[Updated] Family searching for Joby Joseph, last seen around Tompkins Square Park late Monday night

Updated 6/22: His family says that Joby has been found and is OK. No other information is available.

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Friends and family of Joby Joseph have been frantically searching for the 39-year-old missing since May 12. 

His last reported sighting was around Tompkins Square Park late Monday night. 

His brother, Joshua Joseph, has been coordinating efforts to find Joby.

Per a recent Instagram post: 

He has had no contact with his family or friends. Some reports have called in stating they have seen him around Tompkins Square Park area and Ave A late Monday night, June 17th. They have described him as disheveled and out of it. 

Physical description: long scruffy beard, 6’1, 180 pounds, possibly malnourished. 

Whether these reports are true or not, I cannot grasp what mental state of mind he is in or what led him to this point. I appreciate everyone's involvement, which has led to these calls, tips and info. Hopefully, everyone's continued efforts will help us locate him ASAP and get him to safety. 

Joshua created a link on Google Maps with a rough perimeter and active locations in the East Village and Lower East Side that update in real-time according to their search efforts. 

A screengrab of the map is below. You can access it here.

Joby, who works the door at several local bars, has been known to be MIA for a day or two.

"This is the first time this has happened for such a long period of time," Joshua told the Staten Island Advance/SILive.com. "It's not unusual for him to be gone for maybe a couple of days, but nothing like this. We don't know anything."

The family filed a missing person's report with the NYPD on June 8. 

Anyone with information that could help in the search for Joby is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online. All calls are strictly confidential.

A summer movie series is returning to Tompkins Square Park

A summer film series is set for Tompkins Square Park for the first time in eight years. 

Yesterday, Assemblymember Harvey Epstein announced that he has teamed up with the Loisaida Center, the Lower East Side Film Festival, Rooftop Films and Two Boots Pizza "to bring the joy of watching summer flicks under the stars back to our neighborhood." 

Here's more about the four-film series that will take place on the multi-purpose courts/TF at Avenue A and 10th Street: 

More than simply showing movies, this crew of community leaders organized for free pizza while supplies last, along with pre-show entertainment. Each event starts at 8 p.m., and films commence at sunset. 

On June 26, "Encanto" (rated PG) will be shown along with a pre-show clown workshop by Matthew Silver and MC Bryan Fernandez. Short films "Love Letters to the Subway" (2023) and "Drumtalk" (2022) will precede the main feature. 

The family-friendly fun continues on July 24 with a screening of "Little Fugitive" (rated G). The Coney Island Circus Sideshow will provide the audience with a pre-show performance. The shorts for the night will be "Practice Space" (2024) and the Grand St. Settlement Film. 

On Aug. 29, enjoy live music and an appearance by Natasha Lyonne as we watch her in "Slums of Beverly Hills" (rated R). Director Tamara Jenkins will curate the short films. 

For the grand finale on Sept. 25, moviegoers will enjoy "Everything Everywhere All at Once" (rated R). Nuyorican Poets Cafe will present poetry, and Eden Martinez and the Loisaida Center will curate shorts. 

"Movies in the Park is about more than just movies, it's a chance to showcase local talent through our short film features and to bring people together for a positive community experience," Epstein said in a statement. "I am proud to bring this tradition back to our neighborhood."

In recent years, Tompkins Square Park has occasionally hosted family-friendly films in the Under the Stars series via NYC Parks and Films on the Green by Villa Albertine, the French Embassy, and the FACE Foundation (though not this summer). 

The last summer-long series came in 2016 via Howl! Arts and several local restaurants. Unfortunately, many of the Thursday evening screenings were rained out and rescheduled or canceled.

Two Boots was a previous sponsor for several years.

The ongoing efforts to shutter unlicensed weed shops

Local law enforcement (under the New York City Sheriff's Joint Compliance Task Force) continues to crack down on unlicensed weed/smoke shops. 

For example, this past Thursday, authorities closed Smoke City Exotics at 166 Avenue B between 10th Street and 11th Street...

...as well as the oft-busted storefront at 24 Avenue A between Second Street and Third Street...

On May 7, Mayor Adams announced the launch of Operation Padlock to Protect "to hold illegal smoke and cannabis shops accountable." 

After the first week, City Hall said that they had closed and sealed 75 shops and issued nearly $6 million in penalties. (And in the first month, the closure tally passed the 300-store mark.) 

In the past, some businesses were back in operation a day or two later, or they used evasive tactics such as removing the signage and only opening late at night when ownership figured they were safe from raids. 

The Task Force closed Hi Society at 97 Second Ave. between Fifth Street and Sixth Street on May 22. The shop, which had a velvet rope and doorman, was open the next day. The Task Force returned, and the shop has been shuttered ever since, with seven "seized" posters on the storefront.

