Fans of the English soccer team Liverpool make the East Village their home base, meeting here every week at the 11th Street Bar to watch games. The club has used the bar, located near Avenue A, as a headquarters since 2003, and scores of fans show up for big games — even at 7 a.m. on a Sunday. Club members include both Americans and ex-pats from England, though at least once a week they’re all Village residents.
NYU Journalism’s Grace Maalouf reports.
Shawn HokeEarlier this week, as part of our recurring “Street Scenes” series of neighborhood photographs, we brought you Shawn Hoke’s images of a green Cadillac – rusted, pock-marked and yet still jealously clinging to its former grandeur – parked on a rainswept sidestreet.
Today, a reader, Bill Poznanski, stepped forward to say that he is the owner of the car in question and described the vehicle’s fascinating history.
“My (distressed) pistachio green 1978 Cadillac Sedan Deville has been driven 400,000 miles (by my estimate as the odometer stopped working about 200,000 miles ago)… which is almost to the moon and back…Kind of appropriate since parts of this neighborhood still looked like a lunar landscape when I bought the car nearly 20 years ago.
It’s been stolen and recovered three times. Maximum capacity: I once gave 12 drag queens from Lucky Cheng’s a lift uptown. Now some nights there are as many rats keeping warm next to the engine. Most curious observation: One year
a mystery woman took one photo of my ‘disco- mobile’ for 365 days. (Was this an art project for some swank gallery?)Cab drivers fear it. An older woman on my street loathes it. Young professional newcomers to the neighborhood seem mystified by it.”
In a follow-up e-mail with The Local, Mr. Poznanski, the artistic director of The Imprint – a 30-year-old arts colllective based in the neighborhood, said that although he still drives the car, it is in extreme disrepair.
“it needs brakes and an exhaust system,” he wrote. “If there’s any Cadillac enthusiast that would like to donate to the ‘Save the disco-mobile fund’ that would be great. Otherwise, I might have to junk it soon.”
Courtesy of dirtybuildings.orgA screenshot of a Web site that details the buildings in Manhattan that use No. 4 or No. 6 heating oil. Environmentalists say that the buildings produce more air pollution than all of the city’s cars and trucks combined.Last month’s anti-smoking legislation may have irritated some Local readers, but environmentalists say that another pollutant continues to fill the air.
An interactive map of New York City’s “dirty buildings” on the Environmental Defense Fund Web site shows over 9,000 red and yellow dots spanning Manhattan, charting real locations of the city’s sludge-burning buildings.
Buildings utilizing No. 4 and 6 heating oil produce more soot pollution than any number of cigarettes could – more than all of New York City’s cars and trucks combined, according to Isabelle Silverman, attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund, a national advocacy group.
Environmentalists say that the buildings’ output of particulate matter can aggravate asthma, increase risk for heart and lung disease, and have other consequences. In two weeks, the Department of Environmental Protection will review a rule to gradually phase out the permits of such structures; so how many of them are in the East Village?
According to the map, the East Village has about 20 buildings burning No. 4 oil and about 20 burning No. 6, which Ms. Silverman said is attributable to the East Village’s relatively smaller apartment complexes and commercial structures. But while other high-density buildings north and west of the village continue to cough up dirty matter, all of Manhattan – which still fails federal health standards – remains susceptible.
Read more…
Courtesy of Al Kavadlo The author demonstrates the jungle gym workout technique.With the cold winter weather finally winding down, more and more people are thinking about getting ready for summer. For a lot of East Villagers, this means it’s time to ramp up their exercise regimen. This neighborhood is home to some of the city’s trendiest, most high tech fitness facilities, but sometimes the best things in life are free. Tompkins Square Park has all
the equipment you need to get a great workout, and you don’t need to purchase a bank-breaking membership to use the facilities.
Tompkins has several jungle gyms that were made with children in mind, but near the Northeast corner of the park, there is a jungle gym that seems to have been designed for full-grown adults. The set up there is ideal for parkour training, as well as pull-ups and many other fun exercises. Besides, training outside in the fresh air and feeling the warmth of the sun adds to the enjoyment (though I don’t mind working out out in the snow, either).
I recently got to exercise at Tompkins Square Park with my friend Rick Seedman, another local personal trainer. We had a great time and a great work out without having to spend a penny.
