Clint McMahon

Good morning, East Village.

The Local received a letter from a tenant mourning the loss of East Village native Andrew Kowalczyk, the landlord, super, and tenant of a building on East Seventh Street that has been seen in the “Godfather II” and other productions. EV Grieve also received the eulogy and reprinted it:  “Andrew wasn’t a rich guy. He could have hiked the rents every time an apartment changed hands but he didn’t. A friend recommended us and that was good enough for him. ‘I just want local people we know,’ he would say whenever an apartment came up and we would get another friend in there.”

Speaking of landlords, The New York Post reports that an heir of William Gottlieb, “perhaps the biggest private landowner in Greenwich Village,” is selling off some of his property. Among his properties are an East 10th Street townhouse selling for $5.6 million and two vacant lots on East Houston going for $9.5 million. The sales could “remake downtown in the process.”

Save The Lower East Side rails against NYU’s plan to build in Community District 3, but is surprised to see the animosity against NYU: “Hasn’t NYU already transformed the commercial character and the residential demographic of the EV? Is there anything left to lose to NYU? NYU has already wrought its worst on real estate values and rents. What is the complaint against them? They are, on the whole, much more agreeable than the yuppies. They party less and they have more intellectual curiosity. What are East Villagers protecting?” Read more…

Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

The family of Private Danny Chen learned from Army investigators new details about allegations of mistreatment by his comrades. The New York Post reports that investigators said that “on the day of his death, he was forced to crawl 100 meters on gravel with his equipment on as his comrades threw rocks at him. It’s alleged that Chen was mistreated shortly before he committed suicide in an Afghanistan guardhouse.” Eight former comrades face charges ranging from dereliction of duty to involuntary manslaughter.

In his column for The Villager, Clayton Patterson remembers how the 1988 riots in Tompkins Square Park turned him into an activist: “I regret little, and to say both Elsa and I learned a lot about police corruption, the damaging role that gentrification plays on the downwardly struggling middle class, and the adversity that the poor and the disadvantaged face, as well as, how outsourcing has affected the economy in New York City would be a gross understatement.”

Real estate sales firm Massey Knakal sent The Local an email yesterday detailing the sale of 73 and 75 East Third Street, steps away from the Hells Angels Clubhouse. An Italian buyer purchased the property for $15.5 million. Read more…

Phillip Kalantzis-Cope

Good morning, East Village.

First, the celebrity news: The New York Post mentions that Uma Thurman was at Liquiteria buying an all-greens juice as well as a fruit-and-wheatgrass mix.

The Daily Mail has action shots of “American Idol” star Katharine McPhee filming scenes for “Smash” in the East Village. The Local warned parkers that the NBC show, also starring Anjelica Huston, would be filming.

EV Grieve finds Department of Buildings records indicating that the latest outpost of Subway will occupy a space on First Avenue between Sixth and Seventh Streets, right near the shuttered Polonia restaurant. Read more…

>Phillip Kalantzis-Cope

Good morning, East Village.

The Post reveals the identity of the man who, as The Local first reported, was struck by a motorcycle in the early hours of the new year. Daniel Hiwale, 33, was said to be intoxicated when he fell into the street.

Around the same time on Sunday, reports The Post, a man pushed a woman into her apartment building on East Seventh Street and tried to force her up the stairs, but was stopped after witnesses flagged police officers. Anthony Griggs, 42, is charged with attempted rape, burglary, strangulation, robbery and sexual abuse.

DNA Info and The Post report that on Dec. 24, the police caught a man at an East 12th Street building with a bag full of laptops, fur coats, and digital camera. According to DNA Info, Reginald Qualls, 19, is also being eyed in connection with a string of Greenwich Village burglaries, and was arrested along with two others for assaulting a 76-year-old man in Union Square ten days earlier. Read more…

Wish I could ..

Good morning, East Village.

In the “Eighth Annual Curbed Awards,” Curbed highlights some lost landmarks, including 35 Cooper Square and Mars Bar, and also names Ray’s Candy Store and the St. Mark’s Bookshop as “Threatened Neighborhood Landmarks That are Somehow Still Standing.”

