Despite the most-hyped blizzard NYC has experienced since last Friday, EV Grieve will be posting tomorrow

We're doomed! Again!

Tomorrow evening's Vanishing City event postponed

From the Vanishing City folks:

Due to the coming blizzard tomorrow (February 10), we are postponing The Vanishing City: Losing The Fun until a later date. If you purchased advance tickets, we are refunding them in total. Please check our website and Facebook page for details regarding the re-scheduling of this event. The new date will most likely take place in mid April.

The 13th Step sure to be big with the AA crowd

OK, we're all over the arrival of The 13th Step today... Several folks who have been to AA have mentioned how totally inappropriate it is to name a bar The 13th Step.

From the AA glossary of terms:

Thirteenth Step (a.k.a. Thirteenth Stepping):
There is no thirteenth step in the AA program. This term is used as a euphemism for inappropriate sexual advances by a member to a newcomer in AA (such as sponsors toward sponsees). Sponsors ought never be sexually involved with those whom they sponsor. This is why it is usually suggested that (heterosexual) newcomers choose sponsors of the same sex, thereby avoiding the temptation. Also, it is sometimes suggested that newcomers not enter into new relationships for at least a year after getting sober. The reason being that sexual relationships are prone to elicit emotional extremes, making relapse more likely. The term 'thirteenth stepping' is always used in a negative sense.

Was just a matter of time before EV got The 13th Step

Thanks to Jeremiah for remembering this one... So, now that the Jake's Dilemma-Down-the Hatch team and their Celebrating xxx years of Debauchery slogan folks have finally established an EV beachhead with the 13th Step.... We recall that Team Hatch unsuccessfully tried to open a bar at the former Grace & Hope Mission at 114-116 Third Ave. Our old friends at East Village podcasts covered the CB3/SLA meeting back in July 2008.

And, of course, the former Mission is now home to Robin Raj ...and the psychic!

East Village to somehow get frattier: What's coming to the former Telephone Bar

A reader passed along the news of the new bar coming to the old Telephone space... the 13th Step



From the frat-friendly folks behind The Stumble Inn, Off the Wagon and Down the Hatch.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Telephone Bar and Grill closing after 22 years

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

CB3 says no to 3,000-square-foot bar/restaurant "with an occasional D.J." at 14-16 Avenue B

As we reported in late December... A bar was taking over both the vacant storefronts at 14 and 16 Avenue B at Second Street.... This place was one of the many up before the CB3/SLA last night....




Eater was at the meeting, and they report:

A yet-to-be-named group surfaced with a proposal to utilize the old Butterfly space, a stone's throw away from Sigmund, for a 3,000 square foot Italian restaurant, catering company and lounge "with an occasional D.J." This scenario sounds familiar - and the residents didn't hesitate to show their fresh battle scars from the throes of Le Souk, China 1 and Carnivale, all restaurants-gone-clubs that they say wrecked havoc on the peace and quiet in their 'hood. Needless to say, this was too much for CB3 and the community representatives to stomach, and after a lengthy dispute of pros and cons, the motion was denied.

The Lo-Down was also there... and we can't wait for the rest of their report. As they wrote: "This evening was a bizarre one even for CB3’s SLA Committee. Tomorrow we’ll have details of a series of tense confrontations between CB3’s David McWater and other members of the committee."

UPDATED: Here's their epic McWater report.

EV Grieve readers inspire Aces and Eights to do something worthwhile with the bar's upstairs space

As you may recall from last August, we had several posts on Avenue A's Aces & Eights and the bar's general manager, Tom Michaelsen... (You may refresh your memory here.)

While, for instance, Aces & Eights LES helped raise $1,200 for UNH (United Neighborhood Houses)... they were still serving up the beer pong, as Michaelsen said, "that much maligned representation of jockdom and fratholiness you all despise (possibly because you didn’t make the Varsity team in high school? Don't worry, neither did I.)"

Later, he wrote: "I'd love to get ideas from the community as to how we could improve your quality of life. If anybody has anything constructive to say, I would love to hear it."

And now, starting Thursday...



Well, let's go right to the news release that Michaelsen sent me:

Aces & Eights at 34 Avenue A, brings back the glory days of East Village art with a fun exhibition of evocative, post-pop photographs by Curt Hoppe in a lively, lounge setting. Who could be more perfect for the bar’s first foray into serious art than the legendary Hoppe, who as a young artist was one of the most talked about stars of the notorious “New York / New Wave” show at PS1 which helped launch the careers of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Robert Mapplethorpe and others, back in 1981.

For most of the last twenty years, Hoppe has keapt a relatively low profile steering clear of downtown shenanigans for a lucrative career making exquisite photo-realist paintings of scenes in the Hamptons. Hoppe has always used his own photographs for his paintings. Recently turning his camera on city scenes, he has accumulated a profusion of exciting new images, and began thinking about exhibiting the photographs themselves. When Aces and Eights called, it seemed the perfect opportunity to give the new work its first public test.

