Fatima Malik Babul Das.
Fatima MalikRoyal Bangladesh has flickered back to life.
The fate of the Curry Row long-timer seemed uncertain when it was cleared out about a month ago, but Babul Das, a member of the waitstaff, said the owners merely put in new carpeting and renovated the ceiling. And if you can believe it, there are now even more Christmas lights, he said — for that “garden-like view.”
Meanwhile, there’s a vacancy next to the building that also houses Milon and Panna II: workers were seen inside of the former home of Everest 2nd Nails, at 91 First Avenue, earlier today. Maybe it’ll be a lighting store?
Kelsey Kudak
Kelsey KudakA fresh coat of paint is still drying on the facade of the Bowery Poetry Club, but last week patrons slipped through the side door of 308 Bowery and entered another era.
The club now shares a space with Duane Park, the well-known burlesque joint formerly in Tribeca. Chandeliers from the 1920s glitter from 15-foot ceilings that allow room for aerial performances. Antique iron railings guard blue velvet booths and bar seats. A lofted VIP room looks over the restaurant’s 70 seats.
“I like that it looks like you’re out on the Bowery, and then you walk inside it feels like you’re somewhere else,” said Billy Camicia, a partner in Duane Park. Mr. Camicia books and produces the club’s acts. He has worked with Lady Gaga, and she’ll perform in the new club at some point, he said.
Read more…
Samantha BalabanThe developers of a building that would go up next to the historic Merchant’s House Museum managed to quiet critics of the proposed project today, but stopped short of scoring a decisive victory at a meeting of the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
After more than an hour of discussion about the nine-story building proposed for 27 East Fourth Street, the commission decided to postpone a vote on whether or not to allow the landmarked garage that’s currently on the site to be torn down.
Representatives of SRA Architecture + Engineering described their plans for a building that would fit, they said, within the historic representation of the neighborhood and was designed specifically to provide extra structural support to the adjacent Merchant’s House Museum. Read more…
Daniel MaurerWill the building that houses the Gracefully supermarket soon be home to a gym?
The owner of 28 Avenue A has filed a construction application to convert the historic Burger-Klein building into a “physical culture establishment” — the city’s term for health and exercise facilities.
Last month, the anonymous blogger who goes by the name EV Grieve floated a rumor that New York Health & Racquet Club would take over the space. Today, a representative of the chain dismissed that report as incorrect, and said the company “isn’t looking at anything in that building at 28 Avenue A.” The chain already has an East Village location about six blocks away (so, about a four-minute walk), at 62 Cooper Square.
Read more…
Lila Selim Mark Birnbaum addresses the board.Residents of 199 Bowery again sparred with the owners of Bow, Finale and The General at a meeting of Community Board 3’s liquor licensing committee meeting last night. Over a dozen people spoke out against excessive noise and sidewalk congestion at the club/restaurant hybrid, which is seeking to open a sidewalk cafe and — more divisively — to move a basement dance floor to ground level.
Last month, the venue’s operator, EMM Group, withdrew its application after four hours of debate. After that, Susan Stetzer, the board’s district manager, offered to help mediate between EMM Group and residents by offering independent noise testing — only to be given the cold shoulder, she said. “I met with businesses, residents, and the Fifth Precinct,” she recalled. “We put notices out offering testing, and got no responses.”
Mark Birnbaum, an owner of the club, said that he hadn’t heard any complaints from tenants over the past month. Richard Halpern, the condo board president at 199 Bowery, said the club operators had indeed been “well behaved, cooperative” and had “kept the noise down” — but they were only acting like “choir boys” because they knew they would have to face the board again. He suggested the board wait one year before hearing the request again, saying, “We don’t want the leverage taken off them just yet, until they can show they are good neighbors.”
The Local reported yesterday that Travis Bass, who threw parties in the basement, is no longer involved in the space. Mr. Birnbaum explained last night that the “profit-sharing” partnership just didn’t work out. Read more…
Scott Lynch Good morning, East Village, and happy birthday, Jack Kerouac.
Taylor Mead, an 88-year-old iconic artist, continues to suffer in his fifth floor apartment at 163 Ludlow Street. A stop work order has been issued for the building where construction began last summer. [Bowery Boogie]
The Beth Hamedrash Hagadol synagogue on Norfolk Street will not be demolished after all. [Curbed]
The New York City Health Inspector shut down the Sunburnt Cow, citing more than 56 points in health violations. [DNAinfo]
Read more…
Mel Bailey Pierre Pierrot, in sweater.
Mel BaileyA three-day yard sale kicked off at the Evelyn & Louis A. Green residence today.
The building’s elderly tenants are selling donated items from the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s, with proceeds going toward their holiday party.
