Lauren Carol Smith

A film crew from “Nurse Jackie” in Tompkins Square Park today.

Next time you see something like this, tell The Local.

Daniel Maurer A new sign at the bodega.

A sign posted in the Avenue A Mini Market between Ninth and 10th Streets reveals that the bodega isn’t renovating as originally thought, but has apparently gone out of business. A note posted early last month said the store would reopen after three to four weeks of renovations. But the new sign, with the phone number for the building’s landlord — who was away for the weekend — indicates that the hunt is on for a new tenant in the storefront.

Stephen Rex Brown A flyer alerting locals to the squirrel.

New details have emerged about the orphaned baby squirrel that is reportedly approaching passersby in a desperate attempt to feed. A woman who said she had posted the flyers alerting locals to the squirrel contacted The Local this morning and shared her saddening first encounter with the critter on Monday on East Seventh Street between Second and Third Avenues.

“This precious little squirrel — literally the size of my hand — was looking at people beseechingly and trying to climb up their pant legs,” said the woman, who did not wish to give her name.

The next day, the woman saw the squirrel again, this time rummaging around in a trash can on East Seventh Street. That’s when she realized the squirrel must be hungry. “It probably cannot crack nuts,” she said. “It is very small!”
Read more…

An exhibition opening today at the artistic haven Gathering of the Tribes is inspired in part by the blindness of its charismatic founder, Steve Cannon. “Blind Light” features photography that attempts to toy with the senses, according to a listing on NY Art Beat. “When one sense is diminished, the others are heightened, creating unique perceptive experiences from the remaining information,” the listing reads. The last time The Local chatted with Mr. Cannon, Gathering of the Tribes was still in limbo after his landlord put the East Third Street building on the market for nearly $3 million.

Suzanne Rozdeba James De La Vega puffs on a cigar outside the former home of his East Village Museum.

James De La Vega, who shut down his East Village museum in August of last year and left followers wondering where he’ll end up next, has taken his brand online.

“De La Vega is now writing on the sidewalks of cyberspace,” said the artist, famous for his street art, often adorned with the catch phrase, “Realiza Tu Sueno / Become Your Dream.” In January, Mr. De La Vega said he was working on a “digital experience.” Now, that experience has been revealed: an online store, featuring De La Vega T-shirts, tote bags and even an organic baby body suit with his signature fish jumping out of a bowl. An assortment of coffee mugs, shot glasses and water bottles range from $10-$18.

Mr. De La Vega remained confident that his followers — who see him as an artistic prophet of sorts — would follow him in his new, commercial direction.
Read more…

Suzanne Rozdeba

Good morning, East Village.

Actress Kirsten Dunst was spotted in the East Village yesterday, as she took some time off from promoting her new movie, “Melancholia.” Meanwhile, Paula Deen stopped by the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop on East Seventh Street. The store hinted at the news via a tweet about a “certain food celeb with a butter-loving mama” and a photo of a film crew.

The plywood came off of Cooper Craft and Kitchen on the corner of Second Avenue and Fifth Street, as photos on EV Grieve show, but the shutter went down on Georgia, a beauty shop on East Houston Street, reports Bowery Boogie. The company plans to move to an as-yet-unannounced location in Manhattan and become a global business.

According to The Times, the Merchant House Museum is holding an exhibit on spirit photography from now until Nov. 28,  and tomorrow Dan Sturges will talk about the parapsychological studies he’s conducted. Read more…

While our reporters were covering yesterday’s student walkout at Washington Square Park, The Local sent photographer and community contributor Rachel Citron to capture the action further downtown. Here’s a slideshow of her photographs, followed by her thoughts about what she saw.

In the past days, photographs of the Occupy Wall Street protestors and videos of their anti-government chants have become ubiquitous. So has the controversy. When I emerged from the City Hall subway station yesterday afternoon – new to the scene – I expected a hodgepodge of hippies and hipsters trying to catch a spirit of activism that seems to have alluded our generation. To my surprise and excitement, I found prescient issues being protested, many of which affect East Village residents. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown The violation at 331 East Sixth Street.

The construction site at 331 East Sixth Street — rumored to be the future home of “Friends” star David Schwimmer — received a violation from a Department of Buildings inspector today.

The notice cites the developer for failure to post the required permits for an eight-foot-tall fence at the front of the lot.

Much speculation and anger has surrounded the site since it was reported in July that the townhouse built in 1852 would be demolished to make way for a new dwelling.

The Local made numerous attempts to find out who the owner of the building is, as well as what the new building will look like. The accounting firm handling the property has remained tight-lipped about the identity of its client, and the architecture firm designing the building has not returned several phone calls.

Meanwhile, an apparent anarchist and architecture critic has left a note at the lot letting the developers know what he thinks about their “ugly, yuppie, ghetto catering to monied transients.”

Stephen Rex Brown There it is: free wi-fI!

Many East Village residents have expressed their dismay over the Time Warner cable outage that occurred this morning. Well, The Local is here to give you good news (if you can manage to get it without internet service): free wi-fi is now available in Tompkins Square Park.

A spokesman with the Department of Information Technology & Telecommunications said that the service quietly launched on Sept. 29, and a stroll through the park confirmed that sure enough, “attwifi” is an available network there.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Time Warner Cable said that the outage was the result of a fire in the Lower East Side, which melted a portion of the fiber-optic network. Read more…

If you thought IHOP’s “beyond obnoxious” sidewalk canopy (per a EV Grieve commenter) was the most conspicuous signage going up in the neighborhood, take a look at what the recently revamped Sidewalk Café is putting up today. This photo comes from a reader of The Local who asks “Really?” How do you think it compares to the red “ALWAYS OPEN” awning of old?

