If you’ve walked past 76 Nassau Avenue recently, you may have noticed something subtly different behind the glass. Since 2019, that space has been home to Belief, an independent clothing brand and skateshop initially co-founded in Astoria, Queens in 2010 by twin brothers Phil & Raffie Gordon and their childhood friend Jimmy Collins.
But today it’s home to York Work Shop, a design studio sprung from the Gordon brothers work at Belief and designing independent apparel, capsule commissions, and now art exhibitions.
When I stopped by to meet Phil Gordon and see the current exhibition, there was a sign on the door that read: Back in Five Minutes! And I chided him for it when he arrived two minutes later (with coffee from Five Leaves across the street) and got straight to the point: “What is this place? Office? Exhibition space? Free vibes?”
“Yes, that” says Phil Gordon as we roam the gallery space. “Hundred percent. Also back in five minute vibes, for sure. And hang out, be inspired, and connect vibes too.”
Currently on view in the storefront gallery is the exhibition, New York City Transit Authority: Objects, featuring over 400 artifacts from the New York City subway system, collected and meticulously documented by photographer Brian Kelley. The collection was previously published as a tome of a book by Greenpoint’s Standards Manual.
“Brian’s been collecting MetroCards since 2011,” says Gordon. “He’s a photographer, and he’s archived all of it—he went from subway tickets to all kinds of objects. Tokens, signage, all this stuff. It just turned into this massive archive, and I felt compelled to build more display cases to feature more of his work.”
The exhibition is emotive. The display cases hold the objects like offerings at an altar, casting the exhibition space as a shrine to New York’s transit history. There’s that nostalgic, “old, bygone New York” energy in the objects: maps you remember holding maybe 20 years ago, countless MetroCards (RIP), or more intimate objects like an orange pin from the transit strike of 1980 that reads I’M DOING FINE.
It’s all very tactile and thoughtful: the space, the exhibition, even York Work Shop’s design process. Gordon explains: “Here, you can come in. We meet with clients. We talk to them. We show them everything. I bring samples. So you have the hands-on approach with the agency.”
While we are having this conversation, a handsome couple enters the shop—friends of Phil’s stopping by to introduce him to their four-week old baby who is asleep in a baby carrier on his father. Phil introduces me to the parents and we’re all fast friends, in awe of this brand new human standing in this new gallery in the beautiful neighborhood where we all live.
New York City Transit Authority: Objects is on view until February 14.