Carrie Leonard Clyde Fitch and Elsie de Wolfe, played by Jody Flader

At Lady Mendl’s Tea Salon, a glass flute and tulip-adorned sugarcube is placed before each guest. An amuse bouche is served, along with tea. The Gilded Age farce begins. Elsie and Bessy enter, chittering aphoristic secrets of success with a telling grace. Elsie performs a headstand, her poofy knickers signaling the Mad Hatter-like atmosphere that enlivens the rest of “The Bachelors’ Tea Party.”

These are, it should be noted, the representations of real-life early-20th-century New York socialites Elsie de Wolfe, an actress turned trailblazing interior designer who counted the Duke and Dutchess of Windsor as clients, and Elisabeth Marbury, the pioneering play broker who represented Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw. They are theatrical, to say the least (Ms. de Wolfe, a.k.a. Lady Mendl, actually did perform headstands, at times to scandalous effect) and Jody Flader and Liz Eckert caricature them expertly: they’re every bit as charmed by their competitive, backhanded compliments as the audience is.

Good thing, because they carry the show de facto. Although the other characters are equally charming, they are silent — being puppets. The humor derived from this ingenious set-up is hard to describe: no analysis of narcissism will feel as outrageously perfect as seeing Elsie asking a question of a red-cheeked, smiling porcelain doll, waiting a couple seconds, and then exclaiming, “I knew you’d say so!” In another scene one of the dolls, representing the then-popular playwright Clyde Fitch, “tells” a droll story that has the two ladies all but cracking up. Read more…

Joann Pan

Power has been fully restored to Knickerbocker Village, the Lower East Side housing complex where low-income residents — many of them elderly — remained in the dark long after service was restored to their neighbors.

Electricity flowed into the last of the complex’s 1,600 units at 4 p.m. today, ending a “painstaking process that involved rebuilding circuits and other equipment destroyed by the East River salt water,” a statement said.

The complex’s 12 buildings aren’t fully back to normal: many units are still without heat (it’s expected to return fully tomorrow or Saturday), hot water is in limited supply (it too will be fully restored by Saturday), and “a small handful of units” might still be without power if they weren’t plugged into the main circuit properly. In addition, there may be outages of several hours as “electrical service is weaned off the temporary generators and back onto Con Edison’s grid,” the statement said.

Last Friday, The Local reported that residents such as 104-year-old Margaret Zomzely were living in the dark and cold, as only 450 of the complex’s 1,600 units had regained electricity, and none had heat. One of those residents, 101-year-old Pao Chu Hsieh, died during the blackout, The Times reported. By Tuesday, power had been restored to all but 400 units.

That day, James Simmons, Vice President of Knickerbocker Village, Inc., told residents they wouldn’t have to pay rent for the days they were without essential services. “Discussions between building management and various elected officials and governing bodies will determine how that will occur, with credits on future rent among the processes under consideration,” today’s statement said.

Annie Fairman Rosa’s Deli and Grocery

At the Rosa Deli and Grocery Corp, handwritten signs greet customers at nearly every turn: “Food stamps out of service.”

Like many other businesses that have reopened in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the bodega’s phone lines remain down, zapping potential revenue from credit card purchases. In addition, it can’t process payment through the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly referred to as food stamps.

Hector Martinez, a manager at the store on Avenue D, estimates it’s losing thirty percent of its sales each day without phone service. Recipients of SNAP use an Electronic Benefits Transfer card, which functions like a debit card, to purchase items, and the amount is electronically deducted from their account. Retailers are then credited the amount of the purchase within two business days, according to the program’s Website.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the U.S. Department of Agriculture extended the period in which beneficiaries must recertify their household to continue receiving SNAP benefits, and agreed to automatically credit a half-month’s worth of benefits to those living in New York City’s hardest hit zip codes, including Alphabet City. But many neighborhood retailers who accept this form of payment remain without a functioning phone line to process the transaction.
Read more…

Missing Billy Leroy’s Houston Street tent? You’ll have a chance to catch up with him (assuming your cable is back) when the second season of “Baggage Battles” premieres tonight at 8 p.m.

