Courtesy of Doubleday

Luckily for East Villagers, James Wolcott’s memoir of his days as a young culture critic in a now nearly vanished city, “Lucking Out: My Life Getting Down and Semi-Dirty in Seventies New York,” places much of its meat and potatoes (along with plenty of gravy) right here in our very own backyard. Steering a middle course between the sometimes overly concentrated, every-word-counts prose of his Vanity Fair columns, and the more loosey-goosey style he deploys in his blog at the same publication, Mr. Wolcott reconfirms his position as New York’s wittiest critic.

Despite its pleasing portability (the book, out later this month, comes in at about 270 pages), “Lucking Out” covers plenty of ground, bopping from Mr. Wolcott’s mice-ridden “man-cave” on East 12th Street, down to CBGB, and back up to the Village Voice, where he made his name. It slides west for a gawk at the gay heyday of the West Village, then uptown for some quality time among the balletomanes of Lincoln Center (with a pause for skuzzy “Taxi Driver”-era Times Square porn along the way), and includes countless screening room séances with his mentor and muse, the late New Yorker film critic, Pauline Kael, to whom large portions of the book can be seen as an extended and touching valentine. Read more…

Lauren Carol Smith For Sale signs in the window of Zee’s Pet Store on Avenue B, between 9th and 10th.

The space housing Zee’s Pet Store, the pet supply shop closest to Tompkins Square Park, is up for grabs. The owner, Zee, who declined to give a last name, said his rent had been raised, and a sign in the window solicited a hair or nail salon for the storefront on Avenue B between Ninth and Tenth Street.

At the Tompkins Square Dog Run, reactions varied. Read more…

The Lo-Down has a reminder regarding Tuesday’s important meeting about the redevelopment of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area in the Lower East Side. The swaths of property, near Delancey and Grand Streets, have long been eyed by the city as a site for major new development, and have also caused much anxiety about the future of the Essex Street Market. Tomorrow’s public hearing will present opportunities for public comment on the project as it begins the environmental review process. The meeting starts at 3:30 p.m. at 184 Eldridge Street. There is an evening session, as well.

At 6 a.m., before the sun had cleared the horizon, the members of U TOUGH Bootcamp met around the jungle gym at Tompkins Square Park. Their trainer, a former army sergeant known as Sergeant D-Train, laid his equipment out on the pavement: hooks, ropes, carabiners, and resistance weights that looked like gigantic rubber bands.

Over the next hour, the students strained themselves in a series of army-style drills, while Sergeant D-Train offered firm instructions.

“Kate, you’re moving like pond water,” he said to one sprinting student. “Pond water don’t move! Let’s go!”
Read more…

Folks, we’ve added a half-dozen new photos to our gallery and the time has finally come to vote for the neighborhood’s sweetest ride.

Browse the slideshow above and then pick your favorite from among our hastily improvised monickers below (feel free to suggest better names!) Once we have a set of winning wheels — voting will close around this time next week — we’ll do our best to track down its owner. Then you’ll get the story behind that nutty paint job or that gleaming set of rims.
Read more…

Suzanne Rozdeba

Good morning, East Village.

Did you see this mysterious sky writing on Sunday? City Room explains that it was part of an art project sponsored by Friends of the Highline.

WNYC shows some love for Filipino spot Maharlika and offers up their barbecue sauce recipe.

The Times casts an eye on the state of the Bowery, noting that preservationists are requesting that two blocks be labeled a historic district.

City Room profiles Jason Shelowitz, the man behind all those urban etiquette signs.
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Lauren Carol Smith Shots from the aftermath of the accident.

A black Ford S.U.V. ran into a Fire Department ambulance on the Bowery at East Fourth Street yesterday, and passengers from both vehicles were taken to the hospital.

A spokesman for the Fire Department said that the accident occurred at around 5:30 p.m., and that a two people were treated at Bellevue Hospital for minor injuries. Roughly a half-hour later the driver of the Ford — which belonged to the Delancey Car Service — was spotted dislodging the front of his S.U.V. from the rear bumper of the F.D.N.Y. ambulance by throwing it in reverse.

Ian Duncan The entrance to the theater at 94 St. Marks Place.

One of the neighborhood’s bastions of avant garde theater has been pulled back from the brink and will remain open for at least the next seven years.

Under St. Marks, the basement theater that hosts offbeat productions like “Naked Girls Reading,” “Basterdpiece Theatre,” “God Tastes Like Chicken” and “Thank You Robot,” has signed a new lease — allaying fears that the venue would be given the boot after its landlord put the five-story building on the market for $5.75 million.

“We are so happy and relieved to have come to this agreement,” said Heidi Grumelot, the artistic director for Horse Trade Theater Group, which operates the theater. “We doubt that any other basement in this city enjoys as much continual creative activity as Under St. Marks.”
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Lauren Carol Smith

A film crew from “Nurse Jackie” in Tompkins Square Park today.

Next time you see something like this, tell The Local.

Daniel Maurer A new sign at the bodega.

A sign posted in the Avenue A Mini Market between Ninth and 10th Streets reveals that the bodega isn’t renovating as originally thought, but has apparently gone out of business. A note posted early last month said the store would reopen after three to four weeks of renovations. But the new sign, with the phone number for the building’s landlord — who was away for the weekend — indicates that the hunt is on for a new tenant in the storefront.

Stephen Rex Brown A flyer alerting locals to the squirrel.

