Things are getting so bad, psychics are even going out of business

On Avenue C. And shouldn't they have seen this coming? (Sorry)

Noted

Now open on Madison Avenue: The White Shirt Bar, with 20 styles to choose from!

Diaper Genies safe out on the streets

For now, anyway! Jill at Blah Blog Blah has the story.

Appreciating the work of James Jowers

Stupefaction has an excellent post on the work of photographer James Jowers. In the mid-1960s, Jowers lived on the Lower East Side and worked a night job at St. Luke's Hospital. This allowed him to roam the city streets during the day taking photos. Here is the Jowers Flickr page with some 50 photos, like the one above of Tompkins Square Park circa 1967.

"So much bad stuff was being built"

Is it Wednesday already? I'm still catching up on reading from last week, such as this terrific Q-and-A with renowned architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable in the Sunday Times. The 87-year-old has a new book coming out called "On Architecture: Collected Reflections on a Century of Change." She's interviewed in the Times by Phillip Lopate. Here's a smidgen of the Q-and-A:

Lopate: From my perspective, there’s been a healthy shift from seeing cities as basically dying to essentially buoyant, yet still requiring help.

Huxtable: We’ve seen a reversal. Years ago there was white flight to the suburbs, the inner cities were crime-ridden, there was a lot of poverty. We still have poverty, but people started moving back to the cities.

Lopate: There’s also been a shift in attitude regarding density.

Huxtable: Yes, urban renewal tried to get rid of density. It was viewed as concentrating poverty and disease. Now there’s the awareness that density is more energy-efficient and less destructive of the environment than urban sprawl.

Lopate: I take it you’re for density but not for overbuilding.

Huxtable: How can I be against density? I’m a New Yorker! I grew up with density. Still, in a way I’m glad for this downturn in the economy. Because so much bad stuff was being built. This will give us a chance to think, to take stock. I am so weary of these stupid alliances between developers and cultural institutions in which the cultural institution is given a block of space and the developers overbuild the rest and make an enormous profit.
The Museum of Modern Art has become a real estate operation. I admit a certain amount of nostalgia: I remember a street that was once one of the best streets in New York, 53rd Street. Watching it change over the years, I can’t help but view their new Nouvel tower as the last destructive nail.

[Image via pantufla on Flickr]

A quick check on Nassau Street

Back in June, I did a post about walking around Nassau Street in the Financial District. At the time, I wondered how many of the mom-and-pop businesses could stay open with the condofication of the area under way. So far, just on the stretch of Nassau between John Street and Ann Street, four businesses are either closing (like the one above) or have already shuttered. (And then there's Burritoville, which had a location here.) Sure, one thing may not have anything to do with the other, but...

The secret to my FroYoSuccess

Last month, Jeremiah bravely posted a report from the field in the midst of the city's harrowing FroYo Wars, reporting on the changes afoot for dessert pioneer Tasti-D-Lite.

Anyway, for no good reason, I recently came across an ad in Entrepreneur.com highlighting the benefits of starting a Tasti D-Lite franchise:

"Tasti D-Lite is the 'guilt-free' daily indulgence of loyal celebrities, A-listers, supermodels, and any New Yorker in the know."

Abfroyolutely!

So, based on that, you could introduce this deliciousness to, say, the good people of Lima, Ohio:

"You could be the first to bring this New York phenomenon to your area, and start a healthy eating trend in your own community. We're now offering single franchises and multi-unit franchises in many U.S. states and territories. If you seek to grow beyond a single location, our simple business model scales beautifully."

How to get that "East Village look" without some of the unpleasantries

East Village Podcasts came across a style maven who tells you how to do it. (All you need is $279 for the coat!)

Champagne wishes

At First Avenue and 82nd Street.

LES liquor license update

Thanks to Rob at Save the Lower East Side! for his continued coverage of the CB3. He has the results from last night's Liquor Licensing committee at his site. A mini overview:

There was community opposition to 8 applications.
The committee unconditionally denied 4 of these.
Under pressure from the committee, another 2 withdrew,
and the committee approved 2 (both transfers of existing licenses to new owners).
The 2 that were approved had only one resident speaking in opposition.