Till then, check out this Travel Channel video in which the eccentric antiques dealer takes us through his morning routine. At his Greenpoint, Brooklyn home, he shows off quirky collectibles including a stuffed, moving deer head, a bear with its mouth wide open, and a “Jim Morrison Blvd” sign. “I like things that have an edge, and things that are slightly dangerous,” he says.

Of course, we knew that already.

Photos: Suzanne Rozdeba

After a year’s delay, Union Market has opened at the corner of Avenue A and East Houston Street, as anticipated yesterday. Around 2:30 p.m., Marko Lalic, a partner in the operation, made the rounds as shoppers and gawkers taste-tested olive oils, perused the bountiful cheese section, and admired a baked goods area overflowing with rolls and baguettes.

Last night, The Times revealed that the Brooklyn brand’s first Manhattan outpost would feature a prepared-foods department directed by Katy Sparks, the chef of the future Tavern on the Green, with “dishes like Dominican pork roast, porchetta-style leg of lamb, brisket meatloaf, roasted cauliflower and (since this is a market from Brooklyn) sautéed kale.”

Suzanne Rozdeba contributed reporting.

Damaged house in the Rockaways. Matt Kliegman

East Villagers continue to band together to help bring relief to the storm-battered Rockaways, where thousands are still without power or heat.

On the Sunday after Hurricane Sandy struck, Emmett Shine – founder of Gin Lane Media, a Bowery-based branding and design company – and James Cruickshank, his partner in Lola and an owner of Whitmans restaurant on East Fifth Street, poured into a 15-seat passenger van with 14 other people and headed out to the ravaged peninsula. They ended up at the Rockaway Beach Surf Club at Beach 87th Street, where Lava Girl Surf was leading a community relief effort.

“We were so impressed that this whole grassroots organization had flourished at this beach club,” said Rebecca Zhou, 22, a strategist at Gin Lane.

The group broke into teams of five and began distributing donated items. “That day people in our group cleaned out flooded basements and helped people clear out moldy, wet furniture,” said Ms. Zhou, who went door-to-door, checking on the elderly residents of a high-rise apartment complex. Read more…

Lauren Carol Smith Wendy Barrett last year.

If Village Scandal doesn’t pay almost $22,000 in back rent today, the hat shop will get the boot.

Thursday, a civil court judge ordered Wendy Barrett, the embattled owner of the East Seventh Street store, to pay the sum by 5 p.m. today, or face eviction.

But Ms. Barrett insists she already paid it – or that she tried to, anyway. “Rent was deliberately sent back to me by A.J. Clarke,” she said, referring to the management company she believes has unfairly kept her in delinquency.

“I’ve been running around, trying to get the money. I haven’t slept since last week,” she said through tears this afternoon. “I have to have the money today.”

In response to the potential eviction, Ms. Barrett is suing her landlord and the management company for $10 million. Read more…

Leigha Mason

At 23, Leigha Mason doesn’t lack for confidence: “I know I’m young but I know I’m right,” she says.

The painter and filmmaker is one of four artists in their twenties who run 1:1, a gallery and events space at 121 Essex Street. The second-floor nook is meant to be a “nucleus for contemporary activity,” said Ms. Mason (it’s also her sometime home: there’s a shower in the pink-lit bathroom).

What kind of activity is she talking about? “Before 1:1, I was doing a lot of aggressive performances with anti-capitalist sentiment,” she said. Now she’s focused more on the “social possibilities of bodies navigating each other, space, and diverse practices.” Her latest work was “Sketches for Baal,” with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, the gender-bending performance artist and leader of Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV. And this Thursday at 8 p.m., one of her partners in the gallery, Whitney Vangrin, will perform the second installment of a “Blood, Sweat, and Tears” trilogy.

