Stephen Rex Brown The arborists prepare to climb trees at Astor Place.Tree-climbers are searching for the dreaded Asian longhorned beetle at Astor Place today. An arborist at the scene said that no beetles had recently been spotted, but that the area was contaminated about four years ago, so investigators are being “extra careful.”
The climbers typically look for circular, pencil-diameter holes in the trees, the signature of the Chinese beetle that first appeared in the city — and in the U.S. — in 1996. When a beetle is found, it spells the destruction of the infested tree and usually many of the other trees nearby in an attempt to quarantine the insect.
The tree-climbers are a fairly common sight in the neighborhood. Late last year they were spotted on Avenue A.
City Room reports that the police closed Tompkins Square Park around 8 p.m., presumably to keep last night’s protesters at bay. One would-be park-goer didn’t understand why the gates were still chained after 10 p.m. “It just feels creepy that this public gem is being closed down,” said a 33-year-old architect. Gideon Oliver, New York President of the National Lawyers Guild, tells Runnin’ Scared, “The summary closure of a public park, when New York City rules require that park to be open, flies in the face of those rules, and the rule of law more generally.”
Evan BleierSister Kelly CarpenterA program that serves needy East Village and Lower East Side immigrants is in peril, as a significant chunk of its funding will disappear when its sponsor, the Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, closes next month.
After last-ditch efforts to keep the Cabrini Center open fell through and the new owner of its building at Fifth Street and Avenue B, Benjamin Shaoul’s Magnum Realty Group, announced in March that it would go ahead with redevelopment plans, it became apparent that the nursing home’s 240 residents would be forced to relocate.
Those elderly residents won’t be the only ones affected by the closure on June 30. The Cabrini Center also sponsors Cabrini Immigrant Services, a Lower East Side organization that, according to its director Sister Kelly Carpenter, feeds about 16,000 people a week. City, state, and federal grants totaling $94,000 pay for most of the meals, but the cost of administering them has, to this point, been covered by the center. Read more…
Arts Beat has the latest on the lineup of bands scheduled to play the inaugural CBGB Festival July 4 weekend, including War on Drugs, a stable of New York bands and plenty of throwbacks like MxPx.
Local venues like Otto’s Shrunken Head, Lit Lounge, The Bowery Electric, Local 269, Webster Hall and Joe’s Pub are among the 30 that will host shows in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
The Local has also discovered that the Upright Citizens Brigade will curate a series of “rock and roll comedy and improv shows” at the UCB East Theater. A new documentary, “The Rise and Fall of the Clash,” will premiere during the film portion of the festival. See ticket prices, film and conference lineups…
Clayton Patterson sent the above photo of over 100 people marching down Broadway, near East Ninth Street, in a show of solidarity for students protesting tuition hikes in Quebec. Another tipster sent us video of protesters heading down Bowery. Around 8 p.m., The Local spotted police cars racing down 12th Street and up and down Avenue A in an apparent effort to head off the march at Tompkins Square Park. It ended in Union Square.
A representative for Bantam tells us the Stanton Street lounge will open a 30-seat tented patio after a preview party tomorrow. It’ll be open at 17 Stanton Street, Tuesday through Saturday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. for happy hour and then the door will get more selective after 11 a.m.
With the former Van Tassell & Kearney Horse Auction Mart building now a landmark, Off the Grid takes a closer look at its history, noting that it also served as an assembly-line training center for women during World War II. Read more…
They’re the people that keep the East Village popping: yesterday we introduced you to the DJ. Today, meet the musician. On Ka’a Davis, a former squatter, discusses changes in the music and art scene over the three decades he has lived in the East Village.
Photos: Philip Ross
It’s not every day that students are encouraged to deface school property. But today in Union Square, schools chancellor Dennis M. Walcott helped a few hundred middle-schoolers unveil brightly colored cafeteria tables that will soon be displayed in city parks.
With the blessing of the parks department, the educational nonprofit Learning through an Expanded Arts Program (LeAP) encouraged 350 students across ten schools to brainstorm issues that affected them on a daily basis. After classroom visits from artists such as Christo and Mark di Suvero, whose iconic “Joie de Vivre” sculpture overlooks Zuccotti Park, the students painted cafeteria tables with imagery and quotes pertaining to bullying, gang violence, gay rights, environmental awareness, and drug use. Read more…
Photos by Tim Schreier. Second photo: Veng. Third photo: Moise Joseph. Seventh photo: Sofia Maldonado and Carlo McCormick of Paper. Eighth photo: Mista Oh and Sofia Maldonado. Ninth slide, left to right: Chris Serrano, Mista Oh (Jerry Otero), H Veng Smith, Sofia Maldonado, Moise Joseph, Crystal Gonzalez, Robin Cembalest (editor Art News), Alicia Prieto
The group that scored a $5,000 check from street artist Retna has added a new mural to the East Village, and The Local helped make it happen.