Watch the video below for more:
Al Kavadlo is a personal trainer, freelance writer and author of the book, “We’re Working Out! A Zen Approach to Everyday Fitness” (Muscle-up Publications, 2010). For more information visit www.AlKavadlo.com.
Clark Carr
Margot WoodWould-be messages from the East Village, in 140 characters or less.
“Tweet!” the birdie cried. “I am tweeting,” the surly poet
replied. “Tweet! Tweet!” “Look, you dumb… sparrow, I
just told you…” “Tweet!”
Would I be caught dead showboating in that dog run
across the street? Nyet. I’m not some pansified “pet”
pawing the air for adoring looks,
I’m here on important business: Waiting for my Master
to exit the Tompkins Square Library with his usual dose
of videos and books
Ginsberg’s E. 10th St. apt. gutted; O’Hara’s @ 441 E. 9th
unmarked; the plaque outside Auden’s home on E. 8th
gets the dates wrong
He finds it hard to not be trivial. He skims, he skates, past
the same stores & faces. Epitaph: “He was not convivial,
& he left no traces”
He’s stuck with it, a life of fabricated purpose and no
God. Mud encrusted with jewelry stores. His Western
inheritance, along with not
knowing how to dance. Temples, mosques, are alien, and
the Church does not speak. “Maybe,” he thinks, “It’s
time to speak to It”
Grace Maalouf Soccer fans watch multiple live games on a recent Saturday morning at Nevada Smiths, an East Village institution where fans are split over the dismissal of several employees last fall. Our recent post on how patrons have responded to recent staffing changes at Nevada Smiths generated a wide range of feedback about the landmark soccer bar.
Jon criticized the atmosphere at the bar:
“Nevada Smiths, a dump from day one. A big souless barn of a place with poor ale to boot. got away with it for years, when the choice of bars was limited.”
Mozza wrote in defense of Nevadas:
“Nevada’s could be criticised for a number of things but being soulless wasn’t one of them. In fact the first thing that struck you when you walked in the door was that, if nothing else, the place had character and atmosphere.”
Chinatownbranch agreed:
“Quality ale and a big fry up, the two crucial ingredients that go miles towards creating atmosphere in a pub before 10am in the morning. The whole point of Nevada’s Jon was that it had a banging atmosphere.”
Chinatownbranch continued:
“If you havent been for years and you spent all your time in another pub what would you know, and why would you bother commenting?”
Join the conversation: Soccer fans, what’s your take on the changes at Nevadas?
With huge facial features, a mane of dyed blond hair and an immaculate white suit, Bill Talen looks every bit the televangelist. But he is not offering eternal salvation.
Mr. Talen is the leader of the Church of Earthalujah. Styling himself Reverend Billy , he delivers environmental rhetoric in the manner of a charismatic evangelical preacher.
Each Sunday through June, Mr. Talen will be lending his theatrical services at Theater 80 on St. Mark’s Place
That last will have particular resonance in the East Village. Read more…
Shawn Hoke 
Clockwise from top left: (1.) Bowery Elevated Train, circa 1896; (2.) Bowery near Bleecker, circa 1915; (3.) 35 Cooper Square in February this year; (4.) Boys on the Bowery selling chewing gum, 1910; (5.) A Union enlistee of the New York 86th Regiment and his betrothed, circa 1861. All images courtesy Library of Congress, except (3.) lower right, photo illustration by Tim MilkLocal historian Tim Milk recalls dark episodes which never quite extinguished the charm of 35 Cooper Square.
They could hardly believe the fellow, wanting to go back to his regiment. Especially considering what he had seen: the rout of the Union at the bloody battle of Bull Run. There, the heroic Lieutenant John S. Whyte, who had refused to leave his wounded commander, fell into Confederate hands. But in a recent prisoner of war exchange, he was returned home to his kith and kin in New York.
But he did not wish to retire with honors. Indeed, he was keen to “return to the fight,” he said.
And so his pals shook their heads and dragged him down to the Marshall House, a tavern at 391 Bowery, an address we know today as 35 Cooper Square. There they presented him with a sword and a sash in an affair both touching and festive. After a grand hurrah, the champagne flowed like a river long into that night of March the 21st, 1862.
This I found in the archives of the New York Times, in a curious walk down that ancient lane, the Bowery. From out of each door came someone with a tale to tell which, except for these old papers, and poor relics like 35 Cooper Square, would otherwise have vanished, lost in time.
