A celebration of life for Albert Fabozzi in Tompkins Square Park.

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Friends, neighbors and community members gathered around the Tompkins Square Park holiday tree this morning to share memories, stories and music honoring a longtime community leader and the founder of the Park's annual holiday tree-lighting tradition.

Fabozzi recently passed away at age 85 after a short illness. 

He started the Tompkins holiday tree lighting in 1992, following the death of his longtime partner, Glenn Barnett, from an AIDS-related illness. 

What began as a memorial to Barnett and others lost in the AIDS crisis became a lasting neighborhood tradition. 

Speakers included Tom Birchard (below) of Veselka and Sam Shipman, Barnett's nephew. Chris Tanner also performed as Mama Cass Elliot, singing "Make Your Own Kind of Music," one of Fabozzi's favorite songs.

After the remarks and music, attendees laid flowers at the base of the tree in remembrance of Fabozzi and Barnett.

RIP Ben Morea

Ben Morea, a central figure in the 1960s Lower East Side anarchist guerrilla theater collective, passed away on May 2. 

According to published reports, he died near his home in Colorado. He was 84. 

Morea was a central figure in the downtown radical movements of the 1960s. The Brooklyn native helped found the art-anarchist collective Up Against the Wall Motherfucker and the anarchist publication Black Mask, and was involved in a series of headline-grabbing protests and direct actions, including demonstrations at MoMA, the Pentagon, Columbia University, and the Fillmore East. 

He also took part in a well-known protest in which Lower East Side garbage was dumped into the fountains at Lincoln Center to draw attention to city neglect and sanitation conditions downtown. 

In recent days, someone left a tribute to Morea outside the vacant storefront that once was part of the Fillmore East, the 2,700-seat concert venue (RIP 1971) on Second Avenue at Sixth Street.

A parting thought from CrimethInc.: 

Ben was not simply an old revolutionary from another era, nor a nostalgic remnant of the American counterculture. He was one of those rare human beings who attempted to transform rebellion into a total form of life — to erase the borders between self and other, poetry and insurrection, art and survival, to bring global social revolution to the streets of the metropolis.

RIP Albert Fabozzi

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

For more than three decades, Albert Fabozzi helped bring neighbors together each holiday season around the Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Tompkins Square Park — a tradition rooted in remembrance, community and the East Village he ultimately came to love. 

Fabozzi, who was born in June 1940, died recently at age 85 after a short illness. 

A painter, interior designer, community activist and former chair of Community Board 3, Fabozzi became one of the East Village's most recognizable neighborhood figures during the 1980s and 1990s. 

He was perhaps best known for founding the annual Tompkins holiday tree lighting in 1992, following the death of his longtime partner, Glenn Barnett, who died that October from AIDS-related illness. What began as a memorial for Barnett and others lost during the AIDS crisis became a lasting neighborhood tradition.

Fabozzi grew up in Coney Island, where his family operated businesses along the boardwalk. In an oral history with Village Preservation from 2015, he recalled an almost storybook childhood around Steeplechase Park and later described the neighborhood as "magical."

As a young adult, he moved to the West Village before relocating to the East Village in 1978 with Barnett, his partner of 18 years. 

At first, Fabozzi resisted the move, later recalling that he viewed the neighborhood as "dangerous and filthy." 

According to close friend and neighbor David Leslie, Barnett finally convinced him by saying, "If you don’t come here, we can't be together."

Fabozzi eventually embraced the neighborhood — and, characteristically, decided to help improve it. 

"He figured if Glenn was going to make him live here, he may as well do what he could to tidy the place up," said Leslie, an artist/producer and co-founder of both The Howl Festival and East Village Community

Coalition.

Fabozzi became deeply involved in civic life, joining Community Board 3 in the early 1990s after an appointment by City Councilmember Antonio Pagán. He became chair in 1995. 

During that era, he advocated for cleaner streets, safer parks and greater investment in the neighborhood, though some of his positions, including opposition to the volume of social services provided in the East Village and support of market-rate housing, also sparked controversy among activists and longtime residents who feared being displaced.

He also helped establish cultural programming in Tompkins Square Park, including support for the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival and the holiday tree-lighting ceremony that became his signature community event.

Beyond public life, friends remember Fabozzi as warm, theatrical, funny, and deeply caring — someone whose Seventh Street apartment was filled with art, music, newspaper clippings, and stories from decades of downtown life. 

Sam Shipman, Barnett's nephew, recalled how Fabozzi remained close with the family after Glenn's death. 

