Susan Keyloun takes a look at a subway station that’s been closed for more than six decades.

“When I catch a glimpse of Old New York on my peripatetic jaunts throughout this fascinating city, I can’t help but celebrate her history. My most recent glimpse: the abandoned 18th Street Subway station, which was opened to the public in 1904 and shuttered in 1948. I visited the station, at 18th Street and Park Avenue South, with an accommodating MTA employee who took photos of the station since I was not allowed to go below ground.”

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Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

You may not be able to pronounce it, but Gesamkunstwerk is a boutique you should know about.

Nestled on a corner across Houston Street on the Lower East Side, this boutique voted “Best New Indie Shop” by TimeOut NY is a go to spot for locally made, conversation worthy pieces. Cooper Union grad Alexandra “Allie” Kuzyk mans the store most days and her background in visual merchandising and design makes her an expert in spotting the “next big thing”. The Local sat down with Allie to discuss why she chose her store’s unpronounceable name, where she goes out in the East Village and why she chose the Lower East Side as her shop’s home.

Where did you come up with the name Gesamkunstwerk?

When the shop originally opened in the summer of 2010, it was both a
workshop and a retail boutique. So my partner and I thought of
gesamtkunstwerk, a German word meaning “the complete art work,” because we
thought it captured the essence of what we were trying to accomplish in the
space. Now we poke fun at the name because it’s a mouthful, so we go by
“Werk” and our website is cantspellit.com.
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Adrian Fussell

Good morning, East Village.

Ratstravaganza is taking over! The seemingly massive rat population in Tompkins Square Park, which Neither More Nor Less has given an apocalyptic nickname, has hit all of the mainstream New York media outlets at this point. Photographers and reporters from The Post, Fox, WABC, and NY1. The takeaway from a handful of the reports was that the decision by the Parks Department to stop using rat poison in order to protect the local red-tailed hawks, coupled with parkgoers who litter, has led to the rise in our furry foes.

DNAinfo reports that popular mac-and-cheese eatery S’MAC will be opening a second locale at the hut on Houston Street and First Avenue this fall. The original store, which also has an attached sit-down area, is located on 12th Street and First Avenue. Their Ukrainian neighbor, Veselka, is also expanding and will be opening its second restaurant on First Street near Bowery in four to six weeks.

Jeremiah called in experts to talk about the removal of the longtime neon “Chow Mein” sign that used to hang on Second Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets. The sign originally came down on Monday as a construction crew is renewing the façade of the building that was Jade Mountain until 2007. Jeremiah goes on to worry about the safety of the Jade Mountain sign, since it is currently “popped up, like a body suddenly sitting upright in its coffin.”

While the historic significance of the neighborhood is well established, the new architectural gems that have been sprinkled in are the ones gaining attention from realtors. One relatively recent arrival, 40 Bond Street, located between Lafayette Street and Bowery, was named the seventh best building of the last decade. Luckily for those who are particularly flush, there are still units for sale- and one just lowered its price tag to $7.5 million.

Meghan Keneally St. Mark’s Comics, 11 St. Marks Place.

This summer, the posters lining the walls of movie theaters could just as easily have been found in a teenager’s bedroom as comic books are hitting the big screen. “Thor” came out in May, “Green Lantern” in June, “The Green Hornet” in July, “Captain America: The First Avenger” debuted last weekend and new teaser trailers for the prequel to Spider Man and the return of “The Dark Knight” franchise were recently released.

Gossip Web sites and fashion magazines splash pictures of Hollywood stars greeting enthusiastic fans at Comic Con, the comic book trade show which finished Sunday in San Diego.

The public attention and adoration that equals big bucks for movie studios — “Captain America” brought in $65.8 million in its first weekend — does not necessarily translate into traditional book sales.

“Good movies help, and bad movies hurt,” said Mitch Cutler of St. Mark’s Comics, one of the oldest comic book retailers in Manhattan.
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Brendan Bernhard

It is said, on one of the many Web sites dealing with the subject, that bed bugs, when they attack their sleeping victims, leave a trail of “dark fecal spots (which are partly digested blood) on their host, mattresses, clothes, bedding, walls, ceiling, and every place you can imagine in a room.”

Except, it seems, when they don’t. Except when you are preyed upon by bed bugs who come equipped with their own federally funded clean-up crew — bugs which don’t feed but tidy up after the other bugs — ensuring that the dawn will reveal absolutely no sign of their vampiric brethren except for the clusters of hideous, madly itching welts on your legs and arms and torso.

This is the situation as I lie awake in bed at three in the morning, a copy of George Eliot’s “Middlemarch” propped up on a small cushion in front of me. I’m about 420 pages in, with about 420 pages to go, but it’s a challenge to concentrate. I keep swiveling around thinking I’ll catch a bug scooting purposefully toward me on the pristine sheet. I turn a flashlight on the curls of peeling paint behind the heating pipe and under the window sill, looking for anything that scurries…. Surely there must be something moving somewhere. After all, it’s feeding time.
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Adrian Fussell

Good morning, East Village.

