Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

Scott Lynch photographed the latest mural on the side of the Ideal Glass building. For more of Felix Morelo’s “Mad Supper,” see The Local’s Flickr pool.

The office of Margaret Chin sent The Local a press release, reproduced on The Lo-Down, announcing that the City Council Subcommittee on Planning, Dispositions and Concessions and the Committee on Land Use voted to approve the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area application. The Lo-Down has a rundown of concessions that were made – including additional housing and possibly a new school – in the Lower East Side development project’s latest iteration, as it heads toward a final City Council vote. DNA Info has more on the possibility of the school.

The organizers of the DayLife festival tell The Local that the annual street fair, this Sunday from noon to 6 p.m., will boast “over 35 vendors of food and fashion, a full line-up of top-tier DJs, and games such as Twister, badminton and urban croquet.” The event will take over Orchard Street, between East Houston and Delancey Streets. More details here.

Off the Grid reports that “Board of Standards and Appeals recently decided in favor of developers seeking to build rooftop additions at 329-335 East 9th Street and to allow illegally built additions to remain at 514-516 East 6th Street.” You can read the backstory on The Local.

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Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong continue sorting through their archives of punk-era concert footage as it’s digitized for the Downtown Collection at N.Y.U.’s Fales Library. In this edition: the discovery of a lost Philip Glass recording.

Gary Reese

In 1687, Newton’s third law of motion explained that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. For punk rock, that reaction was the Artists Space 1978 music festival. With a line-up featuring the Contortions, DNA, Mars, and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, it spawned the No Wave scene. The sound was atonal, abrasive and utterly new, combining elements of funk, jazz and just plain noise. As Lenny Kaye of the Patti Smith Group observed, “the edge that originally attracted people to punk rock, that splintered sound, was almost gone by the late ‘70s. No Wave kinda picked up the artistic banner.”

In 1980, the pendulum swung again for four of No Wave’s most influential musicians. Jody Harris, Donny Christensen and George Scott III were veterans of the Contortions and Pat Irwin had performed with George in 8-Eyed Spy with Lydia Lunch. They were done with moody lead singers and wanted to try another way. They formed The Raybeats. Read more…

Daniel Maurer

A Southern-grub joint on East Fourth Street will finally begin pouring whiskey on Monday – an accomplishment its owner said was “no small feat.”

The Cardinal has been serving beer and wine since it opened last August – something owner Curtis Brown perceives as a handicap. When customers find out the restaurant doesn’t serve hard stuff, they often go elsewhere. “For brunch people just say, ‘Oh, you don’t have booze? Oh sorry, we really wanted a Bloody Mary,’” he said.

Now the restaurant will begin serving “a nice Bloody Mary,” in addition to specialty cocktails that will likely contain infused and small-batch liquors as well as ingredients made in-house (the onions will be hand-pickled and the Marsciano cherries will also be made on-site).

The road to a liquor license was a rocky one, due to the community board’s resolution against supporting license applications on side streets, said Mr. Brown. Read more…

For every East Village business that’s opening or closing, dozens are quietly making it. Here’s one of them: Shape of Lies.

Shira Levine

Collage artist and jewelry designer Peggy Yunque has been living and working at 127 East Seventh Street with her husband, a sculptor and filmmaker, for almost 33 years. That means when customers walk into her shop, Shape of Lies, during its fairly limited hours (Thursday and Friday, 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, noon to 8 p.m.) they’re standing in her living room. That card table tucked behind a display case? It’s actually their dinner table.

“People in the neighborhood know we live there, so if they have a gift emergency and the gate is down, or the lights are off, they knock,” Ms. Yunque told The Local. “I think we might be one of the only stores in the neighborhood living where we work. It’s sad how much things like that have changed in the city.” Ms. Yunque pulled out the table, some grapefruit juice from the fridge, and we sat by her fireplace surrounded by a dozen collections of locally made accessories and talked about how she ended up “breaking even since 1979.”

What exactly is The Shape of Lies?

