Rachel Citron

Good morning, East Village.

If you heard marauders singing “New York, New York” under your window last night, it’s because the Giants won the Super Bowl, and the East Village was all a’Twitter. Jake Walsh (@jake_walsh2) posted a photo from inside the 13th Step. Heidi Hackemer (@uberblond) tweeted, “Giants win. Fireworks in the east village. Drunks screaming in the streets. Sirens wailing. Can we get back to Downton Abbey now please?” And Ben Furnas (@bfurnas) wrote, “All these East Village restaurants that told the Community Board they ‘happen to serve beer’ sounding an awful lot like sports bars tonight.” Strangely, not many tweets coming out of Professor Thom’s.

The Post is running with speculation that David Schwimmer is the one who razed a townhouse vying for landmark status at 331 East Sixth Street in order to replace it with a six-story mansion. Schwimmer still hasn’t confirmed it’s his property, but The Post says that “sources briefed on the purchase confirmed that Schwimmer is the owner.”

The Daily News, The Post and The Times all file previews of “Smash,” the NBC show that’s been filming around the neighborhood. It premieres tonight. Read more…

A dispute between two cabbies turned violent on Saturday night.

The police said that Mohammed Sharief, 47, assaulted a 39-year-old man with a metal tire jack. A witness said that two cab drivers confronted each other on First Avenue and Sixth Street, some time around 9:45 p.m., and one of them struck the other in the head.

The confrontation was loud enough to attract the attention of customers inside nearby stores and restaurants. Mr. Sharief was arrested at the scene and later charged with assault and criminal mischief.

Stephen Rex Brown

Good morning, East Village.

A press release from District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. announces the indictment of Jeffrey Bernstein. Mr. Bernstein once owned Pudgie’s Famous Chicken, an outpost of which is opening on First Avenue; he’s accused of stealing more than $2,500,000 from the Albert Ellis Institute. For more on the charges of grand larceny and money laundering, read the press release here.

Capital New York reflects on urban etiquette signs such as the one outside of Heathers bar that reads “if you go outside to smoke, please go all the way over to the corner of Avenue A.” The piece theorizes that “through the ’80s and ’90s [East Village] residents were paying rents low enough that they could overlook nighttime noise. As rents increased, so did complaints.” Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York disagrees with the idea: “We didn’t overlook noise prior to 2003–we remember when the East Village was much quieter and less crowded than the nightmare of screeching it is today.”

The Wall Street Journal notes the trend of Lower East Side and East Village restaurateurs opening offshoots in Williamsburg. A broker points out that Williamsburg’s retail rents are much lower: from $30 to $80 a square foot, compared with $100 to $150 a square foot. “The cheaper rents allow [restaurant owners] to experiment with new concepts with less risk involved.” Read more…

One of the gun-toting thieves who allegedly held up a Metro PCS store on Jan. 6 had the audacity to return and rob it again two weeks later, the police said.

In the first heist on Jan. 6 — which is depicted in surveillance footage released by the Police Department — the duo entered the Metro PCS store at 350 East 14th Street at around 6:45 p.m., flashed a gun and removed cash from the register and a safe.

On Jan. 20 one of the suspects returned at around 7:10 p.m., simulated a gun and demanded cash from a Metro PCS employee, the police said. The employee complied and the suspect fled with an undisclosed amount of money. Read more…

NYPD Deputy Inspector Kenneth Lehr

Captain John Cappelmann has replaced Deputy Inspector Kenneth Lehr as the top police officer in the Ninth Precinct, which covers the East Village.

Detective Jaime Hernandez of Community Affairs at the Ninth Precinct confirmed the move, and said that Captain Cappelmann came over from Public Service Area 6, which covers public houses in Harlem and the Upper West Side.

The new commanding officer will be formally introduced at the next community council meeting on Feb. 21 at the Ninth Precinct station house on East Fifth Street. Read more…

Hannah Thonet The executive director of the Nuyorican, Daniel Gallant.

The Nuyorican Poets Cafe should reopen soon after being shuttered by the Health Department for a variety of violations in its East Third Street building.

“Our repairs are moving along smoothly, and if all goes well, we should be able to reopen by this weekend,” wrote the executive director of the cafe, Daniel Gallant, in an email.

On Monday the cafe announced on Twitter that it would temporarily close after a visit from city inspectors. Turned out, the cafe had several violations of the health code, including evidence of rodents, unclean surfaces, and improper storage of food.

N.Y.P.D. A surveillance image of the suspect.

The police are on the hunt for a man who allegedly robbed an Apple Bank on Feb. 1.

The police said that the man walked into the bank at Irving Place and East 14th Street at around noon and passed a note to the teller demanding money. The bank employee complied and the suspect fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.

The suspect is said to be around 55 to 60 years old, around 5-foot-8 and roughly 150 pounds. Judging by the surveillance image, he is also a Mets fan.

Meagan Kirkpatrick

Good morning, East Village.