“Time,” Stephen Hawking once said, “…whatever that is.” Even he doesn’t pretend to know. As the so-called future, it is but a mere concept. As the past, it holds everything that has ever happened, and leads all the way back to eternity. There it washes up on distant shores for no apparent reason, except perhaps for our return. Read more…
Tim MilkSince 2002, architectural historian Kerri Culhane has worked with Two Bridges Neighborhood Council to document the history of the neighborhoods of the Lower East Side. In December 2010 she and Two Bridges received the New York State Preservation Award for Outstanding National Register nomination for the Chinatown and Little Italy Historic District. She is currently writing the forthcoming Bowery Historic District nomination, sponsored by Two Bridges Neighborhood Council and Bowery Alliance of Neighbors.
Formerly 391 Bowery, 35 Cooper Square was built between 1825-27, as one of four houses developed on the land of Nicholas William Stuyvesant. Stuyvesant was a direct descendant of the Dutch West India Company’s last director-general, Petrus Stuyvesant.
The development pattern north of Houston (then called North Street) remained very rural until the early 19th century. In 1811, a plan to establish a street grid north of the haphazard jumble of streets below Houston was mapped by surveyor John Randel. Third Avenue, branching off of the Bowery, was not built until the early 1820s. Stuyvesant’s four buildings were among the first ever built on this new road — the Bowery spur of Third Avenue. The 35 Cooper Square site is, therefore, an artifact of the most significant urbanization effort of New York, which left us with the grid system that now blankets the island.
The modest brick house at 35 Cooper Square would have been typical of its period, two-and-one-half stories, with a generous attic under a “peaked” roof lit by a pair of dormers. The defining architectural characteristics of the urban Federal era rowhouse include the form, most commonly two-and-one-half to three-and-one-half stories; gambrel or side-gable roofs featuring single or paired dormers; Flemish bond brickwork; and simple stone lintels. My recent research has identified at least 26 buildings dating to the Federal period still standing on the Bowery, of which only 12, thanks to minimal alterations, still clearly represent the era. Read more…
C. Ceres Merry
Claire Glass Scaffolding began to rise around 35 Cooper Square last month.Comments have continued to stream into The Local about an opinion piece by NYU Journalism’s Greg Howard that questioned the value of preserving 35 Cooper Square.
A sampling of reactions from the weekend.
One reader, “archietexture,” wrote:
“Residents recognize that new development of dorms, luxury hotels and condos does not benefit them. But being made a symbol doesn’t mean that 35 Cooper is not historically significant. Its loss will be a tragedy, and a travesty of the Landmarks process.”
Defending the preservation of the building, “Eastvillagearts” said:
“I’m certainly not arguing for places to be frozen in time – that would be counter to the compelling power of NYC’s continuing relevance. But there are places that have been particularly important to communities that need to be preserved. There are people and organizations and businesses that helped make neighborhoods what they are today who should be helped to stay. And the truth is that continued diversity and eclecticism is part of what continues to attract new residents, visitors and investment. The irony is that the market is attracted to precisely what it tends to destroy – authenticity.”
Elliott Hurwitt considered the legacy of unchecked development:
“But the developers will leave behind an immeasurably impoverished urban environment, one with no cultural resonance whatever, regardless of what you say about the East Village harboring the next di Prima, Hendrix or Madonna. The first of these 3 could never find a haven there now, affordable urban space in NYC is OVER, so there will be no further undergrounds, no beatniks, etc., that ended a long time ago.”
“Carol from East 5th Street” said the restaurant that occupied site in recent years transcended being just a watering hole for students:
“It was much, much more to me, my family, friends and neighbors. For most Sundays since the restaurant reopened as Cooper 35 Asian Pub and for the years before when it was Dolphins, it was where we had Sunday dinner. It was where we had gatherings of family and friends for just about every important event such as birthdays, graduations, milestones in our lives.”
Another reader, J.T., offered support for Mr. Howard:
“I think this is a good editorial piece. You spoke your opinion and caused great hype, mostly negative. But I believe that is just an older generation who is not ready for change. They are mad at Generation Y who are experiencing this vast change in lifestyle from the previous generations, where history in not of great importance. Generation Y likes and has experienced much change, which the older generations just aren’t as apt about. Everyone has an opinion.”
