Donovan record jacket.

Sixties survivors often snicker when reminded of the Great Banana-Peel Smoking Hoax. They remember the hours spent laboriously scraping the inside of banana peels, boiling the unappetizing residue obtained, then drying the remains in their ovens before finally rolling a joint in search of the promised high from the fictional psychoactive substance dubbed Bananadine.

Nearly a half-century later, conflicting accounts still circulate as to how the craze got started and which underground paper was first to report it. One version, often repeated by Paul Krassner, the iconic publisher of The Realist, puts the launch in the offices of The East Village Other on Avenue A. In other accounts, it starts on the West Coast. So which was it? Read more…

Photos: Daniel Maurer

As mentioned earlier, the Coen brothers, after filming on Second Street on Wednesday, have been doing their thing on East Ninth Street between First Avenue and Avenue A. Production assistants have kept everyone away from the block unless they live on it or are going to, say, Whitman’s – though Radioman, the notorious set crasher, managed to bike up to the faux Kettle of Fish, and even got a word with Joel Coen. Mr. Coen told The Local he wasn’t doing interviews, but we snagged a few photos of the set (above), plus video of scenes being shot (below), in which two cars – one of them an old checkered cab – rolled down the street.

Have your own shots? Add them to The Local’s Flickr pool.

Read more…

Natalie Rinn 507 East Sixth Street

A storefront that has been vacant since a fire shuttered 6th Street Kitchen a year ago will soon hold a pan-Asian restaurant, with a veteran of one of the space’s previous occupants, Oriental Grill, serving as head chef.

Jimmy Lin worked as a cook for seven years at Oriental Grill, the neighborhood joint that was open for 15 years before owner Chris Genoversa transformed it into 6th Street Kitchen. After his time at O.G., Mr. Lin worked at other restaurants, including Spice, Aja, and Asia Kan. Now he’s returning to 507 East Sixth Street as a chef-owner, with his longtime friends Yun Feijiang and Sally Lam as partners.

Ms. Lam, whose family previously owned the shuttered Magic Chef restaurant in Ossining, N.Y. and King Buffet in Staten Island, said the new restaurant, Purple Ginger, would likely serve Thai and Malaysian cuisine and include a noodle bar. The dining room will hold 14 small tables and should be ready to open after another two or three months of work.

While East Ninth Street warped back to the 1960s (see The Local’s Flickr page for photos of today’s “Inside Llewyn Davis” action, including some shots of the Coens brothers at work), East Seventh Street traveled even further back in time today, as men in Revolutionary War regalia fired muskets into the air.

The five armed and costumed soldiers were members of McSorley’s Militia, who muster themselves each year for the anniversary of the founding of McSorley’s Old Ale House.

Shane Buggy, a 24-year-old bartender at the storied saloon, said, “Today is our 158th Anniversary: 17th of February every year. It’s the only day we have music in the bar so all the regulars come from near and far to check out the activities.” Mr. Buggy, who is Irish, added, “I’ve actually got people that come here from Ireland just to see this anniversary.”

One of the regulars waiting in line to get inside the bar was Brad Lauster, 36, an IT entrepreneur. Asked why he came to the pub today, he said, “I was probably here for the first time 15 years ago, just with a friend who lived in New York City at the time, and so now I live in Brooklyn and we were walking by and it’s the anniversary.”

In honor of Black History Month, The Local tours the former home of a jazz legend whose spirit is still alive on Avenue B.

The Charlie Parker Residence at 151 Avenue B has played a vital part in East Village music history. Parker, the legendary alto saxophonist, lived there during the final years of his life in the 1950s (he died in 1955, in Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter’s suite at the Stanhope Hotel). After Judy Rhodes bought the building in 1979, it became the focal point for more East Village jazz lore. Ms. Rhodes, who booked many of jazz’s leading ensembles in the early 1980s, allowed her clients to rehearse in the parlor room.

Jazz greats like pianists Cecil Taylor, Mal Waldron and Don Pullen, saxophonists Dewey Redman and George Adams, tumpeters Bill Dixon and Don Cherry and bassist Charlie Haden practiced in what was once Bird’s home. The walls are covered with photos that Ms. Rhodes took of the musicians both in rehearsal and on the stages of key venues like the Village Vanguard and Sweet Basil in the West Village and the Third Street Music School Settlement and the St. Mark’s Church in the East Village.