EV Grieve also remembers some of the notable East Villagers we lost this year, including photographer Bob Arihood, teacher and activist Monica “Kathryn” Shay, and bartender John Leeper.  Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York also laments some of those we lost, including Tony Amato, owner  of his namesake opera house on the Bowery, and Chloe Dzubilo, “transgender and AIDS activist, artist, writer, punk rocker and East Villager.”

Grieve writes that Itzocan Café, a French-Mexican spot that opened on East Ninth Street in 2003, has “For Rent” signs up along with a note saying: “To our loyal customers, thank you for all your support throughout the years. But unfortunately we are out of business.”

modestmerlin

Good morning, East Village.

The New York Post runs a photo of a deliveryman close to collision with a pedestrian in the East Village. James Vacca, the chairman of the City Council’s Transportation Committee, tells the paper he will introduce legislation requiring commercial cyclists to finish a bicycle-safety course and submit proof of completion to employers. “If nothing else, this bill will ensure that commercial cyclists have been educated about what the rules actually are,” he said.

Fourth Arts Block still needs about $900 of the $3,000 it’s trying to collect through KickStarter for its ArtUp program, reports Bowery Boogie. The program “transforms construction sites…in the East Village/Lower East Side into street-side galleries.”

In a “Vanished” series, Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York laments the loss in 2011 of some notable East Village structures and figures, including 35 Cooper Square, Mars Bar, and the booting out of Edgar Oliver, “one of the East Village’s last Bohemians.” Read more…

Joel Raskin

Good morning, East Village.

The owner of 77 East Seventh Street, Robert Koziej, is among those honored on public advocate Bill de Blasio’s 2011 list of “NYC’s Worst Landlords,” with 110 infractions listed.

So do you think teachers should be allowed to wear flip-flops and tank tops to school? An editorial in the Daily News sides with East Village principal Marlon Hosang of Public School 64, who wants a “professional” dress code. The paper sarcastically says of the teacher who filed a complaint: “Good policy: Defend the right to look like a slob. Challenge the ability of a school leader to set a respectful tone in his building.”

Jazz musician Sam Rivers died on Monday, reports The New York Times. Studio Rivbea, the noncommercial performance space he ran out of his Bond Street loft, was an anchor of the 1970s loft scene, and “served as an avant-garde hub through the end of the decade.” Read more…

Modestmerlin

Good morning, East Village.

The Post reports that Madonna Badger was a former East Villager. The fashion marketing executive lost her parents and three children in a Christmas-morning fire in her Stamford, C.T. home.

DNA Info reports that firefighters extinguished a blaze at Jacob Riis Houses II on Monday afternoon.

According to CBS New York, Matt Sky, an East Village resident, was among those celebrating Christmas at Zuccotti Park.

CBS News also reports, along with the Post and DNA Info, that an East Village housing officer, Rafael Casiano, is facing drunk driving and vehicular assault charges after his car flipped over on the Bronx River Parkway, leaving his partner in a coma. Read more…

Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

The Post and Gay City News report that a mistrial has been declared after a jury weighing second-degree murder charges was unable to decide whether Davawn Robinson intended to kill CUNY professor Edgar Mercado in his Avenue C apartment.

Skaters who’ve been shut out of Open Road Park may be curious to see the renderings for the forthcoming Coleman Skate Park on the Lower East Side. Bowery Boogie has its doubts about the project: “Judging by the proposed renderings, it appears the area will become just another corporate haven to sell advertising.”

The Times reviews “Accidentally, Like a Martyr,” the play at Paradise Factory Theater that’s set at a local gay bar: “Though these men are only sometimes good to one another, they are good company for 80 minutes in the theater, especially Mr. Blasius’s warm, wounded Edmund.” Read more…

Kevin Farley

Good morning, East Village.

The Washington Post reports that the army has charged eight soldiers in the death of Pvt. Danny Chen. Though it’s unclear whether the death of Pvt. Chen, who grew up in Chinatown and the East Village, is still being considered a suicide, the charges include involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide, dereliction of duty, making a false statement, maltreatment, and assault.