Meanwhile, Eater has the story of Perbacco's desire to move from its current East Fourth Street spot to bigger digs around the cover on Avenue B. And we can thank Frank Bruni for this!

One way of looking at it, I suppose

Great post on Runnin' Scared at the Voice about those million-dollar condos coming to First Street and First Avenue.

As Tony Ortega writes:

"[T]his morning, we received a cheerful note from developer Bruce Kaplan about his new condo building at First Street and First Avenue. He wondered if a Voice feature might be in the offing, seeing as how Kramer, in an episode of Seinfeld, once referred to "First and First" as the "nexus of the universe."

Yeah, that's clever, and a nice selling point, no doubt. But with Kaplan's one-bedroom condos going for about a million bucks each, we shot back a response: what sort of a feature was he looking for, with his building only adding to the difficulty the non-filthy-rich are having staying in the city?

Here is how Kaplan responded:

Perhaps you might take a longer view.
From http://www.gvshp.org/history.htm, and as you probably know:

"between 1825 and 1840...shrewd speculators subdivided farms, leveled hills, rerouted Minetta Brook, and undertook landfill projects. Blocks of neat rowhouses built in the prevailing Federal style soon accommodated middle-class merchants and tradesmen. From 1820 a more affluent residential development emerged to the east near Broadway."

So without the actions of those shrewd speculators, there would not have been the canvas to paint on what would become the Village. Presumably the Minetta Brook Voice mourned that transformation.

As one of the Village's more famous residents wrote:

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

If one looks back over time, there are several theorists (Ricardo, Mills, Alonso's Urban Land Theory) whose theories are that rising prices increases, not decreases supply. See also, http://www.chpcny.org/default.html

In any event, for what it's worth, what this shrewd speculator hopes to do with his million bucks is create affordable rental housing in the outer boroughs and preserve that diversity you value.

And Economakis gets the whole building for his dream mansion

The New York Post reports:

Eight holdout tenants who fought for five years to keep their millionaire landlord from turning their Lower East Side tenement into a mansion for himself agreed to be bought out yesterday.

The last rent-stabilized tenants of 47 E. Third St. said they gave in because they weren't confident they would beat real-estate baron Alistair Economakis in the Manhattan Supreme Court trial scheduled to begin yesterday.

Economakis, the son of a Greek shipping magnate, bought the six-story building for $900,000 in 2003 and said he needed it as a home for himself, his wife and two children.

He reached deals with seven of the 15 tenants but the others fought until yesterday.

The tenants will each receive $75,000 under the settlement, except for one elderly resident, who will get $175,000.

Here is the Web site for Alistair Economakis -- The Other Side of the Story: 47 East 3rd Street

Previously on EV Grieve.

Just desserts for Seventh Street?

Yesterday, I mentioned that Butter Lane Cupcakes will be opening soon at 123 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. Last night, I noticed the previously vacated (and seemingly short-lived) Italian cafe Affettati at 131 E. Seventh St. ...

...will be home to the forthcoming East Village Pie Lounge.




The sign on the door promises everything from Apple to Pecan to Banana Cream Coconut pie -- for $5.25 a slice. Now this stretch of Seventh Street already counts the Chocolate Bar at 127 as a tenant (since June).

[Deathly silence]

So that's the Chocolate Bar. And Pie Lounge. Can we expect, say, the Tapioca Tavern in the vacant store front at 125 E. Seventh St.?

An oral history of the Lower East Side

Filmmaker/video editor Paul Dougherty shoots John J. McCroary's recollections of growing up on the Lower East Side while looking at the book "Life on the Lower East Side: Photographs by Rebecca Lepkoff, 1937-1950." Dougherty, a native New Yorker and East Village resident, tells us more about McCroary on his YouTube post.



I have posted other video works from Paul here.

