Terry Galmitz's East Village

This past summer, you likely saw the artist Terry Galmitz sitting near various East Village institutions, sketch pad in hand. Starting tomorrow, SB D Gallery will feature his illustrations in a show titled "My East Village."

According to the show's description: "The places which have been precious parts of his life are revisited and illustrated in Terry's own voice, much with his charming wit. Some places are already in the history, some are about to become, and some will hopefully stand for another few decades."

Galmitz turns 64 on Monday. Aside from some traveling, he has lived in the East Village his entire life.



I caught up with him by phone yesterday afternoon at the gallery for a few quick questions.

How did this show come about?

This is something that I've wanted to do for a long time. So this year, I decided to do it. My wife gave me a little folding chair. I took that big pad and sat across the street from some places; some places a little closer. I just sat there. I tried to do two or three places a day. I spent the whole summer sitting somewhere in the East Village. It was just a personal thing that I really wanted to do. I didn't have any deep philosophical thing behind it. I love architecture, especially the old places. I did two places that are long gone. CBGB and the Fillmore East from photos. They were so much part of the Village when they were here.

You've lived here for nearly 64 years. What has stayed the same about the East Village through the generations?

The people who live here have stayed the same, kind of. It's still an artists' neighborhood. Artists, musicians, writers. I had a lot of artist friends who lived in Soho back in the 1970s. I wanted to get a loft there myself. It was cheap. They've all been thrown out. I guess they went to Brooklyn. I'm glad that didn't happen to me. I love being in the city.




Was there one place that closed through the years that was particularly upsetting to you?

Back in 1971, when the Fillmore East closed. I was a young rock-n-roll-going person. I went, 'Oh my God, the Fillmore is leaving.'

A few people I know say the Second Avenue Deli....

Oh, yeah — the Second Avenue Deli. And Ratner's.



What do you think about some of the new buildings in the neighborhood?

Oh, I wonder about it. I don't really like it. I have yet to see a new building that I like. But what do I know? Seems to be a lot of it going up. Some of it is really horrible, actually.


Portrait of the artist.

The SB D Gallery is located at 125 E. Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. His work will be up through Dec. 29. Details here.

Lights on for the new B&H sign

The other day, we noticed workers tinkering around with the new B&H sign on Second Avenue...



...turns out they were just installing new lights on the sign...



And the green is growing on me (so to speak).

Previously on EV Grieve:
An unscientific survey! What you had to say about the B&H sign

Previously.

An unscientific survey! What you had to say about the B&H sign

The other day I posted photos of the new-look front at B&H on Second Avenue... I asked for your thoughts... But first!



I checked in with Jim and Karla Murray, the acclaimed photographers behind "Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York." They include this photo of B&H circa 2001 in their book:



And what do they think of the 2010 version?

While we will always miss the old version of the sign, we have to applaud them for not going the vinyl awning route that so many stores now use. The green color of the sign and entire storefront IS very attention-grabbing. Not many stores have a green storefront!

And here are your comments...

Anonymous said...
I like it! They kept the sign true to its roots, only green.

Bowery Boogie said...
tasteful.

creature said...
Agreed. I like it.

marjorie said...
I love it too! i kinda wish it didn't clash with the green of the awning, tho. i'm anal like that.

Ken Mac said...
not bad at all!

glamma said...
thumbs up

VH McKenzie said...
I'm on the love train. Could have been a disaster but it is just a freshened up version of the original.

Looks like they're going for a more streamlined appearance by sticking with the all-green (sorta) color scheme. Good for them, good for the EV.

BrooksNYC said...
Likey!

Anonymous said...
i knooow, it's probably the best that can be done, and it is in good taste in staying w/ the original, but can i just say i miss a tiny bit the faded blue and just plain ol' letters? but everyone's right -- at least they didn't due a huge bubble sign.

UPDATED:

So...that's new sign: 9... hate the new sign: 3

Previously on EV Grieve:
B&H hangs its new sign: What do you think?

B&H hangs its new sign: What do you think?

The new B&H sign is up now on Second Avenue...




Before!


[Photo above via the Voice]

What do you think of the new sign? Essentially the same...except for that really green green. Makes me a little seasick.

Previously on EV Grieve:
B&H gets its canopy but loses a sign

B&H gets its canopy but loses a sign

We have good news and bad news about B&H... last week we mentioned that workers removed the canopy...and now, a new one that looks very familiar replaced it...



However! EV Grieve reader Dan was walking by on Saturday when two workers were removing the B&H sign. He took the two photos below. Will B&H simply refurbish the old sign or put up something new?




And here's B&H as it awaits a new sign...




[Photo above via the Voice]

Where's the B&H canopy?

Something is missing over at East Village institute B&H...



...namely the canopy... perhaps it's just in the shop for some minor repairs, and not an overhaul...




