Better get Michael Moore on the phone. City Room reports that a fight is on the horizon between the owners of the Strand Bookstore and its unionized workers, who are likely to reject a new contract that cuts back on benefits. The store’s general manager says that the offer reflects the realities of the ailing book industry, which affects independent stores in particular. The staff counters that a strike might be necessary down the road. “If that’s what we need to do to defend our rights in the long term, well, we’ll see when we cross that bridge,” an employee says.
STRAND
In Search of Marcel Proust, Finding Tom Verlaine
By BRENDAN BERNHARD
(c)2011 Nanci Ezzo, All rights reserved. According to the weather prophets it should have been raining but it wasn’t raining so I went to the Tompkins Square Library to see if I could get Vol. 1 of Proust, but they didn’t have any Proust, and probably never do have any Proust (“Who’s Proust?”), so I decided to take out another novel instead, only to realize I didn’t have a library card, a wallet, or any form of ID, unless you count a cell phone, which I don’t. I did have cash, though.
On to Mast Books, five blocks down Avenue A, but first I encountered… The Racist. A drably turned-out white woman in her thirties, looking like a hipster gone to seed, possibly a junkie. In fact I’d already passed her a few minutes earlier on the way to the library, where I heard her shout racial slurs at more darkly hued people than herself outside the deli on 10th Street, but I wasn’t really paying attention, and frankly it just seemed weird. She looked like a dyed-in-the-wool East Villager. Down on her luck, maybe, but a characteristic member of the neighborhood nonetheless. It was almost unthinkable. Read more…
The Day | The Final Days of Mars Bar
By JOSHUA DAVIS
Phillip Kalantzis Cope Good morning, East Village.
With the days numbered for 11-17 Second Avenue — perhaps better known as the site of Mars Bar — The Times published an in-depth piece Sunday recalling the history of the block and the lives of the residents who lived there. And, in case you missed it, The Local’s Ian Duncan offered an investigative report Friday about the developer of the site, which is home to the iconic Mars Bar.
The Women’s World Cup wrapped up last night, and though Team U.S.A. lost in the final in penalty kicks, it did not stop fans, and CNN, from spending the day at Zum Schneider.
Some new breakfast options will line 14th Street, EV Grieve reports, including an International House of Pancakes and the relocation of the coffee and smoothie bar, Xoom. And just a couple blocks away, The Bean will be opening a new location on Broadway and 12th Street, just across the street from Strand Book Store.
And DNAinfo tells us that a new mural honoring women’s suffrage is planned for the same Avenue C site where a controversial mural featuring President Obama once stood.
The Day | A Dating Place
By CHELSIA ROSE MARCIUS
Michelle Rick Good morning, East Village.
When you think all the good ones are taken, try looking in your own backyard. That’s right East Villagers, our neighborhood ranks as the number one place for dating in New York City — or at least according to the online dating site, HowAboutWe. The Village Voice reported the findings earlier this week, noting that Webster Hall and the Strand top the list of local hotspots.
Of course there are other reasons for coming to the East Village, as we’ve seen each year with the so-called Crusties; but now it seems some of these annual squatters are not getting a warm welcome from the authorities, according to Andrea Stella, executive director of The Space at Tompkins.
But that’s not all that’s changing this summer. Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York shares photos from East Villager Andrea Legge, who lives in the building next to Mars Bar; both buildings will be bulldozed by the end of August.
