Vice spends the day with documentarian, gallerist, and neighborhood historian Clayton Patterson. His tour of the Lower East Side is above. After going to an opening at a neighborhood gallery he says, “I will guarantee that none of the people that grew up around here, none of the kids from down here, none of the people like Jesus that we met will ever set foot in that gallery; they will never feel welcome, they will never be welcome, and they will never go in there. So that then means, is that really art or is that gentrification?”
The Obama fundraiser that Mickey Boardman of Paper and others threw at Eastern Bloc raised over $10,000, according to the Washington Post. “The crowd of about 150 Obama supporters was cordial and relaxed, a mix of friends and fashion types, partying alongside male dancers wearing Obama ’08 boxer briefs (or, as one did, an American flag-themed thong) stuffed with the requisite $1 bills.”
Paper has some shots from ThreeAsFour’s Fashion Week show at The Hole. The designers “decked the models out in Spock-esque unibrows and chunky shattered-glass platform shoes, giving the whole collection an alien-priestess-meets Carnaby Road feel.” Read more…
The Wall Street Journal thinks Alphabet City has gone from being a “a no man’s land” to “a kind of Epcot version of the city’s coolness.” The president of DSA Realty says, “We’re seeing a lot more young women come to the neighborhood, I’d say a 70/30 split,” with new residents working in fashion, tech and media.
The co-owner of D.L. Cerney, who plans to close the 28-year-old boutique to focus on her art and writing, has noticed the changes in Alphabet City: “Back in the 1980s and into the 90s,” Linda St. John tells Jeremiah’s Vanishing NY, “this whole neighborhood was just filled with creative people. Now, nobody’s left. The way Rudy cleaned up the neighborhood was awesome, but now it’s too clean. When did those French bistros end up on Avenue D?”
According to The Times, The Stone is celebrating the centennial of composer John Cage’s birth with a “Cage100 festival” that kicked off Tuesday. “The Stone is a proudly humble space,” Anthony Tommasini writes of the venue, “just a black room with chairs for at most 50 and a big whirring air-conditioner that has to be turned off during concerts, even when the humidity is as thick as it was on Tuesday night.” Read more…
Curbed shines a spotlight on the coolest crib you’ll never visit: the penthouse apartment at 12 East 12th features a water tank that has been converted into a cottage. The mini-dwelling has 24-foot ceilings, stylish windows, cable, and air conditioning. The two bedrooms and one and a half bathrooms are just a bonus. It can all be yours for the modest sum of $3.6 million.
WABC has a few quotes from last night’s community board meeting about bar noise. “You often hear screaming or yelling or singing sometimes cheers,” says district manager Susan Stetzer, “sometimes I’m surprised that people who should [have] grown up act the way they do.”
The Post reports that Observer publisher Jared Kushner has closed on what will be eight walk-ups in the East Village, SoHo, and the West Village, to the tune of $53 million. The East Village properties include 267 East 10th, 435 East Ninth, 311 East 11th, 311 East Sixth, and 99 East Seventh. Read more…
A lengthy piece in The Observer detailing the trials and tribulations of the city Housing Authority features neighborhood city Councilwoman Rosie Mendez defending its embattled chairman, John Rhea — guardedly. “I didn’t think we needed a banker, but I have to say, he’s done a good job. We’re seeing progress, but I don’t know if it’s enough. Given the situation we’re in, I don’t know if any one person could fix it.” The councilwoman also recalls growing up in the Williamsburg Houses during a more hopeful time for public housing. “Even when the city started to get really bad in the ’70s and ’80s, NYCHA still had it all,” she said.
The Wall Street Journal previews tonight’s Community Board 3 committee meeting, which will discuss the possibility of a special nightlife district in the East Village. “As the neighborhood once known for its intimate night life is transformed into what some deem a multi-block frat house, community leaders are looking for ways to control the scene that are more subtle than simply quashing liquor-license applications.”
Of course, while the debate picks up steam at C.B. 3, bars will keep opening. The Times reports that “Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and the East Village (arguably the city’s two best neighborhoods for drinking) will become even richer in saloon life, welcoming new places run by some of the best bartenders in the business.” The paper singles out the soon to open fancy cocktail joint Pouring Ribbons on Avenue B. Read more…
Joann JovinellySpotted at East 13th Street and Avenue B.
