Phoenix Eisenberg

Graffiti is an iconic form of artistic rebellion, whose epicenter has long been New York City.

With activities ranging from boxcar tagging to anarchistic promotion, the graffiti artist has a persona associated with intrigue and deviousness. But why the fascination with graffiti as a fine art in the last few years? Do popular graffiti artists today such as Banksy, Judith Supine, Shepard Fairey, and Dan Witz still portray rebellion?

Antonio Garcia, better known as “Chico,” started his career of spray-painting illegally, but soon found a new way to use his talents. Seeing the plain walls and brick that covered the Lower East Side, Chico saw a market. Today it is difficult to walk a block without seeing his commissioned work, whether it is a memorial or a small ad for a veterinarian business. Although Chico’s work is arguably just as skilled and creative as some of the greatest artists in the field, he has not drawn as much interest as Banksy or Shepard Fairey. Perhaps this is because, in jumping on the legal and marketable side of the art form, he risks losing the exact quality that draws so many to graffiti – the thrill of the illicit.

Adrian Fussell

Good morning, East Village.

We begin with a report from a bit south of our neighborhood.  A fire broke out Thursday night at 202 Mott Street on the fourth floor of an apartment building. Bowery Boogie was on the scene, and noted that ash and debris were falling from the building.  NYU Journalism’s Adrian Fussell, was there as well, and photographed the scene. DNAinfo reported that a 75-year-old woman was taken to New York Downtown Hospital with first degree burns to her head. Two firefighters also sustained unspecified injuries.

In other news, EV Grieve reports that Phil Hartman is returning to 34 Avenue A after Mr. Hartman and his brother Jesse closed Mo Pitkin’s House of Satisfaction in 2007.  EV Grieve notes that Mr. Hartman’s name is listed as the contact on the recently posted Community Board 3 flyer outside 34 Avenue A. The flyer states that Mr. Hartman plans to open up a restaurant, bar and performance space venue, similar to Mo Pitkin’s.

EV Grieve was also given a tip this morning that “30 Rock” is filming scenes inside Lucky Cheng’s on First Avenue today.  If any one happens to pass by today, send us your photos or tweet them to @nytlev.

As for the weather, it’s going to be partly cloudy out today with a high of 42 degrees.

Kathryn Kattalia The Local joins a search for the pages of a novel by an anonymous author that have been affixed to street lights, newspapers distribution boxes and elsewhere. Above, The 11th page of a mystery manuscript hangs on a lamppost on East 11th Street between First and Second Avenues.

I found page six.

Staring at a ripped, weathered and barely legible piece of paper haphazardly taped to the side of a graffiti-covered ATM machine, I let the weight of my victory sink in. Like a treasure hunter unearthing a coveted chest of gold, I had discovered what everyone else wanted to find. There on East Sixth Street, barely visible from the sidewalk, was the elusive page six.

Like almost every other blog in the neighborhood, The Local has been on a literary goose chase, tracking down pages of a mystery manuscript that someone has plastered to lampposts, mailboxes, streetlights and garbage cans throughout the neighborhood. At the bottom of each page, readers are told where they can find the next installment of the story, apparently titled “Holy Crap.”

Earlier this week, the New York Post reported finding pages 7 and 8 on lampposts in the neighborhood, as did fellow blogger EVGrieve. No one had located pages one through six. Always up for a good mystery, I decided to scour the neighborhood myself, choosing to start where the others left off. My goal was to try to find what no one else had.
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Dayna Clark Some parents at Girls Prep Middle School are upset at the abrupt dismissal of the school’s principal last month.

After the abrupt dismissal last month of the principal at Girls Prep middle school, a group of parents have begun mobilizing a campaign for her re-instatement.

The school’s board of directors voted last month to remove the principal, Kimberly Morcate, after the school’s scores on the city-wide progress report fell from the 82nd percentile to the 13th percentile.

Board members did not say that Ms. Morcate’s dismissal was linked to progress report scores.

“We will not discuss the circumstances surrounding Ms. Morcate’s termination out of respect to her,” one board member, Eric Grannis, said at an emotional board meeting Tuesday night.

Nevertheless, many parents said that they were upset about the move and the potential disruption to the school’s students because it was made in the middle of the school year. Ms. Morcate’s last day at the school was Feb. 18.

“You rocked our world and we want some answers,” one parent, Harley Sanchez, 27, told the board at Tuesday’s meeting. She has a 10-year-old daughter at Girls Prep, a charter school, which is now temporarily housed on Astor Place.

