Wow. A doozy in The Villager this week. I'll link to it soon as it's online. Quickly, though! Last Thursday afternoon from 4-6, the good people at the Lower Eastside Girls Club were holding their annual free prom gown giveway at their HQ on First Street. As Lincoln Anderson reports, "hundreds of excited teenage girls lined up...in the process, blocking the way into The Elephant," the French/Thai bar/restaurant that doesn't exactly pack 'em in on a late Thursday afternoon. There were some words exchanged. And an Elephant manager threatened to call the cops. Lyn Pentecost, the executive director of the Girls Club, called the threat mindboggling. She lives on the block, and called the Elephant "a yuppie bar" and said that it "keeps the street awake all night every night." She claimed the manager got verbally abusive with the girls who were waiting for one of the 500 free prom dresses. The Elephant's GM, Eduardo Sontan, who was not in the restaurant at the time of the incident, told Anderson that they apologized to the the girls, but stressed the girls were blocking the entrance and the manager was worried someone might get injured by falling through the restaurant's sidewalk vault doors. He also said "I'm not against girls" and mentioned that Vice President Biden and Chelsea Clinton have recently dined there.