We caught up with Ms. Mason before the opening of 1:1’s current show, Nathile Provosty’s first solo exhibition of abstract paintings, “Book of Hours.”

What’s the current state of downtown art?

Most of it sucks, some of it is relevant. A lot of what is relevant isn’t necessarily visible. Most of the art scene is market-driven, which is very boring to me. It seems that for a lot of people, the “downtown” moniker just adds a sort of cultural capital to an already dispassionate and insular world. But there are people who are doing interesting and important things, either because we are committed to ideas or beauty or whatever (we are compelled to do it) and/or because we get pleasure from it. Read more…

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.

Halloween poster.

After a weekend of belated Halloween and Day of the Dead celebrations, how about another bit of eerie entertainment? Better than a bag of candy, more shiver-inducing than a zombie apocalypse: ladies and gentlemen, we present The Cramps.

For more than a quarter of a century, the band cave-stomped their signature brand of rockabilly and blues with a blend so stripped down that for years, they used no bass. Relying on sinuous guitars and drums to stake their rhythms, they created a sound that invoked surf rock, grade-B horror films and a whiff of medicine show. Lead singer Lux Interior hated the use of the term psychobilly to describe their sound but the fans embraced it.

The Cramps obliged those delighted to follow music down any dark and twisting corridor: their live shows were sweaty, primal and wild. They sounded like they crawled from an oozing swamp, or the back of some toxic ’50s auto graveyard. And the fans wanted to dive right in. Read more…

Sixth Street Specials wasn’t the only bike shop hit by Hurricane Sandy.

On Avenue C, Recycle-a-Bicycle lost power, but it was up and running during the blackout, and doing swift business. Without reliable public transportation, locals dusted off their Schwinns and Treks and brought them to the non-profit’s storefront for a tune-up.

“A lot of people are coming in for flat fixes, because they’re just pulling their bike out of the basement,” said shop manager Patrick Tomeny last Thursday.

It’s no secret that bikes (and bicycle-powered generators) came in handy during the storm. Watch our video to find out why Mr. Tomeny thinks they’re the way of the future.

Dana Varinsky Margaret Zomzely and Sheron Tomlinson talk to Karlin Chan.

Dana Varinsky Volunteers gather supplies to distribute.

Tan Suan Chang, a 90-year-old diabetic, is supposed to receive dialysis two times a week. Usually, his wife wheels him to the elevator of his building on Monroe Street and a transport service vehicle takes him to the hospital. But that became impossible after Knickerbocker Village lost power during Hurricane Sandy. Mr. Chang was too weak to walk down the stairs from his 11th-floor apartment, especially in the dark.

“I didn’t want him to get into a worse situation,” said his son, John Tan. “He missed dialysis for a week so I didn’t want him to go into some kind of kidney shock.” Sunday, Mr. Tan took his father onto his back and carried him down a dark stairwell, then trudged back up for his wheelchair. He brought both of his parents to his apartment in the East Village, where they are now staying.

“My father-in-law was scared. He’s fragile,” said Mr. Tan’s wife, Florence Eng. “He knows that physically he’s very vulnerable and he didn’t even want his own son picking him up and bringing him downstairs.” Ms. Eng’s mother also lives at Knickerbocker Village; she’s staying with another daughter until utilities are restored.

At the moment, it’s uncertain when that will happen. On Saturday, Con Edison returned electricity to most of the Lower East Side housing complex, which houses 1,600 low- and middle-income residents, many of them seniors. But an electrical fire broke out and plunged it into darkness again. “Resulting from the fire, Con Edison imposed new power restoration procedures that govern our process and progress,” the building’s management, Knickerbocker Village, Inc., said in a statement today. Read more…

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

Courtesy Peter McCaffrey.

Thirty years ago, artist Peter McCaffrey transitioned from painting his own pieces in a subterranean studio to operating a retail store. Mascot Studio, at 328 East Ninth Street, isn’t just any old frame shop: Mr. McCaffrey pays expert attention to the array of materials and textures that can enhance fine art. Add to that an annual dog show and you can see why the 250-square-foot space is such a little gem. We spoke to the owner about how the business is holding up post-Sandy.

