Courtesy Mari Fagel. Mari Fagel and her boyfriend.

“Damn girl, you one fine piece of midget!”

Having just moved to New York City, I was already feeling small in such a big city. But when I was cat-called out on my five-foot-one height while walking down Bowery on my second day here, I wondered if I was ready to take on the Big Apple.

I’d lived in the city briefly in the summer of 2007 while interning and, frankly, I hated it. Each morning I woke up to the stench of fish coming in from my window since my N.Y.U. dorm on Lafayette was across from a Chinatown seafood market. I was so excited to hang out with my college friends who’d grown up in the city, only to realize they were in the Hamptons nearly every weekend and ate dinner at home with their families during the week. So there I was, taking the N train from Rockefeller Center back to Canal and Lafayette after work each day only to crawl in bed and watch episodes of “Greek” on my computer.

Then, three years later I got the call from NY1 News that I’d been hired as an on-air reporter, so I decided to give the city a second chance. With just two weeks to find a place, and having experienced only Chinatown and Midtown the summer I’d interned here, I was clueless as to where I should live. But then a close family friend told me her third roommate was moving out. Perfect. Bowery and First would be my new home. Read more…

Yesterday the executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, Andrew Berman, shared the history of six buildings that may soon be part of the proposed East Village-Lower East Side Historic District. Before this afternoon’s critical hearing, he’s delving into the history of six others.

G.V.S.H.P. 68 East Seventh Street

68 East Seventh Street, built in 1835. This row house at 68 East Seventh Street was built speculatively in 1835 by Thomas E. Davis. Sometime in the 1850s or 1860s, the original Greek Revival façade was updated with Italianate details that include the triangular and segmental window pediments and the frieze located below the original cornice. In 1882, the house was sold to the Protestant Episcopal Church Society for Promoting Christianity Among the Jews, which occupied it until 1904, when the house became a Jewish religious school operated by the Machzikei Talmud Torah. It was then subsequently a synagogue. The house was returned to private residential use in 1960. Read more…

Daniel Maurer

Good morning, East Village.

It’s Primary Day and Nydia Velazquez got a last-minute boost from Comptroller John Liu, Politicker reports. As mentioned yesterday in our profile of challenger Erik M. Dilan, you can find your nearest polling location here. Polls are open till 9 p.m.

Those who were nervous about potential cuts to after-school programs can breathe easy. The Times reports that Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council have passed a budget that does not include layoffs, and Gotham Schools points out that “instead of losing 6,500 child-care spots and 30,000 after-school spots, the city will actually have more spots next year than this year.”

DNA Info reports that Community Board 2 has named a new chair after Brad Hoylman stepped down to start his campaign for State Senate. 36-year Villager David Gruber “has served as chair of CB2’s committee on land use and business development and its working groups on the NYU expansion and Hudson Square rezoning.” Read more…

Yesterday in Union Square Park, Ecuadorian dancers celebrated Inti Raymi, the “festival of the sun” that has traditionally marked the winter solstice in the Andean region. St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery hosted a similar event featuring dancers and actors from Abya Yala Arte y Cultura. If you saw the festivities and have photos to share, add them to The Local’s Flickr pool. We’ll feature them in our newsletter.

Followers of the Occupy East 4th Street blog may have noted Friday’s report of a woman injured at 86 East Fourth Street after a stairwell landing partially collapsed due to construction in the building. A spokeswoman for the Department of Buildings revealed today that the victim, who is in her 30s, had non-life-threatening injuries. The incident occurred between the third and fourth floors and inspectors hit the owners with a violation for failing to maintain the building. Further details were not available. A resident in the building said that earlier today a temporary stairwell landing built by the Fire Department was still in place. Gatsby Realty, which has been the subject of several tenant harassment complaints, did not respond to a request for comment. Last year EV Grieve reported that the new owners of the building were not renewing tenants’ leases.

Philip Kalantzis-Cope The East Village location of Life Cafe.

Less than six months after its original location officially closed for good, the Bushwick location of Life Cafe will shut down as well.

