Ray Lemoine Bracetti Plaza

A man was shot on East Third Street this afternoon in one of two incidents that brought ambulances to the block between Avenues B and C.

The 52-year-old man was shot around 1:15 p.m. by another man who fled the scene; he was taken to Bellevue Hospital and was not likely to die, said the police. No arrests have been made.

Gabriel Escalante, 27, heard gunfire while he was in the kitchen at Rossy’s Bakery, across the street from the Bracetti Plaza public housing development. “I guess they got him as he was leaving his building,” he said. Mr. Escalante said the man, known as Mondo, was a regular customer of the bakery and a “nice guy.”
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In honor of National Grilled Cheese Day, here’s the story of one of the cheesiest couples we know.

Adam Schneider and Vanessa Palazio

In 2011, Vanessa Palazio and her boyfriend, Adam Schneider, bought a 300-square-foot space in the Lower East Side and opened a grilled cheese shop called Little Muenster. Since then they’ve launched a takeout spot in Dumbo and popped up at foodie festivals like Hester Street Fair, Urban Space, DeKalb Market, and Googa Mooga. Next year, they’ll join Sprinkles and Umami Burger at the World Financial Center’s new food court, slated to open in January.

Ms. Palazio and Mr. Schneider met through mutual N.Y.U. friends. For their third date, he asked her to watch him compete in a mac n’ cheese cooking contest. “I wasn’t initially concerned with impressing him, so I voted for someone else,” said Ms. Palazio. “He lost.”

Ever since then, cheese has constantly seeped into the folds of their relationship. They see a dish while out at dinner and imagine it reinvented as a grilled cheese, and they bring cheese plates to their friends’ parties (chunks of Saxelby’s cheese they’re testing for the restaurant tend to build up in their refrigerator).

When they met, Ms. Palazio and Mr. Schneider were different in many ways. She’s a Nicaraguan, raised in Brooklyn, who grew up on casillo melted inside fresh tortilla. He’s an all-American white boy from the L.A. suburbs who favored the classic white-bread grilled cheese. These days he prefers milder cheeses while she favors the stronger, more pungent, nutty and grassy varieties like bleu cheese. Read more…

Daniel Maurer Campos Plaza

The District Attorney has indicted 41 alleged members of two East Village and Lower East Side drug trafficking rings. The rings, based out of Baruch Houses and Campos Plaza, sold and delivered crack and cocaine to customers throughout Manhattan, the D.A.’s office said.

Officials claim that 33 members of the “Blocc Boyz” — a composite of two gangs based in Baruch Houses, “Cash is King” and “Stack” — ran a distribution ring using car services to transport drugs to clients on the Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Midtown and the outer boroughs. Two of the defendants – Derrell Underwood, 30, and Gerald Espinal, 60 – are said to be livery drivers.

Four of the accused — Sean Steele, Jr., 25; Anthony Alvarez, 20; Adrian Rivera, 24; and Michael Austin Rodriguez, 24 — are said to be major traffickers, and are charged under the “Drug Kingpin” statute, a felony punishable by a life sentence in prison. Read more…

Muji, the Japanese version of IKEA, opened its Cooper Square store today.

As mentioned when we broke news of the location in February, it’s the brand’s fifth in New York. Yuka Sakamoto, a P.R. and marketing manager who was at the bilevel store when we dropped by today, said the clothing, housewares, stationary and furnishings brand was eager to establish a presence in the East Village because “there are so many interior design companies, there are students — a lot of people who might be interested in our brand.”

Store hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Muji, 52 Cooper Square (between East 6th and 7th Streets), (212) 358-8963

Roni Jacobson

A 26-year-old man was struck by a Brooklyn-bound F train at the Second Avenue station this morning. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he is “conscious and alert,” according to a police spokesperson.

At about 10:30 a.m. the man was walking along the platform when he fell between two cars as the train pulled into the station, the police said. The train had almost stopped when the accident occurred, potentially averting more severe injuries or fatality.

The extent of the man’s injuries are unknown, but the police said he would likely survive the collision.

Police blocked off the platform and turned away commuters for about an hour while they investigated the scene. Trains are now running as scheduled.