In your daily round up of the food scene, Upstate had a soft opening on First Avenue near Sixth Street, debuting with a better name than one that had been initially proposed: “Marry The Ketchup.” And Sidewalk, the bar and restaurant on Avenue A and Sixth Street, is still on schedule for its proposed reopening
Aug. 5.

After news spread that more than 50 New York City Post Offices would be closed because of budget cuts, the tiny post office on Third Street near Avenue C seemed a likely target. EV Grieve confirmed otherwise this morning.

Seeing how two areas of the East Village were recommended for landmark status Tuesday night by the Community Board, a number of blogs were looking back at the older institutions in the area. Off The Grid had a lovely look back at All Saint’s Ukrainian Church on 11th Street near Fourth Avenue, with pictures dating back to 1928. Jeremiah noted that Moishe’s Bake Shop on Seventh Street and Second Avenue was getting “a facelift,” which makes him nervous about what, if any, changes would be made to the nearly 100-year-old facade.

Finally, Grieve waxes poetic about the loss of the mural on the wall that formerly belonged to Russo’s on 11th Street and First Avenue.

Community Board 3 tonight approved the creation of two historic districts in the East Village, paving the way for official consideration by the city. The proposal was divided into two separate motions with a 23 to 9 vote in favor of the Second Avenue district and unanimous support for the Tenth Street district. Preservationists reiterated that the measures were the only way to protect the neighborhood from what they consider excessive development while opponents from the religious community, some of whom walked out of the meeting in protest, countered that they could not bear the financial burden of renovations under the landmarking requirements.
—Laura E. Lee and Stephen Rex Brown

Carol Vinzant A red-tailed hawk in its nest in Tompkins Square Park earlier this year. Officials said that they stopped placing rat poison in the park to protect birds of prey, which feed on the rodents.

Lately the hoards of rats scurrying all over Tompkins Square Park have disgusted local parents taking their children to the playground. Now, an ironic — and unwitting — culprit has emerged as the reason for the boom in rats: red-tailed hawks.

The Parks Department told The Local Monday that it stopped placing rat poison in the East Village’s green oasis in April because it could pose a danger to the feathered carnivores, which feed on the rodents.

“We are not placing rat poison in Tompkins Square because of the hawk,” said Philip Abramson, a spokesman for the Parks Department. “Instead we have replaced the garbage baskets with garbage drums, preventing rats from accessing its insides.”

The red-tailed hawk was first noticed this month on EV Grieve keeping vigil over the park, and occasionally feasting on a rat. Around the same time, a new parent group, Tompkins Square Park & Playgrounds Parents’ Association, sounded the alarm on the rats in The Villager, saying the critters were even burrowing in the sandbox.

As it turns out, the two occurrences are related. A poisoned rat can be a fatal feast for a hawk, especially a juvenile one.
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Chelsia Rose Marcius The banned drink was on sale last week.

As we told you last week, The Local found five East Village establishments selling the caffeinated version of Four Loko, the alcoholic beverage banned last year after the New York State Liquor Authority and in-state distributors agreed to stop selling the product.

Officials with the authority said today that they plan to look into the continued sale and distribution of the beverage.

“We’ll have to investigate how this product is still on the shelves,” said William Crowley, a spokesman for the authority. “If someone is selling that stuff illegally, it’s something we’re going to look into.”

Mr. Crowley said that investigation could include examining inventory records to determine where businesses are getting the drink. He said that Four Loko is a small part of distributor inventory, and for wholesalers to continue selling the product to retailers and “take a risk like that would be surprising.”

Store owners found selling the drink face fines ranging from $1,500 to $2,000 and other penalties, including the revocation of their liquor licenses.

Steve Harris, president of the New York State Beer Wholesalers Association, said it is highly unlikely — but not impossible — that retailers are getting the drink from New York distributors who are not a part of the association.

He noted that area businesses could also be “getting it illegally from New Jersey wholesalers or retailers,” or other out-of-state distributors.

“I can tell you unequivocally that none of my members sell the stimulant stuff anymore,” said Mr. Harris, whose group is made up of 44 distributors. “But there is another group of wholesalers that could still have it.”

Michelle Rick

Good morning, East Village.

It was a big day for the visual landscape of the East Village. EV Grieve takes us on a tour of the area, showcasing the new signs on the Thai food restaurant BaoHaus, soon to open on 14th Street between Second and Third Avenues, and smoothie maker Xoom, due to open on Thursday on the same stretch of 14th Street. One sign that came down overnight was the famed Chow Mein sign that used to light up Second Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets, even though the restaurant it belonged too — Jade Mountain — closed in 2007. And finally, the last of the bunch comes in the form of a “closed” sign on Company Bar and Grill, located on 10th Street near First Avenue, as the Department of Health temporarily closed it for lacking the proper permits.

Jeremiah also took a minute to reflect on the area’s changing signage, looking back at the seedy history of the new IHOP on 14th Street between Second and Third Avenues.

BaoHaus and Xoom are only two of a handful of restaurants due to open on 14th Street. Plans for a new location of 5 Napkin Burger and The Meatball Shop on the block have been well publicized, prompting 14th Street to be known as a “foodie haven”, if it weren’t already.

