At the Ottendorfer Library, a 16mm film night with 3 works featuring the Bowery

Leading up to its 140th anniversary this Dec. 6, the Ottendorfer Library is hosting a variety of events celebrating the neighborhood's history. 

Noteworthy this Thursday (Oct. 24) from 5:30-7 p.m.: Three films from the Library for the Performing Arts Reserve Film and Video collection that feature the Bowery:

• "The Bowery Men's Shelter" (1972): A portrait of the Men's Shelter on East 3rd Street. 10 min. 

• "How do you like the Bowery?" (1972): Men from the Bowery in New York are interviewed and speak candidly about how they think and feel. Directed by Dan Halas and Alan Raymond.14 min. 

• "On the Bowery" (1956): A dramatization of life on New York's Skid Row. Directed by Lionel Rogosin. 65 min.

The library is at 135 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street.

Happy No. 139 to the Ottendorfer Library branch!

The Ottendorfer branch of the New York Public Library on Second Avenue is celebrating its 139th anniversary this week.

The library, 135 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street, had an opening ceremony on Dec. 6, 1884, at 3:30 p.m. and then opened the following Monday, Dec. 8, 1884, for regular service. 

To mark the anniversary, the library is hosting a walking tour tomorrow (Saturday) from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Details!

We will celebrate the German heritage of the East Village that brought it to fruition. When the revolutions of 1848 throughout Europe failed, many young German-speaking revolutionaries fled to the East Village, which became the largest German-speaking community in the world after Berlin and Vienna. 

With the freedoms of the New World, Little Germany, or Kleindeutschland, as it became known, was a crucible for their energies and talents. On this tour, we will walk to places where Europe's failed revolutionaries made their mark and consider their legacy.

Find more info here. 

Branch manager Kristin Kuehl shared this trivia with us: Ottendorfer is the oldest NYC public library still operating in its original building.

Also! Half of the 8,000 original books were in German, with the other half in English. 

Below is an undated archival photo by J. Frederick Stein from the NYPL Digital Collections.

    

The Ottendorfer Library branch reopens today

The Ottendorfer Library reopens today at 135 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street. 

This is the first time that Ottendorfer has been open since March 2020... and as of today, this location — as well the rest of the NYPL branches, including Tompkins Square — is offering nearly full service: general library use and seating, unlimited browsing, computer access and more. In-person programming and classes will return in the coming months. (Tompkins Square had been open just for grab-and-go service. Hamilton Fish Park Library on East Houston remains closed for renovations.)

Ottendorfer will also be featuring a new series of paintings from East Village-based artist, educator (and parent) EiLeen Doster that celebrates summer in the city. 

Hours: Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Masks are required for patrons at all NYPL branches.

The Ottendorfer Library branch is now hosting a book swap on Saturdays

[File photo via Steven]

Last Saturday, we mentioned that the Tompkins Square Library branch was giving away extra books ... via the comments, an EVG reader mentioned that the Ottendorfer Library, 135 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street, is once again hosting a book swap on Saturdays.

Here are details via the library's website:

By popular demand, Ottendorfer now hosts a Book Swap every Saturday! Please bring your books, DVDs, CDs and miscellaneous trinkets to trade with others.

Saturday, Jan. 11, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 18, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 25, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

These were the top reads from East Village libraries in 2019

The New York Public Library has shared its top checkouts for 2019. These are the books that were checked out the most at our neighborhood branches:

• Tompkins Square, 331 E. 10th St.: "Circe" by Madeline Miller

• Ottendorfer, 135 Second Ave.: "Educated: A Memoir" by Tara Westover

• Hamilton Fish Park, 415 E. Houston St.: "Becoming" by Michelle Obama


"Becoming" and "Educated: A Memoir" were 1-2 systemwide for the NYPL. ("Circe" was No. 7 overall.)





Previously on EV Grieve:
Say hi to Sam, your new Ottendorfer librarian

A visit to the Tompkins Square Library branch on 10th Street

Say hi to Sam, your new Ottendorfer librarian

[Photo by Stacie Joy]

By Marjorie Ingall

The Ottendorfer Library was born in 1884 as NYC’s first free public library.

When it reopened in March at 135 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street — after seven months of fire-system and safety upgrades — a new librarian joined the team.

Friends and neighbors, meet Sam Jackson. (And she’s heard all your "Snakes on a Plane" jokes.)

