Thursday, November 3, 2011
10,000 and counting: A new hope
[EVG Flashback] "Sophie's...remains a good place to stop time"
Originally posted on Feb. 25, 2009...
I finally watched the "Disappearing Manhattan" episode of "No Reservations" (this after blabbering away about it the last three months!). It debuted Monday night, and will air several more times. Grub Street yesterday provided a nice synopsis of what the episode covered.
In particular, I was interested in the last segment, in which Anthony Bourdain shoots the shit with Nick Tosches at Sophie's. It was all of about three minutes (and the shoot at Sophie's took nearly three hours, I was told).
Here's most of what transpired at Sophie's....
I finally watched the "Disappearing Manhattan" episode of "No Reservations" (this after blabbering away about it the last three months!). It debuted Monday night, and will air several more times. Grub Street yesterday provided a nice synopsis of what the episode covered.
In particular, I was interested in the last segment, in which Anthony Bourdain shoots the shit with Nick Tosches at Sophie's. It was all of about three minutes (and the shoot at Sophie's took nearly three hours, I was told).
Here's most of what transpired at Sophie's....
[EVG Flashback] Team Bride confidential
Originally posted on July 25, 2008...
Did you see the women in the "team bride" T-shirts in the neighborhood Saturday night? I found a blog post on what this was all about: A bachelorette party featuring a scavenger hunt through the East Village. (There were two teams: the grooms vs. the brides.)
Anyway, in case you were wondering what that was all about, here is one of the participant's account of the evening via her blog (names and links have been left out...):
The last thing I recall about the night is having a booty off at the final bar (for those of you that are unaware, a booty off is a ass-shaking dance off competition)…and I might have won. I mean, according to me, that is. I mean, Brand New Booty comes on and no one can shake it like I can. You have to trust me with this.
And really…what is better than spending a weekend with some of your best girls…hanging out in NYC all day and night and having a booty off?
Exactly. Nothing.
Man I love New York.
Some more highlights:
* Asking a crackhead in Thompkins Square Park for directions to a statue and having a homeless man interuppt to give me “real” directions and be strangely alert, happy, and friendly for being outside at 12am in this park
* Going into one of the East Village Precincts with my biggest smile and please be nice to me look on my face while asking the cops if they would take some pictures with us for the game. (they did -– never underestimate the power of boobies in a tight tee shirt)
* Following a guy with tons of tattoos carrying 2 bags of garbage to a graveyard (riiiight)
Did I mention I love NYC? Only in New York could we do a Scavenger Hunt where every area we walked in downtown was filled with people ready to help us with our more outrageous tasks (and this being the East Village most were low key artiste hippie types with lots of “I wanna help” qualities.”)
All the streets were packed with a wide variety of flavorful different people. I am used to this area because one of my siblings lived here (but more towards Union Square and not Alphabet City)…but I could get around Gramercy Park, Murray Hill, Midtown and the Upper East Side in my sleep. Slowly throughout the years I am becoming more and more familiar with the gloriousness that is Soho, TriBeca, West Village and Greenwich Village and many other cute downtown areas. Ah, I love those areas.
But East Village is a whole other animal in many ways . . . Its a quirky and sometimes downright bizarre place…where some streets are almost quiet and dainty and the others are filled with people 24-7 and lined with bars, quick food joints, and restaurants. What a trip a hunt was around there.
Anyway, in case you were wondering what that was all about, here is one of the participant's account of the evening via her blog (names and links have been left out...):
The last thing I recall about the night is having a booty off at the final bar (for those of you that are unaware, a booty off is a ass-shaking dance off competition)…and I might have won. I mean, according to me, that is. I mean, Brand New Booty comes on and no one can shake it like I can. You have to trust me with this.
And really…what is better than spending a weekend with some of your best girls…hanging out in NYC all day and night and having a booty off?
Exactly. Nothing.
Man I love New York.
