Tim Schreier on photographing people as they interact with art.

“I am simply a ‘picture taker.’ I would not call myself a photographer because that indicates some form of formal training, study or professional capacity. I kind of think of myself as a painter with a severe attention deficit, meaning I love light and admire photographers who are able to take advantage of natural lighting in it’s purest form. One of my favorite things to do is to visit galleries or museums and watch people as they interact with art.”
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Rachel Ohm The building that houses East Side Community School on 11th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A will also become the new home of Girl’s Prep Middle School in the fall.

For the past year, Girl’s Prep, an all-girls charter school in the East Village has been in search of a new home for its growing middle school.

Last week, school officials received approval from the Department of Education to move into a space at the East Side Community School building on 11th Street and First Avenue. The middle school, which currently serves students in grades five and six only, will be able to re-locate in the fall and eventually expand to teach seventh and eighth graders.

“It’s such a relief to know we have a permanent, free public school space,” said Ian Rowe, the school’s interim principal. “Our parents have been through a roller coaster these last two years.”

Girl’s Prep is a kindergarten through sixth grade school that opened at 442 Houston Street in 2005 as an elementary school. Last year, when it expanded to grades five and six, the new middle school moved to a temporary location that it rented at 51 Astor Place. That building is set to be demolished later this year, after the charter’s lease expires June 30.
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Courtesy of Tim SchreierA photograph of The Bowery in the 19th century showing the elevated railroads.

Kerri Culhane’s lightning-speed, three-minute presentation at the Community Board 2 meeting held at Our Lady of Pompeii Church on Monday provided little indication of the vast research she has gathered in seeking to create a Bowery National Historic District which would span the approximately mile-long avenue, which runs from Chatham Square to Cooper Square .

Currently, individual buildings on the Bowery including The Bowery Savings Bank and Bouwerie Lane Theater have been designated National Historic Landmarks, along with limited portions of the Bowery being included in already designated National Historic Districts. The effort is being co-sponsored by the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors and The Two Bridges Neighborhood Council.

Former NYC Landmarks Preservation Commissioner Anthony Tung has described the “disjointed beauty” of the assemblage of buildings which line the former Native American foot path and later road leading to Peter Stuyvesant’s farm or “bouwerie” from which the street took its name.
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Shawn Hoke

This blog began with an invitation. From our very first post, The Local has sought to bring our neighbors in the East Village into the process of producing news and telling their own stories about their community.

Recently, The Local quietly marked six months of publication and while the wonderful experiment that it represents will continue, my time running the site is coming to an end. In August, after what will have been 20 months of planning, developing and publishing The Local, I will step down to pursue other ventures and to devote more time to completing my doctoral dissertation.

Today, NYU is opening the search for the next editor of The Local. Whoever gets the job will be stepping into a position that is exciting, challenging and rewarding and one that is very much helping to drive the industry-wide conversation about digital storytelling, hyperlocal news and the future of pro-am journalism partnerships.
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C. Ceres Merry

Good morning, East Village.

It seems the rain is going to stop, the clouds are going to vanish, the sun will come out…well, not today. But this weekend is slated for decent weather, and Sunday might be rather pleasant.

In a few weeks, your Bowery will host a street fair-slash-art workshop, as the New Museum throws a four-day “Festival of Ideas for the New City.” The event, which will run May 4-8, will feature speeches and interactive art displays, as well as panels and classes given by local community groups.

In artsy news via BoweryBoogie, one neighborhood photographer has turned her shots of the Village into a quilt, with daylight pictures on one side, and night-time pics on the reverse.

And from the Captain Obvious Institute for Totally Necessary Studies, we receive word that the East Village has lots and lots of happy hours — more than any other Manhattan neighborhood, in fact. But it’s Friday, so you, dear readers, will probably need to do a little further research.

Ben Chislett

Good morning, East Village.

And what a morning it is. Button your coats and pull up your boots; this lovely spring-introduction song is set to launch a second (possibly snowy) verse tonight.

That won’t stop the two baseball fans in the new Fourth Street Fan Cave from starting their season-long journey of watching every single Major League Baseball game. The sport (and their paid observation gig) kicks off tonight.

In updates about the future of 94 St. Marks, EV Grieve notes that the Horse Trade Theater Group is trying to buy the property to keep Under St. Marks operational.

And If the venue stays in business, theater-goers will have more places in the neighborhood to grab a drink after the show: there’s a spate of new bars slated for the East Village.

Maybe your favorite neighborhood joint will be a new one – pending Community Board 3 approval, of course. Appearances are scheduled for April 11, by which point we hope it will have stopped snowing.

Last night hundreds of people lined up on Astor Place or paused their post-work rush to observe a curious scene. Was there a celebrity? A fire? Actually, there was free squab and stuffing, from a truck.

