[T]he leading provider of organic cold pressed juices, raw food cleansing programs, snacks, superfoods, truly natural beauty products, healthy lifestyle education and community building events. The company helps people learn how to transition and maintain a healthy lifestyle that is pleasurable and sustainable, while also friendly to people, animals and the environment.
The schedule:
Friday, May 17 · 4pm-11pm
Saturday, May 18 · 11am-11pm
Sunday, May 19 · 1pm-5pm
March organizer Susan Howard said the eviction, followed by years of watching the building deteriorate, has been a “devastating blow."
"I don't think the owner knows how much damage he has done and how deep the hurt is," said Howard, who is also part of the group Save Our Community Center CHARAS-64 (SOCCC-64).
"It was a cross-pollination of so many people — activists and artists," Howard said of when the building operated as a community center. "You had [singing practice] in the plaza. You had AA meetings in the gallery, computer classes, English classes."
"There is no room, and no desire, and no way we will live with a dorm in our backyard," declared Councilmember Rosie Mendez, shouting to the crowd from a bullhorn. "Cooper Union needs to rescind whatever deal I believe it doesn't have so Singer can give us back our building," Mendez added.
Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh was equally strident.
"As a community, we have to at some point draw the line and say this is a battle we are not going to lose, and this is a fight we're not going to quit," Kavanagh said.
As of 11am EST, the Presidents office of the Cooper Union has been occupied for 1 week.
— Free Cooper Union (@FreeCooperUnion) May 15, 2013
The Children's Magical Garden is a community treasure, and we want to keep it in the neighborhood. We understand that the developer has a permit to build the fence; however, such sudden action is not the best solution and nor the act of a good neighbor, especially since there have been active, ongoing conversations to come to an equitable agreement. We asked the developer not to put up this fence, and now we ask them to take it down.
“We had no idea this was coming,” said Kate Temple-West, president of the Children’s Magical Garden board.
Name: Markian Surmach
Occupation: Owner, Surma - The Ukrainian Shop
Location: 7th Street between Second Avenue and Cooper Square
Time: 5 pm on Friday, May 10.
This store was founded in 1918 by my grandfather, who came through Ellis Island in 1910. The neighborhood was very different. It was very Eastern European and more solidly Ukrainian than it is now.
I was born in this neighborhood and lived here until I was 6, when we moved up to Rockland Country. And I moved back here when I was 18 for college and such. But because of the shop here and being a child in this family you were recruited to work every free moment that you had. Me and my sister spent almost every weekend in the shop growing up. So I was always in and out of the city most of the time.
I moved to Colorado for 15 years and lived a very different life. The objective of some people who live here is how to get out, so I moved and then I was brought back in again. My dad passed away [in 2003] and I got the call, “Okay, what are we gonna do now,” so I came back. I live a couple blocks away now. Moving back has been an adjustment but I love New York and I love the shop.
In the beginning the store catered to those who didn’t speak a lick of English, to help them assimilate into New York life. My grandfather was catering to people who needed virtually everything. It was like a PC Richards, in a way. The old Gramophone that’s up in the corner of the shop was cutting-edge technology at the time. That’s what he was selling. He even sold washing machines. You name it and he was selling it — everything that people needed to live in New York.
Over time, as people started settling in, the older generation wanted the younger generation to have a connection to the Ukraine. So then we started carrying things from the Ukraine to help keep that connection. And it’s just kind of continued from there. We ship a lot of things from there.
The store has moved now toward the arts-and-crafts route. We sell a lot of Easter Eggs that are very elaborate and intricately done. They’re called Easter Eggs because that’s kind of an Americanization of it, but they’re traditionally called Pysanka in Ukrainian, which means “to Write.” We sell lots of nicknacks and we still ship things from the Ukraine.
We get a lot of our clothing from Romania. My father started doing this back when the Soviet Union was not a friendly place. He started importing all these blouses from Romania because of the economic and political status in the Ukraine. Also, during the 60s and 70s and maybe the 80s, there were a lot of big-name people who shopped here, everybody from Jim Morrison to Led Zeppelin, the Mamas & the Papas, Judy Collins, and Donatella Versace did a big spread with our blouses. We’ve catered to the bohemian theme rather than just being Ukrainian, per se. People who shop here now are the ones who are looking for something different rather than just for something Ukrainian.
Save Our Community Center MARCH AND RALLY
Wednesday, May 15
March starts at CHARAS/El Bohio, 605 E. 9th Street @ 5:00
Cooper Union rally starts @ 6:00
Join us for a march and rally to return old P.S. 64, formerly CHARAS/El Bohio Community & Cultural Center, to our community! Meet at the former site of CHARAS/El Bohio for the march at 5:00 and Cooper Union for the rally at 6:00.
With speakers: CHARAS co-founder Chino Garcia, Council member Rosie Mendez, Assembly member Brian Kavanagh, Senator Brad Hoylman, Students For a Free Cooper Union, & music by members of Rude Mechanical Orchestra, Tiny Band and others.
It is time to ask the City to return the building to the community!
Join us tonight, & spread the word! Meet at the former site of CHARAS/El Bohio for the march at 5:00 and Cooper Union for the rally at 6:00.
Spencer Wilking at the Voice reports that the 27-year-old rehearsal space under Max Fish at 178 Ludlow street will have to close this summer... Ken Caldeira and Sal Principato (vocalist for Liquid Liquid) opened the space in 1986. "They're in no mood to bargain because they stand to make a killing in the anticipation of the hotel," says Principato, referring to the Hotel Ludlow, the latest boutique hotel that will soon open next door to Max Fish. "We're a liability. Who's gonna pay those big bucks with a bunch of musicians in the basement?"
