When the temperature turns arctic, outerwear is the best way to show off your personal style. On a recent frigid morning, The Local braved the elements to check out how East Villagers are bundling up this season. Classic double-breasted coats and perenially popular down jackets were seen on every corner, but quirky residents donned everything from a houndstooth tweed coat and a plush faux-fur vest to an animal print trench and a trendy army jacket.

NYU Journalism’s Sophie Hoeller and Sally Lauckner take a look at the neighborhood’s most distinctive winterwear.

Nicolina Marie is one of those fortunate East Villagers who are able to make a living with their art.

This holiday season, she is decorating 40 city stores with snowflakes and sleighs throughout the city. On Tuesday at The Bean, a coffee house on Third Street and First Avenue, she painted overnight and into the next day, when customers came in for their morning coffees.

Ms. Marie considers her work at The Bean, B-Cup Cafe, and Two Boots, among others, a commercial form of public art. “I get paid, which is great,” she said. “But I also get to reach a lot of people, which is ideal.”

Ms. Marie has also done projects worldwide, and this December’s sparkly windows are the last of her work before she heads to Chile to complete a public art piece.

She also runs a non-profit group, The Free Art Society, through which she creates public art with her friends. A Seattle native who’s lived in New York for the past four years, Ms. Marie is already well known in the neighborhood, and in November her Free Art Society hosted an Art Explosion of free outdoor art.

NYU Journalism’s Meredith Hoffman reports.

It’s the final day to buy Four Loko.

After today, it will be illegal for any retailer to sell the alcoholic energy drink in New York, and other states are following suit.

In the final week of Four Loko sales, fans of the beverage have been emptying their wallets to stock up and clearing East Village bodegas of their supplies in the process. Beer distributors and the Chicago-based Four Loko manufacturer, Phusion Projects, were asked to stop restocking the product as of Nov. 19. Retailers who fail to unload the product by today will have to pay a fine.

Why all the fuss? One 24-ounce can of Four Loko contains approximately the same amount of alcohol as five beers, plus the caffeine content of three cups of coffee. In the East Village, most cans, which boast 12 percent alcohol by volume, were selling for $3 or $4.

NYU Journalism’s Claire Glass reports.

Marlis Momber, a German-born photographer, has documented the dramatic evolution of Loisaida, her home, for decades.

South of 14th Street and north of Houston, east of Avenue A to the East River, Loisaida is all but unknown to some late-coming East Villagers. Though time and gentrification have transformed the neighborhood, Loisaida’s streets still reflect its distinct culture and history.

Many of the murals that are a signature of Ms. Momber’s photographs have faded, but her body of work helps explain the Loisaida we see today.

During a walk through Loisaida, Ms. Momber describes a community that is more than a sign tacked onto Avenue C; Loisaida — a community, a culture, a past not forgotten.

NYU Journalism’s Molly O’Toole reports.

The Space At Tompkins is a recently formed organization designed to work with transient and homeless individuals who hang out in Tompkins Square Park.

The goal is to link people to services they request — food, clothing, a phone call home, clean syringes, access to shelters, help finding a job and information about drug rehabilitation programs. Many of the group’s members are too old to receive help at youth-based organizations but don’t feel comfortable at agencies tailored to adults, according to Andrea Stella, the executive director of The Space At Tompkins. Ms. Stella said her organization’s programs are not age-based.

NYU Journalism’s Liz Wagner reports.

At 155 Avenue C, a seemingly ordinary five-floor walkup bears an unusual handmade sign: “This Land Is Ours. See Co-Op Squat. Not For Sale.”

This is See Squat, one of 11 remaining squatters’ buildings in the East Village. Now technically a co-op, the building has retained its character as, in the words of one resident, “the countercultural squat.”

Many of the residents at See Squat view one another as a family that has come together from varied pasts – including drug addiction and homelessness – to build and maintain a community on Avenue C with their own hands.

NYU Journalism’s Robyn Baitcher reports.

In years past, John Lesko led a frenetic, nomadic lifestyle. The 60-year-old native New Yorker — originally from Hell’s Kitchen — has had, in his own words, “a million different jobs.” Mr. Lesko has worked as a machinist, marine, Greyhound bus driver, cabbie, and real estate agent.

But despite this unpredictable career path, his passion for the written word has remained a constant. For the last four decades, his “thrust has been the poetry.” Mr. Lesko, who writes under the pseudonym, Giron d’Agate, draws inspiration from historical events and figures, as well as personal experiences. He currently self-publishes more recent works on his blog.

NYU Journalism’s Sarah Tung reports.

In a neighborhood where everything is changing, Ray’s Candy Store remains refreshingly unchanged. Faded posters line the walls, many of which depict smiling teenage girls in 80’s headbands enjoying Lime Rickeys. Since buying the shop in 1976, Ray Alvarez and his candy store have become fixtures in the East Village.

“Ray’s is the last real thing left in this neighborhood,” said Clemente Valguarnera, owner of the nearby Café Pick Me Up.

This sentiment is echoed by most of Ray’s patrons. That is why the community joined together to raise money when Alvarez began having problems making rent payments.

Open 24 hours a day, Ray’s is the late night gathering place for local regulars, bar-hopping visitors and those who just like the consistency of the frozen yogurt.