We are a studio, a workshop and a shop. We only carry designers who produce their products in New York. That’s different from just carrying local designers. Many local designers produce their work in China or Thailand. We don’t do that. We use only the casters, sauterers, and finishers on 47th Street because we have so few of them left. Read more…

Suzanne Rozdeba Margaret Hearn in the room where Josephine Ruta slept, and died.

Margaret Hearn pays just $291 per month to live in a sprawling, three-bedroom apartment on East 12th Street, surrounded by a dizzying clutter of church relics, purses, minks, and souvenir ashtrays that once belonged to the former tenants.

It’s one of two apartments Ms. Hearn keeps: for 20 years, she has also had a 300-square-foot alcove studio in Gramercy, where she pays $747 per month.

Before you get jealous of this enviable arrangement: Ms. Hearn claims she doesn’t live in the rent-stabilized Gramercy apartment. She has merely been keeping it as security. That’s because the landlord of her rent-controlled apartment in the East Village is attempting to evict her. In fact, she might just lose both apartments. Read more…

Check out the newly released video for “New York City,” off of Joey Ramone’s posthumous album “…Ya Know?” It starts with a stroll down 10th Street, from Avenue D to Third Avenue, rounds the corner at the St. Mark’s Bookshop, and heads all the way down the Bowery and eventually all the way up to Times Square and into Joey’s native borough of Queens. A slew of well-known New Yorkers make appearances, starting with Joey’s brother Mickey Leigh. At one point, Ramones drummer and producer Tommy Ramone pops up holding a “Joey Ramone Place” sign, as does celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain.

You’ll also spot Godlis, whose photos of the Ramones and St. Marks apartment have appeared on this site; Ed Stasium, producer of Ramones albums, and John Holmstrom, illustrator of their covers; Suzy Hotrod of Gotham Girls Roller Derby; actor-comedians Reggie Watts, Kristen Schaal, John Lutz, and Scott Adsit; and musicians Andrew W.K., Tim Harrington of Les Savy Fav, Jonathan Pierce of The Drums, Tish and Snooky Bellomo of the Stilletto Fads, J.P. Patterson and Andy Shernoff of the Dictators, Ricky Byrd of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Sonya Balchandani of the Big Sleep, Erick Arc Elliott of the Flatbush Zombies, and Matt and Kim.

The Pyramid Club and bygone after-hours Save the Robots also get shout-outs – and look out for a clay model of the Astor cube. Recognize anyone or anything else in the video? ID them in the comments.

Courtesy Jim Power

Good morning, East Village.

Jim Power sends over the above photo of his tilework at the Economakis home on East Third Street. According to the Mosaic Man’s Website, “The owners of the building, Alistair and Catherine Economakis, commissioned Jim to build the decorative mosaics after they saw his work at The Bean next door. Alistair actually assisted with the design and Jim used some of the leftover marble tile that remained following the Economakis’s gut renovation of the building.”

The Times reports that eleven groups are suing the city over N.Y.U.’s expansion plans, having filed a lawsuit that “accuses government decision makers, including both the City Planning Commission and the City Council, of illegally turning over public land to facilitate the university’s plans. It also claims that the approval process lacked transparency and denied the public a chance for meaningful input.”

The Observer profiles Robert “Toshi” Chan, who went from operating controversial rentals on Airbnb.com to going legit on First Avenue: “The East Village Hotel is a self-service, apartment-style vacation rental at 147 First Avenue, on the corner of East Ninth Street. There are no concierges; guests check in via iPad. Rooms are small—280 square feet each—but there is a kitchen, and more importantly, they go for only $289 a night.”

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Sanna Chu East 11th Street.

After yesterday’s evacuation, the building on 12th Street that holds East Side Community High School and Girls Prep Lower East Side Middle School remains deserted, and it may stay that way for a while.

Today a general contractor at the site, who did not want to be named, told The Local that the building would most likely be off limits for at least a month as workers repair a wall that separated from the rest of the structure.