[Top photo via the Voice]

Updated: Save Ray's Day set: Feb. 6 (and a new three-day ultimatum from the landlord)

The above photo of Ray's was taken by Joann Jovinelly, who kindly let me repost this from her Flickr account.

So! Sidewalk Cafe, 94 Avenue A at Sixth Street, will be hosting a benefit show on Saturday, Feb. 6 for Ray's Candy Store. More details to follow. If you want to play or help out in any way, then please get in touch with Leah at:

boyslikebarbies@gmail.com

Meanwhile, Bob Arihood, who has been reporting on Ray's long before anyone else, noted the brisk business at Ray's on Wednesday night... good news to hear. Meanwhile, as Bob reports, Ray turns 77 on Monday. Will there be any surprise visitors, like dancers?

UPDATE: Somehow I inexplicably missed this in Bob's post: Last night, Ray received another three-day ultimatum from the landlord. As Bob noted in the comments: "It was very troubling for those who heard about it."


And, as a reminder...

There's now a Save Ray's Twitter feed, which will have the latest updates...

www.twitter.com/saverays

And there's the Save Ray's Facebook page, which ]has more than 1,200 members now...

And tomorrow night:

There's a protest/fundraiser/street party Saturday night at 8 for Ray's Candy Store. It's being organized by Black Ops Bob and the Slacktivists.

A Save Ray's Benefit Concert is in the works; $550 collected so far via PayPal

Last Tuesday, we told you that a PayPal account has been established to help Ray's Candy Store. Those who are interested in helping out may use this e-mail address at PayPal:

saverayscandystore@gmail.com

The organizers -- Lilly O'Donnell and Haley Moss Dillon -- said that, to date, $550 has been collected.

Meanwhile, a Save Ray's Benefit Concert is in the works. Anyone interested in performing can send a note at saverayscandystore@gmail.com.

And for the latest on Ray's...(as well as photos from the weekend), visit Neither More Nore Less.

Ray's makes the Times

From a feature today titled "Fixture of Avenue A Faces the Threat of a Padlock."

A few excerpts:

Opposite Tompkins Square Park, the usual sort of post-midnight gathering was taking place on a recent evening inside a cramped storefront with tile floors and a worn blue counter.

Kevin Mag Fhloinn was there, talking about a probability system he invented, which makes a spin of the roulette wheel so inviting it barely feels like a bet. Mitch Green told how he once tried to interest Rocky Graziano in buying a neon sign. And there was a smiling man who introduced himself as Thrilly-D; he plunked a large order of Belgian fries onto the counter, and, with beery breath, invited his new comrades to dig in.

And!

It was just past two in the morning and steel gates rattled on Avenue A as neighboring stores locked up for the night. Mr. Alvarez peered through a window as a police car sped past. And Mr. Green reminisced about the neighborhood in the mid-1970s, when the streets were so desolate that you couldn't find a cab.

"When there was nothing else around," he said, "Ray was around."

[Photo: Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times]

A Villager editorial: "Save our Ray's"

From an editorial in this week's issue of The Villager titled "Save our Ray's"...

There has been a lot of talk in the neighborhood in recent years about preserving local mom-and-pop businesses, and keeping out the big chain stores. Ray’s Candy Store is a perfect example of a local business that truly offers a unique, authentic experience, from its old-style soda fountain to Ray himself and the cast of quirky characters and locals who patronize his place.

Until his recent cash-flow problems, Ray has paid his rent faithfully for more than three decades — so one could say, he’s paid his dues. His place used to be one of the only businesses open on Avenue A at night, when taxis wouldn’t even dare come that far east. He slept in his store to protect it from burglars. He’s been slashed and slammed with everything from jagged fluorescent bulbs to metal sidewalk vault doors, and survived.

Also in The Villager this week: A Ray's recap from Chris Flash. Read it here.

Meanwhile, as noted Tuesday....

A PayPal account has been established to help Ray's Candy Store. Those who are interested in helping out may use this e-mail address:

saverayscandystore@gmail.com

And Bob Arihood has the latest update at Neither More Nor Less:

Ray claims that he met with his landlord and that the landlord was not very sympathetic . According to Ray the landlord has too many tenants not paying rent these days and that he expects Ray to pay his rent ....now. So it seems there will be no grace period for Ray and his candy store and thus the future is ever so uncertain .

Previously:
Behind the landlord ultimatum at Ray's

Behind the landlord ultimatum at Ray's Candy Store

A few hours ago, Chris Flash interviewed Ray Alvarez, the proprietor of Ray's Candy Store at 113 Avenue A, for The Shadow. As you may recall, Barbara Chupa, the managing agent of the building that houses Ray's store, with the help of a bodyguard, reportedly threatened to padlock his store unless he paid the two months of rent ($8,000 in total) that she says he owes.

