Gloria Chung Vandaag, 103 Second Avenue.

This past summer, I arranged to meet my friend Clemence at Belcourt, a restaurant on Second Avenue and Fourth Street. But the place was locked, with the chairs up on the table. Another one bites the dust, I thought. (Actually, I later learned, they had stopped serving lunch — the equivalent of dead for those of us who work, but do not live, in the East Village.) On my way down, though, I had walked past Vandaag, a restaurant which hadn’t existed the last time I had been on the block. So we ate there instead, and very happily.

The marketplace principle which the economist Joseph Schumpeter called “creative destruction” rules the restaurant world in New York City, and above all in the East Village, where low rental costs allow anyone with a half-baked idea to take a flyer. For the rambling diner, this means something new every week; but it also means hardening yourself to the loss of beloved haunts. Over the last few months, and just on the two blocks between Vandaag and my office at Second Avenue and St. Marks, the blindingly white Thai restaurant Rhong Tiam has disappeared, ditto an obliging falafel place; in their stead we have Vandaag and the Vietnamese Le Dan Ang — a net gain, I would say.
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Jamie Newman The stage at Extra Place, a venue located in the basement of what was once C.B.G.B.

The burgeoning private-event and music space Extra Place — known to those in the know as EP — has already hosted hot ticket events. Designer John Varvatos celebrated his 10th year in fashion with a party here. “Oakazine,” the edgy design and fashion magazine, held a new issue release event. The CMJ music festival programmed performances on the Extra Place stage. Situated in what was the basement of legendary rock club CBGB (the John Varvatos store occupies the main part of the former CBGB space upstairs), Extra Place by the Max’s Kansas City Company is quickly declaring itself a destination for New York’s entertainment elite.

“We’re striving to re-create the wildness and the lifestyle that the old CBGB space used to breed,” Brett Kincaid, the venue’s manager, told The Local. “We want to recapture that time period and all of the revelry that comes with it, but add a modern twist, some relevancy.”
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Maria Popson could talk for hours about any topic. Among many things, Ms. Popson is philosophical — she’s a naturalist, a healer, a chef, a storyteller, an East Village resident and a former Brazilian supermodel.

During her years in fashion, Ms. Popson went by the name “Neneca Moreira.” In 1994, Ms. Popson moved to the East Village – in large part, she says, because of the relative anonymity she enjoys while living in the neighborhood. Her ground-floor apartment on East Fourth Street looks more like an eclectic storefront — displaying colorful fabrics, tribal masks and tons of exotic trinkets.

Now Ms. Popson, 59, focuses her attention on making and packaging honeybee propolis – a residue derived from bees, which she says has a variety of health benefits.

NYU Journalism’s Rachel Wise and Sarah Tung report.

The community contributor known as eastvillagedenizen discusses three decades of taking photos in the neighborhood.

“The East Village was a different world when I first encountered it 48 years ago. Rents were cheap (really cheap), there were great bars (Stanley’s and The Annex on Avenue B, Rocky’s across the Broadway divide), double features at the Charles movie theater on Avenue B. St. Marks Place didn’t have souvenir shops for tourists (no tourists). It had Stan Brakhage and Kuchar brothers movies (they were called “underground” films) and jazz, and rock ‘n’ roll.”
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Courtesy of The Library of Congress A 19th century poster of Peter F. Dailey.

On the East River at 12th Street, where today we find a promenade, there used to be piers where steamships would dock. It was there that a mischievous kid from the East Village hung out and took in the colorful banter of the minstrels and stevedores. From them, Peter F. Dailey learned all the twists that make this life funny.

They became part of his style, and by the 1890s Pete Dailey was a music hall sensation like none before. He practically invented improvisational comedy, using miscues and accidents to pull unscripted gags. For instance, one night the lights went out in the crowded theater. The audience spooked. But Mr. Dailey averted a panic by appearing onstage with a brakeman’s lantern as if it were a train wreck.

During another performance, in a kitchen scene, a heavy and gaudy necklace fell from the throat of his leading lady. He didn’t miss a beat, but calmly arose, took up the coal scoop and shoveled it into the icebox. It was, of course, the way he did it, complete with body language, that made him a star.
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Gloria Chung on photographing East Village gardens in the fall.

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Meredith Hoffman Students at the Nisei Goju International Headquarters prepare to spar. Below: Students practicing Nisei Goju, a combination of hard and soft fighting styles.