Pierre Pierrot, a French-born sweater maker, is one of the East Villagers contributing to the sale. It’s not the first time he has helped out the residents of 200 East Fifth Street: he brought water to them and helped them shower during Hurricane Sandy.
“It’s neighbors helping neighbors,” said Josephine Cadotte, a member of the Jewish Association Serving the Aging, which organized the event.
This week’s sale will end March 13 or 14, depending on the weather. A spring sale will follow in May or June.
Danny Ghitis for The New York TimesIn the wake of a lawsuit and ahead of a community board meeting tonight, the operators of Bow have parted ways with a promoter who threw controversial parties in the basement space.
Travis Bass, the “impresario of the night” who helped launch the club, is no longer involved, a source told The Local.
Mr. Bass did not return a message requesting comment, but an EMM Group rep said they “will be focusing their attention downstairs on early dinner, jazz and the lounge aspect of the space with less to do with the late night.”
At a community board meeting last month, neighbors complained that EMM Group was operating Bow as a nightclub rather than the jazz lounge it had promised to open. One neighbor who complained about noise, Danielle Schwob, has filed a lawsuit against EMM Group and the State Liquor Authority, charging that the authority failed to consult the community board and failed to take the public interest into account when it granted a liquor license. Read more…
Mary Reinholz Kate Millett accepted a Pioneer
Award in June.Feminst icon Kate Millett, a long time Bowery resident and author of “Sexual Politics,” a seminal book on oppressive gender roles in literature, received word yesterday afternoon that she and eight other American women, including House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and the late Republican First Lady Betty Ford, have been named as inductees into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca, N.Y., site of the first women’s rights convention in 1848.
“It’s a great honor — overwhelming and very humbling,” Ms. Millett, 78, told The Local in a phone conversation from her loft on East Fourth Street, about an hour after she received an e-mail announcing her as one of nine inductees.
The National Women’s Hall of Fame is a non-profit membership organization that has been recognizing the achievements of prominent women in the United States every other year since 1969. The group’s announcement of its 2013 inductees was timed to coincide with the advent of Women’s History Month in March.
Ms. Millett, described variously in a prepared statement as a feminist activist, visual artist, filmmaker, teacher and advocate for human rights, will be officially inducted during a formal ceremony in Seneca Falls on Oct. 12, joining 247 other American women who have been honored by the group over the years for “enduring contributions to the nation” in the arts, science, business, sports, government and philanthropy. Past inductees include early women’s rights advocate Elizabeth Cady Stanton, tennis legend Billy Jo King, astronaut Sally Ride, Senator Barbara Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland, and comedienne Lucille Ball.
“It’s a spectrum from radicalism to establishment and we’re all honored and I think it’s wonderful,” said Ms. Millett.
Read more…
Kelsey KudakHere’s a touch of brightness on a dreary day. It appears to be a work in progress made of foam, cardboard and electric orange paint. Either that or this guy hatched it.
Daniel MaurerWhoa! 3 St. Marks Place, formerly home to the gem store, has been boxed up for renovation. The space is being taken over by… this guy?
Scott Lynch Jennifer’s WayJust a couple of days after opening her gluten-free bakery, Jennifer Esposito is locking horns with one of her new neighbors and accusing The Bean of intending “to harm people and make their insides twist and turn” by serving up half-baked information about its gluten-free products.
On her blog earlier today, the actress-turned-baker, who suffers from celiac disease, told the story of Rick, a friend with a gluten allergy who “walked into a Coffee House called THE BEAN (yes damn right I’m calling you out)” and asked for information about the shop’s gluten-free muffins. The following exchange occurred, according to Ms. Esposito. Read more…
Samantha BalabanAnyone know what happened earlier today at 284 East 10th Street? Police and emergency services vehicles prevented cars from driving down the block between First Avenue and Avenue A for over an hour, around 12:30 p.m.
A police officer at the scene said that it was in response to a sick resident.
Daniel MaurerA year after it opened, the Subway on First Avenue has finally taken down its Grand Opening banner and is now offering cabbies a discount and a toilette. The new strategy seems to be working for the oft-empty location, too.
Daniel Maurer Zen 6 opened in December. Ippin opened last weekend. And now Mentaikou is planning to bring ramen and sushi to 324 East Sixth Street, just a couple doors down form Zen 6.
According to a liquor license questionnaire, the 72-seat restaurant will have a 15-foot sushi bar and will be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. (and till midnight on weekends). It replaces Calcutta Restaurant on Curry Row, between First and Second Avenues.
It isn’t the only ramen spot on the horizon: Ivan Orkin, the owner of two Tokyo noodle joints who drew lines to Momofuku during his guest stint there in July, is planning a 56-seat spot with enclosed backyard at 25 Clinton Street. It’ll be a “fun but serious artisanal noodle shop,” according to the liquor license questionnaire. Read more…
Lila Selim Sara D. Roosevelt ParkWhat do a public park, a vegan bakery and a preschool have in common? Apparently, Jim Gaffigan.