The “Game of Thrones” truck, promoting the HBO fantasy series launching April 17, is popping up in a different spot in the city each evening this week, doling out “Top Chef” judge Tom Colicchio’s cooking to the first 300 fans that arrive. The series, based on the fantasy books by George R.R. Martin, has already drawn wide interest on Twitter and Facebook, where the truck announces its evening location minutes before it parks.

The strategy seems to be working. The East Village was filled with crazed “Game of Thrones” devotees last night–crazy enough to eat pigeon anyway.

Vivienne Gucwa

If you see the phrase “East Village” after a byline at The Local, it means that the article is the work of one of our community contributors. These are people who live or work in the neighborhood, or have strong ties to it, and are willing to report on local news, talk about their interests and passions, or just inform and entertain us about aspects of East Village life. The Local is always looking for writers to join the party. Most of the articles we publish are around 500 to 600 words, but we are also on the lookout for brief, focused telegrams from the street.

You don’t need to be a professional journalist. We’ll provide help in getting your copy into shape if you need it. Interested? For more details, email Kim Davis, The Local’s associate editor (kimdavis@thelocaleastvillage.com). Add your voice to the choir.

An early photo of a Native American trail from the Inwood section of Manhattan Island. Photo by W.L. Calver, originally published 1922.

Plans to pedestrianize Astor Place and expand Cooper Square Park, which were presented to Community Boards 2 and 3 on January 6th, are moving toward approval from the city’s Public Design Commission. A few wrinkles must be smoothed out, however, before the blueprints can be handed over to a contractor. Perhaps the most interesting community petition made thus far is that an old Native American trail, which ran through the area, be memorialized in the new design.

The Local thought that in light of the request, this might be the perfect time to look at the oft-forgotten historical presence of Native Americans in the East Village.

Once upon a time, Manhattan was a remote offshoot of North America with dense forests full of wildlife, open fields overgrown with rich grass, and bountiful harbors teeming with oysters, lobsters, and fish.

According to Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, tribes of Lenape Indians set up camp on this bountiful land, which they called Lenapehoking or, “where the Lenapes dwell,” more than sixty-five hundred years ago. They moved about frequently in groups of roughly 200 people at a time, hunting deer and wild turkeys, fishing, and foraging for nuts and berries.

Some fifty-five hundred years later, they had established more static communities thanks, in large part, to agricultural advancements. When Europeans arrived in 1524, approximately 15,000 Lenape Indians of various tribes lived in what is now New York City.
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Gloria Chung

Good morning, East Village.

Welcome to a weather-deceptive Wednesday; it’s clear for now, but two days of rain might start tonight.

If you’re out late and head indoors to buy an umbrella, you might run into some recently-displaced East Village ATMs. We reported several weeks ago on a new law forcing ATMs off the sidewalk, and Bowery Boogie now points out some neighborhood stores are saying a final farewell to their beloved but illegal cash dispensers.

Meanwhile, neighbors of the Upright Citizens Brigade are seeing red over the theater’s new crimson curtains. Previously upset about a now-removed “Hot Chicks Room” sign, community members near the comedy troupe headquarters say its new drapes make the venue look like a “bordello.”

Speaking of houses of sin, former Second Avenue nightclub Sin Sin may have a second life as a bakery. Residents are hopeful this will lead to less rowdiness and fewer noise complaints, but you never know with cupcakes these days.

Finally, is your daily commute just too short? Do you find yourself missing the MTA once you’re back home? Well now you can once again buy a Subway memento of your very own for the mantle — Billy’s Antiques and Props is getting its stash of signs back from the city. Nothing brightens up a living room like the F train logo (change-of-service notices, however, you’ll have to print up yourself).

Phillip Kalantzis Cope

Would-be messages from the East Village, in 140 characters or less.

I, Phone,

…have taken over, man! You can’t do without me,
forget about it, dude, you’re screwed, don’t you
understand anything? I own you

Personal

Neither a fighter nor a lover, me. Presenting: 180 lbs. of
Humanity. Single, sober, solvent, rents a flat. Touch-
starved. That’s that

Banker’s Advice

Although he could not understand the financial
information Mr. Li was giving him, he suspected Mr. Li
did not fully understand it either

Cosmopolitan (J.P. Morgan Chase)

When he informed him he was moving to France for six
months, Mr. Li looked genuinely puzzled. “France?
Why would you want to go there?”

Finding it difficult to frame a simple answer to such a
complex question, he was polite. “Oh, you know, I just
feel like going somewhere”

The Old Lovers

A decade unmet, fearful of Time’s traces,
they settled on a dinner date
in which they would dine in different places

A Chinese Hair From A Chinese Head

… coiled among murky translucent shells ripped from
shrimp bought on Canal piled like dozens of used
condoms in a bowl on the kitchen table

Embarrassment

The first warm days of Spring can be a scary thing.
Overnight, so calmly – as if they had never been – coats
and hats are shed

and each body’s truth revealed. Eyes grow busier,
bolder. They meet at crossroads. They mate. Cheeks
susceptible turn pink, then red

Madison Avenue

Uptown, you breathe the clean clear air of money. Saw
James Merrill there once, on the street. Imagine what he
could have done with a tweet

Weeping Tom

He can only hear through the air shaft, not see: The song
of life as sung by students from F.I.T. Loud, obnoxious,
excited, cheerful… young

Absence

After she died, he sensed (just once) her watching him
from the sky above 3^rd Avenue. For days she stayed
with him, like the sun’s warmth.

