A Villager editorial: "Save our Ray's"

From an editorial in this week's issue of The Villager titled "Save our Ray's"...

There has been a lot of talk in the neighborhood in recent years about preserving local mom-and-pop businesses, and keeping out the big chain stores. Ray’s Candy Store is a perfect example of a local business that truly offers a unique, authentic experience, from its old-style soda fountain to Ray himself and the cast of quirky characters and locals who patronize his place.

Until his recent cash-flow problems, Ray has paid his rent faithfully for more than three decades — so one could say, he’s paid his dues. His place used to be one of the only businesses open on Avenue A at night, when taxis wouldn’t even dare come that far east. He slept in his store to protect it from burglars. He’s been slashed and slammed with everything from jagged fluorescent bulbs to metal sidewalk vault doors, and survived.

Also in The Villager this week: A Ray's recap from Chris Flash. Read it here.

Meanwhile, as noted Tuesday....

A PayPal account has been established to help Ray's Candy Store. Those who are interested in helping out may use this e-mail address:

saverayscandystore@gmail.com

And Bob Arihood has the latest update at Neither More Nor Less:

Ray claims that he met with his landlord and that the landlord was not very sympathetic . According to Ray the landlord has too many tenants not paying rent these days and that he expects Ray to pay his rent ....now. So it seems there will be no grace period for Ray and his candy store and thus the future is ever so uncertain .

Previously:
Behind the landlord ultimatum at Ray's

LES crime watch: "if you ask around the neighborhood, you'll find a pretty strong perception that things have worsened over the past year"

At The Village Voice, Graham Rayman takes a comprehensive look at the crime stats in our "crime-free" city, particularly at the 9th Precinct and LES... Here are some excerpts from his article:

Compared to the high-crime years of the late '80s and early '90s, the Lower East Side has far fewer serious reported crimes, according to police statistics. Of the four precincts, only the 9th Precinct showed an overall increase in crime last year, with increases in assault, grand larceny, and rape, and a big jump in burglary. The 5th, 7th, and 13th precincts, meanwhile, all showed overall declines.

On the other hand, comparing 2008 to 2009, there were some increases here and there. Felony assaults in the 7th Precinct jumped by 40 percent last year. Grand larcenies increased, as did rapes. Assaults in the 5th Precinct were up compared to 2007. And the 13th Precinct saw a rise in burglaries.

The number of neighborhood kids 15 or younger sent to the city juvenile justice system rose from 38 in 2008 to 54 in 2009. Typically, about half of those admissions were on robbery or assault charges.

The Voice also obtained misdemeanor arrest numbers for the four precincts, which show overall increases from 2006 to 2008 — largely fueled by jumps in burglary and larceny offenses, along with a significant increase in low-level marijuana busts.

For example, misdemeanor arrests in the 9th Precinct jumped by almost 25 percent between 2006 and 2008, largely as a result of burglary and theft cases. Misdemeanor arrests in the 5th Precinct rose by about 20 percent, largely on theft offenses.

Overall, the numbers present a picture of relative order compared to the bad old days. But if you ask around the neighborhood, you'll find a pretty strong perception that things have worsened over the past year, particularly as a result of these loosely organized groups of teens and young men who identify with a given public housing project or city block.

"We certainly saw an upsurge in the past couple of years of the presence of gangs," says Matthew Guldin, a lifelong educator who retired as dean of students for a Lower East Side high school last June. "You knew it was there. I think some of it has to do with the economic downturn. The crisis always comes first in the poorest neighborhoods. With fewer jobs available for teens, parents being laid off, and schools and community agencies losing funding, there are fewer positive options available to engage teenagers during the after-school hours. And I think YouTube, MySpace, texting, the communications technology, exacerbates it."

Previously on EV Grieve:
9th Precinct sees slight increase in overall crime for year; 74 of 76 NYC police precincts see lower numbers

The Post notes a "90 PERCENT SURGE IN BURGLARIES" in the East Village

In response to recent violence in the East Village: Alphabet City Neighbors

Ray's Candy Store featured in amNY

Thanks to EV Grieve reader Geoff for passing along a copy of Monday's amNY, which included a feature on Ray's Candy Store on Avenue A.

You may click on the image to give it a read...



A few excerpts....

"If the landlord gives me more time and we have warm weather, I could make more money," said Alvarez, who turns 77 this month. "I work every day and I lose $200."

---------

Barbara Chupa, who runs a local insurance company and has managed the property for 10 years, said it's unlikely that Alvarez will be on the street soon, because it can take a long time to legally kick someone out for nonpayment of rent.

"[But] I have to proceed because the owner can't let you stay there for nothing," Chupa said.

Of course, this is already dated given Bob Arihood's most recent report.

Articles that I didn't get around to reading

Baby grand TV set discarded

On 11th Street near Second Avenue.

