Gloria Chung Vandaag, 103 Second Avenue.

This past summer, I arranged to meet my friend Clemence at Belcourt, a restaurant on Second Avenue and Fourth Street. But the place was locked, with the chairs up on the table. Another one bites the dust, I thought. (Actually, I later learned, they had stopped serving lunch — the equivalent of dead for those of us who work, but do not live, in the East Village.) On my way down, though, I had walked past Vandaag, a restaurant which hadn’t existed the last time I had been on the block. So we ate there instead, and very happily.

The marketplace principle which the economist Joseph Schumpeter called “creative destruction” rules the restaurant world in New York City, and above all in the East Village, where low rental costs allow anyone with a half-baked idea to take a flyer. For the rambling diner, this means something new every week; but it also means hardening yourself to the loss of beloved haunts. Over the last few months, and just on the two blocks between Vandaag and my office at Second Avenue and St. Marks, the blindingly white Thai restaurant Rhong Tiam has disappeared, ditto an obliging falafel place; in their stead we have Vandaag and the Vietnamese Le Dan Ang — a net gain, I would say.
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Jamie Newman The stage at Extra Place, a venue located in the basement of what was once C.B.G.B.

The burgeoning private-event and music space Extra Place — known to those in the know as EP — has already hosted hot ticket events. Designer John Varvatos celebrated his 10th year in fashion with a party here. “Oakazine,” the edgy design and fashion magazine, held a new issue release event. The CMJ music festival programmed performances on the Extra Place stage. Situated in what was the basement of legendary rock club CBGB (the John Varvatos store occupies the main part of the former CBGB space upstairs), Extra Place by the Max’s Kansas City Company is quickly declaring itself a destination for New York’s entertainment elite.

“We’re striving to re-create the wildness and the lifestyle that the old CBGB space used to breed,” Brett Kincaid, the venue’s manager, told The Local. “We want to recapture that time period and all of the revelry that comes with it, but add a modern twist, some relevancy.”
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Maria Popson could talk for hours about any topic. Among many things, Ms. Popson is philosophical — she’s a naturalist, a healer, a chef, a storyteller, an East Village resident and a former Brazilian supermodel.

During her years in fashion, Ms. Popson went by the name “Neneca Moreira.” In 1994, Ms. Popson moved to the East Village – in large part, she says, because of the relative anonymity she enjoys while living in the neighborhood. Her ground-floor apartment on East Fourth Street looks more like an eclectic storefront — displaying colorful fabrics, tribal masks and tons of exotic trinkets.

Now Ms. Popson, 59, focuses her attention on making and packaging honeybee propolis – a residue derived from bees, which she says has a variety of health benefits.

NYU Journalism’s Rachel Wise and Sarah Tung report.

Gloria Chung

Good morning, East Village.

We’d like to encourage you to check out the exploration of liquor licensing issues in the neighborhood over at Capital. The piece is framed around the demise of Superdive and describes how the East Village has become “a nightscape” in which bar owners have clustered together in the neighborhood. “A century ago, that meant the creation of a Garment District,” the Capital piece reads. “Now it means the creation of a Party District.” It’s a piece that it well worth reading and it has already generated its share of discussion in the blogosphere.

In other neighborhood news, The Daily News has an interview with Thomas Grant, a volunteer at an East Village soup kitchen who blacked out and tumbled onto the path of a subway train Sunday before being rescued by another man on the platform.

The community contributor known as eastvillagedenizen discusses three decades of taking photos in the neighborhood.

“The East Village was a different world when I first encountered it 48 years ago. Rents were cheap (really cheap), there were great bars (Stanley’s and The Annex on Avenue B, Rocky’s across the Broadway divide), double features at the Charles movie theater on Avenue B. St. Marks Place didn’t have souvenir shops for tourists (no tourists). It had Stan Brakhage and Kuchar brothers movies (they were called “underground” films) and jazz, and rock ‘n’ roll.”
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Courtesy of The Library of Congress A 19th century poster of Peter F. Dailey.

On the East River at 12th Street, where today we find a promenade, there used to be piers where steamships would dock. It was there that a mischievous kid from the East Village hung out and took in the colorful banter of the minstrels and stevedores. From them, Peter F. Dailey learned all the twists that make this life funny.

They became part of his style, and by the 1890s Pete Dailey was a music hall sensation like none before. He practically invented improvisational comedy, using miscues and accidents to pull unscripted gags. For instance, one night the lights went out in the crowded theater. The audience spooked. But Mr. Dailey averted a panic by appearing onstage with a brakeman’s lantern as if it were a train wreck.

