Since 2007, Clayton Patterson, the photographer, documentarian and gallery owner who is the subject of the film “Captured,” has been collecting essays for an anthology, “Jews: A People’s History of the Lower East Side.” Earlier this week, he launched a Kickstarter campaign to get the book published –  with 57 days to go, his promotional video (which you can see above) has raised almost $2,500. We spoke to Mr. Patterson about the project, which he says currently totals 160 essays and 1,500 manuscript pages. In case you’re curious to see which East Village and Lower East Side luminaries will be featured, we’ve posted the table of contents below.  Read more…

A new citywide bike share program will debut next summer, and the Department of Transportation is asking for input regarding where the distribution stations should be set up. The map, which went live today, shows that people have already suggested bike share spots at Tompkins Square Park, Cooper Square, and Sixth Street at Avenue C. Where would you like to see stations in the neighborhood (if anywhere at all)?

Daniel Maurer

It’s primary election day, and across the East Village that means a Democratic scrum for district leader positions in two of the three assembly districts that carve up the neighborhood. In the 64th Assembly District, Part C, which includes the Financial District as well as a southern section of the East Village, Linda Belfer and Jeff Galloway are running against incumbents Paul Newell and Jenifer Rajkumarand. To the west, in the 66th District, Part B, the race is (as the Villager noted) between John R. Scott and David B. Reck. The female leader, Jean Grillo, is running for reelection unopposed.

Turnout is typically low for primary elections, and afternoon indicators showed that today’s contests are no exception. Read more…

Mark Burton Mike Iveson, Frank Boyd and Ben Williams

After their highly acclaimed production of “Gatz” (based on “The Great Gatsby”) at the Public Theater last year, Elevator Repair Service has returned to the stage with Ernest Hemingway’s “The Select (The Sun Also Rises)” at New York Theatre Workshop. The group’s third adaptations of a classic of American literature (William Faulkner’s “The Sound and The Fury” was the first) tells the story of expatriates living in Europe after World War I. They’re members of Gertrude Stein’s “lost generation” – left numb by the atrocities of war. Read more…

Daniel Maurer A damaged police car near Cooper Square.

The Local spotted a damaged police cruiser being hauled away on a truck bed this morning at Cooper Square and Sixth Street. The side air bags had been deployed, and the passenger-side of the car was dented. A spokesman for the police department said that the car was involved in a crash with a black car at around 5:20 a.m. There were no major injuries from the accident, and no one was arrested. The spokesman had no further information. Do you? <a href=”mailto:leveditor@nytimes.com”>E-mail The Local</a> whenever you see something like this and give us the what, who, where, and when.

Lauren Carol Smith The aftermath of a collision between a cyclist and pedestrian at Astor Place.

A cyclist ran into a pedestrian at Lafayette and Eighth Streets yesterday at around 6:30 p.m., a fire department spokesman said.

The 30-year-old woman, who was conscious and not bleeding, was treated at Bellevue Hospital, the spokesman added. The cyclist was not hauled to the hospital.

A bystander on the scene told the Local that the woman had stepped into the path of the cyclist, though that could not be confirmed.

Phillip Kalantzis-Cope Life Cafe.

Dismay over the sudden closing of Life Cafe — an East Village mainstay for 30 years — swiftly spread around the neighborhood on Monday.

“You have been an amazing and supportive neighbor for so long. I hope you will be back. Thanks for all you have done for the local artists over all these years,” wrote one commenter on the cafe’s Facebook page.

“Please come back soon. You’re a NY landmark. Hate to see all your employees out of work,” wrote another. Read more…

Courtesy of Patricia Thomsen

On Saturday, near the corner of Avenue B and Seventh Street, under a short stretch of blue scaffolding across from Tompkins Square Park, a makeshift bed of cardboard stretched across a few blocks of concrete. At the top – where a pillow would be on most beds – lay a crumpled heap of clothes and a few plastic bags. A solitary votive candle stood in the center of the designated sleeping spot, the flame so feeble that a small gust of wind might have blown it out.

Liz Hooper, 50, a homeless woman, had occupied this sidewalk space for the last six months until she was found dead next to it on Saturday morning, as reported by City Room. Ellen Borakove, a spokesperson for the city medical examiner told The Local that, as of now, the cause of death is still uncertain. Read more…

The movement to convince Cooper Union administrators to lower the St. Mark’s Bookshop’s rent has become so popular that a petition for the store already has over 15,000 signatures. “St. Mark’s bookshop is vital! Please don’t let greed get the better of you!!” one of the signers of the petition wrote. The owners of the financially fragile bookshop have a meeting with Cooper Union officials on Wednesday.

Jake Sugarman John Gorman reads at Launderette.

As anticipated, the annual Lit Crawl offered hundreds of readers across the East Village and the Lower East Side the opportunity to drink, schmooze and, in one instance, square off in a contest of literary acumen with their favorite poets and novelists. “Nerd Jeopardy” was sponsored by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, but house authors Will Hermes, Paul La Farge and Alina Simone lost to a team of laymen going by the name of “Whale Blubber.” (The Daily Double question: “The first book in Stieg Larsson’s Millenium trilogy would have been a veritable house party if only Lisbeth had listened to this master sampler.” The answer: “Girl Talk with the Dragon Tattoo.”) Meanwhile on East Sixth Street and Second Avenue, the Laundrette laundromat hosted “Dirty Laundry: Loads of Prose,” a collection of stain-inspired short stories. The material wasn’t everyone’s cup of Tide: Most regulars scurried to the washing machines at the back of the store.