What's coming to The Telephone Bar space? Some fratty debauchery, perhaps

At the December CB3/SLA meeting, the following item was on the agenda:

Mitchell Banchik, 149 2nd Ave (currently Telephone Bar); full liquor, transfer ownership

Mitchell Banchik owns such bars as Gin Mill, Jake’s Dilemma and Down The Hatch in the Village.

Have you seen Down the Hatch's slogan?

The Telephone Bar and Grill closing after 22 years

An EV Grieve readers points us to the Facebook page of The Telephone Bar and Grill on Second Avenue between Ninth Street and 10th Street... where this message awaits:

In case you haven't heard: Telephone has been sold will be closing on Jan.31st.
This is a special invite to all Telephone family past and present who have shared in so many memories. All are welcome!!

[Telephone photo via]

White House blues

If I did one of those "stories to watch" features at the beginning of the year, then the White House, the last of the neighborhood's SROs at 338 Bowery, would be on that list. There's a long history at this four-story building erected in 1916 that's now serving as a hostel as well as a permanent home for a handful of low-income residents...

The building’s owner, Metro Sixteen, is affiliated with the hotel developer Sam Chang. Their plans: demolish the White House and replace it with a nine-story hotel. Because we really need another luxury hotel around here. (For more read this article in The Villager... or this piece from the Times from last May.) As the Times reported, after Metro's purchase in 2007, the building was included in an extension of the NoHo Historic District, putting a damper on the developer’s plans.

Per the Times:

Metro Sixteen has applied to the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission for permission to develop the site, asking to be considered under the commission’s hardship provision. The city has not yet ruled on the request. But if it is granted, the developer could demolish the hotel and rebuild on the site, effectively bulldozing one of the last remnants of the Bowery’s flophouse past.

Here's a shot by Spencer Platt via Getty Images from 2002...it's of Don, one of the White House's permanent residents...wonder if Don is still around, and if anyone has had to open those instructions on the wall behind him...



Last September, a sidewalk shed went up for, according to permits, "emergency repairs."




The sidewalk shed remains today...



...butting up against the brand-new Subway next door. (Perhaps it was the Subway manager who complained in December that he/she could not put up a business sign because of the sidewalk shed...)

Imagine if could be easy/convenient to say the emergency repairs weren't enough -- and the building has to be razed. As BoweryBoogie has reported, other parcels of this stretch are now primed for demolition, including 185-191 Bowery.

Let's hope that this address can be preserved/refurbished. There has to be a better alternative than just simply tearing a building down and putting up a luxury glass box.

Meanwhile, a "partial vacate" order exists at the White House...



Back to that Times piece...

Some tenants ... resent the fact that the White House is regarded as a repository of "human interest" stories. At the same time, the convenient concentration of so much human frailty has transformed the hotel into a living museum of sad stories.

It will be another sad story the day the White House goes.

[Top photo via Curbed]

The Bowery like you haven't seen in a long, long time

Our blogging friend This Ain't the Summer of Love bought a copy of the out-of-print book "The Bowery."



In a post yesterday, he provides a snapshot of the book's content. For instance, here's a shot of Confidence Bar and Grill at 254 Bowery, one of the many joints featured in Lionel Rogosin's 1958 documentary, "On the Bowery."



Today, 254 Bowery is a hole in the ground ....

A scene from the new Bowery

I never posted the following slice-of-life from last year... Seems fitting now after the other posts for a little contrast...



The two women -- one with a hat, one with a J Crew bag -- provoke a mild outburst from the men sitting in the shade outside the former Kelley & Ping space on the Bowery. It's the usual stuff. "Woooo!" And "Hey what's the hurry?" The men laugh and go back about their business. And sneak a peek as the women continue walking closer to the Bowery Hotel.

If the women are aware of the attention, then they do not let on. One is talking loudly on her cell phone. Her friend listens, and shouts into her friend's phone every so often.

Penistrator clues: Haley Joel Osment owns one baseball hat, probably

So, you remember all that business about someone who looked something like Haley Joel Osment drawing a snow peepee on East 12th Street last January... (it made international headlines...)



Of course, there were some people who weren't convinced that this, indeed, could be the star of such motion pictures as "Artificial Intellignce: AI." Like, for instance, one commenter, who we'll call "JM," wrote: "maybe it's just some fratty white kid in a ballcap."

Last night, an anonymous commenter left a message on that post, saying: "the only way you can actually tell its him is from the hat. there are tons of pics/videos of him wearing that hat all over the place."

It's true, we found. Look! He wears a hat that looks similar to the person who was drawing a snick (snow dick) on that windshield...







P.S.

Belated kudos to New York magazine for naming the Penistrator one of the reasons to love New York in 2009...

