EV Grieve

Friday, February 19, 2010

More on the new Museum of the American Gangster

Lorcan Otway, the proprietor of Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place, passed along more information regarding the new Museum of the American Gangster.... (In the comments in yesterday's post, Jeremiah and I wondered if they'd be showing classic mobster films...)

Yes, we are going to show some of the old mobster classics. The museum will be in the unit above the box office, once lived in by Leon Trotsky. There will be tours of the basement and parts of the theater which date back to the speakeasy days. But, the museum will not conflict with the theater, which will continue to present plays, opera, ballet, film, and more. As far as neighborhood folks. Eric and I are attempting to give a feel to the place, that we both remember when gangsters where still a part of life in the neighborhood. We are not putting a heroic blush on the times, but rather, showing that this is a nation born out of bootlegging and human trafficking, that there is a constant tension between the freedom from and the liberty to... the dynamic between those who seek a nation with no moral ambiguity and those who wish to be left alone to enjoy themselves. The museum will be a place where oral histories will put the story back in history.

Previously on EV Grieve:
On the up and up: The Museum of the American Gangster opening on St. Mark's Place

Your chance to live in a historic Synagogue on Seventh Street

This lovely home went on the market on Wednesday... it's at 242 Seventh St. between Avenue C and Avenue D... In March 2008, this address, the Beth Hamedrash Hagadol Anshe Ungarn, a Beaux Arts synagogue built in 1908 for a congregation of Hungarian Jews, was designated a historic landmark... There are fives residences here, and the Times featured the penthouse dwellers last April in an article titled "Once Sacred, Now Their Showcase."

In any event, let's take a look at what you get for the $1,295 million asking price for this second-floor unit...

According to the listing at Core:

This home is situated in a historic building, once a Synagogue that was restored and redeveloped into a 5 intimate residences. Located on one of the most prominent blocks in the East Village, this home offers a generous 1500 square foot loft with a vast living room, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a home office, and den. The upper level is comprised of the master suite overlooking the living area which boasts 16 foot ceilings in this multilevel apartment. Features of this residence include an open kitchen, washer and dryer, and plenty of storage space. This unique residence would truly make for a gracious home.

As Streeteasy noted, the home was listed by Corcoran at $996,000 in 2006. Is this address still considered sacred?

Update: Good point made in the comments... this address has been residential since the 1980s... Didn't mean to give the impression that this space was only recently converted to housing.... I did make this clear in my previous post on the building.

A night at the Cooper Square Hotel makes writer long for a Motel 6

There's a funny piece in The Washington Post in which staff writer Joel Achenbach recalls his experience at "a striking place, very modern, a steel-and-glass tower rising above the Lower East Side." He never mentions the place by name. But I'm assuming it's the ol' Cooper Square Hotel... (He mentions grabbing a slice at Ray's... and a room at the Coop does go for $270 ...) Anyway, I think I'd feel exactly the same way as Joel here ...

Walking in, there's no sign of a lobby per se. No Registration Desk. A snappy dresser tells me to follow him. Suddenly I'm introduced to a sharp-looking woman who is, apparently -- maybe -- a concierge of sorts, and is somehow associated with the task of giving me a room. It's like we're going to have a conversation first.

I'm a little thrown off by the whole thing. I need a room, a phone, electricity. I want a KEY. But perhaps that's me being really old-fashioned.

In the absence of a Registration Desk, the concierge-type person operates out of what appears to be a small conference room, as if I'm going to sign refinancing papers. Alas, there is no room yet available, it being merely 1 in the afternoon. You know that even at $270 a night you can't expect a hotel to have a room ready this early in the day.

And it only gets better!

So I wait for 90 minutes -- stylishly, hanging out amid the groovy furniture, ducking out briefly for a slice of pizza at Ray's.

They're all very nice. They offer me a drink! But no: At this point I am starting to crave a Motel 6.

Finally get the room. It's about the size of a large bed. Everything is so gleaming that I worry I'm going to leave fingerprints everywhere.

Heh.

It's hard on a middle-age man's ego to realize that he's being totally outcooled by everyone on the hotel staff. The guy fetching the taxi probably pities me. Because he knows he still has a future. He says to himself: Thank God I'm not him. How does he face the morning???

Thursday, February 18, 2010

So Bono, Michael Stipe, Natalie Portman, Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Spike Jonze and the Olsen twins walk into a bar on Avenue A...

