The Times pens a piece about Giuseppi Logan’s comeback in which the jazzman reveals the reason he disappeared for decades. “My wife had me put in a mental institution,” he tells John Leland. “She said I was an addict.” On her East Village blog, Suzannah B. Troy addresses a commenter who said the profile should’ve delved deeper into Mr. Logan’s troubled past: “I believe he had more than 10 kids and one child had died. His 1st wife did not want him to play and compose music but have a mainstream job. His 2nd wife believed in his music but she left him when he went to jail.” Ms. Troy also posts footage of Giuseppi’s reunion with his son Jaee as well as other clips.
Now that Mr. Logan’s Kickstarter campaign is funded (and then some!), Jeremiah’s Vanishing points to another one: Karen Gehres has been filming at Astor Place Hairstylists for a year and wants to turn the footage into a documentary. “With so many NYC Institutions dropping like flies, due to skyrocketing rent, one barber shop remains,” goes the Kickstarter pitch. “Since 1939, Astor Barber has been cutting hair with pizzaz and is still one of NYC’s most loved institutions. Get your hair cut from cradle to grave…literally!”
Runnin’ Scared reports that local artist Legacy Russell is photographing East Village and Lower East Side residents in locations that are meaningful to them, and then hanging the poster-size prints in locations of their choosing. Read more…
City Room reports that unionized workers at the Strand have rejected a proposed new contract because it would’ve cut vacation days, frozen pay for a year, increased the cost of health care, and cut benefits for newer employees. The bookstore’s management says the move is to compensate for sales that have fallen roughly 5 percent over all since 2008.
Though citywide rents remained relatively high throughout the winter, an MNS report picked up by Curbed brings good news about the East Village rental market: “The biggest decreases in rents from February to March took place in the East Village, where non-doorman studios are now 6.5 percent less.”
Gothamists sees bitter irony in the fact that upscale boutique Blue and Cream is paying tribute to grungy Mars Bar via a new photo exhibit: “Because if there is one thing we can all agree on about the old girl’s clientele, it was how much they just loved the kind of people who buy and sell $220 black t-shirts!” Read more…
After becoming persona non grata in Berlin’s Kreuzberg neighborhood, the BMW Guggenheim Lab is setting up in Prenzlauer Berg. “The decision to relocate the Lab was not an easy one,” Richard Armstrong says in a statement quoted by Gallertist NY, “but we are very pleased to have so quickly confirmed such a suitable alternative and to continue the urgent and important discussions we have begun about cities, and specifically about Berlin.”
NPR runs a photo of the old Bowery along with a story about “Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt’s Doomed Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York,” a new book by Richard Zacks about the police commissioner’s attempt to clean up what was a “wide-open” town in the late 19th century.
Scott Lynch snapped the above photo of graffiti artist Fumero beautifying a wall of The Strand yesterday. You can see the product of his work here.
The Lo-Down reports that Community Board 3 has a handful of new members, including an architect, a real estate broker, the co-owner of Pushcart Coffee, a former member of the City Council in Chapel Hill, N.C., and the owner of Nom Wah Tea Parlor.
According to the Post, the police nabbed a man who lifted a $3,598 jacket from the John Varvatos store. A DNA sample of gum left in the pocket of a coat that the man left behind led investigators to their suspect. Read more…
The 14th Street Y has released the cute video above, featuring Nathan Tysen, the winner of its “green song” contest, along with some of the Y’s kids. According to Mr. Tysen’s website, the singer-songwriter has written tunes for “Sesame Street,” which (fun fact!) was almost called 1-2-3 Avenue B.
The latest on stop and frisk: The Times publishes an editorial regarding a lawsuit that the N.Y.C.L.U. has filed regarding a program that allows the police to patrol private rental buildings. “The city claims that the Clean Halls program fights crime and that building owners and managers heartily approve of it,” it reads. “But that does not justify the kinds of abuses that the plaintiffs claim to be receiving at the hands of the police. At the very least, the city needs to make sure that its officers are following the law and treating these residents with respect.”