Hard to explain

From the lead of New York magazine's feature on Julian Casablancas this week:

Julian Casablancas is at an impasse. The front man of the Strokes ... is gently haggling with a hostess at Momofuku Noodle Bar. She is insistent that the New York native leave his electric guitar and silver suitcase full of stage props unattended at the front door. (Hostess: "We can keep an eye on it for you." Casablancas: "Uh, sorry, no.")

-----

The hostess reluctantly finds a corner for his stuff and a perch from which he can watch it, and Casablancas apologizes once again: "I’m sorry. I just didn't want to leave it there. It's New York."

Noted

From a CNN/Money article titled Botox to vacations: Where bankers spend their bonuses.... As they note: After last year's dry spell, bonuses for top-level executives are expected to be sky high. Maybe even records." So what are they spending their money on?

Of course, the first status residence is in Manhattan, and bankers are already starting to check out the goods in advance of their windfall. They're putting up huge down payments, which has helped the $3 million to $5 million sector of the city's housing market to rebound, said Pamela Liebman, CEO of New York-based brokerage firm Corcoran.

At the low end, they can score a three-bedroom, two bath condo right on Central Park or a tony address on Fifth Avenue. The more adventurous poet-at-heart bankers can tap out buying a five-story Queen Anne on the Upper West Side or head to the once-bohemian East Village for two joined buildings that boast an owner's triplex with a stunning terrace -- and income-generating apartments and businesses below.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

For months and months and months we've been waiting to see what takes the former Max Brenner/Chocolate Bald Man/Slowly Rot My Teeth space on Second Avenue at Ninth Street. You bet we made the obligatory "will probably be a bank branch" joke...



As Jeremiah is now reporting... it's becoming a HSBC branch, the fourth bank branch in two blocks. Uh, at least it's better than a Starbucks?

More Avenue A woe: Lucy's business not so hot either (Neither More Nor Less)

Please do NOT click on this link if you loved the Cedar Tavern. You will likely want to punch something or someone (Curbed)

East Village resident ID'd as victim of last week's bus-bicycle tragedy on Delancey (DNAinfo)

A Madison Avenue movie mystery (Flaming Pablum)

Lobby bars for the Chelsea Hotel? (Chelsea Now via Grub Street)

Brooks is understandably aggravated about several things (Lost City)

Downtown Pix show kicks off today (Stupefaction)

From Fork in the Road:

At last night's Community Board 3 meeting, the owner of Plan B appeared to apply for a license transfer for — wait for it -- the tavern and salon he's planning to open in the Plan B space on East 10th Street. "We're re-tooling the concept," he explained. No, really?

A Dunkin' Donuts closed and moved on Fulton Street downtown...




Perhaps the former location will be replaced by another Dunkin' Donuts.

PayPal account established for Ray's Candy Store

A PayPal account has been established to help Ray's Candy Store. Those who are interested in helping out may use this e-mail address:

saverayscandystore@gmail.com

Previously:
Behind the landlord ultimatum at Ray's

For more updates, be sure to check out Neither More Nor Less. Bob Arihood always has the latest.

John Penley has a message for any future Ray's tenants

Meanwhile, longtime East Village activist/photojournalist John Penley has a new message atop his photo blog:

Avenue D's future

Back in July 2008, the building at Avenue D and Houston came down...




Now an empty lot waits for the inevitable development...






And any proposed development could grow with the closure of the Pioneer Supermarket...



Well, according to the Lo-Down, this is the new building in the works for this space:



As the Lo-Down reported:

Developers of a proposed apartment building envisioned on the northwest corner of Avenue D and Houston streets went before a committee of Community Board 3... They came with renderings of the planned development, which would include 166 studio, 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom apartments, as well as ground-floor retail. A representative for the owner estimated (based on 2011 projections) that the studios (600 sq/ft) would go for about $2800/month. There will also be 34 "affordable units," ranging from $460-$770/per month. The plans call for a 2500 sq/ft roof deck for residents.

In opposition to this proposed development, the Lo-Down quoted Joel Feingold, community organizer for the GOLES, as saying:

"Ave. D is one of the most densely populated public housing areas in the city... It is one of the last refuges on the Lower East Side for working class communities. This will be viewed as an incredibly hostile imposition. This building fits the exact caricature in people's minds of neighborhood loss and change. Despite the 34 units of affordable housing, that's a starting point... I think it's ludicrous to consider putting a building on Avenue D that's all glass and steel and costs $2800 for a studio. I think it's outrageous."



I'll be curious to see how this plays out...As the Times reported back in March 2005:

The frenetic about-face that transformed Alphabet City from a drug-infested no man's land to the epicenter of downtown cool hasn't quite made it to Avenue D, and some predict it never will. Capped at the south by the bustle of Houston Street and at the north by the soaring smokestacks of Con Edison's East River generating station, the 12-block artery remains largely a relic of the neighborhood's pre-hip past.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Will Avenue D finally turn into Avenue C?

