The East Village is home to a thrift shop that goes by the name of Monk and a bar where the bartenders have been known to dress as monks. Of course, there are actual monks here, too. Today we’re turning our attention to a few of them.
Rasanath Dasa is the epitome of the American Dream – to a point. Upon graduating from the prestigious India Institute of Technology, he was hired by Deloitte in 2000. He came to New York without a credit card, but after receiving a MBA from Cornell University, he became an investment banker with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. In June 2007, his interest in devotional Hinduism led him to take up part-time residence at the Bhakti Center, the Hare Krishna cultural center on First Avenue. On Aug. 15, 2008, India’s Independence Day, he quit his job at the bank to become a monk full-time.
“I felt like a free bird,” he said. Read more…
DNA Info reports that the police have arrested Froylan Andrade, 39, of Elmhurst, Queens for allegedly groping a woman on the Union Square station’s platform. The victim, a 19-year-old City College student, earlier told The Post that she punched her attacker in the head and took a photo of him after he boarded the train.
Music by Andrew Bean
Last month, The Local told you that after nearly 35 years of making blank walls beautiful, graffiti artist Antonio “Chico” Garcia is taking his talents to South Beach for the foreseeable future. For what may be his last East Village mural, Chico painted two bobwhite quails on the roll-down gate of Bobwhite Counter, opening soon on Avenue C between Sixth and Seventh Streets.
“It’s a pretty bird and a symbol for southern wildlife and also agriculture,” said the restaurant’s owner, Keedick Coulter, 33, who hails from Virginia, where bobwhites are common.
Watch The Local’s video to see Chico paint the mural and hear his thoughts about the talent that he also believes is a curse.
Good morning, East Village.
On Halloween, The Local spotted a dance party in the middle of the intersection of St. Marks and First Avenue, and shortly after, a raging fistfight on the same street between Second and Third Avenues. Footage of the dance party has now hit YouTube, and the Vimeo clip above shows chaos down the street as well, though we’re not sure it’s the same melee we saw: a confrontation erupts as youngsters take over the street and jump on the roof of a car, seemingly denting it in.
Happier footage posted to YouTube: A clip from “‘Following Srila Prabhupada,” showing the Hare Krishna founder chanting in the park as Allen Ginsberg and others look on.
In the Post, Maureen Callahan describes Karl Fischer (currently involved with projects on East 12th Street and East Third Street) as the city’s “most loathed architect,” and a creator of “glass-curtained boxes flecked with grim brick or concrete, characterless high-rises in bohemian areas that, like uninvited party guests, seem to neither know nor care that they are profoundly out of place.” Read more…
Nick DeSantisMaria TashIf Beyoncé Knowles wants a piercing to go with her latest manicure, she’ll soon have a new place to go. Jeweler and body artist Maria Tash – whose roster of clients includes Britney Spears, Cynthia Nixon, Christina Aguilera, and Mickey Rourke – will open Venus Body Arts at 31 Avenue A. The jewelry, tattoo, and clothing boutique will fill one of the last vacant properties in a group of nine storefronts owned by the New York City Housing Authority, at its First Houses development.
Ms. Tash told The Local that she signed the lease with N.Y.C.H.A. three weeks ago. Venus Modern Body Arts, the shop she has operated on East Fourth Street since 1992, will close once the new one opens – possibly in time for the holiday season. Her flagship store on Broadway, Venus by Maria Tash, will remain open. Read more…
Teany, the Lower East Side cafe that many still associate with its former co-owner Moby, has been pouring more than just its signature organic teas. An investigation by The Local revealed that it has also been serving beer without a license.
According to a representative of the New York State Liquor Authority, the unassuming vegetarian cafe’s wine and beer license expired on February 28, 2010, and no application for a renewal is on file. But a Yelp review from May 29, 2011 mentions the option of “beer and wine if you want a little alcohol to go with your meal,” and on Oct. 20, this reporter was able to purchase a bottle of Heineken. Read more…
As most East Villagers sit down to brunch on Sunday, four East Village residents who are members of the East River Park Track Club hope to be completing the last of their 26 miles in the ING New York City Marathon. Local resident Ken Constantino, 38, founded the club in 2010 as a way to promote running and fitness in the park: A $40 annual fee gets members access to weekly group runs, various running tools and individual coaching by a certified Road Runners Club of America coach. For the past few months, Mr. Constantino has been training with three neighbors: Sandra Yu; Shannon Markel, 31, a five-time marathon runner; and Mario Svirsky, 52, who said he hoped to come in at under four hours, 45 minutes, so he can be featured in The New York Times. In The Local’s video, the runners discuss their grueling training regimen and tell us why they do it.
Wooly and warm winter vests are all over the place this season. From faux fur to slimming variations of the puffy vest, this outerwear accessory is an easy way to personalize your everyday look and give your boring trench a break. This week, we take a look at some thrift-store finds and fun winter vests from around the neighborhood.
Last year, Aida Salgado – concerned about the path her son Donovan “Keith” Salgado was taking – started an anti-violence group called Mothers and Fathers in Arms. On Oct. 17, she received the gut-wrenching news that her middle son – who had started associating with a gang called the Money Boys, though she said he was not a member – was shot to death at the age of 17, just a few blocks away from her front door in Campos Plaza. (Hockeem Smith, 24, was charged in the shooting.)
