When that bodega closed down, the dealers went back to Fifth Ave. The hookers left a few months before the bodega closed. Still, there's some kind of strange force at work there, some resonant magnetism that seems to pull bad ideas out of people's heads once night falls. During the day, the corner's a pleasant one, full of smiling families and young couples. People walk their sparkling healthy pets and push their strollers around.
People stay away from that phone.
I don't think it has anything to do with that dreadful bar, either. They close pretty early, and their crowd is never that rowdy. No, the danger here arises quietly and, in most cases, individually. People drag their crippled pets out to crap at night, too embarrassed to be seen with them in the daytime. It's silent out there, but the silence is an uncomfortable one.