Here's her story — and her love of manga — in her own words:

I grew up in Miami. My dad was a school janitor; my mom wanted to be a school social worker. Their pay wasn’t great, but what they had was time – if there was anything my sister and I were into, they were all let’s do this!

When I was into King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Egyptian gods, anime — they were all about letting me explore those things. When one day the TV broke, and my mom says, “We’re not going to replace it,” we were all, “OK, whaddaya gonna do? Let’s read!”

I had a reading disability as a child. So when parents tell me they don’t want their kids to read graphic novels because it’s bad for them and it won’t help them read – well, I can speak from personal experience: Manga gave me the visual stimulation I needed and helped me match the words with the images and helped me love reading.

After college, I did a teach-abroad program in Mito, a small Japanese town that’s mostly famous for its natto — fermented soybean. Natto is to Mito like pizza is to New York. I had it in omelets and with Kewpie Mayo and on toast and with radish. Love it. You can’t get natto like that here.

In Mito, I mostly hung out with the oba-chans, the little old ladies. I volunteered at local community centers and the oba-chans gave me informal Japanese cultural lessons. There can be a lot of xenophobia in Japan, but people in their 80s and 90s embrace foreigners.

After the war, the American government sent soldiers to help rebuild; Blacks and Latinos were often sent to the rural country and the Caucasian males were sent to the city. I learned the words “good people” and “good memories” – and “eat, eat!” Tabate tabate! Everywhere I went, the grandmas wanted to feed me. OK, I will eat this random rice ball on a random train from a random stranger!

I studied technical theater in college, and after Japan I started working Off-Broadway as a stage manager. Still reading my little manga backstage. I was doing "And Away We Go" with Donna Lynne Champlin — two hours, no intermission — and it was [looks down, mimes turning pages] read, hand over the cigarette, read, hand over the gun. Fun. But the hours and the junk food and the no sleep were getting to me. I’d always wanted to work in the library, and now I thought “I need to make this real because my health can’t handle this.”

I love being a librarian. Free books! All you can read! I love to help patrons. You want a place to visit for free while you’re visiting New York City? I got you! Arts and crafts with kids? Yes! I get paid to go to New York Comicon and Anime NYC!

I started out at Seward Park, where my manga collection was the whole back wall. It was so beautiful. A thousand books. The teens in that space would devour them. One summer, four of my girls read the entire collection. It is the most satisfying thing when I see a graphic novel I just ordered missing from the shelves.

A few days ago, I ordered Planetes, Food Wars! and Fairy Tale Book 1 – all good introductions to manga. And they’re all gone. It’s great.

For teens, I often recommend Assassination Classroom. It feels new and different. There’s an assassin creature that wants to destroy the world, and he’s working as a junior high teacher. It’s not what you think it’s about. For both teens and adults, I really like What Did You Eat Yesterday?, a cooking manga about two men who are opposites who live together in Tokyo. One cooks and the other eats. One is a lawyer and the other is a beautician. Each book is a year in their life. It’s emotional, and the cooking stuff is so great; it’s just a sweet slice of life.

Personally, I love Solanin. It’s such beautiful art, and it’s about growing up and finding your place in the world. Not everyone loves it, but I gave it to one of my teens and she was crying. Not like secret-crying, like fully open this is good stuff! crying. We were in the teen room and I played her the song in the book — Solanin was made into a movie, so you can listen to the song — and she was crying and her friend was crying and I was gonna cry and I’m all, “I’M GONNA GET FIIIIIRED!”

The NYPL in general has a really good collection of manga and graphic novels. What’s on the shelves isn’t a hundredth of what we have. We have over 100,000 manga in the system. I rotate the section at Ottendorfer out every other month. I’ll talk about manga to kids, to grownups — to anyone who’s willing to listen. I’m kinda pushy.

Come talk to me. If you tell me what you’re interested in, I can probably recommend a manga you’ll like.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The untold tale of East Village shopkeeper Santo Mollica's comic-book past

Friday's parting shot(s)

A new NYPL flag for the Ottendorfer branch on Second Avenue between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street...



Ottendorfer reopened on March 11 after a months-long renovation in which workers installed a new fire alarm and life-safety system.

Thanks to Steven for the photos!

Reminders: the Ottendorfer Library is back open

[Photo this morning by Steven]

The NYPL branch at 135 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street reopened this morning at 11.

