Ian Duncan St. Mark’s in the Bowery as it looks today, and below, a rendering of one of the towers that might have stood on the site, courtesy of Modern Mechanix.

Frank Lloyd Wright is probably not a name to make the hearts of preservationists quake. But if the architect had had his way, tonight’s debate on a new East Village historic district would have been held in a very different context.

In the late 1920’s, Wright proposed tearing down the row houses on East 10th and Stuyvesant Streets and building over the cemetery at St. Mark’s in the Bowery to make way for four glass skyscrapers. Plans held by the Museum of Modern Art show the church crowded in by the towers: at 19 stories they would have rivaled the Cooper Square Hotel for size.

And just as two East Village clerics have come out as opponents of the preservation area, it was The Reverend William Norman Guthrie, the rector of St. Mark’s, egging Wright on.

The church’s once-affluent congregation had been whittled away as the Lower East Side became a home to immigrants. Guthrie approached Wright in 1927, commissioning him to design an apartment tower on church land, hoping the rent would restore its ailing finances.

“At that time, Wright’s career was in the doldrums,” said Hilary Ballon, an expert on his work and deputy vice chancellor of NYU Abu Dhabi. “Getting to build a skyscraper in New York was a great restart.”
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Meghan Keneally Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott.

The summer lunch program that provides free meals to children throughout the city has six distribution locations in the East Village including local pools, schools, and low income housing developments.

And even though the number of sites was cut dramatically since last year, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said that he hopes to distribute more meals than ever for students this summer.

“Our goal is to get to where the children are,” Mr. Walcott said at a news conference Wednesday morning at P.S. 20 Anna Silver on Essex Street

While budgeting and funding clearly were in mind, Mr. Walcott said that the change — from 478 distribution sites last summer to 372 this summer — was more a revaluation of resources than a cut and that all children are within a five to seven block walk of a distribution location.

“We did mapping. We took a look at those sites that are near there, and for every site that may not be in existence right now from last year, there is a school or some type of site available to them that’s near that particular location,” Mr. Walcott said Wednesday morning.
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Clint McMahon

Good morning, East Village.

There was a little Hollywood action in our neighborhood on Wednesday. DNAinfo reports that HBO filmed part its television series “Boardwalk Empire” yesterday in the East Village. The HBO crew used John’s Italian Restaurant, which is on 12th Street between First and Second Avenues, as the backdrop for a few scenes. “Boardwalk Empire” is a television drama that takes place in Atlantic City and stars Steve Buscemi, who plays a corrupt politician named Enoch “Nucky” Thompson. It is produced by Martin Scorsese.

Speaking of show business, EV Grieve reminds everyone that the EPIX Movie Free-for-All series continues tonight with a showing of “Coming to America.” In case you didn’t catch the announcement, EPIX is sponsoring a movie night once a week outside at Tompkins Square Park from now until Sept. 1. Next week, they’re showing “The Warriors.” The gate opens at 6 and the movie starts at sundown.

Finally, DNAinfo reports that one of the former NYPD police officers who was acquitted of rape is also charged with drug possession. Kenneth Moreno, 43, was indicted in 2009 on charges that he housed heroin in his locker at the Ninth Precinct. Prosecutors searched Mr. Moreno’s locker after he was arrested on rape charges stemming from an incident in December 2008. In May, Mr. Moreno and his former partner, Franklin Mata, were acquitted of raping a woman in her East Village apartment. However, Mr. Moreno’s drug charges remain open and active on the docket, prosecutors told DNAinfo.

Khristopher J. BrooksSt. Mark’s Bookshop, 31 Third Avenue.

News that an old friend is seriously ill is sure to darken the day. Concern and sympathy are mingled with hopes for recovery as well as thoughts of one’s own precarious grasp on life. Those of us who love books to the point of distraction grapple with a similar set of emotions when a fondly visited bookstore shows signs of slipping away.

It can’t happen; it shouldn’t be allowed; and what about me? Where else can I go?

Robert Contant who, with partner Terence McCoy, is co-owner of St. Mark’s Bookshop on the corner of Third Avenue and Stuyvesant Street, blames his customers somewhat for the store’s current frailty. He has seen them browse through the store, then scan the barcode of a likely purchase with their smartphone only to discover they can order it more cheaply from Amazon.com, or from other online vendors which don’t bear the real estate and staff costs of running a brick and mortar store in a well-trafficked city neighborhood.

