Tonight at Theatre 80: Jennifer Blowdryer, Richard Kern and 'Story of a Junkie'

We're nearly a week into the Howl! Arts month-long benefit supporting HOWL H.E.L.P.'s (Howl Emergency Life Project. Read more about them here.)

Lots of interesting performances every night at Theatre 80 at 80 St. Mark's Place. Tonight at 8, Jennifer Blowdryer presents 86'd, "rejection stories from a colorful collection of downtown's finest."

Later, director Lech Kowalski will be on hand to introduce his 1980s heroin classic "Story of a Junkie," filmed in the East Village...



Also on the bill — Richard Kern presents his short "Zombie Hype."

The admission is $10. (If you can't make it early, then you can see the films starting at 10:30.) For more info on HOWL! Arts, go here.

Veselka Bowery teams up with UrbanDaddy for a sneak-preview 'five-course pierogi-and-vodka pairing'

Veselka Bowery watchers have been wondering when the, um, Veselka Bowery location on East First Street will open. If the following is any indication, then soon....

A reader sent along this link from UrbanDaddy, in which its "members" can pay $75 for a sneak preview tasting menu Sunday night... the deal includes a "five-course pierogi-and-vodka pairing." The reader, who said he is Polish so there is "much love for vodka and pierogi," had a few unkind words about this pairing. (The same UrbanDaddy that champions the lowest-common denominator places like, say, Superdive.)

Crif Dogs inflated a lot of balloons to celebrate 10 years of weiners

On St. Mark's Place, Crif Dogs celebrated its 10-year anniversary yesterday with $1 hot dogs...

Um, sorry to be telling you this the day after... But look at the balloons. We like balloons! Pretty pretty!

Photos by Bobby Williams...

Cooper Craft and Kitchen restores dignity to the corner of Second Avenue and Fifth Street

At least from the outside. The plywood is down at Cooper Craft and Kitchen, here on the corner ... former home of the horrible-looking pink spaceship, Kurve.

The space will be a craft-beer-focused bar-restaurant from the team behind Dempsey's and Sláinte. With a lot of barrels inside, probably.

Noted

Spotted at Second Avenue and First Street.

Earlier today on Seventh Street

...near Second Avenue... By Bobby Williams.

[Updated] About that Time Warner cable outage in the Lower East Side

Is that end of today like 5 p.m. or 11:59 p.m.?

Previously.

UPDATED: 6:30 p.m. — Seems to be up and running. In time for "Road House" on AMC tonight.

h/t @pablo_escolar

Your chance to see inside a historic townhouse on East 10th Street tonight (complimentary wine alert!)

The beautiful homes at 123-125 E. 10th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue have been on the market for more than three years... oh those handsome single-family Anglo-Italianate townhouses!

Here's the listing at Rubicon:

If you were to travel back in time to New York City in 1854, it would appear virtually unrecognizable. Yet, arrive at Renwick Triangle, formed by the intersection of Stuyvesant Street and East 10th Street, and it would seem as if time stood still. Of all James Renwick's masterpieces in this corridor, one stands out as more imposing and grander than the rest. Architecturally paired, 123 East 10th Street and 125 East 10th Street are now offered for sale together. At 28 feet wide, of grand scale and proportions, with approximately 8,400 square feet of interior space, and a large, terraced rear garden, this presents a new owner with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a modern home at an iconic address. Behind an exceptionally handsome facade, 5 stories tall including an English basement, this magnificent townhouse has 18 fireplaces, original moldings, detailed mantelpieces and an ornamental cast-iron "Juliet" balcony which runs the width of the building. Since this townhouse is located in the middle of the St. Mark's Historic District, the extraordinary morning light and tranquility will be forever preserved. Given the scope of this offering, Rubicon Property has created a prospectus on this residence, its history and its future, which can be furnished on request by qualified buyers or brokers

Oh, the point of bringing this up now? There is an open house at 123 E. 10th St. tonight from 6-9. With complimentary wine! (Woo!) Says a Rubicon rep: "This is a magnificent opportunity to look into a piece of history." And Rubicon donates a $1 to charity: water for every person who signs in for the open house.

And the combo houses are yours for $12.95 million.

Chico creates tribute for Bob Arihood at Ray's Candy Store

Yesterday after, we posted photos of Chico working on a mural for the Ray's Candy Store awning on Avenue A ... Single Linds Reflex, who worked with Chico on the concept, was there to watch it happen ... Here's a sort of Blogger time-lapse with the final work ...

And later... Chico talks with Lucy and Ray...

Claim: Like no one seems to have cable

We're getting all sorts of reports of widespread (East Village) Time Warner Cable/Road Runner outage this morning... been out since last night around 11. Which meant we had to create today's posts via our Brother International SX-4000 Portable Daisywheel typewriter with Perfectype professional touch keyboard. Blame this guy?

IHOP's suburbification of East 14th Street complete, we hope

Wow. Just seems like June 12 yesterday when we first saw the warning sign on East 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue...

And yesterday, workers put the finishing touches on the IHOPnopy...

Per EV Grieve reader Tom:

Wow. First the extra-wide awning, then the 3-story high banner, and now the sidewalk canopy. That's a whole lot of IHOP Blue!

I think they're trying to compensate for not being able to build one of those giant blue roofs found on classic suburban IHOPs.

[Manhasset IHOP pic via Tom]

Don't give anyone any ideas!

h/t Jennifer at Xoom for the IHOPalert...

The East Village pep talk diaries

[El Jardín del Paraíso, East Fifth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D. By Bobby Williams]

We recently posted an email from a longtime East Village resident who was losing faith in the neighborhood. We asked for people to submit comments on the things that they like about the East Village. We'll periodically post some of the comments, like this one.

Steph said...
Early morning walks.
Marble Cemetery — open hours are magical
International Bar
Tile Bar
Coal Yard
Chillmaster
Community gardens — can't express how much I love walking around on a summer weekend going into the gardens.
Summer weekends — w/o college kids and everyone being out of town makes me renew my love with the hood.
Hell's Angels
The sense of community and the diversity of people — it's still here. It's still better than all of Manhattan and don't even mention Brooklyn.

Read all the comments here.