Bowery Boogie points out that thanks to some new projects from meatpacking district restaurateurs, the Lower East Side has been increasingly referred to as the Lower Eastpacking District, a term The Local’s editor coined back in 2006.

Boogie gets word that the last day for Billy’s Antiques is Jan. 1. Read more…

Phillip Kalantzis-Cope

Good morning, East Village.

According to The Times, Julian Schnabel wasn’t the only boldface name at his daughter Lola’s opening at The Hole last week. Courtney Love, Francesco Clemente, Sandro Chia, Salman Rushdie and John Ahearn also showed up. As The Local reported last week, some of Ms. Schnabel’s paintings were first shown during The Hole’s whirlwind tour of Miami earlier this month.

DNA Info chats with Eileen Johnson, the director of Little Missionary’s Day Nursery on St. Mark’s Place (one of the oldest nurseries in the city) and the author of “The Children’s Emotional Bill of Rights.” The new book is based on her philosophy that “children need to be respected. Their boundaries need to be respected.”

Crains reports that 255 East Houston Street, near Suffolk Street, is on the market and could go for between $250 and $300 per square foot, depending on whether the buyer wants to build a condo or rental. Read more…

Good morning, East Village.

The Observer reports that on Sunday, a “Charas Comes Home For The Holidays” demonstration in favor of turning the former P.S. 64 building into a community center ended in “at least three arrests and numerous confrontations.”

Meanwhile, The Local’s contributor Tim Schreier took the above photo at the march against Trinity Church. You can see more of his photos here. The Times reports that at least 50 people were arrested at demonstrations on Saturday and quotes Matt Sky, an Internet consultant from the East Village, as saying, “Everything about this movement is momentum. We need to show people that we are still relevant.”

The Post reports that a man has been arrested for three muggings, including an incident in which he allegedly followed a woman into her East 12th Street apartment at 2:30 a.m. Read more…

Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

The Villager notes that on Sunday, locals will commemorate the anniversary of the eviction of the C.H.A.R.A.S. Community and Cultural Center with “music, food, dancing and a community speak-out.” As The Local has reported, activists are hoping the organization’s former headquarters — the onetime P.S. 64 building — will be used as a community center again.

The Villager has discovered that Ray Alvarez of Ray’s Candy Store, who turns 79 on Jan. 1, is dealing with a “leaky heart” and is debating surgery.

In a Villager profile, Amy Micelli — half of the couple that runs Ciao for Now — says the cafe’s block on East 12th Street between Avenues A and B “has transformed many times…and there are fewer crazy people and drug addicts now.” Read more…

Noah Fecks

Our photographer Noah Fecks noticed a sign, as did EV Grieve, on the door of Affaire on Avenue B indicating that the lounge has been closed by the Department of Health for operating without a permit. We’ll let you know when we have more.

Foursquare isn’t the only tech start-up moving out of 36 Cooper Square. The Atlantic notes that Curbed and Hard Candy Shell are also leaving the building that was the birthplace of the Hartz Mountain pet supplies empire and is still home to the Village Voice. Kevin Kearney, the CEO of Hard Candy Shell, says, “I think that now the people are leaving there’s not gonna be anything left. I think we all would’ve stayed if we could’ve figured out how it worked. If The Village Voice had finally gone under, we could’ve taken over.”

A blog in the Curbed network, Racked, reminds us that later today, Bedlam Bar at 40 Avenue C will host the Bright Young Things Holiday Market: “Markdowns go up to 50% off, and participating designers include Bijules, Chrishabana, and Mary Meyer. There’s an open vodka bar from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Becka Diamond and Nicolette Santos of the Six Six Sick Girls will DJ.” Read more…

Meagan Kirkpatrick

Good morning, East Village.

According to a letter sent to Bowery Boogie, Agata Olek, the crochet artist who yarn-bombed the Astor cube, has been arrested in London after what she describes as “an incident with a drunk and aggressive male who behaved reprehensibly.” Fans can contribute to her legal fees here.