33 St. Marks Place, the building that houses outgoing Rockit Scientist Records, is for sale for $7.5 million. The listing touts “nine apartments; eight in the front building and one duplex unit in the rear carriage house of approximately 1,200 square feet.” Read more…
Good morning, East Village. Enjoy the above video, recently uploaded to YouTube, of Jon Brown and Bill Pierce skating Tompkins Square Park.
The Times runs an editorial in favor of N.Y.U.’s expansion. It acknowledges concerns about the current plan and goes on to say, “But this important New York institution should be able to expand in its core area. It is one of the nation’s elite universities; it adds high-paying jobs and intellectual allure to the city and to the Village. It is just the sort of thing New Yorkers should encourage.”
On the very day that Bill Ayers told Occupy protesters at Union Square Park not to look to the media for validation, The Times publishes a piece noting that “with less visibility, the movement has received less attention from the news media, taking away a national platform.” Meanwhile City Room reports that a judge in Criminal Court in Manhattan is deciding whether Brookfield Properties overstepped its bounds when it teamed with the police to roust protesters out of Zuccotti Park.
With “Passing Stranger,” an audio tour of East Village poetry landmarks, set to debut at the Bowery Poetry Club later this month, The Times visits some of the stops on the tour with creator Pejk Malinovski, including Allen Ginsberg’s old place. Read more…
Sources close to Scott Stringer tell The Times that the Borough President is frustrated with the N.Y.U. expansion plan, which “will overwhelm the existing community.”
An Associated Press item at SFGate details protests in front of the Village Voice headquarters yesterday. A group that included Norman Mailer’s son again accused the publication of promoting underage sex trafficking.
A Kickstarter project is underway to raise $17,500 to open a Giant Donuts NYC somewhere in the East Village, which would sell miniature, not giant, donuts. Bowery Boogie got the tip. Read more…
EV Grieve confirms earlier rumors that the owners of Mona’s and Sophie’s are taking over Joe’s bar after the death of its proprietor Joe Vajda. Richard Corton plans “small changes. Clean up. Maybe, if we feel ambitious, we might redo the wallpaper with exactly the same wallpaper.”
DOT Bike Share presentations have made their way up to C.B. 8, and went over well yet again. In a Metro Focus article, David Crane of C.B. 3 expressed pleasant surprise that no one in the Lower East Side or East Village, neighborhoods with a troubled history of bike accidents, has decided to complain. Read more…
The New York Post says Mayor Bloomberg is in favor of having the Parks Department oversee privately owned public spaces such as Zuccotti Park.
South Brooklyn Pizza’s plans to expand to a next-door space have resulted in a court battle. Kati Duncan, who says she sublet her space to the pizza parlor, tells Jeremiah’s Vanishing NY that its owner acquired a next-door store and then tore down the dividing wall without her knowledge.
EV Grieve has photos of the space where 316 East Third Street, a 19th-century townhouse, used to be. A 33-unit apartment building of Karl Fischer design is planned for the lot, though the DOB disapproved the plans earlier this month. Read more…
City Room reports that the city has extended its participation in rent regulation for another three years, since the current occupancy rate of 3.12 percent (considered a state of housing emergency) is below the 5 percent mark at which it must be lifted.
Racked NY assures that the Patricia Field boutique where a “For Rent” sign went up this weekend isn’t moving very far. The store is set to reopen two doors down, at 306 Bowery, leaving the old space at 302 Bowery available for only $30,000 per month. Takers?
The Times follows Matt Green, the man who walked from Rockaway Beach, N.Y. to Rockaway Beach, Ore., as he strolls through the East Village during his epic quest to walk every single street in New York City.
