Frank BardinA cane left on the front door of 510 East Sixth Street that belongs to the landlord, according to a resident.
On monday evening firefighters were called to 510 East Sixth Street after the elderly landlord, Martha Fedorko, fell asleep with a pot on the stove, a resident said.
“The firemen had to break into her apartment and luckily, no damage resulted,” wrote the resident, Frank Bardin, in a comment on last month’s article on Ms. Fedorko. “Earlier, late afternoon, she sat on a chair just inside the foyer to the building, lifting her lower leg, trying to block tenants from entering the building and in one case, yelling ‘police, police’ when one entered, gingerly slipping past her.”
A spokesman for the Fire Department confirmed that firefighters responded to a kitchen fire in the building between Avenues A and B at around 8:50 p.m. Following The Local’s story on the quandary the tenants of the building found themselves in, several others came forward with their own stories. Read more…
The founder of Gathering Of The Tribes, Steve Cannon, says that negotiations are underway with his landlord, and that the lengthy dispute should be resolved by the end of the month. “It looks like she’s going to agree what we want,” said a confident Mr. Cannon. “I feel relieved. It’s going in my direction.” In April the founder of the art space won a legal victory when a Housing Court judge ruled that his dispute with his landlord, Lorraine Zhang, should be settled in State Supreme Court. Nevertheless, Ms. Zhang served Mr. Cannon with a 10-day notice to leave the building at 285 East Third Street in May. (The notice was ignored). Ms. Zhang would not comment on the latest developments in the saga, which has been brewing since March of last year.
A work order filed last week and pending approval by Department of Buildings paves the way for construction of two brand-new performance spaces in the venerable theater, which will cost an estimated $15.1 million. The plans call for more than 9,000 additional square feet to be added to the building at 150 First Avenue, all paid for by the city.
PS 122’s artistic director, Vallejo Gantner, said Wednesday that he was “delighted” that work will soon be underway. Since the city has already funded work on the building’s facade, replaced old energy-inefficient windows, and gotten rid of asbestos and lead paint, he estimated that the project’s full cost will be more than $20 million. He’s thankful for every penny.
“I think the city is kind of amazing that, in a time like this, they’re investing in cultural activities,” Mr. Gantner said. “The fact that it’s happening at all is such an amazing thing.” Read more…
Architects tackling Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s challenge to design a livable 275-square-foot “micro-unit” apartment can take inspiration from James Hong. The East Village resident maximized the space in his 500-square-foot digs by using a sliding door, a custom tub and all kinds of other high-end renovations depicted in the video above. (Clearly, it helps to have some cash to spend.)
Of course, Mr. Hong isn’t the first to make the most of a small East Village apartment. Back in 2009 the firm Jordan Parnass Digital Architecture squeezed a home office into a small studio, thanks to stairs that doubled as drawers and an elevated bed built above a walk-in closet.
If you can’t donate $5,000 for a brand-new 3-D portrait, then can you spare a dollar for a hardcore legend behind bars?
After allegedly biting and slashing members of the Cro-Mags at Webster Hall last weekend, Harley Flanagan, a founding member of the band, needs help.
Friends of Mr. Flanagan’s are soliciting money for a legal defense fund on IndieGoGo, and hope to raise $50,000 in the name of “Harley’s Army.” So far supporters have donated $579.
“All of the details aren’t out, though certain stories are being bandied about in the court of public opinion,” the post reads. (The Local corrected typos). “All of the details aren’t going to get out, or get presented properly in a court of law if Harley doesn’t get top notch legal representation.” Read more…
The organizers of the CBGB Festival are putting all that attention they got to good use: A Twitter war with Dial 7 car service. Bowery Boogie got the full story on the salty tweets that encourage followers to retweet the anti-Dial 7 message to get a free poster from the festival.
EV Grieve has a picture of an old lady trying to cross the Bowery at East Fourth Street that pretty much says it all. The short countdown clocks, he writes, simply do not give slow pedestrians enough time to cross the street. “She started moving the moment the ‘walk’ sign started flashing. And she wasn’t dawdling. The woman simply didn’t have enough time to cross a treacherous intersection.” The intersection of Bowery and Houston Street was targeted for safety improvements recently. Might the Department of Transportation give this intersection four blocks north a look as well?