Over at Guest of a Guest, Billy Gray has a report on Black Market, punk veteran Jesse Malin's new nighspot at the former Pizza Shop. All those celebrity types showed up for some party. As Gray notes, "The wingding was in honor of fancy pants clothing line Rodarte and during Fashion Week, which inflated the guest list. But it bodes well for the Avenue A newcomer (and poorly for local peasants hoping to check it out for themselves). It also confirms that Malin has stealthily joined the roster of NYC nightlife heavyweights." Later in the post, Gray wonders:

What's a veteran East Village punk doing hosting a party for Rodarte? As another Fashion Week bites the dust and thankfully takes some star wattage with it, Black Market will hopefully relax into a solid, rock-tinged neighborhood joint. The sweaty, puke-stained ghost of CBGB would not abide another velvet rope.

The Post discovers that the area around Bowery and Bond is pretty nice these days — and getting nicer!

The cover story of the Post's real-estate section this week features the area around Bond and Bowery, which, from here on out, we'll refer to as BowBo to see if it foolishly catches on...
Give me a B!.... Gimme an O....

Seriously, though, we first meet Adam Gordon, who says, “As a developer, I really have a passion for reclaiming historic properties."

Anyway, let's just keep on reading!

“This corridor [of Bowery] has the most excitement in all of Manhattan — if you’re talking about the space between the New Museum and Cooper Square,” says Gordon.
“I think the Bowery — more than any neighborhood in Manhattan over the last five years — has become the most evolved,” says Core CEO Shaun Osher. “It’s become one of the trendiest neighborhoods in the city, but what’s really great about the Bowery is it’s multi-dimensional in its evolution.”
The term “multi-dimensional” makes sense not just in terms of the architecture, but also in terms of everything else that’s come to the neighborhood.
“I used to have a restaurant around here 10 years ago,” says celebrity chef Scott Conant, referring to City Eatery, his Italian spot on Bleecker and Bowery. “I was a little spooked by the neighborhood . . . I was never going to do another restaurant around here.”

The features includes the handiest of handy-dandy maps...

How soon before this how map is just a cluster of red circles with numbers?

Will Ray's become a noodle shop? (Plus, another Ray's benefit set for March 8)

Well, all sorts of Ray-related news to pass along. First, a bombshell from Scoopy's column this week in The Villager:

An associate of Barbara Chupa, the property’s managing agent, told him they want to replace his historic candy store with — get this! — a "noodle shop." "They told me they have a Chinese guy who can pay more money, and he will hire me as the night manager and keep me working here," Ray revealed. Asked if he would even consider the "offer," he said he's not falling for it: "No! They would get rid of me right away."

Second, as we wrote last Friday, some volunteers from the neighborhood were starting a Saturday night delivery service. I was one of the homebound Ray's fans eager for a delivery. Unfortunately, there were some snafus with their phone service. They're try again this Saturday. Bob Arihood has more on this story here.

Third, on the Save Ray's page on Facebook, Haley Moss Dillon reported that a single person made a $300 donation on the Save Ray's PayPal account, which is still active: saverayscandystore@gmail.com

[Photo of Ray's by Joann Jovinelly via her Flickr account]

Fourth, Francisco Valera, who has lived upstairs from Ray's for 17 years, is helping organize a benfit for Ray at the Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., on Monday, March 8. As Valera wrote on Facebook:

"Some incredible local artists have volunteered to perform, among them Reverend Billy and the Live After Shopping Gospel Choir, East River String Band, Didi from Brazilian Girls will be our DJ and will play live music ... we are still reaching out to more artists ... Ray himself will be with us ... and some local activists and loyal members of our, in extinction, beloved East Village neighborhood.

On the up and up: The Museum of the American Gangster opening on St. Mark's Place

To the news release from Eric Ferrara

I am proud to announce the opening of the Museum of the American Gangster at 80 St. Marks Place (between 1st and 2nd Avenue), inside the historic Theater 80 building.

The Museum will be open daily for previews beginning Sunday, March 7, 2010. The official launch will be Spring 2010, date TBA.

The Museum of the American Gangster (MAOG) presents an opportunity to gain insight into the hidden, inside world of the American gangster through artifacts and stories told by those involved. We are working with a team of criminal authors, historians and related institutions, as well as family members and estates of pivotal crime figures, to create a museum that both casual fans and invested scholars could enjoy and benefit from. Beyond exhibits and artifacts, MOAG will offer dedicated research facilities, access to original source documents and articles, oral histories, workshops, walking tours, live performances, historic reenactments, lectures, movies and presentations.

MOAG's goal is to objectively and authentically present the role that crime has played in shaping the politics, culture, myth and lore of New York City. Criminals will not be glorified or sensationalized, nor will they be vilified -- rather, this institution intends to allow visitors insight into how and why criminals (on both sides of the law) chose the life they did. Where did they come from? What were their options? What was their relationship to the community? This is a chance to dig deep into the lives and minds of some of the country's most successful crime figures.