A Veteran's Day history lesson

In honor of Veteran's Day, Inside the Apple provides a nice history lesson on the origins of York Avenue, named in 1928 for WWI hero Sgt. Alvin C. York. Wasn't actually aware either of the origins of Avenue A and Avenue B. Inside the Apple explains:

In April 1928, York had the honor of having Avenue A from 59th Street northward named for him. The move was sponsored by the First Avenue Association in an effort to revive the fortunes of the east side, which was better known for its German enclave (later dubbed “Yorkville”) and Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert’s brewery. Back in 1807, when the city deployed surveyor John Randal, Jr., to map out the new Cartesian grid plan, he and his team chose to create twelve wide avenues that ran the length of the island from Houston Street north. However, this left the problem of the area of the Lower East Side and Upper East Side where there was enough room east of the grid plan for more streets. Randal solved this problem by naming these eastern avenues “A,” “B,” etc. and on the original 1811 map of Manhattan, there is both an Avenue A in today’s East Village and one on the Upper East Side. (East End Avenue was originally designated Avenue B.)

One opinion (not mine) on the "Top Ten Dirtiest Bars in New York"

Meet Now Live's Nightlife and Bar Guide just featured the "Top Ten Dirtiest Bars in New York." Presented here in its entirety without comment. (Oh, as an aside, the post featured a photo of Mona's with the caption, "You can smell this place through your computer." However, Mona's wasn't on the list.)

You’ve all accidentally stumbled into a bar that’s so disgusting that you wouldn’t even send your ex-girlfriend’s rich, better looking new boyfriend to. That bar that smells like throw-up and poop on top of a freshly burnt cat? You know what I’m talking about. Here’s a rundown of those bars.

1. Mars Bar - East Village - Why? Let’s just say last time I was there, there was a used bloody condom in the window sill.

2. American Trash - Upper East Side - Why? This place is the unflushed turd left in the toilet at the frat house that is the Upper East Side. Go here to score drugs.

3. Billymark’s West - Chelsea - Why? This place was featured in a previous post giving it the title of “Weirdest Bar in Manhattan.” Loaded with local homeless people, this place is more shelter than hot nightspot.

4. Rawhide - Chelsea - Why? Rawhide is your typical rough ridin’ Gay joint. Fully equipped with big burly old men who drag tiny little boys out the door 24/7. Stay away or go have some fun…either way.

5. Welcome to the Johnson’s - Lower East Side - Why? The used, very old, “white trash” furniture is just plain musty. Don’t sit down or else you’ll get herpes.

6. McSorley’s Ale House - East Village - Why? This place is gross due to its age. One of the oldest bars in NYC, McSorley’s sports an old spongey bar top, 2 types of beer (Dark or Lite) and has an inch of sawdust on the floor. Tread lightly because you may step on an old drunk that went missing 2 nights ago.

7. J Mac’s - Hell’s Kitchen - Why? J Mac’s is a dingy little place you can stop off at on 57th street right before you head out on the West Side Highway. Other than that? Not really sure why anyone would go here.

8. Blarney Cove - East Village - Why? Just walk by this place and peak your head inside. That’s about as far as you want to go with this place.

9. Down the Hatch - Greenwich Village - Why? Although this IS one of my favorite Saturday drinkin’ spots, DTH is pretty dirty. The fact that it is in a grungy basement doesn’t help at all.

10. Pussycat Lounge - Financial District - Why? Part awful strip joint, part stink hole, the PCL is a great place to die. No one will ever find you.

Honorable mention: Jimmy’s Corner & Coyote Ugly.

Of course, Mars Bar and the Blarney Cove are two EV Grieve favorites...

The way we live (drink) now

From New York magazine's Recession Index this week:

Approximate number of cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon ($3 each, the cheapest drink) sold at Max Fish in a week:

JULY 2008: 480

OCTOBER 2008: 960

This post doesn't really need a headline

Before Election Day on Avenue C near Sixth Street.



After Election day.