How did Sandy affect things?

I am feeling extremely lucky I didn’t suffer any physical damage or flooding. There is a concern about starting up and getting going again. My business deals with aesthetic and not necessary goods and services, which is not at the top of people’s priority list. I find myself asking how I will keep the ball rolling, but I think my saving grace will be the coming holidays. Read more…

Suzanne Rozdeba Michael Spitz

Yes, that’s Michael Jordan posting up on East Ninth Street.

He’s part of the display window at Mr. Throwback, a “funky little crazy store in the East Village” that may soft-open tomorrow, according to its owner.

Michael Spitz, a 30-year-old Murray Hill resident with a background in sports management, said his shop at 428 East Ninth Street is inspired by his childhood in Bellmore, Long Island.

In January, he began peddling some of his old clothing, which he had been selling online, at the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market, and then at the Dekalb Market in Brooklyn.

At the storefront, between First Avenue and Avenue A, he’ll sell vintage Starter jackets, acid-wash Levis jeans, concert tees, army jackets, and vintage toys and video games. Read more…

Sanna Chu Dining Hall at Bowery Mission

Before restaurants and food distribution centers mobilized in the wake of Sandy, shelters and religious institutions that have long fed the neighborhood’s needy were already in high gear.

Last week, more than 160 additional people bunkered down in the Bowery Mission’s emergency shelter areas. James Macklin, director of outreach, said the shelter’s 10 staffers took the uptick in stride, continuing to serve three hot meals a day to 80 permanent residents as well as the influx of visitors.

“I was cooking by torchlight,” said Delon Ali, a chef at Bowery Mission. “We served 700 to 1,000 plates per day here.”

Aside from its long-term residents, the 133-year-old organization provides emergency housing for overnight guests when the temperature drops below 40 degrees and during extreme weather. During cold nights, the Mission might see up to 100 people sleeping in its chapel and dining room.

Mr. Macklin said 160 might have been a record high, but in the 27 years he has worked at the shelter, he has never seen anyone turned away. “I haven’t seen it done and I don’t think we will ever do that,” he said.

During the storm last Monday, the Mission, along with much of downtown Manhattan, was plunged into darkness. It took to Twitter to call for a generator. The next day, three came: two were used to power the Mission on Bowery and one was used at its Transitional Center on Avenue D.

Sanna Chu James Macklin at Bowery Mission

The Mission gets regular donations from individuals and businesses including Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Duane Reade, and others. After the storm, there was an even greater outpouring of support. “We have buses coming all the way from Elmira, N.Y., loaded from top to bottom and they’re coming back again to help us do what we do,” Mr. Macklin said. Even neighboring pizzeria Pulino’s sent over some grub.

The donations weren’t just for those at the shelter. The Mission also distributes food all over the city, from churches to Coney Island. It gave away hot meals and supplies on Avenue D today.

Charles Reaves, 43, who had been staying at the Mission for five months, wasn’t troubled much by the storm. “It got a little crowded in here at night but it was okay,” he said. “It was for a good reason. We got to provide food and shelter for a lot of people who otherwise had nowhere to go.”

For Matt Krivich, 38, the Mission’s director of operations, Sandy brought a sense of uncertainty but also of unity. “It brought all of us together a little bit more because we didn’t have distractions. We have a great staff and our residents all stepped up and helped maintain order and keep people safe.”

Over at the Catholic Worker, workers were able to continue using gas ovens to serve hot meals to over 40 residents split between St. Joseph house and Maryhouse. The weekday soup line – normally open to the public from 10 a.m. till 11.30 a.m., Monday through Friday – continued uninterrupted. “But we were cooking in the dark,” said Carmen Trotta, 47, a Catholic worker.

The Catholic Worker did not house any Sandy refugees, since its houses are usually at capacity.

