Stephen Rex Brown The lot on 13th StreetEarlier today, the International Business Times reported that hotelier Andre Balazs and his partners at Ironstate Development in Hoboken, N.J. purchased the Cooper Square Hotel for $67.5 million – not the $91 million that first made headlines. The Local has now discovered that The Standard East Village isn’t the only place in the neighborhood where Mr. Balazs’ partners have been active – Ironstate is also involved in a project that will develop one of East 13th Street’s most talked-about properties.
Last month, developer Charles Blaichman purchased the set of long-vacant lots on 13th Street between Second and Third Avenues for $33 million. City finance records show that one of Mr. Blaichman’s partners was Applied Development Company, headed by brothers David and Michael Barry – the same pair that runs Ironstate Development.
A spokesperson for Ironstate confirmed that the brothers are involved in both the 13th Street property (along with Abram and Scott Shnay) and the Cooper Square Hotel deal. Read more…
Daniel MaurerThat lawyer on East Seventh Street isn’t the only local prone to posting inscrutable messages in the window. Zany screeds often appear in the window of Hearth’s next-door wine bar, Terroir. This month’s installment is, of course, holiday themed. You can read the messages more clearly via Terroir’s online wine list, but if you’re not up for exploring the sprawling document, know that it includes salutes to Santa Claus, Antiochus Epiphanes, and the Virgin Mary. Read more…
Infinity scarves (as they’re sometimes called, since their two ends are connected in a circle) will keep you warm in the cold weather and won’t leave you looking like you’ve been blown here by the wind. These stylish locals show off their cowl scarves, including a few that they made themselves.
A note on the door of Lucy’s informs that the watering hole on Avenue A is closed and will reopen Dec. 12. Upon her return, we’ll celebrate with a video profiling the bar’s namesake hostess and owner. In the meantime, hear her tell the story of a man who, sometime around 1987, jumped behind her bar, fearing for his life.
Want to bend Lucy’s ear while she’s away? Have your own Lucy’s memories? Leave your message in the comments.
Yesterday we brought you photos and video from Union Square, as hundreds of labor union members, students, and others spoke out against what one Occupy Wall Street demonstrator, Johnny Rabuse, called “the economic inequality going on in the world.” Now, The Local speaks to a few of the protesters.
Photos: Susan Keyloun, Jasmine Brown
A little over an hour ago, protesters once again poured into Union Square, the halfway point of a “March of the 99%” from Herald Square to Zuccotti Park. A Facebook page described the event as “a call to action and a show of unity” as well as a “March for Jobs and Economic Fairness.” Around 5:20 p.m., around 500 people, many of them affiliated with the U.A.W. (the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America) and other labor unions, arrived at the north side of the park, accompanied by a bagpipe band. As of now, at 6 p.m., almost all protesters have dispersed to Zuccotti Park. We’ll have more from the scene in a bit.
Update | 6:25 p.m. See below for Susan Keyloun’s video footage of protesters entering the park, taken on the corner of Broadway and 17th Street. Read more…
Photos: Noah Fecks
Earlier this week The Local told you about Tepito, the new restaurant at 228 First Avenue, between 13th and 14th Streets, that was to be called Agave Azul (and then Agave Azuré) until it was hit with a cease-and-desist order by another restaurant, Agave, in the West Village. Toward the end of his first night of dinner service yesterday, executive chef Adrian Ramirez took a break to speak with The Local at the dining room’s long communal table.
Previously an executive sous chef at Le Cirque and later at the Park Avenue and Meatpacking District locations of Dos Caminos, Mr. Ramirez described his menu, which you can see below, as “Mexican modern cuisine.” Read more…
Daniel Maurer Mr. Elhage said he works nights,
since he can’t afford to hire help.During a citywide undercover operation conducted earlier this month, the State Liquor Authority and the N.Y.P.D. caught 118 convenience stores selling alcohol to minors. Among the East Village stores caught in the sweep was a convenience store on St. Marks Place that was already facing previous charges. Yesterday, the owner of that store said he was being unfairly targeted.
According to the State Liquor Authority, the following stores sold alcohol to undercover volunteer decoys between Nov. 16 and 18: St. Marks Convenience Inc. (31 St. Marks Place), Ave A Deli & Grocery (123 Avenue A), Anwar Grocery (106 Avenue B), Yoo’s Convenience (50 Second Avenue), and C & B Grocery (248 East 14th Street). The businesses face fines of anywhere from $2,500 (the starting penalty for a first offense) to $10,000 per violation.
One of those stores, St. Marks Convenience, is no stranger to the S.L.A. According to documents obtained from the authority, the store is accused of selling to minors in May, June, July, and October of this year, and may face the cancellation or revocation of its license during a hearing set for Dec. 19. Read more…
Scott LynchGood morning, East Village.
In case you missed it, President Obama’s motorcade rolled down East 12th Street last night, to the consternation of many. Above, Scott Lynch got a photo of preparations at University Place. According to City Room, more than 100 Occupy Wall Street demonstrators marched to the president’s next stop, the Sheraton Hotel in midtown, to protest a fundraising event there.
