Living in… the East Village

[Random EVG photo from the archives]

The Times checks in with a "Living in" piece about the neighborhood ("The East Village Clings to a Colorful Past") … your basic primer with some history and what not.

Passing along a few real-estate fact and figures from the piece:

Though home prices are no longer cheap, the East Village still offers a slim advantage in terms of value over other Manhattan neighborhoods… The average price per square foot of a condo in Manhattan this year through Nov. 30 is $1,643; in the East Village, it is $1,562, which is about 16.5 percent higher than 2013. There are only about 33 condos on the market…

And!

[Bond New York broker] Wagner said he does not notice much difference between average condo prices in the East Village and those in Chelsea or the West Village. Studios typically run around $485,000; one-bedrooms about $900,000; and two-bedrooms about $1.5 million, with outliers in both directions. Co-ops typically cost about 20 percent less than condos, he said.

Sludge metal band looking for drummer, vocalist

Spotted on the Bowery...




If interested, then here's the contact info:



Meanwhile, Rush! Maybe a little too early in the morning for this, but...

CBS 2 finds that some bicyclists ride through red lights and stuff in the East Village

CBS 2 camped out in the East Village to find some outlaw bicyclists. And they did! It's Bike Bedlam! (Catchy!)

NEW YORK (CBS 2) – The NYPD is on a ticket blitz, giving cyclists more than 15,000 violations so far this year. Many pedestrians say it’s about time and fear the city’s push to get people pedaling has led to danger on the streets and sidewalks. Some have even dubbed it “bike bedlam.”

The Big Apple is racing to become the bike capital of the world and the Bloomberg administration has added more bike racks, paths and lanes.

However, as CBS 2’s Tony Aiello found out, spending a few minutes along the new bike lane on First Avenue makes clear that plenty of New Yorkers have little liking for the biking.

“It would be one thing if the bike riders obeyed the lights and things — they don’t,” Lower East Side resident Amber Rogers told Aiello.

In a recent 20 minute period at First Avenue and Sixth Street, CBS 2 counted 17 bike riders running red lights and more than two dozen riding the wrong way and against traffic.

There's video, but CBS embedded the wrong code....

Thanks to EV Grieve reader Creature for the tip.

StreetsBlog discussed some of CBS2's week-long report here.

Noted

Brandweek: What's wrong with the influencer model?

Duncan Watts: The claim that influencer matter or are important or influencers drive brand awareness, when you scrutinize them carefully, they turn out to not really be very meaningful. Or to put it another way, everyone thinks they know what an influencer is and everyone thinks they know why they matter, but everybody thinks something different. Is an influencer the hipsters in the East Village or Oprah Winfrey? What makes Oprah influential is very different from what makes the hipster in the East Village influential. And so by failing to differentiate carefully between all these different types of influencers you really undermine the ability of the theory to say anything predictive.

So this guy walks into the Mars Bar in a green shirt with a pink sweater around his shoulders...

When he walked in, I thought he was lost. I expected him to say, "Excuse me, where's the Bowery Wine Company?"

But he didn't. He ordered a drink.

Did he lose a bet? People don't usually walk into the Mars Bar wearing yellow sneakers, green shirts, and pink sweaters draped over their shoulders.

A few people stared.



Trying to get my head around it, I've told this story to several people this past week. Their first reaction has usually been, "Seriously?" Someone asked me if the guy got his ass kicked. No. We're not in high school, though I often think I'm living in one on weekends. The thing is, we're so used to seeing entitled young professionals in the neighborhood, we hardly give it a second thought. It has been happening for years. Usually it's much more intrusive than someone simply having one drink and leaving. Somewhere last Friday, Bloomberg was likely smiling. It's still the city of his dreams, built in his likeness.



Everything is so watered down that even someone dressed like a dish of sherbet can walk into the Mars Bar. Nothing is sacred. Bloomy and the gold-mining developers have beaten the city into submission. They're vampires and they've drained the remaining drops of lifeblood from what was once the most vibrant, potent city anywhere.

But is it too late?

[Bloomy photo via]

"I fucking hate the changes that have happened. I’d prefer drug dealers and criminals to the yuppie shit that goes on here now"

This week's Time Out features "Great Walks," the best outdoor treks in the city. They select a stroll through the East Village, dubbing it the "Public Eye Watch." Good people watching, you know.

Here's one of their stops:

If there isn’t a swarm of roaring motorcycles outside the cute little brick facade of the Hells Angels’ HQ (77 E 3rd St between First and Second Aves) — rumored site of drug deals and racketeering since 1969 — there’s probably at least a pair of grizzled bikers watching the leggy denizens of nouveau East Village go by. “I lived here 25 years,” croaks one yellow-toothed Angel who declined to give his name before almost literally throwing us off his turf. “What do you mean people-watching? I fucking hate the changes that have happened. I’d prefer drug dealers and criminals to the yuppie shit that goes on here now.” Hurry on to Second Avenue and don’t look back.

