Phillip Kalantzis-Cope Good morning, East Village.
The Times looks back on what made Lakeside Lounge so special (“once, while Joey and Dee Dee Ramone played, audience members watched the police raid a nearby crack house and line suspects up against the picture window beside the stage”) and gives a clue as to why it’s closing at the end of the month: “[Owner Eric] Ambel said rent and expenses had more than quadrupled since the mid-1990s, forcing him and Mr. Marshall to face the prospect of deviating from the formula that had served Lakeside, its musicians and its patrons so well.” According to WNYC, the rent was $9,000 a month.
Flaming Pablum uses the closing of Lakeside as an excuse to look back on five other bygone dive bars, including Alcatraz on St. Marks Place, an “endearingly seedy joint that catered to acolytes of all things loud, boozy and rude.”
With the average rent in Manhattan at $3,418 a month and the vacancy rent at just 1 percent despite the lagging economy, The Times lays down some real talk: “For those who find buying a home in New York City is not an option — whether because of bad credit, tougher lending standards or lack of a down payment — the choices are limited and often unappealing.” If you are buying, the Daily News points out that there are still deals to be found in the Lower East Side.
WNYC notes that the city is refusing to release the close-to-final bike share maps that are currently being shown to community boards (indeed, a Department of Transportation representative recently told The Local the maps would be released in a few weeks). Still, the site notes that “In Community Board 3, the DOT is looking to site several stations around Astor Place, a popular spot for bar and restaurant patrons, close to NYU.” Last week The Villager reported that “there will be 40 to 50 bike share locations in a one-square-mile area of the Lower East Side and East Village. Some of the largest Bike-Share hubs will go near the district’s subway stations, including a 55-dock station next to the uptown 6 train entrance at Astor Place.”
A local woman often spotted reclining on overturned newspaper boxes has become a meme of sorts. Gothamist notes that a photograph of her posted to Reddit that has garnered over 1,100 comments.
According to Washington Square News, 500 local residents showed up to protest NYU’s expansion on Friday. The City Council’s hearing about NYU 2031 is set for Wednesday.
The Forward notes that the gas-mask bongs sold on St. Marks Place are likely Isreali army surplus: “It is clear that the black gas masks with circular glass eyeholes, sold in American head shops, are authentic Israeli masks, down to the telltale rubber-triangle seal of Shalon Chemical Industries Ltd., the Tel Aviv-based company that makes all the civilian gas masks of Israel.”
The Times calls “Poor Baby Bree in I Am Going to Run Away,” now playing at La MaMa, “a meticulous, charming performance that will appeal most to those with an interest in New York history.” In it, Bree Benton revives her Poor Baby Bree character and her old Bowery songs.
According to the New Yorker, the monthly “Fiction Addiction” series above 2A will celebrate its first anniversary tonight with appearances by Ben Greenman, Mike Albo, Shelly Oria, and Ryan Britt.
The New Yorker reviews David Zambrano’s “Soul Project,” a highly interactive dance performance presented by Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church In-the-Bowery. And we do mean interactive: “Zambrano welcomed us himself, and explained that we would be sharing the space with the performers. He was interrupted by a guttural sound, and then the crowd parted: in their midst, a man had started to dance—a fierce, martial, punishing abstract solo—and was speaking the words to the song ‘Be Careful, It’s My Heart.'”
The Columbia Spectator dropped into some East Village record stores in anticipation of Record Store Day. At Good Records, owner Jonathan Sklute was non-chalant about Saturday’s sales event. “I don’t like big shindigs and too much pressure,” he said. “There are lots of places you can go wait 30-deep in line, but if you don’t want to do that and you’re looking to unwind a little bit, that’s why we’re here.” Meanwhile, Runnin’ Scared stopped into A-1 Records, where the owner sang the praises of vinyl.
If you’re a fan of the downtown hardcore scene, you’ll want to read New York Natives’ q&a with Harley Flanagan of the Cro-Mags, who is currently finishing an autobiography. “My family was [in the East Village] when the first adventurous freaks moved down there – the Allen Ginsbergs, and the Richard Hells and all those people in that time period… when it really was sketchy,” he tells the site. “I have a lot of memories of violence and memories of drugs and memories of things that were very unpleasant and I wouldn’t want to subject anybody to; but at the same time there was also a certain level of freedom that went along with that.”
East Village Eats notes that the Redhead is hosting crawfish boils for the next two Sundays. “$30 will get you 2 Pounds of crawfish, sausage, corn, potato & artichoke. There will also be New Orleans’ Abita Beers on offer. Note that the regular menu will not be served.”
First Tompkins Square Bagels and now… Bowery Bagels! Except the latter is opening in Portland. But speaking of Bowery-branded food, an eGullet member stopped into Whole Foods ov to try the Bowery Burger, which wasn’t exactly a winner: “Basically, they cooked the living hell out of this patty, rendering it barely edible – tough, dry and everything you don’t want from your burger.”
Bowery Boogie spots a Facebook post indicating that a cooking-equipment manufacturer will be replaced by a location of Paulaner Brauhaus, an international beer hall, at 265-267 Bowery.