But now three years have passed since her burial
overseas, in an old French city, and the sky above the
East Village, his home, is empty

Illustration by Tim Milk

Some time last year, I was in line at a smoke-stand to play lotto when the man ahead of me suddenly turned from the cashier and said: “Hey, do you remember me?”

I looked him up and down. A typical neighborhood guy, a deli and bodega guy, about sixty or so. “He doesn’t remember,” he laughed to his friend behind the counter. “Well, I remember you! A long time ago you used to buy cigarettes from me. On 14th Street! Remember?”

I squinted. I drew a blank. “You don’t remember? I can’t believe it. Surely you remember that day!”

That day?

“Not even that one day? Oh my goodness! That day! You were held up that day. Right there in my store! By the kid with the silver gun!”

It all came rushing back to me: a spring day, 1981. This guy had just sold me a pack of Camels when an audacious young voice arose from my side: “Hey mister, you got any money?”

I looked down to see this boy, not quite thirteen years old, with a face so angelic it belonged on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. “Well, not today,” I told him, “Sorry.”

The boy smirked. “No problem. I got money. Wanna see?” He then pulled from his pocket a whopping stack of fifties. He fanned them in my face so I could glory in his wealth. I had heard that drug dealers were making mules out of kids, but not until now did I make the connection.

“Wanna know how I got it?” he asked. Read more…

Clint McMahon

Good morning, East Village.

Today in potential changes of ownership for Village property, EV Grieve worries about the fate of the experimental theater Under St. Marks, in the basement of the building at 94 St. Mark’s now up for sale. And in similar but somewhat opposite news, the old Amato Opera house on the Bowery is still waiting for a new tenant, DNAinfo says. In the meantime, it’s the most recent participant in East Village tagging. You’re it!

Also, today the trial begins of two police officers accused of raping an East Village woman in 2008. The woman was returning from Brooklyn and the police officers were allegedly helping her get to her 13th Street apartment before taking advantage of her.

It’s another sunny, cold and windy day here in the city, which apparently is the perfect weather for this new Village resident.

Also liking the climate enough to venture out of doors? A friendly Union Square gator If you run into him (or the escaped and popular Bronx Zoo cobra) today, tell them Happy Tuesday.

Tim Milk Talks are set for next month between developers and preservationists on the future of 35 Cooper Square.

Preservationists are holding out hope that there is still a future for 35 Cooper Square, now that the site’s developer, Arun Bhatia, has agreed to meet with neighborhood groups next month.

The meeting, arranged through Councilwoman Rosie Mendez, is set for April 12, Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, told The Local this morning. The Bowery Alliance of Neighbors, Historic Districts Council, East Village Community Coalition, and Lower East Side Preservation Initiative are among groups invited to the meeting, which will not be open to the public. The meeting’s tentative location is the Neighborhood Preservation Center on East 11th Street.

“It’s something we’ve been seeking for weeks or months,” said Mr. Berman. “It’s been in the works for a long time. We won’t know until we have the meeting exactly what will come out of it, but obviously we’re happy that it’s happening.”

Asked what persuaded Mr. Bhatia to arrange the meeting, Mr. Berman said, “My sense is that it was always a possibility, and now it is confirmed. We’re looking forward to it.”

Mr. Berman and other preservationists hope they can convince the developer to keep 35 Cooper standing. “Certainly the goal going into the meeting is to explore the possibilities for preserving the building, or preserving it as much as possible,” Mr. Berman said. “We go into this knowing that that is not the developer’s plan. We want to engage in what we hope will be a productive conversation, and we’ll see what comes of it. At this point, it seems as if the building’s only hope is the developer.”

Jane Crotty, a spokeswoman for Mr. Bhatia told The Local, “We agreed to meet since the elected officials asked for the meeting. We will hear what the community has to say.”

Matt Logan At ceremonies Friday commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.

A sampling of reader reactions to posts that have appeared on The Local during the past week.

Regarding the blog’s post about the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, including a map of where the East Village victims of the blaze resided, Suzanne Rozdeba wrote:

“It gave me shivers looking at this map and seeing how close to to me these victims had all once lived. When I clicked on some of the addresses, I was astounded at how many of them were so incredibly young, single immigrants seeking a better life here, living in the neighborhood I call home.”

jim tutwiler said:

“great article and map. Now we should remember what unions and worker safety legislation means to all of us.”

About our post on the potential closure of senior centers because of budget cuts, Bill Stepp wrote:

“They should all be closed. There’s nothing in the Constitution that allows the government to steal money to feed seniors, or anyone else.
The NYC government should be cut by at least 90%.”

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