According to Ms. Salagado, youth violence has only worsened in her neighborhood of 20 years since she began reaching out to teens and other parents a year ago. She now believes it’s out of control. Organizations like the Boys Club of New York on 10th Street and Avenue A serve as an alternative for young boys in the East Village who face pressure to join gangs (Ms. Salgado’s three sons, including Keith, spent time there as children), but as The Local’s video shows, they can only do so much.
Former mayor Ed Koch has published a new children’s book, “Eddie Shapes Up,” described by its publisher, Zagat (yes, they of the little red book), as “the story of a boy who with the support of his friends and family decides to change his lifestyle in order to make his life happier and healthier.” Earlier today he read from the book to a group of children at P.S. 64 Robert Simon on East Sixth Street, with Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan on hand to help launch the D.O.T.’s Walk Ways program, an initiative to encourage and facilitate walking to school. The Local was there to see how the former mayor was doin’.
According to a press release posted at BroadwayWorld, Comedy Central is hosting a new bi-monthly showcase at UCBeast. “Corporate Retreat,” featuring some of the network’s personalities (Wyatt Cenac of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” etc.) as well as other comedians you’ve seen on t.v., will debut November 7.
Yes, folks, even speed bumps have Facebook pages these days. William David, an art student at Pratt Institute, e-mails The Local to point out a “Brake for the Kids” campaign he has launched as part of an effort to get the Department of Transportation to install a speed bump on East Seventh Street. Aside from setting up Facebook and Twitter pages, he’s advocating in the real world, too: Mr. David says that as part of his senior project, he plans to set up a booth near St. Brigid School this weekend to raise awareness.
Ella ZhangFrom left: Nancy Shapiro and Stephanie Schwartz.Classroom 407 of Neighborhood School, on East Third Street, is decorated with donations: an LCD projector, whiteboard, document camera, globe, games, Seat Sacks – even the Purell hand sanitizer was paid for with outside funds. Now Nancy Shapiro, one of the classroom’s teachers, is hoping to raise money for a soundproofing device that will reduce noise in her room. To do so, she isn’t turning to the Department of Education – she’s relying on DonorsChoose, a Web site that connects donors with teachers who’ve been left strapped by recent budget cuts.
Ms. Shapiro’s classroom holds 28 fourth graders, about forty percent of whom have learning disabilities such as hearing difficulties and attention deficit disorder. Three to four times a day, the class breaks into two smaller groups so that Ms. Shapiro and another teacher, Stephanie Schwartz, can cater to the students’ different needs. The cross-talk between the two groups is so distracting that students have difficulty paying attention or hearing each other, and sometimes end up shouting. The acoustics of the historic building, with its high ceilings, only exacerbates the problem. Read more…
CREDIT Star69 performed a live outdoor concert in full costume for audience members on 10th Street and First Avenue.Good morning, East Village.
The above photo is from a free outdoor concert hosted by The Theater for the New City at the corner of 10th Street and First Avenue yesterday. Alexander Bartenieff, a company member and lighting director for the theater, told The Local it was the theater’s 37th annual Halloween ball. “This is great for the community,” said Mr. Bartenieff while the band Star69 performed in costume for a small crowd. “And very good for the businesses as well.”
The Times reports that Cooper Union is considering charging tuition to well-off students in the future. After protests over the weekend, the school’s president, Jamshed Bharucha told students that “Cooper Union needed to introduce new sources of revenue, reaching $28 million a year by 2018, or about one-quarter of the expected operating costs.” According to the Wall Street Journal, the school had a $16.5 million budget deficit this year.
According to NY1, jury selection has begun in the trial of the man who allegedly punched a woman during an argument over a parking spot that she was holding on East 14th Street.
Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York notices that a street peddler has set up behind the plywood at Mars Bar.
On the eve of All Saints Day, The Local is contemplating sister acts and Christian anarchists. While we’re at it, let’s check in on St. Brigid’s Church, which is due to reopen in February of next year, after a decade of tumult.
Brick by brick, St.Brigid’s Roman Catholic Church at Avenue B and East Seventh Street is slowly and steadily being restored to its former glory. First shuttered in 2001 due to a crack in the building, it has been the subject of controversy since 2004, when the parish was disbanded and the Archdiocese of New York announced plans to demolish what it said was a “hazard” that could have collapsed at any time. The demolition plans for the “Famine Church” (so called because it was built by the Irish immigrants fleeing the potato famine in the 1840s) was met with a massive outcry from parishioners. After a series of protests and an anonymous $20 million donation, the church is now on track to reopen in time for next year’s Feast of St. Brigid. In this video, Edwin Torres, the Chairman of the Committee to Save St. Brigid’s Church, gives The Local a rare inside look at the restoration.
I’ve never crossed an empty Cooper Square — there are always people coming up out of the entrance for the 6, in line at the Mud Truck, messing around with the cube. Homeless guys, fruit cart guys, drunk college students. It’s not where I would have thought to look for a clean, minimalist image, but a few weekends ago when I was standing at the corner of Eighth Street, across from the Starbucks, I pointed my camera down and found an abstract geometry in the lines formed by crosswalk paint and the edge of the curb. Then the light changed and there were people walking through my photograph.
Read more…
Dominique Zonyee Scott At Keith Salgado’s memorial last week.The Lo-Down reports that the police have arrested their suspect in the shooting of Donovan “Keith” Salgado: “Hockeem Smith was taken to the 9th Precinct yesterday, where he remains today. According to an NYPD spokesman, he was arrested at approximately 1:30 a.m.” The 24-year-old faces charges of murder, robbery and criminal possession of a firearm.