Some more highlights:
* Asking a crackhead in Thompkins Square Park for directions to a statue and having a homeless man interuppt to give me “real” directions and be strangely alert, happy, and friendly for being outside at 12am in this park
* Going into one of the East Village Precincts with my biggest smile and please be nice to me look on my face while asking the cops if they would take some pictures with us for the game. (they did -– never underestimate the power of boobies in a tight tee shirt)
* Following a guy with tons of tattoos carrying 2 bags of garbage to a graveyard (riiiight)
Did I mention I love NYC? Only in New York could we do a Scavenger Hunt where every area we walked in downtown was filled with people ready to help us with our more outrageous tasks (and this being the East Village most were low key artiste hippie types with lots of “I wanna help” qualities.”)
All the streets were packed with a wide variety of flavorful different people. I am used to this area because one of my siblings lived here (but more towards Union Square and not Alphabet City)…but I could get around Gramercy Park, Murray Hill, Midtown and the Upper East Side in my sleep. Slowly throughout the years I am becoming more and more familiar with the gloriousness that is Soho, TriBeca, West Village and Greenwich Village and many other cute downtown areas. Ah, I love those areas.
But East Village is a whole other animal in many ways . . . Its a quirky and sometimes downright bizarre place…where some streets are almost quiet and dainty and the others are filled with people 24-7 and lined with bars, quick food joints, and restaurants. What a trip a hunt was around there.
[EVG Flashback] Breaking: Models invade Key Food, hold melons
Originally posted on March 31, 2010...
From an EV Grieve reader:
From an EV Grieve reader:
major fashion photo shoot right now in the produce aisle at key food on ave. a.
i counted 25 models, photographers, make-up artists, security, etc.
they just walked in and started shooting. looks like key food management had no idea.
saw model holding up 2 melons- is this for american apparel? sheesh!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Stump removal in Tompkins Square Park today
That tree that sort of leaned in Crusty Meadow came down during Hurricane Irene...
Today, workers finally removed the remaining stump... as these photos by Bobby Williams show... looks like a grave...
Today, workers finally removed the remaining stump... as these photos by Bobby Williams show... looks like a grave...
Tompkins Square Bagels sign is up
The mosaic sign created by Jim Power went up this afternoon at Tompkins Square Bagels on Avenue A near 10th Street... We'll have more on the opening date later... We had the first look inside the shop in September.
Here's the interview that we did with owner Christopher Pugliese in July 2010.
Zip Code 10003 has 169 chain stores
Yesterday, we reported on The Center for an Urban Future's fourth annual study ranking the national retailers with the most store locations in New York City.
It's a huge survey and, to be honest, we didn't dig into as much as we usually do. But! Our friend Jen Doll at Runnin' Scared did... and here's a stat that jumps out: The East Village came in third for most chains overall in New York City with 169. (This is just for the 10003 Zip Code that includes Union Square and parts of Fifth Avenue.)
We went back and looked at the 2009 report (PDF), which noted that the 10003 Zip Code had 151 chain stores.
There's no mention of the 10009 Zip.
And No. 1 overall? Zip 10314 in Staten Island with 186 chain stores.
Overall, the report found that the explosion of national chains has slowed somewhat over the past year in New York.
10,000 and counting, still
[EVG Flashback] At Superdive
Originally posted on June 26, 2009...
Superdive opened last night at 200 Avenue A. (So it was Thursday the 25th after all!)
A reader sent me a fairly lengthy e-mail early this morning after a night out at Superdive. The reader started off by saying: "Maybe you can excerpt something useful from this, but I don't know. It just wasn't that interesting." We'll be the judge of that!
To the reader's e-mail:
Superdive opened last night at 200 Avenue A. (So it was Thursday the 25th after all!)
A reader sent me a fairly lengthy e-mail early this morning after a night out at Superdive. The reader started off by saying: "Maybe you can excerpt something useful from this, but I don't know. It just wasn't that interesting." We'll be the judge of that!
To the reader's e-mail:
Upon entering, confronted with a wall of noise. It's *incredibly* loud. You can't make anything out — total wall of noise.
