Steven shared these photos from this evening ... as the 25th annual Drag March left Tompkins Square Park and headed west along Ninth Street...
More photos tomorrow...
Friday, June 28, 2019
Friday's parting shots
Steven shared these photos from this evening ... as the 25th annual Drag March left Tompkins Square Park and headed west along Ninth Street...
More photos tomorrow...
A song along the Side of the road
Here's "On My Side," a track from the Chicago-based Dehd's second record ... the recently released Water (on Fire Talk).
Last chance to see 'The First Time I Saw The Ramones' at 72 Gallery
"The First Time I saw the Ramones" wraps up its residency on Sunday at 72 Gallery.
This solo show features photos by Tom Hearn, who documented a Ramones show up in New Haven on July 22, 1976.
You can see the exhibit from noon to 8 p.m (to 6 p.m. on Sunday) in the gallery space at The Great Frog, the rock 'n' roll ring shop and boutique at 72 Orchard St. between Broome and Grand. (And while you're down there, you can check out The Cast next door or Jimmy Webb's I Need More across the street.)
And as for some of Hearn's photos...
[The Dee Dee door]
Previously on EV Grieve:
'The First Time I Saw The Ramones' at 72 Gallery
I Am a Rent-Stabilized Tenant
East Village resident Susan Schiffman has been photographing the apartments of rent-stabilized tenants living in the East Village for her Instagram account, I Am a Rent Stabilized Tenant. She shares some of the photos here for this ongoing EVG feature.
Photos and text by Susan Schiffman
Tenant: Lola Saénz, since 1993
Why did you move to the East Village?
I grew up in El Paso, Texas. I always wanted to be an artist. I wanted to live in either Los Angeles or New York City — the East Village or Soho. It was all based on the movies that I would see.
When I moved here I ended up on King Street, not far from Soho. I lived there for a year. I had two roommates and we had to move in a hurry. It’s a long story.
How did you find your apartment?
I got a call from a close friend aka Prima. Asked if I wanted to stay in her studio apartment in the East Village while she was in Florida.
So I came to see the apartment. On my way here, on the corner of 12th Street, a guy asked me if I wanted to buy grass. I didn't buy any, but I was like, This is the East Village!
So I moved in. About three months later, my good friend aka Prima decided to stay in Florida. She came back and we had the lease transferred to my name. That was August 1993. I never looked for a place in the East Village — the apartment came to me.
What do you love about your apartment?
I’ve grown here. If I die today or tomorrow I would die happy — I've accomplished good things ... but I still have many more things I want to do with my life as an artist!
If you're interested in inviting Susan in to photograph your apartment for an upcoming post, then you may contact her via this email. And read about her in the new issue of The New Yorker!
The Drag March is tonight
[Photo from 2018 by Stacie Joy]
The 25th annual Drag March is tonight ... starting in Tompkins Square Park, where hundreds of participants will being gathering at 7 before making their way over to Sheridan Square and then the Stonewall Inn.
The Drag March got its start during the Stonewall 25th anniversary celebrations in 1994.
Here's a HuffPost piece with more history:
Brian Griffin, aka Harmonie Moore Must Die, was a member of the AIDS advocacy group ACT UP and Women’s Health Action and Mobilization (WHAM) in the mid-1990s, an activist who saw the power of drag to confront intolerance and practice civil disobedience in a way that also celebrated queerness. But at planning meetings for the Stonewall 25th anniversary celebrations, Griffin told HuffPost, the committee made it clear that it was only interested in presenting a somewhat sanitized version of LGBTQ activism.
“The committee for Stonewall 25 had actually asked — and it still seems quite unbelievable — that they didn’t want anyone to show up in leather or drag. It still, 25 years later, blows my mind,” Griffin said. “They wanted to normalize the image of gay America for a mass audience. They wanted to present a palatable image of gay men and women, men and women who were normal.”
This year, of course, marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising.
You can revisit photos from last year here.
Will you buy a Gem Spa T-shirt?
As we've been reporting, the venerable Gem Spa on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place, has struggled of late, in part due to its temporary ban on selling cigarettes and lottery tickets and various landlord issues ... yesterday, Parul Patel, who is running the shop for her father Ray, the owner since 1986, took to Instagram to announce the upcoming sale of Gem Spa T-shirts.
