Where is Karen?

Speaking of Loves Saves the Day...what happened to Karen? Despite LSD closing, she told me on Jan. 24 that she would continue with her flea market in front of this location — or on the other side of the street, whatever they're calling the former location of the Kiev.



However, I don't recall having seen her lately...Has anyone spotted her around the neighborhood...or know what happened to her?

For further reading and viewing:
Love Saves the Day is Closing, Karen wants to remain here in the East Village (YouTube)
Karen Saves the Day (Jeremiahs's Vanishing NY)
Last Trip to LSD (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)
End Comes for Outpost of East Village Counterculture (New York Times)

One more thing: No more pay phones at the old LSD spot

Back on Jan. 13, I wondered how long the pay phones outside the former Love Saves the Day store would last...



I have my answer: They were removed this week.

Does Duff have junk in the trunk?

We continue to follow what will likely be the most important story coming out of the East Village this year. Runnin' Scared had the following tidbit about Hilary Duff's junkie turn on "Law & Order: Special Guest-Star Unit" from Monday:

In the scenes, we are elsewhere informed, Duff is looking to "score" some "stuff," and acts all mouthy to Ice-T, who says something "street."

Word!

Meanwhile! My Hilary Duff/SVU connection sent along the Duff photos that adorn this page. We thank you for that, Hilary-Duff-photo-e-mailing stranger.



Anyway, I can't wait for the Vanessa Hudgens-Zac Efron remake of "The Wire." (Oops, not yet April 1...)

Noted

There's an ugly Police Blotter item in this week's issue of The Villager about a man who lives on St. Mark's Place. He was arrested for menacing his girlfriend with knives. As the report stated:

The suspect told the victim, “You don’t know who you are messing with. I’m from Detroit,” according to the assault charge filed by the Manhattan district attorney.

From the EV Grieve Holmby Hills, Calif. Bureau

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The widow of producer Aaron Spelling is placing "The Manor" in the exclusive Holmby Hills neighborhood on the market for a jaw-dropping $150 million, making it by far the most expensive home for sale in the U.S.

Let's do it again: Ruby's likey to return

Grub Street has the scoop on the Coney Island boardwalk scene.

[Photo via New York by Melissa Hom]

Reminder: The Vanishing City Part II on Sunday

Kirby has all the details at Colonnade Row.

Happy holidays!

As of yesterday, March 25, the holiday lights were still up in Chinatown.

Noted

"MORRISSEY didn't break from his ardent vegetarianism at Webster Hall last night. The singer, whose second album with the Smiths was titled 'Meat Is Murder,' requested no meat products of any kind be in the building before, during, or after his performance. 'There were no deli sandwiches, sushi, pepperoni pizza or anything else that used to have a face,' laughs our source. 'Even the cleaning staff were happy to do their part by bringing in veggie sandwiches for lunch.'" (Page Six)

Should anyone really be eating sushi during a (rock) concert?

Preservation inaction: Historic building now a parking lot

We've been keeping our eyes on Pearl Street down in the Financial District, particularly the space adjacent to the Rockrose condo that's zipping right along (or up)... So, with the hotel plans for the now-empty lot on hold ... what does one do then with an empty, um, lot?

Ta-da! Make it a parking lot!




For further reading:
Lot still vacant where Pearl St. artists lost homes (Downtown Express)

From Tribe to tapas at First Avenue and St. Mark's Place

A tapas joint will open at the former space of Tribe on First Avenue at St. Mark's, Patrick Hedlund reports in his Mixed Use column in this week's issue of The Villager. According to Hedlund, Danny Rivera, owner of the Crooked Tree around the corner on St. Mark's, will launch the tapas bar in June.

"I'm a guy from the neighborhood; I've lived here for over 10 years," Rivera told Mixed Use. "My plan is to make the place for the community."

As you may recall, Dr. Tara Allmen owns the five-story building that housed Tribe, which closed in late January. As the Real Deal reported in early February:

Allmen, a physician, inherited the building from her mother, Renée Allmen, along with several other East Village properties, and recently completed renovating the four residential spaces in the building. She called Tribe "an eyesore."

"I want a classier place," she said, adding that Tribe "was not going to enhance the aesthetic of the building."

Here's what Allmen told Mixed Use:

"I'm replacing a dive bar with an elegant wine bar and tapas place. Do I think it's a plus to have a higher-class place in the East Village? I would say it's a bonus to have wonderful, quality places in the East Village."

Said Rivera, "It's a neighborhood guy that's going to open up in the neighborhood. It's in the hands of people in the neighborhood. It's not going to be a sushi spot or a bank."

Chewpid

As you know, in this recession, people are buying and, we assume, eating more candy. In turn, companies are spending big money on marketing such delights.

Stuart Elliott wrote about this in the Times on March 3:

It was only a year or so ago that the concept of affordable luxury meant a Coach bag, Tiffany bauble or Starbucks latte. Since then, the recession has defined splurging downward to the price level of a can of soda, pack of gum or candy bar.

That is why many marketers of those prosaic products are still spending like it’s 2007 when it comes to advertising. For instance, both Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola recently came out with new campaigns, as did several gum brands, among them Ice Breakers.

Another case in point is the confectionery behemoth Mars, which is introducing a major campaign for its best-selling candy brand, Snickers, that is centered on a make-believe language called Snacklish.

Snacklish is a humorous way of speaking that revises everyday words and phrases for a Snickers-centric world. To underscore their origin, they are printed in the typeface and colors of the Snickers brand logo.

The campaign is also purposely infused with a slapstick, yuk-yuk approach... That tack is meant to appeal to the target consumer for Snickers, defined ... as men ages 18 to 49 with “a bull’s-eye of 18 to 34.”

OK. I haven't eaten a Snickers since I was 14. But! I have been oddly curious/repelled by the Snickers snads around the neigh-bar-hood. (Sorry.)






Meanwhile, the Feast Village ad keeps eluding me...

Keystrokes in flight

Dunno how long this has been on Second Street...Years and I just noticed it? Regardless, I like it.

Third cafe-bakery-small-plates-type place opens on Avenue B between Second Street and Seventh Street

La Bonne Bouffe, a new cafe-bakery-small-plates-type place, is now open on the corner of Avenue B and Second Street.



This is the third cafe-bakery-small-plates place to open since January on Avenue B between Second Street and Seventh Street... LBB joins Coyi Cafe and Paradiso.

Oh, and with this opening...we are down to 21 empty storefronts on Avenue B.