Near the door are some mini kegs stuck in ice. By the window are guys filling mugs from a mini kegerator. Very fratty, all around. Fratty smell, especially.
We try to figure out the bar situation. Confusing. It looks like there is no bar and patrons are just doing whatever, but really there is a bar. It's just surrounded by patrons. We eventually get drinks. My mixed drink is quite strong. This is good, as it took an eternity to get it. It was served by a bartender wearing legwarmers on her arms. As we're trying to secure drinks, we're hit by a blast of flatulence. Did I mention this place is fratty? We get our drinks and head toward the front. The girls here are CUTE.
There is a live band in the back, playing under an enormous lit sign that reads APPLAUSE. The sign is always lit. I do not clap. There is a guy on piano, trying to sing over the noise, and he's accompanied by a drummer. They're playing "When a Man Loves a Woman."
There are plastic cups everywhere.
We go for another round of drinks. We ask how much, and the bartender says "Ummm.... 30?" as if we're bartering. We pay. It seems fair for the amount of drink we're walking away with.
A cringing girlfriend leading her man away from his friends.
A group of girls enter, high-fiving each other. They are cute.
A guy in a yellow shirt starts to lose composure, head in hands. He's had enough beer.
"Thriller" is played (the pianist/drummer are done now). There is cheering, dancing.
And that's about it. We get bored and go for pizza.
[EVG Flashback] An EV Grieve investigative report: In search of the Penistrator
Originally posted on Jan. 20, 2009...
In cooperation with the National Weather Service, we arranged for it to snow this past weekend. Why? We were hoping to capture the increasingly notorious Penistrator, a brazen snowffiti artist who is leaving his (or her? Nah) mark on unsuspecting cars throughout the neighborhood. We hired a profiler to help us in the case. His thoughts: "Based on scant evidence, keep on the lookout for what is likely a white male, Floridian, football fan, in his 20s who may be resentful of the fact that he doesn't have his car in the city."
And so, with the snowfall Saturday night, we began the quest. On first watch we saw a suspicious-looking figure lurking near the site of the original snowffiti on Seventh Street near Avenue B...
Having been spotted, he beat a retreat. The cars were left unmolested. But for how long?
Until Sunday night ... when we arranged for another 1-2 inches of snow to fall on the area. Given our profiler's belief that the Penistrator is a football fan, we also arranged for two high-profile NFL games to be played Sunday.
This combination of snow, football and, possibly, large amounts of alcohol, was all the Penistrator needed... as you can see from this wide path of penistruction on 13th Street that stretches from Third Avenue all the way to Avenue B.
Another clue: An Eagles fan?
And is he adding a new body part to his repertoire?
With the Super Bowl and more snow on the horizon...there's every reason to think this will continue...
In cooperation with the National Weather Service, we arranged for it to snow this past weekend. Why? We were hoping to capture the increasingly notorious Penistrator, a brazen snowffiti artist who is leaving his (or her? Nah) mark on unsuspecting cars throughout the neighborhood. We hired a profiler to help us in the case. His thoughts: "Based on scant evidence, keep on the lookout for what is likely a white male, Floridian, football fan, in his 20s who may be resentful of the fact that he doesn't have his car in the city."
And so, with the snowfall Saturday night, we began the quest. On first watch we saw a suspicious-looking figure lurking near the site of the original snowffiti on Seventh Street near Avenue B...
Having been spotted, he beat a retreat. The cars were left unmolested. But for how long?
Until Sunday night ... when we arranged for another 1-2 inches of snow to fall on the area. Given our profiler's belief that the Penistrator is a football fan, we also arranged for two high-profile NFL games to be played Sunday.
This combination of snow, football and, possibly, large amounts of alcohol, was all the Penistrator needed... as you can see from this wide path of penistruction on 13th Street that stretches from Third Avenue all the way to Avenue B.
Another clue: An Eagles fan?
And is he adding a new body part to his repertoire?
With the Super Bowl and more snow on the horizon...there's every reason to think this will continue...
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