The Hells Angels kindly request that hotel guests please refrain from sitting on their bench

The bench outside the Hells Angels headquarters on Third Street now features a recently added sign:




Given the proximity now of the Bowery Hotel and, more recently, the Cooper Square Hotel... I'd say one too many clueless hotel guests plopped down with a cup of FroYo to take in some authentic NYC scenery. Woo, honey check out the mopeds! Sit on one while I take your picture!

Man, I wish I would have seen this!

[Update: In the comments, reader James provides more information: "The sign is actually for the guests of an illegal hotel next door at 73-75 E 3rd. I used to live there as the building 'management' was turning the building into a 'Vegan Hotel' despite 8 complaints into the department of buildings to my last count. Now they even have a blog... I can see how the Hells Angels could be upset. They are great neighbors btw, if you don't sit on their bench."]

Not too long ago, I saw a harmless-looking delivery guy start to chain up his bicycle on the light pole to the west of the HQ's front door. The delivery was for the building next door. From a doorway across the street, a man emerged and hollered with authority: "MOVE THAT BIKE." Somehow, the delivery guy missed the "No Parking Except Authorized Hells Angels" sign.

Media find people suddenly, suspiciously outraged over Calvin Klein billboard

Back on May 7, smut peddler BoweryBoogie noted the new Calvin Klein ad on Lafayette and Houston. Yeah, this one in which $3,500 of Nair was used. (Photo via BB too.) And BB has more on this story today too.



Well, five weeks later, Fox News yesterday, for unknown reasons, trots out folks from central casting to be OUTRAGED over this, this...smut.
Cue the prudey out of towner:

"It's soft pornography is what it is," said Laurie Baranowski, who said she was in New York for a visit. "I don't think that just because you put Calvin Klein's name on it makes it acceptable. It's a beautiful picture, but I don't think that that's the place for it."

(Has she ever seen soft pornography?)

Then there's the do-goody association spokesperson that exists only to be outraged for the media:

"I think that this company has a moral obligation to our country to display their product in an appropriate manner, especially in a public venue where you have thousands of thousands of children who will see this ad," said Randy Sharp of the American Family Association. "I find this kind of ad repulsive, I find it disgusting, I find it inappropriate for a public venue. For my family of five, Calvin Klein will never see a dollar of our money."

(Do they sell Calvin Klein at Wal-Mart?)

Then there's the seen-it-all-New Yorker:

Joaquin Liguas, who heard about the billboard when he woke up in the morning, told FOXNews.com he wasn't bothered by it; he's seen much racier stuff on city streets.

(Who told him about the billboard when he woke up? Where has he been the last five weeks?)

Outrage story complete! Mr. Klein, please pay your publicity team.

Meanwhile, WIVB-TV in Buffalo checks in...


Other news coverage of this controversy via Google....

Gentlemen, this is a headline

Haven't seen an ad here since "King of the Hill" graced our presence last December. And now....an ad returns to the northwest corner of Sixth Street and Avenue A. And it's a douchey doozy.




Please expect "Gentlemen, this is..." jokes the entire summer. I've already incorporated the saying in random conversations, like the other day at Mamoun's: "Gentlemen, this is Baba Ghannouj."

Speaking of ads...

There's also this new Vans campaign, as seen here on the Westville wall on 11th Street at Avenue A.



I don't really know what this ad is trying to say.

Reminder tonight: Meeting for a plan to preserve the Bowery

Click on the image below to read the Bowery Alliance of Neighbor's plan to preserve the east side of the Bowery from Ninth Street to Canal. There's a meeting to discuss the plan tonight.



I originally posted this June 6. Sure, some people think this is all a little late... but as East Village History Project said in the comments: "If it brings attention to the Bowery's historic significance, it won't be in vain."

Noted

As Ben Widdicombe reported at stylelist.com:

Everyone remembers the first time they read "Fabulous Nobodies," author Lee Tulloch's cult '80s fashion novel set in New York's East Village.

Long before Carrie Bradshaw there was Reality Nirvana Tuttle ... trying to get by as a "door whore" at a trendy downtown club and striving for that elusive quality of New York fabulousness.

I read the book lying on a college dorm room floor thousands of miles away, and it's one of those classics about Manhattan that just makes you want to throw your most glamorous clothes into a suitcase and move to the city right away.

