Our entrepreneurial spirit

"In the biggest jump in a single month on record, New York City’s unemployment rate leapt to 8.1 percent from 6.9 percent in February, the State Labor Department reported on Thursday.

That rate matched the national unemployment rate for the month and reflected an unprecedented one-year rise from 4.4 percent a year earlier. The rapid deterioration of the city’s job market has erased the notion that the region could be insulated from the wave of job losses sweeping across America.

All told, there were about 335,000 unemployed people in the city, a number reached only once — briefly — in more than a decade. It is almost double the 175,000 city residents who were unemployed a year ago. Over the same period, the number of private-sector jobs in the city has dropped by almost 77,000, to 3.13 million, the report showed."

(The New York Times, March 26)

Today at 1:30 Tompkins Square Park hosts the Unemployment Olympics, which includes events such as Pin the Blame on the Bosses and the Fax Machine Toss.

Hmm, OK. The organizers seem to have good intentions here. Still, I'm not a big fan of "hey, it's a recession, let's have some fun"-type events and stories. And the Olympics seem a little -- this will get me in trouble with the EV Grieve HR Department -- youthful. And collegiate. And! It seems to weigh heavily toward the white collar, 9-to-5 crowd.

I know too many people -- particularly in the food-service industry and construction (the off-the-books types) -- who are reeling from the economy. I don't think they'll be in the mood to throw a fax machine.

Actually, everyone I know is suffering in some way. If these people I know didn't get laid off (such as someone in the EV Grieve household), their salary was cut. Or their hours/shifts/benefits were cut. You've all heard the horror stories.

In any event, throughout all this, I continue to see more and more fliers go up around the neighborhood in which people -- looking to supplement their incomes -- are offering their professional services. I appreciate the entrepreneurial spirit. At one point, I started noting all the different services that I saw being offered. But it just got to be too many. Yoga and pilates instruction. Personal trainer. Dog walker. Carpenter. Tax preparation. Photography. Break dancing(!). Magic. Apartment cleaning. Language lessons. Guitar lessons. (Mrs. Grieve swears that she saw an ad for Guitar Hero instructions.) Drum lessons. Piano lessons. Moving men with vans. Flier distribution. Home theater installation. Bicycle messenger. Personal safety. Gardening. Personal attendant. Etc., etc.

I could use some shelves in the apartment. And I'd like to improve my Spanish. And maybe learn to play the guitar. Of course, I can't afford it now.

Meanwhile, just a few of the fliers...(the chocolate and roses facial doesn't really count...I left it in for the hell of it...)

"Question about the East Village"

[click to enlarge]

From the Forum NYC:

Topic may have been beaten to death (god knows I've spoken too often for too long about the subject with long-time residents and visitors), but....

As a non-native New Yorker, who has visited often, I must ask.....

If the old days (as little as 15-20 years ago when I first visited) of a real, cultural, diverse, dangerous, cautious, and exciting place to visit (live?) in the Lower East Side/Village are indeed gone forever (as it seems from my last several visits since the y2k), where has all the art/culture/heritage gone?! Think there will be a rebound since we seem to be going through an economically depressing time? (I don't think so--- high rents forever as I see it....)

I always stay in the LES, or south of Houston in a favorite dirty little hotel (recently cleaned up), and it just seems like all the "fun" of visiting/living in the LES is gone.

Not trying to spark a discussion of why/how this energy is gone (forever?) but rather asking where it can be found in greater NYC area.... or even anywhere in the US?! LA, Chicago, NYC, even Baltimore's old dirty grimey neighborhoods seem to be lost to the yuppies for good.

Where are the new diverse cultural neighborhoods (is there such a thing as neighborhoods anymore?) in NYC, or even elsewhere in the US?!

Just a rant I suppose, but comment as you will.

Thank you.

Meanwhile, two photos that I took in the last few days...

Moving $20 per man, per hour, per truck — the gas costs extra

On East Seventh Street and Second Avenue.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Brazen entry in the per-man, per-hour moving wars

Everyone seems to be shitting on the financial-services sector these days

The pigeons like to roost on the fire escape above the Franklin Check Cashing Store on Avenue B near 14th Street.

Likely a rhetorical question

Spotted at the corner of Clinton and Stanton in the LES.

