Rachel Wise

Good morning, East Village.

We want to start by thanking everyone who turned out at NYU Journalism Thursday night for a celebration of East Village history led by Pete Hamill.

It was a tremendous night and it was great to meet many of our neighbors in person — and we also appreciate the virtual presence of those of you who could not attend yet still tuned in for the livestream online. We’ll talk a little more about Mr. Hamill’s remarks later today but, again, we greatly appreciate all of the support and good energy that we felt last night.

There are some very nice East Village-related reads around the blogosphere this morning. On Thursday, we wrote about how a new law might make it easier for disgruntled residents to close bars known for violence and excessive noise.

Grub Street over at New York magazine touches on the law in its piece about how some East Village residents are worked up over a different kind of eatery. And while you’re at New York, be sure to check out this slideshow of Billy Hurricane’s on Avenue B.

An editorial in The Villager expresses support for new bike lanes. We wrote Thursday about how businesses have been affected by the lanes and stay tuned for another post later today by Community Contributor Bill Millard about some unexpected ways that the lanes have affected cyclists.

More good stuff over at DNAinfo and Neighborhoodr, which gives us all a heads-up on a block party Saturday at St. Mark’s Church. And while based a little bit west of our neighborhood, this piece on a rather atypical rapper is also worth checking out.