Laura E. Lee Extra Place.

Construction is scheduled to begin Monday on a new plan to turn the historic Extra Place alley into a pedestrian walkway for retail patios and a new local arts venue.

The art space is a collaboration between developer Avalon Bay and Fourth Arts Block, a non-profit coalition of arts organizations.

“We’re really excited” said the arts block’s director Tamara Greenfield. “We think it is a fantastic opportunity.”

The vacant alley, tucked off First Street between Bowery and Second Avenue, has special historical significance. In the 1970’s, the backdoor for the legendary music club CBGB opened to the alley and bands like The Ramones were photographed in the space.

“It managed to make garbage look beautiful, in its context,” said Rob Hollander of the Lower East Side History Project.
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Meghan Keneally The food pantry has reopened.

St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery started its annual food pantry last week, providing much needed food options for homeless and hungry in the East Village.

While there are two existing soup kitchens that provide hot meal options throughout the week, St. Mark’s is the only food pantry that is open mid week, allowing visitors to bring home fresh produce and non perishables so their supplies last till the weekend.

“There just aren’t enough services in this area, and people slip through the cracks,” said the Rev. Winnie Varghese of St. Mark’s.

After a previous relationship with Trader Joe’s ended in late 2009 due to rising costs on the supermarket’s side, Ms. Varghese partnered up with GreenMarket last year and they agreed to donate any remaining produce from the farmer’s market that they hold in the church square on Tuesdays. The food pantry at St. Mark’s will run every Wednesday at 6 p.m. and they hope to continue it through the winter if funding allows.
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Ian Duncan Ada Xie, 9, holds a petition calling on Mayor Michael Bloomberg not to cut library funding.

With residents mounting a citywide campaign to stave off budget cuts and The Observer coining the term “bibliopocaplyse” to describe the future of New York’s libraries, the Tompkins Square branch has deployed its secret weapon: cuteness.

Yesterday afternoon, 9-year-old Ada Xie was stopping library users just inside the entrance and confidently presenting them with a petition. “The library could close because there’s not enough money,” she told The Local.

Ada added that it was her second day on the job and that she had collected “quite a few” signatures.

According to a New York Public Library campaign Web site, 533 Tompkins users have written to elected officials protesting the cuts. Across the city, more than 90,000 letters have been written.

Daniel Maurer.

The Local is pleased to announce that Daniel Maurer, co-founder of the New York magazine restaurant blog Grub Street, has been named the blog’s next editor, effective in August.

“Daniel emerged from a field of well over a hundred highly qualified candidates,” said Brooke Kroeger, the Institute director. “He impressed us with his ideas, his digital sophistication, his passion for this neighborhood, so often featured on Grub Street, and his proven know-how in mining information at the local community level.”

Mr. Maurer was an online producer and editor of nightlife listings at New York magazine before co-founding Grub Street, one of New York’s pioneering restaurant blogs, in 2006. While writing more than 7,500 posts over five years, Mr. Maurer grew the blog’s traffic steadily and helped expand it to five other cities. Grub Street New York was nominated for three James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards — it won in 2008 (for Multimedia Writing on Food) and then again in 2011 (for Group Blog) when Mr. Maurer was chief editor. It has also been nominated for a National Magazine Award and won a MIN Best of the Web award in 2007.
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Michelle Rick

Good morning, East Village.

DNA Info previews this Sunday’s Middle Feast, a hummus making competition that will official crown the city’s best. Turns out, making hummus is a good two-day process: one contestant soaks Bulgarian-grown chickpeas for a day before cooking them for six hours. As we reported earlier this week, popular East Village spot Chickpea will be closed until July, eliminating one potential competitor for the prize.

The Times profiled Nublu, the eclectic Avenue C venue, calling it a club where anything goes (at least musically). It is also, it seems, a popular place for musicians such as Norah Jones and Moby to enjoy a quiet evening. Run by Ilhan Ersahin, the space is also home to a record label of the same name that produces records by artists who have developed their style at the club.

BBC radio host Richard Bacon was at 7A yesterday to interview David Simon, the creator of HBO series “The Wire.” Mr. Simon said nothing significant has changed in Baltimore’s poorest neighborhoods since he made the show. “The drug war is still the drug war,” he said.

And, in case you haven’t seen it yet, watch TV producer Casey Neistat receive a ticket for not cycling in a bike lane on Second Avenue. He then proceeded to demonstrate the futility of sticking to the designated lanes by crashing into anything in his way. The video had around 200,000 views early yesterday and is now pushing a million, thanks to coverage from New York magazine, The Huffington Post and TV networks.

Laura E. Lee Participants at tonight’s meeting.

The State Liquor Authority Task Force of Community Board 3 approved a resolution tonight that clarifies the terms under which liquor licenses can be transferred when bars and restaurants are sold in the East Village.

