About the 15th Anarchist Bookfair tomorrow at La Plaza Cultural

The 15th Anarchist Bookfair takes place tomorrow (Oct. 2) at La Plaza Cultural on the southwest corner of Ninth Street and Avenue C. 

Per the organizers: "The theme of this year's book fair is Mutual Aid and Zero-Money Living. Come browse through a wide selection of zines and books..." 

The Bookfair is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Find more details here. 

Afterward, there's the Emma Goldman Film Festival in Tompkins Square Park... read about the program of short films (expected to screen at 7:30 p.m.) at this link.

Volunteers needed for the Loisaida CommUnity Fridge and Pantry

The organizers of the Loisaida CommUnity Fridge and Pantry are looking for volunteers to help with the effort here at Trinity Lower East Side Lutheran Parish on Avenue B at Ninth Street. 

Via an Instagram post yesterday: 

The Loisaida CommUnity Fridge is in need of volunteers for weekly fridge maintenance and cleaning shifts, food donation pick ups, and outreach. We would love your help! 

And THANK YOU to all those who have volunteered at the Loisaida CommUnity Fridge already! We can’t succeed without you.

You can find details about volunteering at this link. 

The fridge debuted here in June.

Police looking for suspect who assaulted an Uber driver on 14th and 3rd

The NYPD is looking for a suspect they say struck an Uber driver in the face with a cellphone. 

The attack reportedly happened at 3 a.m. on Aug. 28. Video that the NYPD released this week shows the suspect running east on 14th Street just past Third Avenue. 

Police say that the man was trying to hail the Uber. When Gui Ping Han tried to explain that his car was not for hire, the suspect allegedly hit the driver in the face. 

According to CBS 2 yesterday, the 45-year-old driver may have permanent blindness in his left eye. 

Police did not release a description of the suspect...

🚨WANTED for ASSAULT: On 8/28/21 at 3:05 AM, in front of 203 E 14 St in Manhattan, this individual struck a 45-year-old Uber driver in the face with a cellphone causing a seriously physical injury to his left eye. Have any info? DM @NYPDTips or call them at 800-577-TIPS. pic.twitter.com/Wt4RIDqlve

— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) September 30, 2021

Openings: Beloved Cafe debuts on Allen Street

Beloved Cafe is now open at 198 Allen St. just south of Houston Street. (Previously reported here and here.)

Here's more from the San Francisco-based, health-focused cafe's website:

With an expanded menu, Beloved NYC will be baking fresh organic 100% sourdough bread, made with a 150-year-old San Franciscan and German culture. We will be offering a full espresso bar, an expanded brunch menu, and our most delicious new offering—warm melt-in-your-mouth orgasmic sourdough donuts.

​You can still expect to find our signature plant-based recipes, fresh juices, and superfood smoothies.

Beloved NYC will host musicians, dances, tea ceremonies, and other events that will bring the community together. If you are a musician or have an offering that's aligned with our mission, please reach out! We love to collaborate.

You can find a menu here. For starters, the hours are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. They will expand serving times in the weeks ahead.

The original Beloved Cafe opened in San Francisco's Mission District in 2017. 

Via email, a rep for owners Amy Vito and her husband, Kambiz Fahim, told us why they decided to expand to this neighborhood:

"Ever since opening Beloved Cafe in San Francisco, we had so many requests from New Yorkers to open a cafe here. That planted the seed. Over the years we visited New York as often as possible and we fell in love with the vibrancy and community. The thought of living in New York and opening a restaurant here excited us and we decided to follow that excitement. We feel at home in the Lower East Side, the neighborhood, the vibrancy, the art, and the diversity all really speaks to us and we want to be a part of it."

Eastanbul Gyro Kebab and Smyrna Bakery appear to have closed at 200 Allen St.

With the arrival of Beloved Cafe this week ... it looks as if its neighbor on the southeast corner of Houston and Allen has departed.

Eastanbul Gyro Kebab has been emptied out (we had reader reports in the past two weeks about a possible shutter here)... workers were spotted removing equipment from the sliver of a space yesterday...

In addition, Smyrna Bakery that served out of the south end of 200 Allen St., is also closed. 

Empire Gyro, with a 24/7 schedule, opened here in February 2019 ... with the conversion to Eastanbul (and Smyrna) in the summer of 2020.

Metrograph and its Commissary reopen TODAY on Ludlow Street

Metrograph, the two-screen cinema down on Ludlow Street, reopens today for in-person screenings for the first time since March 2020. (Previously reported here.)

The Metrograph-y first slate includes a new 4K restoration of Andrzej Żuławski's horror cult classic "Possession" ... an Eastwood x 4 series and "We Won't Grow Old Together," a divorce-themed collection including "Journey to Italy" and "The Awful Truth."

They are also offering Metrograph at Home subscriptions that include live streaming events, special premieres and exclusive films ... with $10 tickets at the box office.

In addition, Metrograph's Commissary upstairs reopens this evening. The bar-dining area will be in service Thursday through Sunday, returning to daily service on Oct. 14.