East Side students spent the day at P.S. 19, Asher Levy School, around the corner on First Avenue, and Girls Prep students were relocated to Lower East Side Elementary School on East Houston Street. But starting Thursday, they’ll have to travel farther to get to classes. Read more…

Sanna Chu Ramzi Khoury.

As noted yesterday, the inaugural NYC’s New Music Festival will see over 130 acts across 24 stages around the East and West Village. The performers are coming in from all over the country, but a few, like folk-rock musician Ramzi Khoury, are based in the East Village.

Mr. Khoury, 33, grew up in California – playing trumpet in elementary school and picking up guitar in high school – and came to the East Village because, he said, “it’s got a lot of good arts and music.” His debut album was “Color”; a subsequent EP, “Champagne and Cigarettes,” yielded the above video, for the song “2nd Avenue,” in which an actor is jerked around the East Village at the whim of Google maps (and you thought the iPhone 5’s maps were maddening). The Local spoke to the musician in Unions Square Park.

Do you have a day job?

For the longest time I didn’t, but six months ago I started working for a technology company. Does it interfere with my music? More so than I thought it would. But I do play my guitar every night when I get home. Read more…

Courtesy Corey Lima. Corey Lima, a.k.a. iLLspokinn.

While other hip-hop open mics have come and gone, Freestyle Mondays has been one of the scene’s staples for over a decade. Launched in 2002 at the now defunct Sin Sin, its doors were open to any rapper who wanted to grab the mic and perform, with a live band supplying the beats. When the club closed in 2010, the party migrated to Bar 13 and then to 116 MacDougal Street, until noise complaints resulted once again in the search for a new venue. Tonight, Freestyle Mondays returns to the East Village with an inaugural 16-MC battle at Ella Lounge at 9 Avenue A.

We spoke to co-host Corey Lima, better known as iLLspokinn, about coming back to the neighborhood, the challenges of having a weekly hip-hop event in New York City and new plans to broadcast online in high definition.

How does it feel to return to the East Village where Freestyle Mondays started?

It’s kind of nostalgic to get off on the same train to hit Freestyle Mondays again. I used to live in the East Village, so I’m hoping it brings out my East Village friends who just like to walk up the stairs or down the street. Read more…

Courtesy of S.S.A. Theater 80

A music festival taking place across both Villages this week is being billed as “East Meets West.” And the organizers? They’re from down south.

Kicking off Wednesday and lasting five days, NYC’s New Music Festival will feature over 130 artists  – from indie, folk and alternative rock to rap and hip hop – at a variety of venues.

Unlike the CBGB Festival, which last week announced it would return in May, the organizers of this festival aren’t from around here. It’s the first production that the Songwriters Showcases of America will stage outside of its home base in Florida.

Phil Weidner, president of the S.S.A., said the 13-year-old company had been trying to put together a festival outside of Florida for years. New York City, he said, was a no-brainer. “We wanted to focus on the East and West Villages to show that’s really the magnet of where good local, live music is being featured in Manhattan,” he told The Local. Read more…

Nicole Guzzardi

The High Holy Days are keeping Moishe Perl, the owner of Moishe’s Kosher Bake Shop, well occupied – but he’ll soon be even busier. After four decades on Second Avenue, the bakery is due for some changes.

Mr. Perl told The Local he would soon divide the bakeshop into three sections: a café, a bakery serving the usual tegalach and babka, and an area for hot foods like knishes, blintzes and pierogies. Read more…

Tim Schreier NDA and Sot

The latest cycle of the Cente-Fuge project went up today. You’ll recall the project, which brought a painting of Adam “MCA” Yauch to First Street back in May, brings a rotating array of art to the walls of a modular unit used by construction workers. Tim Schreier, who photographed the installation of Cycle 4 in June, was back at it today, documenting East Villager Beau Bradbury and the rest of Cycle 5’s artists as they did their thing. Here’s what went down (or up, rather). Read more…

Dana Varinsky David Simon at Croissanteria.

Hot on the heels of Bikinis, the neighborhood is getting another European-style cafe. Croissanteria, which doubles as a bakery, will debut on Avenue A in two or three weeks.