"When I came out as gay my senior year of high school, that same week Albert mailed me the gay-themed box set of 'Tales of the City' with a note saying how proud he was of me," Shipman said. "Soon after, he hosted me for a weekend in the city, touring me around gay historic sites and talking up all the beautiful experiences that awaited me as a gay man."

Shipman and his brother later attended NYU, where Fabozzi became a steady and comforting presence.

"We both have memories of arriving at an apartment smelling of delicious Italian cooking and being greeted by music and a singing/dancing Albert," Shipman said, noting that Cass Elliot's "Make Your Own Kind of Music" and k.d. lang's "Constant Craving" were among his favorites. 

"He was always a young soul," Shipman said. 

I'll personally miss spending time in Albert’s art-filled apartment listening to stories about old New York, brushes with famous people and his thoughts on the changing neighborhood around him. 

He cared deeply about preserving the memory of Glenn and the many people lost during the AIDS crisis, and he became part of the fabric of this community in the process. 

And when the lights go on again at the Tompkins holiday tree in December, many people will surely be thinking of Albert, too.

------ 

And the celebration of Albert’s life — titled "Thank you, bless you, we celebrate you, Albert Fabozzi!" — will be held on Saturday, May 16, at 11 a.m. at the holiday tree in Tompkins Square Park. 

Attendees are encouraged to bring flowers to help encircle the base of Albert and Glenn's tree with what organizers are calling a "bouquet bed." Coffee and cookies will be provided by Veselka and C&B Cafe.

‘He looked out for absolutely everyone here’: Friends and neighbors discuss slain deli worker Abdul Saleh

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Loved ones are mourning the loss of Abdul Saleh, 28, who was shot and killed late Saturday night outside Sal's Deli & Grocery on 13th Street and Avenue B, where he worked at the family-run business. 

According to police and media accounts, an argument that began inside the deli spilled out onto the street, where Saleh was shot in the stomach. 

Friends said he had recently returned from Yemen, where he has relatives. Saleh, who reportedly has two young children, lived with family members around the corner on 14th Street.

A memorial for Saleh is growing outside the deli, where officers continue to staff the scene around the clock. 

Updated: The NYPD has confirmed that 28-year-old Kavone Horton, who lives a block from the scene, has been charged in the shooting. He remains hospitalized after reportedly being struck by his own ricocheted bullet Saturday night. 

Saleh's cousin told the Post that workers at the deli had previously filed police reports about Horton's history of menacing behavior. In a follow-up article, the Post has more on the alleged killer here.

Sal's Deli remains closed, with no word on when it might reopen. 

Neighbors and friends described Saleh as a deeply caring presence in the community. 

"To me, Abdul was family," East Village resident Edy Castro told EVG's Stacie Joy. "He looked out for absolutely everyone here… He had a way of making every person feel seen." 

Castro recalled how Saleh quietly helped neighbors in need. "There were so many times when my kids and I faced food insecurity, and he would look out for us… He simply wouldn't let us go hungry." 

Another resident told EVG that both Sal's and its sibling deli, Brothers on 14th Street and Avenue B, "have wonderful people working there and are really the backbone of the neighborhood."

In an Instagram post yesterday, actress Rosario Dawson paid tribute to Saleh and his family. 

"So sad, tragic and terrible. Abdul worked at the neighborhood deli that I've been going to since I was a kid. He was a very sweet and beloved member of the community," she wrote. 

Others echoed that sentiment, calling him a kind, steady presence on the block. 

"It feels like a piece of the community was taken from us," one friend told NY1.

The United Bodegas of America is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, and is again calling for more safety measures for bodega workers across the city. 

As several media outlets noted, ABC 7 featured Saleh in a news report last May, calling for the installation of panic buttons as part of a United Bodegas of America campaign to help address the uptick in violence workers faced.

We'll continue to update as more information becomes available. 

Updated 6 p.m.

The memorial continues to grow outside the still-closed Sal's...

Remembering Wayne, who made friends on every walk

Thank you to EVG reader Danny for sharing this... 

Wayne, a 16-year-old long-haired dachshund and blue heeler mix, died peacefully at home this past Wednesday. 

Born on a farm outside San Marcos, Texas, in February 2010, he was adopted as a puppy by Taylor Davis at 8 weeks. Together with Taylor, he moved briefly to Austin, Texas, before his big move to NYC. After stints in Harlem and Bushwick, where he lived for nearly a decade, he became a resident of East Fourth Street in the summer of 2022. 

