OK. So, let's just go right to Patrick Hedlund's article on DNAinfo:
The Upright Citizens Brigade recently hung red drapes in the windows of its forthcoming venue near East 3rd Street, after the comedy troupe agreed to remove a humorous "Hot Chicks Room" sign due to local residents' complaints that the babe-inspired billboard would draw hordes of rowdy bar-goers.
Now neighbors are taking issues with the theater's rose-colored curtains, claiming they make the venue look like a house of ill repute.
"They look like red velvet, like you would see in a bordello," said Felicia Caggiano, 66, whose window looks out onto the theater and who previously planned to start a petition against the "repulsive" Chicks sign.
Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Your 'Hot Chicks Room' sign update
[Updated] Resident starting a petition to have the 'Hot Chicks Room' sign removed at the Upright Citizens Brigade
Breaking: UCB will remove the 'Hot Chicks Room' sign!
Why, a bordello should be perfect for a c**ks****r like Caggiano.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, old hags like this ruin NYC worse than the dive bars. I agree that a 24/7 DJ palace or a beer pong castle is not an appealing thing to have in a neighborhood, but there's nothing worse than a cranky, unreasonable, determined hostile neighbor. These things only get settled when someone moves. In that case, can't wait for Felicia to pack it up!
These objectors really need to get themselves a life, or at least a decent hobby.
ReplyDeleteAnd how does the guy in the article know what a bordello looks like? Hmmm-mmm?
This whole thing sounds like something out of the Upper East Side, not the East Village.
ReplyDeleteThis is really just sad. Why are these people even getting attn in the press? And on blogs? People like this will always find something to complain about. I feel badly for this woman.
ReplyDeleteI feel badly for this woman too. This is a schlocky bit of journalism that makes local tv news seem like The Atlantic. The old talk to 3 people on the street story. I hope this woman stops talking to the press. And shame on you Grieve for giving this nonstory a platform.
ReplyDeleteBrian Van, I think objecting to curtains is basically ridiculous, but could you please not call a 66-year-old woman a "cocksucker" and "old hag"?
ReplyDeleteAnd since when has ANYone at this blog EVER suggested that a dive bar ruined anything? That's you all alone thinking that, buddy.
Sheesh. They're fucking red curtains. Nothing more. Nothing less. Let's all get ahold of our senses, shall we? Aren't there more important things to get upset about?
ReplyDeleteYou have no right to "shame" Grieve, mister. This site is word-on-the-street stuff in all its raw glory (whether you agree with the speakers or not).
ReplyDeleteMars Bar wasn't kidding with their mural last year. The East Village is dead. The time will come--soon--when no one bothers trying to open anything there at all.
ReplyDeleteAlso, to echo an above comment: GET A LIFE cranks.
Why is anyone surprised? These people won't be happy until the neighborhood is block after block of banks and drugstores. And then they will start to piss and moan about that. Because that's what they do. UCB never should have given in to them.
ReplyDeleteTom: i am one of "these people". people that care about what happens in our neighborhood (both good and bad).
ReplyDeleteand i certainly object to the hot chicks sign and who it attracts. not everyone gets the joke.
but the color of curtains? that's going too far in trying to keep some of the "old" neighborhood in tact.
simone's looks like a bordello, has anyone suggested they re-paint the red? i think it looks swell.
lights glaring into your apartment from a store sign can be a problem. violence, loud noise, vomit from bar patrons - the loss of a long-term "family" store - these are problems to deal with.
the decor of an establishent, any establishment is beyond neighborhood control. curve (5th & 2nd) is the ugliest place i've ever seen. so what?
some of the new buildings are architectural nightmares and change the tenor of the neighborhood. a large megatron screen atop a building that looks like exploding bloody marshmallows requires comment.
i hope ucb pulls back the curtains and reveals itself to be another Superdive
ReplyDeleteWho else would love to see the tasteful decor in all of complainers' apartments?
ReplyDeleteRED curtains? Now I'm wondering if UCB really stands for United Commie Brigade! Someone alert Joseph McCarthy!
ReplyDeleteI think everyone agrees that the woman has no right to complain about how UCB decorates inside its building. It's ludicrous. She's obviously the kind of person who is going to complain no matter what is done.
ReplyDeleteSheesh, this is crazy.
ReplyDelete@Billy - I think it's time for Mars to put up some red velvet curtains!
Some malcontent who spends her days leaning on her pillow propped on her window sill doesn't like a sign and so it must go, because she and her cronies, led by Susan Stetzer MIGHT pass a petition against it.
ReplyDeleteNow she doesn't like the color of someone's draperies, so they must go as well.
What if we pass a petition against HER and Stetzer? Will THEY have to go?
@Blue Glass -
ReplyDeleteI swear, UCB is never going to attract who you fear it will, regardless of what their sign says.
There are plenty of fratty places in the EV, but this isnt one. This may be in the running for the nerdiest place. And I say that as a fan.
I don't have a problem with the curtains, but it'd be a lot easier for me to support ucb if they'd do something about the HCR sign asap. enough already.
ReplyDeleteClearly the only solution to this to buy some white curtains and have a local artist paint a fucking seascape on the inside of them so when she looks at her window she doesn't see the abject horror of Avenue A out her window.
ReplyDeleteWATCH OUT KEY FOOD! Your red awning is next!
this is coo-coo. it also shows more obviously that the opposition to "hot chicks" was not an opposition to frat-boy culture, but an opposition to sex. so we're talking about a different demographic of crank.
ReplyDeleteHEY19
ReplyDeletei'm not complaining about UCB, just their sign.
the message does not fit into this neighborhood. too much of it has already been lost to the frat club scene.
the sign belongs on the front of a strip club.
I prefer blue velvet.
ReplyDeletemelanie-
ReplyDeleteblue velvet as curtains or sign?
I wonder if this woman was paid by UCB to make some noise about their new place - what else could they think of to get people talking about their new location? No such thing as bad publicity. The continual threats of petitions over nothing sounds like the kick off for a skit...
ReplyDeleteI was wondering that myself, Jill. Not sure about getting paid... maybe she's someone's relative? I like conspiracy theories!
ReplyDelete@ blue glass--I was alluding to the movie and possibly also the drapes.
ReplyDelete@ Grieve and Jill, She's definitely not getting paid. Unless she's a publicity conspiracy-savant, I'd be really impressed if she was actually the puppet master behind all this hyperlocal blog manipulation/outrage. When I met her and saw the petition about HCR, she was also mad about Frank trying to open that "fast food italian restaurant" on the corner. Which the board voted down 5 months before. That's a little late to fly your rage flag.
ReplyDelete@RyanAvenueA
ReplyDeleteHmm... maybe YOU'RE in on it too! (Ha...)
@Grieve. Ha, I wish! However, given the tertiary involvement of She Who Shall Not Be Named, you'd be hard pressed to find me working with this crew.
ReplyDelete