Dead Lobster

I noticed the "Store For Rent" signs hanging on Urban Lobster on Houston near Avenue A last week...I called and asked the counter person what was up. I was told the signs were for another property the landlord had. Hmm-mmm.

Yesterday afternoon, Gothamist confirmed that the location is closing today.

Looking at the Audi Yankees Club

Received the New York Yankees Ticket Information & Fan Guide 2009 yesterday in the mail. (And why me?) It's a slick, 82-page booklet that probably cost the combined salaries of Brett Gardner and Melky Cabrera to produce.

I'm sure it's full of amusing reading. But I haven't still haven't gotten past the first page I opened to -- Page 35, which discusses the team's new Membership Clubs, Audi Yankees Club and the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar.



I particularly like the half-assed Edward Hopper attempt in depicting the Audi Yankees Club. What a random group of people.



No drinks. No food. No crowd. No game. Fun!

Noted

No one needs any more signs that the economy is in miserable shape. Nonetheless, one particular sign caught our attention. It was taped to the front window of a no-name clothing outlet store in Greenwich Village, on Bleecker Street just east of Seventh Avenue South. A clothing store in Greenwich Village advertised 20 percent off for customers whose names 'made the Madoff’s List.' Few have taken advantage of it. 'Madoff’s Victims Sale,' it said. 'Take an extra 20 percent off if your name made the Madoff’s list." (The New York Times)

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

A bunch of bozos (The Bozo Project)

At Mets Field (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

A quick report on yesterday's "Vanishing New York" (Washington Square Park)

"Lipstick Jungle" really dead now (Vulture)

Catch the LES Polo Team in action (Hunter-Gatherer)

Tell me how to get to Creepy Street (Flaming Pablum)

Narnia goes poof (New York Post)

When StuyTown security lunches (Lux Living)

The Holland Tunnel as we'd like to see it (orderly) (Ephemeral New York)

Cool Earth Hour skyline shot (New York Shitty)

Let the bed bugs bite (BoweryBoogie)

Another reason for people to hate NYC: z100 goes national (Crain's)

All Points West festival at Liberty State Park lineup announced (Brooklyn Vegan)

Reminder -- "Captured" tonight

On this date in NYC history: The smoking ban goes into effect

Can't believe that it has been six years already...

From the AP, March 30, 2003:

In a smoke-choked Manhattan tavern, Cynthia Candiotti asked a neighbor for a light and took a deep drag on her cigarette, savoring a last barstool puff before the city outlawed smoking in bars and nightclubs.

For Candiotti, 26, the ban is a double whammy: "I can't tell you how many dates with cute guys I've gotten by looking into his eyes while he lights me up. That's as good as smoking."

With fear, loathing and lament, the city of Frank Sinatra, Humphrey Bogart and Philip Morris USA was ushering in the smoke-free age Sunday, one tick after midnight.

Goodbye to the cloying smell of cloves. The wispy white rings that settle into a layer of haze at bars, pubs and nightclubs. The smoker's hack and smelly clothes after a night out, whether you smoked or not. The phone number written on a matchbook cover.

"First they cleaned up Times Square, then they said you couldn't dance in bars or drink a beer in the park. Now you can't even smoke when you go out on the town," said Willie Martinez, 37, who sat, chain-smoking, in an East Village bar. "This is like no-fun city."

Helen Levitt, 95

"Helen Levitt, a major photographer of the 20th century who caught fleeting moments of surpassing lyricism, mystery and quiet drama on the streets of her native New York, died in her sleep at her home in Manhattan on Sunday. She was 95." (The New York Times)

[Image taken from “Crosstown” by Helen Levitt.]

Crazy like a landlord

That storefront that has been vacant for what seems like years on Second Avenue at East Third Street (northeast corner) has a new "for rent" sign...



...the likes of which we can't recall having ever seen... is this creative real-estate marketing or the work of a prankster? Or both!

Important notice about "partying" in Shaoul buildings on East Fifth Street and East Sixth Street

Spotted on 514-516 E. Sixth St. ... and the building behind on 515 E. Fifth St.






Click to enlarge, of course.