Market price?: Recent college grad will sleep in your yard or garage for $100 a month (anywhere in Manhattan)

From a Craigslist posting. Can't guarantee that this is authentic, but...:

$100 Yes I'm that crazy, but I want the minimum possible (anywhere in manhattan)

I want to get rid of my expensive rent and be semi homeless. Obviously there are a lot of risks so I'm wondering if there's anybody out there willing to lower my risks with a certain place to stay. I know the economy is bad so maybe you would like some extra money. I want to believe that there are people who are willing to help a person in need. I have up to $100 to spend on housing a month. Could I sleep outside in your backyard? Sounds crazy I know, but I've been practicing as I plan to get rid of my rent. So I'm in no danger of dying or getting sick. I'm probably the healthiest person within any given 2 mile radius. Maybe you have unused space in your garage. I could buy a filter/face mask. All I need is a small 6 x 3 corner of your living room. I have a sleeping pad to sleep on the ground as I prefer it to the couch. I can actually sleep on 3 lined up cushioned chairs.

I would only use your place for sleep. I will pay for any extra services/amenities. My goal is to live as simply as possible and try to be as unobtrusive as possible (unless you like having me around, I'm a very laid back good listener). I would wake up in the early morning and leave right a way and come back at night at a convenient time for you (unless I'm sleeping outside). I have one large book bag which houses all of my supplies.

I actually do have a lot of knowledge skills that could better your life if interested. I graduated magna cum laude at a tier 1 school recently. So maybe in return for room and board, I can provide errand services. I can clean your house, cook, pick up your dry cleaning, movie tickets, make reservations, wait in long lines, food shopping, walk your dog, water your plants, house sit, pick up your mail, research work on the computer etc. Anything that I can do while listening to music is fine. I'm in love with the Internet, and I read up on all sorts of information. I think I'm pretty qualified to tell you how to effectively learn languages, how to strength train and lose weight, what kind of gadgets to buy, how to save hundreds on groceries. My main passion lies with personal health (i'm cut with a six pack) and I'd love to help educate you on fitness and even cook great meals for you.

[Via New York City Metblogs]

Stat of the day

Just three applications for new buildings were filed in Manhattan in September, compared to 23 in September 2007 -- a staggering 87 percent plunge, city Department of Buildings data shows. (New York Post)

Demolition on East Fifth Street

Given the small parcels of open space on either side of 532 E. Fifth St., this four-story house was a rarity...which, of course, made it an endandgered species in this era of build-a-condo-on-every-piece-of-open-space development. It has been a four-unit apartment building. (As of last fall, a three-bedroom apartment was going for $3,500.)

Sure enough, the building is now being demolished. Don't know what's going in the space just yet, but the rumor among some locals is, of course, a condo.

Those locksmith guys will even leave a card on a building being demolished.

One of the condo-rumor spreaders frets that such change will usher in even further development (even in this economy) on this little stretch of the East Village.

Ludlow Street's iconic Kleen-Stik Industries becomes a cantina

Between Stanton and Rivington at 139-141 Ludlow, at the site of the Kleen-Stik Industries, Inc.

Oh, sorry...This is just a prop set for filming the TV series Cupid today. But don't give anyone any stupid ideas!




In October, our friend BoweryBoogie reported that the beloved graffiti exterior of the building had been cleaned. Perhaps this is why...for the film shoot?

Court date for 47 E. Third St. tenants/landlord

Showdown in court today over the fate of 47 E. Third St. (New York Post)

The EV Grieve 47 E. Third St. archive.

Something else to threaten the very soul of the East Village: Cupcakes

Yes, indeed! Just a little frosty something for you to enjoy during the economic meltdown! As Eater has noted, Butter Lane Cupcakes will soon call 123 E. Seventh Street home. According to their Web site, "We think of it as cupcakes for grownups."

Previously, the nonprofit Bodanna Studio & Gallery was here. They were dedicated to helping inner-city youth...and before that, the Theo Wolinnin funeral home.





Let's just hope the Cupcakers keep the historic "Licensed Undertaker" sign on the building.



For further reading, all you cupmudgeons:
Cupcake trash (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Stopping work at 123 Third Ave.

This past weekend, I noticed a "stop work order" had been slapped on the new bank/condo tower now under way on the southeast corner of 14th Street and Third Avenue.

Things that I missed: The bank branch switcheroo!