During another performance, in a kitchen scene, a heavy and gaudy necklace fell from the throat of his leading lady. He didn’t miss a beat, but calmly arose, took up the coal scoop and shoveled it into the icebox. It was, of course, the way he did it, complete with body language, that made him a star.
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Gloria Chung

Good morning, East Village.

As we return from the long holiday weekend, the local blogosphere is filled with nostalgic takes on the neighborhood.

Emphemeral New York takes a closer look at the carvings on the facade of the old Italian Labor Center (now home to Beauty Bar) at 14th Street near Third Avenue.

Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York examines the history of the old Moskowitz and Lupowitz restaurant on Second Avenue and Second Street.

And Gothamist has a post about the Nostalgia Shoppers’ Special Train on the Sixth Avenue Line, which started this weekend and will continue each Sunday through Dec. 26

In other neighborhood news, EV Grieve has an interview with the new owner of the Polonia restaurant on First Avenue near East Seventh Street.

Bowery Boogie has an update on the new mural at Bowery and East Houston.

Seeking The Next Community Editor

And we at The Local are continuing to review applications for our next community editor. If you live in our coverage area – 14th Street to Houston, Broadway to the East River – have editing experience, are familiar with WordPress and are interested in the paid position please e-mail us.

Gloria Chung on photographing East Village gardens in the fall.

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Meredith Hoffman Students at the Nisei Goju International Headquarters prepare to spar. Below: Students practicing Nisei Goju, a combination of hard and soft fighting styles.

Meredith Hoffman

Black hair cascading down the back of his karate robe, Master Wilfredo Roldan exhaled an impassioned hiss in the Nisei Goju International Headquarters on Seventh Street and Avenue A.

For 41 years, Mr. Roldan has taught Nisei Goju – a martial art that borrows from karate and jiujitsu and emphasizes the importance of discipline, a lesson that his students already seem to have taken on board: at Mr. Roldan’s gesture, the entire class bows, kicks and springs into action.

There are just seven students in the class – and Mr. Roldan said that the small setting is by design.

“I say, ‘Joseph only had 12 brothers, Jesus had 12 disciples’ — there are very few people you can touch,” said Mr. Roldan, who is 59 and who does not use the religious analogy by accident – he says his work is a service, and compares Nisei Goju to a spiritual calling.
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Courtesy of the Beck Family Sammy, a Pomeranian last seen in the East Village, has been missing since June.

“Have you seen Sammy?” If you live in the East Village or Lower East Side, the answer is almost definitely yes – he’s plastered to poles, phone booths, and walls on what seems like every block.

Unfortunately, no one has really seen him since June 29. Sammy the shaved Pomeranian got loose from his leash outside of owner Henry Beck’s restaurant, Grill 21 in Gramercy, and ran out of sight, inspiring a massive puphunt that’s carried on for nearly seven entire months now.

Indeed, to say this shaved Pomeranian achieved local iconography in the latter days of summer might be something of an understatement. The Becks plastered flyers – in English, Spanish, and Chinese – on almost every block, and launched a “Help Find Sammy” Web site in no time.

“It’s very hard – he’s a member of the family,” said Mr. Beck. “You start the day with hope and go to sleep with the reality.”

The Becks have continued to comb the East Village, where Sammy was reportedly first spotted after he disappeared in June.  Last week, the unlikely quest to bring Sammy home gained a fleeting bit of momentum when a dog matching his description was apparently spotted in the neighborhood.

“As of recently we have been getting calls about a loose Pomeranian around Tompkins Square Park,” Alana Beck, Mr. Beck’s daughter and leader of the search effort, wrote in an e-mail message this week. “If it really is him, then he really is an amazing representation of his owners. We are just as adamant about getting him home.”
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Michelle Rick

Good morning, East Village.

Having nimbly avoided the crush of Black Friday shoppers, we begin this morning with a look at Thursday’s article in The Post, which described how the firefighters of Engine 28 and Ladder 11, on Second Street near Avenue B, had recently opened a Twitter account to alert neighborhood residents when the firehouse was unable to respond to emergency calls.

Over the past month, The Post reported, the firehouse was pulled out of service on 20 occasions because of a range of issues including mechanical trouble or training or to provide coverage for other firehouses when their units were pulled from service.

