Celebrating 40 years of La Plaza Cultural

[Photo of La Plaza from March]

La Plaza Cultural, the community garden on the southwest corner of Avenue C and Ninth Street, is celebrating 40 years tomorrow night with performances by Lydia Lunch, James Chance and the Missing Foundation, among many others.

Here's more information about the event:

Join us for a party for the 40th anniversary of one of NYC’s most forward-thinking venues, a storied legacy of the 1970’s downtown art scene: La Plaza Cultural, a green, multi-use, civic, performance space, spread over a third of a city block on east 9th street at avenue C. The evening will celebrate downtown NYC's legacy of visionary, outsider music and art, social activism, community, and sustainable design.

La Plaza was the brainchild of guerrilla activists, including the Latino group CHARAS, who seedbombed the trash-filled vacant lot in 1976. La Plaza's founders and early supporters included era-defining artists such as Buckminster Fuller, who built one of his geodesic domes onsite, the anti-architect Gordon Matta-Clark and legendary street artist Keith Haring. Its 40th anniversary party will feature performances by legendary artists of the period and emerging artists alike.

Live Music:

Lydia Lunch
James Chance
Missing Foundation
SenseNet
Collin Crowe

DJ set:
Sal P (of Liquid Liquid)
Etienne Pierre Duguay

Performance:
"Birth" by FOLD

You can find more about the evening at the Facebook event page here. The event is from 5-9:30 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday).

Here's more on La Plaza's history and how community gardeners came together to rebuild after Sandy...

Spotting some 'Deuce' coupes on 2nd Avenue

EVG contributor Derek Berg spotted some of the vintage cars used for filming "The Deuce," HBO's upcoming drama series starring James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal, in parts of the neighborhood today (like on Seventh Street)...







Here's more on the series via Deadline:

Written by "The Wire" creator David Simon and longtime collaborator George Pelecanos and directed by Michelle MacLaren, The Deuce follows the HBO blue logostory of the legalization and subsequent rise of the porn industry in New York’s Times Square from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s, exploring the rough-and-tumble world that existed there until the rise of HIV, the violence of the cocaine epidemic, and the renewed real estate market ended the bawdy turbulence.

And are some props from Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue ...

Reader report: Workers dig up streetcar tracks on 3rd Avenue

An EVG reader/tipster shared these images from last evening... where workers have been putting in a new roadway on Third Avenue between Astor Place and Ninth Street/Stuyvesant Street as part of the Astor Place Reconstruction project ...

The reader thinks that workers have unearthed the former streetcar tracks along here...

"In digging out the roadbed for Third Avenue near Stuyvesant crews uncovered what I believe to be crossovers for the Third Avenue and crosstown streetcars. It may be difficult to see in the photos but one axis runs east/west (Stuyvesant) and the other runs parallel to Third Avenue."

When the Stuyvesant and Ninth Street mini-parks were built I remember Stuyvesant Street tracks being dug out."

These crossovers are still so well anchored that workers couldn't pull them out. Per the reader: "The crew has been cutting them into small pieces. They are at it again today."



No word on how this might delay the project...

According to the Village Crosstown Trolley Coalition: "The 8th St. line ran its last streetcar on March 3, 1936, clearing the way for the crosstown bus and ever-increasing swarms of automobiles and trucks."

Off the Grid has some nice trolley history here.

A Hollywood print shop for 7th Street

An EVG reader noted the arrival today of signage for a new business coming to Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue — a print shop... don't know anything else about the place at this time, such as if it is a new business or one that relocated.

The previous tenant at No. 76 was the Jasna Hair Studio.

Updated 1:53

Never mind! This is just a set dressing for the new David Simon series filming on the block today...

Defunking defunct Funkiberry

Yesterday afternoon, workers removed the iconic Funkiberry signage from its former home of nine months at Third Avenue and 12th Street.

As previously noted, workers are renovating the corner space to make way for a pizzeria.

Thanks to Harry Weiner for the photo and headline!

Enjoy 'A Summer in Paris' next month in Tompkins Square Park

The Films on the Green series — the free outdoor French film festival produced since 2008 — is underway again this summer (OK, late spring) in city parks.