The Daily News notes that city officials “will be watching like a hawk Saturday” as Occupy Wall Street protesters rally in Union Square Park. Police once again barricaded the park last night – according to @OccupyWallStNYC, four people were handcuffed. The Occupied Wall Street Journal chimes in with a photographic history of Union Square demonstrations, from suffragettes to anarchists to war protesters.
The Daily News has a closer look at the penthouse apartment in the A Building at 425 East 13th Street featuring a shiny metal slide connecting its two floors. The apartment’s owner, professional poker player Phil Gafford, left the US after the enforcement of laws regarding the playing of online poker became more stringent. Prospective buyers can go all in on the four-bedroom apartment for $3.99 million. Read more…
Looks like Berliners liked the idea of the BMW Guggenheim Lab even less than certain East Villagers did. Atlantic Cities reports that the project’s May opening in Berlin has been scrapped due to protests and threats over the idea that the project would gentrify Berlin’s Kreuzberg neighborhood.
Struggling to find a way to prevent her business from closing, Kate Halpern, the owner of Kate’s Joint, is considering adding another ingredient to the menu of her vegetarian restaurant. “I hate to admit it, but put bacon on it, and they will come,” Ms. Halpern told the Wall Street Journal. As previously mentioned, she’s trying to raise about $30,000 to keep the doors of her joint open.
A luxury condo building going up at 250 Bowery has released a price list for its residences. Designed by Morris Adjimi Architects, the 24-unit building will offer one- and two-bedroom condos starting at $700,000 and three-, four- and five-bedroom penthouse apartments beginning at $2,700,000. Read more…
Development company YYY Third Avenue reportedly signed a 99-year lease for the Karl Fischer-designed apartment building that is being built at 78-84 Third Avenue. The Real Deal estimates that lease payments for the future nine-story building are about $1 million a year. The lease was signed in April of 2011 but property records did not reflect the transaction until last Wednesday.
The residential building at 532 East Fifth Street is quickly nearing completion and will offer a haven for green-minded renters. The 10-unit building will offer two-bedroom apartments with a Street Easy Listing quoting the rent at $4,495 per month, a small to price to pay for moving into a place with the “new apartment” smell.
Vanishing New York reports that the iconic “Chow Mein” and “Jade Mountain” signs that hung outside of the Second Avenue restaurant of the same name until 2007 have been recovered. Someone known only as Kathleen from Canada retrieved the signs from a Bronx contractor’s stockpile and has placed them in storage until they can be repaired. Read more…
Good morning, East Village. And happy first day of spring!
The folks at Blue & Gold tell the Post that Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez is disputing $17,604 worth of purchases at the Bowery boutique. The store says he disputed charges to his AmEx Black card after he tried to return outfits he had purchased for his niece and was told he could only receive store credit.
Gothamist hears more about the forthcoming CBGB music festival, though nothing concrete: “For now, we can tell you that Duff McKagan (Guns n’ Roses, Velvet Revolver) has expressed interest and could potentially be one of the headlining acts—the venue and the musician have a mutual appreciation for each other.”
Real Deal reports that Nina Munk, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and the author of “Fools Rush In: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Unmaking of AOL Time Warner,” has purchased a historic townhouse designed by the architect who went on to design St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Grace Church. The 3,380-square-foot townhouse at 25 Stuyvesant Street went for $3.7 million. Read more…
Well, that didn’t take long. The Villager reports that the annex of Ninth Street Espresso next-door to the old Life Cafe space will move into the portion of the restaurant owned by landlord Bob Perl. Earlier this month The Local broke the news that Life Cafe would be split in two after negotiations collapsed between its dueling landlords.
DNAInfo has a dispatch from Olek’s new exhibition at the Krause Gallery in the Lower East Side. The artist, who “yarn bombed” the cube at Astor Place (among other things ), chose a new medium for her latest show: balloons.
Bowery Boogie attends the unveiling of new scaffolding art on East Fourth Street.