Ms. Sanchez and other parents have started to circulate an online petition on behalf of Ms. Morcate, who was very popular among parents. The petition says, “This termination came with no explanation or consideration of the negative impact that this would have on the Girls Prep family.”
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Abraham Lincoln, in a portrait by Matthew Brady taken only hours before his famous Cooper Union address, given 151 years ago last week. Insert: a contemporary view of Cooper Union, from an engraving in Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, 1883.

Tim MilkThe Great Hall today.

It’s a common trope around these parts, and a friend of mine says it all the time. “Huh? What? I mean, come on, I don’t know about that.” It’s almost palpable as you cross from Broadway west to east, this game of contention.

Socially, politically, it’s been a longstanding history, going back to the 1850’s, when the urbanity of lower Manhattan began to seep like an aroma into the enclave we now call “The East Village.” But more than that, it was almost as if a lens had been held up to catch the lunar rays, and send them down here, right here, a place like nowhere else, where skeptics and firebrands, bohemians and bon vivants converge to strike their poses. One might wonder where all this contention had its start, yet I believe it was never more apparent than when Abraham Lincoln came here to speak.

On Feb. 22, 1860, on the eve of the great Civil War and before his nomination as Presidential candidate seemed possible, Lincoln boarded a train that drew him some 1,800 miles eastward, all six feet five inches of him, folded like a jackknife into a second-class seat. He had a speaking engagement scheduled in New York, and that alone was worth the trip. Originally, he was set to speak in Brooklyn, but a change of venue brought the affair to Cooper Union, a recently established learning center designed to draw thinkers and dreamers to an area that had become, well, just a bit slummy.

Our “Prairie Orator” arrived in New York on Feb. 26, dressed in a brand new suit. It was, however, criss-crossed with razor-sharp creases, having come all the way from Illinois in a very small handbag. He looked grotesque, one man said, as he shambled along, exhausted and rumpled, in the cruelest new shoes known to mankind. Once he had booked a room downtown for the night, he sat up late, refining his speech.
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jdx

Last week, we brought you a photo essay by jdx, a community contributor to The Local. His images seemed to resonate with many of The Local’s readers, who offered a range of reactions about the images and jdx’s commentary on the East Village, its past and its future.

“In a neighborhood that is progressively morphing to costly glass and sheetrock,” jdx wrote of an accompanying image of First Houses. “Someday these untouchable buildings might be the only trace of an East Village that has any sense of its own history.”

Those sentiments struck a chord with many readers.

Pauline Zubin wrote:

“not only are the pictures interesting and worth several looks. the description of each one was informative,
so often we walk by these very things and not take notice. i want to thank the photographer for making them beyond noticeable.

Guillermo added:

“These are very inspirational, poetic, and neolithic. We want more!!!”

Phil Vale said:

“The photographer has found angles that restore the allure of a dangerous, artistic and inspirational East Village, where people gathered to see cokeheads, not Cakeshops, and the most exciting thing on the street wasn’t a new food van. Poverty and violence mingled with music and sex while the wealthy, protected and curious went slumming for an experience. We get another glimpse of that here.”

Join the conversation: What does the work evoke for you?

James Metalarc, 37, is a street musician who has been performing in New York City since 2006. For the past six months he’s been a regular at the Astor Place subway station, entertaining commuters with the reincarnated sounds and stylings of the late Jimi Hendrix. He prefers the term street musician to busker and sees his performances less as an act than an extension of his lifestyle as an artist. To him music is an act of worship.

“The Rejimi Experience,” came about after Mr. Metalarc took stock of the resemblance between himself and the iconic rock star. He had been playing reggae at the time, and was not getting much attention from his audience. He could barely strum a guitar.

He learned Hendrix by ear and it didn’t take long for people to respond.

“Hendrix changed everything for me, it gave my act a whole new structure people could relate to,” Mr. Metalarc said.

Michelle Rick

Good morning, East Village.

It’s Christmas in March! At least for the cast and crew of DirectTV’s “Damages,” who were filming at Moonstruck Diner on East Fifth Street and Second Avenue yesterday. Thanks to Jason Samuels of NYU Journalism for sending us this photo via Twitter earlier in the day. EV Grieve also has some nice photos of the set, but no sign of “Damages” star, Glenn Close.

Wholesome Foods, a gourmet deli, on Avenue C is now open for business, after the Mini-Market, or “Cobra” Market as locals called it, closed in January. Meanwhile, Death & Co., a bar on East Sixth Street, was temporarily closed last night due to a delay with its liquor license renewal, EV Grieve reports.  Death & Co. will be back open tonight. We reported yesterday how some bar owners are unhappy with the liquor license reform in the East Village.

As for the weather, it’s a little colder today than yesterday, with a high of 35 degrees, so don’t be deceived by the sunny skies on your way out.