As we reported this weekend, Gaffigan is filming a pilot for his new television series. Tomorrow the comedian will be shooting at three locations: Sara D. Roosevelt Park, Babycakes bakery and Little Missionary’s Day Nursery on St. Marks Place, an employee of Remote Broadcasting, Inc. told The Local.
The show is based on Gaffigan’s own life as a family man in New York City. Mr. Gaffigan has five children and lives nearby, so the locations aren’t a total surprise. He was involved in the preschool’s fundraiser last year. (Fun fact: as were Rachel Weisz and Darren Aronofsky.)
No word yet on whether Gaffigan, a Subway regular known for his riff about Hot Pockets, also frequents Babycakes, purveyor of vegan baked goods in the Lower East Side.
Funny we were just lamenting the fact that Russ & Daughters doesn’t offer free delivery above East 10th Street. It turns out Tompkins Square Bagels started accepting online delivery orders via Seamless a couple of weeks ago, meaning it’s easier than ever to get bagels and lox delivered to your door (and what better way to avoid one of the neighborhood’s more daunting lines on the weekends?). Of course, if you’re craving rollmops, you’re out of luck.
Daniel MaurerHey, look! “Gaffigan” is filming in the neighborhood next week. The pilot from “Rescue Me” creator Peter Tolan revolves around comedian Jim Gaffigan “as a happily married man and New York City father of five — as he is in real life,” according a flyer announcing the shoot on St. Marks Place, between First Avenue and Avenue A, Tuesday from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Gaffigan is no stranger to the neighborhood: we spotted him ambling down First Avenue once. Others have seen him at Whole Foods Bowery, on Astor Place, and dropping into Bar 82. He digs Wechsler’s Currywurst. When the Post interviewed him last year, he had lived in a two-bedroom, five-story walk-up on the Bowery for six years. He named Crif Dogs, Tompkins Square Park, and the Bowery Hotel as some of his favorite spots.
“Taking your kid to Tompkins Square Park is hysterical, because you’re trying to explain to your 5-year-old why the heroin addict is sleeping on the bench in such a precise manner,” he told the Post. “My son will be like, ‘Why is that guy sleeping?’ And I’ll be like, ‘He was tired.’”
Gaffigan has also been known to drop into EastVille Comedy Club. Heads up: another big-name comic, Janeane Garofalo, will be doing sets there next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and then again March 28 to 30.
Update | 4:08 p.m. Looks like “Gaffigan” is also filming on the Lower East Side on Tuesday. A flyer on Allen Street, between Rivington and Stanton Streets, requests that cars be moved by Monday at 8 p.m.
Russ and Daughters“Russ & Daughters: Reflections and Recipes from the House That Herring Built” comes out next week, and it’s already getting some nice attention from Gothamist and The Times.
We’re looking forward to smearing caviar cream cheese all over this little volume, but in the meantime we’ve got a question: why doesn’t Russ & Daughters offer free delivery past East 10th Street? What’s the rest of the East Village – chopped liver?
Jen Snow, the appetizing institution’s director of PR, says it’s simple: “Like any restaurant, there has to be a boundary somewhere,” she said, crushing our dreams of gratis gravlax delivery. “We cover a large part of the Lower East Side which is within quick walking distance of Russ & Daughters, but the boundaries just have to be somewhere.”
Okay, so why not move that northern boundary up just a little bit, and go to 14th Street, already? Let Grand Street get shafted out of pickled herring!
“One of the guys who’s at the counter hand-slicing the salmon for the free delivery literally has to put down his knife, put on his winter coat, and walk the order,” Ms. Snow explained.
Russ & Daughters offers free delivery during the weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., for orders of $20 and over. Delivery times vary depending on how busy things are at the Houston Street shop. If you aren’t within walking distance, you can pay a courier fee: $15 if you live in the upper reaches of the East Village.
So will Russ & Daughters ever follow the lead of its equally esteemed neighbor, Katz’s Deli, and hire some delivery boys? Ms. Snow wasn’t aware of any such plans, but we’ll keep pouring on the schmaltz until it happens.
Kavitha SuranaA familiar logo has replaced the string-bikini graffiti that was tagged on Bondi Road’s shutter.
Calexico, the popular food cart with locations in Red Hook and Greenpoint, will open at 153 Rivington Street in three weeks, an employee said.
The Mexicali joint’s first Manhattan location announces itself as Clayton Patterson, writing for The Villager, laments the fate of an old-timer: “El Sombrero (The Hat) is on the verge of extinction, simply because the ever-increasing cost of living on the Lower East Side has purged the community of local long-term residents, and the tourists, students and trendy visitors do not seem to have a taste for an authentic L.E.S. Hispanic restaurant.”
