Scott Lynch Good morning, East Village.
The woman who died in an early-morning apartment fire has been identified as Mary Lincoln Bonnell, an 84-year-old artist known for her giant abstract bronze sculptures. [NY Post]
The East Village Parks Conservancy wants to give Tompkins a multi-million-dollar overhaul. “The Conservancy hopes not only to replace the park’s rundown and decrepit bits, but also to give it the ‘design integrity’ that it had before renovations in the 1990s ‘stripped the park of its elegant historic character.'” [NY Press]
It’s no wonder they call the Bowery “the city’s oldest streetscape”: “Despite a wave of gentrification — new restaurants, bars and hotels — vestiges of the block’s grimy, boozy past remain.” [NY Times]
Speaking of the Bowery, the lawsuit against the owners of Finale “came after a lot of back-and-forth maneuvers that included a proposed cash settlement from the club’s owners to residents, who instead wanted the group to buy them out of their pricey condos.” [NY Daily News]
A little farther north, 316-318 Bowery has had many incarnations. “In 1894, it operated as a hotel and, in 1915, it held a store and factory. Several long-term tenants included two hat shops – Herman Rosenberg Hats (c. 1935-60) and the Universal Hat Manufacturing Company (c. 1935-75) – and two hardware stores – Morris Feuer Hardware (c. 1920-55) and the Bleecker Hardware Company (c. 1935-75).” [Off the Grid]
Remembering Kathy Acker on her birthday. [Allen Ginsberg Project]
And finally, according to flyers being handed out today, there’ll be a rally to ban fracking and to demand renewable energy resources, at Tompkins Square Park on April 21 from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.