Ms. Rhodes worked hard to get the home on the National Register of Historic Places, and have the corner of 10th Street and Avenue B named in Parker’s honor. Now every August since 1992, the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival is held within earshot of her front door.

Watch The Local’s video for a rare glimpse inside of the home.

Gersh Kuntzman The only other example of in-street parking in the city at Smith and Sackett Streets in Brooklyn.

The Mudspot on East Ninth Street will get the first in-street bike parking of its kind in Manhattan, which will claim one space for a car and give cyclists eights new spots to lock up.

“As cycling increases in popularity, we’re starting to look to the street for parking,” said Hayes Lord, the bicycle program director for the Department of Transportation.

Under the plan, a car-length space would be cordoned off with planters and four circular bike racks would be installed. Mudspot lobbied for the additional parking and will be responsible for keeping the area clean.

During a presentation to Community Board 3’s Transportation Committee, Transportation official Wallace Murray said that the parking would help alleviate the foot-traffic jam caused by the numerous bicycles locked up in front of the cafe just as the sidewalk narrows. Read more…

Phillip Kalantzis-Cope

Good morning, East Village.

According to DNA Info, Kelly’s Sports Bar on Avenue A is one of the satellite-equipped watering holes benefiting from the cable blackout on Knicks games. In a previous item about Linsanity, DNA Info noted that 13th Step has also seen its share of basketball fans.

Speaking of Jeremy Lin, Diner’s Journal reports that Baohaus has added a sandwich to its menu called the “The Taiwanese Te-Bao,” and Eater notices that the restaurant has built a shrine to the baller.

Sound of the City attends the opening of Ed Sanders’s exhibit at Boo Hooray Gallery. Jesse Jarnow describes Mr. Sanders as “a soft-spoken straight man to the world’s ‘military-industrial surrealists,’ as he dubbed them in his nine-volume ‘America: A History in Verse.’ During a short reading, he presented from Fug You’s chapter about the Peace Eye obscenity raid and, while undoubtedly mellowed since his Fugs days, retained his keen drollness.” Read more…

If you missed the opening of “Two Heads Are Better Than One” at The Hole earlier this week, don’t worry: there’s a shindig at Gathering of the Tribes tomorrow and three more openings next week. Here’s what’s new on the gallery scene.

Occupy Tribes Friday (Feb. 17 to March 4) Steve Cannon’s homegrown gallery soldiers on despite an eviction notice and lawsuit. Ama Birch curates an exhibition of artwork inspired by housing issues; proceeds from all sales will go toward Mr. Cannon’s legal bills. Opening reception Feb. 17, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Gathering of the Tribes, 285 East Third Street, 2nd Floor, (212) 674-3778

Raw Spaces (Feb. 23 to March 31) Lisa Lebofsky’s first New York City solo show. The painter, who has studied art at the New York Academy of Art and SUNY New Paltz, depicts natural scenes using oil on sanded aluminum. Opening reception Feb. 23, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Milavec Hakimi Gallery, 51 Cooper Square, (817) 975-5488.

Remnant Memories (Feb. 24 to March 11) Graffiti artist John Matos, better known as Crash, presents aluminum pieces, watercolors, and silkscreens inspired by his salad days of painting murals on subway cars. Opening reception Feb. 24, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. TT Underground, 91 Second Avenue, lower level, (212) 673-5424.

Read more…

Daniel Maurer

In case it’s of interest: “Person of Interest,” the CBS crime drama that was filming at 7B this morning, was shooting inside of Odessa minutes ago. From the Horseshoe Bar to Odessa: classic combo. Meanwhile boxes of books were being unloaded into Voyage Books, the faux bookstore that the Coen brothers have set up on East Ninth Street, where they’ll be filming tomorrow.

Filing almost 3,000 words for The Villager about the restoration of St. Brigid’s, Roland Legiardi-Laura opines on the good (wonderful new stained-glass windows, a beautiful copper batten-seam roof), the bad (picketing electrical workers, the loss of a cast-iron fence, the lack of two steeples that came off of the church in the 1960s), and the ugly: dirty windows, a “bargain basement redo” of the rectory’s exterior, a “hulking industrial” back wall, and a poorly colored cornice.