Well, when did this happen? The last week or two? I had read about the TD Bank-Commerce merger last year...Anyway, that sparkly old Commerce Bank on Third Avenue and 10th Street is now a TD Bank.

But will the FD be as nice as the old Commerce? As Forbes noted:

[W]ill it be good for Commerce customers, who have grown used to a decidedly "non-bank" attitude? Time will tell. TD Bank will have to navigate that slippery slope carefully so as not to damage what they just bought. Commerce is prized for its ability to generate deposits (28% growth annually) and simultaneously spend on perks that many other banks have long ago abolished in the interest of cost savings.
Those perks include things like weekend and late night hours, lollipops and free pens, free coin sorting machines for everyone (even non-customers), and wide open branch lobbies that look more like auto showrooms than bank branches.

Well, they are still dog friendly at least.

And they hired the Reg and what's-her-name as spokespeople!

Previously on EV Grieve:
Any more friendly and I would have thought that I was at the DMV

27 years, 1 dumpster

You know it's a recession when...

East Village resident Paige Ferrari, 26, was one of the 35 employees who lost their jobs when Radar abruptly folded a few weeks back. In a piece in the Times today, she talks about the layoffs and the future. Among the obnservations:

You picture the layoffs as “Oh, I worked at the plant for 10 years, and then they didn’t want me to make this certain wheel part anymore.” Not people in this sort of cushy industry — maybe it’s a trickle-up thing? It’s starting to affect the yuppies in the East Village. That’s when you know it’s a recession: when your yuppie neighbors are going on unemployment.

Later:

I came home one day and my roommate was trying to call unemployment. That’s when I still had a job, so I was very smug. He was trying to call unemployment to get his unemployment money, but he couldn’t get through the menu because he had just got a new iPhone. So he was trying to find the keypad on the new iPhone. I was like, “I don’t think the unemployment menu is set up for people with iPhones.

Recapping yesterday's local college football scores

Holy Cross 38, Fordham 17

Monmouth 19, Sacred Heart 7

Richmond 34, Hofstra 14

Harvard 42, Columbia 28

Ice Cream University 31, Fudge State 0

Nightmares

Outside Ace Bar, Election Night. Fifth Street near Avenue B.

Wolves and whacked medics

On the list for the Halloween season were two movies with some fine NYC scenery. There was Wolfen with Albert Finney from 1981. NYPD detective Finney investigates some grizzly murders...and there's some amazing footage of the city, particularly the South Bronx, from that era:





Bringing out the Dead from 1999, fair-to-middling for a Martin Scorsese film, is stylish enough. Nicolas Cage -- before he morphed into the Grade-A buffoon -- is the Manhattan medic losing his mind. And here's nice usage of Janie Jones by the Clash.

Commie controversy at Cooper U!

From the City Room:

After complaints to the city Buildings Department, and concern from the Urkainian community in the East Village, Cooper Union removed a giant banner with a reproduction of a Picasso drawing of Joseph Stalin. That decision has outraged Lene Berg, the 43-year-old Norwegian artist who included the banner as part of her one-woman art installation, “Stalin by Picasso, or Portrait of Woman with Mustache,” in the school’s historic Foundation Building, on East Seventh Street.

“I didn’t get any explanation of what happened,” Ms. Berg, who is based in Berlin, said in a phone interview this week. She said Cooper Union officials removed the banner last Friday, five days after it went up, without consulting either her or Sara Reisman, associate dean of Cooper Union’s School of Art and the curator of the exhibition.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Red Square has Lenin; Cooper Union now has Stalin

Everyone wanted to help make a difference

At 8th Street and Avenue B.

It has begun: The downturn

According to the Times anyway:

EVEN though the average price for a Manhattan apartment, at $1.5 million, is higher than it was a year ago, some New York neighborhoods have already started to feel the downward tug that has wrenched the housing market elsewhere in the nation.

Such as:

Other neighborhoods that experienced price drops include the Lower East Side and the East Village, where median prices fell 5.5 percent...

Autumn in Tompkins Square Park

A little late for this work week...