Sanna Chu Relief Effort on Avenue D

With their overstocked freezer, the workers were able to keep food cold for a few days after the power went out, before doing a cook-off with leftover meat. Some salad had to be thrown out but there was no big loss, according to Mr. Trotta.

“It was a humbling experience to see how quickly our high-tech society can crumble,” said Mr. Trotta. With the lights out, the residents were forced to sleep longer. And with nowhere to go, the workers and residents drew closer together as a community.

While the Catholic Worker’s soup line was a little longer than usual, Graffiti Church had a different experience. The church’s normal Wednesday and Saturday meal services saw fewer people than usual, probably because many had moved out of the area to seek shelter.

In addition to organizing a clothing drive, the church has been helping local residents clean out their apartments and fight mold. “People in this area have never had to deal with this problem before,” said Reverend Taylor Field. To address it, the church, at 205 East Seventh Street, will hold a free mold prevention seminar tonight, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Now that power is mostly back, we’ve been receiving more of your photos and videos from the storm, starting with the above. Brian Spitzer submitted this incredible footage of Avenue C and Eighth Street, adjacent the Police Service Area 4 station house, through our Virtual Assignment Desk.

Photos have also been coming into our Flickr Group: Matthew Kraus posted equally stunning shots of flooding on Avenue C and East 15th Street, where one motorist told The Local he escaped waters that were chest-high. Steven Matthews also documented the storm’s arrival and subsequent flooding. Michael Natale posted shots of the wreckage in East River Park, while Bahram Foroughi photographed fallen trees in the Lower East Side and off the East River. Timothy Krause drew our attention to the river’s oily sheen. Philip Kalantzis-Cope witnessed some of the food giveaways we mentioned. Vivienne Gucwa added shots of the recovering neighborhood in darkness and daylight. Meagan Kirkpatrick took some black-and-white stunners of the blackout. Coti Villanueva showed us the rain-slicked streets, as did Roey Ahram. Scott Lynch posted a photo of closures at the Union Square station yesterday, and Ria Chung has images of the neighborhood getting back to normal.

There are plenty more where those came from, so browse The Local’s Flickr pool and add material of your own.

And a big thanks to everyone who contributed coverage.

East Yoga/Facebook

A fire devastated East Yoga, a small, popular neighborhood yoga studio, on Sunday afternoon.

About 12 units and 60 firefighters rushed to 212 Avenue B after a call came in at 3:14 p.m., the fire department said. The fire was under control 30 minutes later, and there were no reported injuries. The cause of the blaze has not yet been determined.

The studio, which opened on Avenue B, near 13th Street, over six years ago, posted a note on its Website: “No one was in the studio and the surrounding businesses and people living in the building are all okay. So we are counting our blessings that the extent of the damage is limited to our physical space. While the damage is extensive, we are hopeful that we will be up and running again in a few weeks time.”

Students sent condolences and offers to help rebuild the studio via Facebook and Twitter. “I was there this morning for a great first post-hurricane-darkness class with Shevy,” wrote one. “This makes me very sad, please let us know how we can help!” And @KBorg Tweeted, “It breaks my heart that @eastyoga had a terrible fire today. That yoga studio forever changed who I am. So sad.”

The studio is currently looking for a space to hold classes while it rebuilds. “This has been a humbling experience. We have appreciated everyone who has reached out with their love and support,” it wrote. “We will need help as we recover and will be taking many of you up on your very generous offers – whether it is helping us clean up, donating to our renovation efforts or attending our interim classes to stay connected.”

Ria Chung

Good morning, East Village.

As we reported, there were still many East Villagers and Stuyvesant Town residents without power and heat last night. If you’re one of them, let us know in the comments or via Twitter, where we continue to share breaking news.

