Back in August, when Tropical Storm Irene felled a 60-foot-tall willow tree at La Plaza Cultural, City Room reported that Rolando Politi, whose flowers made from recycled garbage adorn the community garden, planned to honor the tree with a new work of art.
His piece, a miniature tree made from bottle caps, was completed in October. It’s part of a project that Mr. Politi began in Copenhagen in 2010, as a way of reusing plastic caps (made from a material that is different from the rest of the bottle) that are usually discarded by recycling centers. On designated “Kappo Days,” the artist has taught children near his East Village home – as well as students in Switzerland, Denmark, Michigan, and beyond – how to transform trash into toys. See some of Mr. Politi’s creations in The Local’s video.
An assortment of locals want one of the East Village’s largest vacant buildings to once again host community groups — it’s just unclear whether they have the leverage to force the owner’s hand.
After a discussion on Friday night at Theatre 80, roughly 20 residents decided they would press the owner of the old P.S. 64 building, Gregg Singer, to designate as much as two stories of the six-story building as public space. (On Friday, The Local posted interior shots of the building in its current state, as well as renderings of its potential redevelopment.) The group — still very much in the planning and strategizing phase — leaned towards making one floor a community facility that would be open to anyone living within a boundary to be determined. The other floor would accommodate local groups. To entice Mr. Singer, the coalition would present him with a list of potential tenants for the other floors in his 100-year-old building. Read more…
The Theater for the New City is asking the city to help fund an expansion of its Arts-in-Education after-school program even as fewer public dollars go to such initiatives. Last week, a Community Board 3 committee voiced its support for the bid; tomorrow, the theater will ask the full board for its backing.
At a meeting last Tuesday, Primy Rivera, the program’s coordinator, and Keith Ninesling, the theater’s developmental director, asked C.B. 3’s Youth and Education committee to write a general letter of support that can be attached to any applications for funding.
Mr. Ninesling spoke of the reputation the program has developed since its launch in the late 1990s. “We feel this is an essential community outreach service,” he said, adding that the not-for-profit theater is one of a dwindling number of community theaters in the city. “Not only does it serve the purpose of training young, would-be artists (we need somebody who can carry the torch),” said Mr. Ninesling, “but more important is serving the children in the East Village and Lower East Side.” Read more…
On his blog, Dick Manitoba, owner of Manitoba’s, takes some swipes at his old Dictators bandmate, Andy Shernoff. Seeming to refer to comments Mr. Shernoff made in an interview with The Local, Handsome Dick writes, “IRONY?…A man who puts BALDING 50 year old people down for trying to re-capture THEIR youth by playing in those silly rock and roll bands, and playing the oldies circuit. SOOOOOO, for a man nearing 60, trying to re-capture HIS youth with hair plugs and preaching to the converted, by playing in tiny clubs, and for self congratulatory hipsters watching 70 year old men from 60’s garage bands is cooL?…HA HA HA”
The police are searching for a man suspected of sexually assaulting a woman while she got on the subway at the Broadway-Lafayette station at 10 a.m. on Nov. 10.
The 42-year-old victim told the police that she was boarding an M train when the man came up from behind and assaulted her. The man then fled the station. No injuries were reported.
Police say the suspect is 35 years old, and is seen in surveillance footage wearing framed glasses and a backpack. Anyone with information should call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-577-TIPS.
The Local spotted fire trucks on Seventh Street between First Avenue and Avenue A around 6:15 p.m., when the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop (on the same block) tweeted, “And the block is burning down again (hope not!). 5 truck.” A fire on East Sixth Street sent two people to the hospital with minor injuries Wednesday, but this one seemed to be no cause for alarm: Shortly after its initial tweet, the ice cream shop issued the following update along with a photo of two of its employees posing with a firefighter: “Our block had numerous false alarms. A bunch of firemen have taken to waiting out the calls in our shop- OK BY US.” A spokesperson for the F.D.N.Y. confirmed there have been no active fires in the area. No word on the firefighters’ favorite flavor of soft-serve.