Looking at the Wall Street hotel that "will set a new tone of style and optimism in Lower Manhattan"

I saw this banner in front of the Stock Exchange yesterday ...



...Had to find out more about Andaz, the hotel/condo combo at the former JP Morgan Chase HQ on Wall and Pearl Street... been reading a little bit about this for the last three years .... now to some excerpts from the surefire candidate for the News Release Hall of Fame...

Andaz Wall Street, the only hotel situated on Wall Street, will set a new tone of style and optimism in Lower Manhattan when it officially opens on January 18, 2010. Andaz, Hyatt’s newest brand, is devoted to providing simplified, spot-on service and indulgent amenities for its guests.

And!

The 253 guestrooms start at a generous 345 square feet, making them some of the largest hotel rooms in New York City. A celebration of light and reflectivity, they feature loft-like ceilings and seven-foot windows. The rooms have a simple aesthetic of contemporary luxury, boasting dark stained oak floors, buttery brown leather headboards and benches, and lavender and camel sitting chairs. Other modern details include textured walls, bleached wood accents, and locally crafted, stenciled metal artwork designed by a Brussels-based artist.

And!

Set in a room that stretches the full-length of the hotel, the restaurant, Wall & Water, which opens for breakfast, lunch and dinner on January 25, features seasonal cuisine with ingredients sourced from the Hudson Valley. Large windows open onto striking views of the East River. The main dining area is furnished with live-edge wooden tables and beautiful glass and iron lighting fixtures. At one end, a 12-guest chef’s table is sheltered behind the open kitchen, and at the opposite end a private dining and meeting room, with views of the garden below, is ideal for entertaining. Bar Seven Five, named for its 75 Wall Street address, will serve classic American cocktails and artisanal appetizers prepared and served in glass jars.

And!

At all Andaz properties, the check-in and service are simplified. Without the doorman, bellhop, and concierge staff at the desk, there is one “host” for each incoming guest. Hosts are steeped in traditional hospitality training as well as a less conventional approach. Andaz understands that the staff at a hotel must be able to field questions and scenarios that one cannot always anticipate, and improvisational skills come in handy. Design house Theory has designed chic separates for the staff uniforms.

Let's just hope the market doesn't tumble 500 points on Tuesday ... that can be so awkward on a grand opening...

Remembering the Loew's Canal Theater

There has been plenty of press lately about the long-dormant Loew's Canal Theater on Canal Street at Ludlow. (Downtown Express had the story first; the Post had a follow-up piece yesterday.)

As Downtown Express noted:

The long-shuttered Loew’s Canal Theater in Chinatown could get a new life as a performing arts center.

The proposal to fix up and reopen the 83-year-old theater is far from a done deal, but the space’s owner agreed last week to do a feasibility study.

Designed by renowned theater architect Thomas Lamb, the 2,339-seat theater opened in 1926. Many of the original, ornate, terra-cotta details remain, although the seats were cleared out long ago when the theater was turned into a warehouse.

Here's a now-and-then look at the space.



If you're interested in more on this theater's history, you can visit Cinema Treasures, where, in the comments, you'll find links to these photos...




There's more about the theater here ... and here is a site with the original plans for the theater... and here are childhood memories of the theater from Knickerbocker Village.

Evolution looking for attractive female bartenders "who are willing to learn how to serve flair"

Yesterday we noted the (re)opening of Evolution on Second Avenue and Fourth Street...The lounge has posted an ad on Craigslist for two female bartenders.

To the listing! (which they posted in all caps):

EVOLUTION
68 2ND AVENUE(CORNER OF 4TH STREET)
NEW YORK NY 10003

WE ARE SMALL CHIC LOUNGE LOOKING FOR ATTRACTIVE EXPERIENCED WOMAN WHO ARE PROFESSIONAL BARTENDERS WHO WILL TRAIN EASY.
JUST OPENED THREE WEEKS AGO AND ARE WORKING WITH PROMOTERS
NEED INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE NOT EXPECTING TO EARN $300 PER SHIFT. AND LEAVE IF THEY DO NOT LOOKING FOR PROFESSIONALS WHO CAN STICK IT OUT FOR A FEW MONTHS TILL WE TAKE OFF. WE HAVE ALREADY HAD SUCCESSFUL NIGHTS WITH CELEBRITY PARTYS AND WILL CONTINUE.

WE ALSO ARE LOOKING FOR WOMAN WHO ARE WILLING TO LEARN HOW TO SERVE FLAIR.
IF YOU DO NOT HAVE FLAIR SKILLS WE WILL TRAIN.WE HAVE TALENTED STAFF WHO LOVE TO TEACH FLAIR