Emily Canal

St. Brigid School just got a new library, and now community members want a speed bump outside of the school at Seventh Street between Avenues B and C. Residents say drivers tend to speed down East Seventh Street because it’s the only one between Fourth and 14th Streets that runs west from Avenue D to the Bowery without interruption.

“A lot of people don’t respect the crossing guard and like to pass through real fast,” said Ramon Santiago, 45, a security guard at the school.

A source at the Department of Transportation said that a speed bump was deemed unnecessary after a study revealed that vehicles traveled down the street at an average speed of 18.7 miles per hour. According to the source, there was an average of one pedestrian injury per year at the location from 2005 to 2009 – none of them fatal. Read more…

A venerable literary journal is voicing its support for the embattled St. Mark’s Bookshop today. “We at ‘The Paris Review’ have a stake in St. Mark’s Bookshop,” writes Lorin Stein. “The store sells between 150 and 200 copies of each issue of ‘The Paris Review.’ That’s more than we sell in most cities. It’s more than we sell off our own Web site. Magazines like ‘The Paris Review’ need good bookstores, where the staff knows how to spread the word about good writing, face to face, hand to hand.” The petition has now garnered over 42,600 signatures.

As expected, hundreds of students from NYU and the New School showed up at Washington Square Park Wednesday afternoon, before marching down Lafayette Street to join the Occupy Wall Street protesters. “A lot of the problems that Occupy Wall Street is addressing have a particular impact on students,” said co-organizer of NYU Student Walk Out, Christy Thornton, 32. After hooking up with what she said were 60 community groups and what the Times reported were several labor unions at Foley Square, several thousand marched on to Zuccotti Park, per the AP. In the course of the evening, about 28 arrests were made, according to NY1 (update: City Room hears that 23 were arrested), and protesters reported police using pepper-spray and batons to keep the crowd at bay. (Gothamist has video of one such incident.) As you can see from Liv Buli’s report above, the Local was at Washington Square Park to see the start of it all.

Update | 11:15 a.m. Our reporter Yoo Eun Lee was also on the scene and captured the raw footage below. Read more…

Daniel Maurer

Good morning, East Village.

It seems Bob Arihood (the above tribute to whom was painted by Chico yesterday) wasn’t the only one to tend after injured squirrels. On East Seventh Street near Second Avenue, we spotted a sign explaining that an orphaned baby squirrel has gone missing, and must be returned to a “federally licensed wildlife rehabilitator” because it is too young to crack nutshells for itself.

If IHOP’s new sidewalk canopy leaves you cold, and you’re more a fan of the “Eat Me” sign above Crif Dogs, take note: In honor of the hot dog spot’s 10th anniversary, everything is $1 today, and, according to its Facebook page, there’ll be a party with free rum shots tonight.

Just in time for Game 5 tonight, former Yankees and Mets right fielder Darryl Strawberry will be signing autographs between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. at the Village Pourhouse, reports Bowery Boogie. Read more…

Jamie Larson Mr. Kim outside of NY Tofu House.

The East Village isn’t exactly starved for Asian food, but that’s not stopping Steve Kim from opening NY Tofu House. Having just received a new awning, it’s set to open later this month at 6 St. Marks Place, the building that once housed Mondo Kim’s and, less memorably, Cafe Hanover. (Mr. Kim owns the building with his brother Tan and other investors.)

“Around this area we have a lot of junk food,” said Mr. Kim. “We’re trying to get healthier food to the younger generation.” That means tofu dishes, but also Korean-style dumplings and barbecue short ribs. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown The crew from “CSI” packs up its gear on Wednesday.

The Local spotted the crew for “CSI: NY” filming on Eighth Street between Broadway and Lafayette Street all morning. And for all you would-be paparazzi out there, “Nurse Jackie” — starring Edie Falco of “Sopranos” fame — will be shooting on Thursday on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue, according to notices posted on the street.

Next time you see something like this, tell The Local.

Stephen Rex Brown Astor Place, minutes after a pedestrian had been taken away in an ambulance.

A pedestrian was hit by a car at Astor Place at around 2:30 p.m. today.

A fire department spokesman said the accident, which happened at Fourth Avenue and East Eighth Street, left the victim with “serious injuries.” No further information was available, though an NYPD spokesman said no criminality was involved in the collision. Last month, a pedestrian was hit by a cyclist at the same intersection.

Did you see the accident? Let us know in the comments.

Last week, The Guardian reported that Anthony Bologna, the senior police officer who was videotaped using pepper spray on the eyes of protesters, was previously named in a lawsuit alleging police brutality at the 2004 protests of the Republican national convention. The Local has now acquired court documents, some of which are posted below, that show it is just one of nine lawsuits in which the officer is named, all of them alleging the violation of demonstrators’ constitutional rights.

The lawsuits, dating as far back as 2003, accuse Inspector Bologna of personal involvement in numerous false arrests, use of excessive force against demonstrators, and violation of free speech rights. In each of the cases, he was named alongside a list of defendants including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, police commissioner Raymond Kelly, and other senior officials.

Seven of the lawsuits resulted from the arrests of protesters at the Republican National Convention in 2004. Two earlier suits followed arrests at the World Economic Forum in 2002. Four of the cases resulted in settlements in which the city agreed to pay as much as $30,000. The other five remain open. Read more…