Less than an hour before a meeting at Theatre 80 regarding the long-vacant building that once housed P.S. 64, The Local has obtained new images of what its future could be. A flyer commissioned by the building’s owner, Gregg Singer, states that the 100-year-old building on East Ninth Street between Avenues B and C “will soon undergo a cutting-edge, comprehensive redevelopment and historic restoration to transform this turn of the century, New York City landmark into a modern community facility use such as a new school, medical, hospital or health-related use, college or school dormitory, museum, non-profit organization with or without sleeping accommodations or any other use as defined as a ‘Community Facility Use'” by city zoning laws.
The flyer, which depicts the former school building’s courtyard being used as an outdoor cafe, then goes on to raise the possibility of condominiums in the 152,075-square-foot building, or the separate leasing of its six stories. Lastly, the flyer notes that a gymnasium, pool, auditorium or theater could be built on the ground floor. Read more…
Following the Post’s report that Andre Balazs is transforming the Cooper Square Hotel into The Standard East Village, a cheeky post on The Standard’s blog makes it official. “Don’t get too excited though!” writes one Stan d’Arde. “Unlike The Standard, New York, this East side counterpart, located on the corner of East 5th Street and Bowery at Cooper Square, is going to be a more mellow alternative to all the boom in your West side room.”
Mr. Schreier can be seen being handcuffed at the 1:45 mark, at the bottom right of the screen.
Tim Schreier, one of The Local’s community contributors, was among a group of journalists who were rounded up at Duarte Square and thrown in jail on Tuesday. He was released yesterday morning.
Now the photographer, who was shooting a group of religious leaders staging a prayer vigil at the park among the protesters, is going to take his charge of criminal trespassing in the third degree to trial.
Tim SchreierThe crowd at Duarte Square on Tuesday.
“Basically, it’s the N.Y.P.D. gone crazy and based on fear,” Mr. Schreier said yesterday, shortly after getting his first bit of rest since around noon on Tuesday. “This was an interfaith service that the cops came and disrupted.” Read more…
Last Thursday, approximately 100 spectators gathered on the top floor of the Barnes & Noble on 82nd Street and Broadway, expecting to hear Anthony Amato read from his new book, “The Smallest Grand Opera in the World.” Mr. Amato, now 90 years old and more than two years removed from his career at Amato Opera on the Bowery, was under the weather that evening, but the show — as it must — went on without him. Several students from the Manhattan School of Music and nearly a dozen former singers and stagehands exchanged memories of the house’s effervescent owner, from his ability to mimic a French horn to his famous spaghetti and meatballs.
It’s this brand of nostalgia that offers a proper lens with which to read Mr. Amato’s autobiography. Co-written with Rochelle Mancini, herself a former singer at Amato Opera, the book traces its author’s journey from the seaside town of Minori, Italy, to New Haven, Connecticut, and finally to the East Village, where Mr. Amato served as producer, director and owner of one of the city’s most beloved music institutions. Read more…
Amber Tamblyn may be known to many for playing an angst-ridden teen in “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and med student Martha Masters on “House,” but after 15 years as an actress, she’s branching out. These days, she’s performing with her mother, Bonnie Murray Tamblyn; co-producing a show for Fox with Katie Jacobs, an executive producer of “House”; and working on her third book of poetry. She has also written her first screenplay (adapted from the novel “Paint It Black” by Janet Fitch) and runs a non-profit, Write Now Poets, dedicated to finding creative programs to support poetry. “And lastly,” she told The Local over e-mail, “I’m hoping to end world hunger by Wednesday. Fingers crossed!”
Ms. Tamblyn divides her time between Los Angeles and the East Village, where she has lived for three years. She also performs in the neighborhood – most recently at “The Inspired Word,” an open mic night at One and One. “I never liked any other neighborhood,” she told The Local. Although, here’s a secret: She and her fiancée, the comedian David Cross, are moving to Brooklyn. Before she leaves us, we asked her about her favorite spots in the old neighborhood. Read more…
The New York Post reports that famed playboy and hotelier André Balazs will officially seal the deal on his purchase of the Cooper Square Hotel today, and that he will change its name to The Standard East Village. Those aren’t the only changes in store: The tabloid reports that the hotel’s “public spaces will be reconfigured, its rooms refurbished and its restaurants overhauled.” When Balazs appeared before Community Board 3 in September he pledged to keep the hotel fairly low-key in comparison with the original Standard on the west side. Still, does this mean the end of The Trilby?