Ian Duncan

A fire at the Con Edison plant on East 14th Street, which started at approximately 2:19 this afternoon when a tranformer caught fire outside the building, resulted in an “all hands” FDNY call. Heavy smoke conditions were reported to be affecting the FDR Drive. The fire was declared under control at 3:52.

According to Chief John Sarrocco, “There was an explosion in a transformer outside of the Con Ed building. The transformer has been de-energized and we put some foam on the transformer. No one was hurt.”

There were a total of 27 units, approximately 125 firefighters on scene, the authorities said.

Update | 3:54 p.m. Firefighters are working to put out a blaze at the Con Ed plant at 14th Street near Avenue D. Fire officials said that the blaze began at 2:19 and that it has gone to two alarms with an “all hands” call for more firefighters. Reporters from The Local are on the scene and we will bring you a fuller post when more information becomes available.—Crystal Bell

The Local has confirmed this afternoon that a Stop Work Order is no longer in place at 35 Cooper Square, where preservationists have been fighting to keep the federal-style building from being demolished. “It has been lifted,” Jane Crotty, a spokeswoman for the property developer, said referring to the order. Asked when work will resume at the site, Ms. Crotty said, “As soon as they can, hopefully tomorrow or the next day.”—Suzanne Rozdeba

C. Ceres Merry

Good Morning, East Village.

Bessie’s back at the Sunburnt Cow on Avenue C, DNAinfo reports.  After being stolen from the East Ninth Street bar in October, the owner has finally replaced its neon mascot, and to celebrate, he’s inviting patrons to help “brand” Bessie by writing their names on her.

Brooklyn’s eco-friendly Union Market is coming to Manhattan, and it has found a 6,000-square-foot space at 240 East Houston Street, on Avenue A, to call home. Racked NY reports that this will be Union Market’s largest endeavor, and similar to the Brooklyn outpost, it will offer a beef aging facility and personal shopping services. Union Market is also know for offering neighborhood-themed coffee blends, so what do you think the East Village blend packaging will look like?

In other news, EV Grieve has noticed that Junk, a thrift store on St. Marks, has closed its doors for good after opening them this past September.   This isn’t the first vintage store to close on St. Marks in recent months.  As we reported, Physical Graffiti, a vintage clothing store,   between First Avenue and Avenue A, closed its doors after 16 years because of the bad economy.

As for today’s weather, it’s a little chilly this morning, expect some clouds and a high of 57 degrees today.

Kim Davis.

We at The Local are happy to announce the return of a face that is familiar to many of our community contributors: Kim Davis, the site’s founding community editor, will today begin a six-month rotation as associate editor of The Local. In that role, he will use his deft editing touch to oversee the day-to-day coordination of The Local’s roster of community contributors.

Design by Andrew and Nicholas Hunt The Local asked neighborhood designers for their vision of how a vacant lot of East 13th Street (below) might be transformed. Above is the design by architects Andrew and Nicholas Hunt, whose plan includes a farmers market, community garden space, a restaurant and residential units.

Rachel Trobman

Over the past 40 years, the lot on 13th Street east of Third Avenue has been many things: a home for stray animals, a showcase for street artists, a resting place for the homeless, a dumping ground for clothes.

But one thing it has never been is developed.

And, according to land owner Builtgross Associates, a subsidiary of Milstein Properties, that’s not going to change in the near future as no solid plans are in the works.

“We’re examining several alternatives but haven’t formalized anything yet,” said Anthony Bergamo, vice chairman of executive planning for Milstein Properties. “We’re looking for something that would be good for the community and area businesses.”

For many years, the massive, 23,000-square-foot site, which stretches to 14th Street and is formally known to the city as Lot 15 on Block 469, did serve the community. It was once B.F. Keith’s vaudeville theater and then, later, a single-screen movie called the RKO Jefferson. While it closed in the 1970s, the building’s shell was not demolished until late 1999. It has remained vacant ever since.
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Tim Milk As the historic site at 35 Cooper Square faces the prospect of demolition, the building’s last tenants – Hisae Vilca, and her granddaughter, Rachel Lindenberg (below), who operated the 35 Asian Pub – recalled their memories of working and living in the oldest building on Cooper Square.

Suzanne Rozdeba

As preservationists make last-ditch efforts to keep 35 Cooper Square standing, its last tenants, Hisae Vilca, and her granddaughter, Rachel Lindenberg, retraced their own history in the little house and the pub Ms. Vilca ran on the ground floor for the past five years while she lived upstairs.

“I love everything old, including me. I love antiques, and I loved that building,” said Ms. Vilca, 77, who came to New York from her native Japan five decades ago and who customers fondly called “Grandma.” She opened the bar, a neighborhood favorite, in 2006. “I had a very sentimental attachment to the house. Some of the other people were just tenants. But for me, it was a different kind of attachment,” she said.

