Tuesday, May 16, 2017
EV Grieve Etc.: NYPD calls LES synagogue fire arson; Schiller's announces its closure
[Photo on 9th and A via Derek Berg]
NYPD calls LES synagogue fire arson (The Lo-Down ... previously)
CB3's SLA committee votes to deny Epstein's revival on Stanton and Allen (BoweryBoogie)
Keith McNally is closing Schiller's on the LES in August (Eater) An ode to the Loudest Brunch Spot on the LES (The Awl)
Two plays and dinner at the New York Theater Workshop on Fourth Street (The New York Times)
The fares are not what they seem: the "Twin Peaks" metro cards (Welcome to Twin Peaks)
Flashback: The start of the Summer of Love in the East Village (B+B)
Sad state of food affairs at Alta on Lafayette (Gothamist) ... though this reviews says they have the city's best guacamole (Grub Street)
WTF diversions: Psychic medium claims to be in contact with the late Jeff Buckley; says he sings Creed's "My Sacrifice" to himself (Dangerous Minds)
...East Village Hats on Seventh Street is now Sally's Wig Store for the filming of the Netflix series "Jessica Jones" ... the store reopens Thursday...
[Photo by Derek Berg]
Fat Cat Kitchen opens on 14th Street
Fat Cat Kitchen debuted this morning at 223 East 14th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, per EVG regular Pinch.
Björn Holm, a former sous chef and the head of catering at Dean & Deluca’s store on Broadway and Prince, is behind this quick-serve restaurant that serves a variety of sandwiches, salads, soups and baked goods. Let us know if you try Fat Cat.
You may find the Fat Cat website here.
Previously
The 41st annual Ukrainian Festival is this weekend on 7th Street
A look at the incoming Bea Arthur Residence for homeless LGBT youth on 13th Street
Been awhile since we checked in on 222 E. 13th St., the future location of the Bea Arthur Residence for homeless LGBT youth here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.
Here's how the gut renovation is shaping up outside...
Per some previous posts:
And here's the rendering ...
Carl Siciliano, executive director of the Ali Forney Center, told DNAinfo last month that renovations were expected to wrap up in June or July.
There are currently more than 200 young people on a waiting list for the facility, which has an 18-resident capacity.
Per DNAinfo:
Previously on EV Grieve:
A haunted house on 13th Street?
Abandoned 13th Street building becoming the Bea Arthur Residence for homeless LGBT youth
Here's what the Bea Arthur Residence will look like on East 13th Street
Groundbreaking today on East 13th Street for the Bea Arthur Residence for homeless LGBT youth
Here's how the gut renovation is shaping up outside...
Per some previous posts:
Bea Arthur, who died in April 2009, left $300,000 to the Ali Forney Center, an organization supporting homeless LGBT youth, in her will. In 2012, City Council as well as then-Borough President Scott Stringer awarded the Ali Forney Center and the Cooper Square Committee $3.3 million for the residence.
And here's the rendering ...
Carl Siciliano, executive director of the Ali Forney Center, told DNAinfo last month that renovations were expected to wrap up in June or July.
There are currently more than 200 young people on a waiting list for the facility, which has an 18-resident capacity.
Per DNAinfo:
The residence will provide on-site counseling and case management for gay and transgender youth, as well as help securing employment with the goal of eventual financial independence.
"What we really focus on with our program is helping them get jobs," said Siciliano.
"What we ask is they put a portion of their income in bank accounts so when they leave the program they have several thousand dollars saved up...a lot of what happens in the program is preparing people ot live independently, on their own."
Previously on EV Grieve:
A haunted house on 13th Street?
Abandoned 13th Street building becoming the Bea Arthur Residence for homeless LGBT youth
Here's what the Bea Arthur Residence will look like on East 13th Street
Groundbreaking today on East 13th Street for the Bea Arthur Residence for homeless LGBT youth
Report: Drama on 13th Street as family of actress Rosario Dawson looks to buy affordable housing
544 E. 13th St. near Avenue B is one of the 11 formerly abandoned East Village buildings that the city sold to tenants for a $1 via a deal brokered by the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) in 2002. Under the terms of the deal, the tenants were to bring the buildings up to code.
