We at The Local have spring fever. And as we scoured the streets for this week’s Street Style, we noticed that the warm weather is starting to take effect on fashion. Whether in the first shorts of the season, white denim or light jackets, plenty of East Villagers are taking hold of fashion’s ubiquitous denim and stylin’ it up for spring.

Bird-fanciers can visit The Times to watch a live video feed of the hawk currently nesting outside the office of N.Y.U. President John Sexton on Washington Square Park. — The Local

In fashion, utility often takes a backseat to stylish – but it doesn’t have to be so. As spring rolls on, stylish East Villagers are playing up what winter wear remains with zippers and buttons that are both functional and fun. Accents on coats, boots and bags have a purpose whether it be to stash keys or sunglasses or keep you warm, but they can also spice up an outfit. The Local hits the pavement to find out what accents serve the dual purpose of functionality and fashion forward.

NYU Journalism’s Rachel Ohm and Claire Glass report.

To simply call Obscura Antiques and Oddities another East Village antique store might not do justice to the offbeat and slightly macabre aesthetic that co-owners Evan Michelson and Mike Zohn have spent years cultivating in their small curiosity shop.

Carrying everything from Victorian dolls to monkey skulls, the store has become a magnet for both serious collectors and curious passerby lured in by the stuffed animal heads leering from the shop’s front window on East 10th Street.

“There’s really nothing that comes in that’s too weird but there are things that are inexplicable,” Ms. Michelson said.

The store, which has been a part of the neighborhood for almost two decades, moved to its current location between First Avenue and Avenue A in 2001.

“The energy down here is amazing,” Ms. Michelson said. “It’s the heart and soul of this business to me. It wouldn’t be right if we moved it anywhere else.”

When they’re not collecting, Ms. Michelson and Mr. Zohn are busy taping the second season of “Oddities,” a TV show that premiered on the Discovery Channel last year (it will run on the Science Channel for its second season) featuring some of the duo’s stranger finds.

NYU Journalism’s Kathryn Kattalia reports.

As spring begins, The Local offers a quick tour of the East Village at dawn as the neighborhood shakes loose its slumber and begins its daily routines.

NYU Journalism’s Rachel Ohm reports.

Fans of the English soccer team Liverpool make the East Village their home base, meeting here every week at the 11th Street Bar to watch games. The club has used the bar, located near Avenue A, as a headquarters since 2003, and scores of fans show up for big games — even at 7 a.m. on a Sunday. Club members include both Americans and ex-pats from England, though at least once a week they’re all Village residents.

NYU Journalism’s Grace Maalouf reports.

Courtesy of Al Kavadlo The author demonstrates the jungle gym workout technique.

With the cold winter weather finally winding down, more and more people are thinking about getting ready for summer. For a lot of East Villagers, this means it’s time to ramp up their exercise regimen. This neighborhood is home to some of the city’s trendiest, most high tech fitness facilities, but sometimes the best things in life are free. Tompkins Square Park has all
the equipment you need to get a great workout, and you don’t need to purchase a bank-breaking membership to use the facilities.

Tompkins has several jungle gyms that were made with children in mind, but near the Northeast corner of the park, there is a jungle gym that seems to have been designed for full-grown adults. The set up there is ideal for parkour training, as well as pull-ups and many other fun exercises. Besides, training outside in the fresh air and feeling the warmth of the sun adds to the enjoyment (though I don’t mind working out out in the snow, either).

I recently got to exercise at Tompkins Square Park with my friend Rick Seedman, another local personal trainer. We had a great time and a great work out without having to spend a penny.

Watch the video below for more:

Al Kavadlo is a personal trainer, freelance writer and author of the book, “We’re Working Out! A Zen Approach to Everyday Fitness” (Muscle-up Publications, 2010). For more information visit www.AlKavadlo.com.

Fabio Clemente has been an East Village mainstay since he opened the Alliance Brazilian Jiu Jitsu studio nine years ago at 13th Street and Third Avenue. A single father of two and a second-generation jiu jitsu black belt, Mr. Clemente, who’s 45, dreams of one day spreading the art of jiu jitsu through the Americas with his promising son, Zata, 17, at his side.

