central Park and then makes a left on Madison Avenue and 84th Street? If so, you’ll see Artbag, the retail leather accessories and restoration boutique, right there on the corner at 1130 Madison Avenue. It offers a unique shopping experience and old-world charm!
Artbag operates as an exclusive retail belt and handbag boutique, as well as a leather goods restoration salon. And Artbag is now a shoemaker, too! Owned and operated by an African American father-andson team, Donald and Chris Moore, Artbag is the only Black-owned storefront establishment on NYC’s Madison Avenue from 57th to 86th Street.
In 1993, Donald Moore became the sole owner of Artbag, where he’d begun working as a porter in 1959 as a 17-year-old young man with a pregnant wife to support. From the ground up, he learned the leather goods restoration trade while working hard alongside the shop’s original owner, Hillet Tenenbaum. Back then, the elder Moore was able to purchase a share of the business and he even-
tually bought out his other partners. Just as he took over the business in the early ’90s, his son Chris Moore, who had been born in Mt. Vernon, N.Y. in 1970, was graduating from Pace University. Chris had planned to open a Domino's pizza franchise after graduation, but the early ’90s recession hit and jobs were scarce. So he joined his father at the shop, taking advantage of the knowledge he’d acquired while growing up there as a young boy, and realizing his dad had already taught him the business. Chris contributed more to the business side of Artbag, working the front end of the business, setting up the store’s website, www.artbag.com and extending Artbag’s online reach. Moving from 64th and Madison, they have been at the 84th and Madison Ave. location since 2001, right before 9/11.
During the height of the COVID pandemic, many businesses around the city closed. “There were so many moving vans on Madison Avenue for stores that were going out of business,” commented Chris during our interview. They, too, were also forced to close for three months in 2020. However, Artbag’s online and mailorder business grew tremendously. While the shop was shut down, both he and his father worked remotely. “I went to the shop at least once a week to collect mail and ship online orders,” remembered Chris. “Business owners today must be confident, give unparalleled service, be kind and personable.” The younger Moore is not fashion-minded, but he knows his clientele and merchandise.
For 90 years, Artbag has been the go-to shop where worldly clients bring their investment-worthy handbags, purses, and luggage. Expensive labels such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Hermes are often dropped off or mailed to the store from all over the world. While I was interviewing Chris, Artbag artisans were working away in the background, surrounded by the scent of the leather and the noise of sewing machines. Technicians expertly replaced the strap on a Chanel handbag in minutes while I was there. It was amazing to witness.
In the front boutique, there’s a sale going on. Every item in the store is on sale from 20-70% off the original price. Customers were excited coming and going. For materials, you can expect the finest quality leather, gold chains and various embellishments.
It can take approximately six weeks to repair a bag, wallet or purse (repair prices start at around $55). What’s in your closet? Artbag’s custom work is notable, too. They can recreate a too-small belt to make it fit; an old family leather heirloom can be restored; old shoes can be repaired.
Artbag has served well-known celebrities including the late actress Cicely Tyson and former First Lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis, plus numerous red-carpet celebrities. Added to their credits: Artbag created an elaborate brocade exterior for a jewel-encrusted Cartier handbag line.
Stop in and tell them you read about Artbag in the NY Amsterdam News. Store hours are Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5:15 p.m., Saturdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more info, visit www.artbag.com.
Donald Moore and his son, Chris, co-owners of the Artbag boutique (All photos by Eric Vitale Photography)
Donald Moore at work
By LAPACAZO SANDOVAL
Special to the AmNews
From the surface, it might seem that diversity as judged by this year’s Oscar nominee list didn’t reachlast year’s record heights, because it’s down from a historic nine people of color in 2021. All nominees for best actress and best supporting actor are white. In reality, there are several highlights that deserve our attention which include four African American actors being recognized along with deaf actors, LGBTQ, women, and Asian filmmakers in the best director race.
Now to the best actor race; many insiders believe that Will Smith is a major contender for his sturdy performance as father of tennis greats, Serena and Venus Williams, Richard. “King Richard” is hands-down an inspirational sports film. And if Smith does win, he would join a list that includes the late Sidney Poitier, Forest Whitaker, Jamie Foxx, and Denzel Washington, who is also nominated (his ninth acting Oscar nomination) this year for “The Tragedy of Macbeth.”
In the best supporting actress race we have “King Richard” co-star Aunjanue Ellis and Afro Latina star Ariana DeBose for her performance as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story.”
Oscar history is clear that to date, only nine African American women have won acting Oscars, with the first being Hattie McDaniel (1939) for “Gone with the Wind,” with Regina King the most recent in (2018) for “If Beale Street Could Talk.” Eight of those winners were for supporting roles, with Halle Berry being the only Black woman to win for a leading role with “Monster’s Ball” in 2001. Technically Lupita Amondi Nyong’o is a Kenyan-Mexican actress. She’s the first Mexican actress to win an Academy Award which she did for her role in “12 Years A Slave” (2013).