Tulloch, a former New Yorker who in recent years relocated back to her native Sydney, was in town ... to celebrate the development of her novel into a movie.

Double noted

"Robert Pattinson's new movie, which is tentatively titled Remember Me, began filming in New York City this afternoon. As an exasperated crew member was overheard complaining, 'They might as well call it Paparazzi and 'Tweens, 'cause there's more of us than them!' It was a fair statement considering how the crowd had swelled substantially (a rough estimate of 200) outside of NYU's Silver Center of Arts & Science, after fans had texted and called their friends to get to downtown Manhattan." (Entertainment Weekly)

"I came all the way from Las Vegas for this!" said 26-year-old Patricia Galas. "I've been here since Friday and I leave tomorrow. I like his hair and his music. I really just want to ask him when he's playing next so I can see him live. I've read all the books." (OK! magazine)

[Diane Cohn/Fame Pictures]

Beaming up on the Bowery

I snapped a few shots Saturday of the beam action happening at 263 Bowery, just south of Houston. I must have just missed BoweryBoogie, who was there too. BB has more on what's happening here... and the progress thus far on the seven-story mystery project...

Albert Hammond Jr. finds someone else to buy his Third Street apartment

Cityfile has the story. Because he is your favorite Stroke. Or Fab. Maybe Nick? And it's OK if you say Julian. Or Nikolai.

This seems perfectly safe!

According to the description on YouTube: Red Bull Racing NASCAR driver Brian Vickers and his pit crew perform a full pit stop in the middle of Times Square.

The Evolution continues to evolve (sort of)

At Second Avenue and Fourth Street. Can't wait to see what the next incarnation of this space is...

Previously.

Oh! Turns out that I don't have to wait long.... Hunter-Gatherer, still pursuing the Bennigan's dream, happened by and saw some serious renovations under way. As he reported:

It looked like a fairly serious change as the interior has been gutted and the exterior walls have come down. As I queried the construction worker regarding the future tenant he said, “evolution”.

“Really”, I said, “what’s the concept”?

“Flair”, he replied, “flipping bottles, fire tricks…you know, bringing a Las Vegas style bar to New York”.

“Wow, sounds great”, I replied……..thinking that the description sounded vaguely similar to the former ethos of the hallowed halls of E4volution/2X4/Ambiance…

And from the HG Photo Department:



I said this in a comment over at HG: Seems the problem before was the concept, not the bar. So the owners decided to gut the bar and keep the concept?

Yankee Plywood

If you watched any of the Yankees-Mets game on Fox Saturday afternoon, then you probably several shots inside the old Yankee Stadium.


[Via the Demolition of Yankee Stadium Web site.]

I have no idea what was said: With McCarver and Buck in the booth, I had the TV on mute.

It was my understanding that all the seats were being removed (and sold). In any event, if you walk around the old stadium, as I did early Friday evening when I took the following shots, then you'll see what seems like miles of plywood...it now surrounds the old stadium. Wasn't this way during my last visit.







And it seems as if more than seat removal is taking place...



For further reading:
The Destruction of Yankee Stadium Web site

Save Gate 2

The Yankee Stadium Redevelopment Project

Previously on EV Grieve:
With high rises and new shops in the works, it's time to take a look at the area around Yankee Stadium

At the new Yankee Stadium

Meanwhile, across 161st Street...

The Spiderman sightings continue

I continue to read about Spiderman sightings in the neighborhood. The most recent sighting came over the weekend on The Wednesday Weekly, who reported: "Spidey had just gotten off the L Train from Brooklyn (I thought he lived in Queens...) and appeared to be heading somewhere in the East Village."


[Photo via The Wednesday Weekly]

MeikMeik has also noted Spiderman's presence... and Apa Chu... and Michael’s posterous ... and Hypernova ...


[Photo via Apa Chu]

And, might as well play this again...

DBGB signage as pretentious as you'd expect

DBGB opened June 5 on the Bowery... in case you haven't seen the etched signage on the windows of Avalon Bowery Place.






To make matters worse, when I was standing there, one of the etchers yelled, Quel imbécile! Mais qu'est-ce que tu fabriques?

OK, that's not true. But I wish it was!