NYU Journalism’s Mark Riffee and Greg Howard report.

This week’s Street Style features menswear including sporty jackets and accessories and vibrant colors and patterns (neon in winter?) that we expect to see more of this spring.

Classics like a vintage backpack, straw fedora and tailored jackets are always in style, as are clothes that fit well and reflect personality — whether that be in a hairstyle, handmade jewelry or clothing that is so well made it has lasted years and still fits.

Street Style hits the pavement with some locals to find that in the East Village the average man on the street is anything but.

NYU Journalism’s Rachel Ohm and Claire Glass report.

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.

From fox to Mongolian lamb to tiger print, fur fashions can be seen all over the East Village this winter. PETA lovers need not fear because it doesn’t even have to be real to be warm, stylish and a great transitional piece as we head into spring.

NYU Journalism’s Claire Glass and Rachel Ohm report.

With fresh flowers in bodegas, chocolates displayed prominently on grocery and drug stores shelves, and red and pink hearts in store windows, love has certainly been in the air in the week or so leading up to Valentine’s Day.

So we here at The Local were curious to see how people in the East Village were going to spend the most romantic day of the year – or, at least, the day of the year most frequently referred to as romantic. So we took to the streets to ask a few questions. And we found that you don’t have to go out on a traditional date, or even be in a relationship, to enjoy the year’s most amorous holiday.

For the first 29 years of his life, Vincent Ciniglio was an artist waiting to happen. With no training or art appreciation classes, he’d simply marvel at the religious statues of his Catholic school, and he felt moved to tears by paintings on his first trip to Italy.

One day he walked into the New York Studio School on West Eighth Street, and then studied there for three years. At the encouragement of one of his teachers, the artist Philip Guston, Mr. Ciniglio then went on to Columbia University, where he earned a master of fine arts.

Since the 1980’s, Mr. Ciniglio has had a studio in the P.S. 122 performance space on First Avenue and Ninth Street, where he paints nearly every day. His work – which usually depicts tender, whimsical figures and are each painted in only three days – are modeled off of plastic baby dolls. On canvas, Mr. Ciniglio’s creations appear to look viewers straight in the eye with surprising intensity.

An exhibition of Mr. Ciniglio’s work will be held this weekend upstate. Before Mr. Ciniglio leaves for the show, he’ll bid each painting left in his studio a fond farewell, such is the connection he feels with his art.

NYU Journalism’s Meredith Hoffman reports.

The entry of 2 Cooper Square onto the East Village real estate scene has been well-chronicled, from its high-profile residents to the renovation of the landmarked Skidmore House next door.

Recently, The Local spoke with residents of the luxury high-rise about life in one of the neighborhood’s newest – and priciest – addresses, which has a gym and screening room in the basement lounge as well as a much blogged-about rooftop pool.

Residents say the building’s amenities are top-notch. For some, though, the prime East Village location is perhaps busier than they had expected. One resident cites disturbances from an ongoing construction project on Fourth Street, which impacts residents in Southern-facing units; she also says that noise from the nearby nightspot Bowery Bar keeps her up at night.

NYU Journalism’s Stephanie Butnick reports.

Comprehensive real estate information about the East Village is available at the following links:

• Market Snapshot Data
• Building Permits Data
• Sales Activity Data
• Building Directory Index

John Vaccaro, a theater director active in the downtown arts scene of the 1960’s and 1970’s, has lived in his sprawling, bespoke loft on Second Avenue for several decades. The vast space is filled with artwork from local friends – including various portraits of himself that Mr. Vaccaro has received as gifts – furniture and other odd items found around the East Village over the years.

