Mary Pupillo - 'A true relic of the East Village'

Mary Pupillo was a seamstress who worked for many years with Gino DiGirolamo at the Royal Tailor Shop when it was on Avenue A and 12th Street. She lived directly above the shop.

Mary died on Feb. 23. She was 95.

Her friend of 30 years Cynthia Chaffee called Mary "a true relic of the East Village." Cynthia shared some background about Mary:

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"Mary was the real thing. She lived her entire life on the same corner at 12th Street and Avenue A at 441 E. 12th St. and across the street when she was a child. She would look out her window and always see where she grew up and where her sister died at 19 years old."

[Mary on the bottom left with her family]

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"As a child she played in Tompkins Square Park. She remembers the sound of the horses on the cobblestone streets and selling fruit and vegetables and saying 'ice man.'"

[Mary is in the hat]

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"To the day Mary entered the Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation on East Fifth Street at Avenue B two years ago, she continued to use the old-fashioned washing board to hand wash her clothes, and the hand-held iron — that you heat on the stove top flame to press her clothes. In the winter, she piled several bricks on her stove top and turned the gas burner on to heat up her apartment. (It worked great.) She sewed all her own clothes, including her hats. Mary was a character, both feisty and fiery."

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"She had deformed feet that prevented her from walking any distance... Later on in her life she had to drag a bag tied to a string around with her on the streets because she was in pain and unable to carry any weight.

"Mary took care of both of her parent's until they died, so she never married. She said that guys didn't ask her out because she had trouble walking and never could go to dances because of her feet."

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"Mary went to Mary Help of Christians as a child and later attended Washington Irving High School on Irving Place and graduated. She was fluent in both French and Sicilian Italian. She loved opera and classical music, and could sing and act out word for word whole scenes from different operas. Her family was from Gange in Palermo, Sicily. She was full of the stories of the Italian neighborhood history."

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"Many East Villagers will remember Mary. She was a fixture in the neighborhood."

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Her funeral mass will be at the Immaculate Conception Church, 414 E. 14th St. near First Avenue tomorrow morning at 10 followed by a private burial.

[Thanks to Cynthia for the photos.]

Reminders: Cash mob tonight at Odessa

As you may have read at Jeremiah's on Monday... there's a cash mob starting at 6 tonight at the Odessa Restaurant at 119 Avenue A... dinner first, then to the Odessa Cafe Bar next door for drinks afterwards... so even if you're not around right at 6, you can come by later. (And bring cash, which is the whole idea of a cash mob... as Jeremiah described it, they're "like flash mobs, but their purpose is to infuse a local business with cash.")

Thanks to Goggla for coordinating the event with Odessa ... perhaps this will be the first of many cash mobs to help other struggling businesses around the neighborhood...

And as we recently mentioned, the old Odessa space is quite a nice spot for drinks... (you can order food there too...)

[Michael Sean Edwards]

P.S.

We like the grilled cheese on Challah from Odessa ...

Today's sign of the apocalypse: A real for sure cupcake ATM in action

So you probably heard that story about Beverly Hills-based cupcakery Sprinkles launching 24-hour cupcake ATMs ... a Sprinkles took over the Gino space on the Upper East Side... and we heard that the Lower East Side will likely get one of these cupcake ATM thingys ... (According to the Daily News, the city will soon have three of them.)

Anyway, we spotted this at Eater National (via Eater NY) ... Do with this information as you please...

Noted

A reader shared this from a Seventh Street apartment building.

Proto's Pizza coming to Second Avenue

As you can see, coming soon to where Enzo's was between Third Street and Second Street... Enzo's closed last May... dunno much about Proto's... (found a Proto's in Boulder, Colo.)

Today in East River Park

Photos by peter radley.

Noted

A random find on East 13th Street near Avenue A. Photo shared by @bonatron9000

Report: 'World's most wanted hacker' lived on Avenue D

There are reports today that the suspected ringleader of the Anonymous offshoot group LulzSec had been living a rather under-the-radar life at 90 Avenue D in the the Jacob Riis Houses.

According to the FBI, 28-year-old Hector Xavier Monsegur, an unemployed computer programmer and father of two children, is Sabu, "the head of LulzSec, and the de facto King of Anonymous — easily the most notorious and influential hacker alive today," as Fox News put it.

