XOXO 2nd Avenue

Last Sunday, we marked the 10th anniversary of the closing of Mars Bar on Second Avenue's southwest corner at First Street. 

On this occasion, Julius Klein shared the two photos below of what the northwest corner of Second Avenue and First Street looked like for a time in the 1990s ... when he ran XOXO, a performance space and gallery.

This first shot is from 1997, three months before workers demolished the building to make way for part of the Avalon Bowery Place luxury complex...

And this next photo — circa 1992 — is looking to the northwest from Houston and Second Avenue... Roy, a handyman at Mars Bar, attends to owner Hank Penza's car...

Here's a current-day view of the NW corner of Second Avenue and First Street (thanks to Steven for the pic)...

40 years of 'Recollections'

Longtime EV/LES residents Raken Leaves and Julius Klein are marking their almost "40-year interaction" with a two-person exhibition of their art work.

The show, titled "Recollections," opens tomorrow (Saturday) at 222 Bowery between Prince and Spring. The opening reception tomorrow is 5-9 p.m. in the building that housed the studios of Mark Rothko and William S. Burroughs, among others.

The gallery hours are Wednesday though Sunday from 3 to 7 p.m. "Recollections" will be here through April 21.

Memories from Avenue B

Bloom 62 is a new luxury building on Avenue B at East Fifth Street that features a landscaped roof deck with showers, Weber grills and a "teak sundeck" for apartment dwellers paying upwards of $7,600... the building was formerly the Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation ... and the American Nursing Home.

This development brought back some memories for artist Julius Klein, who lived next door for 11 years.

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For many years, (’82 –’93) living at 60 Ave. B, Apt 2B, between 4th & 5th St., late at night, while laying in bed, I would hear wailings coming from the then named American Nursing Home, across the loading dock. It was a regular, nightly utterance — “arolegemmyt yato me air”, like hearing a cubistic coyote in the distant desert.



Again, another night lying in bed, say, 3:45 am, “aerol, aerol, osh oshh –mtwon”.

One night, when well oiled on mushrooms, it became clear to me.

“HAiRrrrOLDD, ET E OT O ERE”!!!
“HAROLD, GET ME OUT OF HERE”!

In the 80ies and into the 90ies, a grand yearly 4th of July party was held in the back seating area behind the loading dock. It was mainly a party for the staff, as the band hired yearly, was a sort of funk jazz R&B ensemble.



The old folks would be wheeled out and afflicted by the way too loud, amplified sound. You could see them pushing their arms forward, as if to push the offending sound away, as they then covered their ears, the staff trying to sell them on the musical offerings such as “Grooving, on a sunny afternoon, La La La.”

At some point, the lead singer, the MC, without any sense of irony, posed the question. “Does anyone here know who Old Blue Eyes is?” the one song in their set approaching era appropriateness for the audience.

After a few moments the band jumped into Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” — “And now the end is hear, and so I face the final curtain”.

It just felt, from my 2nd story window, a bit cruel ... and a bit funny too.

And so it went, and so it goes ...

[Updated] Julius Klein has left the East Village

We recently heard that Julius Klein was closing up his studio/gallery space on East First Street at the end of May ... he has leased another space on 23rd Street and Lexington ...

Sure enough, we walked by his space today, and the landlord already put up the for rent signs ...

The for rent sign say "Food OK."

9300 Realty (aka Steve Croman) purchased the building at 44 E. First St. in February 2011 for $2.3 million, according to city records.

As for Klein... Among his many artistic endeavors, the writer-painter-sculptor-designer founded and directed XOXO, a gallery and performance space on East First Street at Second Avenue from June 1991 through July 1997. That was one of the many buildings demolished to make way for the sterile, glassy hell of Avalon Bowery Place.

[Steve Carter circa 1997]

[Julius Klein in front of the former XOXO via Facebook]