Find the theater down at 7 Ludlow St. between Hester and Canal.

Thursday's parting shot

An EVG reader shared this photo from early this morning ... 4:50 a.m. to be exact when Con Ed had two workers spend two hours or so power washing the graffiti-filled substation along Avenue A between Fifth Street and Sixth Street... 

Updated 10/1 

About 12 tags arrived less than 24 hours later... a sampling...

6 posts from September

A mini month in review... 

• MAJOR changes coming to the aisles of Key Food (Sept. 29)

• Memories of Homecoming 2021 (Sept. 24) 

• A visit to Ergot Records (Sept. 22)

• A clue about future development courtesy of the former Subway at 250 E. Houston St. (Sept. 21)

• Lancelotti Housewares is closing on Avenue A (Sept. 17) 

• City clears and closes the area around the chess tables in Tompkins Square Park (Sept. 1)

A night at the opera via the LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival

The 10th annual LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival continues through Sunday in neighborhood community gardens. 

Here's one of the more unique events taking place... tomorrow (Friday!) night, dell'Arte Opera Ensemble and LUNGS present "The Great Aria Throwdown" in the Campos Community Garden on East 12th Street just west of Avenue C.

Starting at 6:30 p.m., you'll find "an hour of music at operatic proportions featuring Bahati Barton, Perri di Christina, Diana Charlop and Jeffrey Mandelbaum with Pablo Zinger at the piano."

Find the full LUNGS schedule here.

An early morning visit with NY1's Roger Clark

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

It’s 7 a.m., and Roger Clark is precisely where you’d expect him to be at this hour: in front of a camera for NY1. 

This past Monday, the veteran broadcast reporter is in the East Village to cover the Village Voices street exhibit with the Village Preservation team members. There are two live hits; the second includes trustee Leslie Mason and executive director Andrew Berman and touches on Patti Smith and Charlie Parker.

Clark strikes set after some on-air patter with anchor Pat Kiernan and a few funny fumbles in the lead-ins. He then heads over to meet musician Randy Gun in front of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s former home-studio on Great Jones to talk about the Basquiat bartending book exhibition and sale. 

Clark OK’d for me to tag along with him this morning to watch him put together a report. Today’s assignment is definitely on the less death-defying side. Through his 20 years at the station, viewers have seen him gamely jet-skiing, tap dancing, BMX biking, ax throwing, rock climbing and more. 

I’m pleased to see that Clark is as affable in person as he is on the air, cracking gentle dad jokes, donning hastily tucked button-downs, and joshing with his happily at-ease interviewees. He’s interested and curious about his subjects, easy to talk to, and quick to laugh. He seems genuinely surprised and pleased and a touch embarrassed when people walk by and tell him how much they enjoy his reports. 

Watching him at work is fascinating. I expect a team, but it’s just him and Guido, his camera operator. Clark sources, writes, interviews, and edits his own material. When Guido’s not available, Clark shoots it too, clutching an iPhone and fiddling with an external mic. There isn’t any intermediary assigned to run interference when I show up to ask questions and take pictures. There’s no pretense either. 

Guido has another assignment, so I watch as Clark interviews Gun. They discuss the Hudson Valley (Gun has a home in Phoenicia and Clark once lived nearby in Newburgh), punk music and the history of the Bowery. Long after PR agent Barbara Wagner and Janis Gardner Cecil, president of JGC Fine Art, the art-house exhibiting the book, have left, the two of them continue to chat about shared passions.

Once the interviews are over, Clark and I sit down at a nearby cafe to talk about his relationship with the East Village. Clark is a native New Yorker, growing up in Staten Island, the Bronx and Queens, attending school at Stuyvesant High. 

Clark tells me that he didn’t really start exploring the area until he was 16 or so. He mentions seeing people wearing Canal Jean Company pins, music/band tees, and sporting mohawks and began to seek out record shops, poster places, and clothing stores. 

I ask him what a perfect day in the East Village might include. He mentions Veselka for breakfast, some walking and people-watching, an egg cream or beignets at Ray’s Candy Store, shopping at record stores, and checking out Trash & Vaudeville. He lists Gruppo for pizza for dinner with drinks at a favorite spot such as the Library, Double Down Saloon, Niagara, 7B/Horseshoe Bar or Dream Baby, and a show at the Bowery Electric. (His band Perp Walk has played the Bowery Electric, Niagara’s and Otto’s Shrunken Head.) 

We also talk about media personalities and dream jobs. When Clark was a child, he wanted to play for the Mets but couldn’t hit a curveball and instead became interested in sportscasting. He has a degree in journalism from Syracuse University and worked his way up to the spot he holds today: NYers favorite morning features reporter. And if he weren’t at NY1? Perhaps a morning news correspondent gig like Mo Rocca’s, or a commentator like the now-retired Charles Osgood or the late Charles Kuralt. 