Earlier today, the feds announced charges against the last members of the now-defunct LulzSec, accusing them of orchestrating an online assault against corporations, defense contractors, security firms and government sites, including the CIA.

As multiple outlets have reported, Monsegur had been working as a government informant since the FBI charged him with various hacking crimes last August.

Gizmodo has a lot more here .... and here... Gawker's coverage is here.

More later...

David Schwimmer vs. The Coen Brothers on East Sixth Street

Been a busy few days on East Sixth Street between Second Avenue and First Avenue... The Coen Brothers are back filming "Inside Llewyn Davis." The trucks and all that are parked along East Sixth Street. (The crew seems to be filming inside 110 Second Ave.)

[Yesterday, by Bobby Williams]

Meanwhile, construction continues at Chez Schwimm... where the pallets of cinder blocks await ....

[Early this morning, via EVG]

After the various work crews arrived today for their respective jobs, a resident along here noted, "The street is practically nonexistent as the Haddad's vans (where is Justin Timberlake?) are taking over from the Schwimmer cranes, making it impossible for [the construction workers] to close the street at will, as they often do – for deliveries, etc."

The Coen Brothers crew will also be filming tomorrow, then the street can be returned to the Schwimmers.

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

[East Second Street yesterday via Bobby Williams]

Phillip Retzky on the life and death of Little Rickie, the East Village (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Remembering Janet Freeman (Save the Lower East Side!)

Brooklyn foodies threaten mom-and-pop shops on Eastern Delancey (BoweryBoogie)

The Tenement Museum hosting an opening reception for Rebecca Lepkoff's "Life on the Lower East Side" (The Lo-Down)

Expect to see the East Village slide condo on reality TV soon (Curbed)

An appreciation of th East 11th Street Baths (Off the Grid)

And starting tonight at the Dorian Grey Gallery on East Ninth Street...

About Bikinis (sandwiches!) slated for Avenue C

In looking over the March CB3/SLA docket, one item jumped out at us: Something called Bikinis slated for 56 Avenue C. What the bartenders will be wearing on duty?

Heh. Nope! CB3 has now posted more information about the applicants. We reached out to Petrit Pula, one of the principals for the new establishment.

He provided some background.

"Bikinis is not the attire of choice — not at all," he said via email. "Bikinis is a style of sandwich from coastal Spain. It's similar to a grilled cheese sandwich, but we are expanding that concept. We will be creating a Barcelona-style eatery with a vintage American diner feel. It will serve Bikinis (sandwiches), soups, salads, coffee, fresh juices and a few dishes."

Pula has been involved with Nublu Records the past six years, most recently as president/A&R. The space for Bikinis at 56 Avenue C is the former Nublu Records office. He is on the recording side, and not with the Nublu music club.

"I saw an online petition against our request for beer and wine license, and that petition has connected us to Nublu," he said. "This automatically makes people think loud music, late night, etc. We are not doing any of that. We are a restaurant with a full menu, background music and regular restaurant hours."

According to the application (PDF) on file with CB3, the hours are 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursdays; to 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturday.

He is opening Bikinis with his fiancé, Karina Correa, who is the main principal in the restaurant.

Said Pula, "Once the neighbors find out what it actually is, I think they will be at ease."

[Pula and Correa have launched an online petition for signatures in support of their restaurant. You can access that here.]

Edi & the Wolf team aims to open bar-lounge on Avenue C

Also on this month's CB/SLA docket:

• 116 Avenue C Restaurant LLC, 116 Ave C (op)

According to the application (PDF) posted on the CB3 website, Edi & the Wolfe partners Eduard Frauneder and Wolfgang Ban are aiming to take over the former Lava Gina space here between Seventh Street and Eighth Street. (Edi & the Wolf is the well-regarded Austrian restaurant/wine tavern that opened in late 2010 at 102 Avenue C.)

Not a lot of information on the application. The unnamed space is being called a "bar/lounge" with proposed hours of 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. The proposal calls for eight tables and a bar that seats 15 people. They will also serve food, though there aren't any details about that just yet.

The CB3/SLA meeting is Monday, March 19 at 6:30 p.m. — JASA/Green Residence, 200 E. Fifth St. at Bowery.