Owner Kathy Kirkpatrick explained in a brief phone conversation that her landlord refused to extend her lease on the space at 983 Flushing Avenue.

“My husband and I have gotten over our disbelief, anger and sadness at losing both places in one year,” Ms. Kirkpatrick wrote in a press release. “We see it now as the universe giving us a less than gentle nudge into retirement. We’re now eagerly looking forward to our ‘Adventures Before Dementia.’ It’s time for a little relaxation.” Read more…

On the eve of a critical hearing regarding the proposed East Village-Lower East Side Historic District, the executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, Andrew Berman, shared information on 12 of the more compelling buildings within the footprint. Here’s a look at the first six.

G.V.S.H.P. 101 Avenue A

101 Avenue A, now the The Pyramid Club. Built in 1876 by architect William Jose.

Although little is known about William Jose, a German-born tenement-house architect, his buildings are often some of the most unusual and intricate in their neighborhoods. His Neo-Grec design for 101 Avenue A is no different, with an unusually ornate cornice, florid fire escapes, and deeply incised window hoods.

The building housed several tenement apartments on its upper floors, while its ground floor long served as a hall where locals would gather to eat, celebrate, mourn, or discuss labor issues and neighborhood gossip. Kern’s Hall was the first to open in 1876 and was followed by Shultz’s Hall, Fritz’s Hall, and most famously, Leppig’s Hall.

John Leppig and later his son, also named John Leppig, both served as the unofficial “Mayor of Avenue A.” Leppig’s closed in the 1930s, and by the 1960s the space was home to a series of performance spaces and cultural centers, which reflected the East Village’s evolution from an ethnic enclave to a worldwide center of cultural ferment. It was also at this time that underground music icon and Warhol superstar Nico lived upstairs at 101 Avenue A, while she was performing with the Velvet Underground.

In 1979 the present occupant, the Pyramid Club, opened in the space. The Pyramid Club had a profound impact on the downtown art, music, and performance art scene. The Wigstock Festival is said to have begun there, as well as politically-conscious drag performance in the early 1980s. In later years it became a showcase for up-and-coming artists, including Madonna, RuPaul, Nirvana, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Read more…

Courtesy Erik Dilan

New York City Councilmember Erik M. Dilan is running to unseat Nydia Velázquez in tomorrow’s Democratic Primary. The congresswoman is seeking her 11th term, this time in a newly remapped seventh district that includes the housing projects east of Avenue D as well as parts of the Lower East Side, Chinatown, and Brooklyn.

Mr. Dilan, the 38-year-old son of State Senator Martin M. Dilan, took a break from voter outreach Sunday evening to speak to The Local. In a phone interview, the Bushwick resident – who, like Ms. Velázquez, is of Puerto Rican heritage – admitted he hasn’t spent all that much time campaigning in the East Village. “Should I be elected, I’m hoping to become expertly familiar with all the local issues there,” he said.

On nightlife, an evergreen battle in the neighborhood, Mr. Dilan said, “As an elected official, you want to be there to listen to complaints. It’s always a concern. I think there is a way for nightlife and the residents in the neighborhoods to interact.” If elected, he said, he would zero in on bad actors and help to resolve disputes.

As the City Council’s chair of the Housing and Buildings committee, Mr. Dilan is familiar with the N.Y.U. expansion issue. He said he saw deep opposition to the project, but had yet to develop a specific position on it. Read more…

As expected, the Drag March made its way from Tompkins Square Park to the Stonewall Inn on Friday night, and The Local’s cameras were there to capture the color. Lucky Cheng’s may be on its way out, but watch our video and you’ll see drag lives on in the East Village.

Ria Chung

Good morning, East Village.

The Post reports that a man is wanted for two robberies in the Bleecker Street subway station (one with a butter knife) and one in an East Third Street vestibule last month.

The fate of Jerry Delakas’s newsstand remains uncertain, but according to The Post, the Department of Consumer Affairs has reversed its decision about a 35-year-old Bowery newsstand and is giving the owner a brand-new stand that’s two feet farther from the curb.