Over the weekend, Colin Moynihan did a deep dive for the Times on the concern over the proliferation of unlicensed stores on the Lower East Side. The story includes local residents who "created a spreadsheet listing the locations of nearly three dozen unlicensed sellers, which they said they distributed to government officials, hoping to prompt enforcement." 

Some background from the article, which you can access here: 

Nearly 3,000 unlicensed cannabis stores are estimated to have opened across New York City since 2021, when a state bill was passed legalizing recreational marijuana and allowing for the distribution of retail cannabis licenses. There are 132 licensed adult-use dispensaries across the state, according to the Office of Cannabis Management, with 62 in the city. 

... and... 

... the rollout of the licensed shops has stumbled, tripped up by lawsuits, bureaucratic delays and a lack of financial assistance for retailers. At one point, policymakers promised to provide turnkey storefronts for new business owners. Those promises never came through. 

The article quotes Jeffrey Hoffman, a cannabis lawyer and legalization advocate who supports closing the unlicensed shops. Given their numbers and the clandestine actions of some of the operators, he predicted it would take months or longer to shut down all the unlicensed shops.

Meanwhile, what will happen to all the storefronts that landlords previously leased to illegal cannabis businesses? 

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Credit:

Photos 1 & 3 — Salim

Photo 2 — Steven

Photos 4 & 5 — EVG

The 3rd annual LUNGS Theater Festival takes place this weekend

The third annual LUNGS (Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens) Theater Festival is this weekend at the 6th Street and Avenue B Garden. 

The free performances are scheduled from 3 to 6 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. (Note: The program is the same each day.) For a detailed preview, visit the LUNGS website here. 

Joseph Papp began the outdoor theater tradition on the Lower East Side in 1956 when he introduced "Shakespeare in the Park" in the (now-demolished) East River Park Amphitheater. 

In 2022, LUNGS continued this part of his legacy with the free Summer Theater Festival.

40 years gone! Revisiting a classic New York magazine cover story from 1984

If you had a copy of New York magazine this week in 1984, you likely read Craig Unger's cover story, "The Lower East Side: There Goes the Neighborhood." 

Generations have said, "There goes the neighborhood," or various variations, like "The East Village is dead," and even more specifically, as Ada Calhoun has documented, "St. Marks is dead."

I first mentioned this piece on June 6, 2008, roughly seven months into EVG's existence. (It was the first EVG post that attracted much attention outside some amazing die-hards.) 

The copy below is from the 2008 EVG post. You can read the full article via Curbed here.

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The piece begins in the early 1980s with the rotting hulk of the Christodora House on Avenue B at Ninth Street and the young man eager to own it, Harry Skydell. 

Skydell's enthusiasm was indeed mysterious. The sixteen-story building he wanted to buy, on Avenue B facing Tompkins Square Park, was surrounded by burned-out buildings that crawled with pushers and junkies. It was boarded up, ripped out, and flooded...Early in the seventies, the city had put up the Christodora up for auction and nobody bid. 

The building was eventually sold in 1975 for $62,500. (Last I saw, two-bedroom units there—roughly 1,100 square feet—averaged $1.6 million or so.) 

The article discusses the influx of chain stores, art galleries and "chic cafes."

"And real-estate values are exploding" as a result. Said one longtime resident on the changes: "I've lived in my rent-controlled apartment for years and pay $115 a month. I live on the Lower East Side. The young kids who just moved in upstairs and pay $700 a month for the same space — they live in the East Village."

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Here are a few images/pages from the cover story... the photo below is on 10th Street, steps west of Avenue B... 

Mount Sinai submits updated plan to close Beth Israel on July 12

According to published reports, Mount Sinai sent the New York State Department of Health a new plan to close Beth Israel, sticking to the previous timeline to shutter the 799-bed teaching hospital on First Avenue at 16th Street on July 12. 

Mount Sinai Health System CEO Brendan Carr said, per a letter dated May 17, that the health system will open an urgent care center at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary compound (also once on the chopping block) on 14th Street and Second Avenue to lessen the impact of the closure, as Politico reported. 

The facility would provide a broader range of services, including x-rays, ultrasounds, and CT scans, than a typical urgent care center, like the two on 14th Street at or near Third Avenue.

"In looking at the current patients using the 16th Street emergency department, I believe that this expanded urgent care will address many of the concerns and needs of current patients," Carr wrote in the letter.

The latest plan also promises to help Bellevue Medical Center expand its existing emergency department to absorb and care for at least some of the patients displaced by a Beth Israel shutdown.

In December, the Department of Health ordered Mount Sinai to immediately stop the Beth Israel closure.

Despite the updated closing plan, 16 local elected officials voiced their opposition in a signed joint letter released yesterday...