Meanwhile, the Astor cube got another makeover today.

DNA Info reports that Shanna Spalding, the so-called “Cat Woman Burglar,” has been found guilty of robbing an Astor Place shoe store in June 2010 while disguised as, yes, Catwoman.

The Post reports that deliberations will begin tomorrow in the case in which Davawn Robinson is accused of strangling CUNY professor Edgard Mercado to death in his East Village apartment. Read more…

Scott Lynch

According to The Lo-Down, U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez, City Councilmember Margaret Chin, and community advocates are scheduled to meet with Pentagon officials on Wednesday regarding the mysterious death of Private Danny Chen. There will be a vigil and march on Thursday demanding more transparency in the investigation. In a separate post, The Lo-Down posts a video in which friends and family of Mr. Chen demand an answer to the question, “What happened to Danny?”

Gay City News reports that Davawn Robinson, who is accused of murdering a man in his Avenue C apartment in 2009, testified in court yesterday that he was engaged in sex play when he accidentally killed Edgard Mercado with a rope.

Jeremiah’s Vanishing recalls the time when the Lucky Cheng’s building was home to Club Baths, a tropical-themed gay bathhouse, and then Cave Canem, a Roman-themed restaurant that was called “a real hot spot for the chic-est of the yuppies” and “the place for downtown’s hip art scene.” Read more…

Nick DeSantis

The Local’s Nick DeSantis took the above photo on Saturday. Downtown Traveler, Zoon, EV Grieve, and East Village Corner also got shots of the SantaCon merriment.

DNA Info reports that Gregory Gumucio, the founder of Yoga to the People, filed papers in court on Friday that “cited a decision from the U.S. Copyright Office that indicates that yoga exercises aren’t protected by current law,” in hopes that a judge would throw out the lawsuit brought against him by Bikram Yoga. Metro quotes an e-mail from the chief of the Performing Arts Division of the U.S. Copyright Office: “We determined that exercises, including yoga exercises, do not constitute the subject matter that Congress intended to protect as choreography.”

Composer Phil Kline’s roving holiday boom box orchestra, Unsilent Night, will return on Dec. 17, and guess what? There’s an app for it! According to the Times, participants who don’t have a portable cassette player can now blast the score on their iPhones. Read more…

Rachel Citron

Good morning, East Village.

The Lo-Down reports that the building housing the Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation at Avenue A and Fifth Street sold last week for $25.5 million. Last month, The Local pointed out that Community Board 3 was concerned that a sale of the building might lead to the center’s closure before its relocation in approximately five years. The buyer and his or her intentions remain a mystery.

Dominic Pisciotta, the chairperson of C.B. 3, and Susan Stetzer, the district manager, pen a piece for the Villager patting the board on the back for successfully working with local politicians on issues like the St. Mark’s Bookshop, Wald Playground, and more.

EV Grieve discovers that 15 East 10th Street was sold for $3.7 million in September. Magnum Real Estate Group is the name given on a demolition permit, indicating that Benjamin Shaoul may have bought the building. Read more…

Gloria Chung

Good morning, East Village.

Grub Street notices a listing that would seem to indicate that drag-queen institution Lucky Cheng’s is on the market for $25,000 a month. The link to the listing was live yesterday but is no longer available.

How’s Alec Baldwin enjoying his new digs at Devonshire House on East 10th Street between Broadway and University Place? As Curbed pointed out, he recently told Conan, “The Village is like one big bus depot of drunken young people.” Watch the clip and hear him continue: “It’s all night long. It’s like, ‘Stanley, you bastard!’ – women screaming at their boyfriends and punching their boyfriends, people screaming at each other… it’s like two o’clock in the morning. It’s loud. It’s young people drinking.”

A judge has ruled that the N.Y.P.D. was “not incompetently or in knowing violation of the law” when it arrested a 52-year-old man on charges of prostitution. According to Gay City News, Robert Pinte claimed he was arrested on false charges after being approached by an undercover officer who offered him $50 and oral sex in an East Village porn shop.  Read more…