The Cooper Square Committee sends word about an important public hearing on SPURA before the City Planning Commission beginning today at 10 a.m. on the sixth floor of 22 Reade Street. The Lo-Down has more information. Read more…
Something Sweet, the small bakery on the corner of 11th Street and First Avenue, is “closed for now,” according to a sign in the window. The bakery’s display cases were empty and its gate was down on Tuesday. Health Department records show that it was forced to close following an inspection on July 2 that found a missing food protection certificate, evidence of mice and flies, and food that was contaminated or not discarded properly. The shop has closed unexpectedly a few times before.
The street artist Phlegm had a busy day on Sunday. Not only did he add a character to the Know Hope mural on East Second Street, he also sprayed a surreal image on the gate of My Little Village Preschool on Avenue A. Videographer Matthew Kraus passed along this video of the process.
Sarah DarvilleA note from a militant preservationist?
Workers renovating the closed — and illegal — hostel at 27 East Seventh Street today didn’t seem too interested in a note scribbled over work permits on the building. “Yet another historic bldg demolished to make way for ugly, overpriced yuppie studios!!” the note read. Read more…
Stephen Rex BrownTen months after it first appeared, the “private” bike rack is still in place.
The city’s administrative code doesn’t allow it, but that hasn’t stopped someone from continuing to claim that the bike rack on East Fourth Street between Avenues A and B is private.
The cyclist, Kyle, who asked to be identified by only his first name for fear of a confrontation with the person writing the nasty notes, lives in a building facing the rack. He said he’d been flouting the “owner” of the rack’s demands for months.
In fact, the bicycle featured in The Local’s first story on the rack belonged to Kyle’s girlfriend. A note left on it in October read, “This is a private rack. Remove your bike or it will be done for you!!”
“We’ve been ignoring them. I’m not going to listen to that because it’s not legal,” Kyle said. “It’s crazy that this person thinks he can do that.”
Noah FecksThe artist M. Henry Jones in his former studio. He is soliciting donations for a new project.
An artist who had to move to new digs because of rising rent is asking for a few bucks through Kickstarter — and offering some unique incentives.
M. Henry Jones, the longtime East Village resident who moved his studio to East 10th Street after a new tenant offered to pay nearly four times his rent on Avenue A, is soliciting donations for his new project: a series of portraits and animations covered in lens screens that make them look three-dimensional. The portraits are done using Mr. Jones’ own “Fly’s Eye 3-D technique,” a method that allows viewers to see depth in the images without the need for 3-D glasses.
M. Henry JonesA video showing off one of the prizes for donating
to his Kickstarter campaign.
So far, he has $2,000 towards his goal of $11,000 by July 29. The prizes for those who pledge money include lenticular mirrors, 3-D postcards, a signed coffee table book and — for a cool $5,000 — a “Giant Prototype SnakeMonkey Fly’s Eye 3D Lightbox.” The money will go toward buying materials to make the lens screens, frames and the panels that light up the portraits, according to the project’s description. Read more…
Sarah DarvilleThe vacant building at 222 East 13th Street.
A long-vacant and dilapidated building will become a safe haven for homeless gay, lesbian and transgender young people thanks to $3.3 million in grants from city officials and a crucial city approval.
The Cooper Square Committee and the Ali Forney Center plan to transform 222 East 13th Street, a three-story building owned by the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, into the Bea Arthur Residence For L.G.B.T. Youth. Last week, the organizations found out that the City Council had allocated $3 million and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer had allocated an additional $300,000 to the project — money that will allow them to move ahead with renovations.
“Homeless L.G.B.T. youth, most of whom have been cast out of their homes, have faced the worst kind of cruelty and rejection,” said Carl Siciliano, executive director of the Ali Forney Center, in a statement. “I am overwhelmed with gratitude that they are now being shown kindness by this community and its leaders.” Read more…
DNAInfo chats with the new chairwoman of Community Board 3, Gigi Li. The 30-year-old, who was born in Hong Kong, grew up in Long Island and moved to Chinatown in 2009, tells the Web site she plans to continue the board’s focus on retail diversity. One initiative she’s considering: a way for the board to oppose the combination of multiple storefronts into one larger store.