Good morning, East Village.
NY1 takes a closer look inside the two new restaurants next door to each other on Extra Place that share the same owner but completely different concepts. “I found the space, we designed the layout and then the space next door became available, and I thought ‘why not make it two restaurants in one,'” the owner, Amadeus Bogner, said. So now Mr. Bogner is managing a restaurant serving traditional Turkish street food, as well as a Swiss fondue joint.
Speaking of restaurants, The Times chatted with two customers at Upstate and gave a shout-out to the beer-and-oysters spot’s happy hour deal.
Eater notes that a pizzeria dubbed “Famous Artichoke Pizza” in Hoboken eliminated the “Artichoke” from its name. The owner of the original Artichoke Pizza was none too happy about the imitator. Read more…
Earlier this week, Gothamist featured a video of a nasty beating of a man in Union Square. The report yielded a flood of complaints about “Tyrone,” a tall man allegedly bullying Occupiers and homeless people in the park. He claims to be a member of the Crips, and has allegedly threatened to kill Matthew Silver, the goofball often dancing around Astor Place with underwear on his head. (There’s video of a confrontation between them, as well). Park advocates tell the site that Tyrone’s unchecked behavior is an example of neglect by the Parks Department.
Shulamith Firestone, a reclusive and influential feminist writer, died in her East Village apartment on Tuesday, apparently of natural causes, The Times reports. At 25 Ms. Firestone wrote “The Dialectic of Sex,” which “extended Marxist theories of class oppression to offer a radical analysis of the oppression of women, arguing that sexual inequity springs from the onus of childbearing, which devolves on women by pure biological happenstance.” Following the publication of the book, she withdrew from public life.
USA Today is a big fan of “Dirt Candy,” the comic-book cookbook that tells the story of the vegetarian restaurant on East Ninth Street. “If you’ve ever wondered what it’s really like to start a restaurant from scratch, Cohen doesn’t glaze over the details here: Shady contractors, piles of money and a temperamental staff factor in to Dirt Candy’s evolution.” Here’s a trailer for the book. Read more…
Stephen Rex BrownThese two construction workers at 51 Astor Place put on a show yesterday that would make Philippe Petit proud.
Good morning, East Village.
Yesterday, two of the owners of CBGB sent along word that they had just returned from Russia, where they hand delivered a letter in support of the band Pussy Riot to the office of the prosecutor general in Moscow. Tim Hayes and Louise Parnassa Staley convened with the band’s family members, legal defense team and others, according to a press release. The letter, in support of the three women found guilty of hooliganism and sentenced to two years in prison, was signed by the likes of Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, and Anthony Bourdain. “They are punks and CBGB felt a need to support punks in trouble,” Mr. Hayes wrote in an e-mail. “We spent very intense days with their families, lawyers and friends. The environment in Moscow is much more heated than we ever expected.” He added, “Pussy Riot is the most dangerous band in the world; without question. They are also the most important band in the world today.”
A reader complains to EV Grieve that the scaffolding beside Solas has turned into a raucous after-party zone. Earlier this month a neighbor of the nightclub ended up in handcuffs after taking pictures of a boozed up club-goer passed out on the street.
Above is a video sent to The Local by bartender Ethan Minsker, who also created the footage of paper cutouts reenacting his memoir, “Barstool Prophets.” “Here is a video I made on the old fanzine we did for more then 20 years in the East Village,” he wrote in a message sent through The Local’s Facebook page.
A CNN iReport expresses many of the same sentiments popping up on Star the pit bull’s Facebook fan page. Charlie Cifarelli, a native New Yorker who now lives in Nebraska, actually started the page after seeing footage of the dog being shot. “I cried, but no tears outside; I’m a guy I cried inside,” he said. “I never felt such pain because I saw a dog screaming in pain, Lech on the ground and all the children who had to see this pain. I saw the Police shooting in the direction of each other and thought this is insane.” Mr. Cifarelli is now looking for the dog’s owner. “As a business man, I have helped others get back on their feet. I offer them help, a place to stay and a job. In all the media that has been written in the two weeks, I am concerned that Stankiewicz’s needs have been overlooked.”