Meredith Hoffman

Black hair cascading down the back of his karate robe, Master Wilfredo Roldan exhaled an impassioned hiss in the Nisei Goju International Headquarters on Seventh Street and Avenue A.

For 41 years, Mr. Roldan has taught Nisei Goju – a martial art that borrows from karate and jiujitsu and emphasizes the importance of discipline, a lesson that his students already seem to have taken on board: at Mr. Roldan’s gesture, the entire class bows, kicks and springs into action.

There are just seven students in the class – and Mr. Roldan said that the small setting is by design.

“I say, ‘Joseph only had 12 brothers, Jesus had 12 disciples’ — there are very few people you can touch,” said Mr. Roldan, who is 59 and who does not use the religious analogy by accident – he says his work is a service, and compares Nisei Goju to a spiritual calling.
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Helen Zhang Curt Hencye, the head chef and a volunteer from Calvary Chapel in Sarasota, Fla., dashes between stations in the kitchen as the Bowery Mission prepares its annual Thanksgiving meal. Below: A volunteer peels yams.

Helen Zhang

As we scramble to figure out how much turkey and trimmings are needed to feed five or 10 people imagine planning for 5,000 Thanksgiving dinner spreads.

That’s exactly what the Bowery Mission has been doing for since 1879 for the city’s needy, and, as expected, the staff and volunteers have the preparations down to a routine.

A week in advance, thousands of pounds of donations begin rolling in from local residents and businesses like Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and City Harvest.
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Simon McCormack Brydie Landreth holds the makings of her first attempt to prepare Thanksgiving dinner.

When it comes to cooking her first Thanksgiving dinner, Brydie Landreth, a 20-year-old college student, has a guiding principle: “I’m cheap and lazy.”

We’ll leave to her family of four visiting from Mount Vernon, Wash to decide about “lazy,” but her “cheap” turns out to be average, at least in terms of a turkey day dinner. The American Farm Bureau Federation estimates that it will cost $43.47 to feed a family of ten with turkey and trimmings, including flour, eggs, stuffing, sweet potatoes, peas, cranberries, carrots, celery and pumpkin pie.

An informal shopping-cart survey of East Village shoppers found that most paid about the same as the national average cost but got fewer — and different — items than on the Farm Bureau list.

Basket #1: Brydie Landreth, 20, student, at Key Food Avenue, A and East Fourth Street.

Total: $44.95.

Simon McCormack Brydie Landreth’s Thanksgiving dinner shopping basket.

Shady Brook Farms turkey: $20.06
Ocean Spray whole cranberry sauce: $2 for two cans
McCormick Turkey Gravy: $2 for two packets
Idaho Mashed Potato Granules: $2.99
Stove Top Turkey Stuffing: $1.33
Green Bite Green Beans: $10 for two bags
Keebler Ready Pie Crust: $3.58 for two crusts
Libby’s Pumpkin Pie Filling: $2.99

“I wanted to keep things as simple and painless as possible.”—Brydie Landreth
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With holiday parties approaching, the impulse to buy a new outfit is hard to resist. To help avoid sticker shock, check out these neighborhood vintage and consignment stores. ‘Tis the season to look beautiful on a budget.

Allison Hertzberg Cadillac’s Castle, 333 East Ninth Street.

Cadillac’s Castle
333 East Ninth Street, 212-475-0406

Named for the owner’s dog that takes inventory in the small consignment shop; this store is not to be missed. Mostly in-season women’s consignment items are displayed alongside some new stock in this clean, bright shop. The owner and his staff carefully select each item and I’ve never seen anything in less than pristine condition. Mind if I namedrop? At any one time you’re likely to find fashions from Jason Wu, Prada, Diane Von Furstenberg, YSL, Mui Mui and Missoni. The high end designer pieces carry a weighty though heavily discounted price tag, but it’s easy to find a great party dress for under $75 dollars. Even the most budget conscience can score a
deal, just check out the constantly replenished $25 dollar rack that sits outside the store.
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Claire Glass Robert Galinsky, founder of the New York Reality TV School, and Angelina Als, one of the school’s students. Mr. Galinsky’s mission is to teach people to sell their personalities to reality TV casting directors in 20 seconds or less.

Two women linger hesitantly at the entrance to a restaurant on Avenue C. One looks as though she might lose her lunch from nerves as a man nudges her forward into the middle of the dining area. She immediately strikes a mannequin pose and after a brief pause, she glides across through the tightly-packed tables as if on a cat walk. She’s smack dab in the middle of a restaurant performing for patrons who came expecting sandwiches without a side of model.