Update: And thanks to Jeremiah for pointing out these are the controversial Shaoul buildings. As The Villager reported in December:

The Board of Standards and Appeals ruled at the end of last month that the Department of Buildings was wrong to issue permits to add two extra floors to two East Village tenements.
The B.S.A. ruled that the additions to the five-story buildings at 515 E. Fifth St. and 514-516 E. Sixth St. violated the state’s 1929 Multiple Dwelling Law in regard to fire safety and elevator requirements.

Timber

The transformation of the former Mo Pitkin's space at 34 Avenue A continues....seems as if the folks behind the new bar, Aces & Eights, are giving it a ....



rustic log cabin/lodge kinda look...



It has come a long way from the vintage feel of Mo's...

Ayyy: It's Mr. C's on Avenue C

In which I date myself by making a "Happy Days" reference. As I mentioned a few weeks back, a brick-oven pizza place is opening soon at 102 Avenue C between Seventh Street and Sixth Street...The sign is up now...Say hello to Mr. C's:




Will Arthur "the Fonz" Fonzarelli approve? And didn't Mr. C run a hardware store?

Automat to Baoguette

As it has been reported, the former BAMN! automat on St. Mark's Place near Second Avenue is becoming the second Vietnamese sandwich shop for Baoguette. Anyway. The signs for the new place are now live.




For further reading:
The Shutter: Felled Bamn! to Become Baoguette? (Eater)
Bánh Mì Boom: The Vietnamese Street Eats Just Keep Coming (Grub Street)

Cafe de Nova space for rent; Avenue B back up to 22 vacant storefronts

Last Thursday I mentioned that La Bonne Bouffe was the third new cafe-bakery-small-plates-type place to open on the south end of Avenue B since January... I failed to mention in that discussion that Cafe de Nova on Avenue B near 11th Street closed up earlier this month... This cafe-bakery-small-plates-type place opened late last spring...



How long will the bagels remain in the window?



So, with this, we're back up to 22 empty storefronts on Avenue B.

I sense that Robin Raj gets a new upstairs tenant

A clairvoyant! Chakra balancing! At 114 Third Ave.

For the complete EV Grieve mini-series on Robin Raj, please click this.

Dollar days on St. Mark's

New York City Daily Photo has the above shot of the various $1 deals on St. Mark's Place. I, too, will pass on the $1 sushi.

Noted

"It has been a rough month for New York City archery, one of the more obscure sports in this sports-obsessed city."

Tales from the rent-is-falling front

“Probably somebody who’s relocating would still be surprised today: ‘This is the size of apartment I get for this price?’ ” said Caroline Bass, an associate broker with Citi Habitats. “But New Yorkers think this is great right now. Maybe you appreciate it more if you spend more time here.” (The New York Times)

Fair warning: Where the pub crawlers will be today

Here's the information on today's rugby pub crawl through the neighborhood:

In conjunction with the Four Leaf Fifteens Rugby Tournament in New York City, the typical after-tournament social has been replaced with a 1000+ participant rugby pub crawl around Lower Manhattan.

The pub crawl begins at 2:30pm after the first teams are knocked out of the tournament at Randall's Island, with over a half dozen bars and restaurants participating. You won’t want to miss the free mechanical bull riding competition around 4:00pm.

The second stop will begin around 6pm and include five new bars with different drink specials, all located a few blocks north on Avenue A. As teams are eliminated from the tournament or their final ends, they will want to hurry down to lower Manhattan to join the other players, ensuring this will make history as the largest rugby pub crawl in US history.

The final stop of the pub crawl, starting around 8:30pm, will include around a dozen more bars and restaurants, all with new drink and food specials, on Avenue’s B and C. All three stops will be within walking distance of each other so there’s no need for cars or taxis.

Pub Crawl details (more to be added)

First Stop: 2:30pm-6:30pm

Location: New York’s Lower East Side

Participating Bars: Mason Dixon, Fat Baby, Bondi Road, Donnybrook’s, Lucky Jack’s

Participating Restaurants: Tuck Shop Aussie Meat Pies, Mason Dixon, Ray’s Pizza

Sample specials: $20 all you can drink for 2 hours; $3 beers, $3 well drinks; 10-20% off food



Second Stop: 6:00pm – 9:00pm

Location: Avenue A between Houston and 2nd Street

Participating Bars: Nice Guy Eddie’s, Library Bar, 2A, Double Down Saloon, Kelly’s