Movie party tonight

Many thanks to Flavorwire for asking me to write a post on the demise of the Pioneer Theater. The post is here.

Meanwhile, the Pioneer folks are throwing a farewell party tonight at 6 with popcorn, free movies and, we hope, some good schlock.

Giving Extra Place the warm, comfortable feel of suburbia

The Villager has an update on Extra Place:

Neil Cardi was walking down E. First St. between Second Ave. and the Bowery, when he stopped. He was wearing a worn-out rocker T-shirt and black skeleton biker gloves, complete with trench coat slung over his shoulders. Standing by the small, cul de sac in midblock, he sneaked a smirk at the grimy, graffiti-covered walls and scraps of trash that decorated the obscure alley.

“This place gives me comfort,” said Cardi, a former amateur musician who has struggled with substance abuse. “I remember spending a night or two here as the Rolling Stones rolled out the back of that door. It used to be CBGB.”

The unmarked place Cardi stood in front of is a deserted street known as Extra Place and some say that since the 1970s this historic alleyway has given character to the Lower East Side.

Sigh.

AvalonBay’s advertisements that run along the walls between the Bowery and Second Ave. read, “The Redefined Bowery.” And redefining is exactly what residents of 11 E. 1st St. and 22 E. First St., together known as Avalon Bowery Place condominiums, want for Extra Place.

“Clean it up!” and “It’s pretty ugly” were the reactions of people coming out of both buildings as they walked from pressure-washed sidewalks surrounding the new buildings to aged, gum-covered splats of cement. Jennifer, a resident of two months who declined to give her last name, said of the attraction of fixing up Extra Place with cafes: “The less I have to travel for nightlife the better.”

So is Extra Place nothing more than an alley that needs a sprucing up or is it one of the last remnants of old New York? The vote is split.

“It’s kind of famous as the back door of CBGB’s. It’s the backdrop of The Ramones’ ‘Rocket to Russia’ album,” said Fred Harris, senior vice president of AvalonBay, of Extra Place. He said it’s unclear if the parcel is even an officially mapped city street, but, “Regardless of its status, or whether or we own it or not, we just want to clean it up, light it and maintain it and pedestrianize it.”

Extra Place coverage on EV Grieve

David Duchovny really needs to hire better help

From The Villager's police blotter this week:

Police arrested three men shortly before 1 a.m. on Fri., Oct. 24, and charged them with stealing four bottles of oral-sex drops, three bottles of massage oil, a porn movie tape, a package of nipple cream and a sex toy, all from Cherry Box, an erotica shop at 162 W. Fourth St. The suspects, Corey Brown, 31; Malcolm Anderson, 26, and John Francis, 28, were charged with grand larceny after the woman who was tending the shop identified them, police said.

Developing!: A sign appears at 159 Second Ave.

A few weeks ago, we passed along word that the former A. Fontana Shoe Repair at 159 Second Ave. and 10th Street was becoming a vegan ice cream joint. Well, the front windows have been papered over for weeks. And then! A sign just appeared, as this photo from our tipster shows:



Stogo? As in consultant Malcolm Stogo of the Ice Cream University?

Whether this place has anything to do with Stogo, we'll share his bio anyway -- because it's delicious! (heh):

For the last 25 years, Malcolm Stogo has been in the forefront in developing today's ice cream concepts leap years ahead of the industry. He is the author of Ice Cream & Frozen Desserts, co-author of Ice Cream Cakes, and author of a new book titled How To Succeed in the Incredible Ice Cream Business. He is President of Malcolm Stogo Associates, an international ice cream consulting firm, as well as founder of Ice Cream University, a seminar series and publishing company on ice cream production, and marketing and publisher of Batch Freezer News and Ice Cream Store News, two quarterly newsletters on everything one needs to know about ice cream production and marketing. In the 1980's, he co-owned Ice Cream Extravaganza (New York), the largest single frozen dessert operation ($1,500,000 in sales). He also invented the chocolate dipped waffle cone now being produced and sold all over the world.

I can't get past Ice Cream University. ICU? Go Defibrillators! (And do they have a football team?)