NYU Journalism’s Alexandra DiPalma reports.

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.

Boots were big news during the fall 2010 runway shows and they’re the footwear choice du jour in the East Village. Designers like Alexander Wang and Tommy Hilfiger put their own spin on the now-ubiquitous lace-up styles, while Rag & Bone sent studs and zippers down the catwalk.

With that in mind, The Local hit the streets to check out Villagers’ feet. From rugged combat booties and knee-high riding boots, to fringed platforms and slouchy Westerns, here are some of the most popular looks on fashion-forward locals.

NYU Journalism’s Sophie Hoeller and Sally Lauckner report.

Colleen Leung The author during a workout.

The East Village is home to many expensive gyms, but some of the best places to work out are free – you just need to be creative! One of the few things I dislike about life in New York City is all the construction, but every cloud has a sliver lining. While it can be an eye sore, construction scaffolding is great for doing pull-ups.

Anyone who’s walked beneath scaffolding has no doubt been tempted to jump up, grab a bar and go for it. Those things are practically begging to be swung around on, hung from or climbed.

With that in mind, my brother Danny and I decided to get a scaffold workout in recently during the morning commute. While everyone around us scuttled off to school or the office, we did all kinds of pull-ups and other exercises without setting foot in a gym. In typical New York fashion, however, most people passing by didn’t even seem to notice. 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.

Looking to go out to eat, but don’t want to leave the kids or the neighborhood behind? Community contributor Rachel Trobman takes a look at some local restaurants that make dining out with children a breeze.
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The Quarterly Art Soiree began quietly on Sunday afternoon with sing-a-longs, button making and painting lessons. There were young performers, aspiring filmmakers, free popcorn and even a balloon artist all in the cellar space at Webster Hall on East 11th Street.

“They’re loving it, they’re loving it,” Pauline Vitale said of her two grandsons. “My little Cyrus has a speech delay so he’s really into the music. So he’s enjoying it. They’re having him play the squeezebox.”
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On a nice day, it is not uncommon to hear a soulful rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” resonating across Alphabet City. A regular at Tompkins Square Park and an East Village resident, Giuseppi Logan continues to play his saxophone well into the fall season. But, it might soon be too cold for him to perform.

During a break between songs, Mr. Logan told The Local East Village that he will continue to man his post near Ninth Street and Avenue A as long as the weather is tolerable.

Many of the New Yorkers who walk by know nothing about Mr. Logan’s legendary career. A well-known free jazz musician in the 1960s, he has played with his fair share of “cool cats,” such as John Coltrane, Don Pullen, Eddie Gomez and Milford Graves. After a mysterious decades-long hiatus, Mr. Logan remains optimistic about a musical comeback with his new band.

NYU Journalism’s Sarah Tung reports.

A non-profit group specializing in sustainability has appointed a half-dozen high school students to act as green energy consultants to small businesses here in the East Village. Envirolution is currently teaching interns — students from Manhattan Comprehensive Night and Day High School on Second Avenue near 14th Street — energy efficiency and weatherization skills to share with local shopkeepers.

The program is linked to Con Edison, and began in the East Village.

NYU Journalism’s Liz Wagner caught up with a group of students as they canvassed the neighborhood on a recent Saturday.

Amid news that the MTA is working to improve efficiency on the M15 bus line, The Local East Village offers a special report on recent changes to the route. In the video above, NYU Journalism’s Alexandra DiPalma asks riders who use the service for their assessment of the changes. Bill Millard, a community contributor who frequently writes about transportation issues, offers an analysis below of whether the new system is achieving its goals.

Select Bus Service isn’t quite bus service as New Yorkers know it; it’s more a cross between buses and light rail. Like every transit innovation, it takes some getting used to. Adjusting to it boils down to three ideas: treat it like a train, stay out of the lane, and don’t expect miracles overnight.
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Helen Zhang Now 81, Barbara Shaum has been making sandals at her East Village shop for five decades.

Summer has faded into memory and trips to warm climes are still months off, so having just ended her busiest season, the celebrated sandal maker Barbara Shaum can take some time to sit and chat.

At age 81, Ms. Shaum, who seems to call everyone “darling,” has been fashioning custom-made leather sandals for the last 50 years in her store at 60 East Fourth Street. She arrived in New York in 1951 from a small town in central Pennsylvania with a dollar in her pocket and not a clue of what she wanted to do, except that she wanted to work with her hands.
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After years of drug use, Acacia Cruz decided it was time to kick her heroin habit. Ms. Cruz is currently a regular client at the Cooper Square methadone clinic, and she hopes to complete her program soon.

NYU Journalism’s Sarah Tung reports.

Home to posh boutiques and hip vintage stores alike, the East Village is one of the most style-savvy neighborhoods in New York. So earlier this week, The Local roamed the area with one question in mind: What are the latest trends that locals are following?

Our findings were less than conclusive. Turns out East Villagers put their own spin on even the trendiest clothes, and know how to mix high and low with aplomb. The clothes ran the gamut from a Valentino trench coat to a leopard-print Target dress and everything in-between.

NYU Journalism’s Sally Lauckner and Sophie Hoeller take a look at some of the neighborhood’s most distinctive styles.