However, as The Villager reported in October 2015, the conversions of No. 544 as well as 377 E. 10th St. between Avenue B and Avenue C were stalled. The city reportedly chipped in $1.78 million for the renovation work.
Under the terms of the UHAB deal, the original homesteaders are given the chance to buy apartments at a low price, "but have to earn no more than $53,450 a year and the home must be a primary residence, according to the city," as the Post reported on Sunday.
No. 544 has reportedly been the site on an ongoing feud between two factions, "one of them led by Isabel Celeste Dawson, the mother of actress Rosario Dawson, who grew up in the building," per the 2015 Villager article. At the time, members of the Dawson family, Isabel, her brother Nicky Scott, Isabel’s ex-husband Greg Dawson, and son Clay were in line for four units in the renovated building. (The Dawsons arrived at the building in 1986.)
On Sunday, the Post reported that the four members of the Dawson family along with a longtime friend will be getting the homes, which doesn't sit well with some of the other original homesteaders who point out that Rosario Dawson has an estimated worth of $16 million.
Per the Post:
“She’s supportive of her parents. I don’t understand why she hasn’t acquired housing for them elsewhere so these units could be for New Yorkers in need,” said Annie Wilson, one of the building’s founding homesteaders.
Another resident chafed, “This is low-income housing. They’re not supposed to be profiting from anything to do with it.”
And...
Adam Leitman Bailey, a lawyer who represents the Dawsons and some of the other residents, said he had reviewed tax returns for all of the residents and they qualified to buy the apartments.
“I can guarantee you that none of them are wealthy,” he said.
The Post piece has a lot more of the accusations and sordid details. You can read the whole piece here. Ditto for the 2015 Villager article here.
'Zhe Zhe' is 'Back from the Dead' tomorrow night
Season two of the web series "Zhe Zhe" premieres tomorrow night at the Howl! Happening space on First Street.
The show follows ...:
"the glamorous misadventures of three fame-famished posers in a post-reality New York. Created by stars Ruby McCollister, Leah Hennessey, Emily Allan and director E.J. O’Hara, 'Zhe Zhe' offers an unflinching look at the dystopia that has become our reality."
Mickey Boardman had this to say about it at Paper: "The show reminds us of old school East Village performance mayhem from the likes of Dancenoise, Alien Comic and any other act that used to play at La Mama."
Allan was born and raised in the East Village.
"It's definitely inspired in part by my childhood memories of ye olde East Village aesthetics, while also poking fun at our present culture of hyperbolized downtown mythos and manufactured nostalgia," she told me via email.
Here's a trailer for season No. 2...
The screening of episode one, titled "Back From the Dead," is tomorrow night starting at 7. Howl! Happening is at 6 E. First St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery. Find out more about "Zhe Zhe" here.
'Smithereens' returns to the Metrograph this week
"Smithereens," the dark comedy from 1982 filmed in part in the East Village, makes a return engagement this week to the Metrograph, 7 Ludlow St. between Hester and Canal.
The film, which marked Susan Seidelman's directorial debut, is set in the East Village (and other downtown locales). Wren (Susan Berman), a suburban New Jersey native, is eager for downtown fame, plastering "missing" posters of herself on the subway and elsewhere. She sees a meal ticket in Eric (Richard Hell), the hot guy with a short attention span in a band. And there's the too-nice Paul (Brad Rijn), who pursues the uninterested Wren. Love!
"Smithereens," made for $40,000, was the first American indie invited to compete for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Last July, I spoke with Seidelman about "Smithereens" and her follow-up film, "Desperately Seeking Susan."
Here's what she had to say about the legacy of "Smithereens:"
I think I was trying to document what it felt like to live in that neighborhood in that part of the city at that time. I never really thought about it in terms of whether the film would pass the test of time or be a time capsule or anything.
But the fact that it ended up being pretty authentic to the environment, to the neighborhood, is maybe what enabled it to pass the test of time.