Aces & Eights’ decision to show art was an outgrowth of the spirited exchanges on EV Grieve’s neighborhood blog between then general manager Tom Michaelsen and East Village residents concerned about the bar’s Upper-East-Side, preppy reputation. “Our style is sometimes a little different,” says Michaelsen, “but there is much about East Village culture that we share and we’re proud to be part of the community and its history.”

OK. I love Hoppe's work... and I see this as a positive step for the bar...I'm curious what other people think...

Q-and-A with Curt Hoppe: Living on the Bowery, finding inspiration and shooting Mr. Softee

Curt Hoppe in 1977.

Starting Thursday, legendary hyper-realist artist Curt Hoppe is showing his latest work, "Photographs For Your Kitchen," at the Aces & Eights lounge, 34 Avenue A near Third Street. I connected with Hoppe via Facebook, and was honored that the Minneapolis native, whose work was shown alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat and Robert Mapplethorpe in the early 1980s, agreed to answer some questions on the eve of the new exhibit...

What inspired you to move to NYC from Minneapolis in 1976?

Minneapolis, while a great place to grow up in and get an education, was just a starting line. I can't say that I was inspired to move here more like gravitated or pulled. I grew up listening to the likes of Dylan and the Velvets. I followed Warhol and loved the whole POP art movement -- it was just so America.

I had an uncle living here who was an art dealer and I would come to NYC to visit periodically in the mid to late 1960's. He was the director of the Betty Parsons Gallery and he encouraged me to pursue my artistic interests. He introduced me to Max's Kansas City and got me into the Factory where I was actually was given a silver coke bottle. (I lost it). I grew up in the whole "hippie" period but never really related to the earth child "go west with a flower in your hair" stuff. There was always something deeper darker and more alluring about New York that appealed to me.

It was on one of these NY visits that I stumbled on an ad in the Village Voice for a Bowery Loft, so I slapped down some key money and decided to move here in 1975 to pursue my artist career. Finding the space at 98 Bowery was one of the luckiest events of my life. Through the years it has been a home or stopping place for an array of artists in all fields. I quickly fell in with Marc Miller and Bettie Ringma, my upstairs neighbors who at the time were combing the streets and clubs photographing a lot of New York celebs. One of those clubs was CBGBs. I would hang with them on their nights out and that would eventually lead to the three of us collaborating together. One of such collaborations was a portrait of Bettie and the Ramones at CBs. The painting was autographed by the Ramones and exhibited at the Washington Project for the Arts in what was billed at the time "Punk Art"

Where do you find your inspiration today?

Why I paint what I do stems simply from what I am interested in or how I am feeling at any given time. I always say I paint where I am. That includes my thoughts or where my head is at. What's weird is that inspiration usually comes when I feel a total void and a lack of any interest in anything. I can't live with boredom for very long. I am like a child with a new toy when it comes to my work. When I first get it I love it to death but after a few years need a new toy or fix. My attention span is about 5-7 years with any subject. I like to move on when I feel I have covered the subject and I think it has becomes a formula which tends to cheapen it. There is always a new visual adventure out there waiting to be discovered.

We (me and my fellow LES/EV bloggers) spend a lot of time writing about change in the neighborhood. Instead of focusing on what's no longer here... what do you think has remained a constant in the neighborhood through the years? What makes you feel as if it may be the same place as, say, 30 years ago?

For starters, the residents. In a lot of ways the Bowery is pretty much the same. The Bowery is a street. But it’s the gang that lives here that makes it it what it is. You’d be surprised at how many of the stores have not changed or are just updated versions of stores that have always been here. What is happening now is that advertising has begun tapping into the myth of the Bowery.

The Bowery and LES always had bars, on my block alone there were two -- Harry's and Al's. They're gone but have been replaced by newer establishments and different clientele. There were drunks then and there are drunks now. What's changed is that the smokers have to go outside causing noise. I can’t imagine Harry or Al saying to Jimmy and Jerry, "fellas you can't smoke in here," as they drank White Rose or Night Train. CBs is gone but it was never the Bowery it was CBs on the Bowery. CBs became a caricature of itself after 1982. Most of my neighbors still live here and the neighbors are what make the neighborhood.

While some of the artists have left as in my building others have taken their place. Marc and Bettie left a long time ago and Maya Lin moved in and then moved on. Now a couple of talented gals, Brooke Arnao, a filmmaker, and Elisabeth Bernstein, a photographer, are living and working there. Elisabeth is currently exhibiting at The Wild Project on East 3rd Street with a show titled "Scapes." So in many ways the Bowery is the same. Maybe my building is an exception.

