Chic or bargain? A new line makes it tough to tell.

Home goods designer John Derian has been a well-established presence in the East Village for more than a decade. His two, side-by-side eponymous stores on East Second Street carry luxury home goods, artisanal furniture, and antiques – all with a hefty price tag. But now the king of downtown decoupage is bringing his lust-worthy dishware and signature prints to the masses with a wallet-friendly line at Target.

Back in 2008, Mr. Derian designed a well-received capsule collection for the mega-store and this month Target rolled out a second affordable installment of his wares. John Derian store manager Amy Lipkin said that the mass-market collaborations are “a great way to be introduced to an entirely new customer base.”
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Samantha Ku A red-nosed surprise for three young visitors to the Fourth Arts Block Festival Saturday.

The Fourth Arts Block, or FAB! as it’s known by the locals, held its seventh annual FAB! Festival on East Fourth Street on Saturday.

Jamie Newman Scenes from the festival.

On a balmy early autumn day, the festival showcased a wide variety of the neighborhood’s creativity from the performances of the Alpha Omega and Rod Rodgers dance companies, to readings by poets from the Nuyorican Poets Café.

There were also culinary offerings, including Akiko’s Cookie’s Green Tea cookie and Bao Bing’s Taiwanese-style shaved ice. The diverse program made for a fun and widely appreciated festival.

The Fourth Arts Block, on Fourth Street between Bowery and Second Avenue, is home to a large number of theaters and cultural organizations, and is one of only two communities to receive “cultural district” designations from city officials (the other is the neighborhood around the Brooklyn Academy of Music).

The festival is designed to celebrate the creativity of one of the most densely populated blocks for the arts in the city.

As Tamara Greenfield, the arts block’s executive director, puts it, “We see the festival as an opportunity to spill everything that takes place in our neighborhood year round out on the street so its accessible to everyone.”

Did you attend the FAB! Festival this year? What did you find most memorable about it?

Jamie NewmanPerformers from the Alpha Omega dance company.

Sophie Hoeller Signs of the East Village’s former notoriety as Little Germany can still be found in pockets around the community. Here, the former German-American Shooting Hall at 12 St. Marks Place.

Oktoberfest – the 200-year-old homage to German beer – and arguably the most identifiably German thing next to sauerkraut, kicked off this weekend. But you don’t have to cross the Atlantic to partake. In fact, you don’t even have to leave the neighborhood.

Most of us are well aware of the Lower East Side’s Jewish roots, but many don’t know that what is now called the East Village used to be known as “Kleindeutschland,” or Little Germany, home to German grocery stores, restaurants, beer gardens, libraries, theaters, shooting clubs, schools and churches.
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The Department of Parks and Recreation last week finalized its Community Garden Rules amid growing tumult at gardens in the East Village and across the city. But despite the department’s publicized goal of addressing community concerns over the long-term preservation of the green spaces, the new rules have left some gardeners and activists continuing to pick bones, not flowers.

What do you think about the new rules for community gardens?

Emily Anne Epstein New bike lanes in the East Village have brought new perils for cyclists.

The paint and concrete have barely dried on the East Village’s new bicycle lanes, but already business owners and residents are concerned about new dangers for neighborhood cyclists. The new lanes on First and Second Avenue pose a range of potential hazards from open car doors to riders who go against the flow of traffic.

Christopher Feltman, co-manager of the Second Avenue bike shop NYC Velo, estimates that wrong-way bike traffic has increased at least fivefold since the lanes were installed this summer.

“As a rider, I think it’s been worse,” he says of safety on Second Avenue since the lanes were added. “Because they painted it green, a lot of people take that as ‘I can go both ways on it.’”
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Steven Hirsch Pete Hamill at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.

Earlier today, we mentioned how grateful we are for the strong turn-out at NYU Journalism Thursday night for a talk by Pete Hamill titled, “Down the Block.”

We’re now happy to be able to make available a complete video of Mr. Hamill’s remarks here.
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Dan Nguyen

Earlier this week, we wrote about a meeting of the state liquor authority committee of Community Board 3, where neighborhood residents successfully opposed the granting of a liquor license to a diner on Avenue A. One reader, Josef, commented in the forums:

Who are these people? Obviously they do not deserve to live in such a cool neighborhood. There are thousands and thousands of people who would love to move to the East Village and revel in its bars, restaurants, noise, traffic, and graffiti. Instead, the best hood for partying in the city winds up populated by shrinking violets with sensitive eardrums and early bedtimes.

Later in the week, we posted a story about the Ninth Precinct Community Council Meeting where at least 25 people showed up to voice their complaints about noise and fighting outside East Village bars.

As the weekend approaches – with Oktoberfest celebrations and other events planned – we’d like to know what you think.

Are complaints about noisy bars and congested streets overblown?

Or do residents have a legitimate expectation that business owners control the riff-raff?

Let us know.

Rachel Wise

Good morning, East Village.

