Photos: Alexa Mae Asperin
On Saturday, City Council members Rosie Mendez and Margaret Chin threw their weight behind a plan to build a public park beneath Delancey Street, imploring local residents to demand that Governor Cuomo make the buzzy Lowline a reality.
“We need your help,” Ms. Chin told dozens gathered at “Imagining the Lowline,” a new exhibit that offers a glimpse of the project’s potential future. “You have to help us get to other elected officials, like our governor.”
The council members envision the Lowline as a place for children, seniors and lifelong East Village and Lower East Siders to enjoy. “We don’t have that much green space, so it’s much needed down here,” Ms. Chin told The Local, noting that public housing residents often have to “walk quite a long way” for recreation. Read more…
Courtesy of S.S.A. Theater 80A music festival taking place across both Villages this week is being billed as “East Meets West.” And the organizers? They’re from down south.
Kicking off Wednesday and lasting five days, NYC’s New Music Festival will feature over 130 artists – from indie, folk and alternative rock to rap and hip hop – at a variety of venues.
Unlike the CBGB Festival, which last week announced it would return in May, the organizers of this festival aren’t from around here. It’s the first production that the Songwriters Showcases of America will stage outside of its home base in Florida.
Phil Weidner, president of the S.S.A., said the 13-year-old company had been trying to put together a festival outside of Florida for years. New York City, he said, was a no-brainer. “We wanted to focus on the East and West Villages to show that’s really the magnet of where good local, live music is being featured in Manhattan,” he told The Local. Read more…
Nicole GuzzardiThe High Holy Days are keeping Moishe Perl, the owner of Moishe’s Kosher Bake Shop, well occupied – but he’ll soon be even busier. After four decades on Second Avenue, the bakery is due for some changes.
Mr. Perl told The Local he would soon divide the bakeshop into three sections: a café, a bakery serving the usual tegalach and babka, and an area for hot foods like knishes, blintzes and pierogies. Read more…
Photos: Tim Schreier
It was a busy, boisterous weekend in the East Village.
On Saturday, Fourth Arts Block, the nonprofit constellation of art groups and performance spaces lining East Fourth Street between Bowery and Second Avenues, hosted its annual FAB! Festival, as you can see above. Meanwhile a few blocks south, the latest Centre-Fuge murals debuted at the First Street Block Fair. And at First Park, the first annual “James Day” raised money for James Panitz, an East Village child who shortly after his second birthday was diagnosed with a form of pediatric cancer. (See those photos below.)
Tamara Greenfield, overseeing her sixth FAB! Festival, said this year offered a range of musical, dance, and spoken word activities and performances to appeal to even the most impatient of attention spans. The event boasted two outdoor stages, an indoor performance space, and a host of food options, from vegan empanadas to pulled pork tacos.
As expected, a collaboration with the Asian American Arts Alliance brought hula, rap, Japanese drumming, and modern dance to the festival. Read more…
Scott Lynch Good morning, East Village.
Scott Lynch photographed a new mural outside of The Strand, where there was apparently a Morrissey sighting yesterday.
Off the Grid drops the news that the Landmarks Preservation Commission has set Oct. 9 as the date of its vote on the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District.
Gothamist reports that a 72-year-old woman was hit by an NYPD Traffic Enforcement vehicle on the Bowery Thursday night. A police spokesman said “it was an accident,” though the investigation is ongoing. Read more…
Tim Schreier NDA and SotThe latest cycle of the Cente-Fuge project went up today. You’ll recall the project, which brought a painting of Adam “MCA” Yauch to First Street back in May, brings a rotating array of art to the walls of a modular unit used by construction workers. Tim Schreier, who photographed the installation of Cycle 4 in June, was back at it today, documenting East Villager Beau Bradbury and the rest of Cycle 5’s artists as they did their thing. Here’s what went down (or up, rather). Read more…
Dana Varinsky Dereese Huff with a hammer she carries for protection.Elected officials blasted the New York City Housing Authority this afternoon for not being quick enough to make security upgrades, citing a recent study that indicates many public housing residents don’t feel safe in their own homes. Meanwhile, the authority pointed the finger right back at local politicians.
In July and August, the offices of Borough President Scott M. Stringer, State Senator Daniel Squadron and Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh polled 520 residents at ten public housing developments, including Campos I, Jacob Riis Houses I and II, and the Lilian Wald Houses in the East Village, as well as seven others on the Lower East Side.
According to the report, which can be read below, more than 40 percent of survey respondents said they felt unsafe in staircases; only 45 percent indicated they have lobby doors with working locks; only 49 percent said their building had a working intercom; and 65 percent said not enough is done to prevent trespassing.