The city has become way over priced making it difficult for young artists to move in early in their careers and with rents constantly going up it’s almost impossible to create a lasting community. Thankfully, many of the folks fought the good fight years ago when they converted these illegal spaces to legal living. But artists all over the world will find a skid row to live and work in until it becomes fun and the masses will follow like they always do. It happened in the Village. It happened to St. Marks, Soho and Times Square all living off an old reputation that no longer exists but is kept alive somehow by the hucksters. Now what the developers are doing is a different story one I could rant about for hours.

In "Photographs for Your Kitchen," you focus on Mr. Softee ice cream cones and Happy Face bags. Why did you decide to explore these NYC motifs?

I finished a series of paintings last year, portraits of the Gotham Girls Roller Derby and local Burlesque performers.



And after three years of work on the series combined with the sinking economy and hoopla around the Elections I was exhausted. I was suffering sort of a Postpartum thing. One Sunday last summer when returning from a visit to Coney Island my wife Ruth felt like having a Mr. Softee. Well, BINGO! When that arm appeared out of that truck holding that cone and it's big swirl of cold Ice Cream, descending down to Ruth I saw "The Creation." Yup, the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel.



So I decided to start hanging out by the trucks and photographing this everyday summertime event. I discovered a treasure trove of humanity around it. I would watch a grown adult turn into an eager child as they awaited their cone. For a brief time the area around that Softee window turned into heaven on earth. I carry a camera everywhere I go -- like when I’m walking my dog Dorothy.

I started shooting smiley bags. They are sort of local residents too. I discovered that no matter what their circumstances they are always smiling at me wishing me a nice day and saying thank you. Tossed in the garbage, or squashed under a car tire stretched over a bicycle seat they always make the best of a bad situation. They make me laugh and deserve some attention. So I wanted to exhibit something uplifting and fun.



Favorite Ramones story?

My best memory about the Ramones has got to be when they signed the painting Bettie and the Ramones back in 1978. You can’t imagine the thrill of carrying that big 4’ x 6’ painting down the Bowery and getting the Ramones to specially come over to CBs in the afternoon just to sign it. Tommy was still in the group. They all just stood there staring at it. I think Joey was the only one who really got it.



Dee Dee was all hyper and kept asking their manager Danny Fields if it was OK to sign it. Then Johnny asked, "Who's Bettie?" I replied, "She's every Fan." When we carried that autographed painting back to 98, Marc, Bettie and I were just flying. I love the Ramones.

Another one of Hoppe's paintings...



For further reading on EV Grieve:
Life at 98 Bowery: 1969-1989

Revisiting Punk Art

Is the Copper Building all sold out?

Haven't paid much attention to the Copper Building (ol' Rusty!) on Avenue B and 13th Street since we were, uh, duped by some phonie interior photos in December... I thought about the Big Copper yesterday after seeing it all gleamy in the distance.




So I went to see how many units were still on the market...and after searching, I couldn't find any active listings......there appear to be eight units in contract right now...

Oh, meanwhile, there are some X's on the windows! Something possibly X-Files related about this?

Witnesses: Plump Dumpling delivery guy punched and robbed last night

An EV Grieve reader sent along this account from last night...

Around 9:30 pm, one of the Plump Dumpling delivery guys was punched in the face and robbed right around 329 E. 11th St. [between Second Avenue and First Avenue] on his way back from a delivery. A bunch of people saw it happen and one guy tried going after the assailant but wasn't able to catch him...

What was even more disturbing was the aftermath. The cops showed up shortly after one male witness reported it and arrived at the restaurant -- basically demanding to speak to the victim. Unfortunately, I had just seen the victim outside getting back on his bike, yelling at another delivery guy; he seemed (obviously) like he was very upset and distraught about what had just happened. Nonetheless, he left to make another delivery as the cops walked into the restaurant.

Next -- the cops were extremely rude and abrasive, asking the manager where the delivery guy was and when the manager assured them that he was coming back to talk to them, albeit in very broken English ... [the cops] started getting irrationally angry. They started interrupting the manager, raising their voices, and eventually just told the manager straight out, "Don't ever report this type of thing again" and walked out.

It was appalling and so uncomfortable to witness. Unfortunately, the guy who actually called in the report and tried to run after the robber, came in seconds after the cops left to act as a witness. I guess it is a case of "too little, too late" and honestly, a sad display of pulling rank/prejudice.

Fairytale new beginning for Snacklicious Cinderella?

Back in January, we noted that the falafel standby on Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place was being dismantled by a work crew...



Well now. The place seems to be coming back to life, as of yesterday evening. Lots of new falafelly looking equipment has been brought in... a worker said that they'd be "reopening soon."

Reminder: Vanishing City tomorrow night

More details here.