With the theme "A summer in Paris", Films on the Green 2016 will offer a striking portrait of the City of Lights, its urban landscape, and cultural diversity. A selection of classic, New Wave, and contemporary films will showcase the city’s aesthetic, cultural, and cinematic history from a dramatically unconventional angle through stories of love, romance, adolescence, female identity, and urban life in Parisian and its surrounding suburbs.

Tompkins Square Park will host two excellent movies next month by Agnès Varda and Eric Rohmer ...

Friday, July 22, 8:30 pm
Cleo From 5 To 7
By Agnès Varda, 1962, 1h30
________________________________________

Friday, July 29, 8:30 pm
Boyfriends and Girlfriends
By Eric Rohmer, 1987, PG, 1h42

People's Pops not returning to the East Village

Back in July 2011, the team behind Brooklyn Flea and Chelsea Market regular People's Pops opened a, uh, pop-up stand on Seventh Street near First Avenue...

To date, the People's Pops pop-up stand has been quiet so far this season. Word is People's Pop will not be returning to this location. (We reached out to PP for comment.)

There are still numerous locations for PP's locally sourced fruit pops and shaved ice, such as in Park Slope or on the High Line.

And no word on what might become of the PP structure alongside Golden Food Market here.

Thanks to EVJackie for the tip!

Zadie's Oyster Room opens tonight on East 12th Street

Hearth owner Marco Canora has revamped his nearby wine bar Fifty Paces .... he is reopening the space as Zadie's Oyster Room tonight.

Per a Zadie's rep:

Inspired by the oyster houses prevalent in late 19th Century/early 20th Century New York, Zadie's will serve oysters every style: raw, baked, broiled, steamed, fried, pickled & poached, accompanied by dishes like caesar salad, kelp coleslaw + brown bread with anchovy butter, washed down with a selection of beer, wine and champagne.

You can find the menu and hours at the Zadie's website here. Zadie's is at 413 E. 12th St. between First Avenue and Avenue A.

GG's introduces a Garden Dinner Kit with ingredients from its backyard garden

[Image via the GG's website]

GG's, the restaurant on East Fifth Street between Avenue A and B that sources ingredients from its 18-bed backyard garden, is launching the following starting today:

The Garden Dinner Kit is a CSA meets meal planner: order online and pick up your box every Thursday. All ingredients​ will be included with a detailed pamphlet on how to prepare your meal. Each kit includes everything you need to make a pizza, salad and side dish with GG's homemade dough, sauces and garden grown vegetables. The menu changes monthly based on what the garden is producing. A detailed preparation pamphlet will be included.

Ordering: Each box is $40 for a dinner for four, and they can be ordered on the website with pickup every Thursday from 4-7 PM.

The first Dinner Kit menu features ingredients for Black Radish & Pea Shoot Square Pie with Chimichurri; Ricotta Stuffed Grape Leaves; and a Garden Salad with Garden Berry Vinaigrette.

Find more details at the GG's website here.

Pianos in the Park today

Photos by Derek Berg

Brick Lane Curry House debuts sidewalk cafe

Sidewalk seating is now available here at 99 Second Avenue between Sixth Street and Fifth Street, per EVG correspondent Steven.

CB3 signed off on the sidewalk cafe in June 2015.

Report: Cuomo clears way for brunch drinking to start at 10 a.m. on Sundays

As you may have heard, Gov. Cuomo and the NY Legislature agreed to reform the state's Alcohol Beverage Control Law that reportedly dated back some 80 years.

So, soon, bars and restaurants in the city will be able to start serving drinks at 10 a.m. on Sundays instead of noon.

To the Post:

“Before I was in the [restaurant] industry, I would order a drink at 11:30 a.m. And I would say, ‘What do you mean you can’t serve me?’ ” said Danny Mena, 36, who co-owns Hecho En Dumbo in the East Village. “It was quite an archaic law.”

Nicolas Lorentz, 35, general manager of Lafayette in the same neighborhood, said the extra two hours would boost the bottom line.

“The brunch crowd is a drinking crowd. This is helpful to any brunch restaurant in New York City. We will get more people coming here early,” Lorentz predicted.

This may go into effect as early as this coming Sunday. Which means that you may have to avoid parts of Avenue B even earlier now.