Back when The Local spoke to Clayton Patterson about his in-the-works anthology, “Jews: A People’s History of the Lower East Side” (which ended up being successfully funded on Kickstarter), he showed off a mock-up of the “Legends of the Lower East Side” coloring book that he was working on with artists Troy Harris and Orlando Bonilla. The Villager has more about the project, and Bowery Boogie publishes some sample pages.
The Times reviews “Golem” at the Ellen Stewart Theater and opines that its “visual illusions feel far more magical than anything you’ll see in a Broadway blockbuster.” Read more…
Since 2011, Ya’el Tap has been a resident company at the Wild Project on East Third Street. Most of the group’s dancers, including founder Julie Rubin, graduated from the dance education program of the NYU Steinhardt School a few years ago. Tonight, in “FIGURE 18, Jewish Life Never Ends: A Celebration Through the Arts”, they’ll perform four pieces inspired by Hebrew music, Israeli folk dance, and Jewish life after the Holocaust. Before you go and see the show, sit in on rehearsals by watching The Local’s video.
The Lower East Side People’s Federal Credit Union gained notoriety last month when Occupy Wall Street opened an account there and encouraged others to do the same. This month, as the credit union celebrates its 25th anniversary, its membership has grown exponentially. Linda Levy, C.E.O. of the L.E.S.P.F.C.U., said that it was created out of necessity, after the closure of the last remaining financial institution within many blocks of its headquarters at 37 Avenue B. Its surroundings have changed dramatically in the last quarter century, but its customers have not. Watch The Local’s video to find out more.
Daniel MaurerGood morning, East Village.
The Local spotted a giant inflatable rat outside of Cooper Union’s Great Hall last night. According to Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York, it was part of a student exhibition, “On the Table: An Exhibition for Free Education.”
President Obama will be on the outskirts of the neighborhood today. The Daily News reports that part of his fundraising tour includes a stop at Gotham Bar & Grill on East 12th Street. “He’ll dine with 40 to 45 donors, each of whom forked over the maximum donation of $35,800.”
Stuy Town Living reports that Henry Huggins, the man alleged to have robbed two octogenarians in Stuyvesant Town, is being held on $75,000 bail. Read more…
Add this to your ever-growing list of Christmas tree vendors: The storied stand outside of St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, on Second Avenue near East 10th Street, has returned. This was the scene earlier today.
Suzanne RozdebaLooks like Christmas trees have come to East Village Farm on Avenue A near the park. You can add this tree stand to the ones EV Grieve and Gothamist have spotted.
Meanwhile, a flyer advertising the 20th annual tree lighting at Tompkins Square Park promises music from the Mandel & Lydon Trio as well as the Theater for the New City’s Carolers of Olde New York, plus refreshments from Veselka and Life Cafe. (Yes, that Life Cafe.) The event, co-hosted by the East Village Parks Conservancy, the Third Street Music School Settlement, and the Tompkins Square Park Neighborhood Coalition, will take place at the southeast corner of the central lawn on Dec. 11 from 4 p.m. till 5 p.m.
Daniel MaurerDemolition work continues at 25 East First Street. Today, protective netting shrouded the scaffolding that The Local spotted yesterday, and a gap in the construction barrier offered a glimpse of the bygone dive known and loved as Mars Bar. On Second Avenue, a dumpster was being filled with debris, and the storefront next to Mars Bar was a gaping hole. Asked when demolition of the bar itself would occur, a construction worker said in about a week.
This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: December 23, 2011
An earlier version of this article misidentified the avenue where the construction dumpster was located.
Lauren Carol Smith The display cabinet in question.On Black Friday, while the rest of the country shopped for legitimate deals and steals, a team of five individuals placed their own five-finger discount on four vaporizers at a St. Marks Place tattoo parlor and smoking accessories store.
Earlier today, while The Local spoke to Albert Dashevsky about the sign he recently installed over his shop, Smoking Tattoos, he let slip that on Friday, Nov. 25, the store was robbed of four vaporizers that he estimated were worth somewhere between $1,300 to $1,500 in total.
The police confirmed that around 9:20 p.m., five unknown individuals entered the store and made off with the vaporizers. Read more…
Daniel MaurerOh, and speaking of flashy signs: When writing about the Village Pourhouse, the wordily worrywarts at The Local always face the same question: Is it Village Pourhouse (one word) or Pour House (two)? The sign seems to say Pour House and yet the bar’s Website indicates Pourhouse. Well, last night, thanks to a glitch in the neon, the matter was finally settled: Let’s just call this place Our House from now on.
St. Marks Place has long been a bastion of the bawdy and gaudy – from Kenka’s giant tanuki to Dr. Brendan’s Fiat 500 to the psychedelic goblet that used to grace 12 St. Marks Place. Now Albert Dashevsky, the owner of Smoking Tattoos, has added still more color to the block. A whole rainbow of them, in fact.
Back in June, Mr. Dashevsky opened the tattoo parlor and smoking accessories store at 18 St. Marks Place, in the nook that formerly housed a sex shop, Cherries. Scaffolding prevented him from putting up a proper sign – until last weekend, when he erected the one you see in the video above. Read more…
Henry Huggins, 51, has been charged in the recent muggings of two septuagenarians in Stuyvesant Town. According to The Daily News, he is “a career criminal with 11 prior arrests for robbery, forgery, selling drugs and criminal trespassing, among other counts, records show.”