The action, which will go to a vote of the full board at its next meeting, allows for “grandfathering” — a process in which the buyer of a business is allowed to assume the license owned by the seller, provided that the business had its license prior to June 28 and other criteria are met.

Before tonight’s meeting, it was unclear how policy changes enacted by the full community board in February would affect applicants who requested a “grandfathered” transfer.

The “grandfathering” provision is not used by other community boards, according to Susan Stetzer, the district manager of Community Board 3. But Community Board 3 allows businesses to apply as transfers, provided they meet other criteria like being deemed responsible business owners — a status evaluated by a review of liquor authority reports, police violations and complaints to the 311 city services information hotline.
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Locals will soon be able to surf the web while lounging in Tompkins Square Park, thanks to a new initiative that will install free Wi-Fi service at 20 city parks. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced the measure at a news conference at Battery Park today alongside executives from AT&T, which will administer the service. The free wireless signal for smartphones, tablets and old-fashioned computers will be available in Tompkins Square Park by the end of the summer, according to Mr. Bloomberg.—Stephen Rex Brown

Khristopher J. Brooks Teofilo Olivieri is an artist who uses discarded hardcover books as a canvas. Below: One of his pieces adorns a copy of James A. Michener’s “Chesapeake.”

As a child, Teofilo Olivieri practiced drawing by sketching comicbook superheroes. Today, Mr. Olivieri uses hardcover books as a distinctive canvas for his art.

Mr. Olivieri, 46, has no formal training in art, but his paintings are becoming popular in the East Village because of their unusual presentation.

“I’ve been very visible in New York City for the past 10 years, but the book covers have gotten the most response of any of the things I’ve worked on in my entire career,” Mr. Olivieri said.

He sells his work near an office building at University Place and East 11th Street but he can also be found at Union Square, along the Bowery and near Sixth Avenue and West Fourth Street.

Mr. Olivieri moved to New York City in 2001 after working as a commercial illustrator in Boston. The Hoboken native moved to Manhattan to focus on creating art from scraps and throw-aways found across the city. “When I was little, I used to sit by the river and look over and dream of me, one day, living in New York,” Mr. Olivieri said.
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Ian Duncan A 1930’s farm thermometer.

With predictions flying of record-setting temperatures this week, I wanted to test some thermometers. Not just any temperature gauges, though, I was looking for veterans which, if they had memories, would remember the sweltering June of 1933. With that goal in mind, I dropped in to Archangel Antiques on East Ninth Street (thank you Yelp). Inside, the little store was crammed with all manner of trinkets and a handsome collection of pocket watches.

“Bit of a weird one,” I told Michael Duggan, one of the store’s proprietors, “I’m looking for a thermometer from the 1930’s.”

Mr. Duggan screwed his face up slightly in an expression that suggested I might be out of luck. “That’s tough,” he said, before quickly rounding up three different instruments: one from the 1930’s, one from the 20’s and another from the 1870’s.

That last was beautiful. Enclosed in a case of tortoise shell and with a bone back plate, the bulb and column of the thermometer measured the temperature using real mercury. “People would travel with these to see how miserable they would be,” Mr. Duggan explained.
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We took to the towpaths of Tompkins Square Park this week to ask locals about their new and offbeat summer reads.

Kim Fuerth, 21
Student, New York University
Reading: Ishmael

“It’s about a man having a conversation with a gorilla about nature. I studied abroad in Ghana and all of my friends there recommended it. I’ve been really into reading in shady parks lately like Tomkins; it’s good because you don’t sweat.”

Hank Dreve, 62
Jeweler
Reading: Bob Dylan Chronicles

“I’m saddened by the fact that the world he describes no longer exists. Right now I’m reading a part that takes place in New Orleans; he writes it so colorfully that I feel like I got to see it before the hurricane.”
Read more…

Phillip Kalantzis Cope

Good morning, East Village.

Seems like everyone’s looking backward today. Performer Edgar Oliver will be doing a show in Savannah, Georgia about his time living in rooming house on East 10th Street in the late 1970’s. Charleston City Paper has a preview. Mr. Oliver lived with a wheelchair-bound man, who, having no use for the upper stories of his house, rented them out. On the top floor were some people that possibly tried to kill Mr. Oliver, but, he told the paper, he developed a fondness for them nonetheless.

Santa Fe-based travel writer Billie Frank offered a different sort of trip down memory lane, recalling her 1950’s escapes from “middle-class prison” Stuy Town into the hurly-burly world south of 14th Street.

DJ Josh Sparber found a stash of old gay news-weeklies on Second Avenue, buried among a pile of less salubrious publications. He was rewarded with early photos of some of today’s biggest night life personalities, which he promptly posted to his blog.