Stephen Rex Brown Ron Britt, the owner of the Free Willie Nelson, in front of his damaged RV

The East Village’s most recognizable recreational vehicle caught on fire this morning, destroying the engine and leaving its mellow owner bummed but not brokenhearted.

The Free Willie Nelson, a 1973 Dodge Mahal Travco known for its whale-themed paint job and cowboy-style interior, was set ablaze by an electrical fire at around 8:55 a.m. on Sixth Street near Avenue A.

“A neighborhood icon comes to rest,” said Darryl Thompson, a musician. “Man, this sucks. I slept many nights in this thing — it’s like my old buddy.” Read more…

jdx View from the East Village, September 11, 2001.

Last week Susan Keyloun reviewed “nine/twelve tapes,” a play that reenacted man-on-the-street interviews conducted in the days following September 11, 2001. Now The Local has acquired clips from the tapes, which you can listen to for the first time below. Collin Daniels, 40, had been living in New York City for just three months when the World Trade Center attacks occurred – he had moved here along with eight other Ohio University theater-program graduates, and was working a temp job in publishing. “I was feeling out of place and alienated,” said Mr. Daniels over the telephone today, “and when 9/11 happened, it heightened my sense that I didn’t belong to this city yet and I wanted to do something to heal and process this.” Read more…

In a city where the streets double as runways, Michelle Rick shares her experience capturing local fashionistas.

“Like any girl with a TV set in New York during the 1970s and 80s, I formed my first impression of “high” fashion watching the Ritz Thrift Shop commercial. It evoked everything glamorous about that time: mother dabbing Givenchy perfume on her wrist, and Bloomingdale’s, which was the height of chic. I return to my comfort zones almost every day to take pictures; a red wall where I know how the light hits at 5 p.m., for example.”
Read more…

Courtesy of Andrew Buckler

“I very rarely go above 14th Street,” says menswear designer Andrew Buckler. His daily commute, on foot no less, takes him from his East Village apartment straight across Manhattan to Buckler headquarters at 13 Gansevoort Street, where his subterranean shop is stocked with clothing described as “English bloke meets New York.” It’s a rather fitting description of Buckler himself, who has lived in the East Village ever since launching his line in 2001. He finds the neighborhood inspirational because it’s “a little bit untouched. It’s still a bit bohemian. It hasn’t gentrified as much as other areas and it’s got a younger vibe.” Mr. Buckler presents his Spring 2012 collection today in the heart of the meatpacking district, but not before telling us about his local favorites. Read more…

For much of America’s Muslim community, the 9/11 terrorist attacks changed their relationship with the rest of American society – for the worse.  Broad government surveillance and discriminatory law enforcement policies, combined with an increased suspicion of Muslims by the general public, left many feeling that daily worship had suddenly become synonymous with terrorism. But a decade on, Imam Abu Sufian tells a different narrative.

The Imam, a 35-year old American of Bangladeshi origin, sat on fading jade-colored carpet upstairs at Madina Masjid – the redbrick mosque with an unobtrusive turquoise minaret on the corner of First Avenue and 11th Street. Speaking softly and holding a worn, leather-bound copy of the Koran in his hands, he wanted to highlight positive developments in the mosque’s relationship with East Villagers in the ten years since the terror attacks.  “I would actually say that since 9/11, we have had a greater relationship with the local community than we did before,” he said. “Everyone realized that we needed to get to know each other better.” Read more…

This event has passed.

Today, the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, which publishes The Local with The New York Times, is hosting a series of panel discussions on “The Journalism of 9/11 – A Decade Later.” All day, esteemed journalists will discuss their coverage of the attacks on September 11, 2001. If you can’t attend the free event at 20 Cooper Square, 7th floor, watch it here as we stream it live throughout the day – the schedule is below. Read more…

Over the next several days, Fashion Week will bring a barrage of exclusive runway shows and parties, none of which you’ve likely been invited to. But then who wants to trek up to Lincoln Center anyway? Fashion Week’s populist spin-off cum kick-off, Fashion’s Night Out, takes place right here in the East Village and elsewhere around town tonight, and everyone’s invited. Here’s our rundown of this evening’s festivities.

Photos: Rachel Ohm Patricia Field Boutique

Patricia Field Boutique
302 Bowery, (212) 966-4066
From 6 p.m. to midnight, Patricia Field, who famously outfitted the “Sex and the City” gals, will host a party that will double as a celebration of Veselka’s second location across the street. There’ll be a D.J., raffles for cute bags, vodka cocktails (or free coconut water), and pierogi from Veselka. Read more…

Khristopher J. Brooks St. Mark’s Bookshop at 31 Third Avenue.

The co-owners of one of the neighborhood’s most popular bookstores pleaded to members of Community Board 3 last night for help as they struggle to stay in business.

The causes of the St. Mark’s Bookshop’s financial woes (a book industry in free-fall amid the rise of e-readers and online retailers) have been well documented. Things became so dire that the owners even posted an ominous note in the store entrance, saying “Find it here, buy it here, keep us here.”

Now, the store’s owners are pressing their landlord, Cooper Union, to reduce the $20,000-per-month rent for the space in the base of the dormitory building at Third Avenue and Stuyvesant Street. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Firefighters blasting a manhole with a fire hose.

Firefighters were dousing a manhole with water at Second Avenue and Seventh Street this morning after it caught fire. A spokesman for the fire department said the first report of the blaze came in at 9:17 a.m., and that there were roughly 30 firefighters on the scene. Read more…