Mr. Contant hastens to explain that he speaks in sorrow, not in anger. “It’s hard to tell people not to save money,” he says, especially these days. “We’re not blaming them. We’re not trying to be punitive.” Nevertheless, anyone who has seen a book on the shelves of St. Mark’s, then purchased it online, should feel a pang of guilt reading the notice recently posted in the store window: “Find it here, buy it here, keep us here.”
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Joel RaskinB Bar and Grill, 40 East Fourth Street.

When I sat down the other day to have lunch in the garden courtyard of B Bar and Grill, at 40 East Fourth Street, I did the natural thing. I took a seat facing out towards the Bowery. But then I thought: Why am I looking at traffic when I could be looking at the garden? And so I turned my back on the street.

Here is what I saw: A light breeze stirred the branches of the six great, spreading locust trees which grow inside the courtyard. Straw baskets, some as big and broad as beehives and others the size and shape of Chinese lanterns, hang from the branches, and the breeze had set them in gentle, bobbing motion. It was a warm day, but the broad leaves filtered out the sunlight and cast dappled shapes on the brick floor. The garden is enormous — a 3,000-square-foot space where a gas station once stood — and the sounds of talk and clattering silverware drifted up towards the sky. The East Village is not a serene place; but B Bar is.

There is a very complex, and very charming, interplay between “indoors” and “outdoors” at B Bar. Only one half of the roof is open to the sky; the other half is covered by a bamboo trellis, which leaves stripes rather than blotches of sunlight on the brick tile of the ground — that is, floor; no, ground. The surrounding wall is pierced by wide openings which offer prospects of Fourth Street and the Bowery. At B Bar you are embowered, but your beloved street-world is very much with you. Step through the wall, and you’re there.
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David Jarrett The leaders of two local houses of worship have emerged as critics of the proposed historic district in the East Village.

Thus far, the proposed East Village historic district has been met with relatively little opposition — but that looks as if it is going to change.

The leaders of two local houses of worship have emerged as outspoken opponents of the proposed district in the neighborhood, which they say would lead to unnecessary expense and bureaucratic inconveniences.

Rabbi Pesach Ackerman of the Congregation Meseritz Syngg on Sixth Street and Father Christopher Calin of the Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection both bristled at the notion that they would have to get approval from the city Landmarks Preservation Commission before renovating the exteriors of their religious institutions.

“Once you’re landmarked, you’re not the owners of the building anymore,” said Mr. Ackerman, who has been the Rabbi of Meseritz Syngg for 42 years. “Anything you do, you have to ask their permission.”

Representatives from both institutions, along with those in favor of the district, are expected to speak on Thursday during a meeting of Community Board 3, which will be dedicated to the proposal.
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Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

To help cool you off from this summer heat, the folks who made People’s Pops at the Brooklyn Flea and Chelsea Market are opening an East Village location this afternoon. The new ice pop stand will open at 5 today at 118 First Avenue near East Seventh Street. Eater NY reports that the location is a former flower cabana that sits between Caracas Arepa Bar and a corner deli.

In other neighborhood news, DNAinfo reports that HBO will soon release unaired footage that pertains to two former NYPD officers acquitted of rape charges. The footage, which was deleted from the network’s movie “Sex Crimes Unit,” will go to defense attorney Joseph Tacopina. Mr. Tacopina represents Kenneth Moreno, 43, one of the men acquitted in late May. Mr. Moreno’s partner, Franklin Mata, 29, was also acquitted. The officers’ charges stemmed from a December 2008 incident in which the officers were accused of raping a 27-year-old woman in her East Village apartment.

The Post reports that Fu Sushi restaurant on Avenue B has been serving customers despite New York City’s Department of Health ordering the business to close. The department closed Fu Sushi June 23 after logging 99 health violations, including the presence of mice and roaches in the restaurant. Department officials posted a closed sign on the restaurant’s storefront; however, Fu Sushi employees have obscured the sign and continued business as usual, The Post says.

Chelsia Rose Marcius Nicholas Heyward, 54, of Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, a member of the October 22nd Coailition to Stop Police Brutality.

Old friends, neighbors and passersby gathered by the front stoop of 263 East 10th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A for an evening vigil at the house of Monica and Paul Shay, the East Village couple who were both shot in the head Saturday night at their country house in Bechtelsville, Pa.

“If he had the chance to talk first, he probably would have talked” — the gunman — “out of it,” said friend Paul DeRienzo, 55, of the Lower East Side, who said Mr. Shay always found a way to temper a dispute and help warring parties make peace.
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Ray Deter

We’d like to invite you to share your stories and memories of Ray Deter.

Mr. Deter, who owned d.b.a bar on First Avenue, died Sunday and dozens of his regulars are already paying their respects on d.b.a’s Facebook page.

