How Hollywood recreates a 'Lower East Side club scene'

You can always count on Craigslist for some comic relief...

Here's the listing:

We're seeking extras (21-35 or look youngish) to help emulate the feel of a cool, hip, sexy, dark Lower East Side club scene [Think 'Last Nights Party-meets-Cobra Snake' photos.] We want people to have fun [but not look like they are having too much fun] and be able to act cool and sexy. We also are looking for people who are comfortable expressing themselves when dancing with a partner. If you have any skillz in movement, we want you to express them, even if it's sort of weird! This will be an artistic version of a night club scene. Feel free to bring a prop, bring all your best, cool, mostly black but even slightly outrageous colorful gear if it works.

1 day of shooting for a couple of hours next Wednesday, July 13 (call times will be given to those locked in, but around 10-11A or after.) Non-union. Will provide food and drinks and lots of fun!

Film crew is super cool, professional and efficient and you will be shot by one of the best DPs in the business. Please submit head shots and/or any photo where we can get an idea of how you look.

Shopping woes on the Lower East Side

Crain's checks in today with an article titled Lower East Side's fashion faux pax ... here are a few excerpts of the piece by Adrianne Pasquarelli:

Initially expected to be the next SoHo or West Village, the Lower East Side is getting an F as a shopping destination. Since February ... several other apparel shops, including trendy In God We Trust, have given up on the Lower East Side. Others, such as accessories purveyor Bag and fashion boutique Convent, have announced their imminent closures. Businesses complain that landlords, anticipating completed developments, have been jacking up rents, though several construction projects are still stalled with recession-related woes.

And!

The influx of nightlife has only driven up rents, making the area even less appealing for emerging boutiques. In the past 18 months, asking prices in the neighborhood have jumped, increasing 20% following recession-related drops. Now, asking rents on prime streets range from $100 to $150 a square foot, while secondary areas are closer to $65 a square foot, according to brokers.

And!

“If I was a landlord, I'd want to fill the block with cool local stores so the foot traffic is cool—we don't need another NoLIta or SoHo,” said Julie Noyce, In God We Trust's general manager. “The Lower East Side has always been for artists and rock 'n' rollers — if you get rid of that local flavor, then it's just Steve Madden and a bunch of bars.”

And what Lower East Side bar did the NYPD close last night?

Welcome to the Johnson's. According to reports, the 7th Precinct cited them for allegedly serving minors.

This is the latest bar the 7th Precinct has shuttered. BoweryBoogie and The Lo-Down have full reports on this latest closure.

[Photo via BoweryBoogie]

Soon, there'll be more hotel rooms than apartments on the Lower East Side

The long-idle development affectionally called the Orchard Hell Building on Orchard Street between Houston and Stanton will become a — ding! ding! — 290-room hotel, Crain's reports. Read the history of this space here at BoweryBoogie, Curbed and The Lo-Down.

[Photo via BoweryBoogie]

Your chance to buy the building that housed the (briefly) notorious 205 Club

Here we are on 205 Chrystie St. at Stanton, where this five-story building is now on the market for $4.85 million. Per Massey Knakal:

5 story mixed-use building on the southwest corner of Chrystie and Stanton Streets. There is vacant commercial space on the ground floor and basement, with 13 apartment units above, of which 7 are free market and 6 are rent stabilized. This is the former home of a two story club / cabaret. The residential portion of the building is renting at an average of $35/SF. The area has recently been upzoned to a C6-3A from a C6-1, increasing the available FAR. The air rights are intact.

There's probably a lot of history in these walls... but the building is most likely known in recent times for 205, the now-shuttered hotspot that ran afoul of the State Liquor Authority in 2008.

As Daily Intel noted in November 2006: "205, the de facto after-party spot for downtown's skaters, bar owners, and artists (not to mention Serge Becker's entourage of models), is such a hipster destination that they recently turned away Keanu Reeves."

A message from the Lower East Side about underage drinking

You may have been read about the 7th Precinct’s crackdown on Lower East Side bars and clubs to curb underage drinking, late night noise and overcrowding. (The Lo-Down has covered the topic extensively.)

EV Grieve contributor samo notes this signage on Houston at Ludlow Street....

Life in a building undergoing a gut renovation

In February, we noted the sale of a residential building on Suffolk street...

Silverstone Property Group ... is pleased to announce the acquisition of 157 Suffolk Street ... The 6 story, 22,398 square foot residential apartment building consists of 33 apartments and 2 retail stores. Silverstone purchased the building for $8.8M, or approximately $392 per square foot, in an all-cash, off-market transaction with the private seller. Silverstone will be renovating the building to create a high-end boutique residential rental property, as well as leasing the retail space which has been vacant for many years.