New details have emerged about the orphaned baby squirrel that is reportedly approaching passersby in a desperate attempt to feed. A woman who said she had posted the flyers alerting locals to the squirrel contacted The Local this morning and shared her saddening first encounter with the critter on Monday on East Seventh Street between Second and Third Avenues.

“This precious little squirrel — literally the size of my hand — was looking at people beseechingly and trying to climb up their pant legs,” said the woman, who did not wish to give her name.

The next day, the woman saw the squirrel again, this time rummaging around in a trash can on East Seventh Street. That’s when she realized the squirrel must be hungry. “It probably cannot crack nuts,” she said. “It is very small!”
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An exhibition opening today at the artistic haven Gathering of the Tribes is inspired in part by the blindness of its charismatic founder, Steve Cannon. “Blind Light” features photography that attempts to toy with the senses, according to a listing on NY Art Beat. “When one sense is diminished, the others are heightened, creating unique perceptive experiences from the remaining information,” the listing reads. The last time The Local chatted with Mr. Cannon, Gathering of the Tribes was still in limbo after his landlord put the East Third Street building on the market for nearly $3 million.

Suzanne Rozdeba James De La Vega puffs on a cigar outside the former home of his East Village Museum.

James De La Vega, who shut down his East Village museum in August of last year and left followers wondering where he’ll end up next, has taken his brand online.

“De La Vega is now writing on the sidewalks of cyberspace,” said the artist, famous for his street art, often adorned with the catch phrase, “Realiza Tu Sueno / Become Your Dream.” In January, Mr. De La Vega said he was working on a “digital experience.” Now, that experience has been revealed: an online store, featuring De La Vega T-shirts, tote bags and even an organic baby body suit with his signature fish jumping out of a bowl. An assortment of coffee mugs, shot glasses and water bottles range from $10-$18.

Mr. De La Vega remained confident that his followers — who see him as an artistic prophet of sorts — would follow him in his new, commercial direction.
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Stephen Rex Brown The violation at 331 East Sixth Street.

The construction site at 331 East Sixth Street — rumored to be the future home of “Friends” star David Schwimmer — received a violation from a Department of Buildings inspector today.

The notice cites the developer for failure to post the required permits for an eight-foot-tall fence at the front of the lot.

Much speculation and anger has surrounded the site since it was reported in July that the townhouse built in 1852 would be demolished to make way for a new dwelling.

The Local made numerous attempts to find out who the owner of the building is, as well as what the new building will look like. The accounting firm handling the property has remained tight-lipped about the identity of its client, and the architecture firm designing the building has not returned several phone calls.

Meanwhile, an apparent anarchist and architecture critic has left a note at the lot letting the developers know what he thinks about their “ugly, yuppie, ghetto catering to monied transients.”

Stephen Rex Brown There it is: free wi-fI!

Many East Village residents have expressed their dismay over the Time Warner cable outage that occurred this morning. Well, The Local is here to give you good news (if you can manage to get it without internet service): free wi-fi is now available in Tompkins Square Park.

A spokesman with the Department of Information Technology & Telecommunications said that the service quietly launched on Sept. 29, and a stroll through the park confirmed that sure enough, “attwifi” is an available network there.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Time Warner Cable said that the outage was the result of a fire in the Lower East Side, which melted a portion of the fiber-optic network. Read more…

As expected, hundreds of students from NYU and the New School showed up at Washington Square Park Wednesday afternoon, before marching down Lafayette Street to join the Occupy Wall Street protesters. “A lot of the problems that Occupy Wall Street is addressing have a particular impact on students,” said co-organizer of NYU Student Walk Out, Christy Thornton, 32. After hooking up with what she said were 60 community groups and what the Times reported were several labor unions at Foley Square, several thousand marched on to Zuccotti Park, per the AP. In the course of the evening, about 28 arrests were made, according to NY1 (update: City Room hears that 23 were arrested), and protesters reported police using pepper-spray and batons to keep the crowd at bay. (Gothamist has video of one such incident.) As you can see from Liv Buli’s report above, the Local was at Washington Square Park to see the start of it all.

Update | 11:15 a.m. Our reporter Yoo Eun Lee was also on the scene and captured the raw footage below. Read more…

Daniel Maurer

Good morning, East Village.

It seems Bob Arihood (the above tribute to whom was painted by Chico yesterday) wasn’t the only one to tend after injured squirrels. On East Seventh Street near Second Avenue, we spotted a sign explaining that an orphaned baby squirrel has gone missing, and must be returned to a “federally licensed wildlife rehabilitator” because it is too young to crack nutshells for itself.

If IHOP’s new sidewalk canopy leaves you cold, and you’re more a fan of the “Eat Me” sign above Crif Dogs, take note: In honor of the hot dog spot’s 10th anniversary, everything is $1 today, and, according to its Facebook page, there’ll be a party with free rum shots tonight.

Just in time for Game 5 tonight, former Yankees and Mets right fielder Darryl Strawberry will be signing autographs between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. at the Village Pourhouse, reports Bowery Boogie. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown The crew from “CSI” packs up its gear on Wednesday.

The Local spotted the crew for “CSI: NY” filming on Eighth Street between Broadway and Lafayette Street all morning. And for all you would-be paparazzi out there, “Nurse Jackie” — starring Edie Falco of “Sopranos” fame — will be shooting on Thursday on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue, according to notices posted on the street.

Next time you see something like this, tell The Local.