For every East Village business that’s opening or closing, dozens are quietly making it. To kick off a new series celebrating the neighborhood’s undersung heroes: Flower Power Herbs and Roots.

Ron Moreno of Brasco Photography Lata Kennedy

Lata Chettri-Kennedy calls herself a “green witch.” At Flower Power Herbs and Roots, established in 1993, she presides over a variety of natural remedies (organic herbs, roots, tinctures, flowers, and essences) that are grown in local backyard gardens, imported from India, or sourced from trusted brands like Gaia and Herb Pharm. Walk into her East Ninth Street apothecary and her apprentices – trained in holistic care – might suggest maca for sexual energy or ashwagandha for anxiety and depression. So what’s her secret for longevity? “My ex was a wonderful real estate negotiator and his negotiation of the lease is the only reason I am still open,” Ms. Chettri-Kennedy told The Local. Her rent was $1,000 in 1994; thanks to an increase of just 5 percent per year, she’s currently paying just $2,000. We asked Ms. Kennedy to tell us more about making it.

Why did you choose the East Village for your business?

I’ve lived here my whole adult life. It’s a neighborhood that relates to me. I know everybody. The original Flower Power was on Second Street between First and A. It was huge and $5,000 a month in the early 90s. Too much for me to afford. I like to say we really opened when I moved into Ninth Street because that was when we were able to feel like we could last. Read more…

Daniel Maurer

Just a few blocks over from East Ninth Street between First Avenue and Avenue A, where crews were prepping the block for its Coen brothers moment this morning (flyers indicate that, due to weather, the date of the shoot has changed to Friday from 1 p.m. to 2 a.m.), the CBS show “Person of Interest” is filming at 7B. Chris Haun, a production assistant, said that one of the stars of the Thursday-night crime drama, Jim Caviezel, was scheduled to show later today, and the shoot would last till about 9 p.m.

Of course, 7B, a.k.a. Horseshoe Bar, a.k.a. Vazac’s, is no stranger to the screen. You’ve seen it in one form or another in “The Godfather: Part II,” “Crocodile Dundee,” “Scarface,” “Serpico,” “The Color of Money,” “Rent,” “Sex and the City,” “The Verdict,” “Five Corners,” “Angel Heart,” and on and on. Heck, it was even made over for “Smash,” the new NBC show that filmed in the East Village.

Where else have you seen 7B? and what’s your favorite Vazac’s moment (on screen or off)? Ours has to be Jason Alexander’s shootout scene in “The Paper”: or are we the only ones who relate to an unhappy subject attacking a journalist in an East Village dive bar?

On Ninth Street, setting the scene for the Coen brothers’ “Inside Llewyn Davis.” See more of Scott Lynch’s photos in The Local’s Flickr Pool, and see Rachel Citron’s slideshow here.

Good morning, East Village.

AM New York reports that the driver and passenger who crashed into a taxi cab yesterday at 13th Street and Third Avenue and then fled the scene have turned themselves in and have been charged with leaving the scene of an accident and (in the driver’s case) reckless endangerment.

The developer behind the 12-story office building coming to 51 Astor Place has released new renderings. Curbed, which first noticed the renderings, shares a rumor that Microsoft and IBM have both eyed the building.

The Daily News has the latest on the Denny Chen case: “The Army officer accused of looking the other way while his soldiers drove Pvt. Danny Chen to his death is facing a court martial. So is a sergeant who allegedly joined in on the sadistic and racist abuse of Chen, a 19-year-old soldier from the Lower East Side, the military said.” Read more…

Photos: Rachel Citron

As previously noted, East Second Street got a 1960s Greenwich Village makeover today, via metal garbage cans, wooden milk crates, and throwback rides, some of them courtesy of the Oldsmobile Club of America. A couple of the movie’s extras, done up in vintage garb, told The Local that Joel and Ethan Coen – both of whom were on hand, as our new photos (clearly!) show – were filming the very first scene of their “screwball comedy,” “Inside Llewyn Davis.” So exciting.

During the takes we saw, two cars rolled down the snow-dusted street and then a young man clutching a cat and guitar case crossed the road and walked into a building at 77 East Second Street. When we left the block between First and Second Avenues, giant bags of leaves were at the ready and outdoor lights were being turned on. Maybe nighttime in autumn was next?