On its face, the scene may seem unusual, but it’s all in the name of reality TV where these kinds of antics are the norm — so much the norm that students schlep to 12th Street and Avenue C from all over the city to the New York Reality TV School to learn how to be themselves, only better. It’s an education in how to make it in the “real” world we’ve all grown accustomed to on the small screen.

Robert Galinsky, the school’s founder, says that his mission is to teach people to sell their personalities to reality TV casting directors in 20 seconds or less.

“I do lots of things with my students that typical actors do to refine their skills before they ever get a script,” Mr. Galinsky says. He started teaching in 2008, and is the school’s sole instructor. “This is just like acting but you’re the character and there’s no script.”
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Photo illustration by Tim Milk

Today The Local begins a recurring feature in which East Village historian Tim Milk takes a look at some neighborhood legends.

The spate of apartment break-ins that has gripped the East Village lately prompts me, by dint of experience, to say what I know by instinct is true: that we have been lulled into a collective stupor, and have become dizzy with the misconception that New York is safe.

Now, wait, let’s look at the term and what we expect of it. Safe is what we always want to feel, outside of our homes as well as in – calm and assured that we dwell in a world free of danger. But let me make one thing clear: I know my history, and I’ve been around the block. New York has always had crime. Our homes are always at risk.

Take the case, for example, of the Master Monkey Thief of the East Village.

When I first came here in 1979, urban myth had it that the police were hopelessly baffled by a series of burglaries. Back in those days, most people had these steel window gates that retracted accordion-style in a diamond-shaped pattern. The protection they offered, compared to modern gates, was minimal. The space between diamonds was perhaps eight inches, big enough to allow some nefarious stranger’s arm to reach inside. Horrors! They were also easily twisted apart by strong guys with crowbars. But as long as those old rattling gates held fast, the evil was kept outside.
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For the past six months, Steven Hirsch has used a combination of photography, video, and monologue to document the tribe of tattooed denizens who hang out on Crusty Row in Tompkins Square Park.

“There has been an evolutionary change in Crusty subculture. It’s a much darker scene now than it was even two or three years ago. Many of the kids today are heroin addicted. From my interviews, I realize most come from the suburbs or rural areas, leaving behind broken homes or parental abuse. That’s not necessarily a recent trend, obviously, but the level of despair seems to be higher than ever.”—Steven Hirsch
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It might be difficult for someone to take a band that describes itself as “zombie jazz” all too seriously, but Father Figures, a group composed of five friends who describe their music as just that, is a musical force with a serious and earnest mission – aiming to resurrect a dying breed of jazz musicians with its strong improvisational sounds, eclectic inspirations, and a distinct blend of fun.

“The music is a culmination of all of our influences,” explains Adam Schatz, tenor saxophonist for the group. “We all listen to a ton of different artists and styles, metal to punk to free jazz to soul to tropicalia, and all of it influences the way we compose and play in subtle ways, so that the outcome sounds completely personal, but is still drawn from our own personalities and the music we love.”
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Timothy Krause

They say there is a chemical in turkey that makes you sleepy.

Now, it’s safe to say no scientific institution or study has actually proven this information. The truthiness of this bit of knowledge goes unquestioned because on every Thanksgiving day the fact is loudly announced by the obligatory young and obnoxious cousin/child of a neighbor/stranger’s nephew to a room full of people who are wiping gravy sweat from their brows. Often, it’s the last thing many people hear before drifting off into a tortured, caloric slumber.

It is for this reason alone that Thanksgiving shouldn’t be celebrated at home. Since our fair collection of loud and populated street corners means this city never sleeps, we certainly can’t be sleeping on Nov. 25 ; we have things to do. Funkmaster Flex and Swizz Beatz will be at Webster Hall, and after that it’s straight to Union Square to stand in the line at Best Buy. If we sleep, someone will steal our spot.

However, some East Village residents who actually admit to having a family – and maybe, god forbid, a life before their days of wearing a leather jacket – do get nostalgic for sweet potatoes and gizzards. Luckily, a few restaurants are providing prix fixe menus for gobblers of gravy and gratin. And, thank your holy fowls, it’s all the same delicious East Village food at the same reasonable prices.
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Jenn Pelly The new Wired store at Broadway and East Fourth Street offers a range of gifts for the geek in your life. Below: QR code artwork traces ancestry via DNA strands, a Wampa rug and a USB typewriter.