The branch had been closed since last August so that workers could install a new fire alarm and life-safety system.

Ottendorfer is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Find a list of their free monthly events at this link.

And as a bonus, a 1930s-era photo of the branch via the NYPL Digital Collections...

The Ottendorfer Library branch reopens Monday

[Photos by Steven]

The Ottendorfer Library, 135 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street, is back in circulation on Monday morning at 11 (H/T EVG reader Terry!)...



The branch closed for upgrades this past Aug. 6.

According to a message to patrons from branch manager Kristin Kuehl at the time, workers were to install a new fire alarm and life-safety system. Given the building's age and landmark status, the project was expected to take six months. (An updated sign on the library's front door in January noted a closure through "late winter.")

And as always, leaving you with some history of the branch, cut-n-pasted from the LAST TWO Ottendorfer posts...

The Ottendorfer Branch of the New York Public Library opened in 1884 as New York City's first free public library. Designed by German-born architect William Schickel, this landmark building combines Queen Anne and neo-Italian Renaissance styles with an exterior ornamented by innovative terracotta putti. The branch was a gift of Oswald Ottendorfer, owner of the New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung newspaper.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Ottendorfer Library closing for 6 months to install new fire-suppression system

A visit to the Tompkins Square Library branch on 10th Street

Checking in on the under-renovation Ottendorfer Library

The Ottendorfer Library, 135 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street, closed for upgrades this past Aug. 6.

According to a message to patrons from branch manager Kristin Kuehl, workers are installing a new fire alarm and life-safety system. "Due to the building's age and landmark status, the project is expected to take six months," Kuehl wrote this past August.

Some patrons were hopeful for a February return. A new-ish sign on the library's front door (thanks Choresh Wald!) now notes that they will be closed through "late winter." The first day of Spring is March 20. So there's time left for late winter.

Anyway! Here's some history of the branch, cut-n-pasted from the previous Ottendorfer post...

The Ottendorfer Branch of the New York Public Library opened in 1884 as New York City's first free public library. Designed by German-born architect William Schickel, this landmark building combines Queen Anne and neo-Italian Renaissance styles with an exterior ornamented by innovative terracotta putti. The branch was a gift of Oswald Ottendorfer, owner of the New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung newspaper.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Ottendorfer Library closing for 6 months to install new fire-suppression system

A visit to the Tompkins Square Library branch on 10th Street

The Ottendorfer Library is now closed for renovations

As noted last week, the Ottendorfer Library, 135 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street, closes starting today for upgrades that will keep the branch out of commission until early 2019.

According to a message to patrons from branch manager Kristin Kuehl, workers will be installing a new fire alarm and life-safety system. "Due to the building's age and landmark status, the project is expected to take six months," Kuehl wrote.

A little history of the building:

The Ottendorfer Branch of the New York Public Library opened in 1884 as New York City's first free public library. Designed by German-born architect William Schickel, this landmark building combines Queen Anne and neo-Italian Renaissance styles with an exterior ornamented by innovative terracotta putti. The branch was a gift of Oswald Ottendorfer, owner of the New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung newspaper.

Ottendorfer patrons can head on over to the Tompkins Square branch on 10th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B for all your library needs. Check out their free activities (link here) for August.

The Tompkins branch is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Ottendorfer Library closing for 6 months to install new fire-suppression system

The Ottendorfer Library closing for 6 months to install new fire-suppression system

[Photo yesterday by Steven]

The Ottendorfer Library, 135 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street, closes on Monday for upgrades that will keep the branch out of commission for at least six months.

Here's the message via branch manager Kristin Kuehl...

The New York Public Library's oldest branch, the Ottendorfer Library, will close temporarily on August 6 to install a new fire alarm and life safety system. The 8,000-square-foot Ottendorfer Library opened in 1884 as New York City's first free public library.

The upgrades at Ottendorfer Library will strengthen the well-being of a historic New York City building as well as further support nearly 135 years of library service to the Lower East Side community.

Due to the building's age and landmark status, the project is expected to take six months. The branch ... will reopen in early 2019. While Ottendorfer Library is closed, patrons are advised to use the Tompkins Square Library at 331 East 10th Street.

As for the Tompkins Square branch between Avenue A and Avenue B ... check out their free activities (link here) for August.