EV Grieve Etc.: New group to fight gentrification in Chinatown

From The Village Voice:

The ongoing war between the forces of gentrification and the middle and working classes of the "old New York" has hit Chinatown too.
A new organization, calling itself the Coalition to Protect Chinatown and the Lower East Side, has taken aim at what it says are three threats to the neighborhood: a lack of affordable housing, a rezoning plan that could push upscale high-rise development from the Lower East Side to Chinatown, and a potential Business Improvement District that they say would tax small businesses out of existence.

[Image of Chinatown from 1909 via old-picture.com]

A penthouse for all seasons

Materialicious has this post today about a swanky penthouse in the East Village:

Pulltab Design was retained to design a series of renovations to a loft space along with a new penthouse and garden area atop an existing roof, accessed through the fifth floor loft.
Designed as a space for both reading and entertaining, the East Village Penthouse is part of a larger private residence located on the top floor of an early 1900’s Manhattan walkup.
In creating the indoor/outdoor space, a palette of materials (teak, bronze, zinc and Cor-ten steel) was selected allowing the design to season, through cycles of weathering.
For durability, the solid teak windows, doors and columns were assembled using traditional joinery details, inspired by the techniques of wooden boat building.

Designed as a living environment for all seasons, the penthouse allows for a reprieve from the busy nature of the city, while still connecting the owner to the wonderful and varied cityscape of the East Village.

I'm trying to figure out exactly what street this is...Any guesses?

More photos here.

Oh! So this place was featured in the May 2007 issue of Metropolis. Need to be a subscriber to access the piece.

[Photographs by Elizabeth Felicella]

EV Grieve: Figure of the day

The total cost of tuition (including room and board) at NYU starting this fall: $50,182

Increase over last year: 5.9 percent

Increase in the past decade: 65 percent

[Washington Square News via Gothamist. Image via Althouse.]

P.S.
From The Villager, April 2-8, 2008, "E. Village food fight pits N.Y.U. vs. grocery":
Another neighbor, David Mallius, said, “Talking about market rate, in this neighborhood market rate is determined by NYU.” He noted how high-rise dorms change the character of a neighborhood and how hordes of students provide the market for bars that are overwhelming the neighborhood.

"Everything old is new again"

The latest issue of The L Magazine has a piece a short piece on the new John Varvatos boutique on the Bowery:

In many ways, it’s the perfect setting for a designer looking to cater to aging rockers (Joe Perry, holla!) and I-have-a-job hipsters ($100 John Varvatos for Converse kicks!). Varvatos is trying to shelter the ghosts of the space, even if it does feel like Rent.
Yeah, yeah, it’s “oh so shocking” and “a classic example of the gentrification of the Bowery,” but, realistically, real estate is real estate in this city, and nothing is sacred. Take for example the sleek and stylish Stuart and Wright boutique in Fort Greene, which used to be a dry cleaner’s — the owners chose to keep the fantastically retro façade, including a big sign that reads “French Garment Cleaners” with an Eiffel Tower graphic. A lot of the stores in Soho have a gallery-esque look because, well, they were art galleries before they were overpriced retailers. The gargantuan Prada shop on Prince and Broadway used to be the visitors’ entrance and bookstore of the Guggenheim Museum’s Soho branch. Parasuco — the obnoxious denim giant on Spring Street — made the old East River Savings Bank into its flagship, a grand space composed of vaulted ceilings and marble. Everything old is new again.

Not sure if I'm following this logic.

Uh. In any event, I've been thinking about this space since Jeremiah Moss wrote this essay on the "it's better than a bank/Starbucks" syndrome. Specifically: Could there be something worse than a bank/Starbucks in that space? How about a Tennessee Mountain or Olive Garden? Or a Hooters? Or a Stage Deli-esque type theme restaurant with sandwiches named after bands who played at CBGB? (I'll be having the Television -- ham and turkey on rye with American cheese and traditional greens. You get the idea. And you can do better.) A Disney Store featuring a new line of punk-rock Mickey Mouse? A Madame Tussauds on the Bowery featuring interactive experiences like sing along with Joey Ramone? A Pinkberry spin-off called PunkBerry? What if the Bowery Residents' Committee sold the building to NYU, who promptly tore it down for a 40-story dorm?

[Photo by Jeremiah Moss at Jeremiah's Vanishing New York]

Picky, picky

On that note...


So this community garden on 8th Street is open from midnight to 5 p.m.? Or noon to 5 p.m.? I always get confused.

As Wikipedia notes:
Some people assume that 12 a.m. and 12 p.m. signify noon and midnight, respectively. The confusion also comes from 12 a.m. seeming to be the next hour in the 10 a.m., 11 a.m. series, but 12.01 p.m. being just after noon. In addition, p.m. is often associated with night so 12 a.m. may seem to be midnight.

This one is dedicated to the nights of New York City

Here's an exclusive sneak preview of the first single off the new record by Julian Casablancas.



Oh, wait.

EV Etc.: $801,000 for a basement

Well, it is in the Dakota.

From the AP:

While $801,000 may sound like a lot for a basement den that cannot legally be used as a dwelling, it isn't unusual to see well-off Manhattanites paying top dollar for auxiliary space, said real estate appraiser Jonathan Miller.

A 100-square-foot to 200-square-foot storage room in an upper crust building could easily sell for $150,000 to $350,000, if it had a sink or its own toilet, he said.

"Honoring a great New Yorker" (aka This week's sign of the apocalypse)

Tonight through Sunday, the Empire State Building will be purple, pink and white in honor of Mariah Carey.

Why?

Says the ESB's Web site, it's "Honoring a Great New Yorker: Mariah Carey Breaks Records With E=MC2 Album Release."

She's from Huntington, Long Island.

[Via Gothamnist]

[This week's sign of the apocalypse line via Sports Illustrated's weekly feature. It was too fitting not to use.]

Questions of the day

Why is this newish spa on First Avenue and 2nd Street called Water Front? (The East River isn't exactly that close.)



Meanwhile, I saw this sign go up Tuesday night on St. Mark's Place.



Does the neighborhood really need another Asian spa? Seems as if several other new spas have opened recently...

NYC in all its black-and-white glory, yesterday and today

I opened up the 20th anniversary issue of the New York Press this morning. And the photo on Page 4 got my attention. It's a shot of a cab in a snowy Times Square circa 1988. The photographer is Matt Weber. The caption included his Web address. My day job has sapped any creativity that I may have had this week. So I'll just lamely say wow.

He also has a flickr stream, where I found the above photo. Too many to choose from to help illustrate this post and his work.

Life before...and after the luxury high rises on the LES

Spending too much time on YouTube these days...I came across these videos by Paul Dougherty, a longtime video maker.

Here's his YouTube page.



Also, check out the his other videos, including inside shots of St. Brigid's.

[OH!: Just found that Jeremiah had linked to these back in January! Sorry Jeremiah!]

Questions of the day (in which I don't have answers)

When people moved into apartments on lower floors with nice Eastern views at 2 Gold Street (which opened in March 2005) did they know another high-rise was going up right next door in 2008 that effectively obscures the nice Eastern views?




How soon before the southeast corner of Third Street and Avenue C....

looks like the northeast corner of Third Street and Avenue C?

Who is this ad supposed to appeal to?