The East Village was Wayne's retirement home, and he had many canine and human pals on the dog-heavy stretch of Fourth Street between First and Second Avenues. Wayne was loved by all who met him — even those who admitted they usually didn't like dogs. 

He was a fan of long, meandering walks, fighting the pillows, and feeling the wind blow his hair back. He licked like no dog you'd ever met - cleaning his paws obsessively whenever given the opportunity. He was instantly recognizable by his tartan plaid bow tie, which he wore with pride. 

In early 2026, Wayne was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer in his muzzle. He lived his final days happily, getting visits from all his friends, getting regular walks, and still doing the stairs every day, and getting to eat all the things a dog isn't normally allowed. 

He was put to sleep peacefully in his bed, surrounded by loved ones. Wayne is survived by his parents, Taylor and Danny, and although his physical form has left us, his spirit lives on in the hearts of everyone whose lives he brightened. 

RIP Agosto Machado

Photo from Tompkins Square Park in 2018 by Stacie Joy 

East Village-based artist and activist Agosto Machado, a longtime figure in the Downtown art scene, died Saturday following a brief illness. His age was not disclosed. As ARTnews reported: "Speaking of his decision never to publicly share his birth year last year, Machado said, 'A lady never tells.'" 

Machado was known for his shrine-like sculptures honoring friends, collaborators and members of the queer community — many of whom were lost during the AIDS crisis — helping preserve stories and histories often left undocumented. 

An active participant in the 1969 Stonewall uprising and the Gay Liberation Movement, Machado described himself as a "pre-Stonewall street queen" and remained closely tied to the city's creative and activist communities for decades. 

There are many tributes to Machado on Instagram, including...

 

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Machado has a piece in the Whitney Biennial 2026, up through Aug. 23.

RIP Fred Smith

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Fred Smith, bassist for Television, died on Thursday from an unspecified illness. He was 77. 

Although Television's records never sold in large numbers, the band is widely considered one of the most influential groups to emerge from the mid-1970s New York punk and new wave explosion centered around CBGB, alongside Talking Heads, Blondie and the Ramones. 

Smith joined in 1975, replacing Richard Hell during the band's most defining period. He had started out playing with Angel and the Snake, the early group that evolved into Blondie. 

After Television broke up in 1978, Smith remained active in New York music, playing on solo albums by bandmates Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd, and working with The Roches, Willie Nile, Peregrins and The Revelons. He later toured with The Fleshtones.

 

His bass lines helped anchor one of the bands that defined a generation of downtown sound — music that still echoes far beyond the neighborhood where it began.

Among the tributes...

 

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RIP Philip Van Aver

Photo for EVG from May 2015 by James Maher 

Philip Van Aver, a local artist, activist, and familiar presence in the neighborhood for more than half a century, died on Jan. 23. He was 86. 

Van Aver began his career in the early 1960s as part of San Francisco's artistic and literary scene, holding his first solo exhibition in Los Angeles in 1962. For more than six decades, he worked almost exclusively in his signature small-format gouache and ink paintings on paper, creating densely layered images that fused classical references, decorative motifs and personal obsessions. 

A longtime resident of the Lower East Side, Van Aver lived in the same apartment here since 1969 and became deeply embedded in neighborhood life. He chronicled the East Village through decades of change, often sketching in and around Tompkins Square Park, where generations of neighbors came to know him.

His work blends art history, vernacular culture, and queer New York imagery, often placing figures drawn from vintage ads and ephemera in dreamlike scenes where beauty and decay coexist. 

 

That vision earned a place in the collections of MoMA, the San Diego Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and others. As an illustrator, his work appeared in New York magazine, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and The New York Times 

 

Beyond his art, Van Aver was committed to Lower East Side organizing. He worked with Community Board 3 and the Landmarks Commission, supported CHARAS and other local groups, and remained active with the Coalition for a District Alternative (CoDA) and the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative. 

Friends describe him as both a meticulous artist and a devoted witness to the neighborhood's cultural history. 

"He was a fine artist, activist and a fixture of Tompkins Square Park chronicling the East Village for over 50 years," a neighbor told us. "We will miss him dearly." 

In May 2015, Van Aver shared his life story for this EVG post.

Remembering Mac McGill

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A memorial celebration for Mac McGill, a longtime East Village artist, activist and homesteader, will take place tomorrow (Jan. 31) from 1–4 p.m. at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery (Second Avenue and 10th Street). 

McGill, a native New Yorker who passed away last fall, was a familiar presence in the neighborhood for decades through his creative work and long-running advocacy around housing and environmental issues.