What used to be a dingy, run-down bar in a relatively dingy, run-down neighborhood has transformed into a posh lounge destined to draw crowds to Avenue C. Bedlam, named after the first insane asylum in London, opened its doors this past week, offering a new hang-out spot for those who like to feel old-world in a modern way. Non-crazies Sara Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Anderson Cooper, Solange Knowles, and Alan Cumming made it to the opening fete earlier this week. The new bar and lounge captures the mood of late 19th-century parlor life — think Edith Wharton or Robert Louis Stevenson.
Thankfully Bedlam isn’t a showy, out-of-place jewel box of smartness; the flavor of the neighborhood and the former space is retained with the exposed brick wall and original, red vinyl benches. The back room—slated to host private events—still features 40C’s generous-sized bathroom and skylight (in addition to—surprise!—more animal heads).
Creative cocktails like the Sagamore House — named after Teddy Roosevelt’s country house — will be available for whoever’s feeling fancy, but the average hipster can still order their Bud. The new bar has also plucked some top DJs from well-known establishments like Santos, Heathers, Le Bain at the Standard, and the former Mister Black, so expect — dare I say it — bedlam.
Katie Holmes and her companion stop off for lunch at Northern Sea Food Co. in the East Village. Katie was flanked by security at all times which left autograph hunters frustrated. The pair were on their way home from the Calvin Klein fashion show in NYC.
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The Community Action Alliance on NYU 2031 (CAAN 2031) — a coalition of community groups GVSHP helped found to respond to NYU’s massive development plans following the suspension of the Borough President’s Community Task Force on NYU — continues to grow. CAAN 2031 continues to urge elected officials and the local Community Board, which will be voting or weighing in on NYU’s plans, not to approve or support zoning changes or landmarks approvals NYU is seeking which would negatively impact the character of our neighborhoods. CAAN 2031 has also written to various city officials urging that the public green space on Bleecker, Mercer, and West 3rd Streets and LaGuardia Place which NYU is asking be given to it for development as part of its NYU 2031 Expansion plan be turned into permanent public parkland (read the letter HERE).
CAAN 2031 now also has a website, which you can visit HERE. Both the CAAN 2031 website and GVSHP’s NYU webpage now also have useful documents including a summary of the NYU 2031 Land Use proposals, NYU’s Overview of their 2031 Expansion Plan, and NYU’s History of the development of and regulations governing the superblocks, which they are seeking to dramatically change.
On Monday, Community Board #2’s Zoning and Institutions Committee will be holding a joint public hearing on the NYU 2031 plan and the various zoning, land use, and landmarks approvals NYU is seeking for nine blocks east and south of Washington Square, to allow an additional 2 million square feet (the equivalent of the Empire State Building) of development there.
HOW TO HELP:
* Come to the Community Board #2 Public Hearing on the NYU 2031 Plan on Monday at 6:30 pm at PS 41, 116 West 11th Street, and speak during the public session regarding the serious problems with the NYU plan and the viable alternatives the University, Community Board, and elected officials should be considering.
[T]he bar never obtained permission to open its doors, according to city officials.
On Tuesday, the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene shuttered the 18-month old watering hole for lack of a valid operating permit. It had been cited for the same violation in April 2010, and ordered not to reopen until the permit was issued, according to the health department’s public affairs office.
You were riding your bike down 2nd ave. Chastizing a cab as he turned - m4w (East Village)
Date: 2010-09-16, 10:01AM EDT
The cab was making a left on 6th street I believe and you turned slightly while shouting at him to recognize the bike lane. I told you I empathized. It's happened to me a few times. Then you rode south on 2nd Ave. You're feisty and beautiful. Hope you I hear from you.
"From age 27 (the age that rock stars die) to age 35 (the age that women stop stating their real age), I had the privilege of working at St Mark’s Bookshop in Manhattan’s East Village. During my short decade as a bookstore clerk, books were the stuff of my daily life: My friends were bookshop employees and bookstore hounds, and my friendships revolved around the books we recommended to each other, enthused about, lent out, insisted be read, threw across the room, and gave each other with heartfelt inscriptions. When I was in the red, I looked for ways to sell books on the side of my dayjob as a bookseller. My retirement account was a pile of stowed-away first editions which I hoped would increase in value. Days off were often spent at used bookstores. Weeks off were spent in the bookstores of other cities."