Per a commenter:

"There are 7 apartments left here as of April 2011 and we are suffering through months of demolition and construction."

One of those remaining residents (we think!) sent along a video of what life is like here in the building during the months of construction...

Monsters are clearly attacking the Lower East Side, maybe

First, there was the Mystery Lot creature...

And now! EV Grieve reader Ben A. captured this shot last evening on Orchard just south of Stanton Street... there, above the 161...

We can't can't tell if this thing is coming or going... and whether 161 is the breeding ground for these creatures... to be continued — if there's time!

Souvlaki GR opening set for next Monday on Stanton Street

Back in January BoweryBoogie reported that food-truck favorites Souvlaki GR were opening an eatery at 116 Stanton St. just west of Essex Street. (New York Street Food had the scoop.)

EV Grieve contributor Samo happened by during the weekend and spoke with with Kosta Plagos, one of the owners. Opening date is slated for next Monday. Souvlaki will accommodate 40 inside ... and Plagos would eventually like to have sidewalk seating. "Concept is that you will feel like you are sitting in the streets of Mykonos."

BoweryBoogie has more on their food truck here.

The Lower East Side gets another 'high-end boutique residential rental property'

From the EV Grieve inbox...

Silverstone Property Group, a New York City based full service real estate company, is pleased to announce the acquisition of 157 Suffolk Street ... The 6 story, 22,398 square foot residential apartment building consists of 33 apartments and 2 retail stores. Silverstone purchased the building for $8.8M, or approximately $392 per square foot, in an all-cash, off-market transaction with the private seller. Silverstone will be renovating the building to create a high-end boutique residential rental property, as well as leasing the retail space which has been vacant for many years.

Sooo... dumb question, but what happened to all the former residents of this pre-high-end boutique residence? Buy outs?

An update on the Three Monkeys fire scene

BoweryBoogie has an update on last night's fire at Three Monkeys on Rivington and Ludlow. As BB notes, it doesn't look so good.

The former Paul's Boutique burns down on the Lower East Side

A little outside our usual coverage area... However, several readers sent word of a fire on the Lower East Side... Per a tweet by @winedanddined:

"Wow...the Three Monkeys at Ludlow and Rivington on Lower East Side just burned down."

[Photo via @winedanddined]

This corner was once Paul's Boutique, made famous by the Beastie Boys. (BoweryBoogie has more on that here.)

According to DNAinfo: "The fire department received a call about a fire in the first floor of the restaurant at 99 Rivington St. about 8:11 p.m. The fire was put out by 8:46 p.m., FDNY said."

There weren't any reported injuries.

[Via @hwmk]

Interestingly enough, BoweryBoogie noted just last week how some residents were unhappy with the noise coming from Three Monkeys at night...

[Via @john_swaggerdap]

4:47 p.m., Orchard Street, Dec. 6

Photo courtesy of Shawn Chittle.

Booze beat for the LES?

The Post has this "exclusive" item today:

Fed up with drunken antics on the Lower East Side, a neighborhood business association hopes to get off-duty cops to walk what would essentially be the city's first booze beat.

If approved by the NYPD, the moonlighting crime fighters -- in uniform -- would patrol the beer-soaked lanes between Houston and Delancey streets Thursday nights and on weekends.

They wouldn't be permitted to work inside or at the front doors of the many local gin mills, but they could lasso sidewalk lushes.

"We think having a cop on the beat . . . would really help nightlife establishments be quieter and safer," said Lower East Side Business Improvement District Executive Director Bob Zuckerman.

The Post also managed to speak to one person opposed to this idea.

And barflies voiced concern that the off-duty cops could become the fun police.

"This is a noisy city," music writer Nicole Wasilewicz, 25, said outside Pianos on Ludlow Street. "You come here to make some noise."

[Image via]

City of dreams, laundry

The Wall Street Journal has an item today on the new book "New York: Portrait of a City" (Taschen, 560 pages, $69.99). Per the WSJ:

"Erika Stone's 1947 photograph of a Lower East Side tenement's brick-wall exterior seems to capture New York at two extremes: city of dreams (as rendered by an outdoor advertiser, anyway) and city of laundry."