The NoHo Bowery Stakeholders has released a guide that “lists the location, phone and website of every art gallery, interior design merchant, theater/performance venue, fashion designer/boutique, food and beverage purveyor, institution or landmark in NoHo,” according to NoHo News. Read more…

Coca Crystal

Coca Crystal lives outside of Woodstock, N.Y. these days but next week she’ll return to her old neighborhood for a once-in-a-lifetime meeting – with herself.

Danielle Quisenberry, an actress, dancer, and writer, is playing the former East Village Other secretary and scribe as part of “Alphabet City VIII.” The series, itself part of the East Village Theater Festival at Metropolitan Playhouse, consists of six solo performances based on the lives of East Villagers.

Full disclosure: Ms. Quisenberry discovered Coca Crystal (born Jackie Diamond) via The Local’s story about her physically and mentally disabled nephew, whom she cares for as a son while also battling cancer, and she tracked her down by reaching out to Sasha Von Oldershausen, the author of the piece. As research material, she used a recording of Ms. Von Oldershausen’s interview as well as YouTube clips of Ms. Crystal’s cult cable-access program, “If I Can’t Dance … Keep Your Revolution.” Eventually, she met Ms. Crystal herself. Read more…

This will put a damper on his Fourth of July plans.

A medic for the Fire Department was arrested early this morning after selling fireworks to an undercover officer, the police said.

The suspect, Anthony Baijnauth, was selling the fun — but illegal — explosives out of a large bag stashed in his car at Norfolk and East Houston Streets at around 12:10 a.m., the police said. After selling some of the fireworks to the undercover officer, the 24-year-old resident of Queens was arrested and charged with unlawfully dealing with fireworks.

Susan Keyloun Sandy Michelle (in turquoise) and the Ladies of Mug Lounge.

“Trying to eliminate the old colorful ways of the East Village is like trying to put a marshmallow in a piggy bank,” said the transsexual with the inch-long nails. “It ain’t gonna happen, and why would you wanna?”

As the “Queen of the East Village,” Sandy Michelle should know. She’s hosted parties at Karma and Sin Sin, and now she presides over a weekly “trannie living room” at Mug Lounge on 13th Street. This evening, she’ll be among those participating in the annual Drag March from Tompkins Square Park.

Ms. Michelle’s dance parties are a carnal carnival where wallflowers need not apply. Aside from the occasional appearance from legendary drag performers like Ireland’s Marianne Madox and South Beach’s Ebony Excel, the dancers are all transsexuals and Sandy is their Mama Morton. Originally from Pittsburgh and once a show director at the notorious Club Edelweiss, she’s been promoting her dance parties at Mug for a year now, mostly through social media. (See here for the weekly lineup of “fabulous, sexy sassy gals,” including a recent Kim Kardashian lookalike, and see this video teaser unless, of course, you’re at your work desk.) Read more…

Oscar Fuller, the man who punched a woman over an East 14th Street parking spot in 2011, was sentenced to one year in jail today, according to The Daily News. The sentence is the maximum allowed for the misdemeanor assault that left the victim, Lana Rosas, with serious head trauma. The judge in the case was unsatisfied with the sentence, according to the paper. “If anyone heard this outside the court, just on common sense, would say that this sentence is not adequate,” Judge Bonnie Wittner said.

>Linda Medard Frantz Medard’s move into his new apartment took a surprising turn today.

A man and a moving truck got caught in separate sink holes on the same block earlier today, causing the truck to be towed and the pedestrian to be taken to the hospital.

Linda Medard The rear wheel lodged in the sinkhole.

This morning, Frantz Medard was moving into an apartment at 70 East Seventh Street, between First and Second Avenues, when he heard one of his movers yell from the street, “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” He looked out the window to see the moving truck tilting to the side.

“We thought it was a flat tire, looking from the hallway,” he said. “Then we saw half the tire in the ground.”

Melvin Felix The sinkhole, after the truck had been extracted.

The truck, belonging to the Westchester Moving and Delivery company, had fallen into a sinkhole that, according to the fire department, was four feet deep, and six feet wide. Read more…

Daniel Maurer The current location of Lucky Cheng’s on First Avenue.