If the project, which was endorsed by Community Board 3 last week, moves forward, Mr. Vaccaro’s building, 11-17 Second Avenue, will be one of two torn down to create a single 12-story building. The project will also force the temporary closure of the landmark Mars Bar, which is also on the site. Current residents will be offered units in the new development with an option to buy for just $1. But those living in 2,000 sq. ft. lofts like Mr. Vaccaro will have to adjust to downsized apartments closer to 1,200 sq. ft.

Even as many in the neighborhood have lamented the loss of Mars Bar, Mr. Vaccaro, who is 81, stands to lose far more: his home.

NYU Journalism’s Tania Barnes and Stephanie Butnick report.

Dr. David Ores, or “Doctor Dave” as he’s more commonly known, relies on only himself to run his medical practice: He is the physician, the nurse and the receptionist. He answers all his own phone calls and e-mail messages — which are seemingly never-ending.

Dr. Ores also runs what he calls the Fresh Start program, in which he removes gang- or prison-related tattoos from the face, neck or hands of his patients free of charge. Dr. Ores — who often serves uninsured and low-income patients through a pay-what-you-can philosophy — cites the stigma attached to prison tattoos and notes that those who wear them are often unable to afford removal procedures.

“There are people out there who are willing to help them if they’re willing to help themselves,” he says.

NYU Journalism’s Rachel Wise reports.

Allison Hertzberg Geová Rodrigues.

Geová Rodrigues is a Brazilian fashion designer who opened his East Village shop, Geová Atelier, in 2001. After working as a painter in San Paolo, Geová came to New York City in 1992 and launched his first collection in 1998. Trading in his paint brush for fabric, needles, thread and tons of sequins, Geová’s designs have been featured in New York’s Fashion Week and in editorials worldwide.

Vivacious is the first word that comes to mind when trying to describe the designer. He’s effusive and talks to you like you’ve been friends for years. The same energy runs through his bright little shop located at 208 Avenue B. I recently sat down with Geová to better understand who he designs for, why he chose the East Village and how come grown men still play
with dolls.

Why did you choose the East Village as the place to open your shop?

I love the East Village. I can get very inspired here. It’s a neighborhood with a great attitude. I love how the East Village embodies the same aesthetic as my clothing – a mixture of fabrics, textures and designs that come together to create something beautiful – just like the mix of languages, cultures and creative people that live in the East Village and make it the unique and interesting neighborhood that it is. Also, my first fashion show was in the East Village.
Read more…

Theresa Byrnes has been living in New York City since 2000, showing her art since age 16, and a rebel for as long as she can remember. “I have always valued being challenged more than being happy. Approval seems so stagnant and unexamined,” she wrote in her most recent blog post. And “I am not nice,” she said on her Twitter page, where she goes by the handle feistysparrow.

Ms. Byrnes is a portrait, abstract and performance artist in the East Village. Together, her three forms of expression make up what she calls her “holy trinity,” encompassing the body, mind and soul. The Australian-born Ms. Byrnes uses a wheelchair because of a degenerative nerve disease called Friedrich’s Ataxia. And yet Ms. Byrnes lives and creates with a distinct grace, fearless in her life as well as in her art.

“There is no forever,” she said recently in her East Ninth Street studio, wearing a paint-splattered smock and surrounded by works-in-progress. “It’s a bit boring to me, talking about identity and disability because my life is so beyond that. I’ve left all that way in the past.”

As for the way she sees life, Ms. Byrnes is firm. “There is nothing to fear, except your own illusion of identity,” she said. “Don’t protect yourself – reinvent. Break down the wall.”

NYU Journalism’s Robyn Baitcher reports.

Some employees of the souvenir shops on St. Marks Place near Cooper Square say they are relying on Christmas sales to boost their revenue before the end of the year.

Business at Village Tattoo is so bad, says one employee, that the store might have to close its doors after 15 years.

Jason Smith, an employee at First Rich Gift Shop across the street tells The Local that revenue so far this December is less than half of what it was at the same time last year.

Vendors say the stores traditionally do well around the holidays and they hope that a break in the weather will bring shoppers into the streets – and maybe even motivate them to spend.

NYU Journalism’s Liz Wagner reports.