With the Bowery now added to the State Register of Historic Places, The Local got hold of the registration form that architectural historian Kerri Culhane and the New York State Historic Preservation Office prepared in order to nominate it. The 171-page document, sponsored by The Two Bridges Neighborhood Council and Bowery Alliance of Neighbors, describes the Bowery as a “Main Street for the Irish, German, and later Chinese immigrant wards that surround it”; “the nexus of many labor and social movements, and a meeting place for labor unions, socialist, anarchists, Nativist organizations, proimmigrant groups, and innumerable others”; and “the center of New York’s working class theatre and entertainment in the nineteenth century; the reputed birthplace of American minstrelsy and adopted home of vaudeville; and home and inspiration to songwriters, including Stephen Foster and Irving Berlin.” Read more…
Suzanne RozdebaGood morning, East Village.
The Bowery’s new status as a historic district won’t stop progress: From an EV Grieve photo, it looks like the fridges have been installed at the forthcoming 7-Eleven. And per a Bowery Boogie shot, the neon signage has been switched on at Bowery Diner.
Elsewhere on the Bowery, Grub Street takes a look at the pies at soon-to-open Forcella. The specialty of the house: Pizza that is both fried and baked.
The Fine Fare on Fourth Street near Avenue C has agreed to fence off the recycling center that neighbors have complained about, but that isn’t good enough for one resident, who tells DNA Info that the fence is a potential eyesore. Read more…
From first to last: Gallery exterior, Nikki Milavec, Karen Hakimi, cafe, and art.
The New Museum recently announced a spin-off gallery at 231 Bowery, and now a pair of pop-up curators have opened the strip’s latest – just a little above the Bowery, actually, in the iconic Cooper Union New Academic Building at 41 Cooper Square. The Milavec Hakimi Gallery opened with a group show, “Hello World!” last Thursday. In two or three weeks, it will be joined by an adjacent cafe selling espresso, pastries, and tea.
The gallery’s founders, Nikki Milavec and Karen Hakimi, both 29, previously worked together at a pop-up gallery, Volume Black (before that, Ms. Milavec, a graduate of the Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London, ran another pop-up, Milavec Green, with a partner Adam Green). During the course of their two-plus years as colleagues, they decided to collaborate on a permanent space – preferably on the Bowery. Read more…
