A Slow New York Passage, Up to Organic Food.

The cantankerous placard on the far wall of the Fairway elevator -- in black and white and olive-oil green -- pretty much says it all: ''This elevator is the pits. We know. Not a damn thing we or Obama can do about it. So stop bellyaching, and read or something.'' The elevator at the store, on Broadway at West 74th Street in Manhattan, is ponderously slow. It is famously cramped. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]