Participating Restaurants: Tuck Shop Aussie Meat Pies, Ray’s Pizza

Sample Specials: $2 PBRs, $2 beers; $3 beer and a shot; 2 for 1’s; 10-20% off food



Third Stop: 8:30pm – Midnight

Location: Avenue’s B and C between 2nd Street and 10th Street

Participating Bars: Croxley’s Ales, Mama’s Bar, Rehab, Poco (SB3), 7B, Duke’s, the Porch, Ten Eleven, East Village Tavern, the Royale

Participating Restaurants: Tuck Shop Aussie Meat Pies, Café Rakka, Zaitzeff Kobe Burgers, Bite Me Best

Sample Specials: $3 beers; $4 Jacks; $5 martinis and margaritas; 10-20% off food

Activities planned:

Bull Riding Competition

Tournament trophy presentations

Shoot the Boot bar

St. Baldrick’s head shaving

50/50 Raffle

We’ll have plenty of bracelets to hand out as well – you’ll need to make sure to wear them in order to get these amazing discounts. You'll need to be attending the Four Leaf 15s Rugby Tournament (free for spectators) to get a wrist band.

Uh-oh: PUB CRAWL ALERT: THREAT LEVEL REALLY RED

Lock your doors.

A thousand rugby players invade New York for the Four Leaf Rugby Tournament on Saturday on Randall's Island. Fifty rugby teams from around the country will compete from 8AM to 7PM while spectators eat free food and drink free beer. A free "Try Rugby" clinic will be offered for kids under 14. After the last game, you can join the 1,000+-participant rugby pub crawl through the East Village and Lower East Side.

Details here.

Stay tuned.

Unemployment Olympics coming to Tompkins Square Park

From the Daily News:

A laid-off computer programmer is putting on the Unemployment Olympics next week at Tompkins Square Park in the East Village.

The jobless can take a break from scanning the classifieds and updating their résumés to compete in events like the Fax Machine Toss and the You're Fired Race.

Nick Goddard, 26, came up with the idea when he lost his position last month, and he got a permit to stage the Olympiad at the ballfields at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. "Maybe it will lift everyone's spirits a little," Goddard said yesterday. "Originally, my thought was just to make people laugh."

There will be four events, including Pin the Blame on the Bosses featuring blindfolded competitors - and a stress-relieving piñata.

And there's a Web site.

Looking back (at our future?)

Nice collection of Allan Tannenbaum's photos from 1970s NYC yesterday afternoon over at Gothamist...such as this one of a young woman working on Times Square....

Main Street NYC: The Bowery

In case you missed this on WNYC:

All so-called Main Streets are not alike. In Manhattan, main thoroughfares like Broadway, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street have gone through massive changes -- yet they maintain anchor tenants that bring people back over and over. So it is with the Bowery. In the third installment of the Main Street NYC project, WNYC's Brigid Bergin takes us to a five-block stretch of this street with an infamous reputation and ongoing transformation.

WNYC has more stories and photos here. Good comments too.

Warning Sign

Reminder: "Home Grown LES" and "Captured" Monday night

Special screening of Clayton Patterson's "Captured" — 8 p.m. at Collective Hardware, 169 Bowery
Benefit for Collective Hardware’s “Home Grown L.E.S”

Here's the trailer:

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

Kurt Anderson on the end of excess (Time)

Scary Carrie to have kids in SATC sequel? (Us)

P.S. 64 becoming a goddamn dorm? (The Villager)

Remembering the City Orphanage in the East Village (Yorkville: Stoops to Nuts)

Fight the cuts (Save the Lower East Side!)

Tour the new Yankme Stadium (News Radio 88)

An interesting storefront on Bleecker (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Iggy has a new record due in May (Hunter-Gatherer)

Robyn Hitchcock is coming to town (Brooklyn Vegan)

Fun with hipsters: Watch it with the Sonic Youth! (BuzzFeed)

How many homes does Lenny Kravitz have for sale? (The Real Estalker)

What took them so long?: Madoff the movie (Runnin' Scared)

Ken's on the LES (Greenwich Village Daily Photo)

In the dark: Observing Earth Hour tomorrow (Gothamist)

Art finds its corner in the East Village (Columbia Spectator)

Falafels for lunch today...? Oh, on second thought...

Great ad placement.

Friday Photo Follies