Clark is also a passionate sports fan, and I recall the question my editor suggested that I ask: What will the Mets need to do in the off-season to contend in 2022? Clark doesn’t hesitate to explain that the team needs to dump some poor performers who the fans are accustomed to (he’s looking at you, Dom Smith and J.D. Davis) and get a new closer. Edwin Díaz isn’t handling his business, I am informed. 

He’s finished his snack and will soon start editing his segments from his Upper East Side apartment for tomorrow’s NY1 morning show. (You can watch the features here and here.)

As we part ways, a neighbor walks by and behind his back gives me an enthusiastic thumbs up and mouths, “ROGER CLARK — YES!”

Danish coffee shop La Cabra set to debut tomorrow

La Cabra, a self-described Scandinavian coffee roastery and sourdough bakery, debuts tomorrow (Oct. 1) at 152 Second Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street. (First reported here in April.)

The shop opens at 8 a.m. (until 6 p.m.) with a 9 a.m. start on weekends. You can check out their Instagram for pics of their various pastries and croissants. 

The coffee company got its start in Aarhus, Denmark, in 2012. This is the first of several planned NYC outposts for La Cabra.

Thanks to Steven for the photo! 

Hellbound: Café de L’Enfer popping up on Avenue A this fall

Café de L’Enfer, an absinthe and champagne cocktail bar, is popping up for the fall starting tomorrow on the second floor at 95 Avenue A. 

Restaurateur Ravi DeRossi's Overthrow Hospitality is opening the bar above Amor y Amargo here at Sixth Street ... inspired, DeRossi said, by the original Hell-themed café (Cabaret de l'Enfer!) that debuted in Paris in 1892. 

Café de L’Enfer will be open Wednesday-Sunday from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. 

Updated:

Here are a few interior shots...

Thanks to @vegan.nyx for the tip! And this song for headline inspiration.

Noted

An EVG reader shared these photos (thank you!) from last night around 10 from the Citi Bike docking station on Sixth Street at Avenue B...

Not sure why there's a pile of Citi Bikes here... this station has had a valet in recent weeks... perhaps the valet was off-duty? Or someone was sacrficing the bikes that don't work...

Gallery Watch: Sei Smith: Portraits of You at Ki Smith Gallery

Text by Clare Gemima 

Photos by Grace Shine Jeon

Portraits of You by Sei Smith

Ki Smith Gallery, 197 E. Fourth St.

I feel lucky to live so close to Ki Smith Gallery — not because of the geographic convenience or their fun and social openings. I visit Ki Smith Gallery for the art and its engaged, intellectual, and fascinating artists.

I would like to applaud this gallery for presenting and committing to an ethos that positions itself within an art historical context. A special thanks to Gallery Director Claire Foussard for offering such support to the artists at Ki Smith and to artist Sei Smith for his enthusiasm and willingness to talk to me about his new show, Portraits of You. 

Smith has created a series of figureless portraits, forcing an audience member to immediately question ideas around contemporary art jargon or any preconceived notion of what a portrait-painter could be today. This wit and finesse at articulating such are consistent throughout the eight works that line the gallery's space. Smith uses an iridescent adhesive film throughout this body of work which acts to obscure identity informing under-paintings. 

Eight works represent Smith's various relationships to eight different friends who range in backgrounds (and statures). Smith has reinforced this concept of diversity in highly creative ways, including height-specific installation techniques, his choice in titling the work and through the materials he chooses to play with. 

The work comes full circle to me conceptually because, by nature, these works are reflective. Seeing yourself within the work teases and tests your impulses to look for things you didn't think were ever there. It wasn't until I read more about the work that I realized the under-coats of acrylic were really the ID of the painting, and deciphering all of them was challenging but in a slow reveal sort of way. 

It was also a beautiful experience because of the tonality of the film coating (think reds, pinks, oranges, ruby, purple, etc.). Having this knowledge was not imperative to the viewing experience. Still, it definitely made me want to go back after reading the artist's viewing instructions to learn more about who his muses were, or at least through their instructions for Sei, who they wanted to be portrayed as. 

There is more than meets the eye in Portraits of You. Because of the iridescent top coating of the paintings, the work changes color depending on your angle. As you move from one piece to another, the light in the gallery hits differently, creating new narratives for each of the works. A live personification happens before your eyes. It is intimate and almost self-indulging. 

The show is fun but also wrapped in intellect that will excite you about the direction of Smith's career. I'm looking forward to seeing more. After the last show I covered at this space, the artist's inquiries and concept handling have already been embraced, updated, upgraded and re-navigated. 

Please read more about Sei's practice here. And follow the most up-to-date events and openings from Ki Smith Gallery here.

Portraits of You is up through Oct. 17 at the gallery, 197 E. Fourth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. Hours: Wednesday-Sunday from 12:30 to 6:30 p.m. Alternative times available by appointment.info@kismithgallery.com

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Clare Gemima is a visual artist from New Zealand. New-ish to the East Village, she spends her time as an artist assistant and gallery go-er, hungry to explore what's happening in her local art world. You can find her work here: claregemima.com