You can guess what’s on the menu: a variety of croissants with flavors like cinnamon raisin and chocolate, assorted mini croissants, and croissant sandwiches like ham with melted Gruyere. Owner and chef David Simon also plans to offer homemade baguettes and a custom coffee blend created by Brooklyn Roasting Company.

Mr. Simon, 30, grew up in a food-making family. His parents, originally from Belgium, started Catskill Artisan Smokehouse in Wallkill, New York. Until early summer he worked for them as a distributor, selling their products to high-end stores and restaurants like Russ and Daughters, Dean and DeLuca, and Veselka. Read more…

Dana Varinsky Atef Boulaabi.

A specialty food shop that counted local chefs David Chang of Momofuku and Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune as fans will reopen next month.

Before closing a little over a year ago, S.O.S. Chefs sold high-end imported spices and gourmet products like truffles and rare mushrooms to “some of the most renowned restaurants and chefs in the world,” as none other than Martha Stewart put it. In the Momofuku cookbook, David Chang said he improvised his roasted mushroom salad after going there to pick up some truffles and instead buying Turkish pistachios, hon shimiji and king oyster mushrooms, fleur de sel, and pistachio oil.  He’s gotten bay leaves there, too.

Atef Boulaabi, the owner, said S.O.S. Chefs 2020, as its new incarnation will be called, will have more of a retail focus. “Before we were chef, chef, chef,” she said, noting that 80 percent of her business was wholesale. Read more…

Shira Levine has filed many a Making It column using the free WiFi at EarthMatters. On its last day, she penned a eulogy from the cafe and health food store.

Shira Levine Here’s what is left of the herbs and tinctures. Come tonight if you want to load up on Scientology’s favorite purifying vitamin, niacin before it hits the mean streets of Ludlow.

New York, I love you, but you’re bringing me down. Yet another beloved institution is closing its doors. Today is the last day EarthMatters will feed and entertain us and Friday it will auction off its remaining furniture, fixtures and kitchenware.

Opened in 2001, EarthMatters was a place that mattered to locals and to tourists who bothered going farther down Ludlow Street than Katz’s Deli. It was our Cheers. Sure, most of us thought it was overpriced, but we continued to order bowls of delicious tahini kale, chickpea pesto and beet salads. We shopped for homeopathic tinctures and ayurvedic herbs. We lounged in those shabby couches and chairs. Read more…

There’s much to see in Tompkins Square Park: birds, trees, and – best of all – dogs and their owners. Here’s this week’s duo from the dog run.

Nicole Guzzardi

The Master: Raf Astor, 46, a musician who has lived in the East Village for 30 years. When the money from playing in his Latin-music band got slow, he decided to take up dog-sitting.

His Pet Tricks: Mr. Astor says he uses music therapy to rid dogs of behavioral issues. “I play for them and they respond to it,” he said. “They relax; it calms them down.” Read more…

Photos: Nicole Guzzardi

Angelina Café will open across the street from its former location as soon as it gets a visit from the gas man.

Rafik Bouzgarrou, the owner of the Mediterranean bistro, said he moved out of his modest digs at 36B Avenue A last month because his landlord wanted to raise his rent of $7,500 per month. He’s now paying a similar amount for a space that’s three times the size.

At 37 Avenue A, Mr. Bouzgarrou has installed a proper wine bar, where Mediterranean and Basque wines are displayed on a rack. One wall is decorated by a map of the Mediterranean, painted by Angelina customer John Bean. The build-out was also the work of friends and customers, said Mr. Bouzgarrou. “They all knew I didn’t really have money to move here,” he said. Read more…

NYPD

A man punched and robbed a woman on the Lower East Side, the police said.

Around 4:20 p.m. on Tuesday, the man followed his 25-year-old victim into 50 Allen Street, where he twice punched her in the face and then swiped her purse, according to the police.

The suspect, thought to be between the age of 35 and 40, was wearing a white shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers, as shown in this surveillance camera footage. He’s wanted for robbery.