Daniel Maurer

Here’s a bright spot on this gloomy day: the Papaya King we broke news of in March and told you more about last month just got its neon signage. Hot dog!

Frank Mastroplo The charred remains of a motorcycle fire.

Good morning, East Village.

Shots of the neighborhood from 1987 include one of “a youthful looking Jim Power working on his mosaic outside of the old Alcatraz bar on the St. Marks and Ave A.” [Flaming Pablum]

A chat and a song from the Singing Vegan. [The Lo-Down]

Molly Crabapple is showing paintings inspired by Occupy Wall Street. “Called ‘Shell Game,’ the series of nine 4-foot-by-6-foot paintings is due to go on view Sunday at the Smart Clothes Gallery, on the Lower East Side. [DNA Info]
Read more…

Frank Mastropolo Jimi Hendrix

There wasn’t any fanfare about it, but the Fillmore East would’ve turned 45 last month. On March 8, 1968, the 2,700-seat concert hall opened its doors with the first of two shows featuring rockers Big Brother & the Holding Company with Janis Joplin, folk singer Tim Buckley and blues guitarist Albert King.

San Francisco promoter Bill Graham had taken over the Village Theater at 105 Second Avenue the previous year. It had seen better days: opened in 1926 as the Commodore Theater, the playhouse was one of many along Second Avenue, the “Jewish Rialto” where the greats of the Yiddish stage performed. The Loews Corporation later operated the Commodore as a movie house until it became the Village Theater, which revived its history of live music and comedy but eventually operated in a state of disrepair and soon closed.

By 1967, Mr. Graham had successfully launched the Fillmore Auditorium and later the Fillmore West: San Francisco venues where blues, jazz and roots musicians shared the bill with the leading rockers of the era. In a run that lasted just over three years, the Fillmore’s East Village outpost – the history of which we’ve delved into a few times before – presented rock royalty like Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, James Taylor and Derek and the Dominos.

Mr. Graham long maintained that the Woodstock Festival dramatically changed the rock concert industry. As performers’ fees skyrocketed, only arenas and stadiums could afford to book the rock stars of the 1970s. Admittedly burned out, Mr. Graham closed both Fillmore East and West in 1971.

The artists who performed at the Fillmore East fondly remember what was once called “the church of rock ‘n’ roll.” The hall’s intimacy, acoustics, psychedelic light shows and enthusiastic fans all contributed to a lasting affection for the Fillmore East 45 years after its opening.

Here are some remembrances.

Steve Miller
It was going to be my first time headlining at the Fillmore East. It was real important to me.
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joelogon’s Flickr A toy gun, modeled after the Tec-9.

Police confiscated two Tec-9 machine guns from an apartment at 377 East 10th Street and arrested three residents of the building early in the morning on April 1, a police source told The Local.

The building on East 10th Street, between Avenues B and C, is a former squat house that residents were able to buy from the city for $1 in a deal negotiated in 2002 with help from the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board. In 2003 it was described as “one of the quieter, more well established squats,” so it is unclear why the three residents possessed the guns, which are the same model as the ones used in the Columbine shootings.

Police entered the apartment with a search warrant and recovered the weapons at 4:45 a.m. “These guns were made for killing, there is no other legitimate purpose to have one,” said the police source.

A resident of the building tells a different story, however. Read more…

If you were offended by Seth MacFarlane’s opening number at the Oscars, you won’t want to touch “Showgirls! The Musical!” with a 10-foot stripper pole. The new farce from the creators of the “Saved by the Bell” musical, is so lewd, crude, and fully nude (from the waist up) that it’s, oh, about five minutes before Nomi Malone, newly arrived in Las Vegas to play the slots and try to make it as a dancer, is warned “Be careful – you’ll lose your shirt!” And then it actually happens – when it’s ripped right off of her.

Nomi is played by the fantastic, spastic April Kidwell, who – just like in “Bayside! The Unmusical” – is a dead ringer for Elizabeth Berkley, the actress who played Nomi in the infamously so-bad-it’s-good movie “Showgirls.” Here she takes Ms. Berkley’s spazzy overacting in that movie even further over the top, eating burgers and fries with such mock savagery that her friend Molly (played by Marcus Desion) asks, “Is food new to you?”