Our coalition remains steadfast in the fight to keep healthcare services available at Mt. Sinai Beth Israel. This hospital is vital to our community’s wellbeing. We urge the State Department of Health to return the application that has a closure set for July of this year. pic.twitter.com/BYbBg9E7s7

— Carlina Rivera (@CarlinaRivera) May 28, 2024

"Our offices have received notice that the Mount Sinai Health System has resubmitted their application to close Beth Israel Hospital on July 12 of this year. This elimination of services on a hasty timeline without adequate community engagement remains unacceptable, and we urge the Department of Health to return this application. Mount Sinai must engage in a robust and collaborative process to fulfill its obligations to the community in ensuring access to high-quality health care is protected in lower Manhattan." 

The Save Beth Israel and New York Eye & Ear Campaign also has concerns about the revised plan. Their letter can be found here.

The Times recently reported that patient care is suffering at Beth Israel, where cuts have meant the hospital can't care for critically ill new arrivals. 

Mount Sinai officials say Beth Israel lost $1 billion in the last decade, and only $29 million remains in cash reserves.

Beth Israel was founded 143 years ago on the Lower East Side, moving to its current location in 1929.

At the annual Loisaida Festival

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Yesterday, the 37th edition of the Loisaida Festival unfolded under sunny blue skies, as attendees celebrated the rich heritage of the Lower East Side during this annual Memorial Day weekend event. 

This year's theme was "A Cultural Mosaic." 

Here are a few scenes from along Avenue C/Loisaida Avenue, where festival-goers enjoyed live music (we saw Pinc Louds!), theater, food, a dancing F train and much more...

Days of wine and Rosé

Photos by Stacie Joy 

On a recent early Friday evening, Brix Wine Shop held its annual Rosé Gala ... this year in the courtyard at the Trinity Lower East Side Lutheran Parish on Ninth Street and Avenue B. (Brix previously held the event at La Plaza Cultural down the block). 

It was a pleasant evening with many familiar East Village friends and neighbors, including Brix owner Beatriz Gutierrez and Pastor Will with his husband Steven ... and several bottles of rosé.

Reminders: The Loisaida Festival is today

Poster by Juan Carlos Pinto 

In case you missed our post this past Tuesday: The annual Loisaida Festival is today.

This year's theme is "A Cultural Mosaic," which organizers say "beautifully encapsulates the diverse heritage and vibrant spirit of New York City's Lower East Side." 

The event, which unfolds along Avenue C-Loisaida Avenue between Fifth Street and 12th Street, includes more than 50 artisans and 10 food vendors. (And this goes on rain or shine, in case you were eyeing the weather.)

There's also a slate of bands and musicians (including Pinc Louds at noon) on the main stage and elsewhere on the festival grounds. Visit this link for details.

Reminders: the Lower East Side Festival of the Arts is underway

In case you missed our post from Tuesday...

If you're looking for some free arts and entertainment this weekend, Theater for the New City is the place to be. 

TNC has scheduled more than 200 performing arts organizations, independent artists, poets, puppeteers, and filmmakers for its 29th annual Lower East Side Festival of the Arts, which will continue through tomorrow.

Indoor performances will occur daily from 6 p.m. to midnight, using two of TNC's four theaters. Meanwhile, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday (today!), vendors and food sellers, including booths from nearby restaurants, will set up on the closed-off block of 10th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue during another series of performances. 

You can find the complete list of activities (and times) at this link. 

Admission is free, though TNC will gladly accept donations. 

TNC is at 155 First Ave. at 10th Street.

The 37th edition of the Loisaida Festival takes place on May 26

Poster by Juan Carlos Pinto 

The 37th annual Loisaida Festival is happening on Sunday, May 26. 

This year's theme is "A Cultural Mosaic," which organizers say "beautifully encapsulates the diverse heritage and vibrant spirit of New York City's Lower East Side." 

The event, which unfolds along Avenue C-Loisaida Avenue between Fifth Street and 12th Street, includes more than 50 artisans and 10 food vendors. 

There's also a slate of bands and musicians on the main stage and elsewhere on the festival grounds. Visit this link for details.

Get ready for 3 days of the Lower East Side Festival of the Arts

If you're looking for some free arts and entertainment this weekend, Theater for the New City is the place to be. 

TNC has scheduled more than 200 performing arts organizations, independent artists, poets, puppeteers and filmmakers for its 29th annual Lower East Side Festival of the Arts, which will occur on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Indoor performances will occur daily from 6 p.m. to midnight, using two of TNC's four theaters. Meanwhile, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, vendors and food sellers, including booths from nearby restaurants, will set up on the closed-off block of 10th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue during another series of performances. 

You can find the complete list of activities (and times) at this link. 

Admission is free, though TNC will gladly accept donations. 

