Scott Lynch Good morning, East Village.
The Villager notes that on Sunday, locals will commemorate the anniversary of the eviction of the C.H.A.R.A.S. Community and Cultural Center with “music, food, dancing and a community speak-out.” As The Local has reported, activists are hoping the organization’s former headquarters — the onetime P.S. 64 building — will be used as a community center again.
The Villager has discovered that Ray Alvarez of Ray’s Candy Store, who turns 79 on Jan. 1, is dealing with a “leaky heart” and is debating surgery.
In a Villager profile, Amy Micelli — half of the couple that runs Ciao for Now — says the cafe’s block on East 12th Street between Avenues A and B “has transformed many times…and there are fewer crazy people and drug addicts now.”
WNYC points to a Catholic mass on East Fourth Street that’s unusual because “a woman, Gabriella Velardi-Ward, leads the celebration, which is part of a growing movement worldwide that’s changing who can lead a Catholic church.”
EV Grieve reports that the police have shut down the Sunburnt Cow — last in trouble for its all-you-can drink deal — due to what a sign on the door says are charges of “criminal sale and possession of controlled substances — marijuana.”
Bowery Boogie looks back at the Chico murals that have graced the corner of East Houston and Avenue B.
The Local isn’t the only one doing its holiday shopping in the East Village: Our Town suggests you stop into Vera Meat, Obscura Antiques & Oddities, and a few other shops.
Meanwhile, CBS Local picks its five favorite bars on the Bowery.
Paper magazine visits Lovecat’s holiday party. Last week, the magazine’s creative director, Peter Chenoa, told The Local all about his favorite East Village spots.
Runnin’ Scared points to a video in which a pair of S.V.A. students pass out custom seat cushions to drivers of the M15 bus, which runs up First Avenue and down Second Avenue in the East Village.
The Times reminds us that “James X,” directed by Gabriel Byrne and written and performed by Gerard Mannix Flynn, closes at 45 Bleecker Street on Sunday. Also playing in the East Village is “The Cherry Orchard” at the Classic Stage Company on East 13th Street: “Andrei Belgrader’s heartbreakingly funny production of Chekhov’s play, which features an excellent Dianne Wiest and John Turturro, finds the tragicomic rhythms in misfired words and gestures.”
Meanwhile, for kids, a musical, “The Toymaker’s Apprentice,” about a toymaker’s search for a new assistant, is playing at the Wild Project on East Third Street.
According to Art Info, the Baryshnikov Arts Center in midtown has teamed up with our own Performance Space 122 to stage a show conceived by Young Jean Lee in which “six performers take the audience on a ride through music, dance, and performance — while simultaneously completely baring their varied body types.”