P.S.
You may also do the "Sweet Tooth Walk" on the LES.

[Photo via Forgotten NY]

At the 2009 Unemployment Olympics

The Unemployment Olympics are under way now in Tompkins Square Park. Hard to say whether there are more contestants (athletes?) or reporters on the scene.





After waiting in line to sign up, you waited in line to take part in the first activity of the day, Pin the Blame on the Boss.





Organizer Nick Goddard had to ask the assembled reporters to move back several times...the media kept inching closer to the Pin the Tail sign, and there wasn't enough room for the participants to spin and pin.



There are other activities planned, including the Fax Machine Toss (which looks suspiciously like a phone), the You're Fired Race and a stress-relieving piñata.



All of this got old pretty quickly. The reporters got their cutesy, "aw, we're-having-fun-in the-recession!" soft news bit and started to leave. Curiosity seekers had time to gawk.



Some Pin the Blame on the Boss video:

Unemployment Olympics coming to Tompkins Square Park

From the Daily News:

A laid-off computer programmer is putting on the Unemployment Olympics next week at Tompkins Square Park in the East Village.

The jobless can take a break from scanning the classifieds and updating their résumés to compete in events like the Fax Machine Toss and the You're Fired Race.

Nick Goddard, 26, came up with the idea when he lost his position last month, and he got a permit to stage the Olympiad at the ballfields at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. "Maybe it will lift everyone's spirits a little," Goddard said yesterday. "Originally, my thought was just to make people laugh."

There will be four events, including Pin the Blame on the Bosses featuring blindfolded competitors - and a stress-relieving piñata.

And there's a Web site.

Why you won't be seeing some high school productions of "Rent"

As the Times reports today:

Theater directors and students at more than 40 high schools across the country have selected a new show for their big springtime musical this year: “Rent: School Edition,” a modified version of the hit Broadway musical that, while toned down a bit, remains provocative by traditional drama club standards.

Too provocative, in the view of some high school officials and parents. At least three of the planned high school productions, in California, Texas and West Virginia, have been canceled after administrators or parents raised objections about the show’s morality, its portrayals of homosexuality and theft, and its frank discussions of drug use and H.I.V., according to administrators, teachers and parents involved in those cases.

The article focuses on Ron Martin, the theater director at Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach, Calif. "Rent," which depicts struggling artists living in the East Village, was cancelled there.

He said his principal, Fal Asrani, had objected to the show because of its treatment of “prostitution and homosexuality.” “When I heard that, I stopped her and looked her in the eye and said, ‘First, there is no prostitution in ‘Rent,’ and second, homosexuality is not wrong,’ ” Mr. Martin said. “She made no comment. It was the most demoralizing, disappointing moment in my career as a teacher.”

The principal denies this. In any event, what will Martin show instead?

He also said he was leaning toward directing “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” as the spring musical “because I don’t think there’s anything she can object to in that.”

The Chocolate Wars (well, not at all, but we needed something that sounds CONTROVERSIAL)

In his Nabe News Wednesday, BoweryBoogie included a link to my post on Bespoke Chocolates opening shop on Extra Place. Rachel Zoe Insler, the owner of Bespoke, left him the following comment. Which he reposted in a post. Anyway! Here's BB....and Rachel:

Rachel Zoe Insler, owner of the new Bespoke Chocolates set to open on Extra Place, wants to set the record straight. Her message is clear, don't bemoan Bespoke! Per a comment received earlier this morning:

Hi! I'm the owner of Bespoke...I specifically left the opening date so open-ended because the fiery hoops you have to jump through to open a small business (especially in a corporate-owned building) in New York City will never cease to amaze me. It's been months trying to get the appropriate permits to install a sink. Anyway, we'll be open soon enough, and I'm hoping that my small, independently owned shop making handmade products manages to make more people happy than it does horrifically offended. Cheers, Rachel P.S. EVGrieve: where's your sense of humor? "Charming" is a joke!

She also responded to his post:

You're speedy! Thanks for posting. If I ever get my damn doors open, please come by for a chocolate and a chat!

I've lived on East First between First and Second for a few years now. I love the East Village and I'm excited to be part of a long history of unique small businesses.

To be clear: I am not trying to say that people shouldn't prefer things "the way they were." Bemoan me all you want; a little controversy is hard to come by when you make chocolate anyway. :)

But I am asking that folks give me a chance and at least let me open my doors before deciding that I am going to be a detriment to the neighborhood. Remember: CBGB's was once a new business. So was Moshe's Bakery.

Times are tough, and small locally owned businesses need all the support they can get, lest Extra Place be filled with six more Chase Banks. I'm proud of my handmade products and the fact that I can create a few new jobs for New Yorkers.

I will yield your blog back to you now, thanks. :)

I'll have more to say on this tomorrow in the first installment of my 12-part series, "How Bespoke Chocolates singlehandedly ruined the East Village."

