Molly O’Toole Dumpling Man, 100 St. Marks Place.Without dumplings, life would scarcely be worth living.
Like sweets made from boiled milk, sugar and something-or-other, dishes made from dough formed into a pocket and filled with meat or vegetables or soup give the people of East Asia, South America and Russia, to name only a neighborhood or two, something to look forward to. The same is true for the heterogeneous peoples of the East Village, a food-grazing and cheap-eats micro-climate extremely conducive to the production and distribution of dumplings, whether in Ukrainian, Mexican, Venezuelan or, above all, Chinese form.
In this regard, I am most partial to The Dumpling Man, a takeout and counter place on St. Marks Place between First Avenue and Avenue A, where the diner can watch a lineup of silent, dexterous Chinese chefs assemble his or her order before actually consuming it. The Dumpling Man, in the great East Village tradition, makes one thing only, and makes it with great care. You can get grilled or steamed shrimp, chicken, pork, vegetable or soup dumplings. Lucas Lin, the moon-faced, bespectacled owner, is enough of a New Yorker that he gets bored without a little variety, and so usually offers a special as well. Asparagus dumplings haven’t gone over too well, he concedes. On the other hand, water chestnut dumplings — prepared only when juicy water chestnuts are available in the market — have been a hit.
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Carl Guadalupe The front steps of 98 St. Marks Place today (above) and as it appeared on the cover of Led Zeppelin’s 1975 album “Physical Graffiti.”The buildings’ stony expressions look out over this last leg of St. Marks Place going east, between First Avenue and Avenue A. At first glance these two buildings look like standard East Village stock, but, eyes wide-open, the facades of 96 and 98 St. Marks Place have witnessed musical history taking place on their very stoops.
They are the iconic buildings featured on the cover of Led Zeppelin’s 1975 album Physical Graffiti, and also in the 1981 Rolling Stones music video, “Waiting on a Friend.”
Bobby Pinn, the creator and host of Rock Junket walking tours, “In the 70’s, Led Zeppelin were big fans of New York City. They partied here a lot and they played the Garden quite a bit, so they really had a close tie to New York. The cover was designed by Peter Corriston, a graphic design artist from New York. Peter said that he was looking for a building with a lot of character, which this building has with all the kings’ faces and it has that tenement-style feel with the fire escapes. He wanted a building that had symmetry and a lot of windows.”
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Molly O’Toole Firefighters clear debris along St. Marks Place after a downed tree branch toppled a lightpole and struck a car.
Molly O’Toole Images of the debris on St. Marks Place. Normal traffic was expected to resume along the street later this evening.Earlier this evening, a downed tree branch toppled a lamp post on St. Marks Place between Second and Third Avenues closing the street to traffic while emergency workers cleared the debris. No one was injured in the incident.
NYU Journalism’s Molly O’Toole interviewed the driver of a car that was struck by falling debris.
The driver, who declined to be identified, said that he was getting out of his car around 5 p.m. when passersby began gesturing toward him to move.
“People started yelling to get out,” the driver said. “I didn’t want to move but I finally jumped out and that was it.”
The driver told Ms. O’Toole that falling debris dented the roof of his car moments later.
The fallen branch also brought down a lamp post and exposed live electrical wires, the authorities said.
The police closed off the area to allow firefighters with chainsaws and other emergency workers to clear branches and other debris.
Normal traffic along St. Marks was expected to resume this evening.