Jerry “Mista Oh” Otero, who runs Cre8tive YouTH*ink, said that a resident of East Fifth Street, Liezl Van Riper, contacted him after seeing our piece about Retna’s donation, and asked his Gowanus-based organization to create a new mural for a wall that was once the domain of Chico.
“The wall directly across from her building was inadvertently painted by the city’s anti-graffiti program,” said Mr. Otero. “It was done by Chico – an outdoor scene of some sort. It was up for 10 years.” Read more…
Stephen Rex Brown The scenes at Bistro Cafe & Grill and Joyful Nail, both of which opened today.As The Local predicted yesterday, the Bistro Cafe & Grill is now open and serving a wide range of deli fare, plus gyros, kebabs, falafel and hummus. The new eatery at First Avenue and East Second Street is owned by the same folks behind Tompkins Finest Deli. And just a block away at 35 Avenue A, Joyful Nail also opened today. It’s the second nail salon to open in recent weeks. See what they’re offering below. See the menus for both…
Grub Street reports that Sho Boo, a former chef at one of the neighborhood’s finer sushi spots, Jewel Bako, will open Bugs at 504 East 12th Street in July. The fifteen-seat restaurant will serve “sushi and Japanese small plates like chicken saikyo yaki.” Elsewhere in the sushisphere, Iconic Hand Rolls is now hiring.
Daniel MaurerThe smell of bacon on East 14th Street will soon be snuffed out.
Following more complaints of a greasy odor emanating from IHOP, The Local contacted the owner of the eatery to get the latest on the installation of a ventilation unit to neutralize the smell.
“As an IHOP franchisee, we are committed to being a good neighbor,” owner Ed Scannapieco wrote in an e-mail. “We are awaiting delivery of the equipment within the next 10 days, and we have a commitment from the contractor that it will be installed seven to 10 days after delivery.”
That will come as good news to neighbors of the restaurant who have complained since late last year about a nauseating smell that lingers around the clock.
“The odors and noise are still a problem, and the so-called ‘roof’ still looks like a garbage dump,” wrote Sandy Berger, who recently posted flyers asking her neighbors to join an IHOP victims committee.
“I had hoped that the owners would have corrected the problem by now, but right now I’m gagging on bacon fumes,” wrote another neighbor, Mary Beth Powers, to Community Board 6.
If you happen to spot the installation of the most intriguing ventilator unit since that noisy air conditioner on East 13th Street, send us a photo.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this post referred to the ventilation unit as a “smog-hog.” That reference has been deleted since the term is a brand name and Smog Hog says that it did not manufacture the unit in question.
CREDIT CAPTION
Scott LynchGood morning, East Village.
Above, a look inside the “Core 77 Open: All City All Stars” exhibition at 350 Bowery, near Great Jones. It’s part of NoHo Design District and features artists from all five boroughs.
The Real Deal reports that at 72,000 square feet plot at 79-89 Avenue D is on the market for $22.5 million. The current owners bought it for $3.6 million in 2005.
The Lower East Side History Project has won a 2012 Village Award from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, according to the L.E.S.H.P.’s blog. Other winners, according to the G.V.S.H.P.’s site, include Sixth Street and Avenue B Garden and City Council Member Rosie Mendez. Read more…
Daniel MaurerThe old Belcourt space at Fourth Street and Second Avenue got a new paint job courtesy of Eric Korsh, the former executive chef at the Waverly Inn, and Ginevra Iverson, a former cook at Prune. They’ll soon open Calliope there. Grub Street noticed that former Peels chef Shuna Fish Lydon had a hand in the bright new look.
Meanwhile a few blocks over at Second Street and First Avenue, the Middle Eastern cafe from the duo behind Tompkins Finest Deli looks close to swinging open its doors – the shelves are stocked and some grand-opening balloons are waiting to be unleashed. We’ll have a look inside in the next days.
Stephen Rex Brown
Jum Mum, a restaurant specializing in steamed buns, has opened in the former Hottie space at 5 St. Marks Place.