Heh. But seriously! I'm all for small, locally owned businesses...and I'm happy to hear that she lives in -- and appreciates -- the neighborhood. This place aside....generally speaking, with the proliferation of FroYo places and the comings-and-goings on Dessert Row, the Momofuku's Bakery & Milk Bars of the neighborhood, and what not, I have to admit I feel a little desserted out. And annoyed when the SATC crowd shows up to eat said desserts. In any event, we do wish her all the best with her new store.

Martha Stewart to help drive up rents on East 10th Street

First Anthony Bourdain, now this....The New York Post brings us this item today:

FORGET 46th Street - Martha Stewart has crowned a new Restaurant Row.

In a four-part restaurant tour kicking off Monday on "The Martha Stewart Show" (11 a.m., Ch. 4), the domestic diva is visiting a quartet of tiny downtown eateries on E. 10th Street.

"I have never been on a street anywhere in New York where restaurant after restaurant is just so, so good," says Stewart, citing "diverse" menus and "fantastic" prices as reasons for her latest foodie obsession.

Hmm-mmm.

While E. 10th Street seems to be edgier territory than Stewart's usual four-star stomping grounds, this funky strip popular with college kids and night crawlers isn't such a big departure for Stewart.

"She's just as game to be in the East Village as she is uptown," says [Stewart supervising producer Lisa] Wagner. "She has her favorite places - it's not always Nobu."

Kim's long, slow death march finally over

The back story.

Noted

I'm sure this was done with the best of intentions, but it strikes me as...well, just odd. Sidewalk Cafe, Avenue A and Sixth Street.

The Holiday Cocktail Lounge lives

Not sure if these signs went up yesterday or today at the Holiday on St. Mark's Place...Good news, nonetheless. If it was open last night...anyone go in for drinks? And hooray finally for some good news.

[UPDATED: Jeremiah stops by for a drink....]

For further reading:

Holiday Cocktail Lounge (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Is the Holiday over? (NYPress)

Meanwhile, don't expect to see this guy at the Holiday then

This is from a post I did last July 8. Seemed like a good time for a rerun:

We were talking about the Holiday Cocktail Lounge on St. Mark's yesterday. I later spotted this user review of the Holiday at Zagat.

Understandable...he probably wants to buy a place at the Theatre Condominiums...

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

An East Village resident's apartment proved to be a prized asset when she went to Craigslist in search of a swap near Washington, D.C., for the inauguration. (Daily News)

Jeremiah and Jill both pay their respects to the Old Devil Moon.

WTF at the under-plywood McNally eatery on the Bowery? (BoweryBoogie)

Times Square photo circa 1976. Anyone for Lipstick? (Stupefaction)

About that snowboard ramp in East River Park (City Room)

Humble beginnings for the new year (NYC Taxi Photo)

Good news on the Beacon Theatre renovation (Gothamist)

Meanwhile, in London: Check out some storefronts of various mom-and-pop shops (London Shop Fronts, via BoingBoing)

On new newly appointed New York state chief judge Jonathan Lippman: "Mr. Lippman's childhood friend Sheldon Silver, the speaker of the state Assembly, recounted his boyhood with Justice Lippman their families on Grand Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Mr. Silver recalled that he and Mr. Lippman were bar mitzvahed in the same synagogue and both worked as law secretaries in state Supreme Court early in their legal careers.

"He's now in New York's top judicial post and I am usually on the top pages of the New York Post," Mr. Silver, D-Manhattan, quipped.

When it came time for him to speak, Mr. Lippman looked at Mr. Silver and said, "Two kids from the Lower East Side -- not too shabby." (New York Law Journal)

Getting a little empty on First Avenue between 13th and 14th

Not sure when this happened, but Pistahan, a Filipino joint on First Avenue between 13th Street and 14th Street, is now closed.



Guess they couldn't find any takers for the space. As Jeremiah and Jill have reported, this stretch of First Avenue, particularly the east side of the street, is getting pretty empty.

Report: 43.1 percent of East Village sellers have cut their asking prices (for real estate, not drugs)

The Daily News reports today on StreetEasy's latest assessment of the Manhattan real-estate market...(Curbed had this yesterday.) The Daily News break it down:

Manhattan neighborhoods with the most price cuts
These neighborhoods have seen the highest percentage of sellers cutting prices from quarter three to quarter four 2008:

Beekman - 50.6% of listings cut prices
Manhattan Valley - 45.7%
East Village - 43.1%
Central Park South - 41.9%
SoHo - 41.7%

I dunno...still seems to me like the time I was dragged to a Barney's Warehouse Sale...$950 sweaters were on sale for $600!

My Kinda Town

Bobby Steele and the Undead. Tompkins Square Park, July 2006. For everyone, like me, who's out of town at the moment.

Save the M8

Scoopy has the following item in this week's issue of The Villager:

East Village native Quinn Raymond reports that COBATA (Coalition of Block and Tenant Associations) has started a new Web site to save the M8, the bus line linking the West Village and the East Village. The MTA wants to curtail the route as part of their plan to close a moronic $790 billion* budget gap.

* an EV Grieve estimation