Here is an excerpt from The Shadow exclusive:

Ray's landlord is the Leshko family, from whom Ray also rents an apartment in which he lives upstairs from his store. Though the Leshkos have had a good relationship with Ray since Ray opened his store in 1974, Ray says it is Chupa who wants him out. Since 2000, Chupa has been managing the Leshko properties on the Lower East Side. These include Ray's store at 113 Avenue A, 131-33 East Seventh Street and 66 St. Mark's Place.

Ray told The SHADOW that at Chupa's insistence, since 2000, Ray has been renting his store with no lease at $4,000 on a month-to-month basis. According to Ray, under Chupa's management, 25 other stores in the neighborhood are operating without the protection of a lease.

On Thursday night, Chupa told Ray that she has a new tenant who will pay $5,000 per month for his store. If so, Chupa could get a $10,000 commission, the equivalent of two months rent, from the new tenant. As Ray is already paying a peak rent for his small store, and as the neighborhood is already full of empty storefronts, it is doubtful whether a new tenant would be able or willing to pay as much or more for Ray's store.

Read the whole story here.

Meanwhile, Bob Arihood at Neither More Nor Less reports that the deadline passed without Ray making the back rent payment. Ray's is still open...

For further reading on EV Grieve:
The comments section on the post "Deadline Friday: Ray's Candy Store in imminent danger of closing"



[Photo by Bob Arihood via The Shadow]

Deadline Friday: Ray's Candy Store in imminent danger of closing

Bob Arihood has the troubling story:

"[W]e regrettably have to report that according to Ray at 10PM tonight the managing agent of his building--accompanied by her bodyguard-- informed him that he has until Friday to pay the 2 months rent that he owes . The agent noted that the next time she comes to the store she will have a chain and padlocks to close the store."

This can't happen. Per The Villager, his rent is $4,000 a month... Ray is 77 and has been here on Avenue A near Seventh Street since 1974.

Things to do this holiday season (or any other day): Go to Ray's

When you're out and about this holiday season, stop by Ray's Candy Store on Avenue A between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place... the food is tasty...and...

...business isn't so good. As Slum Goddess noted:

He cut the price of his Belgian "Obama" waffles to $2.00..Don't know if it was the right thing to do..but his business is slow...PLEASE go there and support Ray's Candy Store..If he closes Avenue A will have lost an icon..

And Scoopy reported this week...

[H]e said, this is the first time since he bought the hole-in-the-wall store in 1974 that he’s never paid his rent on the first of the month. "They might throw me out," he said matter of factly. "If I work alone — no girls, no help — I will make $100 a day and pay my rent. ... And if lose my store, I lose my apartment, too. This is my only income, and it’s too cold to collect cans." He wasn’t kidding.

Also, according to Bob Arihood, look for some new coffee products soon at Ray's...

Go to Ray's Candy Store

Bob Arihood has written about the plight of Ray at Ray's Candy Store, which has been at 113 Avenue A for 35 years. Now Scoopy has more details in his column (last item) in this week's issue of The Villager. Writes Scoopy:

Friends of Ray Alvarez are really getting concerned about his situation. Alvarez has operated his Ray’s Candy Store, on Avenue A at Seventh St., for years, and everyone just assumed he’d saved up a nice nest egg. But it turns out, he’s broke. He needs new glasses and has a bad hernia you don’t want to hear the details of, and his diet is mainly leftover potatoes that he doesn’t make into Belgian fries and maybe some soft ice cream.

Anyway, it's a complicated situation. So, stop by. Or at least visit the MySpace page that Eden Brower created for him. As his bio reads there:

Ray is a lower east side icon who is loved by many...He makes the best belgian fries around and will serve you with love and a smile...Home to old timer regulars, drunks, tourists, wingnuts, political activists and hipsters, Ray's is a unique piece of old new york in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood.. Please come to Ray's and support this beloved treasure!!

More love in the media for Love Saves the Day

[Photo by Vivi via Picasa.]

Since Jeremiah broke the story Dec. 2 of Love Saves the Day's apparent demise, there has been no shortage of affection for kitsch central at Seventh Street and Second Avenue:

From Lily Koppel's feature in the Times yesterday:

It opened 42 years ago, in a time known by some as the Age of Aquarius, in a Manhattan neighborhood that was a hippie haven. It endured as a psychedelic oasis even as the hippies disappeared and the neighborhood, the East Village, was transformed into a pricier and less scruffy place by the real estate boom that washed across many parts of New York City.

Meanwhile, in The Villager this week, Dottie Wilson has an essay on the store:

LSD, located on the same block of Second Ave. as Gem Spa, B&H Dairy, The Orpheum, Stage Deli and Toy Tokyo, now has a new sign on its door, and it isn’t amusing. It’s an ugly announcement about the departure of yet another special facet of the East Village.

And!

But how ironic and horrible that this unique “real estate” will most likely end up symbolizing a really bad acid trip when a Duane Reade or the equivalent no doubt occupies the space.