NYC 24/7: Sleepless businesses meet a need in the night
Even in an era when you can order just about anything you want by smartphone at 4 a.m., there are plenty of legitimate businesses in the "city that never sleeps" that provide service the old-fashioned way in the wee hours.
Need to hock your grandmother's wedding ring to pay off a pressing gambling debt?
Joel Fagin gets calls from movie theaters, boutiques and offices that often come in a whisper, "I think I've got bedbugs."
Fagin says movie theaters call him in after the last showing of the night, when spectators leave.
An employee fields about a dozen calls a night in the shop's tight basement space on Manhattan's Upper West Side.
Other orders have come from admirers of certain dancers at Manhattan strip clubs.
A housekeeping service can spruce up your apartment, and if you're asleep, they'll skip the bedroom.
Clients have included a woman who made an emergency call to clean her alcoholic brother's apartment.
Neighbors were threatening to summon health officials because of the odor.
Many bring their gold, which is sold by weight for less money than the price for which the shop intends to sell it if owners don't buy it back.
Debra Hare-Bey, a master at braiding hair in the intricate, African tradition, routinely takes 12 hours to work on a customer.