Commenters liked the idea — especially one with just the Gem Spa logo. (No to the fedora option!)
Commenters liked the idea — especially one with just the Gem Spa logo. (No to the fedora option!)
Metropolis Vintage is throwing a grand-opening party tonight on Broadway
Metropolis owner Richard Colligan and his staff are hosting a grand-opening bash tonight from 6-10 in their new home at 803 Broadway (at 11th Street).
The vintage shop packed up and moved to this larger space from Third Avenue at the end of May.
Party signage promises free pizza and beer and variety of prizes as well as DJs. (Jonathan Toubin will be doing a set of R&B starting at 7:30 p.m.)
Colligan first opened the store in 1990 at 96 Avenue B between Sixth Street and Seventh Street. Nearly 30 years in business is certainly something to celebrate.
P.S. Look for A visit to Metropolis Vintage on EVG soon.
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Manitoba's has closed
[Reader-submitted photo this evening]
Manitoba's is now closed at 99 Avenue B.
Proprietor Handsome Dick Manitoba confirmed the news about his namesake bar, where framed photos of punk icons lined the walls here between Sixth Street and Seventh Street these past 20 years.
A bar employee said that Tuesday was the last night in business.
Manitoba said that he was in the dark about the official reasons for the closure. In a text exchange via Instagram, Manitoba said that his role of late had been working the front of the house — "greeting people, bringing people in ... telling stories, laughing, watching Yankees games, listening to music." He continued, saying that he "had a big rock-star partner" who had previously suggested that they sell the bar, though a sale never materialized. He said that other people were managing the paperwork and legal matters.
"So my guess — this is not a fact — is [the partner] said just close it down. It’s an educated guess because nobody else had the right to say that unless it was people we owed money to." (There had been financial difficulties in the past stemming in part from a lawsuit involving the Americans with Disabilities Act. A successful crowdfunding campaign in early 2015 helped raise more than $30,000.)
Here's part of a message that Zoe Hansen, a former owner and partner of Manitoba's, wrote on Facebook:
Yes, MANITOBA’S Bar has closed its doors after 20 years. As you all know I managed, & worked from day one with Richard Manitoba to bring a real down & dirty fun Rock N Roll Bar to the East Village. I met Richard in that bar 20 years ago. Many have met their ex's in that one small room after I. Giving it that eternal pivotal moment we can each cherish, or not. However your memory sways, I give respect to a scene now total gone from a once glorious block.
Thank you to my friends who’ve supported the bar over the two decades it survived.
She asked that the press not contact her — that this was her comment on the closing.
For his part, Manitoba called it a "great disappointment that after 20 years I couldn’t keep my bar going in spite of my age — as young and strong as I am."
In a follow-up message, he said that the Manitoba's website will live on.
"In spite of the fact that we’ve closed, we know that people from all over America and all over the world have excitedly entered our doors for 20 years," he said. "This wasn’t a 'bar' to them. It was a special, relaxed home away from home."
Previously on EV Grieve:
Manitoba's is in danger of closing on Avenue B
Grant Shaffer's NY See
Here's the latest NY See panel, East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer's observational sketch diary of things that he sees and hears around the neighborhood.
A visit to Desi Galli on Avenue B
[Pria Chouhan]
Photos and interview by Stacie Joy
Admittedly, I’d not been very adventurous with Indian food and had only tried the vegetable biryani at Desi Galli before dropping in to meet owner and chef Pria Chouhan earlier this month.
Pria and her husband Vishal, hailing from Montreal and the U.K. respectively, now live nearby in Peter Cooper Village and run both locations of the traditional Indian street food spot: here at 172 Avenue B between 10th Street and 11th Street, which opened in April 2016, and another in Murray Hill at 101 Lexington Ave.
The long, narrow, and brightly lit restaurant is perfumed with cumin, cinnamon, and coriander when we sit down to talk shop.
Self-taught cook Pria expands my vegetarian palate with a mango lassi (yogurt-based mango drink), some desipoutine (French fries with tikka sauce and grated paneer cheese) and vegan pani puri (Gujarati-style bread “baskets” stuffed with potatoes, chickpeas, and tamarind, served with mint “water” you pop whole into your mouth, “one bite, like sushi” Pria instructs) while discussing her personal and culinary history, the trials of running a small business in NYC, and her love of all things Rachael Ray.
