Meanwhile, on Google...

Punk nostalgia

Coming soon to a department store, movie theater and museum near you...

Item.



This Bloomingdale's ad appeared in the Post yesterday. According to the ad, we're in for a Punk Summer. Prepare now! His Ramones T-shirt is $48, her Pretenders T-shirt is $64.

Item.



Also in the Post yesterday. A fashion spread in which you can "become a rebel belle with stripped-down styles inspired by priestess of punk, Patti Smith."

Item.

James Wolcott has an essay in the May Vanity Fair titled "Punk Is in the Air," a look at the new wave of nostalgia with the Richard Hell memoir, the upcoming CBGB biopic and the the Costume Institute's Punk: Chaos To Couture exhibit.

Here then, a few of his thoughts on the CBGB film, which he hasn't seen yet.

To those of us who were there, one of the anticipations of screening CBGB once it’s released from captivity is seeing not just how it simulates the squalor, congestion, snarling sound, and cove-like sanctuary of this landlocked submarine, but how it portrays the musicians, bartenders, waitresses, and regulars without whom it would have been just another hangout.

And!

When filmmakers attempt a teeming mural like this, populated with recognizable figures, it’s easy to end up with a Mort Drucker–esque Mad-magazine spread with familiar faces packed like sardines and pressed against the glass, contorted and distorted.

Item.

On that topic, the CBGB Facebook page posted a few more stills from the film in recent weeks...

"Hilly... Playing chess with the bikers"



And... "Blondie and Iggy on stage... nice lipstick"



Item.

The press preview for the Costume Institute's Punk: Chaos To Couture exhibit was yesterday. Racked was there. One apparent highlight. A replica of the CBGB men's room.

The Christodora House receives a Cultural Medallion

There was a ceremony yesterday at the Christodora House on Avenue B at East Ninth Street... where the Historic Landmarks Preservation Center unveiled the latest in its Cultural Medallion program...



...honoring Harry Lloyd Hopkins...



It reads:

Harry Hopkins, one of the most influential non-elected officials in American history, became a Settlement House worker in 1912 at Christodora, where his exposure to the struggles of new immigrants helped shape his thinking about social reform. Christodora, launched in 1897, was then housed in 143/145/147 Avenue B, and to this day continues its mission to help alleviate inequities among the underserved. In 1933, President Roosevelt asked Hopkins to implement the Social Security Act of 1935, and to direct the Works Progress Administration, which hired more than 3 million unemployed to rebuild highways, bridges, public buildings, and parks. During WWII, he was Secretary of Commerce and FDR's personal representative to London and Moscow. In 1945, Hopkins helped arrange the Potsdam Conference for President Truman, who honored him with the Distinguished Service Medal.

Here's a photo of the Christodora from 1929...

[From the Collections of the Museum of the City of New York]

Top three photos by Bobby Williams.

Former Local 269 space back on the market

The Local 269 on East Houston at Suffolk never reopened last fall after a flood apparently KO'd much of the live music venue's equipment.

Applicants who were previously involved with the Apocalypse Lounge (2004-2007) on East Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B apparently had designs on a new bar here. However, the applicants apparently never appeared before the CB3/SLA committee back in March, according to the CB3 meeting record.

So now the space is back in play. An EVG reader points us to this Craigslist post:

188 Suffolk Street corner of Houston St
EAST VILLAGE BAR/ RETAIL SPACE in Prime Location
· Located at 269-271 East Houston St
· Prime location
· Approx 900ft² street level with approx. 1200ft² usable downstairs
· 4AM Liquor License
· Showings from 10:30-6pm
· Monthly rent $14,500
· $100,000 Key Money
· No fee
· AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY

The Local 269 space was previously home to Meow Mix and Vasmay Lounge. The Local opened in February 2009.

Despite what Google Maps shows, the Sunburnt Cow is still open

Although the Sunburnt Cow may be for sale, the Endless Brunch hotspot on Avenue C and East Ninth Street remains open... Per the Cow's Facebook page yesterday:

Google Maps is WRONG!! We have not closed or re-located. We have reduced our hours to Friday - Sunday. Hope to see you all back next weekend!