On the LGBTQ front, two queer women received acting nominations this year, with their first nominations: the aforementioned DeBose, and Kristen Stewart for best lead actress in “Spencer.” And not to be overlooked is the documentary “Flee,” which features a queer refugee story, which earned three nominations.
Staying firmly on the issue of diversity, the best supporting actor category has Troy Kotsur as the second deaf actor to be nominated for an Oscar for his work in the film “CODA.” Kotsur plays a deaf fisherman who forms a workers co-op with his hearing daughter as his translator. He co-stars with Marlee Matlin who is the only other deaf Oscar nominee and winner in history, winning “Children of a Lesser God” (1986).
Now to the appalling lack of women directors in the industry; it’s a celebration for feminists (and everyone, to be frank) that Jane Campion is making Oscars history. The writer-director is now the first woman to be nominated twice for the best director honors, picking up her second nod for “The Power of the Dog.”
Campion was also nominated in 1994 for “The Piano,” a period drama that follows a mute piano player and her daughter in 19th century New Zealand and although she lost that year, she won the Academy Award for best original screenplay.
Remember the definition of diversity. Also making history in the best director race is Ryusuke Hamaguchi, whose three-hour drama “Drive My Car” has wowed critics around the world and has become the 14th non-English film in Oscar history to be nominated for Best Picture. This makes Hamaguchi just the third Japanese filmmaker and the first since 1985 to be nominated for best director, joining legendary directors Hiroshi Teshigahara for “Women in the Dunes” (1964).
There has been progress since the #OscarsSoWhite calling out of 2015 and subsequent years of nominations that brought an outcry, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciencescontinues to do the necessary work to diversify its membership to include more women and people of color.
In 2020 the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced new representation and inclusion standards for Oscars eligibility in the best picture category, as part of its Academy Aperture 2025 initiative.
Change is coming a bit too slow for some and I suspect, a bit too fast for others. As of 2021, 33%of activeacademy members were women (up from 25% in 2015) and 19% were from underrepresented racial or ethnic communities (up from 10% in 2015).
The Oscars has since further diversified its new membership classes: its 2021 membership class is 46% women (up from 45% in 2020), and 39% of the class is from underrepresented ethnic/racial communities (up from 36% in 2020).
So the facts point to a shift in the entertainment industry but it’s not enough and creatives of color can never stop pushing for equality. And here’s the most uncomfortable truth: that once “equality” is achieved the push to keep it will be even harder. So, buckle up fam[ily] the struggle is real and it will never, ever, ever stop.
For a complete list of nominees, visit the official Oscars website,www.oscar.com.
FOLLOW THE ACADEMY www.oscars.org www.facebook.com/TheAcademy www.youtube.com/Oscars www.twitter.com/TheAcademy www.instagram.com/TheAcademy
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also convinced him to trade his expensive silk suits in for a hip, funkier fashion style.
In his 1990 autobiography, Miles devoted a few pages to their relationship— acknowledging that she was “talented as a motherf*****” and “a big influence on my personal life as well as my musical life,” opining that “If Betty were singing today, she’d be like Madonna; something like Prince.” Actually, they would be more like her. Having seen her live performance at the Bottom Line, safe to say there hasn’t been such a dynamic Black female singer combining rock, blues and funk like her moanin’ groanin grindin’ shouting belting out erotic lyrics and her outfit, she could have sung lead vocals in The Sun Ra Arkestra.
Davis was a crowd pleaser when it came to club audiences, but she found little commercial success on radio. As noted, the mainstream music industry of the early ’70s wasn’t welcoming independent Black women artists, especially with such an erotic charged performance from lyrics to stage presence. Allegedly, the Detroit NAACP tried to get her songs banned from local radio, arguing she was spreading a negative image of African American women.
Davis recorded three solo albums: her 1973 self-titled debut, and two Island Records releases “They Say I’m Different” (1974) and “Nasty Gal” (1975) which turned out to be her last album for Island Records. The included track “Dedicated to the Press” showed her willingness to speak her mind straight up and raw. It is her response to a media that wasn’t always her friend. She scored two singles on the Billboard R&B Singles chart, with the No. 66 single “If I’m in Luck I Might Get Picked Up” and 1975’s“Shut Off the Lights,” which peaked at No. 97.
There was a fourth album recorded in 1976, but problems arose in the middle of producing it. Island Records had Davis and her band, now known as Funk House, down to the state of art “Studio In the Country” in Bogalusa, La. but creative differences sparked Davis’ termination from the label. The masters were held hostage for the next three decades until it finally gained a proper release in 2009 under the name “Is It Love or Desire.” After parting with Island, she attempted a discoera comeback that also never received a proper release at the time (Light in the Attic will be releasing it soon, under the title “Crashin’ From Passion”).
Davis proved to be a visionary whose music and talent were under-appreciated. She was devoted to her only goal, playing good music. And although she proclaimed not to be a role model, she will be for generations to come.
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