Jenn Pelly

‘Tis the season to geek out hard — at 692 Broadway, at least. Currently home to Wired magazine’s sixth annual pop-up store, the space will be granting holiday wishes of hardcore technophiles and plugged-in teens alike through Dec. 26.

The three-story location, formerly Tower Records until 2006, is an 8,000-square-foot techie mecca, coined by Wired as an “experiential gallery.” Entering feels like stepping out of a time machine into year 2050. As The Local took a spin through on Friday, shoppers — namely thirtysomething males dressed in black with sleek haircuts — tested a dynamic array of cutting-edge gadgets, from Smartphones and flat-screen televisions to a futuristic tennis table. The Wired lifestyle’s glossy pages came to life, its pulse kept by a looming, minimal techno beat.

With over 200 Wired-curated products on display, this year’s holiday outpost is the magazine’s biggest and “most centrally located” to date, according to senior editor Jason Tanz. “It’s a sign of how much faith we have in tech culture,” Mr. Tanz told The Local on Friday. “We view it as a central part of life in New York. Downtown is clearly the cultural hub of New York, and technology is becoming a larger and larger part of that.” Previously in SoHo and the Meatpacking District, the shop’s in-store events will include “GeekDad” family days, wine tastings, and musical events: DJ Nomi Ruiz and Gordon Voidwell on Dec. 1, Ra Ra Riot on Dec. 8, and Tokyo Police Club on Dec. 15. (RSVP required.)

Mr. Tanz likes the store’s Antique USB Typewriter ($499-699), and the “Star Wars” Lego chess set — “People who have no interest in ‘Stars Wars’ have to admit it’s pretty cool,” he said — but topping his wishlist is a set of sleek, wooded Davone Ray speakers ($5,995).
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Vivienne Gucwa discusses photographing the ever-changing landscape of the East Village.

“I started documenting my walks around New York City neighborhoods in an effort to capture the evolving landscape of the city. The East Village is a place that I spend a tremendous amount of time in and it’s a neighborhood which embodies this constant evolution.”
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C.C. Glenn The various brands of Beaujolais Nouveau 2010, which made its debut Thursday night.

Wielding an 18-inch baguette in one hand and a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau in the other, Luis da Silva marched around Jules Bistro on St. Marks Place Thursday night wearing a kitschy black apron.

Le Beaujolais est arrive! the manager’s apron declared, the universal cry that the young, fruity, barely fermented (and to some, barely drinkable) wine has hit the shelves and bars.

Around the world, the third Thursday of November marks the official release of Beaujolais Nouveau, the wine crushed from 100 percent Gamay grapes from the Beaujolais region of France, in the southernmost part of Burgundy.

Most wine connoisseurs, vendors and drinkers agree that Beaujolais Nouveau isn’t actually that tasty. A marketing ploy, an advertising maneuver – call it what you will – it’s no secret that the Beaujolais Nouveau is marketed to be a grandiose event, albeit misguided.

French native Geoffroy de Guibert, who met a handful of other French friends for the celebration at Jules Bistro, says, “No, it’s not good. You know it’s not a good wine. You know it’s kind of a disgusting wine, but it happens once a year. It’s just for the event.

Because the wine is not aged, it is best served chilled (and is likely to taste worse as it warms to room-temperature). And while it may not stimulate your palate, the young wine can serve as an indicator of the vintage’s success. Each year the nouveau tastes different: last year it hinted at banana, this year the jury’s still out. “It’s about the weather, it’s about rain, it’s about sun,” says Chloé Descombes, another French native celebrating the event at Jules Bistro, agrees. This year? “I’d say it’s a good wine,” says Ms. Descombes.
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Jack-o-lanterns have come and gone, but pumpkins are still lighting up menus around the neighborhood. Some people look forward to pumpkin spice lattes, but I’m always excited to see what creative offerings local restaurants come up with each year. I set out on a mission to find the East Village’s best dishes — both savory and sweet — starring autumn’s iconic vegetable.

Carolyn Stanley Pumpkin pancakes at Cafe Orlin.

Cafe Orlin
41 St. Mark’s Place, 212-777-1447.
At Café Orlin, I was able to get my fix before noon with pumpkin pancakes with cinnamon-spiced yogurt. The pancakes are dense and not too heavy on the pumpkin or the sugar (though I was happy to make use of the side of syrup).
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