The New York Post reports that Carlisle Brigham may have died from a slip down the stairs. “There was so much blood around Brigham’s neck when her body was found at 10:33 a.m. that investigators initially theorized she’d been slashed. But they later said it appeared to be just a tragic accident, during which she shattered her chin on a step of the first-floor stairwell in the building.” Former mayor Ed Koch called the victim “a wonderful young woman.”
Joann JovinellyAt the flea market on East 11th Street, which will soon close.
Good morning, East Village.
The Daily Beast chatted with protestors camping out in Tampa, Florida in anticipation of the Republican National Convention, and guess who was working the media tent in Romneyville? John Penley, the “longtime East Village anarchist activist.” He tells the Web site that roughly 600 protesters from New York will join rallies against the Republican agenda.
The New Yorker notes that Nublu will celebrate its 10-year anniversary at Le Poisson Rouge on September 13. That means for one night only, cocktail service is back!
The Times gives props to Dell’Arte Opera Ensemble’s performance of the opera “Dialogues des Carmélites,” performed at East 13th Street Theater. “The singers in the Dell’Arte performance, directed with eloquent simplicity by Victoria Crutchfield on a set consisting of little more than some chairs, were largely up to the task, singing with force and musicality and acting with unexaggerated sobriety.” Read more…
As you can see above, Joey Pepperoni’s Pizza has opened at 222 First Avenue, between 13th and 14th Streets.
Is it possible that the steamiest establishment on 10th Street isn’t the Russian-Turkish baths? Renee Linnell, an investor in Body Evolutions, has filed what the Post calls a “blockbuster” lawsuit against the workout studio’s founder (and her former romantic partner) Billy Macagnoner, claiming that he drove away clients by “improperly abusing his position as a teacher and authorized Gyrotonic master trainer to seduce and sleep with both trainers and clients — serially and simultaneously.”
Curbed presents four alternatives to the SPURA plan that got the City Planning Commission’s stamp of approval this week. One proposal envisions ski slopes above big-box retailers. Read more…
In an interview with The Atlantic, Jeremiah Clancy, the owner of Mama’s, reiterates some of what he told The Local about the food shop’s closing. On the East Village: “Where it used to be a very vibrant neighborhood with a mix of cultures as well as different socioeconomic backgrounds, it started becoming very homogenous.”
Big news on the Lower East Side. DNAInfo reports that the long in-the-works Seward Park Urban Renewal (SPURA) plan got the nod from the City Planning Commission. “The current plan — which includes space for retail stores, offices, community facilities and a bundle of 900 apartments with 50 percent of them allocated for permanent affordable housing — is the closest any proposal has come to being built.”
According to DNAInfo some neighbors are upset that Jane’s Sweet Buns didn’t give them notice that it was changing to a 10-seat speakeasy called Proletariat. Read more…
The Times reports that a dozen or so community gardeners occupied a vacant lot on Attorney Street near Stanton Street in an effort to prevent an L-shaped building planned for the space. “The actions on Sunday harked back to an earlier era, when territorial battles on the Lower East Side involved lawsuits filed to prevent the sale of gardens to developers and barricades erected around city-owned plots by gardeners hoping to stave off takeover attempts.”
DNAInfo files a dispatch from a Democratic debate for the 27th District seat. Brad Hoylman, who has been endorsed by outgoing State Senator Thomas K. Duane, touted his experience as district chair of Community Board 2, saying it gave him an edge over his opponents.
ArtsBeat continues its string of Fringe Fest reviews, this time showing love to “American Midget”: “The message of this little psychological gem, conveyed by a cast that can play comedy all the way to pathos and back, is both pessimistic and spirit-affirming.” Read more…
“Eleanor Rigby” is filming in the neighborhood again. As you can see above, East Seventh Street has been secured for shoots tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday.
Um, wow: someone has gone and remixed the audio of Star the pit bull getting shot by a police officer and incorporated it into a video that seems calculated to shock and disturb. “It’s only offensive to people who love dogs,” says the creator.