Popping — as they say — on Twitter yesterday was DNAinfo’s interview with style blogger Scott Schuman, aka The Satorialist. The influential fella slid east from his Greenwich Village home to promote a tie-in with skin care brand Kiehl’s at its Third Avenue store. He said he likes shooting young women in Tompkins Square Park because they mix “vintage with designer.” That’s as opposed, presumably, to the rest of the park’s denizens who merely are vintage, and rarely find themselves on the blog.

The tabloid story of the day was The Post’s news that NYPD officers are encouraging East Village barkeeps to put themselves on the front line in the fight against international terrorism. By using ID-card scanners the police apparently hope to track would-be attackers who are also fond of a tipple. Gothamist casts a quizzical eye over the story so you don’t have to.

If you’ve yet to find out, it’s going to be another hot one, with a heat advisory still in force and temperatures forecast to reach 100 degrees. Take care.

Meghan Keneally I-V Electronics Corporation, 108 First Avenue.

I-V Electronics Corporation at 108 First Avenue will close its doors for good this evening. And unlike some recently shuttered businesses, it doesn’t blame its demise on rising rents, bike lanes, or a difficult landlord.

“It’s not our landlord — we have the best landlord in all of New York,” said the store’s owner, Richard Serowik. “It’s Netflix, its ordering online that killed us in the competition.”

The store, which rents DVDs and repairs electronics, has been at its First Avenue location between Sixth and Seventh Streets for the past 16 years. Mr. Serowik, however, has been in the video business for longer, having run a store of the same name in Chelsea prior to coming to the East Village.

But his foray into our neighborhood coincides with the rise of video-on-demand services such as Netflix, which started about a decade and a half ago and streams videos into viewers homes through a device known as a Roku box.

As part of the store’s closing sale, all DVDs are $2.99 until they close at 10 p.m., and, at 5 this afternoon, there was easily more than a hundred still on the shelves. But Mr. Serowik isn’t too worried: anything that he doesn’t sell tonight, he’ll just sell online. If you can’t beat the competition, join ‘em.

Stephen Rex Brown The New York Film Academy Cafe is expected to close as developers begin demolition work on 51 Astor Place (below) in July.

Meghan Keneally

Last night we told you that the demolition of 51 Astor Place would begin next month. Today, we confirmed what some have speculated: the destruction of the site will require the closure of one of the neighborhood’s only cafes with a large outdoor space.

The New York Film Academy Café at the corner of Astor Place and Third Avenue will be used as a staging ground for workers tearing down the six-story building next door, meaning the business will serve its last cup of coffee on June 30.

“A lot of our customers are really bummed,” said Jennifer Lee, 33, a cook at the café. “It’s a good spot. It’s rare to have a patio where people can lounge outdoors.”

Lee added that the majority of the six or seven employees still on the payroll were planning to go on unemployment.

But she bore her bosses no ill will. In fact, employees were told when the café replaced the Starbucks at that location last year that the job would be short-lived.

“They knew this was going to happen. They told us before the place was open,” Ms. Lee said.

A regular at the café, Lou Stoltz, said that he would miss the space.

Courtesy of Sciame Construction Corp. A rendering of the planned development.

“It’s a great place to have my coffee, read my paper, do my Sudoku and just keep cool — like I’m doing now,” said Mr. Stolz, who has lived in the neighborhood for 50 years. “There’s an outdoor and an indoor space, even a smoking area. No one rushes you out. I hope they find a comparable location nearby.”

Mr. Stolz, who lives nearby at 10th and Stuyvesant Streets, added that he would even miss the building at 51 Astor Place.

“I’ll miss it, it’s been here since the 1950’s,” he said.

“I wish they’d build something here more along those lines,” Mr. Stolz added, gesturing toward the Cooper Union building. “Something more in keeping with the neighborhood.”

Chelsia Rose Marcius Jorge Ortiz, 65, of the East Village, wipes his forehead with a washcloth to keep cool. Temperatures are expected to reach 95 today, which would match the hottest June 8 in the city’s history.

As we mentioned earlier, today is supposed to be a scorcher, and East Villagers are heading to the shade for what could be the hottest June 8 ever in New York City. Accuweather predicts a high 95 degrees, which would match a city record set in 1933.

Not surprisingly, perhaps, locals seem to be taking it all in stride.

“Not much you can do about it,” said Ivory Brown, 22, who keeps a mesh covering over the stroller of her 8-month-old daughter as they walk along Avenue A. She packs a towel and frozen bottles of water to keep cool, asking passerby to direct her to the nearest pool.

For those who can’t take an afternoon dip, cooling centers citywide will be open for the first day this season.  Here is a list of the centers in the East Village.

Ella Konarska, a caseworker at John Paul II Friendship Center at 103 East Seventh Street between First Avenue and Avenue A, one of the East Village cooling centers, said she expects a few more people to stop by for water or a cold glass of juice.