Can you speak a bit about the history of Desi Galli?
I followed my heart to NYC from Montreal in 2009, and I did not know how to cook. We — my husband and I — were newlyweds and gained the typical love weight but ours was due to eating out all the time.
We would both crave our parents’ cooking, so I attempted to recreate them in my home kitchen. I failed many times at the beginning. I became obsessed with the Food Network and Rachael Ray and Martha Stewart became my gurus.
I started off with simple recipes and through trial and error mastered them. Then I started tackling Indian food, which is more complex with all the spices. Soon enough I made them exactly like our parents. With my newfound talent my husband suggested we start our own restaurant, and in 2012 Desi Galli was born.
Is it true that, before Desi Galli, you didn’t have any experience in the food industry other than a few years working at McDonald’s?
Yes, McDonald’s is my only food training. I am completely self-taught. The menu consists of family recipes. It’s my sister Rashmi’s pav bhaji and she came to New York from Montreal to teach me how to make it. Our addictive chicken tikka masala is thanks to my father-in-law in the U.K. I still don’t think I make it as well as he does.
[Mango lassi]
[Desipoutine]
[The vegan pani puri with mint “water”]
[Nyima Phuntsok, one of the chefs]
You have the outpost on 27th Street and Lexington Avenue. When looking over neighborhood options for expansion, what made you decide on the East Village?
We decided on the East Village because it is known as a hub for street food. I love the fact that you can pick up a slice of pizza, go for a walk and then pick up ramen noodles all in the same area. There wasn’t a spot for Indian street food and we make a great addition to the mix.
What do you like best about being in the East Village? What special considerations exist here that may not at your other location?
I love that East Village has a sense of community. We know many of our customers by name. Everyone is relaxed, not running for their next meeting and they have time to connect.
We were welcomed with open arms to the neighborhood. Our patrons did not care that there was a fine dining Indian restaurant diagonal to us. We would be their everyday meal since our price point is so affordable.
You mentioned in early May that you were working on a deal with the landlord to lower your rent on Avenue B. What is the status of that?
We are still in negotiations and new lease has not been signed yet. It is not 100 percent confirmed. (Ed note: The State of New York seized the restaurant twice this year for nonpayment of taxes. She declined to discuss that matter.)
What’s your favorite part of running the restaurants?
I love seeing the satisfaction on my customers’ faces when they take their first bite. That is what gets me out of bed every morning. Knowing that I make a fresh product that stems from our family’s history and that our patrons appreciate it.
What’s the best-selling dish on the menu? What might you encourage people to try if they are unfamiliar with the cuisine?
Best-selling dishes vary by location. Here in the East Village anything with the tikka gravy, like chicken tikka masala, paneer tikka masala and desipoutine keep our customers coming back for more.
Newbies to Indian food should start off with our samosas and kathi rolls. We have kathi rolls for all dietary restrictions, including vegan and gluten-free. Our menu can be made milder but don’t expect just salt and pepper: That would not be my Indian food.
[Making chicken tikka masala]
What’s next for Desi Galli? Any expansion plans?
We are starting packed snacks in the fall and are introducing a new vegan kathi roll made with Beyond Meat in August. We are also in talks with a few potential franchises who would love to have a Desi Galli in their area.
---
You may keep tabs on Desi Galli via Instagram.
Reader report: Designated bike lane arrives on 3rd Street
EVG reader @Jason_Chatfield shared these photos via Twitter this week... showing that city crews have added a conventional bike lane — with pavement markings and signage — on Third Street ...
He notes that the lane extends from Avenue D to Second Avenue for now...
In the swim: City pools open today
The Parks Department opens the city's 50-plus outdoor public pools for the summer today.
Nearby choices include Hamilton Fish Pool on Pitt and East Houston ... the Dry Dock Pool on Avenue D and East 10th Street (pictured in this post) ... and the Tompkins Square Pool (mini pool for kids
Outdoor pools are open daily from 11 a.m. through 7 p.m., with a break for pool cleaning between 3-4 p.m. The pools close for the season on Sunday, Sept. 8. The Tompkins Square Park mini pool closes on Labor Day.