ArtsBeat reviews “Antigone Unearthed” at the Fringe Festival and isn’t a big fan. “Be wary of a play whose selling points, according to its publicity materials, include ’20 cubic feet of potting soil’ and ‘spinal movement.'” Read more…
Over the weekend Rosie Gray, a former staffer at The Village Voice, shared her thoughts regarding the alt weekly’s latest round of layoffs. Writing on Buzzfeed, she said many people share the blame for the paper’s current state. “The Voice suffered from the same ailments that afflict print media organizations everywhere, but it proved less adept than most at adapting to the changing media. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say that it adapted to the Internet in the entirely wrong way, figuring out only the web’s seamiest edge.” A skeleton crew now runs the paper and it will soon be moving out of its offices at Cooper Square.
The Voice is still churning out blog posts, though. Robert Sietsema reports that the ice cream cart outside of The Standard, East Village is “some of the best tasting stuff” in the neighborhood.
Bowery Boogie continues the Intermix rumor mongering, this time reporting through an unnamed source that the high-end boutique is bound for the Steve’s On The Bowery space. Read more…
The Post reports that Mary-Kate Olsen’s boyfriend Olivier Sarkozy has put $6.25 million down for one of the twin East 10th Street townhouses that were being marketed as a package.
According to The Post, elderly residents of Washington Square Village are suing N.Y.U. in order to insure that a park they consider a “necessary service” won’t be replaced during the school’s expansion.
Meanwhile in the Villager, Andrew Berman of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation outlines “the 10 most outrageous things about the city’s approval of the N.Y.U. expansion plan.” Read more…
The East Village-Lower East Side historic district has yet to be approved, but moves to preserve the neighborhood’s religious institutions are already underway. The Sixth Street Community Synagogue won $25,000 from the New York Landmarks Conservancy that will go towards repairs of its roof and facade, The Jewish Week reports. Other local religious institutions have been the most vocal opponents of the proposed historic district.
Speaking of preservation, Off The Grid has a helpful primer for anyone interested in following the status of properties that must receive consideration by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
The chef behind Empellon Cocina, Alex Stupak, dared to drink a juice-only diet from Liquiteria for several days for Grub Street. Mr. Stupak, who loves his caffeine and unbalanced diet, endured some gastrointestinal angst, but ended up enjoying the experience. “I woke up feeling extremely rested after only four hours of sleep. I mean, extremely rested. Like more rested than I’ve felt in a long time,” he wrote on the third day of his diet. Read more…
The Lo-Down reports that Ben Shaoul purchased three adjacent properties on Ludlow Street near Stanton Street. The site notes that the controversial developer and landlord tends to focus on the East Village — could this mean that he is expanding south of Houston?
Curbed scored renderings of 327 East Ninth Street, which will soon become a six-story, two-unit residential building. The space is currently a parking lot.
Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York spots some angry graffiti at the site of a closed bodega at Mott and Houston Streets. “We want our bodega. No more yuppies in Nolita.” Read more…
The Daily News reports that Star, the pit bull shot by a police officer on 14th Street yesterday survived, and is being cared for at a shelter in East Harlem.
The Wall Street Journal got in touch with Eli Halali, the owner of Two Bros. Pizza, to explain why he has shaken the very foundation of the pizza industry by selling a slice for $1.50. “We’re feeling the customers out, seeing what they think of this particular slice,” he said. “This may or may not be an item that we may add to the menu if people want a bigger slice.”
A second soldier facing charges related to the death of Private Danny Chen pleaded guilty in Fort Bragg, N.C. to charges of hazing and maltreatment. He has been kicked out of the Army and will serve six months behind bars, The Daily News reports. Read more…
The Times bring word that Piotr Pasciak, 24, has been arrested for the burglary of 516 East 11th Street, which was captured in surprisingly crisp surveillance video. According to the paper, Mr. Pasciak had completed a bid behind bars last year for charges related to three home invasions in Ostego County.
The Post reports that a bus driver and a matron, Barry Kurt and Akilah Toppin, have been arraigned on charges of criminally negligent homicide in the death of a developmentally disabled East Village resident who was left in a van on a sweltering day last summer.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Nielsen is preparing to ditch its digs at 770 Broadway and head Downtown. Meanwhile, a real estate agent for the nearby and under-construction 51 Astor Place has a quick update on the search for tenants. “We have strong activity on the building from a wide and diverse array of tenants, particularly those from the technology and digital media industries,” the agent told the paper. “It provides for a large block of space in a marketplace that’s lacking blocks over 100,000 square feet.” 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 »