Writer-directors Bob and Tobly McSmith (not their birth names: Tobly, 32, works in book publishing and Bob, 33, works in customer service; they say they’re twice-removed cousins) have a lot of fun amplifying the sexual tension that exists between Nomi and Molly, “the black seamstress,” in the movie. After an introductory makeout sesh, the buxom bosom buddies burst into song: “We are best friends now / We probably should have sex / Because that’s what best friends do / When the writers are men.” (Those are one of the few lines from the song, and every other song, that are tame enough to be quoted here. As for photos of the dances choreographed by Jason Wise and Laura Henning, a note on the program forbids them “out of respect for the actors and their boobies.”) Read more…

Scott Lynch

Good Morning, East Village.

Fifteen people from 13 countries became new U.S. citizens at the Tenement Museum on Tuesday. [The Lo-Down]

Sunday night’s season premier of Mad Men portrayed 1960s St. Marks Place as “seedy, home to abandoned buildings, litter-strewn sidewalks and sketchy characters.” [NY Times]

Travelers reacted with indignation to a Community Board 3 member’s proposal that they are “voluntary homeless” and should not be allowed to sleep on the street or in parks. [East Villager]
Read more…

Daniel Maurer

The game of musical barber chairs continues.

Hair Design Ampersand has moved from 240 East Fourth Street to 102 Suffolk Street, doing exactly the opposite of what Spin Hair recently did when it moved from the Lower East Side to the East Village.

It’s just the latest change on the East Fourth Street styling scene: in recent months, Manny’s Barber Shop opened at 125 East Fourth after the owner split from Igor’s Clean Cuts, and Salon Champu moved from East Seventh Street to 199 East Fourth.

So how’s life on the Lower East Side for Hair Design Ampersand, rated five stars on Yelp? They were too busy to take questions when The Local called, so it seems like business as usual.

Hair Design Ampersand, 102 Suffolk Street (between Rivington and Delancey Streets); (212) 228-3450.

Daniel Maurer

Once again, Odessa is cinematic fodder: “Mania Days,” directed by Paul Dalio, was being filmed at the diner earlier today.

According to Greg Morrison, an assistant locations manager, the film about a manic depressive East Villager will continue shooting through Friday at Tompkins Square Park and the Pyramid Club, among other locations.

East Villagers hoping for a celebrity sighting, however, will be disappointed.

“It’s nobody that’s really, really big,” said Mr. Morrison. “There are some people from TV shows, but we’re a small indie movie.”

Well, not that small. According to Showbiz 411, Spike Lee is a producer. Mr. Dalio, son of hedge fund manager Ray Dalio, is a graduate of NYU Film School like Mr. Lee.

Laura Entis Patrick (Paddy) McCarthy

Shortly after 2 p.m. today, Nevada Smiths reopened a mere one block from the location that closed nearly a year and a half ago in order to make way for luxury apartments. The exile is finally over.

As you can see from our photos, the “football” mecca, now at 100 Third Avenue, has gotten pretty luxurious itself. What once was a divey neighborhood hangout where soccer fanatics across the city watched live matches has tripled in size to become a megapub spread out over four levels, complete with two full-service bars (offering over 30 beers on tap), a separate wine bar, a VIP room, a DJ booth, and two kitchens with a pizza oven (that’s right: Nevada Smiths will now serve food, including a traditional Irish brunch. You can see some menu items here.)

“I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars getting everything exactly right,” said owner Patrick (Paddy) McCarthy, a tall, broad man with a shock of white hair and a thick Cork accent. It cost $5,800 to get the logo inlaid in marble on the floor near the entrance, he told The Local last week. Signed jerseys from football gods like Rooney and Ronaldo line the staircases. Flat-screen televisions are ubiquitous; two screens (on the first and second floor) are so large that they cover an entire wall. “The acoustics in here are the best in town,” Mr. McCarthy said. “I built this place like a stadium.”
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Yesterday East Villagers played hooky from work to take advantage of summer-like temperatures, and we were right there with them. We asked about their spring looks and what winter wear they couldn’t wait to bury in their closet. We also got tips on where to sneak a tan and what warm-weather tastes to indulge. Check out your neighbors.

