For Kathy Kirkpatrick, the owner of the Life Café, it was a moment she had resisted. During nearly all of the show’s run, she had done little more to capitalize on the cafe’s appearance in the show than to put up a poster signed by the cast . . .
“We thought if we did anything it would look like we were exploiting the show, and that’s not what we are about,” Ms. Kirkpatrick said.
But times have changed — and so have the needs of fans, who began to take menus as souvenirs. Since the play announced in March that it was closing, the cafe has begun to sell “Rent” memorabilia, designing a line of T-shirts, buttons, hats and tote bags and displaying journals in which fans can memorialize how the play has touched them.
In today’s East Village, expensive glass-fronted condominiums abut rows of hip Mexican and Asian restaurants, and the anti-materialistic, bohemian spirit immortalized in “Rent” can be difficult to see.
Gone are the days when the Life Café could stay afloat selling 50-cent bowls of vegetarian chili cooked over a Coleman burner, as it did in 1981, when it opened in a dilapidated storefront on East 10th Street and Avenue B, surrounded by abandoned buildings and shuttered storefronts.
The rent Life Café pays is now “well over $9,000 a month,” said John Sunderland, Ms. Kirkpatrick’s husband, and may double when the lease comes up for renewal in June.
So when “Rent’s” public relations firm asked whether the Life Café would host a video contest and party to mark the end of the show, Ms. Kirkpatrick said yes. “It’s hard to continue on in the way we have over the years without taking some hard, tough decisions to move forward. You do have to be creative in order to survive,” she said.
Five protesters were arrested Friday after clashing with police in the East Village following a rally against police brutality and gentrification.
Cops said the rally, on East Fifth Street near First Avenue down the block from the 9th Precinct station house, had ended peacefully at 8 p.m. when anger flared.
One man was busted for throwing objects at police.
The arrest sparked more violence from the crowd and led to the arrest of a man who allegedly threw a chair at cops.
Two protesters were arrested for damaging patrol cars, including an 18-year-old man.
A fifth person, an 18-year-old woman described by police as homeless, was arrested when she tried to interfere with police, laying down in the street and refusing to move, cops said.
To be continued.
New York City is looking for demolition companies that think they can tear down Yankee Stadium without damaging any of the seats or other pieces that might be sold to collectors.(City Room)
The razing of the famous ballpark is scheduled to start in March and last as long as a year, according to a solicitation form issued by the city’s Economic Development Corporation. The first stage of the demolition will involve salvaging all of the stadium seating as well as some large features like the white frieze that adorns the wall behind the bleachers and the 120-foot-tall bat-shaped boiler stack outside the main entrance.
Given the opportunity, how would you change New York?
In the old days every neighborhood in New York was uniquely different than the next. Lots of different family businesses that lent a lot of character to the city. It'd be a great thing to see more opportunity for small businesses to grow again. Believe it or not, in the mid 70's, I worked as a busboy and was able to afford an apartment in Manhattan! It's always a good idea to try and feed peoples souls, now that'd be a change.
In the Ninth Precinct, which covers the East Village, grand larceny surged to 22 for the week ending Aug. 24 this year compared to 12 the same week last year. Grand larceny increased to 81 in the 28-day period ending Aug. 24 this year compared to 65 in the same period last year.
Burglaries also spiked in the Fifth Precinct, which covers the Lower East Side, Little Italy and Chinatown from Broadway to Allen St. between Houston St. and the Brooklyn Bridge, during the week ending Aug. 24 when 10 were reported compared to four the same week last year. For the 28-day period ending Aug. 24 there were 22 burglaries compared to 13 the year before.
Here's an earlier version of the flier and social from several weeks ago. (Please note that the time and location have changed.) This hung on the Ninth Street side of the Christodora for two whole days. (Surprised that it wasn't removed sooner than that....)
For Jared Hoffman, the club’s owner, the move signifies a rebirth for the Knitting Factory legacy. For Leonard Street residents, the club’s departure means the end of years of complaining about noise, garbage and loitering outside the club.
“It’s not fun to be somewhere where you’re seen as the bad guy,” Hoffman said during a recent interview in a converted Brooklyn apartment that’s the club’s new office. “There’s just no way, in that environment, not to annoy some people. It’s an un-winnable situation.”
“People are expecting Tribeca to be as quiet as a suburban street in Greenwich, Connecticut,” he added.
Ahn-Tuyet Pollock, who has lived next door to the Knitting Factory for eight years, said she and many of her neighbors have been waiting for the day that the club would close and the sidewalk be free of its patrons.
“It’s been a struggle for us ever since we moved in,” Pollock said. “[Club-goers] line up in front of the building, they smoke, they make all kinds of noise, they want to come into our building to use our bathroom...it’s a nuisance.”
While the departure of the Knitting Factory is welcome news to many Leonard Street residents, their respite from club-going throngs could be short-lived.
Joe Rosales, a broker for Lee Odell Real Estate, closed on a $12 million sale of the six-story building at 74 Leonard Street to the Laboz Family Trust in July, and the space, he said, has already drawn interest from developers looking to install another nightclub.
“The way that space is laid out, it has to stay commercial,” Rosales said.
What struck me more than anything...Stocks Skid, Dow Down 12!