“The bottom line here is that even the most basic security is not happening at N.Y.C.H.A.,” Mr. Stringer said today at Seward Park Extension, later adding, “It’s time to fix the damn doors.” Read more…
Dana Varinsky David Simon at Croissanteria.Hot on the heels of Bikinis, the neighborhood is getting another European-style cafe. Croissanteria, which doubles as a bakery, will debut on Avenue A in two or three weeks.
You can guess what’s on the menu: a variety of croissants with flavors like cinnamon raisin and chocolate, assorted mini croissants, and croissant sandwiches like ham with melted Gruyere. Owner and chef David Simon also plans to offer homemade baguettes and a custom coffee blend created by Brooklyn Roasting Company.
Mr. Simon, 30, grew up in a food-making family. His parents, originally from Belgium, started Catskill Artisan Smokehouse in Wallkill, New York. Until early summer he worked for them as a distributor, selling their products to high-end stores and restaurants like Russ and Daughters, Dean and DeLuca, and Veselka. Read more…
Dana Varinsky Atef Boulaabi.A specialty food shop that counted local chefs David Chang of Momofuku and Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune as fans will reopen next month.
Before closing a little over a year ago, S.O.S. Chefs sold high-end imported spices and gourmet products like truffles and rare mushrooms to “some of the most renowned restaurants and chefs in the world,” as none other than Martha Stewart put it. In the Momofuku cookbook, David Chang said he improvised his roasted mushroom salad after going there to pick up some truffles and instead buying Turkish pistachios, hon shimiji and king oyster mushrooms, fleur de sel, and pistachio oil. He’s gotten bay leaves there, too.
Atef Boulaabi, the owner, said S.O.S. Chefs 2020, as its new incarnation will be called, will have more of a retail focus. “Before we were chef, chef, chef,” she said, noting that 80 percent of her business was wholesale. Read more…
Scott Lynch Good morning, East Village.
The Times reports that Anthony Bologna, the police commander who was sued for pepper-spraying Occupy Wall Street demonstrators on East 12th Street last year, is being sued again. “The plaintiffs in the suit filed on Thursday, Johanne Sterling and Joshua Cartagena, said that they were arrested last Sept. 24 while standing on a sidewalk on East 12th Street off Fifth Avenue. (Ms. Sterling said that she was also struck by the pepper spray blast from Inspector Bologna.)”
The Post reports that the city is being sued by the family of a Lower East Side woman who died of cardiac arrest during the blizzard of 2010 after waiting over two hours for an ambulance.
The Observer attended a City Council hearing about the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area and says. Many voiced concerns that the plan to have 50 percent affordable housing isn’t ambitious enough. “It’s a contentious point and one most heavily vocalized by the members of The Coalition to Protect Chinatown and the Lower East Side (CPC) who have moved to vote against the entire SPURA project if their isn’t a special allowance made to make all of SPURA’s units 100 percent low income housing.” DNA Info also reported from the meeting.
Read more…
Shira Levine has filed many a Making It column using the free WiFi at EarthMatters. On its last day, she penned a eulogy from the cafe and health food store.
Shira Levine Here’s what is left of the herbs and tinctures. Come tonight if you want to load up on Scientology’s favorite purifying vitamin, niacin before it hits the mean streets of Ludlow.New York, I love you, but you’re bringing me down. Yet another beloved institution is closing its doors. Today is the last day EarthMatters will feed and entertain us and Friday it will auction off its remaining furniture, fixtures and kitchenware.
Opened in 2001, EarthMatters was a place that mattered to locals and to tourists who bothered going farther down Ludlow Street than Katz’s Deli. It was our Cheers. Sure, most of us thought it was overpriced, but we continued to order bowls of delicious tahini kale, chickpea pesto and beet salads. We shopped for homeopathic tinctures and ayurvedic herbs. We lounged in those shabby couches and chairs. Read more…
There’s much to see in Tompkins Square Park: birds, trees, and – best of all – dogs and their owners. Here’s this week’s duo from the dog run.
Nicole GuzzardiThe Master: Raf Astor, 46, a musician who has lived in the East Village for 30 years. When the money from playing in his Latin-music band got slow, he decided to take up dog-sitting.
His Pet Tricks: Mr. Astor says he uses music therapy to rid dogs of behavioral issues. “I play for them and they respond to it,” he said. “They relax; it calms them down.” Read more…
Photos: Nicole Guzzardi
Angelina Café will open across the street from its former location as soon as it gets a visit from the gas man.