We want to start by thanking everyone who turned out at NYU Journalism Thursday night for a celebration of East Village history led by Pete Hamill.

It was a tremendous night and it was great to meet many of our neighbors in person — and we also appreciate the virtual presence of those of you who could not attend yet still tuned in for the livestream online. We’ll talk a little more about Mr. Hamill’s remarks later today but, again, we greatly appreciate all of the support and good energy that we felt last night.

There are some very nice East Village-related reads around the blogosphere this morning. On Thursday, we wrote about how a new law might make it easier for disgruntled residents to close bars known for violence and excessive noise.

Grub Street over at New York magazine touches on the law in its piece about how some East Village residents are worked up over a different kind of eatery. And while you’re at New York, be sure to check out this slideshow of Billy Hurricane’s on Avenue B.

An editorial in The Villager expresses support for new bike lanes. We wrote Thursday about how businesses have been affected by the lanes and stay tuned for another post later today by Community Contributor Bill Millard about some unexpected ways that the lanes have affected cyclists.

More good stuff over at DNAinfo and Neighborhoodr, which gives us all a heads-up on a block party Saturday at St. Mark’s Church. And while based a little bit west of our neighborhood, this piece on a rather atypical rapper is also worth checking out.

State Senator Daniel L. Squadron, with constituents this summer, co-sponsored a recently enacted law that can help close troublesome nightspots.

There’s a new weapon to close down noisy and violent bars. At Tuesday’s Community Council meeting, Daniel L. Squadron, a Democratic state senator for the 25th District, which includes the East Village, discussed a new law signed by Gov. David A. Paterson just last month, designed to fight the very problems making life miserable for many locals. But for it to work, neighbors have to voice their complaints.

In an interview Wednesday, Senator Squadron told The Local East Village that with the Squadron/Schimminger Bill, signed into law on Aug. 15, the State Liquor Authority can revoke a liquor license from an establishment when police have referred six or more noise or disorder incidents to the authority within 60 days. Before the new law was enacted, liquor licenses could be revoked for repeated noise violations, but a police complaint was not considered evidence of a disturbance unless the liquor authority could show that the license holder was responsible.
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Mariya Abedi Some East Village business owners say that recently installed bike lanes are adversely affecting their deliveries.

New bike lanes may be a welcome sight for cyclists in the East Village, but after two months they’re still not going over well with some small businesses.

When transportation officials placed bike lanes between the sidewalk and a parking zone, they separated delivery trucks from direct access to many local stores. Some business owners say they’re having more difficulties with deliveries as a result.

The Department of Transportation has begun installing loading zones but even that step may not completely solve the problem.
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Molly O’Toole

Hello, East Village.

We start this morning with two invitations from us here at The Local.

First of all, the development team that has been hard at work on the Virtual Assignment Desk has made the list of story assignments visible to the public on the beta version of the site.

You may recall that the Assignment Desk is an application that allows members of the community to suggest story ideas and volunteer to report, take photographs or otherwise contribute to the blog. It represents another way that we’re promoting journalistic innovation and bringing value to the blogosphere.

So we’d like to invite you to visit the assignment desk and try it out.

We’d also like to remind you that you’re all invited to a celebration of the history of the East Village at NYU Journalism tonight where Pete Hamill will discuss ways that storytellers can mine the neighborhood’s hidden past.

The event begins at 6 with Mr. Hamill’s lecture and the festivities continue with music from a playlist firmly rooted in the East Village and D.J.ed by NYU Journalism’s own Jenn Pelly, a familiar face in the local music scene whose work has appeared here on The Local and elsewhere.

There will also be food and drink and a raffle for a Kindle. We hope that you’ll join us and if you’re unable to attend we’re planning to stream Mr. Hamill’s remarks live on The Local, so check the site at 6.

In other neighborhood news, we wanted to draw your attention to a couple of links worth checking out including this one at DNAinfo about a resolution in the MTA’s case against Billy’s Antiques on East Houston Street, this one from our sibling blog City Room about Irish actors getting a taste of Yiddish theater on East Seventh Street and this story about a possible breakthrough in the murder of Second Avenue Deli owner Abe Lebewohl.

One more thing: You may recall that we at The Local are asking for your reports about bedbugs in the East Village so that we can map them. The Neighborhoodr blog has posted a link to a version of a citywide map – yuck! We’re still looking for your bedbug stories so please keep sending.

Trevor Leb The Westville Breakfast, at Westville East.

Trevor Leb is a brunch aficionado in the East Village and founder of the popular New York brunch blog, I Heart Brunch.

There are certain places you can’t help but love. You know, like your go-to bar with the really good vibe or the neighborhood restaurant with that dish that you love. For me, Westville East is one of those places, especially for weekend brunch.