EV Grieve reports that sometime after The Post’s piece went up, the firehouse’s Twitter account was disabled.

In other neighborhood news, DNAinfo has a post on the recently opened Dorian Grey Gallery on East Ninth Street.

Seeking The Next Community Editor

And we at The Local would also like to remind you that we are continuing to review applications for our next community editor. The six-month term of Kim Davis – who has performed the job admirably – ends just after the New Year. If you live in our coverage area – 14th Street to Houston, Broadway to the East River – have editing experience, are familiar with WordPress and are interested in the paid position please e-mail us.

The students of “The Hyperlocal Newsroom.” Seated (from left): Stephanie Butnick, Sarah Tung, Elisa Lagos, Molly O’Toole, Clint Rainey, Meredith Hoffman, Rachel Morgan. Standing (from left): Tania Barnes, Maya Millett, Helen Zhang, Simon McCormack, Laura Kuhn, Jenn Pelly, Spencer Magloff, Suzanne Rozdeba, Robyn Baitcher, Sally Lauckner, Timothy J. Stenovec, Claire Glass, Sophie Hoeller, Carolyn Stanley, Alexa Tsoulis-Reay, Darla Murray, Andre Tartar, Amanda VanAllen.

Good morning, East Village.

When The Local launched in September, we issued an open invitation to our neighbors to join us in this experiment in journalistic collaboration.

Today, we would like to express our gratitude to all of those who have traveled with us on the journey so far, sharing their ideas, energy and talent with the site to help cover the community that we all call home.

Our appreciation extends far and wide – to the students of “The Hyperlocal Newsroom,” an elective course at NYU Journalism through which students report for the site, to our able authors from across the community, to local photographers who have generously shared the vivid images that they have captured reflecting the richness and variety of neighborhood life.

To them all, we extend our thanks and our wish that the list that follows – and the spirit of cooperation that this site represents – will continue to grow in the weeks and months to come.
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Helen Zhang Curt Hencye, the head chef and a volunteer from Calvary Chapel in Sarasota, Fla., dashes between stations in the kitchen as the Bowery Mission prepares its annual Thanksgiving meal. Below: A volunteer peels yams.

Helen Zhang

As we scramble to figure out how much turkey and trimmings are needed to feed five or 10 people imagine planning for 5,000 Thanksgiving dinner spreads.

That’s exactly what the Bowery Mission has been doing for since 1879 for the city’s needy, and, as expected, the staff and volunteers have the preparations down to a routine.

A week in advance, thousands of pounds of donations begin rolling in from local residents and businesses like Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and City Harvest.
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Simon McCormack Brydie Landreth holds the makings of her first attempt to prepare Thanksgiving dinner.

When it comes to cooking her first Thanksgiving dinner, Brydie Landreth, a 20-year-old college student, has a guiding principle: “I’m cheap and lazy.”

We’ll leave to her family of four visiting from Mount Vernon, Wash to decide about “lazy,” but her “cheap” turns out to be average, at least in terms of a turkey day dinner. The American Farm Bureau Federation estimates that it will cost $43.47 to feed a family of ten with turkey and trimmings, including flour, eggs, stuffing, sweet potatoes, peas, cranberries, carrots, celery and pumpkin pie.

An informal shopping-cart survey of East Village shoppers found that most paid about the same as the national average cost but got fewer — and different — items than on the Farm Bureau list.

Basket #1: Brydie Landreth, 20, student, at Key Food Avenue, A and East Fourth Street.

Total: $44.95.

Simon McCormack Brydie Landreth’s Thanksgiving dinner shopping basket.

Shady Brook Farms turkey: $20.06
Ocean Spray whole cranberry sauce: $2 for two cans
McCormick Turkey Gravy: $2 for two packets
Idaho Mashed Potato Granules: $2.99
Stove Top Turkey Stuffing: $1.33
Green Bite Green Beans: $10 for two bags
Keebler Ready Pie Crust: $3.58 for two crusts
Libby’s Pumpkin Pie Filling: $2.99

“I wanted to keep things as simple and painless as possible.”—Brydie Landreth
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Tired of the traditional turkey and stuffing? Try an East Village restaurant that celebrates a post-Pilgrim immigrant cuisine.

Samantha Ku Brick Lane Curry House, 306 East Sixth Street.