Here's that Gangster site.

For further reading on EV Grieve:
Raising awareness of the East Village/Lower East Side

Is the McSam hotel getting taller on Fourth Avenue?

Real-estate blogger Andrew Fine has been keeping a watchful eye on the McSam hotel seemingly stalled at Fourth Avenue and 13th Street... (It's the 11-story, 162-unit hotel brought to you and me by Sam Chang.) When I walked by the other day, I noticed something that I couldn't recall seeing before on the roof....

What is that, exactly? An observation tower to see if anyone from the DOB is coming for an inspection -- given the complaints from neighbors about the hotel being too tall? .... Despite the partial stop-work order, someone called the DOB four times in January saying that work continues....

Previously on EV Grieve:
Is Sam Chang's Fourth Avenue hotel too tall?

d.o.b. gets t.a.g.g.e.d.

Over at Michael Huynh's new French Vietnamese place on St. Mark's Place, some graffiti artists used the front for a tapestry the other evening...

...and just as quickly, the window was cleaned off...

We saw this happen with great frequency over at Caffe Buon Gusto on Avenue B and Fifth Street... graffiti would go up, some poor fool would remove it the next day... and the cycle never ended...until the restaurant just gave up, apparently.

Bleach patrol

Do you know who poured a gallon bleach on this car on Second Street last month? If so, $500 may be yours...

New Vietnamese restaurant coming in March for Second Avenue

At the former Sea between Fourth Street and Fifth Street...

..something called Le Da Nang...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Dead water on Second Avenue?

EV Grieve's final contribution to Fashion Week coverage

Look! A Nicole Miller truck on Cooper Square...

Your chance to be a rock God

Spotted on Third Avenue near 12th Street. Hmm, the greatest thing since the Dead...the Stones...Linkin Park?

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Block party

There was some kind of mini photo shoot happening on Second Avenue at Sixth Street in front of Block Drugs a little bit a go... For some reason, an attractive young woman in jean shorts jumping around in front of a photographer made people slow down and watch...

Noted

It was all about a bit of bed head and sexy, smudgy eyes on the Marc Jacobs runway. The designer wanted models to have a dirty look as if the hair and makeup had been slept in. “This look is what you’d see on a girl from the East Village or St. Germain des Pres — an existentialist with a modern twist,” said Nars Cosmetics founder and Creative Director François Nars in a news release.
[Via L.A. Times, image via]

Yankees pitchers and catchers report today; meanwhile, take me out to what's left of the old ballpark...

Today at noon, pitchers and catchers report to the Yankees complex in Tampa. Back up hereabouts, workers continue dismantling the old Yankee Stadium. I checked in at the The Demolition of Yankee Stadium Web site for the latest...(from yesterday):

[Photos by Bobby Jackson]

As Eric Okurowski at Stadiumpage.com noted:

"[I]t seems like they are making progress. At this point the seating plank for the field and loge levels has been demolished. The upper deck is basically intact except for what seems to be the last section. The stairwell 'pod' next to the left field end has been removed which caused that part to be demolished. Most of the exterior remains. If I were to guess, there will still be a considerable amount of the structure left when the season begins in April. However, if the pace is increased, it could be done before then."

Here are some rather haunting images that Eric took:

View the rest of his photos here.

In the Financial District, Mariah Carey helps usher in the start of the bikini bar war

For years now, the duff-and-tumble Nassau Bar on Nassau Street has ruled the FiDi Bikini Bar scene...

Now, though, a new player has emerged on the scene: Hook and Ladder II, sibling of the Kip's Bay Hook and Ladder, on John Street near Water Street (and right around the corner from the luxury rentals at 200 Water)...

According to the signs, this rather humdrum spot is celebrating a (rebranding) "grand re-opening"...

...featuring the "Hook and Ladder II bikini bartenders," one of whom looks a lot like Mariah Carey in a firefighter's uniform ...

(Oh, wait! That IS a picture of Mariah Carey... nice of her to lend her image to the gang at Hook and Ladder II!)

Perhaps this new feature at the Hook and Ladder II will make up for the loss of Gramaldi's as an amentity for those Wall Street boys looking at 200 Water Street...

No word just yet on the new tenant...

Professor Thom's teary temporarily closed signage has a sponsor

Can't recall too many closure banners with a sponsor.

And the bar on Second Avenue near 14th Street is expected to reopen next Monday, Eater reported.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Reminders: Benefit for Mosaic Man tonight at Theatre 80

The Villager has all the details... Slum Goddess has more on it here... As a matter of fact, Eden and John's East River String Band are one of the groups playing a set...

Reminders tonight: Mardi Gras Benefit Celebration Ball for the Lower East Side Girls Club

More details here.