Joel Holland and his two kids itched to get out of their Manhattan apartment during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there was nowhere to go. One of the places his young children missed the most during the citywide shutdown was Economy Candy, a vintage sweets store on Rivington Street in the Lower East Side.
The old-fashioned candy shop is a living relic of 1930s New York. With its overwhelmed shelves of multicolored sweets, the store has long represented a quintessential New York childhood — one with independence, joy and sugary confections from all over the world.
In an effort to appease his cabin-fever kids, Holland drew the economy candy storefront from memory. He depicted its pinstripe awning, red cursive typeface, vintage gum ball machine, and colorful mountains of candy. Illustration was nothing new for Holland, an illustrator with work in the New York Times and in the New Yorker. “At that time in the city, you weren’t even supposed to leave your house unless it was for certain essential things. I started drawing the places that we couldn’t go to. Places that were ‘our places,”’ Holland said.
“At that time in the city, you weren’t even supposed to leave your house unless it was for certain essential things. I started drawing the places that we couldn’t go to. Places that were ‘our places.'”
While his children were disappointed at the lack of real sugar involved in the artwork, New Yorkers on social media immediately latched on to the nostalgic illustrations. Holland was hooked on the form and he started drawing more and more New York storefronts. His work hit social media at the same time a fashion street-style that highlights the local, long-running small businesses took off. All over the city, skater-boys and young parents alike were rocking Zabars tote bags, Punjabi Deli sweatshirts and drinking out of the reusable mug they bought from their local coffee shop.
It was the perfect ecosystem for Holland’s storefront illustrations to thrive. “These places weren’t even open and I was getting requests for commissions and people to buy things and it felt weird to profit off of other people’s storefronts,” Holland said. “I started donating to as many places as possible.”Now, anytime one of the spots he’s featured in his archive makes an announcement about fundraising, he shares the fundraising information, along with his original artwork of the place, with his audience of more than 6,000 followers on Instagram.
“There might be a place I’m not familiar with, and then a neighborhood group might post something about a struggle that place is having and so then I’ll do a drawing of their storefront and post it with their donation link. To be involved in this tide that helps people is really fun.”
Holland said that some of the places he’s drawn have reached out to him, which has resulted in quite a few friendships. “There might be a place I’m not familiar with, and then a neighborhood group might post something about a struggle that place is having and so then I’ll do a drawing of their storefront and post it with their donation link. To be involved in this tide that helps people is really fun.”
Holland’s recently released book, NYC Storefronts: Illustrations of the Big Apple’s Best Loved Spots, has 225 illustrations of New York storefronts that range from delis and bodegas to dive bars, bookstores, bakeries, newsstands, cafés and restaurants. In the book, each image is paired with the historical, cultural and architectural details that have earned these stores a place in people’s hearts written by David Dodge, a local journalist. Dodge and Holland also highlight the stores under threat from rising rents, gentrification and the pandemic.
Also included is a foreword by beloved influencer Nicolas Heller, otherwise known as New York Nico, who has nearly one million Instagram followers. Heller is famous for chronicling the city’s independent businesses and sharing the parts of the city that make New York one-of-a-kind. While Holland is not the only artist interested in capturing storefronts, what sets him apart is his unique style and the places that he picks. All his work is done completely pen on paper, except for when he uses his kids’ crayons and markers.
“The line style I draw with is a bit quick and sketchy and I try to be detailed but I feel like in those wiggly lines that are not intentional but not erased — I let them be, I let them live.”
“The line style I draw with is a bit quick and sketchy and I try to be detailed but I feel like in those wiggly lines that are not intentional but not erased — I let them be, I let them live,” Holland said.
“I love living here, I want to stay here, and I want all of these places to remain.”
NYC Storefronts is available wherever books are sold, and while all of his artwork is done on sketchbook paper, prints and originals are also available for purchase at his website.
Some originals, like the Economy Candy piece or his illustration of Josie’s Bar — where he met his wife — are off-limits. They hang framed in his home. “I love living here, I want to stay here, and I want all of these places to remain,” Holland said.