Brick Lane Curry House
306 East Sixth Street
212-979-2900

Brick Lane Curry House on Curry Row will have all the elements of a traditional Thanksgiving meal, but with a twist. “What we’ve done is given it a little Indian kick, if you will,” said Vivek Deora, the general manager. “Robust flavors, robust spices.” Dishes include turkey seekh kabab, turkey biryani with cranberry chutney and raita and pumpkin halwa for dessert.

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eastvillagedenizen

Good morning, East Village.

DNAinfo has details on the newest – and, apparently, very temporary – mural at the space at Bowery and Houston Street. NYU Journalism’s Jenn Pelly
captured an image Tuesday night of the mural in progress.

DNA also reports that the owners of the wall space at Sixth Street and Avenue C – where the mural of President Obama was recently removed – are looking for an artist to re-paint the space.

And Antonio Garcia, the artist known as Chico who created the Obama mural, spoke with New York NearSay about its removal.

In other neighborhood news, Bowery Boogie has a full report on Kanye West’s not-so-surprise concert Tuesday at the Bowery Ballroom.

And Ephemeral New York posts an unidentified archival photo from 1903 that the site believes may be a relic of the time when the East Village was known as “Little Germany.”

With holiday parties approaching, the impulse to buy a new outfit is hard to resist. To help avoid sticker shock, check out these neighborhood vintage and consignment stores. ‘Tis the season to look beautiful on a budget.

Allison Hertzberg Cadillac’s Castle, 333 East Ninth Street.

Cadillac’s Castle
333 East Ninth Street, 212-475-0406

Named for the owner’s dog that takes inventory in the small consignment shop; this store is not to be missed. Mostly in-season women’s consignment items are displayed alongside some new stock in this clean, bright shop. The owner and his staff carefully select each item and I’ve never seen anything in less than pristine condition. Mind if I namedrop? At any one time you’re likely to find fashions from Jason Wu, Prada, Diane Von Furstenberg, YSL, Mui Mui and Missoni. The high end designer pieces carry a weighty though heavily discounted price tag, but it’s easy to find a great party dress for under $75 dollars. Even the most budget conscience can score a
deal, just check out the constantly replenished $25 dollar rack that sits outside the store.
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Claire Glass Robert Galinsky, founder of the New York Reality TV School, and Angelina Als, one of the school’s students. Mr. Galinsky’s mission is to teach people to sell their personalities to reality TV casting directors in 20 seconds or less.

Two women linger hesitantly at the entrance to a restaurant on Avenue C. One looks as though she might lose her lunch from nerves as a man nudges her forward into the middle of the dining area. She immediately strikes a mannequin pose and after a brief pause, she glides across through the tightly-packed tables as if on a cat walk. She’s smack dab in the middle of a restaurant performing for patrons who came expecting sandwiches without a side of model.

On its face, the scene may seem unusual, but it’s all in the name of reality TV where these kinds of antics are the norm — so much the norm that students schlep to 12th Street and Avenue C from all over the city to the New York Reality TV School to learn how to be themselves, only better. It’s an education in how to make it in the “real” world we’ve all grown accustomed to on the small screen.

Robert Galinsky, the school’s founder, says that his mission is to teach people to sell their personalities to reality TV casting directors in 20 seconds or less.

“I do lots of things with my students that typical actors do to refine their skills before they ever get a script,” Mr. Galinsky says. He started teaching in 2008, and is the school’s sole instructor. “This is just like acting but you’re the character and there’s no script.”
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Photo illustration by Tim Milk

Today The Local begins a recurring feature in which East Village historian Tim Milk takes a look at some neighborhood legends.

The spate of apartment break-ins that has gripped the East Village lately prompts me, by dint of experience, to say what I know by instinct is true: that we have been lulled into a collective stupor, and have become dizzy with the misconception that New York is safe.

Now, wait, let’s look at the term and what we expect of it. Safe is what we always want to feel, outside of our homes as well as in – calm and assured that we dwell in a world free of danger. But let me make one thing clear: I know my history, and I’ve been around the block. New York has always had crime. Our homes are always at risk.

Take the case, for example, of the Master Monkey Thief of the East Village.

When I first came here in 1979, urban myth had it that the police were hopelessly baffled by a series of burglaries. Back in those days, most people had these steel window gates that retracted accordion-style in a diamond-shaped pattern. The protection they offered, compared to modern gates, was minimal. The space between diamonds was perhaps eight inches, big enough to allow some nefarious stranger’s arm to reach inside. Horrors! They were also easily twisted apart by strong guys with crowbars. But as long as those old rattling gates held fast, the evil was kept outside.
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