The federal-style house, built around 1825, is under threat of demolition after the developer Arun Bhatia began construction there on Feb. 4. A Stop Work Order has been in place since Feb. 14 because of a broken fence at the back of the site, and inspectors found two violations, for failing to publicly display a work permit and failing to properly protect the public and nearby property.

Closing day on Jan. 29 brought customers and staff to tears, Ms. Vilca said. “They were all crying. I had customers, young and old, who would come every day, rain or shine. The last day, everybody’s crying and getting drunk,” she said, “I had to go upstairs.”
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Michelle Rick

Last week, we asked for your opinions on the recent decision by Community Board 3 to change the rules governing the transfers of liquor licenses when local businesses are bought and sold.

David on 14th Street described how, as a parent of two children, he was particularly sensitive to the raucous atmosphere surrounding local bars. He wrote:

“I know I’m not living in Iowa — nor do I want to — but walking home with them at 9pm on a Friday or Saturday is akin to showing them an R-rated movie.
Additionally, living on 14th street, the amount of drunken noise, swearing, and fighting that comes through the window on those nights is appalling.
Anything that makes it harder to open a bar in the East Village is fine by me. There are way, way too many as it is already.”

Kim Davis, the founding community editor of The Local, wondered about the potential negative effects of a possible exodus of bars:

“Indeed, there are altogether too many dark storefronts east of First Avenue as it is. It’s optimistic to suppose that landlords will slash prices in the short-term to the extent required to attract Mom-n-Pop type low profit businesses.
In the meantime, dark storefronts and empty streets – as Jane Jacobs knew – are magnets for crime.”

Dina questioned Mr. Davis’ perspective, noting that the East Village has relatively low crime rates despite its vacant storefronts:

“Some nightlife businesses are desired. But imbalance leaves streets gated and empty during the day.”

Join the conversation: What’s your take on the community board’s decision?

Cary Abrams The poet Bob Holman performs at a tribute to Janine Pommy Vega at the Bowery Poetry Club Sunday.

Friends of poet and teacher Janine Pommy Vega, who died in December, gathered at a reading tribute Sunday at The Bowery Poetry Club to remember her.

Poet and author Hettie Jones, a Bowery resident of over 40 years who helped organize the event reminisced about their first meeting at a 1960’s party.

Ms. Vega moved to the Lower East Side from Union City, N.J. after graduating high school at 16, having read ‘On The Road,’ and been inspired by the Beat lifestyle. She met the poet Gregory Corso at The Cedar Tavern, a fabled Village artists’ haunt, who introduced her to Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky, with whom she later shared an apartment on Avenue B.

Ms. Vega began teaching writing in prisons in the 1970’s through Incision/Arts, a group that brings writers into prisons; she became the group’s director in 1987. She first introduced Ms. Jones to teaching writing in prisons and they served on the Prison Writing Committee for PEN, the association of poets, essayists, novelists and other writers, and co-authored “Word Over Walls,” a guide on starting writings program in prisons.

Andy Clausen, Ms Vega’s companion, shared reflections and anecdotes about Ms. Vega’s dedication to her writing, work in prisons and indomitable spirit. He described the memorial held recently in Woodstock, N.Y., near their home in Willow, N.Y., and plans for an annual Janine Pommy Vega Poetry Festival to be held there.

Anne Waldman remembered their readings and travels in Italy, reading from “Tracking The Serpent,” Ms. Vega’s account of her extensive travels over four continents exploring what she described as matriarchal power sites. From the outpouring of those who spoke and read, a common theme emerged: how Ms. Vega had touched and inspired many through her writing and teaching.

Rachel Citron

Good morning, East Village.

We begin the week with a look at some local restaurant comings and goings. Orologio said goodbye to the neighborhood yesterday with a farewell Sunday brunch and with a little thank you to it’s loyal patrons. EV Grieve reported the restaurant’s listing on the market back in December, and since then, Eater NY has chimed in with a note that The Beagle, a restaurant with a controversial menu, will take its place on 162 Avenue A.

Grieve also notes that 14-16 Avenue B at East Second Street is still up for grabs on the market after plans to open up a 3,000-square-foot Italian restaurant, catering company and lounge were nixed by Community Board 3.  Now the space has a brand new listing and it looks like the landlord may be hoping for a new nail salon to hit the block.

In other neighborhood news, DNAinfo reports that Lower East Side and East Village schools look to be among the hardest hit by possible layoffs of city teachers – roughly 10 percent of the teachers in the neighborhood could be affected.

As for today’s weather? Keep an umbrella handy because The Weather Channel predicts light rain throughout the day and potentially some thunder. But at least there are a few sunny, but cold, days coming our way for the rest of the week.