Friends have recalled Mr. Deter’s knowledge about brews, his Internet radio program Beer Sessions Radio, and his work with the Good Beer Seal.

Write about your experiences with Mr. Deter at his bar in the Comments section below.

Ray Deter, the owner of d.b.a bar on First Avenue, died Sunday of injuries that he sustained when he was struck by a car while cycling June 27. The staff at d.b.a. posted news of Mr. Deter’s death on the bar’s Facebook page. Details about funeral services for Mr. Deter have not yet been released.
— Khristopher J. Brooks

Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

Hope you had a wonderful Fourth of July celebration last night.

The folks over at EV Grieve have two sets of vandalism photos this morning; in one series, someone has spray painted cars parked along East First Street. In the second photo, someone has spray painted the Subway restaurant that will be opening soon on Avenue B.

Grieve also reports that there will soon be a new bakery on St. Marks Place. The new bakery, which an on-site worker said will open in two weeks, will be located at a spot that previously held thrift store-boutique Junk. Junk closed in early March.

The suspect in the fatal shooting of an East Village man and a 2-year-old boy in Pennsylvania Saturday was killed in a standoff with the police earlier today just outside Philadelphia. The suspect, Mark Richard Geisenheyner, 51, had been sought in the shooting of Joseph Shay, 43, of East 10th Street, and Gregory Bosco, a toddler; three other people who were victims of the shooting, including the toddler’s mother, remained in critical condition this afternoon. The Times has complete coverage of the story. —Khristopher J. Brooks

Michelle Rick

Good morning, East Village.

Get together with friends, munch on hamburgers and have fun for today is the Fourth of July. Today is a day of happiness and celebration. If you don’t have plans, here’s a list of places to watch fireworks later on tonight.

In other news, EV Grieve reports that Leo, a cat who was stranded on a East River barge, has been rescued. A reader noticed Leo stranded there Saturday afternoon. A Facebook page bringing attention to the cat’s plight was created yesterday. EV Grieve has a photo of Leo, safe and in a cage.

Meanwhile, EV Grieve also has a reader-submitted photo of construction work taking place at 200 Avenue A. The city’s Department of Buildings does not have work permits on file for the spot which used to house Superdive bar.

Leonardo Mendez on using photography to find stories with a life of their own.

“My father used to tell my brother and I bedtime stories. Though often lighthearted and warm, we also endured our share of mythology and Tolstoy. What does a child know of Tolstoy! Nonetheless, he was an actor, and he told them so well, that I lived them very vividly in my mind. I photograph, therefore, because I am in a constant search for more stories to live — either through the curvature of the lens, or the lips of an actor.”
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Ian Duncan Matt Capucilli at the table where he made the best-selling iPad app Video Time Machine. He also painted the portrait.

The fifth floor of an Avenue B walk up might not seem like the most likely place to find a computer programmer with a best selling app. But from his kitchen table Matt Capucilli developed Video Time Machine, which is now riding high in the iTunes store.

Since the launch of the iPad app on June 17, it has been climbing the charts, and as of last night, was the most downloaded iPad application, knocking the wildly popular Angry Birds, off the top spot. The app was also climbing up the more competitive iPhone rankings, reaching number two in the entertainment category. The app lets users pick a year and one of seven genres — games, television, ads, news, sports, movies and music — and serves up relevant videos. Showing off how the app worked, Mr. Capucilli selected 1968 and TV, pulling up an episode of “The Gumby Show”.

Mr. Capucilli, who is 29, said the app aims to tap into nostalgia for old TV. “It’s discovery based on things you might have once come across before in your life,” he said, “things you didn’t remember you remember.”
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Shawn HokeA Hairless Khala dog stands outside the Westville East — one of the locations where Sarah Shanfield has violently tripped while indulging her brunch habit.

It came on quickly.

I didn’t know I was addicted; I thought I just had a lot of friends. There was that birthday “Kegs & Eggs” celebration for my roommate’s coworker. There was that friend from home that only had a few hours until her return plane ride and desperately wanted to go dine at 11 a.m. at the Boathouse Cafe, “like Carrie Bradshaw!”

And then there was that day I woke up and there happened to be five people sleeping on the floor of my apartment, and the only way to get rid of them was to promise them really good pancakes at the cute little place around the corner.

It’s a sad story, but soon after I moved here, I became addicted to brunch.

I ate so many brunches that I began to choke when I had a piece of fruit that wasn’t drizzled in lemongrass-infused balsamic honey. Friends would joke that my blood was actually just Bloody Mary mix, but after violently tripping on the outdoor tables at Westville East I realized it wasn’t Bloody Mary mix, it was just straight celery juice running through my veins.
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