Scott Lynch Good morning, East Village.
Video shows men who had been drinking at Libation beating 37-year-old Kyam Washington on the corner of Essex and Rivington Street. The defendants say Washington prompted the attack by attempting to rob one of them. [NY Daily News]
“Nearly 1,000 friends and supporters packed the Great Hall at the Cooper Union on Saturday to honor Aaron Swartz, the Internet activist who killed himself. [NY Daily News, City Room]
“A woman is in serious condition after jumping in front of a train in Williamsburg this morning, authorities said.” [NY Post]
“A woman was seriously injured after she set herself ablaze outside her lower East Side home on Saturday in a psychotic bid to ‘kill the demons inside her,’ sources said.” [NY Daily News]
Sperone Westwater Gallery has gone to court in an attempt to block a 25-story hotel and condo proposed by Ian Schrager, arguing that it would be twice as tall as surrounding buildings and would lower their property value by blocking sunlight. [The Real Deal]
More on Rob Hollander’s fight against the profusion of 7-Elevens in the East Village: “We want to make the lives of neighborhood residents better by offering a dependable and convenient environment with value-priced goods,” says a rep for the chain. “If we fulfill that mission, the community will support these stores as they have in other areas of New York City.” [NY Times]
Speaking of chains, the first New York location of West Coast transplant Fatburger will open in Murray Hill in April. [NY Post]
At the Strand, Ben McFall is the “dean of the clerks and the institutional memory of the fiction section, where he sorts, prices and shelves hundreds of books a day. And he is often the one pulling books off the shelves for customers.” [NY Times]
John Cale recalls the days when his band the Velvet Underground rehearsed in his Ludlow Street apartment. “We burned crates and furniture in the fireplace to keep warm. There was no heat in the winter other than the gas stove. Tony and I lived on what we could afford—mostly canned stew and milkshakes. Across the street in the morning, you could hear kids from the nearby high school singing doo-wop in the doorway there. Other kids threw rocks at us because they thought we looked like the Beatles.” [Wall Street Journal]
Also, Cale shoots down a rumor that he’ll be collaborating with Lou Reed again. [NY Mag]
True bummer: the excellent Tropicalia in Furs record shop has closed. [EV Grieve]
A look back on the history of 9th Street Bakery, closing after 87 years in business. [Off the Grid]
Silvia Killingsworth is suprised to find “charismatic food emerging from L’Apicio’s kitchen.” [New Yorker]
“Forcella is inviting patrons to toss their own pizzas. Starting today, you can sign up for one-on-one ‘make your own Neopolitan pizza’ sessions with pizzaiolo Giulio Adriani at one of the restaurant’s three locations.” [Grub Street]
“On January 23, DBGB Kitchen and Bar is hosting a whole hog dinner featuring a suckling pig from Pennsylvania Green Village Farms.” [Eater]