According to a press release from the office of Council Member Margaret Chin, the city council passed a resolution yesterday that calls on the military to “examine its policies around cultural diversity and sensitivity.” Says Council Member Chin in the release, “New York City calls on the armed forces to reform their policies regarding diversity training, bullying, and hazing.”

The Daily News reports that Shana Spalding, who robbed an East Village shop in June of 2010 and became known as Catwoman has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. “‘Get off of me,’ she said, cursing at court officers taking her out of the courtroom and photographers snapping her picture. ‘I’m not the Catwoman!'”

Ephemeral New York has a bit of trivia about Hengington Hall, a former meeting place for political groups on Avenue B that now houses an art studio: “Interestingly, it’s where David Greenglass — who helped send his sister, Ethel Rosenberg, to the electric chair — got married in 1942.” Read more…

Ruth Spencer Steve Cannon, founder of Gathering of the Tribes.

Tribes is fighting back.

The landlord attempting to evict Gathering of the Tribes has no right to do so, and actually owes the founder of the quirky arts group at least $8,400, a new lawsuit alleges.

In December, Lorraine Zhang, the landlord of 285 East Third Street, served Steve Cannon, the blind poet, playwright and founder of Tribes with a notice that he must leave the building by Jan. 31.

The lawsuit, filed on Friday in State Supreme Court and reprinted below, says that the notice is “invalid” and that “Cannon is entitled to remain as an occupant of the second floor of the premises subject to the terms of the agreement” that the pair signed when Mr. Cannon sold the building to Ms. Zhang in 2004. Read more…

Daniel Maurer The horror!

Remember the family of pumpkins that took up residence inside of a fenced-in lot behind P.S. 19 Asher Levy School – presumably in October? Last week, as you can see above, they were still camping out, and sinking into a sorry state that made one wonder if they were some sort of biology-class experiment.

After devoting so much attention to their plight, we were beginning to feel hopeless about the power of journalism vegetable voyeurism to affect genuine change – but also ghoulishly fascinated to see just how long they’d continue to decompose as the students of Asher Levy played kickball right next to them. And now, as you can see below: the pumpkins are gone – presumably the work of an intrepid hazmat team trained in squash removal. Orange’ya sad about this? We kind of are. Read more…

Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

Huffington Post picked up our story about the sale of CBGB and asked its readers whether the rock club should reopen. At time of posting, 59.87% said yes, and 40.13% said no.

EV Grieve finds a liquor license application indicating that Robert Ehrlich, a Sea Cliff, N.Y. cafe owner and the founder of Pirate Brands (makers of Pirate’s Booty snacks), is planning to bring a “local regional menu” to the Holiday Cocktail Lounge space.

The Voice sits down with Philip Glass. The composer sings the familiar refrain of “the rent is too high,” but also admits that the East Village has changed for the better in some ways: “The Bowery used to be synonymous with people who lived on the street and were alcoholics,” he says. “In the ’80s, if you wandered over to Avenue B . . . there would be people walking in the middle of the street hawking drugs! Just announcing what they had for sale! It was that open… I am not sorry to see that part of the East Village disappearing. It was a very grungy part, you know?” Read more…

Francisco Daum Flowers outside of CBGB in 2001, after Joey Ramone died of lymphatic cancer.

The CBGB brand — and the merchandising empire that comes with it — changed hands three months ago, a representative of the new owners told The Local.

“We bought the entire estate, the physical assets of the former club. They dissembled it as a theatrical unit so in theory they could put it back together — say, 80 percent they salvaged,” said the spokesman for the new owners, who wished to remain anonymous in anticipation of an announcement in the coming weeks regarding the return of the legendary club. “There are all kinds of tapes, photos, and the global trademarks and licensing.”

The spokesman added that his group bought the CBGB estate from Lisa Kristal, the daughter of the founder of the club, Hilly Kristal. A man who answered the phone at Ms. Kristal’s number had no comment regarding the transaction.

“In negotiating the sale, Lisa Kristal was motivated much more by preserving the legacy of CBGB than she was by money,” said the spokesman in an e-mail. “We had to court her for seven months, proving to her that we would be the best guardians of the name. She wanted to know our plans. I would stay up until two in the morning, night after night listening to her wonderful stories and telling her about the ways in which we were going to keep CBGB alive through loud music and by supporting new bands.”
Read more…

Joel Raskin

Good morning, East Village.

And happy birthday to Philip Glass. Before the composer’s 75th today, NPR spoke with him at his home a block from the former Fillmore East, where he once admired Jefferson Airplane’s wall of speakers. His townhouse is equipped with “very expensive windows,” he says: “And at one point I realized, look, it’s like — it’s like looking at a silent movie. You can’t hear the cars.”

But forget Philip Glass’s windows: Architect Bill Peterson shows The Wall Street Journal his 14th Street condo, which includes a brownstone facade that folds into the apartment like a garage door, to create an open-air living room. The one-bedroom apartment, decorated with a photo of Patti Smith and a framed Fillmore East t-shirt, is currently on the market for $2.499 million.