“It’s hard to tell how many, but we’ve had as many as 10 to 20 people in previous years,” she said, noting that the center serves about 70 older East Villagers daily.

Chelsia Rose Marcius Pigeons wet their feet in a Tompkins Square Park puddle – one of the few that has not evaporated in the heat.

Yet some locals are leaving the East Village altogether.

Maximo Pantoja, 69, ventures out to Coney Island when his favorite bench in Tompkins Square Park gets too hot.

“Not even my hat can help me now,” he said, pointing to his fedora. He’s just hoping that there’s a cool breeze by the waterfront.

So, what are you doing to beat the heat?

Mario Ramirez

Good morning, East Village.

Streetsblog profiles Local Spokes, a cycling planning organization. It hopes to work with the community across the Lower East Side to promote cycling and make life easier for bikers. Given all the back-and-forth on the issue of bike lanes, a new approach to planning might be a good idea.

Curbed asked restaurateur and general man on the scene Cobi Levy where he gets his hair cut. After abandoning an up scale Meat Packing salon he switched allegiances to Neighborhood Barbers on East Ninth Street, he told the site. Your correspondent is a Rafael’s man, but to each his own.

Showbiz 411 reviews, in ecstatic fashion, a recent Paul Simon show at Webster Hall. It was a rare club appearance for the musician and, in addition to his fans, a PBS crew was at the venue filming for an upcoming documentary on Mr. Simon.

Lastly: it’s going to be hot today, so be careful if you’re outside. The mayor’s office runs cooling centers – you can search for your nearest one here.

Courtesy Sciame Construction Corp.An artists conception of how 51 Astor Place will look once development is completed. Demolition of the current site, below, will begin in July.

Meghan Keneally

Construction officials announced tonight that they will begin demolishing the former Cooper Union Engineering Building July 1.

Representatives from Sciame Construction Corp. hosted a public hearing about the demolition of the building at 51 Astor Place, located between Eighth and Ninth Streets. They expect the entire construction process to take 17 months, finishing by December 2012.

Because the building was constructed in the 1950’s, there will be an initial 40-day abatement period where specialists will secure any hazardous materials, like asbestos which covers some pipes in the building. Then, following city demolition procedures, there will be a two week period before any actual demolition of the existing building occurs, meaning that the existing structure will not begin to be taken down until approximately the third week of August.

About 50 people who live near the site attended the meeting, and their biggest complaint was about the city-designated hours of construction which begin at 7 a.m.

Steven Colletta, vice president of Sciame, said that because of the city regulations and workers union hours, construction will generally occur between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. and, as of right now, there are no plans to build on weekends, though permits for weekend work may be applied for if needed on a week to week basis.

The plan for the new building, which includes retail space, commercial offices, and a portion dedicated to education use, was completed and approved in 2002, leaving the design of a public outdoor area as the only issue up for debate.

Meghan Keneally Construction officials at tonight’s meeting.

The new building, designed by Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, will be multi-tiered with the highest point reaching 12 stories, and the lowest being dedicated to retail space and standing 4 stories. The plan for the outdoor space includes benches and area for flower arrangements. The plan will be finalized at an as-yet-undetermined Community Board 3 Land Use meeting in mid-July.

Ian Duncan Patrons sit on the steps of the Russian and Turkish Baths. Its kitchen was recently closed after failing a health inspection.

Citing the presence of vermin and flies, the Health Department shut down the kitchen of the Russian and Turkish Baths on East 10th Street during the last week of May. The baths was again permitted to serve food on Friday, but will be subject to monthly inspections until its cleanliness improves.

A health department spokeswoman told The Local that the kitchen was closed for “extensive evidence of vermin conditions and conditions that supported their existence” and the department’s Web site lists other violations, including failure to keep food hot. The kitchen was initially closed on May 25; it was allowed to reopen June 1 after a follow-up inspection.

Ian Duncan

Since July 2010, the city has graded restaurants’ hygiene on an A to C scale, and owners are required to display their most recent grade to the public. Individual violations incur points, and anything above 28 points equals a grade C and means an establishment will be subject to monthly checkups by the health department. During the May 25 inspection, the Russian and Turkish Baths scored 55 points. The health department spokeswoman confirmed another inspection will take place in the next few weeks.

Currently, a “grade pending” poster is on display at the Russian and Turkish Baths, meaning the venue is contesting the results of the inspection. Speaking with The Local today, the manager of the Baths, Dimitri Shapiro, played down the results of the inspection. “We have an exterminator but we never saw any mouse. It was mostly paperwork issues that stopped it getting done,” he said, referring to the kitchen reopening.

Mr. Shapiro added that during the second inspection on June 1 the kitchen got “a clean bill of health.”

The baths serve traditional Russian food, as well as all-day breakfast. The baths have occupied their site on East 10th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A since 1892.