This morning, there were 5,000 Manhattanites and a total of 130,000 New York City residents without power. [NY Post]

The F train is running again. [MTA/Twitter]

The L train still isn’t running into Manhattan, so Williamsburg residents faced a long commute. [NY Times]

Students were bundling up as they returned to Lower East Side schools without heat. [NY Times]

Bard High School Early College on East Houston Street and Millennium High School on East 15th Street are among those that have been relocated today. [NYC]

Residents of Campos Plaza are without hot water or heat. “I no got [sic] water. No steam. I’m a sick person. I got problems,” says one resident. “My daughter she is not healthy. My husband is sick, too. This is terrible.” [WNYC]

The polling site at Bard H.S.E.C.- 97, at 525 East Houston Street, has been moved to PS 188 or 196, 442 East Houston Street. [NY Post]

Restaurateurs struggled to reopen after the storm. The manager of Village Pourhouse said he drove all over town looking for ingredients. [DNA Info]

NYU kept many buildings up and running during the blackout by going into “island mode” and relying on its cogeneration network. [NY Times]

Nick Gazen on DJing at Lit on Wednesday: “It was truly a Halloween like no other. Everyone who was there would keep repeating the same comments: That it was like Escape From New York or a zombie apocalypse. It was beautiful and frightening.” [Vice]

At Zum Schneider, an East Village resident says, “”There is nothing like being able to go back to the same restaurant that I have been going to. I still have no power, warm water or heat at home.” [NY Daily News]

East River Park took a beating, photos show. [GammaBlog]

“The Public Theater announced that it would delay its first preview of ‘The Twenty-Seventh Man,’ by Nathan Englander, to Thursday at the Martinson Theater,” and other off-Broadway theaters offered discounts. [NYT]

The Public also gave away free tickets. [Public]

Yesterday, the line for gas was 35 minutes long, and stretched up to East Fifth Street, at the BP station on Second Avenue and East First Street. [The Local/Twitter]

The farmers of the Stuy Town and Tompkins Square greenmarkets banded together. [East Village Eats]

East Villagers talk about the first thing they did when power came back. [NY Mag]

Bicycle-powered electricity was in full effect not just at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, which is calling for volunteers, but also at ABC No Rio. [Capital NY]

Public and Saxon + Parole donated all of their profits to a DUMBO restaurant that got slammed by Sandy. [Eater]

La MaMa reopened with three new productions. [Broadway World]

Daniel Maurer Baldwin leaves the building.

Displaced NYU students got an unexpected dinner guest today, as Alec Baldwin made a star appearance at the school’s student center.

The “30 Rock” star stopped into Kimmel Center, off of Washington Square Park, around 7 p.m. tonight. “I’m an alum and John Sexton asked me to come and talk to the students, thank them for their patience,” he told The Local as he left the building, politely breaking free from a dozen students that swarmed him at the elevator.

NYU relocated about 6,000 students earlier today after back-up power ran out at their dorms, according to an e-mail from Jules Martin, the school’s Vice President for Global Security and Crisis Management. Around midday, the generator at 3rd North residence ran out of fuel, creating a “temporary smoke condition,” but power was expected to be restored this evening, the e-mail said. Displaced students are currently showering at the school’s two sports complexes.

Mr. Baldwin, who lives near Kimmel on East 10th Street, has also been displaced by the storm: he told The Local that he and his wife had moved to a friend’s hotel because his elevator was out and taking their two dogs up and down several flights of stairs “wasn’t working.” He was also out of work for two days: “the show I do,” he said, referring modestly to “30 Rock,” suspended filming on Monday and Tuesday because team members couldn’t make it to Silvercup Studios in Queens.

As soon as Mr. Baldwin made his appearance alongside school president John Sexton in the cafeteria, students charging their phones, pecking at laptops, and dining at Kimmel sent out word via Twitter.

“Alec Baldwin just came to Kimmel and told us to stay safe #YesSir,” wrote @Glenneth_Coco.

“You know those weird moments when you’re temporarily living in Kimmel and you run into Alec Baldwin?” wrote @taylorsprow.

“Thats cool Alec Baldwin came to NYU to chill, but uhh.. can you take us home with you so we can shower n sleep in your probably fancy bed?” tweeted @CinemaBite.