Have your own photos of the shoot? Add them to The Local’s Flickr pool. And if you live in the neighborhood and want to cover tomorrow’s action, e-mail us.

Jared Malsin Obie Johnson, 66, a Marine veteran, said he was
stopped and searched by the police.

In the East Village last year, blacks and Hispanics were stopped and questioned by the police more often than whites, according to newly released stop-and-frisk statistics and a street poll conducted by The Local. The neighborhood’s new Commanding Officer touts the effectiveness of the controversial policy, but some residents complain that it has been used to unfairly target minorities.

According to data obtained from the Police Department by the New York Civil Liberties Union and released yesterday, police officers stopped and questioned people in the Ninth Precinct (which covers the East Village) 3,614 times in 2011. Of those stopped, 1,113 were black, and 1,200 were listed as either “black Hispanic” or “white Hispanic.” Altogether, 63 percent of those stopped were either black or Hispanic –  even though, according to 2010 census data, those groups made up just 33.1 percent of the neighborhood’s population. Just 28 percent of those stopped (about 1,033 people) were white, though 63 percent of East Village residents belonged to that race.

Those numbers are in keeping with an informal poll in which The Local surveyed 107 people, roughly half of them on Second Avenue, and half on Avenue C. Of 55 people approached at Second Avenue and Fourth Street, only three (six percent) said they had been stopped and questioned. On Avenue C and Fourth Street, 14 out of 52 people (about 27 percent) said they had been stopped and questioned.

During a conversation with The Local, Captain John Cappelmann, the new Commanding Officer of the Ninth Precinct, described stop-and-frisk as an “effective crime-fighting tool,” citing a Monday morning arrest in connection with a string of restaurant robberies in the neighborhood. He hypothesized, “If someone had seen one of the perps walking down the street the other day with a crow bar right before he crow-barred the window? You want to stop him before he commits the crime, right?”

But many East Village residents who spoke with The Local said they believed that stop-and-frisk was being applied selectively – a concern that last month prompted Community Board 3 to support a resolution, brought by Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer, calling for the policy’s reform. Mr. Stringer, who spoke at a protest on Tuesday, has blamed the enforcement technique for “creating a wall of distrust between people of color and the police,” and is calling for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into whether the Police Department is committing racial profiling. Read more…

The Coen brothers aren’t the only ones using the neighborhood as cinematic fodder today. Check out the above preview for “Fashion King,” set to premiere on South Korea’s SBS network. Hot. Stuff.

According to FanWonder.com’s translation of a SportsSeoul.com piece, the drama is about “young designers wanting to become world class designers but having to start off small at the Dong Dae Mun Markets” (see the show’s blinged-out Website featuring Marc, Karl, and the rest). A production team member says the show is being filmed in South Korea as well as on the “trendy streets of New York,” and what trendier street than Second Avenue? Flyers between Second and Third Streets indicate today’s shoot – scheduled to coincide with Fashion Week, naturally – will last till 9 p.m.

Evan Bleier Noah Leyer, left.

In addition to vintage cars, the Coen brothers have now brought something resembling snow to a block where, earlier today, a scene was being shot inside of a building at 77 East Second Street.

The extra attention to detail was no surprise to background actor Noah Leyer, 25, who was prepping for a sidewalk scene. “They had this outfit tailored specifically for me,” he said while waiting for the cameras to roll.

Our own cameras managed to capture Joel Coen sipping a beverage. Yes, the spy-cam shot at right is good and blurry (we’re horrible paparazzi), so you’ll just have to trust us: The Coen brothers are doing their thing.

Update: Slideshow: Coen Brothers Take Second Street Back to 1961

Photos: Daniel Maurer

While news cameras focused their attention on a block on East Second Street where a three-alarm fire tore through a six-story apartment building last night, cameras were out for a different reason one block east: the Coen Brothers have parked over twenty vintage cars on Second Street between First and Second Avenues, where they’re shooting their new film “Inside Llewyn Davis.”

“Hollywood” Nick Pagani, a car wrangler for motion pictures, told The Local that he had secured the vintage vehicles for traffic scenes set in 1961. “We’re only going to drive five of them today,” he said.  Read more…