With the annual Drag March set to kick off in Tompkins Square Park at 7 p.m. tonight and the final performance of “Cowboy Mouth” tonight as well, we thought we’d check in with Hayne Suthon, the owner of Lucky Cheng’s, which will soon move to Times Square.

Ms. Suthon hopes to haul her her drag operation to 240 West 52nd Street around Labor Day weekend, and is in negotiations with two “upscale” operators in the same vein as Beauty & Essex.

“All the concepts are nice restaurants. Not clubby kind of stuff,” Ms. Suthon said.

“Sutra has been shopping around for something more high end,” she added, referencing Ariel Palitz’s nightclub on the same blocks as Cheng’s, which is also on the market. “It’s time to be a bit more grown-up around the neighborhood.” Read more…

The sixth annual Make Music festival celebrated the first day of summer with free concerts around the city yesterday. Here in the East Village, Joe’s Pub took its programming out to Astor Place. Watch our video to see the harmonicas, banjos, and gospel choirs in action, and hear more about the festival from the director of Joe’s Pub, Shanta Thake.

Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

Above, Scott Lynch got a shot of Malcolm D. MacDougall III’s “Microscopic Landscape 2010,” a 24-foot long, 7,500-pound sculpture that “finds its inspiration in the multi-faceted structures and activities seen on the molecular level,” according to a press release. It will be on display in Union Square’s Triangle Park through January 2013.

The folks at the CBGB Festival send word that they’ve finalized the lineup for their summer festival, and tickets for film screenings go on sale Monday. Among the 300 bands playing are Agnostic Front, Fishbone, Superchunk, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, JD Samson & MEN, MXPX, Reggie Watts, The Dirty Pearls, LA Guns, David Johansen, Guided By Voices, Pains Of Being Pure at Heart, Cloud Nothings, War on Drugs, The Virgins, D Generation, and The Cro-Mags. More info here.

DNA Info reports that at a heavily protested meeting at Cooper Union yesterday, the city’s Rent Guidelines Board voted to increase rents by 2 percent or $20 (whichever is higher) for one-year leases and 4 percent or $40 (whichever is higher) for two-year leases. The Post points out that the increases were the lowest in a decade. Read more…

Good news! We’ve extended our contest deadline to July 1 and you can still win a tour of Allen Ginsberg’s former 12th Street apartment, led by his longtime assistant Bob Rosenthal, if you sign up for our newsletter. In the meantime, here’s a tour of the loft Ginsberg moved to after his 25 years on 12th Street, led by the bard himself. East Village photographer and filmmaker Sebastian Piras tells the story.

In 1996, I was working on an impromptu film about “post-bohemian” poet and Andy Warhol film star Taylor Mead, titled “Taylor Mead Unleashed.” The film consisted of Taylor reading his poetry as well as encounters, which I often improvised or arranged on short notice, between him and his acquaintances and collaborators.

After having lived for years on the fourth floor of a building on 12th Street, Allen Ginsberg had just moved into his new “digs” on 13th Street just off First Avenue. He had used proceeds of the sale of his library to Stanford University to buy a loft in a building owned by the artist Larry Rivers. It was a welcome move, a new spacious apartment with plenty of light coming in and an elevator, meaning no four-floor hike.

I had met Allen Ginsberg socially on several occasions around the city and at friends’ dinners. Around the time I made this video I had photographed him for a book of artists portraits. I mentioned the film to him and he warmly welcomed the idea of being filmed with Taylor.

In this clip, Taylor is actually the one welcoming Ginsberg into the loft. That’s because when we got there, Ginsberg wasn’t in yet; but his assistants, who were unpacking his belongings (hence the noise in the background during the shoot), kindly let us in. After a brief chat about past adventures, creative accomplishments and some mentions of what gives sexual satisfaction at an old age, Ginsberg offers to give Taylor a tour of his new home. The result is a candid and insightful look at the living quarters of one of America’s best known contemporary poets, and an intellectual version of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.”