Happy holidays!

As of yesterday, March 25, the holiday lights were still up in Chinatown.

Noted

"MORRISSEY didn't break from his ardent vegetarianism at Webster Hall last night. The singer, whose second album with the Smiths was titled 'Meat Is Murder,' requested no meat products of any kind be in the building before, during, or after his performance. 'There were no deli sandwiches, sushi, pepperoni pizza or anything else that used to have a face,' laughs our source. 'Even the cleaning staff were happy to do their part by bringing in veggie sandwiches for lunch.'" (Page Six)

Should anyone really be eating sushi during a (rock) concert?

Preservation inaction: Historic building now a parking lot

We've been keeping our eyes on Pearl Street down in the Financial District, particularly the space adjacent to the Rockrose condo that's zipping right along (or up)... So, with the hotel plans for the now-empty lot on hold ... what does one do then with an empty, um, lot?

Ta-da! Make it a parking lot!




For further reading:
Lot still vacant where Pearl St. artists lost homes (Downtown Express)

From Tribe to tapas at First Avenue and St. Mark's Place

A tapas joint will open at the former space of Tribe on First Avenue at St. Mark's, Patrick Hedlund reports in his Mixed Use column in this week's issue of The Villager. According to Hedlund, Danny Rivera, owner of the Crooked Tree around the corner on St. Mark's, will launch the tapas bar in June.

"I'm a guy from the neighborhood; I've lived here for over 10 years," Rivera told Mixed Use. "My plan is to make the place for the community."

As you may recall, Dr. Tara Allmen owns the five-story building that housed Tribe, which closed in late January. As the Real Deal reported in early February:

Allmen, a physician, inherited the building from her mother, Renée Allmen, along with several other East Village properties, and recently completed renovating the four residential spaces in the building. She called Tribe "an eyesore."

"I want a classier place," she said, adding that Tribe "was not going to enhance the aesthetic of the building."

Here's what Allmen told Mixed Use:

"I'm replacing a dive bar with an elegant wine bar and tapas place. Do I think it's a plus to have a higher-class place in the East Village? I would say it's a bonus to have wonderful, quality places in the East Village."

Said Rivera, "It's a neighborhood guy that's going to open up in the neighborhood. It's in the hands of people in the neighborhood. It's not going to be a sushi spot or a bank."

Chewpid

As you know, in this recession, people are buying and, we assume, eating more candy. In turn, companies are spending big money on marketing such delights.

Stuart Elliott wrote about this in the Times on March 3:

It was only a year or so ago that the concept of affordable luxury meant a Coach bag, Tiffany bauble or Starbucks latte. Since then, the recession has defined splurging downward to the price level of a can of soda, pack of gum or candy bar.

That is why many marketers of those prosaic products are still spending like it’s 2007 when it comes to advertising. For instance, both Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola recently came out with new campaigns, as did several gum brands, among them Ice Breakers.

Another case in point is the confectionery behemoth Mars, which is introducing a major campaign for its best-selling candy brand, Snickers, that is centered on a make-believe language called Snacklish.

Snacklish is a humorous way of speaking that revises everyday words and phrases for a Snickers-centric world. To underscore their origin, they are printed in the typeface and colors of the Snickers brand logo.

The campaign is also purposely infused with a slapstick, yuk-yuk approach... That tack is meant to appeal to the target consumer for Snickers, defined ... as men ages 18 to 49 with “a bull’s-eye of 18 to 34.”

OK. I haven't eaten a Snickers since I was 14. But! I have been oddly curious/repelled by the Snickers snads around the neigh-bar-hood. (Sorry.)






Meanwhile, the Feast Village ad keeps eluding me...

Keystrokes in flight

Dunno how long this has been on Second Street...Years and I just noticed it? Regardless, I like it.

Third cafe-bakery-small-plates-type place opens on Avenue B between Second Street and Seventh Street

La Bonne Bouffe, a new cafe-bakery-small-plates-type place, is now open on the corner of Avenue B and Second Street.



This is the third cafe-bakery-small-plates place to open since January on Avenue B between Second Street and Seventh Street... LBB joins Coyi Cafe and Paradiso.

Oh, and with this opening...we are down to 21 empty storefronts on Avenue B.

Noted

Uh-huh.

Semi-Duff

Hadn't planned on doing anything about the "Law & Order: SVU" shoot that took place in and around Tompkins Square Park Monday...



Until! A tipster sent a link to the Just Jared celebrity Web site which had the following:

Hilary Duff shoots scenes for her guest appearance on Law and Order: SVU in New York City’s East Village on Monday afternoon (March 23).

The Duffster plays Ashlee Walker, a “rebellious, trashy, slutty, irresponsible young mother” who is suspected of murdering her baby Sierra. The script even reveals that she will be wearing a wet T-shirt and shown “drunk and partying in Cabo!”

The SVU ep is named “Selfish.”

OMG! Hilary Duff!?



Uh, who is she again? Is she an Olsen twin? Is she dating a drummer from a band? Oh, right. She's "Lizzie McGuire."

And there's this:

Duff has also been announced to play Bonnie in "The Story of Bonnie and Clyde," alongside fellow former kid star Kevin Zegers. The announcement got Duff into some hot water when the original Bonnie from the classic 1967 movie "Bonnie and Clyde," Faye Dunaway, reportedly questioned, "Couldn't they at least cast a real actress?"

[Duff photos via Just Jared via Bauergriffinonline]

Remembering the Triangle Factory Fire

Today marks the 98th anniversary of the Triangle Factory fire...

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the largest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York, causing the death of 146 garment workers who either died from the fire or jumped to their deaths.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Company, owned by Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, occupied the top three floors of the ten-story Asch Building in New York City at the intersection of Greene Street and Washington Place, just east of Washington Square.

Someone took the time to go around the neighborhood and honor the factory workers, most of whom were young immigrant women.



I don't know who takes the time to arrange all this (I saw five of these chalk tributes today...) but I'm glad that they do it...

Here comes the fun?

From Negev Rock City:

Too bad when I get to New York the city will be a bankrupt Gerald Ford-era dystopia.

THANKS MTA.

Actually, this means the Lower East Side and the E Village might even be fun again.

[Photo: © 2008 - Don Ventura]

What I've missed on Life On Mars

Oh, right. Life On Mars is still on...Tonight at 10, in fact. A reader dropped me a note on the topic...I had stopped watching the show after the third episode:

i'm not all that crazy about the show but i like that they're finishing the series this season. anyway, i know you complained that [the lead character] never did anything fun while he was back in time, so i thought you'd like to know that on the most recent episode he had sex with his old baby-sitter, who he'd always fantasized about. i thought that was kind of cool.