Named after the style originally worn by pilots in World War I and popularized in the 40s and 50s by movie stars such as Marlon Brando, bomber jackets remain a staple for both men and women, as these East Village locals showed us.
Nick DeSantisStudents outside of N.Y.U. Stern School of Business.
Thousands of students converged on Union Square this afternoon as part of the Occupy Wall Street “Day of Action,” which was planned to celebrate the movement’s two-month anniversary today. Some of the students marched to Union Square from the steps of New York University’s Stern School of Business, where they earlier castrated a purple-and-gold bull piñata named Wally – a symbol, the protesters said, of their school’s complicity in a financial downturn that has left so many students unemployed.
After the march lurched up University Place to the north side of Union Square, students from several local universities – Cooper Union, N.Y.U., and C.U.N.Y. among them – addressed the crowd with stories of insurmountable debt and lingering joblessness. Taylor Hand, a 21-year-old Cooper Union student, criticized her school’s recent announcement that it may begin charging tuition. Read more…
Earlier today, The Local stopped into the 7-Eleven that’s coming to 351 Bowery, to the chagrin of some East Villagers. Construction workers were still doing their thing, but shelving and refrigeration units were largely in place, as were coffee containers, nacho cheese dispensers, and a soda fountain. A foreman on the scene couldn’t give an exact opening date, but a spokeswoman for the company was more helpful. Expect Maple Pancake Sausage Rollers in three weeks: The store opens Dec. 7. Oh, thank heaven?
Curious about the imposing trash cans that appeared in Tompkins Square Park recently? The Villager has the story: The so-called BigBelly, three of which have been installed in the park along with others in Chinatown and elsewhere, is a solar-powered trash compactor that crushes litter with 1,250 pounds of pressure. According to the Villager, it “holds five times the amount of garbage as a traditional trash receptacle and can reduce trash collection by 80 percent,” and uses wireless communication to let its Massachusetts-based parent company know when it needs to be changed. The good news: It’s said to curtail rat infestations.
With “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1” opening in theaters tomorrow (The Times reviewed the film today), the Tompkins Square Park branch of the New York Public Library is aiming to lure “Twihards” between the ages of 12 and 18 with a trivia event that started just minutes ago. Earlier today, a spokesperson for the library told The Local that the event would be conducted “Jeopardy!”-style, with a Team Edward and Team Jacob competing for prizes. Colleen Castellani, the library manager at the branch, said that about a month ago the library created a “teen space” for events involving board games, Nintendo Wii games, and the like. So far, she said about 10 to 20 people had showed up for each of the events, which take place on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. So is Ms. Castellani a “Twilight” fan herself? “I am,” she said. “Maybe not as diehard as some people.”
Our reporter Nick DeSantis has been tweeting from outside of New York University’s Stern School of Business, where a large group has gathered for a “student strike” as part of Occupy Wall Street’s “Day of Action.” As of Nick’s last tweet at 2:41 p.m. the group had arrived in Union Square after a demonstration involving a brass band, a piñata, and a few words about student debt. At Union Square, they plan to “occupy the subway,” per a flyer. Follow Nick and The Local, and check back here for updates.
Update | 4:05 p.m. We’ve created a slideshow with photos from Union Square, where protesters who marched from lower Manhattan have joined the group that marched from the Stern School of Business. We’ll add more as they come in. Add your own to The Local’s Flickr pool. Another reporter for The Local, Ian Duncan, is tweeting from the scene and has observed at least two police helicopters overhead. Follow him for real-time updates.
A job listing for a historian? In this economy? That’s right, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation is looking for a director of preservation and research, according to a new post on Histpres. Among the many job responsibilities: Coordinating historic buildings research, preparing draft requests for the Landmarks Preservation Commission, and responding to questions from the public regarding landmarking. (And one recommended qualification from The Local: A strong tolerance for lengthy community board meetings).
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.
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