Tonight: Discussion about the 'Tompkins Square/Alphabet City Slow Zone'

[Click image to enlarge]

As you may recall, CB3 member Chad Marlow, and the group that he founded in 2011, the Tompkins Square Park & Playground Parents’ Association (TSP3A), are kicking off a major neighborhood safety initiative.

Allow me to cut-and-paste this from the previous post on the topic:

It involves applying to the Department of Transportation to have them create what the group is calling the "Tompkins Square/Alphabet City Slow Zone" (TSACSZ).

The TSACSZ, in short, is an effort to improve pedestrian safety for children and all others who live/work/play in the proposed 0.38 square-mile zone by reducing motor vehicle speeds. As Marlow writes, the slow zone program "takes a well-defined, relatively compact area, and reduces its speed limit from 30 miles per hour to 20 miles per hour, with further reductions to 15 miles per hour near schools."

And tonight, the proposal gets the CB3 committee treatment:

Transportation & Public Safety / Environment Committee
Tuesday, May 7 at 6:30pm — Community Board 3 Office, 59 East 4th Street (btwn 2nd Ave & Bowery)

• Request for support of the proposed "Tompkins Square/Alphabet City Slow Zone"

Marlow introduced the proposal with this op-ed first published in The Villager.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Call for an East Village 'slow zone' (34 comments)

'Authentic Georgian-Mediterranean cuisine' coming to Avenue B

A reader told us that a new restaurant is opening in the space recently vacated by Caffe Buon Gusto on Avenue B and East Fifth Street.

We don't know much about the space. The reader noticed diners inside Sunday night, but thought that it was a friends-family kind of thing.

The restaurant is called Oda House, serving "authentic Georgian-Mediterranean cuisine" per the signage outside, from chef and managing partner Maia Acquaviva. Sounds interesting... hope to receive more information later...

Bending elm awaits its fate in Tompkins Square Park

Workers closed off the area surrounding the great bending elm in Tompkins Square Park yesterday... apparently the Park workers are awaiting for arborists to check out the tree... Meanwhile, it was eerily quiet early last evening ... as these shots by East Village Hawkeye show...

Praying for a miracle

Outside Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church on East 12th Street this evening... There are permits on file to demolish the church and its adjoining buildings for a new residential-retail complex.

Photo by Shawn Chittle.

Reader report: Is a bike-accessories thief on the loose?

A reader who lives in the vicinity of Second Avenue and East Third Street sends along the following:

Someone stole my bike lights. They came with an Allen wrench and took them.

I just wanted to let people know that a thief is on the loose in the East Village and to keep their bike accessories with them.

The reader said the theft occurred yesterday morning or early afternoon.

More support on the way for the bending elm in Tompkins Square Park?

On Friday, GammaBlog noted that the bending elm in the center of Tompkins Square Park was down to one support cable, and that the lashing around the cable appeared to be fraying... (The second cable was lost during Sandy).

Earlier today, workers arrived and cordoned off the area surrounding the tree...





No word yet on what exactly will be happening here...

Photos via our friends at MoRUS...

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Concern for the bending elm in Tompkins Square Park

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

[Outside St. Brigid's yesterday via @NYCCorners]

1980s-90 NYC via photographer Efrain Gonzalez (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

A look at 105-year-old John’s of 12th Street (DNAinfo)

Man arrested for groping 9-year-old girl in the East Village ( WNBC 4 New York)

At the annual Cannabis Peace Parade and Rally on Union Square (Slum Goddess ... Gog in NYC)

The developers interested in Seward Park (The Lo-Down)

More grumbling about Citi Bikes (Curbed)


[Photo from Ideas City by Stephen Popkin]

Recap of the Ideas City Street Festival on the Bowery (BoweryBoogie)

Remembering the Tenth Street Studio Building (Ephemeral New York)

Remembering Johnny Blitz on East Fifth Street (Flaming Pablum)

Marky Ramone and Andrew W.K. play the Ramones at Santos Party House (Rolling Stone)