The business, which sells two pork belly buns for $5.50, is run by the owners of Spot Dessert Bar a few doors down. Several other varieties of buns and rice dishes are available as well.
Jum Mum is open from noon to midnight Sunday through Thursday, and noon to 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. See the menu…
Julia Pasternak Diana Beshara as Cavale and Geoffrey Pomeroy as Slim in “Cowboy Mouth.” The roles were originally filled Patti Smith and Sam Shepard.The building housing Lucky Cheng’s will get a “Sleep No More”-style makeover. “Cowboy Mouth,” a play written by Patti Smith and Sam Shepard during their whirlwind romance in a ransacked room in the Chelsea Hotel, will be revived in a room in which the audience sits on sofas next to needles, trash, liquor bottles and a drum kit. The roughly 25 audience members will even have to “find” the room by inquiring at the bar of Lucky Cheng’s and then being directed to an out-of-the-way set of stairs.
“It’s going to have an apartment-feel,” said Leah Benavides, the director. “There’s not going to be a definitive line between the audience and the stage. The audience is going to be really in it.” Read more…
Last week we clued you into the “I Love Vinyl” parties. Today, meet one of the DJs behind the parties, Jon Oliver, also the host of “The Main Ingredient,” Tuesdays from midnight to 2 a.m. on East Village Radio. This video kicks off a week-long tribute to the neighborhood’s Party People: the DJs, bartenders, waitresses, musicians, and drag queens who keep the East Village popping.
Photos: Daniel Maurer
Laurie Gwen Shapiro Hermann at Bagel Cafe & Ray’s PizzaAt Bagel Café and Ray’s Pizza, on the corner of St. Marks Place and Third Avenue, a mural depicts nearly 25 scenes of the East Village. One panel features Telly Salavas in front of the Ninth Precinct stationhouse. Another depicts Deanna’s, a popular early-90s jazz club on East Seventh Street that catered to bebop lovers on a budget. The largest of them, running across the entire back wall, is an East Village cityscape watched over by the World Trade Center’s twin towers.
And then there’s the one that includes a tranquil scene in Tompkins Square Park, also in the early 90s, when the park was shedding its scars from the riots. The signature at the bottom right of the panel reads: H Platschka. Next to the autograph, strangely enough, is a phone number.
Call that number and Hermann Platschka will pick up. He calls himself Hermann the German. The artist, “76-years young,” recently accepted The Local’s invitation to tell the story of the murals. Thickset, with a short-cropped beard, he arrived at the Bagel Cafe clad entirely in black, from his shoes to his beret to his black leather jacket to his black-framed glasses.
His tour started with the first panel he painted, of Gem Spa. “The East Village was a dangerous place then,” he said, pointing to a fair-haired night watchman standing outside the candy store: “The ladies’ favorite, a cop with movie-star looks. It was dicey then, and he was the law.” Read more…
Suzanne Rozdeba
Suzanne RozdebaGood morning, East Village.
Take note, pet owners: the flyer above and another at right went up around the neighborhood recently.
The Post reports that Kenneth Moreno, the former police officer who was acquitted of raping a woman on duty but fired after being found guilty of official misconduct, is thinking about suing the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for allegedly planting incriminating evidence.
You’ll recall baggies of heroin were found in Mr. Moreno’s locker, and woes at the stationhouse continue: The Post hears from a source that the last of four 9mm pistols stolen from the locker room was swiped after officers were assigned to patrol the room.
Speaking of guns, The Daily News reports that two teens were arrested at the Union Square station when police officers who stopped them for evading the fare found a pair of guns and two bulletproof vests on them. Read more…
Photos: Tim Schreier
The annual New York Dance Parade brought pretty much the entirety of the East Village over to St. Marks Place this afternoon to gawk at a colorful cacophony of fantastic attire, expert moves, and in the case of the Webster Hall float, scantily clad ladies escorting one of the parade’s grand marshals, DJ Jonathan Peters. In case you escaped to Rockaway Beach, where Caracas opened its boardwalk outpost today, these photos should give you an idea of what you missed. If you have your own shots, add them to our Flickr group.
Daniel Maurer If you’re looking for something to do tonight, tomorrow, or Sunday, the 36th Annual Ukrainian Festival, featuring over 100 performers, is now in full swing next to St. George Church on Seventh Street between Second and Third Avenues. Find more info here, and if you take photos, add them to our Flickr group.