Another reader, “Mose,” recalled the building’s history:
“these buildings are cultural treasures literally, physical manifestations of 350 years of stories set in the most remarkable place humans have ever co-existed. men and women walked through the door of 35 cooper who were on the bowery only a generation earlier and watched as washington rode by. i feel fortunate to live in a place where i get to walk past these time capsules daily, history becomes tactile and experiential. ”
This post was reported by NYU Journalism’s Rachel Slaff, Todd Olmstead and Nasry Esmat. It was written by Ms. Slaff.
Illustration by Nasry Esmat An image of 20 St. Marks Place, past and present. Yoga studios. Frozen yogurt stores. Tattoo parlors. Knock-off Ray-Bans, colorful socks and bubble tea – all for sale. Tourists swarm by pizza shops; college students flick cigarette butts onto the street. It’s loud, it’s crowded. It’s every possible cliche of the East Village, packed onto a block. This is St. Marks Place.
But fast food and neon lights haven’t always epitomized this street. Building No. 20, between Second and Third Avenues, has seen St. Marks Place change drastically over more than two centuries. This rowhouse traces its lineage back to wealthy descendants of the Stuyvesants, yet it also watched Warhol cavort through the Village. It witnessed the aftershock of a horrific peacetime maritime disaster. It has been home to soldiers and storeowners and has housed a dress shop, a carpentry workshop and a record store. No. 20 is a historical hold-out, an architectural remnant of times long forgotten in the East Village.
The metal plaque from the New York Community Trust that is affixed to No. 20’s facade notes that the address has landmark status for its late-Federal style architecture. But the ornament is not large or flashy enough to draw much attention – it is as if the building wants to be left alone. The plain signs of the businesses on its first two floors are a muted counterpoint to the sensory overload that the rest of the block exudes. The building’s iron railing is decrepit, its brick facade unremarkable, and yet, the limestone molding on the door hints at a meaningful history.
Read more…
Tim Schreier on finding his visual muse in New York City.
“New York City has to be one of the greatest ‘canvases’ to practice photography; the neighborhoods, art, architecture, events and, of course, the people make this city and its neighborhoods a dream come true for a photographer. The ‘East Village’ and Lower East Side are truly unique places. The diversity of cultures in such a close proximity is my favorite element to this part of the city.”
Read more…
Suzanne Rozdeba A January photograph of 35 Cooper Square.Few posts that have been published on The Local have generated as much strong reader response as NYU Journalism’s Greg Howard’s opinion piece questioning the value of preserving the historic site at 35 Cooper Square.
Readers offered a range of opinions that touched on questions of the neighborhood’s authenticity, who is qualified to comment on community issues, and the frequent tensions that occur between the university and the community.
Commenters wondered if Mr. Howard’s age – he’s 22 – and relative short time in the neighborhood – he has been here all of eight months – diminished the credibility of his perspective. “You should have stopped at the part about being young, ignorant, and new to town,” Bryan wrote. “Just because NYU students don’t notice the unique elements of their surroundings doesn’t mean others are being insincere in their outrage.”
“East villager” wrote: “I hope for both society’s and your own sake as an individual that you will one day mature into the type of man who will be ashamed to have written and published such a thing as a callous and arrogant youth.”
Another reader, “your worst nightmare intellectually speaking,” offered an even more unvarnished appraisal:
“You disgust us. Get it?? You epitomize so much that is wrong with the fabric of NYC. You are another bloggong spokesman for a generation of unoriginal posers in every way. You make me want to vomit you arrogant out of town, know nothing, know it all- kid.”
Other readers argued for the importance of preserving historical sites. Someone “who actually likes New York” wrote:
“The city should protect its history, and 35 Cooper Street is a much more compelling example of it than the modernist towers the city has in droves. Quality of life, attractiveness of the city to workers and tourists, and diversity of retail all depend on small, historic buildings like this existing. It would be one thing if today’s architecture were half-decent. But, Thom Mayne blockbuster buildings aside, it’s primarily cheap and hideous.”
Lisa noted that:
“…when something like the African burial ground is re-discovered, for instance, that “newfound” history adds something back to the richness and diversity and curious experiment that is New York. The City immediately becomes a more interesting place. Wouldn’t it be nice to keep some of that intact, not only for ourselves, but for the New Yorkers of the future?”