New this season: Dry Dock is now designated a Cool Pool via the city...
What does that mean? Per the Parks Dept. ...
Our Cool Pools are now more fun, relaxing and welcoming with:
• fun summer-themed wall art,
• lounge chairs for sunbathing and relaxing poolside,
• cabana-style shade structures to help keep you cool,
• plantings to make our pools greener
• fun and free poolside activities, including games, sports, arts and crafts, and fitness classes
As a reminder, the Hamilton Fish Pool has a Lap Swim program, which takes place July 5 through Aug. 30. This link has more details, such as the hours.
And as always — this PSA about the RULES for the POOLS, which include:
You’ll need to have a swimsuit to enter the pool area. We may choose to check men’s shorts for a lining if we can’t tell if they are wearing a bathing suit. Feel the need to cover up from the sun? Throw on a plain white shirt or white hat and you’re set. We don’t allow shirts with colors on them on the deck.
And...
No urinating or defecating in the pools.
The New Museum unveils plans for expanded facility on the Bowery
[Photo courtesy the New Museum. Dean Kaufman, 2015]
The New Museum yesterday revealed plans for its planned expansion slated for 2022 ... here's a look at the new structure designed by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas proposed for 231 Bowery, which will include a ground-floor restaurant...
[Rendering view from Prince Street]
And here's the announcement via the EVG inbox...
The design complements and respects the integrity of the Museum’s SANAA-designed flagship building and replaces the Museum’s 50,000 square foot adjacent property at 231 Bowery, acquired in 2008. The new seven-story, 60,000 square foot building will include three floors of galleries, doubling the Museum’s exhibition space, along with additional space for the Museum’s many community and education programs ...
And the funding for this?
To date the New Museum has raised $79 million toward its Capital Campaign goal of $89 million, with $63 million in construction costs. This includes $3.1 million from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, with funding provided by the NYC Mayor’s Office, New York City Council, and the Manhattan Borough President’s Office.
A total of $1.84 million has been awarded under Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Council Initiative, through the New York State Council on the Arts and Empire State Development. Groundbreaking for the new building is scheduled to start in 2020. The Museum will remain open and operational during most of the construction period, with a projected opening in 2022.
And what will be in the new building?
The Museum acquired the current building at 231 Bowery eleven years ago to provide additional space for expanded programs. Gradually over the past decade, the Museum has used the building to capacity for a range of activities including additional gallery space...
The layout of the building program is as follows: lower levels devoted to back of house and storage; the ground floor to feature a new restaurant, expanded lobby, and bookstore, along with a public plaza set back at street level; second, third, and fourth floors for galleries; fifth floor for NEW INC; sixth floor for an artist-in-residence studio, as well as a forum for events and gathering, which leads to the seventh floor for Education programming and additional events; and an atrium stair on the west façade, connecting each of the floors, along with an elevator core at the front and rear.
Meanwhile, per published reports, the cost of the expansion has been a point of contention for the New Museum union (formed in January), "which has alleged that its workers are not being adequately paid by the institution."
As ARTnews reported, around 50 workers attended a demonstration outside the museum on Tuesday evening, distributing flyers "claiming that management had 'disparaged' the union’s wage proposals."
The New Museum opened on the Bowery in December 2007.
Previously on EV Grieve:
The New Museum is expanding on the Bowery
How about another look inside the former Grassroots Tavern space on St. Mark's Place
[EVG photo]
Work continues inside the graffiti-filled lower storefront at the landmarked 20 St. Mark's Place, previously home to the Grassroots Tavern.
EVG contributor Derek Berg checked in on the state of those murals that workers recently uncovered inside the space — still there...
We wrote about these murals on May 21. We don't know much about them or what pre-Grassroots business they were associated with.
Here's a reminder:
As noted many times before, No. 20, known as the Daniel LeRoy House, was built in 1832 here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. (It received landmark status in 1971, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.)
Past lives of this subterranean space — via Daytonian in Manhattan — include a theater-saloon called Paul Falk's Tivoli Garden in the 1870s... in the 1930s, the Hungarian Cafe and Restaurant resided here before becoming a temperance saloon called the Growler.