Rafik Bouzgarrou, the owner of the Mediterranean bistro, said he moved out of his modest digs at 36B Avenue A last month because his landlord wanted to raise his rent of $7,500 per month. He’s now paying a similar amount for a space that’s three times the size.
At 37 Avenue A, Mr. Bouzgarrou has installed a proper wine bar, where Mediterranean and Basque wines are displayed on a rack. One wall is decorated by a map of the Mediterranean, painted by Angelina customer John Bean. The build-out was also the work of friends and customers, said Mr. Bouzgarrou. “They all knew I didn’t really have money to move here,” he said. Read more…
NYPDA man punched and robbed a woman on the Lower East Side, the police said.
Around 4:20 p.m. on Tuesday, the man followed his 25-year-old victim into 50 Allen Street, where he twice punched her in the face and then swiped her purse, according to the police.
The suspect, thought to be between the age of 35 and 40, was wearing a white shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers, as shown in this surveillance camera footage. He’s wanted for robbery.
Suzanne RozdebaGood morning, East Village.
The dream board on 12th Street got some more contributions after we spotted it yesterday. Passersby wrote that they wished New York was… “CHEAPER,” “safe,” “extraordinary,” “full of equadorians [sic],” “less international,” and (again) “CHEAPER.”
The Real Deal notes that “Ivan Hakimian’s brokerage HPNY has purchased a Lower East Side gas station site primed for residential development,” in a deal said to be worth $8 million. “Existing zoning allows for 43,000 square feet of residential development on the parcel, which has 120 feet of frontage on Houston Street.”
The Lo-Down reports that the 7-Eleven on Delancey Street is now open in the old Loew’s Delancey Theater building. Read more…
See below for larger map.Birdbath has long offered discounts to customers that arrive by bike; on Saturday, dozens more local shops and eateries will begin doing the same, with the launch of a Bike-Friendly Business District.
Over 150 businesses in the East Village and Lower East Side will offer bike racks, information about road rules, or (most exciting) 10 to 15 percent discounts and buy-one-get-one-free deals. (See the map below.) Read more…
Tim Schreier “Bettie and The Ramones,” oil on canvas by Curt Hoppe.“Come Closer: Art Around the Bowery, 1969-1989” opened to the public today at New Museum. An offshoot of the museum’s Bowery Artist Tribute, launched in 2007, the exhibit pays tribute to the strip that served as “a social network where painters, photographers, performance artists, musicians, and filmmakers exchanged ideas and drew inspiration from this concentration of creative activity.” The Local dropped in earlier today and came back with these photos. Read more…
Annie Fairman Plywood went up today on the corner of East 11th Street and Avenue A, where on Monday a construction worker told The Local that the former home of Bar On A would become a 7-Eleven. The owner of Tompkins Square Bagels isn’t taking the development lying down: commenting on Monday’s post, Christopher Pugliese (never shy about the corporate convenience store) said his bagel shop would deliver “a full-service smack-down” to its new neighbor across the street.
Don’t worry about Tompkins Square Bagels. We are going to pummel 7 Eleven. This isn’t Long Island or a truck stop off I-95; microwaved eggs and push button cappuccino out of a fountain isn’t going to cut it here. We look forward handing Joe DePinto and crew a full service smack down the likes of which will they have never experienced and will relish the embarrassment the failure of their Avenue A store will bring to the entire 7 Eleven corporation. It’s on boys and I’m going to win.
Mr. Pugliese’s comment came in response to this one, from reader MarcellaD. Read more…
For every East Village business that’s opening or closing, dozens are quietly making it. Here’s one of them: Raul’s Candy Store.
Melvin FelixSome major changes are coming to Loisaida: Avenue D is getting luxury rentals as well as a pizzeria from Kim’s Video. But around the corner from where La Isla recently shuttered, Raul’s Candy Store holds down fort. The bodega is no stranger to changes: it opened in 1976 at 190 Avenue D, then moved to 208 Avenue B about five years later. Now it’s a few doors down at 205 Avenue B – a sign in the window reading “Absolutely No Drugs or Hanging Out” harkens back to an earlier era. The Local spoke, in Spanish, to Petra Olivieri, wife of owner Raul Santiago (they’re celebrating their 45th anniversary this year).
Q.
When did you move to this location?
A.
I can’t remember. But between there and here, we’ve been in business 35 years. We used to pay $100 for rent when we were at Avenue D. Then it started going up: $200, $300. Here, we now pay $2,400. So we have to sell a lot more. Read more…