The future of signage and construction in the East Village will come to a vote tonight as the Community Board meets to consider whether part of the neighborhood should be designated as a historic district. The issue has divided residents, with some seeing it as an opportunity to retain the East Village of old, while others are concerned about what the designation might mean for maintenance costs and their ability to make changes to their properties. The City Room blog at The Times examined some lesser-known historic districts only to find that they had little to show for the title.

Kevin McLaughlin

Kevin McLaughlin Pieces by James De La Vega.

The thick white chalk etched on an East Village sidewalk read:

“I JUST BOUGHT REAL ESTATE IN YOUR MIND.”

East Village artist James De La Vega once brought this existential aesthetic — and his occasionally controversial thoughts — to the streets of the East Village and then for five years to his “Museum” on St. Marks Place, which closed last year citing rent increases.

A self-described “pessimistic optimist,” his presence in clever quotes and imagery remain part of the neighborhood’s urban adornments; goldfish holding umbrellas underwater and his signature “Realiza Tu Sueño” (“Become Your Dream”) are still found throughout the area. Places including the facade of The China Star restaurant on First Avenue, the garbage cans outside Stromboli pizza shop and Porto Rico on St. Marks Place all bear the traces of his noticeable absence.

Mr. De La Vega has since moved on to new projects and has bittersweet feelings about the area: “The East Village is a powerful neighborhood,” he told us. “The locals were my favorite but I don’t miss the neighborhood.”

Mr. De La Vega’s work resonates with simple, but profound, images and rhetoric, yet he also addresses various socio-political controversies, often through illustrations and commentary on behalf of his Latino heritage. He once addressed the gentrification of East Harlem through a painted a mural stating: “Don’t think for a minute that we haven’t noticed the 96th Street boundary moving further north.”
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Michelle Rick

If you don’t live here in the East Village, you all naturally assume that we collectively get up around 10:30 a.m., rearrange our dreadlocks, drink coffee while sitting on a fire escape, admire the worn painted ads on the sides of our buildings, and then begin our long day of dance auditions before our bartending gigs start at 5 p.m.

You imagine that our clothes are beautifully tie-dyed and that our jewelry looks like we sprinkled a Tibetan souvenir shop onto ourselves. You picture us writing poetry on a bed of leaves in Tompkins Square Park, only raising our heads to drink wheatgrass smoothies. You are not wrong about any of this, and we are ALL like this.

However, it has recently come to my attention that real estate in the East Village is incredibly expensive.

Expensive to the point where if a group of roommates were to live in a two-bedroom apartment overlooking Pommes Frites and live the lifestyle described above, said group would need to be about 10 people to afford this kind of East Village abode, and that is not including the upkeep of dreads.
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Susan Keyloun

Good morning, East Village.

In light of the first day of legalized same-sex marriage in New York, Manhattan was seemingly covered in rainbow confetti on Sunday, and the East Village was no exception. Community board member Dominic Pisciotta and his longtime partner were one of the hundreds of couples to wed throughout the city yesterday. One hotspot was Trinity Church, where Pastor Phil Trzynka said he will be marrying same sex couples for free all year. Congratulations to all.

Tompkins Square Park had quite a collection of inhabitants this weekend, as it played host to both the Fifth Annual New Village Music Festival and an inordinate amount of rats. The photos, taken by Bob Arihood at Neither More Nor Less, back up claims made by The Villager that rats are on the rise in the park.

Several new gin joints and grub spots are being whispered about in the area, with Prime & Beyond New York bringing some steak to St. Mark’s last week. For the more health conscious, Mikey’s Pet Shop on Seventh Street near Avenue A will be turning into an organic health food store in near future. When it comes to libations, EV Grieve says that rumors are rampant about a supposed new bar that Mars Bar owner Hank Penza is planning to open in the neighborhood. Lastly, progress is being shown on construction of the Hyatt Hotel in Union Square, which will feature “an upscale restaurant, destination lobby bar, an exclusive rooftop lounge” and much more when it opens in fall 2012.

Jeremiah takes us on a trip up the stairs and down memory lane back to the somewhat seedy past of Movie Star News. The longtime store that is currently found on West 18th Street was once at home in the East Village, where movie stars and movie star wannabes went to have pin up photos taken.

Michael Pearce on photographing scale and motion.

“The multitude of neighborhoods that make up NYC and the surrounding boroughs allow for an endless number of photographic opportunities. If the scene calls for it, I try to include the human form to add a sense of scale or motion. As NYC is a giant melting pot, there is never a shortage of interesting characters to capture in the frame.”
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Street Style: Tucked In from rachel ohm on Vimeo.

Sometimes style isn’t what you wear but how you wear it. Tuck a blouse or a tank top into a skirt or dressy shorts and voila! you’ve created a slimming silhouette. As The Local wandered the streets of the East Village, we noticed that “the tuck” is both work and weekend appropriate. It lends a touch of femininity to any skirt and top combo and instantly polishes up summer-time shorts. It’s also a great way to test the waters of color blocking, as these stylish locals showed us.

The Local’s Rachel Ohm reports.