Scott LynchGood morning, East Village.
EV Grieve spots police removing the makeshift shelter that William Hernandez, a 59-year-old Cuban refugee who told The Local he had been homeless during his 30 years in the United States, had set up on the Bowery. We’ll let you know if we hear anything about Mr. Hernandez’s whereabouts.
The Real Deal cities a City Habitats survey showing that Manhattan rents were almost at an all-time high in February. Meanwhile vacancy rates in the East Village were at just 1.15 percent, compared to 1.59 and 1.34 percent for the Upper West and Upper East sides.
Eater reports that David Chang’s right-hand chef, Peter Serpico, is leaving the Momofuku empire to pursue independent ventures. The site also spots evidence that Momofuku Milk Bar is opening a location in Carroll Gardens. Paper posts a clip of the Simpsons episode starring East Village art star Kenny Scharf.
Newsday pens a favorable review of “An Illiad,” a play at New York Theatre Workshop in which Denis O’Hare and Stephen Spinella alternately play the main character from Homer’s tale. “O’Hare’s Poet is tightly wound, dressed like a bum and almost feral with dark nervous energy,” writes critic Linda Winer. “Spinella (the Tony-winning virtuoso in works by Tony Kushner) is natty, with the curly hair and beard off a Greek coin and the oratory expansiveness of a traveling 19th century actor. Don’t make me choose.”
Off the Grid recalls the time that Mary Help of Christians Church was a vital part of the East Village’s Italian community: “Dorothy Day, the Founder of the Catholic Worker movement, worshiped at Mary Help of Christians and has said that it was ‘indeed what a church should be, the center of the community.'”
Finally, Sarah Shanfield, a contributor to The Local who’s living in Brooklyn these days, chronicles her experiences as an election poll worker at Huffington Post New York.