Over the weekend, we noticed that Boukies, the Greek restaurant that will replace Heartbreak on Second Avenue, had posted its menu. See it on The Local’s Flickr page.
Read more…

Gloria Chung The Nuyorican Poets Cafe at 236 East Third Street.

Several visits from city inspectors have led to the temporary closing of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Daniel Gallant, the executive director, told The Local.

The cafe tweeted the news earlier today, and Mr. Gallant clarified — a little — over the phone.

“The building is quite old. Some of the space we’re hoping to renovate,” he said. “We’ve had a few different city inspectors come in since the end of the year — we just figured it’s probably the best thing to do repairs.”

Mr. Gallant did not wish to go into further details before again meeting with city inspectors.

The Nuyorican building does not show any recent violations or complaints on the Department of Buildings website. Mr. Gallant said he should know when the cafe will reopen by Wednesday.

Daniel Maurer

Good morning, East Village.

Last night, The Local reported from an Occupy Wall Street march that stopped at the former Charas/El Bohio building and ended at Tompkins Square Park. According to City Room, 12 were arrested: “Three men were charged with assault and one with criminal weapons possession, the police said. Most of the rest of those arrested were charged with disorderly conduct. Three of the 12 people arrested were women. One officer sustained an injured finger.” Gothamist has video footage of a couple of the arrests.

Per the sign above, Veselka is offering free pedicab service to its Bowery location during weekend brunch hours.

Someone who might want to know about this service: The man who posted the flyer above, announcing that his bike disappeared from 13th Street between Broadway and Fourth Avenue on Friday. Apparently it was a gift from grandma. Read more…

Daniel Maurer At Eighth and Avenue B.

In a show of solidarity for Occupy Wall Street protesters arrested in Oakland, a group marched from Washington Square Park, as far north as 29th Street, and then back south to Tompkins Square Park – with a symbolic stop at the former Charas/El Bohio community center. Witnesses reported smashed bottles and arrests in the East Village last night.

Shortly before 10 p.m., protesters who had gathered at Washington Square Park three hours earlier made their way to the former P.S. 64 building on East Ninth Street, which was at the center of demonstrations last month. As The Local has reported, some residents want the developer who owns the vacant building to use it as a community center again.

After hearing a few words about the building’s history, the group – escorted by a column of police officers in the street – walked down Avenue C, then Eighth Street, and then Avenue B before stopping at East Seventh Street, at the entrance of Tompkins Square Park. Read more…

Jared Malsin Portraits of Gregory Foster and Rocco Laurie.

Earlier today, the Police Department marked the 40th anniversary of the murder of two young police officers – one black, one white – who were gunned down by alleged black militants outside an East Village diner.

The officers, Gregory Foster, 22, of the Bronx, and Rocco Laurie, 23, of Staten Island, had fought together as Marines in Vietnam. When they returned to New York, they asked to be placed on patrol together in the East Village, which was then a high-crime neighborhood. They were shot dead after walking out of a diner at Avenue B and 11th Street just before 11 p.m. on Jan. 27, 1972.

Speaking at a re-dedication of two plaques honoring the slain officers at the Ninth Precinct, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly described a grim atmosphere at the time of the murders.

“This was a violent neighborhood, no doubt about it, and radical groups like the Black Liberation Army were specifically targeting police officers for assassination,” said Commissioner Kelly, who responded to the scene of the shooting as a young sergeant. Read more…

Natalie Rinn

Earlier this afternoon, Carlos Severino, a member of the Laborers Local 78, stood near an oversized, money-grabbing, cigar-chomping rat that had been conspicuously inflated in front of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary on East 14th Street. The labor union, which specializes in the removal of asbestos, lead and other hazardous materials, is protesting Continuum Health Partners, which operates the Infirmary along with three other hospitals. Mr. Severino held up flyers complaining that an “irresponsible” private company was performing “deadly asbestos removal” at one of the company’s facilities, St. Luke’s Hospital on the Upper West Side.

Richard Weiss, a spokesperson for the union, said the protests began a couple of weeks ago. Mr. Severino said they would continue for some time: “We’ll stay another week, a month, until they do what they’re supposed to do.”

In addition to the rat on East 14th Street, members of Laborers Local 78 are displaying an open coffin in front of Beth Israel Hospital on First Avenue, just a couple of blocks north – a move that Jim Mandler, a spokesperson for Continuum, said was unacceptable. Read more…

Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

According to Curbed, the price of Adria Petty’s apartment at 325 East Ninth Street has been trimmed from $1.995 million to $1.85 million. The Local toured the condo when it went on the market in November.

DNA Info catches wind of an East Village resident who gives $10 astrology readings three nights a week at the Scratcher bar.

Still fighting eviction from his St. Marks Place apartment, Jimmy “The Rent Is Too Damn High” McMillan now wants a recount of votes in the 2010 gubernatorial election. According to the Daily News, he’s hoping for a bump up to 50,000 votes so that he can be placed on the ballot for the upcoming presidential election. Read more…