Who's next? We don't know. For nearly 18 months Bob Precious had tried to open a bar-pub here, but those plans never materialized. The space was recently taken off the rental market.
Previously on EV Grieve:
New owner lined up for the Grassroots Tavern on St. Mark's Place
20 St. Mark's Place, home of the Grassroots Tavern, has been sold
Last call at the Grassroots Tavern
Behold these murals uncovered behind the bar at the former Grassroots Tavern on St. Mark's Place
Discount store opens today at 47 Avenue A
In recent weeks workers have stocked the vacant storefront at 47 Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street (in one of the retail spaces of the Ageloff Towers) with a variety of housewares and toiletries.
One EVG reader says the shop will be called Essex 99-Cent Store and from the owners of Essex Card Shop at 39 Avenue A. (Of course, many of the items displayed in the front window look to cost a lot more than 99 cents.)
Anyway! Per the grand opening sign on the front window, the shop debuts today at 10 a.m.
For now, the name of the previous business, Avenue A Copy Center & Shipping Outlet, remains above the storefront. The Copy Center closed in late April after three-plus years in business.
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
NYPD seeks info on this burglary suspect who entered an unlocked apartment
It was reported to police that on Wednesday, June 19 at 10:30 a.m., inside a residential building located in the vicinity of East 6th Street and 1st Avenue, an unidentified individual entered an apartment on the third floor through an unlocked front door and removed a Dell Laptop and a Michael Kors watch before fleeing through the front door, to parts unknown.
The individual is described as a male Hispanic, medium build, 50 to 60-years-old with a light complexion and grey hair. He was last seen wearing a grey t-shirt, a grey hooded sweat jacket and dark colored pants.
Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online. All calls are confidential.
Looking at the new Avenue A L-train entrances; plus L repairs are reportedly ahead of schedule
Concerns over a long-term L-pocalypse may have been unfounded, a new published report says.
The Daily News reports that the Canarsie Tunnel rehabilitation is actually a month ahead of schedule — and the whole project may be finished by April 2020.
All the major demolition work on the East River tunnel should be done by the end of this month, said Wayne Faulkner of JMT, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s consultant on the project. That part of the job includes removing 6,800 feet of crumbling concrete duct bank that houses long-abandoned Con Ed power lines on each side of the tunnel’s tubes.
The broken-up concrete was taken to the MTA’s Linden Yard in Brownsville, Brooklyn via work trains, said the MTA’s head of capital construction, Janno Lieber.
“One of the advantages of the approach that was taken when the project adjusted means and methods was you didn’t have to take all that huge amount of debris out through the Avenue A exit [in the East Village],” Lieber said.
Work was expected to take roughly 15 to 18 months.
In late April, the MTA started its service reduction to repair the Sandy-damaged tubes between Manhattan and Brooklyn, ramping down L times to 20-minute waits starting at 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. during the week and around the clock on weekends.
The slowdown came about back on Jan. 3 when Gov. Cuomo made that surprise announcement that the L-train wouldn't be completely shut down as previously planned.
Meanwhile, seems like a good time to check in on the progress of the new L-train entrances — with elevators — that are coming to Avenue A and 14th Street...
... and the northern side of 14th Street...
The MTA shared this photo back in April showing an Avenue A entrance from below...
[Trent Reeves/MTA Capital Construction]
The work on a new entrance a block away from the First Avenue station started in July 2017 to help relieve congestion at the stop.
In late May, Town & Village reported that a Stuy Town resident first made a request for an Avenue A stop — in 1947!
A Stuy Town resident who moved into the complex when it opened in 1947 wrote a letter to the Brooklyn Manhattan Transit Corporation, which operated the L at the time, asking if the transit agency would expand the First Avenue station by building an entrance at Avenue A. Resident Reginald Gilbert of 625 East 14th Street argued that pressure on the station from the influx of new residents made the new entrance a necessity.
Not sure what will be open first — the new entrances or the Trader Joe's right there at 432 E. 14th St.
Previously on EV Grieve:
To L and back: Reactions and questions over Gov. Cuomo's surprise subway announcement
Report: MTA commits to a shorter work day for the 14th Street L-train rehab
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