[Erika Stone/Katrina Doerner Photographs, Brooklyn]

Updated 6/1: Bus hits pedestrian on Essex and Canal

From a reader:

Today at 11:48 AM Lucky Star hit an older Chinese man outside of my window at the corner of Essex/Canal. He will more than likely die from the injuries. Bystanders thought they were helping and started to drag the man from under the bus. I along with others got them to stop, but damage may have been done. I hope he lives. ... FDNY was on scene within 2 minutes of the accident and acted quickly to free the man and send him off to the hospital. From what I could see from afar, the injuries along with his accelerated age, it does not look promising.

Still waiting to hear more on this from the mainstream media... nothing yet... The reader who sent me the original information passed along another message...

The whole scene was cleaned up by the time I sent you the photo. All that remains is the sand the firemen spread to cover his blood. They did not remove his shoe from the middle of the street. It's a very sad reminder of what may have been this man's last few moments. The whole incident took place and disappeared within 40 minutes. These buses are dangerous and the drivers some times don't pay attention like they should. The man was in the middle of the crosswalk -- there's no way the driver didn't see him.

DNAinfo has more on the story. According to police, the man's injuries are no considered life-threatening.

The problems with selling stuff out of converted bread trucks

The Daily News today has a piece on NY artist Marco who is now selling his wares from a refurbished bread truck:

"[T]hings don't always go smoothly.

On a recent night, Marco parked his truck on the lower East Side, drawing quite a bit of unwanted attention.

Hordes of drunken revelers stopped by, expecting to order food.

"They wanted shawarma, falafel," Marco said. "They want meat patties and pizzas."

Reminders for films tomorrow night

Two items of interest to point out for tomorrow night...

1) There is a showing of "Pull My Daisy" at The Ottendorfer Library on Second Avenue near St. Mark's Place starting at 6 p.m. The film was adapted by Jack Kerouac from the third act of his play, "Beat Generation." It's part of a presentation titled "The Lower East Side History Project Presents: Bohemia and Counterculture."

And may have already seen this silent footage of Kerouac, Allan Ginsberg and othters from the summer of 1959 outside the Harmony Bar & Restaurant on Ninth Street and Third Avenue



2) At the Millennium of East Fourth Street... In the gallery space, Richard Sandler's photographs are on display through June 19. The opening reception is tomorrow from 6-8 p.m., and includes a screening of his video, "Brave New York."

The Lounge at Dixon Place holds its grand opening tomorrow night

The Lounge at Dixon Place celebrates its official Grand Opening tomorrow night at Dixon Place, the nonprofit that provides space for literary and performing artists...

It's a Lower East Side bar that directly supports artists and a theater that presents their works in progress. "All of our proceeds go directly to helping support the Dixon Place mission. It keeps our ticket prices low and allows us to present free music and other events in the Lounge," Tim Ranney, Dixon Place's director of marketing, told me.

So is the bar open all the time? Or just before and after performances?

"We are open every night at 6 to the public just like a real bar. It's a neighborhood bar as well as for folks coming here for a show," he said.

And there's a 2-for-1 happy hour special every night of the week from 6 to 7. "No plans yet to adopt the 'buy a keg' concept from Superdive but we do have a bar special called 'The Bull Dyke' -- a shot of whiskey and a PBR."

Ranney also noted there's an agreement with the building and neighbors that mandates the Lounge closes by midnight Monday-Thursday and by 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. "And we keep the music very, very low," he said.

Details on the grand opening are here. Dixon Place is located at 161A Chrystie St. between Rivington and Delancey.

When High Society hits the Doghouse Saloon

So you may or may not know about CW's docu-reality show "High Society," which, according to the description, follows "Tinsley Mortimer, New York's most talked-about 'Park Avenue Princess,' as she and her circle of often-controversial friends circulate through New York's most prestigious black-tie affairs, outrageous parties and fashion exclusives, with never-before-seen access from behind the velvet rope."

In last night's episode, resident alleged racist homophobe and dumb-thing-sayer Jules Kirby went to the Doghouse Saloon on Orchard Street. And Emily Exton at Entertainment Weekly recaps some excerpts from Jules:

“Every now and again I like to go downtown and like hang out with poor guys.”

“For a couple of uptown girls it is like sort of slumming going downtown. We like to toy with guys. Like, a girl who walks into a bar with heels there, it’s like unheard of.”

“It’s fun to go hang out with blue collar people at a scummy bar. They do fratty things like play beer pong.”

“The best thing about going to like a downtown bar like that is that it really doesn’t matter at the end of the day; we can just like leave after sort of screwing with them.”

Outside, her friend Cleo asked a passerby for a cigarette, Jules quickly scolded her, saying: “People like don’t have jobs and stuff down here!”

If this was scripted for Jules, then it's lame. We can do better! Oh, and if she really said this?