With roots in the West Village, Westville East has been turning first time customers into fans since opening on the East side in 2007. The restaurant’s friendly and welcoming staff adds to its theme of “simplicity,” which shines through in both its fresh eclectic American cuisine and its décor. Small antiques and posters from yesteryear delicately accent the interior space, while the food highlights locally sourced, high quality ingredients prepared in a simple and tasteful manner.
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Kim Davis Construction at Essbar, the former home of Mr C’s, 102 Avenue C.

It’s the time of year when people who write about restaurants, and those who can still afford to eat in them, start salivating over the season’s new openings.

Although dozens of debuts are scheduled, including some high profile new projects by Aquavit’s Marcus Samuelsson in Harlem and Jonathan Benno, formerly of Per Se, at the Lincoln Center, all seems quiet on the East Village front. This may reflect market saturation in a neighborhood which is now one of the city’s top dining destinations, or just the fact that bars and restaurants open here year round.
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Kim Davis.

We’d like to introduce you to Kim Davis, the Community Editor of The Local East Village, and encourage you to contact him if you are interested in contributing to the blog.

Here at The Local we consider our neighbors in the East Village our partners in the journalistic collaboration that is at the heart of this site.

And Mr. Davis, a blogger and a resident of the East Village for nearly a decade, plays a crucial role in that partnership.

If you have a story idea, would like to submit photos or would like to contribute to the site in any other way please email Mr. Davis.

You can also follow him on Twitter @LEVkimdavis.

And we’d also like to remind you that you’re all invited to a celebration of the history of the East Village at NYU Journalism Thursday night where Pete Hamill will discuss ways that storytellers can bring tales from the neighborhood’s past into the present.

The celebration begins at 6 p.m. at 20 Cooper Square, 7th Floor with music, food and drink.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, here greeting constituents at the India Day Parade last month, said that job creation is crucial for eliminating income inequality in the East Village.

Only days after Representative Carolyn B. Maloney won the Democratic party’s nomination for the 14th Congressional District, she was on her way to Washington to continue her long fight to pass the 9/11 Health and Compensation bill, of which she has been a leading advocate.

Ms. Maloney, 64, who defeated her opponent, Reshma Saujani, in the primary elections on Sept. 14 with 81 percent of the vote, spoke with The Local East Village about her stance on poverty, homelessness, noise violations – and bed bugs! – in our neighborhood.
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C.C. Glenn

Good morning, East Village.

More than 150 people attended Tuesday night’s Community Council meeting at the Ninth Precinct where the talk was all about the charged atmosphere outside some of the neighborhood’s nightclubs.

In case you missed it, here’s a link to our post by NYU Journalism’s Rachel Morgan, who reported that many residents who live near the Sin Sin Lounge – where Devin Thompson was fatally shot last month – say the nightclub is still a source of problems with noise and violence.

Asia Thompson, a sister of Mr. Thompson, attended last night’s meeting and told NYU Journalism’s Timothy J. Stenovec afterward that she hopes more can be done to improve security at nightclubs like Sin Sin.

“My reason for coming here tonight is so my brother’s death won’t be in vain,” Ms. Thompson told Mr. Stenovec. “He was a father, he was a brother. I just want this tragic incident not to happen again to somebody else’s loved one.”

The owners of Sin Sin, which is located on East Fifth Street near Second Avenue, said that since the shooting they have put new security measures in place, including the use of handheld metal detectors.

Still, Ms. Thompson said that she hoped more could be done in the future and she wondered why more wasn’t done sooner to improve security at the club.

“My brother would still be here today,” Ms. Thompson said. “Because there’s a lot of complaints going on, so how come those steps weren’t taken before this happened?”

Timothy J. Stenovec Makeba Thompson, 41, holds a photograph of her brother Devin Thompson who was fatally shot outside the Sin Sin Lounge Aug. 22.

It’s been a month since the slaying of Devin Thompson outside the Sin Sin Lounge, and speaker after speaker at the Ninth Precinct Community Council meeting tonight told the police that things aren’t getting any better.

Of the more than 150 people who attended the meeting – residents and business owners – at least 25 indicated they had come expressly to urge the police to act against continued problems with noise and fighting at Sin Sin, which is located on East Fifth Street near Second Avenue.

“They have carefully crafted a bar where anything goes,” said Bill Koehnlein, who is in his early sixties. He lives down the block from the nightclub. “They cater to people who aren’t from this neighborhood to do what they would never do in their own neighborhood.”
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A CD called “Songs from the East Village” might make you think old school punk or hipster rock. But for a group of children from the East Village Community School, the CD means music from Puerto Rico, Iraq, Tibet, Ireland and other countries.

“These are songs the children’s grandparents or parents grew up singing,” said Susan McKeown, a Grammy-award-winning Irish singer who produced the album, which was released Monday with a party at the Tenement Museum. “The music is a part of their culture.”
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Giant Robot, the Los Angeles-based gift shop and art gallery, is closing the doors of its East Village store Sept. 23. Paintings by Susie Ghahremani and Kelly Tunstall, two of Giant Robot’s most popular featured artists, were selected for the gallery’s last show called “Out and About.”