“Snapped” added:
“Nothing worth having comes easy. And that goes the same twice over for boutique hotels and shreiking girls throwing up outside my building. Just because they can be here doesn’t mean it’s ok, or they should.”
“Calm down everyone” offered a defense of Mr. Howard:
“Is the juxtaposition that happens here now not fascinating? And my main question is, do the old time East Villagers really believe all the younger people who’ve moved here are bad? HELLO, culture moves in waves, there’s a new one happening… that’s not stopping, that shouldn’t be stopped. Embrace it, I think I’m finding out new things about myself daily. Keep writing Greg.”
Join the conversation: Do the ever-replenishing supply of newcomers and transient residents in the East Village have a right to speak on neighborhood issues ?
Kathryn Kattalia Degustation, 239 East Fifth Street.At Degustation, a tapas restaurant at 239 East Fifth Street, the indispensable article in the chef’s toolkit is the tweezers. The dishes are of micro dimensions, and are arranged from their constituent elements with minute delicacy. Once my wife and I had settled ourselves at one of the short ends of Degustation’s 16-seat U-shaped counter, we watched Oscar Islas, a burly chef, remove from a small plastic tub a tiny, soft pumpkin-colored object and delicately place it inside a ceramic egg cup. Oscar then put down his tweezers, and with a small spoon scooped a flimsy white blob of something unrecognizable into the cup — a panna cotta which had just enough gelatin content to prevent it from deliquescing altogether.
“What’s that?” my wife, Buffy, asked in horror. “That is way too wiggly for me to eat.” Yara Oren, who works next to Oscar and does more of the talking, explained that it was the sea urchin we had just ordered. “I promise you,” Yara said, “you will love it.” The tiny white-orange mass in our cup lay in a mild broth. I devoured most of the sea urchin and passed it to my wife, thus slightly reducing the ick factor. “Whoa!” Buffy said. “This is fantastic.”
Pretty much everything produced under the supervision of Degustation’s head chef, Wesley Genovart, is fantastic, both in the sense of wonderful and of pressing against the borders of conventional reality. It is the East Village’s window into avant-garde Spanish cuisine. The act of assemblage is as essential to such cuisine as the chemical transformation involved in cooking. An actual cook’s station runs along the length of Degustation’s counter, with a gas grill and burners, and Oscar and Yana performed their magic on the plates of grilled fish and meat being prepared behind their backs. The cooking seemed almost banal by comparison. If you’re seated at either end, you can witness the delicate compositional flourishes from two feet away. If you’re seated along the length of the counter you’ll have to make do with the gross business of applying heat to raw flesh.
Read more…
Adrian Fussell
Tim SchreierWould-be messages from the East Village, in 140 characters or less.
The joy of it the sting of it the bells of it the glare of it
the birds of it the eyes of it the prayers of it the drugs of
it the it of it
The rat crossed his path with such nonchalance the damn
thing might as well have been wearing shades &
smoking a bidi
…Surveyed our sunken roofs, loose bricks, black
spaghetti of dangling phone wires, & declared, “In
London, this would all be illegal!”
I met it at downtown’s trendiest gym
could never ascertain: her or him?
never saw it change or shower or swim…
but now I’m toned and trim
Should artistes shovel snow like normal people? Please.
Pratfalls are aesthetic (Tati, etc.), and black ice is a
frozen film noir…
O it’s such a perfect day (though I barely slept) I’m so
glad I spent it with you (whoever you are) where is the
damn zoo, anyway?
At the Immaculate Conception Church, the priest offers
bread, but no wine. The blood of Christ is available only
on Sundays
She worked in TV and sounded like TV so he pretended
she was TV and returned his gaze to the mute black hair
of the Asian woman at his feet
Even when you refuse to believe them, memes can cling
like cellophane: This bookstore is a dying thing,
empty an hour before closing
The Loneliest Man in the East Village took the Second
Loneliest Man to lunch. They ate mostly in the silence of
silverware. Both agreed
that they were failures, that their erotic prospects were
risible, that their Linked-In profiles were musty tombs,
and that they rarely met
anyone not connected to the service industry except in
movies, books, and dreams
The fact people can be left to die on the sidewalk has
always made the East Village viscerally exciting to
young Europeans
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