Fatima Malik

Amanda Power, 28
Hairstylist
Fair-weather fashion: “Tank-tops galore, and floral-y things. I’m always wearing black in the winter, so recently I’ve been wearing colors to channel summer weather. Guess it’s working.”
Closet purge: “I’ll probably put away my capes, blazers, and all my long, drape-y things. Definitely still going to be rocking leather jackets in summer, though.”
Summer snack: “Oh ceviche, yum. And shrimp tacos, and watermelon every day – fiber, fiber. And the delicious iced coffee from Abraco.”
Tan plan: “Well, I’m an SPF girl myself, but The Frying Pan in Chelsea is great for summer. Go drink a beer, rocking a tank top and some shorts, and you’ll get tan.”
Read more…

Kavitha Surana At City Hall.

Last Sunday a diverse group of 80-odd people gathered at the steps of City Hall to support Jenifer Rajkumar’s announcement that she will run against first-term council member Margaret Chin in the District 1 City Council race. The fresh-faced civil rights lawyer and former healthcare advocate at the National Women’s Law Center has spent the past two years as a district leader for the Democratic Party. Though only 30 years old, Ms. Rajkumar has already made some waves as an activist in Lower Manhattan – she’s showed up at City Hall to join Save our Seaport in opposing an unclear land-use deal and was kicked out of City Hall last summer along with others who protested N.Y.U.’s expansion plan.

At the kickoff, Ms. Rajkumar greeted constituents in Spanish, Chinese, and Yiddish. Promising a “bottom up” approach and increased transparency if elected, she asserted that, “rather than being kicked out of City Hall, we need a voice in City Hall.”

Yesterday The Local sat down with Ms. Rajkumar to get a better sense of her vision and policy goals for downtown Manhattan.

You’ve said that your parents immigrated to Queens from India with just $300 and a suitcase. Why did they come here?

My parents are physicians and the one thing they had when they moved here was an education. They were young and wanted a fresh opportunity, so they just left everything they knew to come to a country with a new language and culture. They worked hard, they struggled, and they taught me the value of hard work, perseverance and the importance of following your dreams. The biggest thing they taught me was the value in serving the under-served. Read more…

Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

Four young people from Yonkers have been sentenced to between five and 15 years for beating up a person on the Lower east Side in 2010. [The Lo-Down]

Previously unseen photos of Madonna at her Lower East Side apartment will be screened at a traveling exhibition scheduled to arrive at the W Hotel in Times Square this Thursday. [Fashionista]

An antique guitar store called TR Crandall has just opened up in the East Village. [DNA Info]
Read more…

Michelle Rick

The Landmarks Preservation Commission has approved a proposal to add a penthouse to Anshei Meseritz Synagogue, but current and former congregation members remain steadfastly opposed to the plan.

At a hearing today, architect Joseph Lombardi presented a proposal that would preserve the facade of the East Sixth Street synagogue, conserve its stained glass, and add an extra story to the building.

Though the changes discussed today were cosmetic, they’re rooted in a deeper shakeup: the governing board of Congregation Adas Le Israel Anshei Mesertiz recently leased the synagogue to East River Partners, resurrecting a contentious scheme to develop the building into condos. Construction plans obtained by The Local reveal that the congregation would move to the basement of the building. Read more…

Daniel Maurer

During the next days, we’ll be celebrating Spring Things. First up: the return of Manhattan Special to South Brooklyn Pizza.

It’s finally iced coffee weather! Strike that: espresso-soda float weather!

Back when South Brooklyn Pizza opened its First Avenue location a few years ago, we were gripped by the ultimate sugar rush/caffeine high when we discovered liquid crack Manhattan Special espresso soda would be on tap. But soon after the opening, the taps went dry and the syrupy stuff became unavailable, despite a Manhattan Special mural on the wall. Finally, after a years-long hiatus, it’s back: and for $7, you can get a plastic cup of it with a few scoops of ice cream and whipped cream and a cherry on top.

Incidentally, an employee of the takeout joint said its long-delayed expansion into a proper restaurant would happen “very soon.” More information on that as it becomes available.