TNC is at 155 First Ave. at 10th Street.

These East Village residents are still cooking up a unique book of recipes

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Like a good meal, The East Village Community Cookbook is taking longer to prepare. 

As we reported last August, three East Villagers who bonded during the pandemic — Will Kroeze, pastor at Trinity Lower East Side, Dan Hyatt, a middle school teacher, and Will Horowitz, a chef and author who co-founded Ducks Eatery and Harry & Ida's Meat and Supply Co. — decided to create an old-school neighborhood cookbook. 

And they were able to secure more than 100 recipes from an array of local restaurants (C&B Café, Katz's, Nom Wah Tea Parlor, Russ & Daughters, SMØR, Superiority Burger, and Veselka, among many others) and residents (Alan Cumming and Richard Hell, to name two). 

We haven't heard much about the project since the end of 2023, and some residents who pre-ordered a copy wonder what's happening. 

"We've also gotten people asking about the cookbook, which is taking quite a bit longer than we had expected," Pastor Will told me the other day. "What originally was going to be a DIY project is turning into a real design masterpiece and is going through several rounds of edits .... it’s really going to be something so special for our community." 

Regarding design, East Village-based artist and illustrator Marcellus Hall (whose New Yorker covers are among our favorites) is lending his talents to the cookbook. 

Pastor Will and Horowitz shared some pages with me during a recent production meeting...

"I've been telling people that it's a volunteer-driven labor of love, and like any community project, it's taking time to get right," Pastor Will said. "But it will be so great that it will be worth the wait." 

The organizers said they hope to get the work to the publisher shortly and print it toward the end of the summer. 

Donations for the East Village Community Cookbook started at $30. Proceeds benefit Trinity Lower East Side Services and Food for the Homeless (SAFH) on Ninth Street and Avenue B. 

While I was talking with the organizers, workers were busy preparing meals at Trinity Lower East Side...

EVG Etc.: Report: NYCHA mishandled Riis Houses arsenic crisis; Beth Israel patient care lagging

Morning view of Astor Place

• Watchdog report: The NYCHA bungled its response to concerns about the water at the Jacob Riis Houses two years ago (Gothamist) ... NYCHA failures led to panic over nonexistent arsenic (The City) 

• 19-year-old Riis House resident on Avenue D arrested for alleged role in killing 16-year-old Mahki Brown in Soho (The Post)

• With Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital winding down to close, patient care suffers (The New York Times)

• Human service professionals discuss what's needed to reduce homelessness in NYC (NY1) 

• Harvey Epstein to run for City Council District 2, currently represented by the term-limited Carlina Rivera (City & State)

• E-bike shops are blowing off the city ban on unsafe batteries (The City) 

• Police arrest man who has allegedly been menacing neighbors for years along Avenue C (The Post) 

• The red-tailed chicks are GROWING in Tompkins Square Park (Laura Goggin Photography) 

 • Lower East Side History Month continues (Official site)

• Pastrogi: When you merge Katz's Deli pastrami and Veselka pierogi (1010 WINS)

• New single by Scottish alt-rock band Travis pays tribute to the now-closed Black & White on 10th Street (Billboard ... previously on EVG)

• A feature on East Village Pizza at 145 First Ave. (NBC 4) 

• Sietsema checks out the boba pancakes and Japanese souffles at Little Uluh on 14th Street (Eater) 

• Revisiting the sincere glamour of Candy Darling (Document Journal) 

• Out of the shadows! See "The Third Man" on the big screen on Monday (Village East by Angelika) 

• And a month-long trip back to the 1980s started yesterday at the Film Forum on West Houston (details)

 

Heading back to Downtown Beirut

Photo by David Vega via Flaming Pablum 

On Friday evening, you can revisit a celebrated and long-gone East Village bar (RIP 1994).

Lucky on B plays host to two shorts filmed at Downtown Beirut, 158 First Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street...

A description: 

Join Lucky for a little trip down memory lane with the premiere of two classic videos torn from the East Village's storied past: "The Look of Love" and "Night at Downtown Beirut." 

Created by Mike Enright, who has also contributed a bunch of CDs to our eclectic jukebox, these shorts were shot at the old Downtown Beirut, one of the best bars in history! We'll let people gather for a few drinks between 6 and 6:30, screen one film, take another drink break, and then screen the second film. They're each about a half hour long, and while everyone's drinking, Mike will be showing some of this other video art. 

Lucky on B is at 168 Avenue B between 10th Street and 11th Street. 

This screening is part of Lower East Side History Month. 

P.S. There was also Downtown Beirut II at 157 E. Houston St. near Allen. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Mourning lost bars; early morning at Downtown Beirut

• Downtown Beirut, around 1990, about 3 a.m. 

Alex has more on DB at Flaming Pablum.