The film plays Wednesday at 2 p.m., Thursday at 5 p.m. and 9:15 p.m., and Sunday at 3:15 p.m. "Smithereens" is screening as part of Metrograph A to Z, a collection of films they think everybody should see.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Q-&-A with Susan Seidelman, director of 'Smithereens' and 'Desperately Seeking Susan'
Monday, May 15, 2017
Monday's parting shot
Feeding time in Tompkins Square Park with Dora and her latest red-tailed hawk offspring... photo by Bobby Williams
Flagpole Day in Tompkins Square Park
The flagpole in Tompkins Square Park was in need of refinishing and repainting ...
A crew was out today, as these photos via EVG Flagpole Correspondent Steven show... here's the final product...
Looking sharp for the upcoming summer season (Flag Day, July 4) ... and maybe a corporate sponsor? There's plenty of room for a message.
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The 9th Precinct Community Council meeting is tomorrow (Tuesday!) night
As a reminder, the 9th Precinct Community Council meets on the third Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. So that would be tomorrow (May 16!).
The meetings take place at the 9th Precinct, 321 E. Fifth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.
This is an opportunity for residents to address any concerns (noise complaints?) and ask 9th Precinct officials for their input on recent crime statistics.
If you're planning ahead, then note that the Community Council does not meet in July and August, per Neil Barsky, Council president.
The meetings take place at the 9th Precinct, 321 E. Fifth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.
This is an opportunity for residents to address any concerns (noise complaints?) and ask 9th Precinct officials for their input on recent crime statistics.
If you're planning ahead, then note that the Community Council does not meet in July and August, per Neil Barsky, Council president.
Demolition watch: 112-120 E. 11th St., future home of a Moxy hotel
[Photo from May 2016]
Workers have been bringing down the five walk-up buildings at 112-120 E. 11th St. in recent months.
Here's where the demolition stands as of Saturday... hard to say what's left behind the construction netting. Maybe two floors?
Plywood signage points to a summer completion for the demolition...
And then! One day!
[Rendering via Flintlock Construction]
As previously reported, the buildings are coming down to make way for the 13-story hotel for Marriott’s Moxy brand here between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue. The Moxy website shows that the 11th Street hotel is expected to open in late 2018.
Local residents, preservationists and local elected officials have all spoken out about the demolition of the "landmark-elegible" buildings and loss of housing.
The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation posted this on Instagram Friday...
Previously on EV Grieve:
6-building complex on East 10th Street and East 11th Street sells for $127 million
Report: 300-room hotel planned for East 11th Street
Preservationists say city ignored pitch to designate part of 11th Street as a historic district
Permits filed to demolish 5 buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel (58 comments)
At the Moxy hotel protest on 11th Street last evening
Post office-replacing residential building reaches ground level on 14th Street
The foundation appears to be set at the 8-story retail-residential building for 432-438 E. 14th St. This photo shows the workers at ground level now here between Avenue A and First Avenue...
[Photo by Bobby Williams]
Reps for Benenson Capital Partners and Mack Real Estate had been lobbying to receive a zoning variance for a 12-story building — four more floors than the area's zoning allows — at the site of the former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office.
Facing opposition from community groups and residents in previous meetings, the developers cut back their request by two-thirds. Their new proposal sought nine stories on the East 14th Street side of the building, one higher than the eight allowed under the current zoning.
The developers had claimed that the property "is burdened by a combination of unique conditions that result in practical difficulties in complying with the applicable zoning regulations."
Specifically: "Unusually elevated groundwater levels and exceedingly soft and unstable soil (owing to the presence of an underground stream) ... result in extraordinary construction costs, which make a complying development with affordable housing infeasible." (An analysis of the project put the extra construction costs due to the substandard soil at $8.8 million.)
However, in March, they withdrew their request for the extra floor.
The pile driving started here last May. Crews for the new developments at 500 and 538 E. 14th St. likely encountered similar "soft and unstable soil," as foundation work lasted lasted more than a year.
The original plans for 432-438 E. 14th St. called for 114 residential unit with 20 percent affordable housing.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office slated to be demolished
The former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office will yield to an 8-story residential building
New residential building at former 14th Street PO will feature a quiet lounge, private dining room
A look at the new building coming to the former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office property
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