The Times gives a shout-out to the live Irish music at 11th Street Bar, Dempsey’s and Swift Hibernian Lounge. (Sounds great, but Saturday won’t be the day to enjoy the tunes).
This Ain’t the Summer of Love spots an update to the CBGB website, which includes more information about a music festival planned for Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the Lower East Side and the Bowery on July 4 weekend. “Experience four energy-fueled days & nights of music, rock-n-roll films, insider-industry workshops, and intimate storytelling; all live, all in New York City,” the still-anonymous promoters write.
Andrew Berman, the executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, passes along a letter to public officials expressing concern that the City Council’s public hearings on N.Y.U.’s proposed expansion will take place in late June and early July — presumably when people will be on vacation. “Holding the City Council public hearings during a time period when the broadest possible cross-section of the public was not able to participate would significantly favor the applicant, N.Y.U.,” Berman wrote.
The Post reports that Faye Dunaway, fresh off her embarrassing exile from a rent stabilized apartment in the Upper East Side, is now house hunting in the East Village — specifically at 300 East Fourth Street. Read more…
EV Grieve is alerted to a protest planned for 2 p.m. at the Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, which is expected to close this summer. Check back later for The Local’s coverage of the gathering.
The Wall Street Journal examines the Archdiocese of New York’s efforts to revamp its Catholic education system, and singles out La Salle Academy on East Fifth Street. By 2009 the school’s enrollment had shrunk to only 360, down from around 900 in the 60s. By leasing out part of its facility to another private school it was able to pull back from the brink.
The co-owners of The Bean tell Dollars and Sense that they are seeking a beer and wine license due to customer demand. “Small businesses do whatever we can do to keep our customers coming back,” the café’s manager said. Read more…
Scott LynchWhat to like better? The necklace celebrating Tails from Sonic the Hedgehog, or the Marvel Comics bag?
Good morning, East Village.
Our friends at Arts Beat got wind of a new record label put together by the owners of Other Music. Other Music Recording Co. will showcase lesser-known musicians in the city while also reissuing foreign recordings. “Despite everything happening in the music industry, we are always getting excited about new bands,” an owner of the record store said. The first release is slated for April 24.
The Lower East Side Preservation Initiative urges its supporters to attend tonight’s meeting of the Community Board 3 landmarks subcommittee, which will consider issuing a letter in support of preserving the Bialystoker Senior Center in the Lower East Side. “Unprotected by landmark status, the building is threatened by demolition or drastic alteration,” the group writes. The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at Campos Plaza Community Center, 611 East 13th Street.
In other development news, check back later this afternoon for our coverage of a rally at City Hall in support of N.Y.U.’s expansion plan.
Our community contributor Tim Schreier snapped the above photo while attending a Code Pink protest that culminated in Union Square on Saturday. The group of under 100 protesters marched from Zuccotti Park in recognition of International Women’s Day. To see more photos from the scene check out Mr. Schreier’s photostream.
A tipster tells EV Grieve that Artichoke Pizza has expanded into the neighboring storefront that was occupied by Curly’s Vegetarian Lunch only two weeks ago. Grieve also notes that a tile bearing the “R” from the long gone Ratner’s restaurant has finally been removed thanks to renovations in Met Foods. If you’re feeling nostalgic you can still buy buttons from the waiters’ uniforms.
Following up on our coverage of Billy Leroy’s goodbye bash on Friday night, The Times attended the funeral procession for the tent “that had been patched so many times it was now more plastic than canvas.” Check back shortly for some more photos from the solemn ceremony. Read more…
The Local was a journalistic collaboration designed to reflect the richness of the East Village, report on its issues and concerns, give voice to its people and create a space for our neighbors to tell stories about themselves. It was operated by the students and faculty of the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, in collaboration with The New York Times, which provides supervision to ensure that the blog remains impartial, reporting-based, thorough and rooted in Times standards. Read more »
Scott Lynch