Kyle Brincefield, the owner of the fashion line Studmuffin NYC, tells Racked that one of his favorite thrift stores is Search & Destroy on St. Marks Place. “From heavily studded jackets and vests to brightly colored lucha libre masks, S&D quickly became my go-to spot for a hot piece in a pinch.”
New York Magazine has its annual cheap eats list, and Mile End and Bobwhite earn mentions. A roundup of the “cheap eat of the year,” the steamed bun, features plenty of familiar local spots, as well. Read more…
Zaragoza’s nearly year-long quest for a beer and wine license is entering the final stretch.
Ruben Martinez, one of the deli’s owners, confirmed that the family-owned business will soon go before the State Liquor Authority after filing missing paperwork with Community Board 3.
“It was my fault. I had other things on my mind and I didn’t sign it off,” Mr. Martinez said of the documents that agreed to a series of community board stipulations. “It was just dropped off a week later and it wasn’t on time.”
For Zaragoza, the dry spell began last July when its alcohol license expired. The family failed to renew it and, a month later, they were charged for selling beer with an expired license. (It didn’t help that they sold the alcohol to a minor, either). Read more…
One of the neighborhood’s most famous landmarks has joined the chorus for an historic district in the neighborhood.
In the past, the owner of McSorley’s Old Ale House was wary of any regulation of renovations to their building at 15 East Seventh Street. But now they would rather be included in the 330 buildings that comprise the proposed East Village-Lower East Side Historic District.
“We’ve surrendered to it, it’s time,” said Bill Wander, an unofficial historian of the bar who is close to its owner. “Now that the rest of the neighborhood is going to be protected, let’s not be left out.”
McSorley’s embraces its history as much as any business in the East Village. In February, for example, the McSorley’s Militia celebrated its 158th anniversary with a five-gun salute in Revolutionary War garb. Still, bar owner Matthew Maher had been skeptical of the designation for the typical reasons — the approval process involved in replacing things like windows and air conditioning units. Read more…
Forbidden Planet, one of the city’s more popular comic book shops, is moving to a larger store nearby at 840 Broadway near Union Square, DNAInfo reports. The new location will have 1,200 additional square feet of space — a sign that this particular shop is faring well in spite of larger concerns in the industry regarding how to attract new fans to old-fashioned superhero stories told on old-fashioned paper. (Just today The Times detailed one rebooted comic company’s plan to make money: Movies.) The new Forbidden Planet will open on July 24. Maybe they should get the Incredible Hulk to help with the move?
Still steamed about that canceled Cro-Mags show? Bowery Boogie has a gallery of the band rocking out at CBGB in 2006 and Highland Ballroom in 2011. The photos, by Clayton Patterson, capture the raw energy that never made it to the stage on Friday due to an alleged knife attack by Harley Flanagan, a disgruntled founding member of the band.
Stephen Rex BrownWork permits in the window of the new wing of Porsena.
Sara Jenkins’ restaurant on East Seventh Street is in for an upgrade “alla sinistra.”
The new wing in a storefront to the left of the dining room and bar will be dubbed Porsena Sinistra (which means, appropriately, “left” in Italian) and feature a lunch counter during the day and a wine bar at night. The space was previously occupied by Fragrance Shop New York, which reopened on East Fourth Street.
Ms. Jenkins said the lunch menu would include sandwiches, soups and salads. The bar will have a selection of Mediterranean wines, not just strictly Italian fare. She expected it would open around the end of August. (Check back later for some of the plates Ms. Jenkins has in mind for lunch). Update | 4:16 p.m. (Ms. Jenkins changed her mind and decided the menu items weren’t ready for public consumption.) Read more…
The Local was a journalistic collaboration designed to reflect the richness of the East Village, report on its issues and concerns, give voice to its people and create a space for our neighbors to tell stories about themselves. It was operated by the students and faculty of the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, in collaboration with The New York Times, which provides supervision to ensure that the blog remains impartial, reporting-based, thorough and rooted in Times standards. Read more »
Frank Bardin A cane left on the front door of 510 East Sixth Street that belongs to the landlord, according to a resident.
